This story started with such promise. Representations of science, meeting aliens on the moon that were taller due to the gravity. I should have expected disappointment when after much scientific discussion about the dark side of the moon, the author, who only went by the initials F. N. wrote “How I journeyed there and back is another story, which I may tell you next Christmas.”
Alas, after a few chapters, it descends into a mere travelogue of his stay with an ‘alien’ family, perhaps similar to an adventure he might have had with a human family in a colder country. This alien family surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, follows a similar way of life to early 20th century nuclear families in that the wife is the one that brings out the food and drink. As these giants wish to take care of him, he spends most of his adventure on the shoulder of one of them. This did seem rather alien behaviour to me and I applauded the idea, however a child might not think much of riding the shoulders of an adult.
After a number of transposed adventures, the author goes skiiing and hurts his foot, but, of course, is easily picked up by his host and taken care of. With science completely forgotten, by this time I was face-palming and struggling to get through the final chapter.
So, I was surprised to find a differently written final paragraph that not only says he woke up and it was all a dream, but also that he turned to his wife in his bed – a character that was never mentioned throughout the entire ten chapters. Obviously the editor had also been face-palming after receiving the latest chapter and decided enough was enough, and sent F. N. on their way. Having said that, the Clipper ended several months after the final chapter so the writing might have already been on the wall.
Interestingly, this is another socialist newspaper that was happy to print a space opera story. It may be that, with so many socialist newspapers yet to be scanned and added to Trove, that there may be more space opera stories out there, waiting to be rediscovered.
If you like stories that are really Earth stories transposed to alien worlds, I recommend checking out Thro’ Space. After much research I concluded that the author’s characters and their visit to Mars is a transposition of him and his friend’s time in French Canada, amongst other places. Space Opera of
