Post by Craig Herbertson on Mar 24, 2009 7:10:44 GMT
Here's a story by E. C Eliot famous or perhaps notorious, for the Kemlo space series about a boy living on a satellite shaped liked a doughnut (the satellite not the boy). I thoroughly enjoyed the Kemlo stories as a wee laddie. In retrospect this was because I was a fireball Xl5 fan and anything with a picture of a chap sat astride a hoover-like space vehicle wearing a bubble helmet swishing across a curtain of stars was enough to swing my vote.
Think here Enid Bylton in space and you'll get close.
The problem with Tas, a Tasmanian boy who lives next to a space field, is that he is rather dull. Kemlo was also somewhat dull but he was out in space. Tas being on the ground has to implausibly get onto a space ship somehow to do something exciting.
There is no point in revealing the plot. Its over by the time you notice you're reading.
The book has four things to recommend it.
1/ A lurid cover
2/ It's short
3/ It provides an idea of the cultural mores of the era
4/ It makes you laugh once.
The laughter comes when Tas and his two incredibly dull friends enthuse over ice cream. They appear to be about nine years old. Next to this description is an illustration of three guys in a space car who on closer inspection turn out to be Tas and his chums. They look about twenty five in the illustration. That's the one laugh.