Trouble On Titan

Annotation

When Tuck Benedict and David Torm faced each other on the bleak and frigid face of Titan, Saturn’s sixth moon, they represented, literally, the opposite ends of the universe. For in the twenty-second century, Tuck represented the rich and easy civilization of an Earth that had grown luxurious by utilizing solar energy through a catalytic mineral produced in Titan s grim mines.

David Torm, whose ancestors had been exiled to Titan centuries before, stood for the hardened Titan colonists who huddled beneath their airtight dome to mine the metal responsible for Earth’s prosperity. Meeting on the eve of an open revolt by the Titan miners against Earth s authority, these two teen-agers found grounds for friendship that their bickering fathers could never see.

This story of why the miners hated Earthlings, how they planned to ruin Earth and escape from the solar system gives this book its thrilling plot. The search for their means of escape from Titan’s airless surface made by Tuck and David is a thrill-a-minute adventure interspersed with desperate attempts to prevent armed revolt and makes Trouble on Titan an unusual and thought-provoking tale of tomorrow.

The Author

Alan Nourse claims that the idea for Trouble on Titan was born at a New Year s Eve party in Philadelphia. It came out of a three-cornered conversation that dealt with jazz and a college musical fantasy. The plot idea had progressed so far that it was outlined on New Year s Day. “Essentially,” says the author, “it is an adventure story built oil a background of established science, but taking off imaginatively where known science ends. If the reader finds excitement and adventure and, at the same time, food for thought and consideration, the book will be well worth the writing.”

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, a veteran of World War II, Alan Nourse devotes only part of his time to science fiction. Though he has had his science fiction appear in such well-known magazines as Astounding Science Fiction, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Galaxy Science Fiction, his major interest is medicine, which he’s studying now at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Editors

Cecile Matschat, editor of the Winston Science Fiction series, is recognized as one of this country’s most skilful writers and editors. She has sixteen books to her credit, including the highly praised Suwannee River in the “Rivers of America” series. Nationally known as a lecturer, an artist of great ability, Cecile Matschat is also an expert historian. With this varied background, she is perfectly suited to select top science fiction authors and books to make this a balanced and well-rounded series.

Carl Carmer, consulting editor, holds an outstanding position in the literary world. Author of Stars Fell on Alabama, he now edits the popular “Rivers of America” series. Other of his books are Genesee Fever, For the Rights of Man, Listen for a Lonesome Drum, and Windfall Fiddle.