by John Boston All right, Frogeyes,* dust off all the stars. We’re finally going to need them for this January 1963 Amazing, specifically for Keith Laumer’s novelet It Could Be Anything. *Those without a classical education may ignore this and similar allusions. “Things are not what they seem” is a well worn SF device, employed … Continue reading [December 12, 1962] UP THE SPOUT AGAIN (the January 1963 Amazing)
[if you’re new to the Journey, read this to see what we’re all about!] by Gideon Marcus Behold the picture of contentment. I sit in my La-Z-Boy, feet crossed on an ottoman, a Julie London album on the phonograph, and my tummy stuffed to the utmost with stuffing, turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes… the whole megillah. … Continue reading [November 27, 1962] Turkeys and Gravy (December 1962 Analog)
by Victoria Silverwolf America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality. I'm a Kennedy liberal, so goodness knows I wouldn't … Continue reading [November 22, 1962] Return to Normalcy (December 1962 Fantastic)
[if you’re new to the Journey, read this to see what we’re all about!] by Gideon Marcus Another month, another load of science fiction digests delivered to my door. Normally, they arrive staggered over several weeks (the various publishers know not to step on each other's toes – the field is now pretty uncrowded, so … Continue reading [October 9, 1962] Middlin' middle sibling (November 1962 IF Science Fiction)
[if you’re new to the Journey, read this to see what we’re all about!] by Gideon Marcus Thirteen years ago this month, amidst the post-war boom of science fiction digests, Galaxy Science Fiction was born. Its editor, H.L. Gold, intended his brainchild to stand above and apart from the dozens of lesser mags (remember those … Continue reading [Sep. 10, 1962] Leading by Example (the terrific October 1962 Galaxy)
by John Boston This September Amazing continues the magazine’s slide into mediocrity after the promise of the year’s earlier issues. Keith Laumer’s serial A Trace of Memory concludes, and it’s quite disappointing, in part because it compares so poorly to last year’s Worlds of the Imperium, in part because it seemed to start so well. … Continue reading [August 12, 1962] FEH (the September 1962 Amazing)
[if you’re new to the Journey, read this to see what we’re all about!] by Gideon Marcus It's a hot, doldrumy summer. My wife and I are hard at work. Our daughter has headed to the North for a vacation. There's hardly anything in the news but sordid details of the Sol Estes case (if … Continue reading [August 6, 1962] Bookkends (September 1962 IF Worlds of Science Fiction)
by John Boston Summertime, and the living is . . . hot and sticky, here in the near-South. Also fairly boring, if one is not much interested in such local rustic amusements as hayrides and frog-gigging (if you have to ask, you don’t want to know.) There’s no better time to find a comfortable hiding … Continue reading [July 12, 1962] ROUTINE EXCURSION (the August 1962 Amazing)
by John Boston The July Amazing starts off ambiguously, with Stonehenge on the cover—often a bad sign, you could find yourself in Atlantis if you’re not careful. But it illustrates A Trace of Memory, a new serial by the reasonably hardheaded Keith Laumer, so we may be spared any deep wooliness. I’ll defer reading and … Continue reading [June 13, 1962] THE SINCEREST FORM? (the July 1962 Amazing)
by Gideon Marcus I've said before that IF Worlds of Science Fiction is sort of a poor sister to Galaxy Science Fiction. Since 1959, they've been owned and run by the same team; IF pays its writers less; the quality used to be markedly lower on average (with occasional stand-outs). We seem to be entering … Continue reading [June 10, 1962] A star shall rise (July 1962 IF Science Fiction)