Book, Magazine/Anthology, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Serial

[August 10, 1970] Orn-ery (September 1970 Amazing)

1 Comment


by John Boston

The September Amazing has a new and rather pleasing look.  Editor White recently announced that he had wrested control of the magazine’s visual presentation from Sol Cohen and would be using American artists and dropping the former bulk purchases of covers from European magazines.  The home-grown covers started a couple of issues ago, and now here is “The New Amazing Science Fiction Stories,” in a new and reasonably attractive type face, over an agreeable cover by Jeff Jones portraying a slightly fuzzy figure in a space suit floating in the void, with a planet almost totally eclipsing its sun in the background.  Only problem is that the figure looks a bit like it’s sitting on the inside bend of the thin crescent of light at the edge of the planet, recalling entirely too many cartoonish advertisements of previous decades.  Oh well.  It still looks nice if you don’t think about it too much.

Cover of the September 1970 Amazing emblazoned “The <i/>New Amazing Science Fiction Stories,” in a new and reasonably attractive type face, over an agreeable cover by Jeff Jones portraying a slightly fuzzy figure in a space suit floating in the void, with a planet almost totally eclipsing its sun in the background.  Only problem is that the figure looks a bit like it’s sitting on the inside bend of the thin crescent of light at the edge of the planet, recalling entirely too many cartoonish advertisements of previous decades.  Oh well.  It still looks nice if you don’t think about it too much.
by Jeff Jones

The departments are as usual, with the book reviews fortunately restored after last issue’s absence.  Most notable is Greg Benford’s review of Joanna Russ’s And Chaos Died, which begins: “Reading this, I began to feel that it just might be the best sf novel ever written”; continues: “It is sad, then, to see this marvelous spirit succumb to an escalation of philosophical level the book just can’t support”; and ends: “Novels this ambitious always fail.  But it is seldom that you see an artist writing over the heads of 90% of the writers in this field (including me), and it is a welcome sight.  This is a great book.  Read it.” After that, Dennis O’Neil on The Collected Works of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Benford again on Vernor Vinge’s Grimm’s World, and O’Neil again on James Blish’s Star Trek novel Spock Must Die, all seem anticlimactic.

The letter column begins with a different sort of fireworks, with James Blish in at least medium-high dudgeon over editor White’s review of Blish’s Black Easter, which he says “contains so many errors of fact or implication that I must ask you to publish these corrections.” White responds sharply and at length, stating among other things “You have not commented on my principle [sic] charges of dishonesty. . . .” Something tells me we won’t be seeing any more of Mr. Blish in Amazing’s review column, or anywhere else in the magazine.  Also notable is a letter from Hector R. Pessina of Buenos Aires describing the SF magazine landscape (rather sparse) in Argentina.  In his responses to other letters, White corrects one correspondent: the publisher’s string of SF reprint magazines doesn’t cost money, it makes money to help support Amazing and Fantastic.  And in response to SF scholar R. Reginald, he relates the true history of his collaborative pseudonym Norman Archer. 

White’s editorial includes comments on the editing of the serial Orn, discussed below, and also on his general policy toward serials—avoid cutting, run them in two parts because of the magazine’s bimonthly schedule (and there’s no plan to take it monthly) and because the point of running them is “to publish important new novels, not to coerce you into buying our next issue.” White thinks “Most modern sf readers . . . want at least one ‘major’ item into which they can sink their teeth. . . . .  at least a piece of sufficient length for the author to stretch out and probe his protagonists, and one in which they, as readers, can ‘live’ for a while,” and they want it in chunks large enough to be emotionally satisfying.

Continue reading [August 10, 1970] Orn-ery (September 1970 Amazing) →

1 Comment Leave A Comment
Fashion, music, politics, sports

[August 8, 1970] Wargaming is square again… (3M's Feudal)

Leave a comment

photo of a man with glasses and curly, long, brown hair, and a beard and mustache
by Gideon Marcus

Fish or fowl?

Not too long ago, I picked up an interesting-looking game from a local hobby store.  Sitting next to a number of other "bookshelf" games with leatherette-style boxes designed to look pretty all lined up, dimensioned like overlarge volumes—as opposed to more luridly covered diversions like Monopoly or Clue—was something called Feudal.

Black and white catalog entry for 'Feudal' with a photograph of a game in progress, showing the pegboard with the various pieces deployed.  The copy claims that it is suitable for two to six players
A 1970 catalog entry for the game

From the ad I'd seen in the paper, as well as the cover art, I'd thought it was some kind of wargame.  Certainly, the ad called it such.  But from the picture of the pieces and gameboard on the back, I gathered it was a new variant of chess.

The truth is somewhere in between…

Colour box-art illustration of a checkered board set in front of a castle as though a field of battle.  A reproduction of a mounted swordsman is centered amongst the arrayed game pieces, flanked by an archer and several men at arms, facing off against a similarly composed defending force
Box top

Colour box-art photograph of a game in progress in a 'medieval' themed room
Box reverse

While Feudal ostensibly seats up to 6 players, it is at its heart, a two player game.  Each player starts with a castle piece, capture of which loses it for the owner.  Castles may be set up anywhere on the board, and they can only be entered (and taken) by way of their unwalled Castle Green.

Protecting this Castle are three "Royalty" pieces and any number of 10-piece "Armies"—one is standard, playing with two or three is offered as "exciting".  Each unit, as in chess, has specific movement capabilities.  For instance, the ones on horses may move any number of squares in any direction.  An army's two Sergeants may move up to 12 spaces diagonally or 1 space horizontally/vertically, whereas an army's four Pikeman are the opposite, moving 12 spaces horizontally/vertically or 1 space diagonally.  The lowly lone Squire moves one space horizontally/vertically followed by a space diagonally—functionally equivalent to a chess knight.  The King moves one or two spaces in any direction.  Finally, the sole Archer shoots or moves up to three spaces in any direction.

A unit is captured (eliminated) when an enemy walks into it (or an archer shoots it).  No dice are rolled.  No Combat Results Table is consulted. 

Colour photograph of a B&W cardstock divider with movement diagrams (and silhouettes) for Kings, Princes/Dukes/Knights, Sergeants, Archers, Pikemen, and Squires
Map divider and piece summary

Sounds a lot like chess, doesn't it?  Ah, but look at the board.  You'll note that it has terrain markings on it, like a wargame.

Colour photograph of the light-green game board from above.  Scattered across the squares of the board are variously configured groups of contiguous squares in either solid (dark) green or with green wavy lines.  A vertically screening divider is positioned across the center of the board
Game board with divider

The squares with wavy lines are "rough" (one would think they'd be forest) and the dark green squares denote mountains.  Horsies cannot move across rough terrain, and no unit can move across a mountain or the walled ends of a Castle.  Also, archers cannot shoot over mountains or castles.

To enter a Castle and win the game, a unit must stop on the Castle Green and next turn, march inside.  Thus, the defender has a turn to stop the siege.  The other way to win is to eliminate all of the opponent's "royalty" (comprising the King and two of the mounted units)

Unlike chess, a player may move every piece in his/her control every turn.  However, like chess, the player must move at least one unit in each army each turn. 

Units are set up blind—that's what the divider is for—a la Stratego.  They may be placed anywhere that they can move (Castles may be set up anywhere).

And that's all there is to Feudal.

Tally Ho!

Janice and I played a couple of games to completion, and I think I'm starting to get a handle on this game.  She won the first one, and I won the second, both of us making blunders that mostly canceled each other out.  In the end, I think it's who went first that made the biggest difference.

Colour Photograph of a seated white woman looking intently at the game board, pieces all arrayed before her
Just after setup, Janice considers her first move

That's because the player who goes first has a slight advantage.  Making use of the blind set-up, they can sometimes pick off units for whom there is no good counterattack revenge, either on the first or second turns.  Of course, the player going second gets to pick which side of the map is used, and that means a better-defended castle.  On the third hand, a cramped defensive arrangement can be hard to maneuver in.

Colour Photograph of a seated white man with concerned expression reaching to move one of his remaining pieces
If I look glum, note the number of my dead pieces behind the board

It's a tricky game at first, particularly minding all the diagonals through which the Sergeants and mounted troops can attack.  The infinite movement of the horsemen vs. the 12 space limit for Pikemen and Sergeants is notable, although the fact that horses can't move through rough mitigates that.  In the end, the Sergeants are more powerful than the Pikemen because diagonal movement is 44% greater than horizontal movement (geometry!) and because so many of the terrain features have diagonal cut-throughs.

After Battle Report

Colour Photograph of a close-up of the board, focusing on white's king piece which has been nestled into the protection of a mountain.
He is the Castle Green Preservation Society…

Feudal feels very chess-like to me, and because it is impossible to maneuver into position to kill without making yourself vulnerable, few deaths occur without some kind of counterattack.  Thus, by the end of the game, few pieces are left standing.  Janice argues that Feudal feels more like a wargame, albeit a simplistic one.  After all, if chess straddles the line between abstract games like checkers and Othello, and simple wargames like Tactics II, then Feudal surely must reside in wargame territory.

Either way, it was a fun diversion, and I wouldn't mind a rematch at some point, now that I am starting to understand things.  It may turn out that play is stereotyped and dull after a while, or it may be that there are hidden gems of strategy. 

Get yourself a copy and see what you think!

Colour photograph of a magazine advertisement, purporting to show 'How to be a feudal king (without losing your humility)'.  A white man and woman are posed behind a game board, with white and black pieces arranged in a dramatic vignette.
A 1969 advertisement for the game

[New to the Journey? Read this for a brief introduction!]


Follow on BlueSky

No comments Leave A Comment
Horror

[August 6, 1970] A Spooky Spook: Larry Brent by Dan Shocker

Leave a comment

A color headshot of a white woman with long dark brown hair.  She is wearing a headband and a dark red turtleneck, and is smiling at the camera.
by Cora Buhlert

A Marriage of Necessity

For more than a hundred years, the two great German shipping companies Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft, Hapag for short, founded in Hamburg in 1847, and Norddeutscher Lloyd AG, founded in Bremen in 1857, have been rivals. My father, grandfather and great-uncle all worked for the Norddeutscher Lloyd, my grandfather as a captain, my great-uncle as a doorman and my father as a naval architect.

However, on July 28, 1970, what once seemed unthinkable, happened. The stockholders of Hapag and the Nordddeutscher Lloyd respectively voted to merge the two companies and form the Hapag-Lloyd AG.

A color photograph of the upper deck of a ship against a bright blue sky.  A man in a white jacket and black pants stands in front of a yellow smokestack which is about twice his height.  Most of it is painted yellow.  At the top three stripes are painted in blue, white, and red.  The man is raising a white flag with a blue symbol on it which shows a ship's anchor crossed with an old-fashioned skeleton key, with a wreath woven around the crossing point. The flag's rope is connected to a white mast pole to his right.
A symbolic image of the new union: The flag of the Norddeutscher Lloyd is being pulled up on a vessels with a smoke stack in Hapag's livery.
A black and white photo of a shipping container sitting on tarps on the deck of a ship.  Crane scaffolding and mast poles with myriads of cables stretched in multiple directions ascend out of the frame behind it.  The container is made of ten sheets of metal connected along the vertical edges with rivets.  Large black stickers with white letters have been placed on the middle six panels, forming the company name Hapag Lloyd.
A Hapag-Lloyd shipping container.

Continue reading [August 6, 1970] A Spooky Spook: Larry Brent by Dan Shocker →

No comments Leave A Comment
Book

[August 4, 1970] Through the Wasteland (Harlan Ellison's the Glass Teat)

6 Comments

photo of a man with glasses and curly, long, brown hair, and a beard and mustache
by Gideon Marcus

My World and Welcome to It

Have you ever found that if you read too much Harlan Ellison, you end up sounding like the guy?  That same glib, hip, outraged polemic dripping with occasional yiddish and modisms.  It's cool for a while, but it ultimately gets a little tiresome. 

That's why it's a good idea, kiddies, to sample his latest collection, The Glass Teat, a little at a time.  Otherwise, you might find yourself with acid in the belly and fire at your typing fingers.

Unlike the Ellison books we've reviewed before here at the Journey, Teat is a wholly unique animal—a collection of articles Harlan wrote for The Los Angeles Free Press (the "Freep") as its TV columnist from September 1968 to January 1970.  For the most part, these are not reviews; Harlan was not hired as a critic of individual shows, but the whole small screen zeitgeist.  And because the subject that most interests Harlan (just ahead of skirts and social justice) is Harlan, the column serves as a kind of memoir, the travel diary of a TV writer.  Hey, write what you know, right?

Interestingly, though I consider myself something of an Ellison devotee (it's a love-hate relationship, but no one can argue the fellow can't compose), I found out about his latest opus in a roundabout fashion.  Dig, I was reading the June 1970 issue of Yandro, wherein I found a delightful column by Liz Fishman.  It's worth reading—you can write the Coulsons to see if they can get you a back issue, assuming the mimeo stencils and their cantankerous Gestetner is up for another run.

An image of the column heading, reading 'Through The Wringer -- Column by Liz Fishman'. Liz's name is in all lower caps.

Long story short, after being accosted by a lech who puts Laugh-In's Tyrone F. Horneigh to shame, Liz was saved by a sunny "Matisse painting come to life".  They got along just fine until said savior noticed what Liz was reading.  It was "sho-nuff a dirty book."  That is to say, it was by Ellison, and it had the typical blue phrases that punctuate his writing.  The kind of shit you'd never find in my work.

Well, upon learning about Harlan's new book and its unusual nature, I scoured the bookstores of San Diego and managed to come up with a used, hardly touched, copy.  Its spine was as smooth as a chiropractor's nightmare.  As a result, I didn't get much off the cover price, but I don't mind supporting local business.

Land of the Giants

Leo and Diane Dillon cover for
Cover by Leo and Diane Dillon

So open the cover, and what have we got?

Continue reading [August 4, 1970] Through the Wasteland (Harlan Ellison's the Glass Teat) →

6 Comments Leave A Comment
Fashion, music, politics, sports, Magazine/Anthology, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[August 2, 1970] Fimbulsommer (September-October 1970 IF)

1 Comment


by David Levinson

Protecting the environment

Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment. Smog and litter have been common complaints for many years, but people are now paying attention to things like pesticides and other chemicals in the ground and water. Some say that the current attention began with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, but 1969 may have been the tipping point.

Last year began with the disastrous oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. A few months later, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire (and not for the first time). The mayor of Cleveland tried unsuccessfully to use it as a springboard for cleaning up the river, but Time magazine picked up the story and used pictures of the more dramatic 1952 fire to launch its new “Environment” section. As the year drew to a close, the environment was also the subject of several papers presented at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. All of which contributed to the massive participation in Earth Day back in April.

The government has noticed and begun to take action. Back in December, Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to submit a report on the effects of planned projects on the environment. President Nixon signed it on New Year’s Day, declaring, "the 1970s absolutely must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment." The Nixons even participated in Earth Day by planting a tree on the South Lawn of the White House.

One of the problems is that there are dozens of government agencies overseeing various aspects the environment and environmental policy. Sometimes they work at cross purposes or their goal is at odds with protecting the environment at large. For example, the bodies that oversee the approval of pesticides or fertilizers are concerned only with the improving crop yields, not with the larger effects on insect life or algal blooms far downstream of farms.

On July 9th, President Nixon submitted Reorganization Plan No. 3 to Congress. The plan proposes the creation of an Environmental Protection Agency into which all the various departments and agencies will be folded. The goal is to create concerted action, unified monitoring, and hopefully to eliminate conflicts of interest. This actually seems like a pretty good idea. It’s now up to Congress to approve or reject this reorganization.

Photograph of President Richard Nixon and his wife standing on the lawn outside the White House. Mrs. Nixon is using a shovel to plant a tree.The Nixons participating in Earth Day.

Taking the science out of science fiction

I’m not one to indulge in all the shouting about the Old School and the New Wave. Eventually, the two will reach a balance, and something new will emerge. The focus on character and society is all to the good; the fripperies of style over substance will soon be forgotten. But some of the stories in this month’s IF are enough to make me throw up my hands in despair and join the old guard in kvetching about what the New Thing is doing to science fiction.

Cover of Worlds of If Science Fiction depicting three shadowy figures in the foreground in front of a blue, spherical craft with a red wake, all against a wormholeish/tunnel blue background with a bright center. The cover announces the stories The Seventh Man by George C. Chesbro, Ballots and Bandits by Keith Laumer, and Life Cycle by Jark Sharkey, and the novel Fimbulsommer by Randall Garrett and Michael Kurland.Suggested by “Fimbulsommer.” Art by Gaughan.

Continue reading [August 2, 1970] Fimbulsommer (September-October 1970 IF) →

1 Comment Leave A Comment
Magazine/Anthology, Science / Space Race, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Serial

[July 31, 1970] Not so Brillo… (August 1970 Analog)

3 Comments

Don't miss tonight's Spocktacular edition of Science Fiction Theater!  Starts at 7PM Pacific.  Also featuring the last appearance of Chet Huntley on the Huntley/Brinkley Report!

photo of a man with glasses and curly, long, brown hair, and a beard and mustache
by Gideon Marcus

Paine-ful exit

The proverbial rats are leaving the sinking ship.  Not too long ago, a clutch of NASA scientists departed America's space agency, citing too much emphasis on engineering and propaganda.  Now, Thomas O. Paine, who took NASA's reins from its second adminstrator, Jim Webb, has announced his resignation.  He leaves the agency on September 15.  He lasted less than two years; contrast with Webb, who was there seven and a half.

Newspaper clipping of Thomas O. Paine with white hair, thick glasses, and a black tie. The caption reads 'Thomas O. Paine Leaving NASA post Paine Lists Problems of NASA.'

Paine did not characterize his departure as any indication of disagreement with the agency's current direction.  He said he was leaving NASA in strong shape, and that this was the most appropriate time for his departure.  He's going back to a management position with General Electrics.

But Paine cannot be very happy with how things have been going lately.  NASA's work force has been gutted–from 190,000 to 140,000 personnel; the last Saturn V first stage will be completed next month; and the future of Apollo's successor, the Space Shuttle, is in doubt.  The poor director has watched the space agency go from the pinnacle of human achievement to a nadir unseen since the late '50s.  If only we'd adopted the Agnew "Mars Plan"…

Deputy Administator George M. Low will take Paine's place for the time being.  A replacement has not yet been tapped.  Stay tuned!

Painful effort

If Paine left willingly, Analog editor John Campbell, on the other hand, seems determined not to let his magazine go until he does.  Which is sad because this month's issue is yet another indication of how far the once-proud property has fallen in quality."Two astronauts meet one another between a large satelite.
Cover of the August 1970 issue of Analog Science Fiction featuring a rocky lake landscape, with a large burning mass in the background. In the foreground, there is a rock-like alien with two eye stalks
Cover by Kelly Freas

Continue reading [July 31, 1970] Not so Brillo… (August 1970 Analog) →

3 Comments Leave A Comment
Horror, Movies, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[July 28,1970] Cinemascope: Cry Me A River (Cry of the Banshee) and Games in Goatskin (Dionysus in ‘69)

1 Comment

For this month's Cinemascope, things get a little unusual.  The horror scene is nothing special, even with Vincent Price starring, but you must dig the filmed play that George reviews below!

Two movie posters—see below for fuller description

Continue reading [July 28,1970] Cinemascope: Cry Me A River (Cry of the Banshee) and Games in Goatskin (Dionysus in ‘69) →

1 Comment Leave A Comment
Fashion, music, politics, sports

[July 26, 1970] "The Hearts of Men" and Women (June and July "Gay Pride" Protests)

Leave a comment

 
By Jessica Dickinson Goodman

In the past 30 days, according to The New York Times, American homosexuals have shouted at a gubernatorial candidate on the street, forced the American Medical Association into private session, published theses and books, debated the "frivolous"ness of their rights with U.N. Youth Assembly delegates, been the subject of a positive resolution at the Lutheran Church in America's biennial convention, a negative note from a Vatican aide.

And perhaps most powerfully, they marched.  

New York Times Image Caption: "Treading in the steps of all the other miniroity groups that have been pressing their demands with demonstrations, homsexuals held a mass parade in New York last week to protest the discriminations they suffer." Photo: Grainy black and while photo of people hugging, a sign above reading "Gay Pride."

"Thousands of young men and women homosexuals from all over the Northeast marched from Greenwich Village to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park yesterday proclaiming 'the new strength and pride of the gay people.'"

Continue reading [July 26, 1970] "The Hearts of Men" and Women (June and July "Gay Pride" Protests) →

No comments Leave A Comment
Comics

[July 24, 1970] They’ve All Come To Look For America (Green Lantern co-starring Green Arrow)

Leave a comment

Black & White Photo of writer of piece Kris Vyas-Mall
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

Last time I talked about popular music, I noted there was a battle between the past and the future. Looking at the sales figures today, it seems like the desire for nostalgia has won out. Around half the top 40 singles and over a third of the top 40 albums are in the country-folk-blues-rock style that is currently in vogue. The sound pioneered by The Band, CCR, Canned Heat and Buffalo Springfield (among others).

Four Album Cover: Self Portrait - Bob Dylan Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel Deja Vu - CSNY Live 70 - Canned Heat
Some of the albums people are currently buying in droves

Furthermore, in a reverse of the British Invasion, it has been overwhelmingly American artists that have been selling, often singing about the old America. Whether this be The Beach Boys talking about the “cottonfields back home” (apparently, they no longer love California Girls), Elvis opining being “in the cold Kentucky rain” or CSNY telling us “country girl I think you’re pretty”, it seems Americana is big. Even British groups have been getting in on the act, with Christie saying they are “on [their] way to Yellow River” and Mungo Jerry singing the San Francisco Bay Blues, even though I doubt if any of them have spent much time on US soil.

Covers of Four Singles: Up Around The Bend by Creedence Clearwater Revival Cottonfields by The Beach Boys Lady D'Arbanville by Cat Stevens Groupie Girl by Tony Joe White
And singles that remain stubbornly in the charts over the summer

This has also extended to the more liberal themed songs in the charts, which seem to be about how America has gone wrong, whether that be Marvin Gaye’s version of Abraham, Martin and John or Joni Mitchell lamenting that “they paved paradise, put up a parking lot”.

The question of “what has happened to America?” seems to be one everyone is asking, and it has even entered into the world of comic books:

Green Lantern, Co-Starring Green Arrow

DC comics has not really been holding its own against Marvel recently. They launched a few interesting new characters but they have mostly disappeared from the shelves. This shake-up of three existing crime-fighters is unlike anything I have ever seen in the world of superheroes.

Continue reading [July 24, 1970] They’ve All Come To Look For America (Green Lantern co-starring Green Arrow) →

No comments Leave A Comment
Book, Fashion, music, politics, sports

[July 22, 1970] Solace for Your Trillion-Year-Old Spirit (George Malko's Scientology: The Now Religion)

Leave a comment


by Arturo Serrano

I've spent the last few months exchanging letters with an American friend, who has been educating me about a curious phenomenon they're seeing over there: the quick emergence of new religions whose foundation is, uniformly, some account of an alleged extraterrestrial encounter. From the peculiar case of the Mormon faith, I already knew that the Americans had a unique ability to cook up a doctrine from whole cloth and make it explosively successful in terms of gaining devotees and social influence. But even that knowledge did not prepare me for the alarming piece of investigative journalism which my friend has mailed me along with his latest letter. It's a book published this year, written by a Dane called George Malko, with the title Scientology: The Now Religion. It describes the author's journey to explore and unravel a whole intricate system of theology, liturgy, morality, and salvation begun only two decades ago, by the obviously troubled science fiction writer of moderate fame, named Lafayette Ronald Hubbard.

Cover of the book Scientology: The New Religion, by George Malko. The illustration shows a big dollar sign in the middle of the page.
Delacorte Press, New York.

In a nutshell, Scientology (a bland, uncreative name if I've ever heard one) teaches that the human spirit has lived countless lives in countless bodies on countless planets, and we all carry the scars of emotional trauma accumulated over aeons of reincarnations. But fear not! The same church that reveals to you that you have this problem happens to be selling the solution: by letting a complete stranger take note of your darkest secrets in front of a lie detector, you can achieve the next level of enlightenment. And the next. And the next. With each milestone, you're supposed to become more in control of yourself, more unperturbed by the psychic echo of your past lives, and more capable of performing feats of paranormal wonder. There's a finely subdivided series of degrees of perfection you can rise to, provided that you can afford the requisite study materials. That's the only penitence that this church expects of you: the thousands upon thousands of dollars that it costs to buy its ever-increasing but, unsurprisingly, never complete form of happiness.

Continue reading [July 22, 1970] Solace for Your Trillion-Year-Old Spirit (George Malko's Scientology: The Now Religion) →

No comments Leave A Comment

55 years ago: Science Fact and Fiction