WILSON TUCKER – The Time Masters. Signet 1127, paperback; 1st printing thus, July 1954. Cover art by Jack Faragasso. Previously published in hardcover by Rinehart, 1953, and by Startling Stories, January 1954, probably in shorter form. Reprinted by Lancer Books, paperback, March 1972.

   For ten thousand years survivors of a wrecked alien spaceship wait for men to become capable of reaching the stars. At last a man and a woman confront each other at Oak Ridge, where scientists are readying the latest experimental rocket.

   That Gilbert Nash is/was the legendary Gilgamesh is fairly obvious, but the open hints he gives should make it clear to those investigating him as well, This is rather typical of the book’s standards, Scientific facts are outdated (as expected), but the rather poor ending is far-fetched,

   That the rocket is orbital rather than exploratory may be because of the scientific “secrecy” that Tucker emphasizes, yet it is entirely unbelievable that Carolyn did not know.

Rating: **