“Stowaway to Mars” by John Beynon. Nova Science Fiction Novels No. 1 (1953). British digest. Cover art by Gordon Hutchings.
“Joan Shirning, the daughter of a scientist, is discovered as a stowaway when the spaceship Gloria Mundi is en route from Earth to Mars. Ace aviator Dale Curtance, pilot and designer of the spaceship, together with engineer Burns, journalist Froud, Doctor Grayson and Geoffrey Dugan, are attempting the two-way trip to the Red Planet in an attempt to win a million pound prize offered by a rival aircraft company.
“Curtance does not believe Joan’s story that her father has been in communication with intelligent life on Mars, although she tells him that they had been visited on Earth by a strange many-tentacled machine which taught her the Martian language, and that she has stowed away to vindicate the ridicule and scorn heaped upon her father’s head.
“Seventy-four days after leaving Earth the Gloria Mundi lands safely upon the arid Martian desert and the occupants are then thrown into a series of suspenseful adventures that will keep you on the edge of your chair wondering what will happen next. The arrival of two other spaceships – one Russian and one American – complicate the International situation. Add the semi-sentient mechanical life of Mars and the discovery of one of the few remaining Martians living, plus the imaginative writing of one of Britain’s outstanding science fiction authors, and it adds up to a top-notch Nova Science Fiction Novel.”
“Stowaway to Mars” by John Beynon. Nova Science Fiction Novels No. 1 (1953). British digest. Cover art by Gordon Hutchings.
“Joan Shirning, the daughter of a scientist, is discovered as a stowaway when the spaceship Gloria Mundi is en route from Earth to Mars. Ace aviator Dale Curtance, pilot and designer of the spaceship, together with engineer Burns, journalist Froud, Doctor Grayson and Geoffrey Dugan, are attempting the two-way trip to the Red Planet in an attempt to win a million pound prize offered by a rival aircraft company.
“Curtance does not believe Joan’s story that her father has been in communication with intelligent life on Mars, although she tells him that they had been visited on Earth by a strange many-tentacled machine which taught her the Martian language, and that she has stowed away to vindicate the ridicule and scorn heaped upon her father’s head.
“Seventy-four days after leaving Earth the Gloria Mundi lands safely upon the arid Martian desert and the occupants are then thrown into a series of suspenseful adventures that will keep you on the edge of your chair wondering what will happen next. The arrival of two other spaceships – one Russian and one American – complicate the International situation. Add the semi-sentient mechanical life of Mars and the discovery of one of the few remaining Martians living, plus the imaginative writing of one of Britain’s outstanding science fiction authors, and it adds up to a top-notch Nova Science Fiction Novel.”