The research space vessel Marintha stops in space to replace its faster-than-light fuel stick. On board are Ketch, Howell, Breen and his adult daughter, Karen. I’m not sure who the captain is, but it’s probably Breen. They are attacked by two slug-like spacecraft that suddenly appear. There’s a quaint line that they must be civilised to be attacking. They flee, but one of the slug-like spacecraft pursues them. They think they’ve lost it when they crash on a terrestrial-looking planet.
They resort to fighting and find that they have allies in a diminutive species whom they initially think of as children. Communication is awkward, but there is a sharing of technology, and the aliens are amazed by the human waste disposal system because it allows them to open the plastic surrounding the metal of the slug aliens’ spaceship. The rest is almost all spoiler, although I was surprised by some romance at the end. It might have survived the removal of wordage to fit the size.
Never underestimate a short read. Murray Leinster (1896–1975), otherwise William Jenkins, was a prolific writer of 1,500 short stories and 100 novels. Back in the day, 127 pages was considered a typical length. If you want to ease yourself into reading paperbacks, this length makes things easy and lets you build up. It also demonstrates how the early SF writers packed so much into such a short length. ‘Space Gypsies’ moves at a pace but has a lot of descriptive and character detail to bring it to life.
GF Willmetts
October 2026
(pub: Sphere Science Fiction, 1968. 127 page paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 54798)
Join the conversation (0)