Customer Reviews

the space olympics

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Alice Martha Lightner (1904-88) was a New York writer who produced a fairly respectable body of science fiction-- all for young readers, and all of a fairly high quality. _The Space Olympics_ (1967) injvites comparison with an earlier juvenile dealing with similar subject matter, Milton Lesser's _Stadium Beyond the Stars_ (1960).

Lesser developed one futuristic Olympic sport, spacesuit running. But for the most part, the athletic events in both novels are traditional ones-- racing, swimming, wrestling, and discus throwing. I would have liked to see the authors play with more futuristic events. Lightner gives attention to how her athletes will train and exercise and what their educational program will be like. She also gives attention to different planetary conditions and how a handicapping system will be necessary. Lesser tends to gloss over these details, but he does seem to be a bit more knowlegable about how a spaceship will operate.

Both Lesser and Lightner have heroes who run afoul of biased officials, though the nature of the problems differs. In the Lesser novel, it involves first contact with a nonhuman race; in the Lightner, it involves crooked gamblers. In both novels, the hero uses his athletic skills-- spacesuit racing and discus throwing, respectively-- to perform a rescue.

_The Space Olympics_ is not Lightner at her very best, but it is still a good juvenile. Her portraits of various alien planets are colorful and vivid, and her characters are likeable and engaging. Give this novel a try. After that, try one of her more serious pieces like _Day of the Drones_ (1969) or _The Space Plague_ (1966).