AboutBill Denholm Expertise I have a large collection of paperback SF. I am a serious collector. I can answer quetions about books by a particular author or books published by a particular publisher. I have a special interest in cover art and the artists who do the covers.
Experience I have been collecting SF paperbacks since the 1950s and I have many reference books about Science Fiction.
Publications Various magazines for paperback book collectors.
Question Hi Bill, I'm wondering if you might be able to help me shed some light on the title of a book I read some 16 years ago as a boy of 12. I remember getting this book from my local library at the time and picking it up just because it was one of the few sci-fi books they had left on the shelf... it ended up being the first book I felt compelled to read cover to cover in one sitting. But, for the life of me, I cannot remember its title! I do remember the story being about the crew of a rocket or spaceship from earth landing on either Mars or the Moon (I thought it was Mars but I remember there being big craters described in the text but that might have just been a lack of knowledge of the writers at the time). When they land they discover a race of giant ants that live in the craters and under the surface of the planet. The only other information I have is that the book must have been well before my birth in '79 because the writing style seemed dated (perhaps 50's or 60's but not '70's I think) also the cover was odd and old looking. I cant remember if it was a hardback with sleeve or a printed hardback (but it was a hardback nonetheless) and the cover art was only in the colours white, blue and black... heres where I get really vague... it may or may not have had a picture of a man in a spacesuit holding a ray gun, a rocket and craters on the cover.
Now... lol... might you be able to shed some light here? If you can it would answer one of my longest running personal quests... what was the name of that bloody book!?? lol.
Thanks for your time.
Aki Atrill
Answer Aki,
This is something of a long shot, but I did find a book called "The First Men in the Moon" by H.G. Wells. From the description, they may not be actual giant ants, but more creatures (people?) who live like ants. I'm sure Wells' style would have seemed dated.
