A rocketing, sensational exposé of sin in space: a story about a drug deadlier than heroin, more vicious than morphine, this was the Martian narcotic that drenched a planet in crime and perversion.

This was the blurb that screamed from the back cover of the Galaxy re-publication of the novel written by husband and wife writing team Cyril M. Kornbluth and Judith Merril which was originally serialised in 1951. The blurb in this case is totally misleading as I have rarely read such a 'grown up' thoughtful novel from this era of pulp fiction.

Sin in Space was the 1961 reprint, but the original story had the title of Mars child, then [Outpost Mars]. The story starts with a difficult birth of a child in a struggling close knit human colony on the planet Mars: not so many science fiction books would have started with a birth scene. Tony Hellman is the doctor in attendance and he is also part of the democratically elected ruling committee of the community of Sun Lake. It is a community that prides itself on its complete sexual equality and is desperately trying to be self sufficient so that it can loosen its ties with an overcrowded and corrupt planet earth. The birth of a child is a big event in the colony which relies on drugs to enable them to breathe a rarefied atmosphere. The community receives a visit from the nearby Brenner Pharmaceutical corporation: an industrial concern that manufacture the addictive drug Marcaine. Brenner accuses the community of stealing a shipment of his drugs and demands that a search be carried out for the guilty culprit. Brenner knows that such a search would cause the release of radioactive material which could destroy the colony. The arrival in the twice yearly rocket supply ship from earth of journalist Douglas Graham, who is planning a feature book on the life of the planet, becomes a focal point for the struggle between the colony and the industrialists.

This is a well written story that also describes the hard grind of a relatively new colony trying to forge its own future on a planet where life is difficult, but whose participants have sacrificed everything to escape from planet earth. The birth of the Mars child proves to be a significant event in the life of the community and in accordance with the aims of the community the novel provides equal opportunity for both women and men to play significant roles. It is pulp fiction, but still a refreshingly good read and so 4 stars. ( )

Un'altra riscoperta, questo romanzo del grande Kornbluth coadiuvato da Judith Merril, fu pubblicato a puntate sulle pagine della mitica "Urania Rivista" nel lontano 1952 e da allora mai più ristampato. Di quella edizione abbiamo mantenuto anche le illustrazioni originali.
Quaranta anni sono trascorsi da quando i primi colonizzatori - circa tremila in tutto - atterrarono su Marte. Gli abitanti della città dì Sun Lake è una cooperativa senza mire industriali. I suoi membri sono composti di ogni categoria dì individui, dagli operai ai tecnici specializzati, e hanno tutti una idea in comune, cioè che la Terra sia finita come pianeta di abitazione.
A Sun Lake è nato un bambino da Jim e Polly Kandro. Al bambino viene applicata una speciale maschera di ossigeno, dato che i neonati e i bambini fino a quattro o cinque anni non assorbono la pillola OxEn, enzimi di ossigeno necessari alla respirazione su Marte....