[April 16, 1966] Non-taxing (May 1966 Fantasy and Science Fiction)


by Gideon Marcus

Three certainties

They say you can only be sure of two things in life: death and taxes.  I can't offer any personal assurances on the former, but I can say a thing or two about the latter.  Yesterday was, as it has been since my second year on the Journey (1955), tax day.  That special time of the year when Uncle Sam gets his due so that the potholes can be filled, the guns can be loaded, and (more recently and most welcomely) the poor can be relieved.

As you know, LBJ got his predecessor's big tax cut passed a couple of years back, a move that outraged the conservatives.  Of course, the benefits of that have largely passed me by — I make enough from running Journey Press to buy a cup of coffee, second-hand.  (Feel free to help change this state of affairs by buying more of our books!) On the other hand, a penurious existence means I don't have to cough up much dough come April 15.

Nevertheless, I did part with some shekels.  It was fortunate indeed that the latest issue of F&SF was at hand to balm the wound.  As has been the case for several months now, the mag was decidedly non-taxing.  Thank you, Ed Ferman, for giving us a third certainty in our lives!

The Issue at Hand


by Mel Hunter

And Madly Teach, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.

With the advent of TV has arisen the notion of educational television, augmenting the classroom with studio-produced classes.  They have the advantage of combining nearly universal reach as well as the possibility of securing the best professionals.

But what if, in the interests both of frugality and inflicting the least bother on children, the traditional classroom is completely eschewed for the new format?  One might get Lloyd Biggle's newest novelette, detailing the culture shift a spinster English teacher from Mars encounters when she tries to adapt to the new Terran ways.

It's about as realistic as Harrison Bergeron and perhaps not as important, but I think there are some good subtle messages layered beneath the obvious ones, and Biggle is a very good writer.

Four stars.

Three for Carnival, by John Shepley

It's carnival time in near-future New York.  Old Mother Gimp (young, clear-eyed Barbara), the Harlequin (henpecked merchant, Saul Cooperman), and Lloyd (just Lloyd) take turns being themselves and someones else through the increasing chaos overtaking the Five Roses.

A difficult, abstract story, and not really science fiction or fantasy, I nevertheless found it engaging.

Three stars.


by Gahan Wilson

The Colony, by Miriam Allen deFord

Humans found a colony light years from home.  After twenty promising years, they are overrun by rapacious half-men, who abduct a settler and generally make mayhem.  Though the abductee is recovered, the presence of alien intelligence means the colonists must leave, which they do with sadness.  But not before it is learned that the half-men are actually a variety of human.

The kicker?  The events of the story took place 30,000 years ago, and the savages were Neanderthals.

This kind of gotcha story might have flown back in the 40s, but it creaks in the 60s.  Moreover, it doesn't make a lick of sense.  It is, however, decently written.  No one can fault deFord for not knowing her craft; she just needs to take a refresher course in plot ideas.

Two stars.

Breakaway House, by Ron Goulart

Pete Goodwin scratched at his short blond hair and said, "Gretchen exaggerates, Max. We're still on our shakedown cruise with this house and little things are going to show up."

Max watched the sherry in his glass. "Of course, Jillian and I are apartment types so far. But maple syrup in the closets and bobcats in the shower. That stuff sounds unusual, Pete."

"Life is different in the suburbs, Max."

Yes, amateur occult detective Max Kearney is out of retirement for another droll tale of investigation.  This time, he and his new wife, Jillian the witch, are helping out a neighbor in the new tract housing subdivision.  It must be haunted, but Pete seems strangely reluctant to deal with it.  Is he possessed?  Has he made a deal with the Devil?  Or is it really not a very big matter after all?

It wraps up a little quickly, but it's great fun along the way.  Four stars.

Beamed Power, by Theodore L. Thomas

Someday Tesla will be proven right, and we won't need wires to transmit energy.  But will the result be a utopia or a terrorist's playground?  It's a subject worthy of a full-length article, perhaps in Analog.  As is, this is an unsatisfying appertif.

Three stars.

Flattop, by Gregory Benford

New author Benford offers up a Nivenesque tale of first contact between a human astronaut and a mobile Martian bath rug.  Except this creature has explosive capabilities for growth, and a single sample threatens an entire expedition.

Very crunchy stuff.  I liked it.  Four stars.

H. P. Lovecraft: The House and the Shadows, by J. Vernon Shea

Apparently, the Weirdest of the Weird Tales bunch wasn't quite the weirdo his stories would lead us to believe.  Racist and anti-semitic, sure (though he was buddies with Robert Bloch and he married a Jew).  Anti-social, absolutely (and yet generous to a fault despite his poverty; he wrote his fans lavish and helpful letters, even at the expense of his own writing time).  Sexless and haunted?  Arguably, but if one looks for Lovecraft in his stories, they're not going to find him.

I'm neither a lover of Lovecraft not a detractor.  I feel he had three good stories in him, and he kept writing them throughout his career until he got them right.  Along the way, he evaded critical praise but amassed a fandom that really only came to the fore after his death at 47 (ouch! That's my age!)

Shea's biography is interesting, poetic, and enlightening.  Four stars.

The Third Dragon, by Ed M. Clinton, Jr.

A lovely tale of three dragons and a girl that underscores that nice guys can finish first.  Four stars.

Time and Tide, by Isaac Asimov

The Good Doctor offers up a good, if slightly padded, piece on the mechanism of tides with a brief look at tides around the solar system.  Good stuff.  Four stars.

Man of Parts, by H. L. Gold

Lastly, a story you know has to be a reprint since the former editor of Galaxy isn't doing much of anything these days.  In brief: Major Hugh Savold of the Fourth Terran Expedition against Vega, crashes onto the peaceful planet of Dorfel.  With very little salvageable but two arms and much of a brain, he is fused with the similarly mangled Dorfellow Gam Nex Biad.

Now a living rock-borer and legally no longer human, can the Major make it back to his ship and leave the living nightmare he finds himself trapped in?

Pleasant enough, but it shows its age.  Three stars.

Summing Up

Tallying the numbers on my form 1040-GJ, I find the May 1965 F&SF scores a respectable 3.5 stars.  I wouldn't say any of the stories will be up for this year's Galactic Stars, but all of them are readable and several are memorable.

I can almost forget how light my pocketbook has become… at least until the next time I have to buy a month's worth of science fiction!






3 thoughts on “[April 16, 1966] Non-taxing (May 1966 Fantasy and Science Fiction)”

  1. "And Madly Teach" was a good story, but I had problems with the basic premise. Teaching via television? Maybe, but with no actual teaching going on? Highly unlikely. I also thought the story was a little too long.

    I like "Three for Carnival". There was just enough "off" about the world it takes place in for it to fit in F&SF. Definitely more F than SF about it, but fantasy doesn't necessarily need dragons and magic to be fantastical.

    I really don't know what's going on with de Ford. Up until two years ago or so, she was cracking along just fine, but lately everything she puts out is trite, hackneyed or simply bad. I spotted the ending from well in advance, too.

    Ron Goulart gives us a fine Max Kearney story. The last few were a little weak, but this was back in form. The break since the last one might have helped. Take note, Keith Laumer.

    What does it say about the Science Springboard that the best entry in the series is about an idea old enough to collect Social Security? This one might be good, but I'm weary of this feature.

    "Flattop" wasn't bad. Benford continues to improve. A few more like this and he'll have a long career ahead of him.

    Shea's biography was one of the best discussions of Lovecraft I've seen. Usually, it's either praise far beyond his worth or reflexive condemnation without actually examining the subject. This was certainly a much better and more even-handed treatment than anything Sam Moskowitz has written.

    "The Third Dragon" was nice. Not sure I'd give it four stars, but still a good story.

    Nice article from Dr. A. Frankly, I'll take anything from him that isn't another superlative hunt.

    And you summed up the Gold pretty well. Maybe he's resolved his health issues and is testing the waters to see if he can still sell. If he can bring his stuff up to modern standards, I wouldn't object to seeing his stuff occasionally.

  2. My favorite story in the issue was "Three for Carnival."  This is the kind of "literary" speculative fiction at which F&SF excells.

    My other main disagreement is that I just don't share Goulart's sense of humor.  Just a matter of taste, really.

  3. Catching up with my comments for this month:

    I think Lloyd Biggle, Jr. is engaging well with the news in this story.  In the UK we currently have a significant teacher shortage and there are debates about the merits of using TV to solve it. I think it was Glasgow that has been running pilot schemes of a single teacher checking on children in multiple classrooms watching broadcasts. Interesting stuff.

    Three to Carnival did not really engage me much.

    The Colony started off good but then went in a very hackneyed direction.

    I have a general dislike of Supernatural detective stories and Goulart's humour, this Max Kearney outing did nothing to change my opinion.

    Benford does not really work for me, but then neither does Niven. Not my type of SF.

    The Third Dragon was pleasant enough.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *