Cover: Space Age
AMAZING STORIES OF THE SPACE AGE:
TRUE TALES OF NAZIS IN ORBIT, SOLDIERS ON THE MOON,
ORPHANED MARTIAN ROBOTS, AND OTHER FASCINATING ACCOUNTS
FROM THE ANNALS OF SPACEFLIGHT
Rod Pyle, Prometheus Books, January 24, 2017, $18
ISBN-10: 1633882217; ISBN-13: 978-1633882218
Pyle reports:
Amazing Stories of the Space Age chronicles some of the oddest space missions never flown, and others that were. The book ranges from the Nazi dream of a manned rocketplane dropping bombs on Manhattan, to U.S. Army military bases on the moon, to spacecraft powered by exploding atom bombs. The book also details some lesser-known stories from spaceflight history such as the accidental shutdown of the Viking 1 Mars lander, and a potentially catastrophic explosion aboard the Apollo 11 lunar module shortly after touchdown.
Rod Pyle
The book started out as a pitch for a History Channel show, came close to production, and then sat for about eight years. I eventually recast it as a 15-page book proposal with an annotated table of contents. It made the rounds of N.Y. publishers via my agent, sat for two years, and was then picked up by Prometheus. From signed contract to completed draft was about nine months, then two more months for corrections, vetting by outside experts, and more editing. It’s worth mentioning that I had done a fair amount of research before the book was commissioned.
Prometheus’ editorial staff was great, and other than grammatical corrections, added footnotes and some fact-checking, the manuscript proceeded into print largely as submitted. Prometheus is very supportive of the author’s intent and vision.
Researching the book was a challenge, as much of the historical documentation I found would create as many questions as it answered. Continued digging and investigation was required. A number of other authors, historians and experts were also incredibly helpful and supportive. I am indebted to many people for this book.
It’s worth noting that when dealing with the space age period — and lots of other historical eras, to be sure — primary references often are incomplete, and frequently disagree with other documents and records of the time.
I hope to write a sequel, since there were a number of great stories I was not able to include in the 365 pages.
Contact info:
- Rod Pyle, 626.399.4440, rodpyle@yahoo.com
- Agent: John Willig, 609-698-7162, wlitagent@msn.com
- Publicist: Lisa Michalski, lmichalski@prometheusbooks.com
- Book website: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545737/amazing-stories-of-the-space-age-by-rod-pyle/9781633882218/
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