And with this sixth book, we've reached the final Space Explorer Adventure of our hero, Dig Allen. Six books published over the span of four years (from 1959 to 1962), this series turned out to be considerably better than I had anticipated. Author Joseph Lawrence Greene (1914 - 1990), who was a prolific writer who also created Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, has given young readers an exciting series of adventures of what the future could have been from a mid-century viewpoint. The period in which these books were published was right at the end of the over-the-top, campy sci-fi films of the '50s, and so it should come as no surprise that these books are filled with what we now know to be scenarios that are simply impossible to have happen. But, back when these were written, I have no doubt that young readers fantasized about life on other planets in our solar system and what it would be like to travel the stars. Well, Greene offered them the chance to see it with this series. (Special thanks to my good friend, Ray Lambert, who gifted me with a copy of this final book in the series, as I was having one heck of time trying to find a copy of it!)
Lost City of Uranus, published in 1962, takes a different direction from the other books. Sure, we still get a space adventure involving Dig Allen and best friends, twin brothers Jim and Ken Barry; yes, we still follow them as they set off to yet another unexplored planet in our solar system. But with this book, Greene opens the story differently, with readers being introduced to a ship that has just dropped off the latest settlers to the new colony on Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons that was being settled by daring spacemen and women. When two of the crew are sent outside to inspect the rocketubes, one of them - a man by the name of Dirk Danton, happens to spot on old-fashioned bottle floating through space. He retrieves it, and inside is a handwritten letter from a pilot who disappeared, along with his ship, decades okay. According to the letter, the pilot (Steven McKay) was the sole survivor after a meteor struck their ship, and as he was about to crash on the planet Uranus, he decided to send out this message in a bottle in the off chance someone may find it and be aware - for McKay had spotted what appeared to be a shining city on the surface of the planet, a planet always believed to be lifeless! The crew in the present (our future?!) laugh it off, except for Danton. Danton believes there is something to it, and thus, his greed gets our story going.
Although the idea of there being an underwater city thriving on Uranus, Greene does actually provide a fairly good tale of morality and the cost of greed. Dig, Jim, Ken, and the smugglers do ultimately find the city, and even though Dig claims it for the Space Explorers, placing it under their jurisdiction, the smugglers, at Dirk's insistence, decide to sneak in and steal some things from the city for their own benefit. Those actions have some pretty major consequences, not only for Dirk and the smugglers, but for the entire city and its inhabitants! It is tragic in a number of ways, and provides a double meaning to the title of the book; yet, at the same time, it provides for a not-so-surprising reunion and some measure of hope for what they have learned to be applied to life on Earth. As a final story for the series, it is a unique one, and definitely one that is heavy on the heart.
There is not a whole lot of science within this story, but Greene does have his characters mention that Uranus "is not as dense as the Earth" and the atmosphere "is mostly methane" (p. 78). While the first part is true, as Uranus does not have a solid surface, but is more or less an ice giant made up of various "ice" type materials, the second part about the methane is not true. The atmosphere of Uranus is 83% hydrogen, 15% helium, and only 2.3% methane - so it is definitely not "mostly methane." Further, the references in the book to the gravity being heavier than that of Earth are also wrong, as Uranus' gravity is about 11% weaker than the Earth's gravity. This is due to the fact that Uranus' mass is so large and spread out over a large volume, the surface is much farther from the planet's center, and therefore the gravitational pull is weaker. Of course, this book was written and published in the early 1960s, before much of the in-depth study of the planet discovered a lot of these facts. Besides, these books are science fiction, and therefore, the details do not need to be factual!
This book gives us the fourth artist on the series, Phil Marini. I could not find much information about Marini, other than the fact that he did a number of paperback covers for Dell and other publishers back in the 1950s. His cover for this book is a bit off, as one cannot really tell who the older characters are supposed to be. This scene is taken from the moment when Dig, Jim, Ken, and the smuggler captain find the two children on the surface of Uranus, and after reviving them with oxygen, they discover the city under the icy surface (p. 91). However, none of the men have Dig's red hair, and the man kneeling down and pointing does not look anything like the captain described in the story. His appearance does not even match Marini's drawing of him in the story (p. 85)! And speaking of that particular drawing - for some reason, that one is the only one printed in black. All of the other internal illustrations are printed in a light blue ink. Not sure why they difference, but it definitely stands out from the others.
As I've said before, it is a shame this series ended after only six books. The stories were actually very engaging and filled with adventure, and the main characters were very likable. I mean, the publisher could have at least given him two more books, so he could have finished the planets in our solar system - one wonders what Dig and his friends would have found out on Neptune and Pluto!
RATING: 9 English-speaking Uranians out of 10 for giving Dig and his friends a final farewell story that sticks with you in terms of story and impact!
