Laurence Manning (1899-1972) was a Canadian writer probably best remembered for his “The Man Who Awoke” series but his earlier fiction is equally fun. His first series involved three scientists, the narrator, Bigelow, Mason and the millionaire, Haworth, and their trips into space onboard The Asteroid. Unlike most Gernback writers, I find Manning very easy to read. He still does the long info dumps and other things that early SF required but no matter. His characters are likable and spending time with them is not the tedious chore that it can be with less interesting writers. Gernsback’s philosophy as editor was that “Scientifiction” should be a lecture on Science disguised as a story. Manning does not neglect those things that made Jules Verne so much fun to read.
All the art in this article was done by Frank R. Paul.
“The Voyage of the Asteroid” (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Summer 1932) has Bigelow and Mason out for a drive when they see a strange aircraft behind a tall fence. They trespass and get their walking papers by a gruff man named Sam. Bigelow leaves his card with the manservant.
Later the two are invited to the estate, which actually belongs to an old college buddy, now rich with his inheritance. Haworth has spent his money on building a spaceship, The Asteroid. He brings his friends in with him and they prepare for a trip to Venus. They know the Moon and Mars probably have little atmosphere, so Venus it is.
Two thirds of the story is about getting to the Cloud Planet, with sights of Earth from space and floating around without gravity. Eventually, they land in the waters of the second planet. Driving around in the water, they finally find land. And the good stuff begins.
The land is inhabited by dinosaurs. Among these are the small, intelligent ones that pre-date Harry Harrison’s West of Eden saurians by fifty years. The explorers get lost then catch terrible swamp fevers but survive to return home to great applause and wealth. The tale is long and fun-loving with plenty of surprisingly accurate detail on space travel such as stage rockets. It appeared in one of Gernback’s quarterlies in its entirety. Hugo liked to fill these magazines with long novellas, so they length was probably by editorial request.
“The Wreck of the Asteroid” (Wonder Stories, December 1932 January 1933 February 1933) appeared in three installments in the regular Wonder Tales magazine. This time the trio are off to Mars, which they rejected last time. New information on the depth of the canals suggest they might find enough air to explore. Their payload problem is solved by landing on the moon Phobos, then descending in a lander called The Planetoid. (Again, the Apollo moon landing used a similar idea in 1969.)
The lander crash lands on the upper surface of the planet. The men take refuge in one of the canals, finding vegetation and air. They also find water in a cactus-like plant. They need to fix The Planetoid quickly or get stuck wintering on the harsh planet.
Problems really begin when insect-like creatures hatch. The newly formed Martians are hungry and aggressive. The men work to fix the ship but Bigelow has time to discover ancient ruins of the ancient Martians. As a race they still exist but have evolved into smaller creatures under the thrall of the insects.
Manning leaves the crew of the Asteroid safe at home but wanting to return to Mars and eradicate the insects that hold it. He never did write that story.
Manning moved on to his most famous series, “The Man Who Woke”, about a time traveler who sleeps for hundreds of years then sees what changes have happened. He also wrote another series for Gernsback called “The Stranger Club”, the first story involving alien robots.
Conclusion
Laurence Manning’s Tales of The Asteroid may not be the most important space travel tales ever written but they are certainly the kind I enjoy. I will admit I tend to skip over the sciency-bits where someone explains something I already know. Modern SF readers bring far more experience on subjects like space travel, time travel, aliens and robots. We have the combined wealth of decades of Science Fiction from writers both great and small. Manning’s space travelogues are fun, informative and far less tiresome than most Hugo Gernsback published fiction. I can’t recommend him enough for the fan of adventure SF.
Fabulous writing and artwork