Not in Solitude by Kennth F. Gantz (1959)

Not in Solitude, by Kenneth F. Gantz (1959)

At left: Paperback edition (New York: Berkley Publishing, 1961), a Berkley Medallion book, #Y582, 192 p., 40¢.

A drama about the first human spacecraft to land on Mars, here’s the blurb from the back cover:

“It was a race against the clock and Dane had to make a fast decision. Colonel Cragg, the C.O. of the USAF spacecraft Far Venture, was ready to write off the party of scientists who had strayed from the ship and seemingly disappeared. The crew of civilian and military specialists were poised for the nuclear blast-off that should take this first Martain mission back to Earth.

But Dane had seen the curious spark fires that flashed across the sands from the mysterious lichen beds. Dane believed they were the signals of some alien form of life and the scientists were alive ...

He had to prove his theory, even if it meant clashing with the military brass and placing his own life in danger. For unless they understood the nature of what he believed to be a hostile, threatening force and took steps against it--none of them might ever see the planet Earth again ...”

Originally published as a hardcover book in 1959 by Doubleday, the 1961 paperback was “Specially revised by the author.”

Kenneth F. Gantz was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force and also wrote several nonfiction works about the military.