I Dug Dig Allen

When I enlisted in the military many years ago, I learned two awful truths of life:

1. When you join the Army, you can't take anything with you but the clothes you have on, and a razor.
2. When you're gone, there is nothing to prevent your mom from having a big yard sale.

Since my pack-rat/hoarding genes were already well developed, even at that tender age, it was a big yard sale, perhaps the biggest in Chula Vista, or so my mother joked. Yes, she joked, I wept. I returned from defending the American way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to discover I was destitute of all but a few of my most prized possessions -- face it, there are just some things you can't even give away, no matter how much she tried. Gone were boxes of comic books; full runs of Analog SF, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, F&SF and other magazines; sets of Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare and Galsworthy; board games, the earliest simulation games and lots of the old 3M Bookshelf Games; and many other acquisitions of a misspent youth. Not that I blame my mom, of course...to her (and the rest of the world) they were just stuff. Among the MIA was my collection of Dig Allen, Space Explorer books. Never heard of them? You're not alone.

Back in the middle of the last century idealism had not died, nor had the idea of American exceptionalism, and when mixed with our "Space Race" against the Soviet Union it resulted in a very optimistic, very aggressive juvenile literature focused on a future that was egalitarian and progressive, yet still retained much of the rugged individualism admired by Theodore Roosevelt. Penned by veteran writer Joseph Greene and published by Golden Press, the adventures of Digby "Dig" Allen, Space Explorer took place in a solar system that, although impossible with today's knowledge, was scientifically feasible: Venus was a jungle planet, Mars was habitable and the "twilight zone" of Mercury could be colonized. The six books which comprise the series were published from 1959 to 1962, and I remember as late as the 1970s debating that the surface of Venus could possibly be a sea of petroleum -- wouldn't that have been a downer for OPEC if true?

1959

1960

For the times, the books were plausible, and they were very exciting. Of course, juvenile series were nothing new -- the Stratmeyer Syndicate had for decades produced the likes of Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and others. In fact, it was hoped this new series, with its focus on space, the new frontier would be even bigger. Unfortunately, that was just not in the stars.

1961

1961

1962

Instead of hundreds of titles, we have only these six, although there is a rumor that Greene may have scripted a seventh that was never published. The books just did not sell as well as had been hoped, not enough to justify further investment by the publisher. Golden Press cut its losses and went on to other projects.

1962

Though I don't know what the print runs were, they were not large. That is why, now, if you want to collect this series, as short as it is, doing so will cost some coin. Between the Internet and EBay, you can track down anything, and it's no different with the Dig Allen series, though it may take some searching. And when you do find your copies, try not to let your jaw hit the ground. For a decent copy, it may be around $50 or so, which is rather steep considering what books in other kid-lit series can be had for. Of course, it depends upon your motivation.


Now, there is an afterword to this mawkish little foray into my lost past. Years ago, I was browsing through the Chula Vista Book Store (now long gone, unfortunately) when I spied the spine of a familiar book. I reached up, pulled it from the shelf, and was thrilled to see it was a copy of Lost City of Uranus, the sixth and final book in the series. I could start to rebuild. I called the Wife over and launched into an overlong and tedious description of the series, the plot, and why this book was important to me. As her eyes glazed over (even those who love me are not immune), I told her, "I had this book when I was a kid." She wandered off, some sort of self-preservation urge, I guess, leaving me with my new found treasure. I opened the book. Inside, written in a childish hand was...

Ralph Vaughan

Telephone: GR-4-1107