The Domes of Pico is a juvenile science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

, the second in Hugh Walters

Hugh Walters (author)

Hugh Walters was a writer of juvenile Science Fiction novels from Bradley in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom.-Biography:...

' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in the UK by Faber

Faber and Faber

Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...

 in 1958, in the US by Criterion Books in 1959 under the title Menace from the Moon and in the Netherlands by Prisma Juniores as 'De Maan Valt Aan' in 1960.

Plot summary

To the lunar dome

Lunar dome

A lunar dome is a type of shield volcano that is found on the surface of the Earth's Moon. They are typically formed by highly viscous, possibly silica-rich lava, erupting from localized vents followed by relatively slow cooling. Lunar domes are wide, rounded, circular features with a gentle slope...

s previously photographed in Blast Off at Woomera

Blast Off at Woomera

Blast Off at Woomera is a young adult science fiction novel, the first in Hugh Walters' Chris Godfrey of U.N.E.X.A. series. It was published in the UK by Faber in 1957, in the US by Criterion Books in 1958 under the title Blast Off at 0300 and in the Netherlands in 1960 by Prisma Juniores under...

and situated near Mons Pico

Mons Pico

Mons Pico is a solitary lunar mountain that lies in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin, and to the south of the dark-floored crater Plato. This peak forms part of the surviving inner ring of the Imbrium basin. This ring continues to the northwest and with the Montes Teneriffe and Montes...

 has been added a cone emitting powerful neutron

Neutron

The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...

 radiation which is causing havoc to the Earth's nuclear power stations. The diminutive Chris Godfrey has the job of piloting a British rocket to plant a homing beacon

Homing beacon

A homing beacon is a radio or acoustic device that allows the user to track a ship, aircraft, an animal, or another individual. Depending on the beacon, the range can be as short as a hundred metres, or, in science fiction, allow for tracking a ship through hyperspace....

 next to the cone to enable a strike by American rockets carrying Soviet nuclear warheads...

External links

• Domes of Pico page and Text extract
• Nebula No.33. August 1958 Review by Ken Slater
  Ken Slater
  Ken Slater was a British science fiction fan and bookseller. In 1947, while serving in the British Army of the Rhine, he started Operation Fantast, a network of science fiction fans which had 800 members around the world by 1950 though it folded a few years later...