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Space Station 1
The Space Station floated up out of the Big Dark. Lieutenant Corriston had come to see its marvels, but he soon found himself trapped in unexpected terrors.
The grim reality was that an unknown, unsuspected outer space power had usurped control of the artificial moon. A beautiful woman had disappeared; passengers were being fleeced and enslaved; and, using fantastic disguises, imposters from - SOMEWHERE - were using the station for their own mysterious ends.
The grim reality was that an unknown, unsuspected outer space power had usurped control of the artificial moon. A beautiful woman had disappeared; passengers were being fleeced and enslaved; and, using fantastic disguises, imposters from - SOMEWHERE - were using the station for their own mysterious ends.
- GenresScience Fiction
157 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
2 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Frank Belknap Long
432 books100 followersAka Lyda Belknap Long.
Frank Belknap Long was a prolific American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known for his horror and science fiction short stories, including early contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos. During his life, Long received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement (at the 1978 World Fantasy Convention), the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement (in 1987, from the Horror Writers Association), and the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award (1977).
Frank Belknap Long was a prolific American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known for his horror and science fiction short stories, including early contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos. During his life, Long received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement (at the 1978 World Fantasy Convention), the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement (in 1987, from the Horror Writers Association), and the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award (1977).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 13, 2024
Frank Belknap Long had a very lengthy career (over seven decades!) as both a writer and editor in the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres, and also wrote comics, worked in film, wrote mysteries and Gothic romances, etc. He's remembered as a member of the Lovecraft circle, but he also wrote some good science fiction. Space Station #1 was, curiously, the first full-length novel to be published under his name. It's a fine and adventurous mix of mystery and romance set on man's first beachhead in outer space! It was first published as half of an Ace Double (bound with a van Vogt novel), but they reprinted it as a small solo volume a couple of years later with the same nifty Ed Emshwiller cover.
July 31, 2023
Science-fiction novel written by a protegé of H. P. Lovecraft, very far from the cosmic horror HPL specialised in. Instead we have here a murder mystery set aboard a space station against a backdrop of class conflict on a Martian colony and convoluted political conspiracies - including the threat of a military coup back home on Earth. In true film noir fashion shocking plot twists, complicated gambits and double-identities keep piling up on each other during the story. The plot itself is exciting and well thought out, if not particularly original, I just wish the author had allowed things to breathe a bit more by getting further into the depth of the setting as well as the inner lives of the characters. The overall reading experience felt a bit too rushed for my taste, you could do much worse however.
January 6, 2018
Space Station 1, Reader 0.
Some novels are so brain-numbingly bad that it's best to let the author speak for himself, which I will happily, sadistically do in just a moment. First, for what it's worth, the plot.
Lieutenant David Corriston uncovers a conspiracy of bemasked renegades on board a space station and falls instantly in love with Helen Ramsey, the daughter of a dodgy businessman controlling uranium exports from Mars.
As the action unfolded the author occassionally treated us with glimpses into the 'logic' of Corriston's inner thoughts, which usually ended up in a decision to leave his new sweetheart alone in bad company. An attempt to temporarily turn his hero into an unreliable narrator suffering from a dose of 'space sickness' was similarly cack-handed.
Belknap Long was a close friend of H. P. Lovecraft. This was his first novel, no excuse for the atrocities against prose he committed here, he had been writing short stories for decades beforehand. See for yourself:
The commander spoke almost instantly and his voice had a steel-cold rasp. "Well?" he said.
Just a few words—just the shortest possible question he could have asked.
- Rather like the number of space stations in the story, I counted but one word in that question, not a few.
'There was something going on that was ugly at the core of it, and the coming of the killer had simply brought it out into the open. Not too much into the open as yet perhaps, but the handwriting on the wall had at least become almost readable.'
- And that phrase almost became intelligible.
'Then, abruptly, the bombardment ceased. There was no sound at all in the cabin, just a silence so absolute that the roaring in Corriston's ears was like the sound made by an angry sea beating against vast stone cliffs in a world that had ceased to exist.'
- Belknap Long proudly displays the incomparably awful Amazing Tales magazine house style.
"He felt like a man with a fly swatter in his hand. He had won a victory and yet if he failed to swat a few flies no one would believe that he was telling the truth.'
- You what?
"I'm simply stressing that Mars is simply not a place for a kid of Freddy's age. When he goes roaming he gets his lungs choked with dust. He couldn't ride a bike on Mars—if he had a bike."
- In amongst all the overwrought melodrama this line made me laugh so much I could have fallen off my bike - if I had a bike.
To paraphrase Captain Beefheart when he used to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door, "This thing sucks."
Some novels are so brain-numbingly bad that it's best to let the author speak for himself, which I will happily, sadistically do in just a moment. First, for what it's worth, the plot.
Lieutenant David Corriston uncovers a conspiracy of bemasked renegades on board a space station and falls instantly in love with Helen Ramsey, the daughter of a dodgy businessman controlling uranium exports from Mars.
As the action unfolded the author occassionally treated us with glimpses into the 'logic' of Corriston's inner thoughts, which usually ended up in a decision to leave his new sweetheart alone in bad company. An attempt to temporarily turn his hero into an unreliable narrator suffering from a dose of 'space sickness' was similarly cack-handed.
Belknap Long was a close friend of H. P. Lovecraft. This was his first novel, no excuse for the atrocities against prose he committed here, he had been writing short stories for decades beforehand. See for yourself:
The commander spoke almost instantly and his voice had a steel-cold rasp. "Well?" he said.
Just a few words—just the shortest possible question he could have asked.
- Rather like the number of space stations in the story, I counted but one word in that question, not a few.
'There was something going on that was ugly at the core of it, and the coming of the killer had simply brought it out into the open. Not too much into the open as yet perhaps, but the handwriting on the wall had at least become almost readable.'
- And that phrase almost became intelligible.
'Then, abruptly, the bombardment ceased. There was no sound at all in the cabin, just a silence so absolute that the roaring in Corriston's ears was like the sound made by an angry sea beating against vast stone cliffs in a world that had ceased to exist.'
- Belknap Long proudly displays the incomparably awful Amazing Tales magazine house style.
"He felt like a man with a fly swatter in his hand. He had won a victory and yet if he failed to swat a few flies no one would believe that he was telling the truth.'
- You what?
"I'm simply stressing that Mars is simply not a place for a kid of Freddy's age. When he goes roaming he gets his lungs choked with dust. He couldn't ride a bike on Mars—if he had a bike."
- In amongst all the overwrought melodrama this line made me laugh so much I could have fallen off my bike - if I had a bike.
To paraphrase Captain Beefheart when he used to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door, "This thing sucks."
January 9, 2016
Not much to see, move along.
A generic sci-fi invetigation/ransom, a story that didn't age well, I believe.
A generic sci-fi invetigation/ransom, a story that didn't age well, I believe.
September 9, 2024
What a fun book to read, full of surprises and plot twists and i really got into the characters!!!
Classic retro futuristic sci-fi of the golden age ('50s) with some shocking scenes, smart way to go through the events and i enjoyed the way the author made the character think about some stuff such as who's behind of this treason, how to escape from the danger etc.
The only thing i found negative was the way a couple of events, like the romance between the protagonist with the woman who plays important role, seemed to go on so easy in only 150 pages the book is.
I wanted to give it some more space to get familiar with it but it's a great book to read in my opinion.
Classic retro futuristic sci-fi of the golden age ('50s) with some shocking scenes, smart way to go through the events and i enjoyed the way the author made the character think about some stuff such as who's behind of this treason, how to escape from the danger etc.
The only thing i found negative was the way a couple of events, like the romance between the protagonist with the woman who plays important role, seemed to go on so easy in only 150 pages the book is.
I wanted to give it some more space to get familiar with it but it's a great book to read in my opinion.
December 12, 2019
Gelesen als Die Marsfestung
Der junge Leutnant Corriston wird zur Besatzung der ersten bemannten Raumstation abkommandiert, die als Umleiteplatz der großen Passagierschiffe zum Mars dient. Doch schon auf dem kurzen Flug zur Station passieren unerwartete und unerklärliche Zwischenfälle, die nichts anderes als ein harmloses Vorspiel dessen sind, was den Leutnant erwartet.Gewaltig und in einmaliger Schönheit schwebt die Station im Raum, die Erde langsam umkreisend. Leutnant Corriston war gekommen, die Wunder dieses technischen Giganten zu schauen, aber plötzlich sieht er sich in Gefahren verwickelt, von denen er bisher nicht die geringste Ahnung hatte.Denn das ist die grausame Wahrheit: Der künstliche Mond gehört nicht mehr der irdischen Regierung, sondern einer fremden Macht, die aus dem Raum kam. Mit den Gesichtern der ursprünglichen Mannschaft beherrscht sie die Station. Noch weiß Leutnant Corriston das nicht. Ahnungslos teilt er dem falschen Kommandanten der Station seinen furchtbaren Verdacht mit, als er eine Begegnung mit einem Mörder hat...
Nichts Besonderes dieser Roman, er ist nicht gut, aber auch kein kompletter Reinfall.
Der junge Leutnant Corriston wird zur Besatzung der ersten bemannten Raumstation abkommandiert, die als Umleiteplatz der großen Passagierschiffe zum Mars dient. Doch schon auf dem kurzen Flug zur Station passieren unerwartete und unerklärliche Zwischenfälle, die nichts anderes als ein harmloses Vorspiel dessen sind, was den Leutnant erwartet.Gewaltig und in einmaliger Schönheit schwebt die Station im Raum, die Erde langsam umkreisend. Leutnant Corriston war gekommen, die Wunder dieses technischen Giganten zu schauen, aber plötzlich sieht er sich in Gefahren verwickelt, von denen er bisher nicht die geringste Ahnung hatte.Denn das ist die grausame Wahrheit: Der künstliche Mond gehört nicht mehr der irdischen Regierung, sondern einer fremden Macht, die aus dem Raum kam. Mit den Gesichtern der ursprünglichen Mannschaft beherrscht sie die Station. Noch weiß Leutnant Corriston das nicht. Ahnungslos teilt er dem falschen Kommandanten der Station seinen furchtbaren Verdacht mit, als er eine Begegnung mit einem Mörder hat...
Nichts Besonderes dieser Roman, er ist nicht gut, aber auch kein kompletter Reinfall.
February 26, 2015
1984 grade C
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews