Space Hostages!

I decided to splash out and buy a pile of old books on Wob (which used to be World of Books, but seems to have decided "wob" sounds somehow cooler). It's mainly the fault of my brother, for buying a complete DVD of the BBC Tripods series, which just reminded me how long it is since I read the books - and having got into the children's science-fiction mindset I just had to do what I've been talking about for many many years, and stock up on Nicholas Fisk books.

 Space Hostages was the first Nicholas Fisk I ever read, and as it turns out it was the earliest of his works that I ever read, first published in 1967. I found it in Horncastle library nearly twenty years later - I must have been around eight years old the first time I read it, which is a bit below the recommended reading age of 10 that this edition comes with, and even if I didn't entirely get the more subtle aspects of the plot it still absolutely hooked me. I think it took a couple of years to develop into a full fixation, but I was soon eagerly searching any library or second-hand book stall for anything with the Fisk name on it, and enjoying every one!

The Fisk name, incidentally, was a cool pen-name. Stephen King once said that the ideal name for a writer of sensational fiction is one with seven or eight letters in the first name and four letters in the surname, allowing the book to print the first name in a smaller font and the surname below it, twice the size. "Nicholas Fisk" follows that rule, and sounds somehow very cool and edgy with it. His real name, David Higginbottom, was obviously completely unsuitable to put on the covers of children's books...

The story of Space Hostages is simple enough - it's a 1967 perception of the near future (a moon base has been established within the last year or so, but everything else feels very contemporary. The Beatles are mentioned in passing as something you'd turn on a radio to hear) and a huge flying saucer lands unexpectedly on the cricket pitch of a small village, population around 170 people. So quite the metropolis compared to the place I grew up, but still the kind of setting I could easily identify with! It turns out not to be aliens, but a British military construction, designed to evacuate the privileged people of the country in the event of a global nuclear war (international tensions are running high, but seem to consist entirely of endless talks that the average people of the world are bored with). The ship is manned by a single Flight Lieutenant, who has found out about it, been outraged and decided to take matters into his own hands. Unfortunately, he exposed himself to the nuclear engines in the process of stealing it, and is rapidly dying of radiation poisoning. He invites a group of village children to come and see inside the ship, and then takes off with them on board as part of an incoherent plan to either hold them hostage and demand world peace, or failing that have them rebuild the human race after its destruction. His mind is essentially gone already, and he dies shortly after, leaving the children adrift in space with no idea how to fly the ship.

That's the set-up for what turns out to be not at all an exciting outer space adventure, but a fascinating character study of the conflict between Brylo (the clever one) and Tony (the self-proclaimed leader). We see things mainly from Brylo's perspective, but it becomes clear that Tony is deeply insecure, and others don't recognise how surprisingly sharp and intelligent he really is precisely because he's so desperate to make everyone think he's the best. He's a wonderful character, and the way the story develops is absolutely gripping - especially if you've never read anything quite like it before! You should all go and read it if you can find a copy (Wob might have another one, maybe? Open Library have a few Fisks, but not that one, sadly - or you could find it in a charity shop, perhaps? It's worth hunting for, anyway!)

I'm well and truly back in the Nicholas Fisk mood, it's great!