The Year When Stardust Fell

The Year When Stardust Fell is a science fiction novel written by Raymond F. Jones. It was initially published in 1958 by the John C. Winston Company.

This is one of the thirty-five juvenile novels that comprise the Winston Science Fiction set, which novels were published in the 1950s for a readership of teen-aged boys. The typical protagonist in these books was a boy in his late teens who was proficient in the art of electronics, a hobby that was easily available to the readers. In this story, as in Son of the Stars, the protagonist has a ham radio and a small observatory with a telescope he built himself.

The menace in this story consists of dust from the tail of a comet. It consists of a colloid, analogous to smoke, that incorporates an unknown transuranic element. That element has a great affinity for metal surfaces and it weakens their surface tension, thereby enabling rapidly moving parts to cold weld themselves into solid rigidity. (wikipedia.org)

About the author:

Raymond Fisher Jones (15 November 1915 - 24 January 1994) was an American science fiction author. He is best known for his 1952 novel This Island Earth, which was adapted into the eponymous 1955 film.

Jones was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, and was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from birth. He died at Sandy, Utah, in 1994.

Most of Jones' short fiction was published during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, in magazines such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and Galaxy. His sixteen novels were published between 1951 and 1978.

His short story "Rat Race", first published in the April 1966 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, was nominated for a Hugo Award. In 1996, "Correspondence Course", first published in the April 1945 edition of Astounding Stories, was nominated for a Retro Hugo award for best short story. Another short story, "The Alien Machine", first published in the June 1949 edition of Thrilling Wonder Stories, was later combined with two other short stories, "The Shroud of Secrecy" and "The Greater Conflict", and expanded into the novel This Island Earth, upon which the movie of the same name was based.

Jones also wrote the story upon which a 1952 Tales of Tomorrow television program episode, titled "The Children's Room", was based.

Jones short story, "Tools of the Trade", that appeared in the November 1950 issue of Astounding, was the first story dealing with 3D printing, although he called it "Molecular Spray" at the time.

In 1978 three of his stories were dramatized & released through audio cassette by AudiSee: The Renegades of Time (The Lost One's), The King Of Eolim (The Star Prince) & The Rebels Of Empiria. All three adaptations where sold with an accompanying art-filled booklet. (Wikipedia.org)