Though not the first Space:1999 tie-in book, here in Canada that would have been "Breakaway" from Orbit Books, which I saw sitting on a bookstore shelf in the summer of 1975, a discovery of which I described previously here. However, that was not the first one I bought. That September, shortly after the television series began its two-year run, I grabbed Pocket Books' premiere release in their "Space:1999" line. The cover is emblazoned with the bold title of "Breakaway", which is also the name of the show's premiere episode, but there are three other episode adaptations in this volume: "Matter of Life and Death", "Ring Around the Moon", and "Black Sun".
I don't know how well these books sold. Having watched the video side of Space:1999, I can't imagine that many people ran out to collect them ― perhaps they were purchased in good faith, with some hope of discovering profound adventures and engaging characters in the more expansive literary form. Perhaps it's time I dip back into these pages: newfound curiosity might get me to break away from reading On the Road, stories about another space traveller.)
"Breakaway", the adaptations, I read with a charged blast of enthusiasm, and no little reverence, in September of 1975. We young ones welcomed a new space series, and its printed offspring.
SPACE: 1999
"Breakaway"
- first novel in the spectacular new epic -
by
E.C. Tubb
Pocket Books
September 1975
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