STOWAWAY TO THE MOON: The Camelot Odyssey

by William R. Shelton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 19, 1973

Seen from a Florida cracker's beekeeping barge across the Indian River, the shining towers of the Cape Kennedy space center must exert a powerful fascination, and Shelton cannily uses Old Man Gopher's backwoods wisdom to add a romantic gloss to the programmed dullness of the Apollo moon shots. The cracker beekeeper offers spiritual encouragement and symbolically strengthening meals of royal jelly and peanut butter to young E. J. Mackernutt, a scientific genius and dreamer who -- by dint of complete dedication and engrossingly detailed planning -- manages to stow away in the solid waste compartment of the Camelot moonship. Unfortunately, this extra-long saga begins to decelerate soon after blast-off (and becomes positively irritating during the extended debriefing when E. J.'s idealism is used to put down some crudely caricatured spage program critics). But if E. J. can't quite sell us on the nobility of NASA, Shelton's unusually patient characterizations, occasional flashes of satire, and devotion to routines -- whether of skate-fishing or of moon walking and reentry procedures -- give E. J.'s view of earthside a many faceted reality.

Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION