by David Levinson

A major medical advancement

On December 2nd, in Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa, a young woman named Denise Darvall was struck by a drunk driver. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but doctors could do nothing for her and abandoned resuscitation attempts at 9:00 p. m. The doctors approached her father, informed him of his daughter’s death, and told him that it might be possible to save someone else’s life by transplanting her heart. After a few minutes of consideration, Mr. Darvall gave his permission.

The patient in question was 55-year-old grocer Louis Washkansky, whose own heart was giving out. Surgery began shortly after 1:00 in the morning of December 3rd under the leadership of Dr. Christiaan Barnard. Mr. Washkansky began his recovery in good spirits, and Dr. Barnard declared the operation a success, because the heart was doing its job without external assistance. Unfortunately, Mr. Washkansky contracted pneumonia – possibly as a result of the drugs he was given to suppress his immune system to prevent rejection of the new heart – and died of complications from that illness on December 21st.

Louis Washkansky talks to Dr. Barnard in the days following the surgery.

Nevertheless, this was a strong first step (I cannot accept the attempt a few years ago in Mississippi to transplant a chimpanzee heart into a human as serious), and we can add the heart to corneas and kidneys as a transplantable organ. Lung, liver, and pancreas transplants have all been attempted, but can still only be considered experimental at this point. However, it’s clear that great strides are being made, and one day in the not too distant future one person’s untimely death may allow many others to live full lives. Let’s just hope this doesn’t take us down the dark road Larry Niven imagines.

Considering the consequences

Larry Niven starts a new novel in this month’s IF in which he offers a warning about where successful organ transplants could take us. The characters in a couple other stories also have to ask themselves just where their actions might lead.

This dreamscape doesn’t appear in Robert Sheckley’s new story, but it could. Art by Vaughn Bodé

Slowboat Cargo (Part 1 of 3), by Larry Niven

Three hundred years after the colonization of Plateau, society is divided into crew, who enjoy all the privileges and leisure, and colonists, who do all the work and whose bodies go into the organ banks to keep the crew healthy. A new discovery delivered by automated spaceship from Earth may change all that. The story follows colonist Matt Keller, head of Implementation Jesus Pietro Castro, and occasionally Millard Parlette, the 190-year-old head of the government. Matt finds himself at a party that is cover for a meeting of the rebel group Sons of Earth, where they hope to discuss the delivery from Earth, which is then raided by Implementation under the lead of dread Castro himself. Matt is the only person to escape, because he has the strange psychic ability of making people forget he exists in moments of stress. Feeling guilty about the capture of his new friends, Matt decides he must break into the Hospital and free them. As this installment ends, he has managed to get in without being arrested. To be continued.

Implementation guards? To call this style “comic book” would insult fine artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. “Art” by Adkins

Niven continues to flesh out the universe in which he sets his stories, and not just at a single point in time. We’ve visited Plateau before, but that was obviously long after the events here, since society is very different. He’s also covering some of the same ground as his story in Dangerous Visions. This novel is probably part of how we get from there to the world of Beowulf Schaeffer.

I was particularly taken with Niven’s handling of exposition. While there are expository passages explaining things like the history of Plateau, they’re handled by the narrative. But it’s his use of little details that tell us a lot about the society in which his characters live, the things they take for granted, that impressed me. Very much a case of showing, not telling.

Originally, I was going to give this installment four stars, but on reflection I have to lower that score slightly. Matt’s power is just a little too over the top. I can see it working in social situations, such as we’re shown early on, but getting arrested and then having the guards just forget he’s there is too much.

A very high three stars.

The Petrified World, by Robert Sheckley

Lanigan suffers from a recurring nightmare. Maybe a visit with his therapist will help.

Does Lanigan wake or dream? Art uncredited, but Bodé’s signature is visible.

What a disappointment. It was obvious from the get-go and concludes with faux profundity. Sheckley may have written this under the influence of LSD. At least it was short.

A high two stars, only because Sheckley writes well.

Star Bike, by B. K. Filer

Ed Lamb is a mechanic and occasional motorcycle racer who loves nothing more than tearing up the backroads of Nova Scotia on his old Norton. He encounters a couple of strange men who say they’re American astronauts and their ship needs a quick repair. Ed helps them out and they reward him with some motor oil. That might not have been a good idea.

Ed on his beloved Norton. Art by Gaughan

I’m not one for motorcycles, and the story’s nothing special, but I quite enjoyed this one. Ed is a big improvement as a character over any in Filer’s first two stories. Third time’s the charm–or maybe it’s because he wasn’t trying to be funny this time.

Three stars.

The Courteous of Ghoor, by Robert Lory

Archie Pholpher has been chosen by the people of Ghoor to save Earth from the sun going nova by moving the planet to inside the Veil of the Federation. His only contact is the Courteous, who trains him in teleporting things and keeps the Federation from finding out.

This nothing of a story has a plot right out of the Pulp Era, modernized to fit the post-War era. It’s still 25 years out of date. Right on the line between two and three stars, but really not good enough to cross it.

A high two stars.

The Selchey Kids, by Laurence Yep

Duke (short for Deucalion) Gunnar is a survivor of the great earthquake and tidal wave that drowned San Francisco. After several years inland, he returned to the City, where he met Pryn, daughter of oceanographer Noe Selchey, who once worked with Duke’s parents. Together with a pair of trained dolphins, Duke and Pryn are sent to look for some data that should still be in the underwater wreckage of Selchey’s Institute. Duke will learn a lot about his past.

The Selchey Kids encounter danger in the ruins of San Francisco. Art by Gaughan

Yep is this month’s new author, and this is an impressive debut, especially for a 19-year-old college sophomore. Some of the character names are a little too apt, and the climax felt a bit rushed, but there’s a lot to like. The writing is otherwise strong, and I found the characters well-drawn. This is a solid foundation for the author to build on.

A high three stars.

All Judgment Fled (Part 3 of 3), by James White

After a mysterious object entered the solar system from interstellar space and took up orbit between Mars and Jupiter, an expedition was hastily cobbled together to investigate. The six men discover life aboard the alien ship, but the aliens may not be intelligent. After several hostile encounters, the commander is dead, and there are only two functional spacesuits for the four men aboard the alien ship. As the last installment ended, the ship’s engines were warming up to leave the solar system.

The astronauts manage to disable one of the engines, preventing the ship from leaving. Things gradually go from bad to worse, thanks to the ineffectual leadership of the new commander and interference from Earth based on incomplete information and political concerns. Eventually, the men disregard orders from Earth and launch a war of extermination against the starfish-like aliens. More will die, but with any luck they’ll attract the attention of the intelligent alien they believe is aboard.

Has first contact finally been made? Art by Gray Morrow

A thrilling conclusion to a novel that started out cramped and tense. I’m not sure I can really accept Earth command coming to some of the conclusions they do or the decisions they make, and some of White’s descriptions of places could be clearer, but this was a fine ending. I’d also be interested in what happens next.

Four stars for this installment and a high three for the novel as a whole.

Summing up

A good start to a new serial and a strong finish to the old. Too bad about the stuff in the middle. Maybe that’s too harsh. “The Selchey Kids” is an impressive debut, and “Star Bike” was decent. But, oh, that Sheckley story was disappointing.

Last month, editor Fred Pohl promised some new features coming this year. This issue gives us the SF Calendar, offering dates and details of upcoming science fiction events (mostly conventions). Half a page of information that looks like an ad isn’t really something to blow your horn about, even if it is a good idea. Conspicuous by its absence is Our Man in Fandom (with a promised report on last year’s World Con). Maybe it gave way to make room for the long beginning to Niven’s serial, or maybe it’s on its way out. It has felt like Carter was running out of things to say. Time will tell.

New Ellison is always welcome, and Redd has been interesting. Fingers crossed.

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