Village of the Stars by Paul Stanton
Village of the Stars by Paul Stanton
Village of the Stars
by Paul Stanton
Longmans, Green and Co., 1961, decorative speckled fore-edges, green cloth hardcover
Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, ex-library with stickers to front and back end-papers (see photographs)
"Stanton has grown immeasurably in stature since his rather inadequate Call Me Captain, and this first rate, tingling adventure of the nuclear age stands up with Beaty and Gann in the high tension produced in this reader. The time is the future, when the most deadly of the thermo-nuclear weapons, the K-6, is ready to be tested with its chosen bomber on a practice run. And then- while it is airborne- comes a new threat from the Russians moving in on Kangistan across the world from the British airbase. Squadron Leader Falkner is ordered to the scene- and the grim, threatening circling begins. Back in England the reader glimpses what goes on behind the scenes at the Air Ministry, the Air Force Base, the homes of the crew members - and in the heart and mind of Lt. Helen Durrant, in love with Falkner. Then again to the compartment of the plane, carrying its deadly load. Refuelling is possible- but not a fresh supply of oil, and the oil is going too fast in one engine. And in all minds is the horror of what they've been told the bomb can do, when orders come to prepare it for detonation. Just in time, the U N acts; the crisis is contained; the plane is ordered to make the bomb safe- and the mechanism fails. It must be jettisoned- but where. The world has grown too small. And it is in these breathless final chapters, before the answer is found, that one finds a complete sense of how just this could happen tomorrow. Exciting reading. (Kirkus Reviews)"