THE MOON IS HELL - Book review

 

John W. Campbell’s novel The Moon is Hell was published in 1951; my copy was from 1975, some half-dozen years after the first moon landing. The back cover blurb states ‘... is a great writer’s vision of the first men on the Moon – not as the American space programme made it happen, but as it might have been!’

Regarded as a hard-science classic, it is a relatively short read, 123 pages. It’s in diary form by Dr Duncan, a physicist and second in command.

It’s 1981. Thirteen men have been on the moon in their protected dome for just over a year on the dark side of the moon. The crew consists of a surgeon, two chemists, two mineralogists, an astrophysicist, electricians and mechanics, and an engineer and cook. They expect to be relieved shortly. Unfortunately, the relief spaceship crashes, killing all crew and destroying equipment. ‘The burning fuel destroyed everything’ (p28); yet it’s unlikely that there would be any burning as there’s no air.

Because it’s on the ‘wrong’ side of the moon, there is no direct radio contact with Earth. To compound matters they learn that somebody is stealing food from the storehouse. Nil desperandum: the moon ‘is a single vast chemical laboratory’ (p33).  They begin to manufacture oxygen and, ultimately, artificial food from clothing and paper, and photo cells for electricity and power.

It’s a race against time. By trekking to the earthside of the moon they might be able to send a message to Earth and hope that a rescue ship can get to them. Their ingenuity is laudable and life-saving.

The narrative, being technical, cold and scientific, leaves little room for characterisation, so there isn’t a great deal of empathy for anyone. A story has to have conflict and in this sense their conflict is with the inhospitable satellite itself; however, none of the individuals evince any conflict, save for the thief when finally discovered. On p10 there’s a hint that not all of them will survive. Perhaps not surprisingly for the date of writing, when food becomes an issue cannibalism isn’t considered! Yet what shine through is their adaptability and the determined resistance to defeatism.

A worthy addition to any science fiction collection.

Of course the concept was used, with adjustments, to great acclaim by Andy Weir in The Martian (2014), some sixty-three years later...