Lucky Starr is the hero of a series of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

books by

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, using the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

"Paul French" and intended for

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

. On 23 March 1951 Asimov met with his agent,

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellit ...

, and Walter I. Bradbury, then the science fiction editor at Doubleday & Co., who had a proposal for him. Pohl and Bradbury wanted Asimov to write a juvenile science fiction novel that would serve as the basis for a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series. Fearing that the novel would be adapted into the "uniformly awful" programming he saw flooding the television channels, he decided to publish it under the pseudonym "Paul French". Asimov began work on the novel, ''David Starr: Space Ranger'', on 10 June. He completed it on 29 July, and it was published by Doubleday in January 1952. Although plans for the television series fell through, Asimov continued to write novels in the series, eventually producing six. A seventh, ''Lucky Starr and the Snows of Pluto'', was planned, but abandoned when Asimov elected to devote himself to writing non-fiction almost exclusively. With no worries about being associated with an embarrassing televised version, Asimov decided to abandon the pretense that he was not the author (although the books continued to be published under the Paul French pseudonym). He brought the

Three Laws of Robotics The Three Laws of Robotics (often shortened to The Three Laws or known as Asimov's Laws) are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story " Runaround" (included in the 1950 colle ...

into ''Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury'', which he wrote in his autobiography "was a dead giveaway to Paul French's identity for even the most casual reader". Eventually, Asimov used his own name in later editions. Some cover pages bear his name only, while others credit "Isaac Asimov writing as Paul French".

Publishing history

* '' David Starr, Space Ranger'' (1952) * ''

Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids ''Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids'' is the second novel in the ''Lucky Starr'' series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by ...

'' (1953) * '' Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus'' (1954) * ''

Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury ''Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury'' is the fourth novel in the ''Lucky Starr'' series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubl ...

'' (1956) * '' Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter'' (1957) * ''

Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn ''Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn'' is the final novel in the Lucky Starr series, ''Lucky Starr'' series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first publi ...

'' (1958) Although the hero's given name – used on the first book – was "David" (chosen in honor of his own son), Asimov decided this lacked vigor, so the titles of all the later books used his nickname "Lucky". These novels have a long and varied publishing history. They came out in hardcover with Doubleday in the first edition. Bantam was the latest, in 1993, to bring out the series in 3 volumes, publishing pairs of titles together. In 2001 the

Science Fiction Book Club Bookspan LLC is a New York–based online bookseller, founded in 2000. Bookspan began as a joint endeavor by Bertelsmann and Time Warner. Bertelsmann took over control in 2007, and a year later, sold its interest to Najafi Companies, an Arizo ...

published all six novels as a collection in a single volume, under the title ''The Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr''. The British first editions of all six novels omit the prefix altogether, being titled ''Space Ranger'', ''Oceans of Venus'', etc. A later British paperback edition of the 1970s, published by NEL (in the ''New English Library'' series), restored the original titles – but in numbering them from 1 to 6, on the covers, in fact published them in the wrong order. The first book was translated into French in 1954 under the title ''Sur la planète rouge'' ("On the Red Planet") with the original pseudonym, Paul French. It was published in the "

Anticipation Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear, anxiety, hope and trust. When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (if posit ...

" science fiction imprint of ''Fleuve noir''. It was later adapted as a French

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

twice, in 1975 and 1992. Three books were also published in Dutch. Titles were, in order of the original American series: * ''Een man alleen'' (orig. ''David Starr, Space Ranger''), 1977 * ''Piraten van de asteroïden'' (''Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids''), 1978 * ''De grote zon van Mercurius'' (''Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury''), 1978 Omnibus and collected editions: * Science Fiction Book club (6 in 1) * Bantam (first two novels)

Science content

Asimov carefully introduced astronomical and physical concepts which the scientific knowledge of the time supported. In later editions, he added a preface pointing out that new scientific discoveries have rendered some locations and concepts obsolete: Mercury does not present only one side to the Sun, and

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

is not covered by a global ocean, for example.In the preface to each of the six volumes published in the USA by Fawcett

References

External links

* {{Isaac Asimov novels Science fiction book series Science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov Children's science fiction novels Fiction about the Solar System Works published under a pseudonym Doubleday (publisher) books Book series introduced in 1952