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[December 23, 1963] Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New (January 1964 Fantastic)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

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Ring Out the Old

Is it 1964 yet?


The caption says Happy New Year, Kids!

These happy young cosmonauts seem to think so.  That's a Vostok rocket they're carrying.  You remember Vostok, don't you?  The Soviet space program that sent the first man and the first woman into orbit?  No wonder they look so happy.

Here in the good old USA we do things a little differently.


It's not even Christmas yet, but this guy is ready.

No matter how you celebrate the holiday season, this is the time to remember the old and look forward to the new.  For Americans, of course, the most important change was the loss of a martyred President and the inauguration of a new one.  We are not likely to forget 1963 for a very long time.


Norman Rockwell pays tribute to the late JFK.

When it comes to space travel, yesteryear's new ideas turn old very quickly.  The X-20 program was cancelled this month, after seven years of development.  There goes $660,000,000 down the drain.  Looks like the proposed Dyna-Soar reusable spacecraft is now as dead as a dinosaur.


Now that's what I call a real spaceship!

The old British Empire continues to evolve into new, independent nations.  As of December 12, Zanzibar and Kenya are the newest members of the United Nations.

In the world of popular music, a new artist paid tribute to a man who lived more than seven hundred years ago.  Belgian singer-songwriter Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, better known in the United States as the Singing Nun, holds the top position on the American music charts with her original composition Dominique. 

Deckers is a member of the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Fichermont, where she took the name Sister Luc-Gabrielle.  In her native land she is called Sœur Sourire (Sister Smile.) The song pays tribute to Saint Dominic (1170-1221), for whom the order is named.  You don't have to be Catholic, or understand French, to appreciate the Singing Nun's pleasant voice, or the cheerful melody of her song.


The second foreign language song to reach Number One in the USA this year.  At least the Americans didn't give it a silly name, the way they changed Kyu Sakamoto's lovely tune Ue o Muite Arukō into Sukiyaki.

Ring In the New

Fittingly, the latest issue of Fantastic (and the first dated in the coming year) features the first half of a new novel, but one that was born twenty-five years ago.


(cover by EMSH)

The Lords of Quarmall, by Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer

You may not know the name Harry Fischer.  A new writer, perhaps?  Well, not exactly.  In fact, Fischer created the famous characters Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser in a letter to his friend Leiber nearly three decades ago.  Since then, of course, the great fantasist has made the pair of adventurers his own.  In 1937, Fischer wrote about ten thousand words of a novel.  Leiber completed it, and it appears here for the first time.

Quarmall is a strange kingdom.  Its ruler lives in a keep above ground, but the rest of his realm lies deep down below.  He has two adult sons.  One reigns over the upper half of this underground land, the other the lower half.  The brothers are bitter rivals, each trying to destroy the other through treachery and magic.  They also plot against their father.  He, in turn, hopes to eliminate his sons and leave his kingdom to the unborn child of a concubine. 

Unknown to each other, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are each hired as a swordsman by one of the brothers.  When the king's archmage announces the death of his master, the conflict between the siblings explodes into open warfare.

As you would expect from Leiber, this tale of derring-do is full of vivid, exotic details.  The plot moves slowly, with much of the story taken up with the bored frustration of the two heroes.  Fafhrd's rescue of a lovely young slave doomed to be tortured provides some excitement.  No doubt the second half will provide plenty of sorcery and swordplay.  It's not a bad yarn, but hardly up to Leiber's usual standard.

Three stars.

Minnesota Gothic, by Dobbin Thorpe

Another new author?  Hardly.  Thomas M. Disch, who appears later in the magazine, hides behind this peculiar pseudonym.  The story is about a little girl named Gretel, but don't expect an old-fashioned fairy tale.  The time is now.  Gretel's mother leaves her in the care of a very old woman and her strange, bedridden brother.  Black magic is involved, but not the way you might expect.  This is a well-written, chilling little story.  I wouldn't advise reading it on a dark and stormy night.

Four stars.

The Word of Unbinding, by Ursula K. LeGuin

With four or five stories to her credit, LeGuin is still a relatively new voice in fantasy fiction, but her skill makes her seem like an old pro.  Her latest tale of enchantment begins with a wizard trapped in a prison made of darkness.  An evil sorcerer robbed him of his magic staff and locked him away.  Although the loss of his staff greatly diminishes his power, he still possesses the ability to transform himself.  He attempts to escape in many ways, only to be recaptured and made even weaker.  In order to defeat his enemy, he must pay the ultimate price. 

The author creates a dark fantasy of great imagination and vividness.  The reader is sure to empathize with the despair and heroism of the protagonist.

Four stars.

Last Order, by Gordon Walters

Like LeGuin, Walters is a writer with few published works. Sadly, he doesn't share her talent.  The story begins on an asteroid.  An undescribed being tries to protect its master from an attack by police robots.  When the master dies, it seeks revenge on all those who resemble the robots.  The scene shifts to Earth.  A detective with a fear of space travel receives an invitation to investigate the asteroid with his old partner, who left for space long ago.  It turns out that the vengeful being kills anyone who arrives on the asteroid.  After a dangerous encounter with the being, the truth comes out.

The characters frequently speculate about the possibility of a disembodied alien lifeform joining with spacemen in symbiosis.  This turns out to be a complete red herring.  The reader quickly learns that the spacesuits of the future are intimately connected to the bodies of their wearers, so the climax of the story is no surprise.  There's much too little plot for a novelette.

Two stars.

A Thesis On Social Forms and Social Controls in the U. S. A.,by Thomas M. Disch

The secret identity of Dobbin Thorpe emerges from disguise with this fictional essay.  It describes a nightmarish world of the future.  In the Twenty-First Century, China and the Soviet Union destroy each other in an atomic war.  Africa collapses into a state of permanent crisis.  Europe is under the control of the Vatican.  (Most Protestants move to the United States, which now includes Canada.) Only Australia emerges unchanged.

Disch begins with the famous dictums of George Orwell.  War is Peace.  Ignorance is Strength.  Freedom is Slavery.  To these, he adds two more.  Life is Death.  Love is Hate.  One by one, he describes how these principles apply to American society.  All adult males serve one year out of every five as a brutalized slave.  The other four years they indulge in unrestrained orgies of pleasure.  Women must care for the children they bear from multiple mates, or else serve as laborers or prostitutes. 

The author paints a terrifying portrait of a culture that deliberately chooses to be schizophrenic.  The essay's cold logic convinces the reader that such an insane world might truly exist.  The stories by Thorpe and Disch could not be more different, except for the fact that they both induce a strong sense of foreboding.

Four stars.

Summing Up, and a Bonus Review

The new year begins with a very pessimistic issue of the magazine.  From the sadistic Lords of Quarmall, to the insane world of the future, hardly a hint of hope appears in its pages.  Even the book review by S. E. Cotts deals with a novel haunted by doom.  I have read The Sundial by Shirley Jackson, discussed in the column.  It's a very strange book.  A group of eccentric people waits for the end of the world inside a weird house.  Like everything I have read by Jackson, it is unique.  I recommend it for reading by the fireplace on a dark night, waiting for the old year to fade away.

Five stars.

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[December 17, 1963] The Ink-and-Paper Zoo (February 1964 Worlds of Tomorrow)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

I suppose it's appropriate that a magazine about the future should bear a cover date from a year that hasn't arrived yet.  While the rest of us count the days until the end of 1963, editor Frederik Pohl peers into his crystal ball and discovers what 1964 has in store.  According to the latest issue of Worlds of Tomorrow, it's a very mixed picture indeed.  With so many different kinds of science fiction stories inside its pages, the magazine is something of a Noah's Ark of imaginative literature.  Let's go for a ride, shall we?

Lord of the Uffts, by Murray Leinster

This novella, from an author who has written science fiction for more than four decades, takes up half the magazine.  It begins with a man having just returned from a deadly planet where he collected precious gems.  He celebrates his good luck in the time-honored way of getting roaring drunk.  When he wakes up, he finds himself aboard a rickety spaceship bound for parts unknown.  It seems that, while in his cups, he agreed to serve as navigator for the man who owns the vessel.  He also got into a fight with the police.  His new employer hasn't paid his bills, so they both take off in a hurry to escape the authorities. 

The master of the spaceship claims to have a plan to win a vast fortune by journeying to a certain planet.  Humans from another world settled it long ago.  They have since degenerated into a pre-industrial society.  Also inhabiting the planet are sentient aliens who look exactly like pigs.  The humans hire them for various odd jobs, in exchange for beer.  Despite this arrangement, which benefits both species, the pigs have nothing but contempt for the humans, openly insulting them at every opportunity. 

The owner of the spaceship violates a serious taboo by offering to do business with the humans.  They consider paying a person for goods or services an unforgivable insult.  In their eyes, such things are fit only for the pigs.  So serious a breach of etiquette is this that they sentence the man to death by hanging.  The protagonist faces a similar fate, when he inadvertently offends his host by speaking words of flattery to the pigs.  Complications ensue.  The hero eventually finds out why the humans have lost their advanced technological skills, possess only shoddy goods, and depend on the pigs for labor.  He eventually manipulates both species into a new way of life, and lives happily ever after with the love of his life.

This is a tongue-in-cheek tale of adventure, with touches of comedy and satire.  Despite threats to his life, the protagonist never seems to be in any real danger.  The explanation for the ways the humans live is predictable, given a strong hint early in the story.  Although it provides some amusement, the story goes on too long to sustain its lighthearted tone. 

Two stars.

The Provenance of Swift, by Lyle G. Boyd

This is a mock article claiming to provide evidence that Jonathan Swift was a Martian.  Readers of Gulliver's Travels will not be surprised to learn that it is based on the odd coincidence that the great satirist wrote about Mars having two moons long before they were discovered.  Well aware that this has been pointed out many times before, the author provides other so-called proofs.  Incidents in the life of Swift are interpreted in outrageous ways.  Even if this is intended as a spoof of misguided scholarship, it's a one-joke parody.  If nothing else, the reader learns quite a bit about a gifted writer.  (Swift, that is, not Boyd.)

Two stars.

Alpha, Beta, Love…, by Bill Doede

A man and a woman land on a planet in order to find out if it is suitable for colonization.  It is inhabited by two disembodied beings in the form of glowing spheres, able to teleport at will, and to manipulate the minds and bodies of the humans.  One of the globes, who used to be male, is more-or-less friendly.  The other, who once inhabited a female body, is so resentful of never having had a love life that she attempts to kill the humans.  The human man figures out a way to block the aliens' telepathic powers through a technological trick which is not very convincing.

They next encounter a furry humanoid creature with sticky pads on its digits, like those of a gecko.  This meeting turns out to have more to do with the spheres than expected.  Other strange things happen, but what is really at stake is whether the woman will fall in love with the man or not. 

This is an odd story.  The author has an active imagination, but the plot never hangs together. 

Two stars.

When the Stars Answer, by T. K. Brown III

This tale of first contact begins with a history of radio astronomy, leading up to Project Ozma.  The fictional part begins when a spaceship arrives from the star 61 Cygni, in response to signals from Earth.  The sole passenger appears human, but has vastly superior intelligence.  There's a clever twist in the plot that should have ended the story.  Unfortunately, one final paragraph turns the whole thing into a silly farce.

Two stars.

A Message from Loki, by James Blish

A writer better known for fiction offers an article about Jupiter's Great Red Spot.  Based on the behavior of high winds on the surface of the Earth, he suggests that it might lie above a gigantic plateau.  Since we don't even know if Jupiter has a solid surface at all, this is highly speculative. 

Two stars.

The Transcendent Tigers, by R. A. Lafferty

A seven-year-old girl receives a red cap, along with other small gifts, on her birthday.  This gives her the power to do incredible things, from turning a hollow ball inside out without tearing it to solving an impossible wire puzzle.  Disaster soon follows.  Very few writers can pull off this strange kind of apocalyptic whimsy as well as Lafferty.  His use of unusual names, bizarre words, deadpan dialogue and narration, and quotes from fictional journals makes this tale of worldwide catastrophe charming. 

Four stars.

Little Dog Gone, by Robert F. Young

The magazine ends almost the same way it began, with a man waking up from a drunken spree to find himself far off in space.  In this case, the fellow is an actor, who destroyed his career with his drinking.  He winds up on a frontier colony planet.  The first creature he meets looks very much like an ordinary dog, but has the power to teleport.  The friendly little animal accompanies him into town.  There he meets a woman who used to play a sort of female Tarzan on interplanetary television.  Down on her luck, she now works at the local bar.  Together the three form a space-going medicine show, making use of the dog's ability.  Success leads the man to confront his past, and to make a decision about his future.  Readers familiar with the author's works will not be surprised to learn that this is a sentimental love story.  Nevertheless, although it wears its heart on its sleeve, it never becomes overly emotional. 

Four stars.

Summing up

From pigs to tigers to dogs, this issue provides a menagerie of science fiction.  Although not all the specimens on display are equally interesting, it's worth walking by their cages to see what weird creatures are looking back at you.

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[December 7, 1963] SF or Not SF?  That Is the Question (They came from mainstream, 1963 edition)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

A raft of non-SF SF

Readers of this column with long memories will recall that, at the end of 1962, we looked at major science fiction and fantasy novels and collections published as mainstream fiction.  The most important such work this year was Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle, already discussed in detail by our own Vicki Lucas. 

Another was The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis, best known for his novel The Hustler, adapted into a major film a couple of years ago.  Once again, Ms. Lucas has provided a fine analysis of this book.


The novel is obviously about the game of pool.


The movie poster doesn't seem to have much to do with pool.

Here are two more books I think should be checked out by SF fans who might have missed them:

Planet of the Apes, by Pierre Boulle

A French import offers another example of the blurred lines between science fiction and the literary mainstream.  Pierre Boulle is famous for Le Pont de la Rivière Kwaï (translated into English as The Bridge over the River Kwai, and source of an award-winning movie, with a slight change in the title.)



Don't ask me how over turned into on

This year the author ventured into outer space, with his novel La Planète des singes, known in the United States as Planet of the Apes.

(My sources in the publishing world tell me that the book will be available in the United Kingdom next year, under the title Monkey Planet.)

Boulle's novel begins in the far future, with a couple traveling among the stars.  They discover an old manuscript.  This takes us into a flashback, set in the relatively near future.  Three men journey to an Earth-like planet orbiting the star Betelgeuse.  They discover that intelligent, civilized apes inhabit the world, along with naked, speechless human beings treated as lower animals.  Gorillas are police and military; orangutans are priests and politicians; chimpanzees are scientists and technicians.  The apes are at the same technological level as Twentieth Century Earth, with cities, automobiles, and firearms.  They even smoke tobacco.  The three astronauts meet different fates.  It all leads up to a twist ending.  The author's intent is satiric, showing the reader how little difference there is between people and other primates.  The story may not be very plausible, but it captures the reader's imagination.  Special notice should go to Xan Fielding, who translated both of Boulle's novels into very readable English. 

Three stars.

Glide Path, by Arthur C. Clarke

We've seen how mainstream authors venture into science fiction, sometimes successfully.  It doesn't often happen the other way around.  This year Arthur C. Clarke proved he is just as comfortable writing about the past as he is about the future, with his novel Glide Path.

The story takes place in England during the Second World War.  The protagonist is a young officer in the Royal Air Force.  He is a technician, working on a program known as Ground Controlled Descent.  GCD allows a pilot to land in heavy fog.  Using radar, a controller on the ground talks the pilot down.  The plot is episodic, involving both the new technology and daily life in the RAF.  The author creates a convincing portrait of the time and place, based on his own experiences.  Unlike most war novels, the book lacks scenes of battle.  This may disappoint readers looking for thrilling action.  The most dramatic sequence happens late in the story, when huge amounts of fuel fill the night sky with towering flames, in an attempt to burn off the fog. 

Three stars.

Boulle's science fiction novel is likely to be marketed to readers of mainstream fiction, just as Clarke's war story is likely to be promoted to science fiction fans.  Let us avoid relying solely on arbitrary divisions in literature, and instead keep our eyes open for good reading, no matter how it might be labelled.




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Fashion, music, politics, sports, Magazine

[November 25, 1963] State of Shock (December 1963 Fantastic)

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[At time of publication, the state funeral for our late President, John F. Kennedy is underway.  Given the tumult of the last few days, we can only hope this article marks the resumption of some kind of normalcy, such as may yet be possible…]


by Victoria Silverwolf

My colleagues have already written eloquently about the horror and sorrow felt by people everywhere on Earth after the murder of President Kennedy.  There is very little I can add.  The killing of alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, witnessed on live television by millions of viewers, only added to my feeling of shock, leaving me emotionally numb.

Even listening to Top Forty radio reminds me of the recent tragedy.  Holding the Number One position is I'm Leaving It Up to You by Dale & Grace.  The popular singing duo were among other entertainers who waved at the presidential motorcade shortly before the shooting began.

I hope that loyal readers of this column will forgive me, therefore, if I approach the task of reviewing the latest issue of Fantastic with little enthusiasm.  As much as I would like to escape from the nightmare of the last few days, I'm afraid that even the limitless imagination of writers of science fiction and fantasy cannot completely erase bad memories.

After a Judgement Day, by Edmond Hamilton

A devastating plague caused by mutated bacteria threatens to wipe out humanity.  Two men remain on the Moon, facing the possibility that they are the only survivors.  They are part of a project to send mechanical replicas of human beings to the planets of other solar systems, in order to see if people can survive there.  Because the original purpose of the project is now meaningless, they decide to make use of the devices to make one last gesture on behalf of the human race.  This is a simple story with no surprises in the plot, but the conclusion has strong emotional appeal.  Three stars.

Lilliput Revisited, by Adam Bradford, M.D.

The name of the main character in this story is the same as that of the author, so I suspect it's a pseudonym.  An American physician discovers the journal of Lemuel Gulliver and sets out for the island of tiny people described in Jonathan Swift's famous book.  There he discovers that the Lilliputians are no longer ruled by an Emperor, but instead live under communism.  He also learns about their system of medical care, which places more emphasis on treatment than diagnosis.  Most of this story consists of the narrator's actions before he reaches the fictional island, and is not very interesting.  The author's intention is satiric, but his target is unclear.  The narrator seems to deplore the Lilliputian form of government, but admire the health care system.  In any case, this is a weak sequel to a classic work.  One star.

The Soul Buyer, by Keith Laumer

A professional gambler and his manager are the main characters in this fast-paced tale.  A disreputable fellow forces the gambler to accept a lottery ticket.  From then on, he has nothing but good luck, winning every poker game and every horse race.  Unsatisfied with his fortunate condition, he investigates the man who gave him the ticket.  This leads to strange and deadly encounters with alien beings.  This story is written in the style of hard-boiled crime fiction, with elements of science fiction and horror.  The constant action and weird elements in the plot keep the reader's interest, but one can't help wondering if the author is just making things up as he goes along.  It's an enjoyable rollercoaster ride, but somehow hollow.  Three stars.

Witch of the Four Winds (Part 2 of 2), by John Jakes

The arcane adventures of Brak the Barbarian continue in the conclusion of this short novel.  Trapped in the lair of a gigantic worm, he survives only to fall into the clutches of an evil sorceress.  Bloody battles with men and monsters follow.  There is very little here that could not be found in the yellowing pages of a 1930's issue of Weird Tales.  The author creates a convincing pastiche of Robert E. Howard's tales of Conan, but adds nothing new.  Two stars.

I cannot be certain if my negative review of this issue reflects its contents accurately, or if my mood distorts my taste in literature.  I can only wait for time to dull the pain of recent events, and hope that next year begins in a less depressing way than this year is ending.

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[October 24, 1963] Sounds Familiar (November 1963 Fantastic)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

This month it seemed as if many news items evinced memories of previous happenings.  Often these occurred on the anniversaries of earlier events, creating a sense of familiarity.

Nigeria, granted independence from the United Kingdom on October 1, 1960, became a republic on the same date three years later.  Governor-General Nnamdi Azikiwe assumed office as President.  It seems likely that political and culture tensions among various ethnic groups will prove a challenge for the young nation.

Similarly, Uganda was declared a republic on the first anniversary of its independence from the UK on October 9.  Edward Mutesa II, formerly the Kabaka (monarch) of the nation, became its first President.

A much longer anniversary was observed in Chatham, Ontario, Canada.  One hundred and fifty years to the day after his death in battle, a monument to the Shawnee chief Tecumseh was erected on October 5.  Tecumseh was killed during the Battle of the Thames, a decisive American victory over the British and their Indian allies, including Tecumseh's confederation of several tribes, during the War of 1812.

Here in the USA, radio listeners became familiar with Sugar Shack by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs.  This upbeat account of romance at a beatnik coffeehouse currently holds the Number One position, and shows no sign of leaving the charts.

It's not surprising, then, that the stories in the latest issue of Fantastic deal with themes that fans of imaginative fiction will find familiar.\\

The After Time, by Jack Sharkey

This fits into the popular category of After the Bomb fiction.  Seven people survive an atomic attack on their city.  In addition to hunting for food and shelter, they face a bizarre menace: weird points of light emerge from the site of the bombing and consume everything living in their path.

The first part of this tale is realistic and convincing.  It becomes much less believable when the lights show up.  The explanation for them involves some very bad science.  The story has a twist ending, but then continues for a few anticlimactic pages.  Two stars.

I was a Spider for the SBI, by Neal Barrett, Jr.

Readers of science fiction magazines know that editors often like to include silly comedies in their publications.  This is no exception.  Three secret agents infiltrate a planet of large, spider-like beings by wearing a costume that resembles one of the aliens.  Slapstick antics result. 

The author sacrifices logic for the sake of cheap laughs.  The commander of the spies, for example, wears cowboy boots and a purple kilt, with no explanation.  The only female character exists purely for the sake of sex jokes.  One star.

Darkness Box, by Ursula K. LeGuin

This story features a typical fantasy setting, but uses it in a creative way.  The inhabitants of the imaginary world include a witch, a king, a warrior prince, and other characters often encountered in fairy tales.  There are, however, strange details that make the story more original.  There is no sun, and no shadows.  The young son of the witch finds a box containing only darkness.  It proves to have an important effect on the unending war between the prince and his rebellious brother.  The author creates a compelling tale from familiar elements.  Four stars.

Witch of the Four Winds (Part 1 of 2), by John Jakes

The hero of this sword-and-sorcery yarn is Brak the Barbarian, last seen in the May issue.  While wandering around in search of his fortune, he rescues a woman from a monster in a cave.  When he emerges from its lair, he discovers that something had killed his horse.  This eventually leads him to an evil sorceress who plots to obtain the power to transform lead into gold through human sacrifices.

This two-fisted adventure story moves briskly, and has some vivid descriptions, but it lacks originality.  Clichés abound, and the protagonist might as well be Conan.  Lacking the elegant style and imagination of a Fritz Leiber, the author provides an ordinary example of the genre.  Two stars.

And on the Third Day, by John J. Wooster

This two-page vignette takes place at the time of the Crucifixion.  Two aliens plan to use advanced technology to create the illusion of a Resurrection.  The result is unexpected.  Without getting in a theological debate, let's just say that this is a fable of the power of faith.  Three stars.

It's been said that familiarity breeds contempt, and my harsh review of a mediocre issue tends to prove that.  Although those of us who enjoy fantasy and science fiction are comfortable with themes we've seen before, we demand that something new be done with them. 




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[October 18, 1963] Points of View (December 1963 Worlds of Tomorrow)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

Philosophers have long debated the nature of reality.  Are things what they seem to be, or do our senses deceive us?  Do you and I perceive the world in the same way, and is there any way to know?  Although there will never be a final answer to such questions, speculation about these matters can lead to intriguing works of fiction.  The latest issue of Worlds of Tomorrow features many stories dealing with different perceptions of the universe: biased, distorted, ambiguous.

The Trouble with Truth, by Julian F. Grow

In the middle of the next century, Earth is united under a government run by computer.  News is restricted to the listing of confirmed data, with no human-interest stories allowed.  The narrator works for the world news agency.  His job is to prevent advertisers from planting misleading articles, and to ensure that only verifiable facts are presented in the media.  This leads to conflict with his fiancée, who runs a small monthly publication (barely tolerated by the authorities) which is not so restricted in its contents.  One of the odd things about this society is that marriage is not the same as matrimony.  The two main characters have gone through the first, but not the latter.  Another notable fact is that the woman is pregnant, and the couple will be able to choose the sex of their unborn child.  When a little girl and her father report a strange happening to the news agency, it leads to a change in the way the ruling computer views reality.

This story reminds me of Ray Bradbury in the way it promotes the importance of imagination over cold, hard facts.  The world it creates is an interesting one, but many of the futuristic details are irrelevant to the plot.  There's also a lot of expository dialogue.  How you feel about the ending, which makes use of a very famous essay from the past, depends on your tolerance for sentimentality.  It exceeded mine.  Two stars.

The Creature Inside, by Jack Sharkey

This is the newest entry in the author's Contact series, previously published in Galaxy, in which the protagonist's consciousness enters the bodies of aliens.  In this adventure, he has a very different assignment.  A man is placed in a room that allows him to experience his fantasies as if they were real.  The room also has a device that can manufacture whatever he wants from any raw material.  The intent is to treat the man's inferiority complex.  Unfortunately, he actually suffers from delusions of grandeur.  The problem is to get him out of his imaginary world, where he would be able to survive indefinitely.  The hero enters the room, where he encounters various illusions, as well as dangers that are all too real.

Although nothing very surprising happens, the hallucinations are vividly described and the story holds the reader's interest.  The protagonist learns something about his own desires, adding a nice touch of characterization to an otherwise unmemorable hero.  Three stars.

The God-Plllnk, by Jerome Bixby

Two alien beings witness a strange object land on Phobos.  They assume it is a god, because it resembles a gigantic version of themselves.  They presume that the creatures emerging from it are similar to the parasites that plague their own bodies.  Unfortunate consequences follow.

This is a brief story about what can happen when events are misinterpreted.  The outcome is predictable.  The author's use of unpronounceable alien words doesn't help.  Two stars.

Goodlife, by Fred Saberhagen

This is a sequel to Fortress Ship, which recently appeared in the pages of If.  Three people survive an attack on their spaceship by a gigantic warship known as a berserker.  One is near death from his injuries.  The computer brain of the berserker orders them to come aboard so it can study humans.  They agree, desperately hoping for an opportunity to destroy the relentless machine.  Living alone on the berserker is a man, conceived from cells taken from human prisoners.  He has never known anything but a life of slavery, with severe punishment for failure to obey the berserker.  At first, he is terrified by the arrival of other people.  The berserker commands him to co-operate with them, knowing it has already deactivated the bomb they brought with them.  What follows is a tense cat-and-mouse game, with the humans learning something new about the origin of the berserkers.

This is a suspenseful tale, with a great deal of insight into the psychology of the berserker's slave.  His distorted view of humanity provides much pathos.  The journey through the interior of the enormous machine is awe-inspiring.  The ending is sudden, but otherwise satisfying.  Four stars.

Science and Science Fiction: Who Borrows What?, by Michael Girsdansky

This is an informal article, which makes the obvious point that SF writers are inspired by the discoveries of science, and vice versa.  It wanders all over the place, from legends of Atlantis to Project Ozma.  The most interesting detail, discussed in a single paragraph, is the fact that MIT students were required to design products for an imaginary alien species.  Two stars.

Far Avanal, by J. T. McIntosh

For reasons not entirely clear, the population of future Earth consists of three times as many men as women.  This leads to a society in which women pick their husbands as they please, and many men go without wives.  The protagonist loses his intended to another man, an event that is all too common.  He receives an offer to journey to a colony planet, where the sexes are evenly matched.  The drawback is that he will have to travel through space in suspended animation while decades go by.  If he decides to return to Earth, an option he insists upon when he accepts the offer, he will be an anachronism, half a century out of date.  Things don't turn out as expected, and he must change his assumptions about his new world and the people who inhabit it.

I have mixed feelings about this story.  The premise is contrived, but the author presents the consequences of it in a convincing way.  Although some of the women are selfish and vain, another is by far the most intelligent, competent, and sympathetic character in the piece.  At the start, the main character is suspicious to the point of paranoia; he eventually learns to overcome his distorted view of others.  This touch of psychological depth makes the story worth reading.  Three stars.

The Great Slow Kings, by Roger Zelazny

Two aliens rule over their planet as monarchs, although their only subject is a robot.  The sole remaining members of their species, they think, speak, and act extremely slowly.  A single conversation lasts for centuries.  They decide to send the robot on a spaceship in order to bring back members of another species as subjects.  The relative swiftness of their captives leads to complications.  The way in which the aliens have a completely different view of time than their new subjects, possibly supposed to be human beings, made this a droll little story.  Three stars.

When You Giffle . . ., by L. J. Stecher, Jr.

This is the third tall tale from the captain of the starship Delta Crucis, previously seen transporting an elephant, then a cargo of valuable plants.  In his wildest adventure yet, he winds up lost, in an unknown part of space.  Two little boys, calmly swimming in the vacuum between the stars, help him find his way, as well as enabling him to carry a whale that is much too big to fit inside his spaceship.  The children, with their god-like telekinetic abilities, may be intended as a parody of the kind of psionic supermen found in Analog.  In any case, this is a silly story, providing only broad comedy.  Two stars.

All We Marsmen (Part 3 of 3), by Philip K. Dick

The latest work from an author who recently won the Hugo for his novel, The Man in the High Castle concludes.  This installment falls somewhere between the realistic narrative style of the first third and the jarring surrealism of the middle portion.  A meeting between a schizophrenic repairman and an avaricious head of the Martian water union, which was previewed in multiple, distorted ways in Part Two, takes place.  The repairman has no memory of it at all.  The union leader vows to take revenge on the repairman, whom he believes failed and betrayed him.  Following the advice of his Martian servant, he sets out on a pilgrimage with an autistic boy to a sacred site of the natives.  His goal is to use the boy's ability to perceive and manipulate time to change the past, so he can claim ownership of a seemingly worthless piece of land, which will be valuable in times to come.  The boy has a terrifying vision of his future as an old man, trapped in a nursing home, most of his body missing, kept barely alive by machines.  The novel returns to its opening scene, as the union leader relives his first encounter with the repairman, and the characters meet their fates.

The climax of this complex, difficult novel is dramatic.  The ambiguous nature of reality, shown through the union leader's mental journey through time, is vividly portrayed.  Readers who have been patient with its downbeat mood will be pleased with a touch of hope at the end.  The characters have the complicated personalities of real people.  (Even the union leader, who is definitely the novel's villain, is sometimes sympathetic.) I recommend reading all three parts together.  Waiting two months between installments weakens the impact of the circular structure of the plot.  (If it is published in book form, perhaps the title will be changed to something more appropriate.) Four stars.

As these stories show, science fiction can help us appreciate the way that others might see reality.  Perhaps, by looking through the eyes (or other sense organs) of different people (or other lifeforms) through the pages of our favorite magazines, we may come to have a empathy for those with other viewpoints, to be more tolerant of beliefs that don't match our own. 




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Magazine

[August 25, 1963] Hope Springs Eternal (September 1963 Fantastic)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all – — Emily Dickinson

There are reasons to be hopeful this month. 

The United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water.  The ceremony took place on August 5 at the Kremlin.  Representing the United States was Secretary of State Dean Rusk.  Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko signed for the Soviet Union, and Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home for the United Kingdom.  The treaty doesn't ban underground testing, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.


United States Senators William Fulbright and Hubert Humphrey, United Nations Secretary General U Thant, and Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschchev join in the celebration

James Meredith, whose enrollment at the University of Mississippi led to a violent riot, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science on August 18.  The ceremony took place without incident.  Perhaps this is a sign that the attitude of some segregationists is changing.


James Meredith receives his diploma from Chancellor John Davis Williams

Proof that hope can triumph over adversity appears at the top of the American popular music charts this month.  The number one position is held by Fingertips Pt. 2 by the musical prodigy Little Stevie Wonder.  Blind since infancy, this talented young man does not allow his handicap to interfere with his art.

Recorded more than a year ago at the Regal Theater in Chicago, this is the first live, non-studio recording to reach Number One since Johnny Standley's comic monologue It's in the Book held that position in 1952.

Appropriately, the lead story in the latest issue of Fantastic deals with hope lost and found.

The cover illustration marks the debut of artist Paula McLane.  It manages to be macabre and peaceful at the same time.  I particularly like the use of color in this dream-like painting.  I hope to see more of her work soon.

The House That Time Forgot, by Robert F. Young

An elderly woman sits in her decaying house.  She hears the flapping of wings, and welcomes it as a sign of her approaching death.  After this eerie opening scene, the author provides a long history of the house and the woman's ancestors.  As a girl, she was shy, withdrawing into the world of books and poetry.  (The character's name is Elizabeth Dickenson [sic], and her personality resembles that of poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Emily Dickinson.) Her only chance at romance vanishes when she discovers the man she loves in a compromising position.  She stays alone in her house for many years, ignoring the outside world.  (So much time goes by that the story becomes science fiction, set in the twenty-first century, when both men and women dye their hair unnatural colors.) Although she has abandoned all hope for a happy life, strange changes in time and reality provide a second chance.

This romantic fantasy appeals much more to the heart than the head.  The author provides a penetrating look into a lonely soul.  What happens to her may not be very logical, but is emotionally powerful.  The reader must be patient during the lengthy detailing of the protagonist's forebears, as this proves to be relevant to the plot.  Four stars.

The Sudden Afternoon, by J. G. Ballard

A man has vivid memories of a life that is not his own.  He remembers being a boy in India, although he has never been there.  He recalls being a physician, although he is actually a chemist.  Soon his false memories become more real to him than his true life.  The explanation for this strange experience quickly becomes clear to the reader, but the story has a final sting in its tail.

Besides the twist ending, in the style of The Twilight Zone, the plot is straightforward.  The author writes very well, and the story is vivid and interesting.  Three stars.

The Singing Sands of Prester John, by H. Benford-Jones

This month's reprint comes from the pen of a prolific writer of pulp fiction.  First published in Blue Book in February of 1939, it is one of a series of tales involving a device which allows one to see and hear the past.  (It even translates speech and writing into English!) In this story, it provides a vision of the twelfth century.  A European soldier seeks Prester John, the legendary Christian ruler of an Asian kingdom.  The man finds love, danger, and a strange phenomenon that proves to have a rational explanation.

The science fiction gimmick is merely an excuse for a work of adventure fiction set many centuries ago.  The setting is depicted in a convincing way, although I doubt it's an entirely accurate portrait of history.  Two stars.

Vanity, Thy Name Is, by Ron Goulart

This is the third in a series of stories about a man from the 1960's who is brought to the 1890's by an occult detective.  While he waits to return to his own time, he does most of the work for the investigator.  In this tale, the mismatched pair face a triple threat.  A fighter vanishes during an illegal boxing match.  A ghost seems to be responsible for a series of robberies.  A poltergeist smashes objects and throws them at people.  The events turn out to be related, and justice is served.

This is a very light comedy.  The mystery is solved quickly, and there is little suspense.  The main appeal comes from humorous remarks made by the characters.  Three stars.

The Demon of the North, by C. C. MacApp

This story takes place in the remote past.  The Ice Age is ending.  Mammoths roam the land.  Contradicting all that we know about prehistory, the people of this time are able to work bronze and iron, make bows and arrows, and use mammoths as beasts of burden.  A particularly advanced nation has magnetic compasses.  An envoy from this land joins a party assembled by a king to seek out and destroy a strange being.  The expedition includes warriors from Africa and the far eastern reaches of Asia.  After a long and difficult journey, they discover the truth about the so-called demon.

The author creates an unusual setting in striking detail.  The explanation for the change in the Earth's climate, and the exact nature of the entity responsible for it, are confusing.  Three stars.

Adjustment, by Wilton G. Beggs

Aliens very similar to human beings conquer the Earth.  The survivors of the invasion live in squalor.  The aliens kidnap attractive young women for their harems and brothels.  Some men who are willing to co-operate with the aliens live in luxury with them.  They have their youth and health restored.  One such man returns to Earth to visit his two daughters.  Although he appears to be very young, the women are old hags.  His haughty alien lover, disdainful of the daughters and all other humans who have not joined her kind, accompanies him.  The two women have a surprise for the proud pair.

This is a gruesome horror story.  Despite the science fiction elements, it reads more like a dark tale of fantasy.  It's clear as soon as the two visitors arrive that they are in for a bad fate.  The only suspense created is wondering what form it will take.  Two stars.

Until next time, just remember what Frank Sinatra and little Eddie Hodges told us in the 1959 movie A Hole in the Head, and have High Hopes.

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Magazine

[August 16, 1963] Time and Time Again (October 1963 Worlds of Tomorrow)

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[Did you meet the Traveler at WorldCon?  Please drop him a line!]


by Victoria Silverwolf

I believe that time, even more than space, is the great theme of science fiction.  Not only time travel, but also the ways in which the passage of time changes people and the way they live.  Most SF stories take place in the future, and offer visions of the years, centuries, and millennia to come. Some feature precognition.  Others deal with distortions in time, such as the slowing of time associated with velocities approaching the speed of light.

It's not surprising, then, that many of the stories in the latest issue of Worlds of Tomorrow feature characters struggling with the mysteries and challenges of time.

The Night of the Trolls, by Keith Laumer

The narrator of this novella is thrust out of his own time and into another.  He is placed in suspended animation for a routine test, which is only supposed to last a few days.  He awakens to discover that nearly a century has passed.  The secret government installation where he works is in ruins.  The compound is still guarded by a gigantic, heavily armed, automated tank called a Bolo.  (Such a device first appeared in Combat Unit, from the November 1960 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.  That story takes place many centuries after this one, so no knowledge of it is needed to appreciate the new tale.)

Getting past the mechanical guardian is the narrator's first task.  Later he discovers that an apocalyptic event left most survivors barely able to stay alive.  Feudal lords leading lives of luxury rule over them.  The narrator infiltrates the fortress of one such dictator.  He encounters a figure from his past, and becomes involved in a scheme to activate another Bolo. 

This is a fast-paced, vividly written adventure story.  The narrator is one of the author's super-competent heroes.  His ability to fight and bluff his way into the lord's stronghold strains credibility.  The antagonist is a two-dimensional character of pure villainy.  However, these are minor quibbles.  The action-filled plot always holds the reader's attention, and there are moments of powerful emotional impact.  Four stars.

The Hermit of Mars, by Stephen Bartholomew

The protagonist of this story also journeys alone through the years, but by his own choice.  An archeologist, he was part of an exploration team sent to the red planet.  A minor heart problem made it risky for him to return to Earth when the mission ended.  He gladly volunteered to remain behind, because unhappy relationships with women made him a misanthropic loner.  Unmanned spaceships send him supplies.  For thirty-five years he lives alone, studying the incredibly ancient artifacts left behind by the extinct Martians.  Two men arrive after all this time.  It soon becomes clear that they are up to no good.  They tolerate the hermit as a harmless old fool, but he proves to have a trick up his sleeve.

There is nothing particularly noteworthy, for good or bad, about this story.  The author's style is serviceable, but undistinguished.  There are no surprises in the plot.  The resolution is something of a deus ex machina.  There's an enjoyable bit of irony at the very end.  Three stars.

The Good Friends, by Cordwainer Smith

An astronaut returns to Earth after an emergency.  While recovering in a hospital, he inquires about the other members of the crew.  The doctor caring for him tells him the frightening truth.  Like other stories in this issue, a long period of time is involved.

This is a brief story with the flavor of an episode of The Twilight Zone.  It will disappoint fans of the author's beautiful and mysterious myths of the far future.  The style is simple and direct, without the intricate wordplay and imaginative images found in tales of the Instrumentality of Mankind.  It's not a bad story, but it pales into insignificance compared to masterpieces like Alpha Ralpha Boulevard and The Ballad of Lost C'Mell.  Three stars.

Orphans of Science, by Stephen Barr

This is an informal article about small mysteries.  Why does light reflecting off metal create small white highlights?  What, exactly, is white light?  Why does a mirror reverse things from left to right, but not top to bottom?  (The magazine's editorial explains the author's confusion on this point.) The rest of the article discusses a few more minor puzzles.  These trivial ponderings are mildly interesting.  Two stars.

All We Marsmen (Part 2 of 3) , by Philip K. Dick

This section of the novel concentrates on three characters.  At the heart of the story is a boy who is severely autistic, one who has never spoken.  The wealthy and powerful head of the Martian water workers union believes the child is able to foresee the future.  He plans to have a skilled handyman, who suffers from episodes of schizophrenia, build a device that will allow the boy to communicate.  The theory behind this is that the child perceives time moving at a very fast rate.  This allows him to look beyond the present, but also prevents him from talking.  An important subplot involves the handyman's father, who has a scheme to make a large profit by buying seemingly worthless Martian land.  The boy draws a picture that provides hints about the future of this project.

So far, the narrative style is realistic.  This changes drastically when bizarre images of death and decay fill the page.  These are associated with the nonsense word gubbish.  If I understand the author's intent correctly, this neologism appears in the boy's mind to describe the inevitable disintegration of all material things with time.  As if this were not disconcerting enough, a meeting between the handyman and the union leader is described multiple times before it actually occurs.  These descriptions repeat certain words and events, but have important differences.  Surreal images of a disturbing nature fill the repetitions.  Whether these are hallucinations, symbolic visions of the future, or indications that the child is somehow able to manipulate time, the effect is frightening.

I suspect that some readers will give up on the novel at this point.  Before this section, the multiple plotlines were complex, but comprehensible.  The sudden change to inexplicable images and strange distortions of reality make the plot difficult to follow.  It's impossible to predict where the author will take me next, but so far the journey has been fascinating, and I'm eager to find out what our destination will be.  Four stars.

The Lonely, by Judith Merril

This story takes the form of a transcription of a message intercepted from space.  An eel-like alien lectures other aliens about human beings.  It seems that very few sentient species reproduce sexually.  Of those that do, humanity is almost unique in having only two sexes.  A statue of a woman holding a rocket, created by unicellular aliens after humans visited their world, is involved.  Eventually humans return to that world and find the statue.

This is a very strange story.  I credit the author for coming up with aliens that do not resemble people at all.  Other than that, the story's intent is unclear.  It seems to be saying something about art and symbolism, as well as the way in which men and women view each other.  Two stars.

To Save Earth, by Edward W. Ludwig

Earth's sun is going to explode in a little over twelve years.  Six astronauts spend six years journeying to a distant planet, looking for a place where humanity can survive.  The length of the trip causes mental disturbances.  One becomes an alcoholic, one a kleptomaniac, one an amnesiac, one a paranoiac, one a schizophrenic, and one feels compelled to break things.  The latter destroys their communication equipment.  Unable to contact Earth, they face the horrifying challenge of making the long journey back, just in time to begin the exodus of its population.  The new planet is inhabited by friendly aliens, who invite them to stay.  The aliens offer them delicious food and drink, beautiful alien women as lovers, and a life free from all care.  They must decide whether to turn their backs on Earth or endure the voyage home.

In sharp contrast to the previous story, these aliens are just slightly different from people.  The familiar plot device of telepathy allows them to speak to their human visitors.  As you can see from the synopsis above, the story has many other implausible events.  Two stars.

The Masked World, by Jack Williamson

Six survey ships are lost without a trace after visiting a distant planet.  The captain of the seventh ship discovers the skeleton of his wife, the pilot of the sixth ship.  Near her remains is a strange plant, unlike anything else on the planet.  Its DNA structure turns out to be the key to solving the mystery.

This is a very short story with a unique concept.  I had to wonder why anyone would keep sending survey ships to a place where they always disappear.  Three stars.

I see by the old clock on the wall that our time is up for today.  See you next time!

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Magazine

[July 24, 1963] The Numbers Game (August 1963 Fantastic)

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[Did you meet us at Comic Con?  Read this to see what we’re all about!]


by Victoria Silverwolf

Those of us living in the United States had to memorize a new number this month.  In addition to our telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, and so on, we now have Zone Improvement Plan numbers, also known as ZIP Codes.  These numbers help the United States Post Office Department direct the mail to its proper destination.  We used to be able to use one or two digit Postal Zone numbers, and only for big cities.  Now every area in the nation has a ZIP Code.  The Post Office sent a postcard to every mailing address in the country –seventy-two million, more or less — listing its five digit ZIP Code. 

They even created a mascot, a cartoon mail carrier named Mr. Zip.

Other numbers in the news this month were 15 (as in the X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft), 90 (as in Flight 90 of this vehicle), and 100 (as in 100 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, considered to be place where outer space begins.) Just a few days ago, Joseph A. Walker, pilot for the X-15's Flight 90, reached an altitude of 107.8 kilometers and a speed of nearly six thousand kilometers per hour.  That makes him the first person to reach outer space in an airplane, and America's first civilian astronaut.

In popular music, of course, the only number that really matters is one.  Earlier this month, a rhythm and blues group called The Essex reached Number One on the American pop music charts with their catchy, if hardly innovative, tune Easier Said Than Done.  The most unusual thing about the musicians who make up The Essex is that all of them are active members of the United States Marine Corps.

Currently, the top position is held by the vocal duo Jan and Dean, with Surf City.  This is the first song in the relatively new genre of surf music to reach Number One.  Speaking of numbers, this tune begins with a numerical lyric that may raise some eyebrows.
Two girls for every boy

With all these numbers spinning around in my head, I thought I could get away from them for a while and enjoy the latest issue of Fantastic.  It turns out that the simple question How many stories are in this issue? requires some tricky mathematics.

Bazaar of the Bizarre, by Fritz Leiber

Vernon Kramer's colorful cover art accurately portrays the lead story.  The cover blurb, however, is unfair to the Gray Mouser's companion Fafhrd, who actually plays a more active role in their latest adventure.

Two strange sorcerers, who often send the pair on weird and dangerous quests, summon them to a nighttime marketplace in the city of Lankhmar.  The Gray Mouser arrives early.  Having a little time to kill, he investigates a new shop that appears out of nowhere.  It is full of wonderful things.  Of particular interest to the lusty little fellow are the alluring young women within cages hanging from the ceiling.

Meanwhile, his giant friend Fafhrd meets with the wizards.  It seems that an evil force from another universe threatens the land of Nehwon.  They provide him with magical objects and send him to destroy the invader.  What follows is a deadly battle against sinister foes.

No one is better at writing sword-and-sorcery than Fritz Leiber.  Every line begs to be read aloud, the better to appreciate its poetic rhythm and vivid imagery.  Exotic details make the setting seem very real.  The author adds just the right of touch of wit to spice up his story.  The climactic battle is thrilling.  Five stars.

The Red Tape Yonder, by Vance Simonds

A government official dies and tries to make his way to Heaven.  He encounters multiple obstacles.  This is a heavy-handed satire of bureaucracy.  A few lines suggest that the author is a loyal supporter of the G.O.P., so I hope my left-leaning tendencies don't interfere with my ability to judge this story on its merits.  Two stars.

The Grass, More Green, by W. Lee Tomerlin

A henpecked husband receives several miniatures from a friend who feels sorry for him.  The fellow becomes obsessed with his little world, locking himself in his basement.  What happens isn't very surprising.  This story reminded me of Rod Serling's nostalgic tales of men yearning to escape their disappointing lives.  (In particular, the Twilight Zone episodes Walking Distance and A Stop at Willoughby.) Unfortunately, the author doesn't quite have the delicate touch required for this theme.  The man's wife is a caricature of a selfish, nagging woman.  Two stars.

A Hoax in Time (Part 3 of 3), by Keith Laumer

The three protagonists of this novel – a wealthy heir, a carnival worker, and an artificial woman, formed by a computer with immense powers – are in a parallel reality, created by their journey through time.  The heir undergoes an intense training program, which transforms him from a useless, spoiled weakling into a man with extraordinary mental and physical skills.  While on an outdoor test of his abilities, he discovers a plot to overthrow the utopian society he and his companions brought into being. 

The story moves quickly, particularly at the end.  The author relies on a deus ex machina — almost literally, in this case — to tie everything up.  If the first third of this serial was a comic romp, and the second third a philosophical essay, the final third is a fast-paced adventure story.  Although entertaining, the disparate elements of the story never quite come together.  Three stars.

Two More Tales for the Horrid at Heart, by Brad Steiger

Here's where the counting of stories gets complicated.  Two tiny works of fiction appear under the title above, but they also have their own titles. 

Sacrifice Play features an archeologist who discovers an inscription at the ruins of Ankor Wat.  They promise fabulous wealth in exchange for a sacrifice to a demon.  As you might imagine, this is a bad idea.

In One Too Many, a married couple sneaks vodka into the fruit punch of a mysterious fellow who never drinks alcohol.  They soon find out the reason for his abstinence.

Both stories feature twist endings.  The first one is obvious, and the second one is arbitrary.  Two stars.

The Devil in Hollywood, by Dale Clark

This month's reprint comes from the August 8, 1936 issue of Argosy.  A little over a decade ago, it was reprinted in Avon Fantasy Reader. 

Dale Clark (which Fantastic misspells as Clarke in the table of contents and title page of the story, although Sam Moskowitz spells it correctly in his introduction) is a pseudonym used by a writer with the much more interesting name of Ronal Sherwood Kayser.  He writes mostly crime fiction, although I don't think he's published anything for a while.  He also wrote a few fantasy stories for markets such as Weird Tales.

A movie director convinces an unemployed cameraman and an aspiring actress to work on a film he is producing on his own.  The director himself will play the lead role.  The plot of the movie, which reminds me of the early German talkie Der Blaue Engel, involves a man who becomes involved with a heartless dancer.  He makes a pact with Satan in order to acquire sufficient riches to purchase her affection.  This story-within-the-story turns out to be all too real.

This tale of terror is written in a realistic manner, probably due to the author's experience with hardboiled fiction.  The description of the moviemaking industry is very convincing, making the supernatural aspects seem believable.  Four stars.

Sometimes I Get So Happy, by David R. Bunch

A writer that some readers love to hate returns to the dystopian world of Moderan, whose inhabitants have bodies made mostly of metal.  The narrator recalls his former life, when he was made entirely of flesh.  He remembers a failed romance.  The main appeal of this story is the author's unique style.  Three stars.

Fables of the Past & Future, by Thomas M. Disch

Once again, I have to scratch my head and wonder how I should count this trio of vignettes.  The title listed above only appears in the table of contents.  Unlike the pair of tales by Brad Steiger, each of these stories has its own introduction by editor Cele Goldsmith.

In The Return of the Medusae, the inhabitants of New York City turn to stone.  Those who remain alive treat them as statues, destroying them if they fail to please.  This story may be an allegory about the nature of art.

In Master Said-And-Done, a mute hunchback makes a deal with the Devil, damning himself by accepting three wishes.  This familiar theme leads to a twist ending.  Of the three so-called fables, this is the most traditional.

The Enchanted Prince, 1963 is a twisted fairy tale that combines medieval elements with modern touches.  An orphaned princess, raised by a cruel uncle, has to go to public school.  The reason this horrifies her has to do with a serious problem facing the United States today. 

The author writes well, but his sardonic tone will not appeal to all readers.  Three stars.

Cornie on the Walls, by Sydney van Scyoc

The magazine once more makes a spelling error, giving the author's first name as Sidney.  This may disguise the fact that she is a woman.  Since she has only published a small number of stories, mostly in Galaxy, perhaps we can forgive this mistake.

Her latest offering is a strange tale, which requires close reading.  An artist of the future lies motionless, connected to his house by machines.  He uses his mind to create pictures that appear on the walls of his home.  Students and tourists show up to observe them.  Against his will, distorted images of a dead woman, apparently his wife or lover, appear on the walls. 

This is a dark and disturbing story, often gruesome.  The author creates a compelling science fiction horror story.  Four stars.

Let's see; that makes six stories; one-third of a novel; two stories that might be one story; and three stories that might be one story, for a total of . . .

I better go study this crazy New Math that everybody's talking about.

[P.S.  Did you take our super short survey yet?  There could be free beer/coffee in it for you!]

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Science / Space Race

[June 24, 1963] First Ladies (July 1963 Fantastic)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

The most inspiring news this month, at least for anyone interested in humanity's first tiny steps away from our home planet, was the fact that Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova became the first woman in space.  She orbited the Earth forty-eight times aboard Vostok 6, landing safely after nearly three days inside the tiny spacecraft.

This was certainly a welcome distraction from the continuing battle in the United States over civil rights.  On June 11, Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block desegregation of the school.  Only after the National Guard arrived to remove Wallace did he step aside.

The next day, in Jackson, Mississippi, NAACP activist Medgar Evers was murdered, shot to death in his driveway.

The same day, President Kennedy addressed the nation on the subject of civil rights.

It ought to be possible for American consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and restaurants and theaters and retail stores, without being forced to resort to demonstrations in the street, and it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal.

Let us hope that all Americans take these words to heart.

Those of us wishing to escape from this distressing conflict can go out to a movie theater and spend four hours watching Cleopatra, said to be the most expensive film ever made.

We can also enjoy the novelty of listening to Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto singing Ue o Muite Arukou (I look up as I walk).  Despite having been given the inappropriate English title Sukiyaki, this lovely, gently melancholy tune has reached number one on the US music charts.

And in the vein of literary distractions, one can do worse than a science fiction magazine.  Given Tereshkova's recent achievement, it's appropriate that the latest issue of Fantastic features a pair of firsts from women.

Artist Jacquelyn Blair, who has previously done interior illustrations for editor Cele Goldsmith's magazines, provides the cover art.  Not only is this the first time she has moved from the inside.  This is also the first time she has received credit under her full name.  Earlier issues simply listed her as Blair.  This seems to be standard practice for interior artists, so I don't think it was an attempt to hide her sex. 

Blair is not the first woman in her field.  Perhaps the most famous female illustrator of fantastic fiction is Margaret Brundage, who provided many covers for Weird Tales.  In any case, Blair's cartoonish cover properly matches the mood of the magazine's lead story…

The Trouble with Tweenity, by Jack Sharkey

A scientist discovers that an infinite number of worlds exist between normal matter and antimatter.  To solve the near future's extreme traffic congestion, the President of the United States uses devices that allow people to travel to these worlds.  All sorts of problems result.  Attempts to solve these dilemmas lead to further complications.

Typical for the author, this is a silly farce.  The science is complete nonsense, even for a comedy.  Much of the story is pure exposition.  One or two jokes provide mild amusement.  Two stars.

He That Hath Wings, by Edmond Hamilton

This month's reprint comes from the July 1938 issue of Weird Tales.  A baby is born to a woman who dies in childbirth.  She and the infant's father, already dead, were exposed to radiation in an electrical explosion.  The child has hollow bones and special muscles to control the wings he develops.  He grows into a man who can fly.  He falls in love with a woman who returns his affection, but cannot allow herself to marry someone the world thinks of as a freak.  The man must choose between flight and romance.  Sacrifice and tragedy follow.

Although this story begins in the old-fashioned style of pulp fiction, it soon becomes poetic.  The author's descriptions of the joy of flying are particularly effective.  A minor quibble is that the scientific explanation for the man's mutation is not convincing.  This emotionally powerful tale would have been even better as pure fantasy.  Four stars.

A Hoax in Time (Part 2 of 3), by Keith Laumer

In the first part of this serial, our three protagonists – a wealthy idler, a carnival performer, and a robot in the form of a beautiful young woman, created by a super-computer – wound up in the remote past.  The idler and the robot escaped.  In this installment, they return to rescue the performer, only to find that thirty years have gone by.  While waiting for the others, he helped the savage people of the past progress into healthy, self-reliant individuals.  When the three go back to their own time, they find that his efforts have changed the present.  In particular, the super-computer no longer exists, leaving them unable to journey through time again and put things back the way they were.

This part of the novel is less comic than the first.  It also has less action and more talk.  The author creates an interesting alternate version of reality.  Although the world he depicts has its flaws, it seems intended as a functioning libertarian society.  The author's philosophy also comes through in the final section of this installment, when the idler goes through an intense training program of self-discipline in order to become a valuable member of his new home.  The story is never boring, even when it becomes nothing more than a discussion of ideas.  The performer's ability to bring technology to the prehistoric people, in the manner of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, strains credibility.  Three stars.

The Recurrent Suitor, by Ron Goulart

This is a sequel to last month's story Plumrose.  The narrator, a man of 1961, is still stuck in 1897.  The occult detective Plumrose brought him there with a time ray.  He serves as the detective's reluctant assistant until Plumrose can repair the time ray.  In this story, the mismatched pair help a young man rescue his fiancée from a family curse.  As with the previous story, this is a light comedy, poking fun at old-fashioned Gothic fiction.  Three stars.

A Contract in Karasthan, by Phyllis MacLennan

This is the first published story by the author, and one hopes that it will not be the last.  A man journeys around the world in search of the magical place for which he yearns.  When he finds it, he must decide whether to remain or return to mundane reality.  This is a delicate, moody, dream-like fantasy.  It has the flavor of a myth.  The author's elegant style casts a spell over the reader.  Five stars.

Final Audit, by Thomas M. Disch

In the Nineteenth Century, a clerk has a peculiar form of precognition.  Although he fills out a book of postal expenses one month after the actual transactions, he can see one month ahead.  In other words, he knows what he is going to write in the book one month in the future, dealing with the expenses made on the day he sees them.  This strange ability seems useless, since it deals with such trivial matters.  Over many years, the clerk tries various ways to turn this to his advantage, without luck.

This is an unusual story, written in a deliberately old-fashioned style.  Although it is not a comedy, one can't help feeling that the author has his tongue firmly in his cheek.  Although the ending is predictable, the portrait of a life wasted in pursuit of an impossible goal is effective.  Three stars.

All in all, it has been a banner month for women in science and science fiction.  Let's hope that Tereshkova, Goldsmith, Blair, and MacLennan continue to serve as role models for other pioneering women, in the far reaches of outer space or deep within the human imagination.

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