The space olympics (A Tempo book : 5536)

Description

Alice Martha Lightner (1904-88) was a New York writer who produced a fairly respectable body of science fiction-- all for young readers, and all of a fairly high quality. The Space Olympics (1967) injvites comparison with an earlier juvenile dealing with similar subject matter, Milton Lesser's Stadium Beyond the Stars (1960). Lesser developed one futuristic Olympic sport, spacesuit running. But for the most part, the athletic events in both novels are traditional ones -- racing, swimming, wrestling, and discus throwing. I would have liked to see the authors play with more futuristic events. Lightner gives attention to how her athletes will train and exercise and what their educational program will be like. She also gives attention to different planetary conditions and how a handicapping system will be necessary. Lesser tends to gloss over these details, but he does seem to be a bit more knowledgable about how a spaceship will operate. Both Lesser and Lightner have heroes who run afoul of biased officials, though the nature of the problems differs. In the Lesser novel, it involves first contact with a nonhuman race; in the Lightner, it involves crooked gamblers. In both novels, the hero uses his athletic skills -- spacesuit racing and discus throwing, respectively -- to perform a rescue. The Space Olympics is not Lightner at her very best, but it is still a good juvenile. Her portraits of various alien planets are colorful and vivid, and her characters are likable and engaging. Give this novel a try. After that, try one of her more serious pieces like Day of the Drones (1969) or The Space Plague (1966).

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