by Gideon Marcus
We live in increasingly tumultuous times (or maybe we are just better informed about them). A war is heating up in Vietnam, an even significant enough to have produced fictional characters who have experienced it (e.g. Linc, the veteran in Route 66; Oscar from Heinlein's new serial, Glory Road).
There's a war waging in our country, too, as Blacks fight for the rights they are due as humans. They march, they protest, they are attacked, and sometimes they are killed. The President recently sent a Civil Rights Bill to Congress, but its future is far from certain.
When the news gets unbearable (or if you are a soldier on either of these front lines and need a break) science fiction and fantasy provide welcome respites. They offer completely new worlds to explore that may have their own problems, but at least they're different ones. Or the stories posit futures/alternaties where vexing issues have been solved.
I find myself increasingly seeking out this refuge as the world gets scarier. This month's last science fiction digest, the July 1963 Analog, afforded me several hours of peace when I needed it. Perhaps it will do the same for you.
The Big Fuel Feud (Part 2 of 2), by Harry B. Porter
Even as a rocket scientist, I found Porter's increasingly dry comparison of solid vs. liquid fuels to be interminable. Campbell needs contributors who will be less textbook, more Asimov (or Ley). Two stars.
The Ethical Engineer (Part 1 of 2), by Harry Harrison
When we last saw Jason dinAlt, the psychic gambler with a galactic range, he had brought a tepid peace between the city-dwellers and the country folk on the lethal world of Pyrrus. The latter had managed to live with the increasingly hostile life forms on that death world rather than wage an increasingly futile arms race against it.
Pyrrus barely figures in this new serial, as dinAlt is kidnapped in Chapter One by a religious fanatic bent on taking Jason back to galactic civilization to face crimes against decency. On the way, their ship is crippled, and the two must become unlikely allies to survive on yet another harsh world.
It's not as good as Deathworld, and it could have just as easily starred another character. That said, it picks up as it goes, and I found myself wanting more at the half-way break. I appreciate that Jason dinAlt, like Laumer's Retief, appears to be Black. Three stars trending upwards.
New Apples in the Garden, by Kris Neville
In an increasingly technological world, the engineer becomes increasingly essential. So what happens when people stop seeing slip-stick pusher as a desirable career? Kris Neville describes a dark future of slow but inexorable decay (with the unspoken subtext made overt in the final illustration). I don't know that I buy this premise given how heavily the sciences are boosted these days, but it is evocatively drawn. Three stars.
A Knyght Ther Was, by Robert F. Young
Robert Young has written a lot of great stuff, but these days, his work tends to be really bad, usually some sort of in-joke based on an obvious literary reference (usually something obscure like the Book of Genesis). This time, his story features a fellow named Thomas Mallory who goes back to England in 542 A.D. Can you guess what he finds? I'll give you a clue — it's not a decaying Romano-British/Welsh society under attack by colonizing Saxons.
Worse yet, and you'll see this a mile away, Mallory is THE Mallory. Yes, bootstraps galore in a tediously predictable tale that doesn't even have the virtue of being funny. Two stars, and that's being generous. Read the original, or the ur-document penned by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
New Folks' Home, by Clifford D. Simak
Cliff Simak, master of bucolic SF, has got a serial running in Galaxy right now called Here gather the stars, in which aliens set up a galactic way station in a rural part of America. New Folk's Home is very similar, thematically, in which an old man, making his last vacation to the backwoods of his youth, discovers a beautiful new house in the middle of nowhere. Why is it there, and how could it be tied to him? Is it an intrusive eyesore, or just the retirement spot he was looking for?
I especially enjoy Simak because his stuff tends to have happy endings, and his aliens are benevolent. Good stuff, as always. Four stars.
Thanks to the Harrison and the Simak, I have a more positive feeling toward this issue (and the world) than the issue's 2.6 star rating would normally command. It's not the best magazine of the month, or even near the top — that prize goes to Fantastic (3.3), followed by Worlds of Tomorrow and Fantasy and Science Fiction (3.1). Even IF got a higher score (2.8), and it had one of the best stories (Down to the Worlds of Men, by Alexei Panshin). New Worlds was slightly better, too (2.7). Only Amazing was worse, and it was a LOT worse (2.1). So there was lots to enjoy this month to take you out of the miseries of the world.
On the other hand, one misery continues to intrude. Women wrote just two out of the thirty-seven contributions. I've been told women aren't just interested, and the editors print the best things they can find. Why should editors bother to especially solicit women when their jobs are busy enough as it is?
In reply, I present Exhibit A: Jack Sharkey, whose work fills half of two magazines this month, garnering a whopping two stars between them. Surely, we can do better than that if we bring in some new blood. We literally can't do worse.
Speaking of Alexei Panshin, the great young author, himself, has answered my letter and offered up an article describing the birth of his first (and most excellent story). Look forward to it in just a couple of days!
"New Apples in the Garden" — A subtle and intriguing story, that left me with a chilling feeling that the author may be all too right. The way that the stock market continues to climb while things are falling apart was a powerful depiction of human short-sightedness. An unusual story for Analog, indeed.
"A Knyght Ther Was" — Pretty bad, I agree. Rowena's pseudo-medieval speech (which should have been completely incomprehensible, if this was really the sixth century) was annoying. The way in which all the details of the Grail legend are assumed to be 100% accurate made this another odd story to find in Analog, but a poor one.
"New Folks' Home" — Beautifully written and inspiring. Nobody can quite do this like Simak.
Two out of three ain't bad!
The female readership of New Worlds in 1950s surveys was 5-15%. I’ve seen reports (Davin) of similar percentages for letters by woman published in the US SF magazines (I assume these are proportionate to the readership): 2 out of 37 contributions lies in lower part of that range.
As to Jack Sharkey, obviously the editors concerned thought his work was good enough to publish. Why would that spur them to seek out more contributions from anyone, never mind women?
I understand that it is fashionable to view historical events through the lens of today’s political attitudes but I’m not sure if, in this case, it is producing anything other than a distorted view of the time.
PS Even Lightspeed, one of today’s most progressive magazines shows a 60:40 male/female readership split on their current advertising sheet.
If there's anything that history has taught me, it is that the fight for representation is an eternal one. From the American Revolution, to the current Civil Rights Marches, to the dawning of what some are already calling the Second Wave of Feminism.
I can only speak for me. I have been reading science fiction regularly since 1950, and I want to see more woman authors (and fans).
And less Jack Sharkey.
" We literally can’t do worse." I'm not a Jack Sharkey fan, but this reads like a bit of an overstatement.
There have been writers notably worse than Sharkey selling regularly to sf/f magazines for extended periods during the last forty years, and I'm sure there are hordes of non-writers approaching zero levels of competence who submit stories to the magazines without ever having any accepted (mercifully).
So, while I would have passed over unremarked a statement like "It's unlikely we could do much worse," I think the "literally" and the "can't" show you getting a bit carried away here.
(If I've told you once, I've told you ten million times: don't exagerrate.)
Jack Sharkey is a convenient shorthand for lousy. He's used up my goodwill quotient this month. Perhaps it will recharge.
I'm still making my way through the issue and the only sour note so far is the Young.
The Harrison is shaping up nicely, though I think it's fairly predictable where the second half is going to go. I must admit that I didn't pick up any clues that dinAlt might be Black (or Retief for that matter), but there's certainly nothing that says he isn't.
I'm only halfway through the Young, but it's already annoying me mightily. 542 A.D. is a bit late for any sort of historical King Arthur by at least 30-50 years and maybe a couple of decades more. And Mallory's shining armor with its bucket helm and the suggestion that a knight would need a winch to mount his horse in such armor (not really true in any era with the possible exception of some very late tournament armor) would be from 600 to 800 years later. Prince Valiant does not count as proper historical research, Mr. Young.
At least there's a Simak story to look forward to. And add me to list of people who'd like to see less Jack Sharkey. He had a truly abysmal month, but I've never been a big fan of his work.
There is no pretense of research. The world of Knyght is Mort D'Artur, in turn based oj Monmouth's work. 542 is Arthur's canonical death date.
If the story had been like the Incomplete Enchanter, where Shea bopped into magical worlds, it'd have been fine.
Or if it had been, you know… good.