The first true space travel stories weren't written until after 1610. Before then, no one knew for sure that there even were other worlds than this one. But Galileo's great discoveries changed all that. People began to wonder what these other worlds might be like and authors lost no time in getting their interplanetary stories into print. The earliest authors were at a loss regarding exactly how to get their heroes to the Moon and other worlds and had to resort to magic and other unlikely devices. The invention of the balloon was a godsend. For the first time a man-made device enabled humans to leave the surface of the Earth---and there was a renewed surge of space travel stories. Most of these authors merely used the Moon and planets as a convenient backdrop for social satire, but others took some pains to get the science correct---or at least as correct as knowledge of the time permitted. The books in this series run the gamut from from balloons to antigravity, from what may be the first interplanetary story ever written to the first suggestion ever for a passenger-carrying rocket.
Many of these books and stories have not been available in any form for decades. They all contain historical essays and other material written specially for this series by Ron Miller.
The first true space travel stories weren't written until after 1610. Before then, no one knew for sure that there even were other worlds than this one. But Galileo's great discoveries changed all that. People began to wonder what these other worlds might be like and authors lost no time in getting their interplanetary stories into print. The earliest authors were at a loss regarding exactly how to get their heroes to the Moon and other worlds and had to resort to magic and other unlikely devices. The invention of the balloon was a godsend. For the first time a man-made device enabled humans to leave the surface of the Earth---and there was a renewed surge of space travel stories. Most of these authors merely used the Moon and planets as a convenient backdrop for social satire, but others took some pains to get the science correct---or at least as correct as knowledge of the time permitted. The books in this series run the gamut from from balloons to antigravity, from what may be the first interplanetary story ever written to the first suggestion ever for a passenger-carrying rocket.
Many of these books and stories have not been available in any form for decades. They all contain historical essays and other material written specially for this series by Ron Miller.
Includes over 60 original illustrations and photos
Features biographical material by Ron Miller
Now with an Historical Afterword by Ron Miller
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” This 1922 novel by John Young Brown is one of the rarest and most unusual of all the early spaceflight stories. Told in a documentary style, it is profusely illustrated with photos and diagrams, including photos of the spacecraft and space-suited astronauts. Indeed, the book contains a remarkably detailed description of a working space suit (including a photo!).
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” Andre Laurie was a contemporary and sometimes collaborator with Jules Verne. In this novel, he describes a trip to the moon made by dragging the moon to earth via giant electromagnets! Originally published in 1889.
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” James Cowan's charming science fantasy about a group of earthlings carried off to Mars to confront a new Christianity anticipates the later science fiction novels by Christian apologist C.S. Lewis. Originally published in 1896.
Includes the original illustrations by Angus MacDonall
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” Did the hero of this 1917 novel by J.A. Mitchell, the founder of the legendary Life humor magazine, make a trip to the moon or not?
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” The History of a Voyage to the Moon by the pseudonymous "Crystostom Trueman" preceded the publication of Jules Verne's classic space novels by only a few months. The story of a trip to the moon by an antigravity-powered spacecraft, the book contains one of the most detailed descriptions of a spaceship in the early literature...right down to including a garden for the generation of oxygen.
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” William Dixon Bell's prophetic 1937 novel was one of the first books to realisticallly discuss the possibilty of terraforming another world and the methods by which this might be accomplished. The novel is also one of the earliest to mention the use of solar power generators on the Moon and Robert Goddard's work on liquid fuel rockets.
Includes the original illustrations by Frank R. Paul
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” Originally published in 1930, R.H. Romans' novel features one of the great early SF heroines. The indomitable, beautiful genius Dorothy Brewster is the driving force behind mankind's first trip to the moon. Romans' novel is set on an epic scale, encompassing nothing less than the history of the earth and humanity. In addition to being one of the first to suggest boosting spacecraft with an electromagnetic gun, Romans' book is also a uniquely science fictional plea for racial tolerance.
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” Pioneers of Space (1949) was later reincarnated almost word-for-word as the "non-fiction" Inside the Space Ships, one of the books largely responsible for the UFO craze of the 1950s and 60s. Ghost-written by Adamski acolyte Lucy McGinnis, this novel contains some of the most inept scientific ideas imaginable. In the early 1950s, "Professor" George Adamski laid the groundwork for all subsequent UFO contactees. In Pioneers of Space he created many of the incidents and qualities he later attributed to the "actual" inhabitants of Venus, Mars and Saturn he later claimed to have met. In addition, we get a look at some of the strange "science" this self-proclaimed astronomer believed in. "Facts" such as there must be oxygen in space otherwise the sun could not burn...
Featured in Ron Miller’s “The Conquest of Space Book Series.” Washington Gladden was a noted clergyman, theologian and social reformer whose many books on these subjects were highly respected. It may have come as a surprise to his admirers to find this delightful fantasy, first published in a children's magazine in 1880. And although Gladden was writing with tongue clearly in cheek, he displays a good knowledge of and appreciation for technology, science and astronomy. Indeed, this story contains one of the first mentions of the need of a life support system for lunar explorers.
The first true space travel stories weren't written until after 1610. Before then, no one knew for sure that there even were other worlds than this one. But Galileo's great discoveries changed all that. People began to wonder what these other worlds might be like and authors lost no time in getting their interplanetary stories into print. The earliest authors were at a loss regarding exactly how to get their heroes to the Moon and other worlds and had to resort to magic and other unlikely devices. The invention of the balloon was a godsend. For the first time a man-made device enabled humans to leave the surface of the Earth---and there was a renewed surge of space travel stories. Most of these authors merely used the Moon and planets as a convenient backdrop for social satire, but others took some pains to get the science correct---or at least as correct as knowledge of the time permitted. The books in this series run the gamut from from balloons to antigravity, from what may be the first interplanetary story ever written to the first suggestion ever for a passenger-carrying rocket.
Many of these books and stories have not been available in any form for decades. They all contain historical essays and other material written specially for this series by Ron Miller.
