We recently got the third of the four novellas in the new Captain Future stories by Allen Steele, which is “The Return of Ul Quorn” sequence. This sequence actually comprises the second of three planned novels that includes the revamped origin story, Avengers of the Moon.
From the Experimenter Publishing Company, the publisher behind the current Amazing Stories, it appears as the next issue of the new “magazine” Edmond Hamilton’s Captain Future.
For those not aware, Captain Future was originally published by Ned Pine‘s Thrilling Publications.
Inspired by Doc Savage, Curtis Newton was raised on the Moon after the murder of his parents by criminals. He was raised by three beings: Dr. Simon Wright, whose brain was encased in a enclosure after his body died; Otho, a synthetic being created by Newton’s parents; and Grag, an intelligent, self-aware robot. These three will be his “Futuremen.” Otho and Grag have their own bizarre alien pets: Oog and Eek. Together they operate as a special group of troubleshooters for the president of the Solar System.
Set five years after the events of Avengers of the Moon, The Return of Ul Quornis is about the Magician of Mars, Captain Future’s main villain who was thought to be dead.
In the first part, “Captain Future in Love,” Curt and friends go after a terrorist attempt on Venus, and when he find that the female terrorist is an old flame, he recalls when they first met on Venus when he was a boy. At the same time, a mysterious figure calling himself the Black Pirate hijacks a luxury spaceliner near Saturn. In the second part, “The Guns of Pluto,” we learn that the Black Pirate is Ul Quornis, the Magician of Mars, and this is all part of his plot to use the spaceline with a new experimental warp drive to get to Deneb, a distant, bright star that has a strange connection to the solar system (also also one of the Futuremen’s pets). He succeeds, taking Capture Future (and that pet) with him.
In this story, we find out what they discover on Deneb. While I know in the original Captain Future, they are able to travel to other star systems including Deneb, I don’t know how much of this is based on the original. We learn who the Denebians are, how Oog fits in, and a bit of what Ul Quornis is after. You’ll need to read to find out yourself. Captain Future is able to return to our solar system a month later. But the end of this one leaves us with even more of a cliffhanger than the last one did! I can’t wait to see how this works out.
A bonus story is a humorous take on Captain Future: “Captain Future Meets Gilbert and Sullivan.” I was expecting another classic Captain Future reprint like the previous issue.
In looking at each of the three volumes so far, I found it strange that none are marked as to where they are in the series of stories, though if you read them, they clearly tell you this. Also, each issue and each novella is longer than the previous ones. How long will the next one be?
The next story, “The Horror of Jupiter,” is promised this year, which is good as I want to read it. When all four parts are done, will they collect them into a single volume? And I have no idea what the plans are for the final part of the trilogy of new stories. Will that one also be serialized over three or four issues, and are there be plans for more? Time will tell.
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