This month saw such a bumper crop of books (and a bumper crop of Journey reviewers!) that we've split it in two. This first one covers two of the more exciting books to come out in some time, as well as the usual acceptables and mediocrities. As Ted Sturgeon says: 90% of everything is crap. But even if the books aren't all worth your time, the reviews always are! Dive in, dear readers…
by Tam Phan (Secret Asian Man)
There’s a volcano that’s ready to erupt on the silver screens, so prepare yourselves for a blast of truth, fury, and funk that has no patience for politeness. These three films, Watermelon Man, The Landlord, and Cotton Comes to Harlem, take a swing at the beast that is American racism as they stumble in their own strange ways trying to wrap their arms around it. These films attempt to not let their audiences off easy as they slap them across the face, daring white America to feel what it’s like to be on the wrong end of the stick. Whether you’re a white boy having your spiritual awakening in a Black neighborhood or a white man literally waking up Black, these films don’t just entertain. They challenge and provoke you with some honesty and a loud Black voice that is no longer asking to be heard.
by John Boston
The July Amazing is fronted by John Pederson, Jr.’s second cover, an agreeable Martian-ish scene, reminiscent of nothing so much as . . . Johnny Bruck on a good day. So maybe the new commitment to domestic artists isn’t quite the boon I thought it was. We’ll see.
by John Pederson, Jr.
The non-fiction this month is a bit less gripping than usual. White’s editorial recounts his unsatisfactory encounter with a woman who wanted to write an article about SF fandom, but apparently never did (or it never got published). He then segues to a discussion of Dr. Frederic Wertham and his campaign against comic books which culminated in his book The Seduction of the Innocent. Then, finally, to the point: Wertham is now saying he too will write about SF fandom and White doesn’t think it will be any good. He’s probably right, but until we see what Wertham produces, discussing it is a little pointless.
The letter column remains contentious but is getting a little repetitive; at this point it’s hard for anyone to say anything new about New Wave vs. Old Farts, and no more inviting topic has emerged. The fanzine reviews are as usual, and the book reviews . . . are missing, damn it! To my taste they have been about the liveliest part of the magazine. I hope the lapse is momentary.
But speaking of SF fandom, I’ll take this lack of much to talk about as an occasion to mention something fairly striking about the magazine’s contents under Ted White’s editorship: there is an unusually large representation of Fans Turned Pro, authors who have—like White—been heavily involved in organized SF fandom. This issue features Bob Shaw, a leading light of Irish fandom and heavy contributor to the celebrated fanzines Slant and Hyphen, who later won two Hugo Awards as best fanwriter among other distinctions; he also had a story in the second (7/69) White-edited issue. Greg Benford (once a co-editor with White of the also-celebrated fanzine Void) has one of his co-authored “Science in Science Fiction” articles (the fifth) in this issue, and three stories to boot in White’s eight issues, as well as regular appearances in the book review column. Robert Silverberg, who published a slightly earlier well-known fanzine Spaceship, supplied an impressive serial novel and has a story in this issue. Terry Carr, another renowned fan editor, had a story in the last issue. Alexei Panshin is not to my knowledge a fan publisher but has won the Best Fan Writer Hugo for his prolific contributions to others’ fanzines. Harlan Ellison (short story in 9/69 issue) published the legendary Dimensions in the 1950s. Joe L. Hensley (same) is a member of First Fandom and published a fanzine in the 1940s.
And what does it all mean? The floor is open for sober analysis and wild speculation.
Continue reading [June 12, 1970] Something Good! and Nothing Terrible (July 1970 Amazing)
by Gideon Marcus
Tired of it all
Antiwar protesting isn't just for civilians anymore.
About 25 junior officers, mostly Navy personnel based in Washington, have formed the "Concerned Officers Movement". Created in response to the growing disillusionment with the Indochina war, its purpose is (per the premiere issue of its newsletter) to "serve notice to the military and the nation that the officer corps is not part of the silent majority, that it is not going to let its thought be fashioned by the Pentagon."
Reportedly, C.O.M. came about because an officer participated as a marshal at the November 15, 1969 Moratorium anti-Vietnam War march, got featured in the Washington Post, and later received an unsatisfactory notation for loyalty in his fitness report. The newsletter and movement are how other officers rallied in his support.
Because C.O.M. work is being done off duty and uses non-government materials, it is a completely lawful dissent. According to Lt. j.g. Phil Lehman, one of the group's leaders, there has been no harassment from on high as yet.
We'll see how long this remains the case.
Really tired of it all
After reading this month's issue of Galaxy, I'm about ready to start my own Concerned Travelers Movement. Truly, what a stinker. Read on and see why:
cover by Jack Gaughan
Continue reading [June 10, 1970] I will fear I Will Fear No Evil (July 1970 Galaxy)
by Jason Sacks
Before you start reading this essay, let me warn you: I will be discussing major plot details from the latest Hollywood blockbuster, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. This will include the movie’s conclusion. For that matter, this article also ruins the ending of the original film. So be warned in case you haven't yet been to your local multiplex to see these in double-feature. On the other hand, you may well wish to go in with your eyes wide open… because Beneath the Planet of the Apes is both a fascinating continuation and a jaw-dropping pivot.
Continue reading [June 8, 1970] Beneath the Planet of the… Mutants? (Not Apes)
by Fiona Moore
If…. is a movie which came out a couple of years ago, but is rapidly becoming a staple of the college film society scene here in the UK and overseas. It’s firmly within the satirical-surrealist tradition that characterises the likes of The Prisoner (with whom If… shares an editor, South African activist Ian Rakoff), Monty Python, and The Bed Sitting Room. The question is, how well does that stand up as time and cinematic fashion move on?
The story is set at a British all-male boarding school, where young men from the privileged classes learn the rigid, brutal, complex hierarchies and rules which will characterise their adult lives as well. Through the lens of a new arrival, we encounter a world where senior prefects enforce a rigid regime, obsessed with trivialities like hair length and permitted foods but enforcing this through corporal punishment; where younger students are forced to act as servants to their elders, with an implied sexual dimension to this servitude; where religion and the military bolster and reinforce the regime. However, the school also has its rebellious counterculture in the form of three young men, the “Crusaders”, led by Travis (played by newcomer Malcolm McDowell, whose performance here has reportedly led to Stanley Kubrick casting him in his forthcoming adaptation of A Clockwork Orange). their rebellion begins with minor acts of disobedience like growing a moustache, but grows in commitment and brutality until the climax of the story.
Continue reading [June 6, 1970] Children's Crusade: If…. (the movie, not the magazine)
by David Levinson
Voyages into the known
Readers over 30 may remember Thor Heyerdahl and his Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947. He hoped to prove that the Pacific islands had been reached from South America before Polynesians got there from the west. The balsa log raft he built eventually ran aground in the Tuamotu archipelago in French Polynesia, demonstrating that such a voyage was at least possible. However, most archaeologists and anthropologists consider it far more likely that any contact between Polynesia and the Americas (there is some highly inconclusive evidence) was initiated by the Polynesian people, who have a proven track record of crossing vast distances into the unknown.
In any case, Heyerdahl has inspired a number of imitators hoping to travel farther, including some attempts to travel west to east. On May 29th, Spanish sailor Vital Alsar Ramirez started his second attempt to sail from Ecuador to Australia. The first attempt in 1966 failed after 143 days when the raft was rendered no longer seaworthy by teredo worms.
The new raft, dubbed La Balsa, has one major improvement over the Kon-Tiki: a moving keelboard. This will allow the raft to be steered toward more favorable currents, where Kon-Tiki could only drift with assistance from the simple square sail. Such keelboards are known to Ecuadoran natives and so are a perfectly reasonable addition. Best of luck to the four men aboard.
La Balsa puts to sea.
Speaking of Thor Heyerdahl, his current interest is in demonstrating that ancient Egyptians could have reached the Americas in reed boats. His first attempt last year aboard the Ra got within about 100 miles of the islands of the Caribbean before it became so waterlogged it began to break apart. Now he’s giving it another go.
The Ra II features a tether to keep the stern high, which should help keep the boat from suffering the fate of its predecessor. This is something the original ought to have had; such tethers are clearly visible in ancient Egyptian depictions of reed boats. The crew also plan to take marine samples along the way to study ocean pollution. The Ra II set out from Morocco on May 17th.
Of course, as with the Kon-Tiki, proving that such a voyage could have been made won’t prove that it was. The Egyptians were never great sailors, generally contracting ocean navigation out to more maritime cultures of the eastern Mediterranean. Still, best of luck to Heyerdahl and his crew as well.
The Ra II under way. Note the tether keeping the stern high.
Polishing the family silver
Science fiction has a lot of tried and true plots, some better than others. But good writing can occasionally make a hackneyed, sub-par plot something better, and bad writing can turn an intriguing concept into a slog. Fortunately, this month’s IF has a lot more of the former.
Suggested by “Time Piece”. Art by Gaughan
Continue reading [June 4, 1970] Something old, something new (July-August 1970 IF)
By Jessica Holmes
I have good news and bad news. Being the little ray of sunshine that I am, I like to start with bad news . So here goes: we’re heading into the last Doctor Who serial of 1970. Yes, already. The tradeoff for some pretty spiffy stunt-work and shooting in colour is apparently a reduced episode count. The good news is that Doctor Who is turning up the heat and delivering a real firecracker of a story, full of action, monsters, and some great character work. Let’s dig into “Inferno”.
Continue reading [June 2, 1970] Turning Up The Heat (Doctor Who: Inferno)
by Gideon Marcus
Monster-eyed bug
Last week, NASA released the news that the Apollo 12 astronauts brought back a fourth astronaut at the end of their flight last November. A common human germ, Streptococcus mitis to be exact, was found to have hitched a ride back with Surveyor 3's camera, after surviving some 32 months in the harsh environment of the lunar surface.
Streptococcus mitis (c) Ansel Oommen
Frederick J. Mitchell, a scientist at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, stated that it was "notable, but not unexpected" that a bacterium might make and survive the trip to the Moon as a stowaway on a terrestrial spacecraft. Thanks to insufficient clean-room procedures, it was probably deposited on Surveyor's camera when the camera's shroud was removed for repairs and then replaced, and then launched with the soft-lander in 1967. The high vacuum of space actually freeze-dried the bug, allowing it to remain viable indefinitely.
the Surveyor 3 camera
Given that we were unable to prevent terrestrial life forms from contaminating our nearest celestial companion, one has to wonder if we will taint Mars or Venus when we launch probes to the surfaces of those planets in the next decade. It's a bit like Schrödinger's equations—just as you affect what you see by looking at it, you can't investigate a planet without risking an alteration of said planet. It may well be that humans will land on Mars in the 1980s to find icy ponds rimed with Earth bacteria.
It's enough to make you want to leave well enough alone!
Bug-eyed caterpillars
by Kelly Freas
On the other hand, this month's Analog is quite good, and well worth your time. Let's take a look:
Continue reading [May 31, 1970] A Compulsion to read (June 1970 Analog)
by Tonya R. Moore
The latest Ace Double features stories by two authors who both write under pseudonyms. John Rackham is the pen name of electrical engineer and author, John Thomas Phillifent, whose works include three novels from the popular American spy fiction universe series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Phillifent was a prolific author, the majority of his works of science fiction published under the name John Rackham. The lesser-known Thomas Edward Renn’s singular novel was published under the name Jeremy Strike.
This Ace Double was my first encounter with the works of either author, yet I could not help but notice the distinct differences in literary experience and skill at the heart of each story.
Continue reading [May 28, 1970] A pair of Saras: Flower of Doradil and A Promising Planet
![[June 16, 1970] <i>Solaris</i>, <i>Year of the Quiet Sun</i>…and a host of others (June 1970 Galactoscope #1)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/700616covers-672x372.jpg)
![[June 14, 1970] Talkin' Loud, Swingin' Soft (June 1970 <i>Watermelon Man, The Landlord, and Cotton Comes to Harlem</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/700614movies-672x372.jpg)
![[June 12, 1970] Something Good! and Nothing Terrible (July 1970 <i>Amazing</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amz-0770-cover-672x372.png)
![[June 10, 1970] I will fear <i>I Will Fear No Evil</i> (July 1970 <i>Galaxy</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/700610galaxycover-435x372.jpg)
![[June 8, 1970] Beneath the Planet of the… Mutants? (Not Apes)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/beneath1-565x372.jpg)
![[June 4, 1970] Something old, something new (July-August 1970 <i>IF</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IF-1970-07-Cover-472x372.jpg)
![[June 2, 1970] Turning Up The Heat (<i>Doctor Who</i>: Inferno)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/700603abitundertheweather-672x372.jpg)
![[May 31, 1970] A Compulsion to read (June 1970 <i>Analog</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/700531analogcover-672x372.jpg)
![[May 28, 1970] A pair of Saras: <i>Flower of Doradil</i> and <i>A Promising Planet</i>](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ace_double-672x372.png)