Captain Future: Captain Future in Love

Once again we find ourselves playing catch up with a new pulp series. Last year we found “Captain Future – The Guns of Pluto.” Seeing that it was a new adventure based on Edmond Hamilton’s classic pulp hero, we eagerly snatched up a copy and loved it. At which point we learned it was the third entry in the series by veteran writer Allen Steele. The first chapter had been released by another publisher with the title “Avengers of the Moon.” We found it, read and give it major thumbs up.Sadly things went awry and that publisher chose not to continue the series. Steele then partnered with the good folks at Amazing Stories and wrote two more action packed entries. In “Captain Future in Love,” he picks up the story of orphaned Curt Newton who was raised by an android, cyborg and robot in a hidden cave on the moon. Newton’s obsession is to find the corrupt millionaire politician who murdered his parents.But first Captain Future must deal with possible terrorists on attack Venus installations. This triggers flashback memories wherein we learn of his first visit to that planet as a teenager and his encounter with a lovely young thief who steals his heart. It’s a fun tale and told with the proper emotional sensitivity. As with his other Captain Future stories, Steele combines elements of both hard science fiction with the more romantic elements of pulp space operas. What are two radically different styles merge seamlessly in his storytelling. Having read both the first and third, we’re delighted to have filled in the missing chapter of this truly enjoyable saga. Ed Hamilton would have loved these.

Curtis Newton has begun to live up to his childhood play name of Captain Future. Now working for the IPF, Newton working under the code name Captain Future has become known and feared throughout the Sol System and beyond. The stories of his battles are many and the fear of what may happen in a confrontation with the Captain and his companions have led many to simply throw down their weapons when confronted with the reality of his attention.But...the hero that he is now was not always so growing up to become the legend. And the one who had his heart during those years, may not be the person that he thought she was.Allen Steele once more spins a tale of Captain Future and the Futuremen. In the AVENGERS ON THE MOON readers were introduced to the emerging adult version of Curtis Newton and his entry into the intrigues of the politics of the 24th century. Steele was a tremendous fan of the late Edmund Hamilton's original pulpish version of the Captain and crew, but knew that wouldn't work with today's more sophisticated contemporary readers. In creating these new adventures, Steele has given us a more mature, much more realistic version of the hero without losing the fun and excitement of the original adventures. Allen turns his excellent story telling to familiar territory and has rebirthed what will hopefully be the first of many future stories to come. Sub-titled THE RETURN OF UL-QUORN, BOOK 1, the author promises the hope of many more tales of the first Space Superhero.This is the first book in the new AMAZING SELECTS series of novels/novellas that are to be presented as new stories and adventures from the AMAZING STORIES imprint recently recrafted and reborn under the ownership and editorial guidance of Steve Davidson.Look for the Easter egg that Steele gives you in a nice reference to the stories by the OTHER master of the beginnings of the true Space Opera, E.E. Doc Smith...'nuff said...I'll let you discover that little nugget on your own.Can't wait for part II...

After Allen Steele revamped Captain Future in "Avengers on the Moon", where he revamped and modernized Captain Future's origin. This was meant as the first of a trilogy, but a change in editors killed that.But the publishers behind the new "Amazing Stories" have now stepped in and started a new book series, “Edmond Hamilton’s Captain Future.” The first book is out with “Captain Future in Love” (a novella by Steele originally serialized in a recent pair of Amazing Stories issues). Hopefully this will be successful and we’ll get more, because the plan is it will be the first of four novellas that will make up the planned second part of the trilogy. The first issue also gives a good overview of the original Captain Future and how this new series came about.Here, Captain Future and friends are dealing with a terrorist action, while someone called the Black Pirate steals a luxury liner. When they capture the terrorist, CF realizes she is a girl he meet on Venus when he was a kid, and we get a flashback to this.The next part is out and I look forward to it.

Captain Future is back with Allen Steele at his best in bringing back the Space hero of the 1940's.Edmund Hamilton would be proud that his creation has been revived. Recommended reading for all 4 volumes in this series.

The problem with Captain Future is that it feels still a tiny bit out of date and that is something to do with the set up of the story. Firstly in the first book you find out that once Mars is Terraformed the Martians who have themselves been bio-engineered 'will no longer have the planet to themselves'. With that one line despite Quorn and his father being very evil you have to ask if it is right to basically have the planet transformed into another Earth. In the second book you find out they have slower than light Warp drive on the Comet 2 and the other military ships. Would it not be better to have in the new Captain Future Universe a mission to Proxima Centauri? The second point that needs to made and I sure many others have suggested is if Solar Coalition wanted to Terraform a truthfully Earth-like planet inside this Solar System you would not go for Mars which will always have lower gravity but Venus! and if you have a warp drive you could Terra-form not just Venus but also Mercury and even the Moon!

Captain Future, Held unserer Kindheit, Star von Pulp-Romanen aus den 30er und 40er Jahren - endlich zeitgemäß zurück? Naja, geht so.Einigermaßen passabler Versuch, an den Stil der Serienromane alter Sci-fi-Magazine anzuknüpfen. Möglicherweise altert die Welt von CF aber doch nicht so gut, wie man dachte.Die Story selbst ist recht kurz und Teil einer längeren Geschichte, der Rest des Buchs sind Essays über die Entstehung und die Geschichte von Captain Future.Liest sich wie ein Magazinartikel so weg.In Summe bisschen enttäuschend.