It's been almost two years since the last edition of ourThe Second Sex in SFF series came out. In that time, women have only gotten more underrepresented in our genre. Nevertheless, new women authors continue to arrive on the scene, and some who produced under gender-ambiguous names have become known to me:
Bailey, a British writer whose name does not immediately bespeak a woman writer, marched onto the scene in 1963 with her laudable social satire story, Breakdown, in New Worlds, followed by her stand-out novella, The Fall of Frenchy Steiner, the following year in the same magazine.
She is one of the very few women to appear in British science fiction magazines. She has also been married, since 1962, to fellow SF writer, Michael Moorcock, who is now editor of New Worlds.
Though the SF career of Michiganian J. Hunter Holly began in 1959 with the novel, Encounter, she did not get included in prior installments of this series for two reasons. Firstly, I was not aware that Holly was a woman until a fellow fan noted that the author's real name is Joan Carol Holly. Secondly, like Andre Norton (another woman author with a male pseudonym) Holly doesn't do magazine fiction. Indeed, it wasn't until the aforementioned fan sent me a C.A.R.E. package of Holly books that I realized she's already had quite a career in the genre!
I've only reviewed her most recent book, The Time Twisters. It's a flawed piece, plot-wise, but Holly's quite a good writer. I'll have to finish her back catalog in my copious spare time — and I look forward to her next release!
Alice Martha Lightner Hopf is another author whose gender disappears behind initials. She tends to be a children's writer: two of her first three short stories appeared in Boy's Life and her first three novels are also aimed at younger audiences. She also has written a nonfiction book called Monarch Butterflies under the name of Alice Hopf.
But I know of her because her short story, A Good Day for the Irish, which appeared five years ago in IF. A fair story, it stood out for being one of the very few that featured a female protagonist.
I'm keen to see if Lightner Hopf will return to the mature mags, or if she's found her niche just beyond my usual ken. Either way, I wish her success!
Some authors erupt onto the scene with a bang. We saw it with Ursula K. LeGuin in 1962 with her debut, April in Paris in Fantastic. Similarly, New Yorker Randall knocked it out of the park with her first two stories, One Long Ribbon and The Barrier Beyond. Like LeGuin, her first was published in 1962, and both stories came out in Fantastic — until recently, a magazine helmed by the only woman editor, Cele Lalli (ne Goldsmith).
Some authors become associated with a particular series. Jane Beauclerk, who has appeared twice in F&SF, is likely to be remembered for her Lord Moon stories. These are almost fairy-tale pieces that take place on an unnamed planet at the edge of a Terran empire.
Last but not least is Juanita Coulson. At first glance, Ms. Coulson has no published short stories or novels in any genre. So why does she get included here?
Firstly, she is one of fandom's brightest lights, producing the fanzine Yandro with her husband, Robert, since 1953. The 'zine has been on the Hugo ballot since 1957, and I suspect it's got a good chance at the rocketship this year. Moreover, it turns out she does have at least a partial story credit: Another Rib is a four-star story that came out in F&SF in 1963. Though it was published under the byline of "John Jay Wells" (and apparently co-written with the now persona non grata Marion Zimmer Bradley), I have since confirmed that Wells is actually Coulson.
Will "Wells" return? Will Coulson flower in the pro arena under her own name? Will Yandro finally win the Hugo this year? Only time will tell…
——
When I began this list, we were in medias res with the careers of most of the women writing science fiction. Now that we are covering new authors, it's impossible to tell which of those profiled will end up brilliant genre lights and which will simply fade away after a brief, bright career. In addition to introducing recent writers in this series, future editions will cover dramatic changes in the careers of previously profiled authors.
I look forward to the day that women make up more than 10% (at best!) of the content printed in science fiction magazines. Until then, it's important to remember that there are still dozens of women producing some of our best stories. I hope this series helps bring that fact into public consciousness.
[If you're looking for more great science fiction by women, Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963) contains 14 of the best stories of the Silver Age.
Pick up a copy! It'll support your local bookstore.
The Fury Out of Time is an fun page turner, with some clever ideas and some wacky plot machinations. It's a delight to read author Lloyd Biggle, Jr. playfully juggle interesting ideas around time paradoxes, odd alien creatures and the Mesozoic era while keeping his story roaring and skidding through the clouds like a runaway UFO.
The book focuses on Bowden Karvel, a retired Air Force Major, discharged from the astronaut corps because of his artificial leg and organically confrontational attitude. Karvel lives just outside the gates of his former Air Force Base, quietly drinking and marking time. One day Karvel wanders down to Whistler’s Country Tavern to bend his elbow. As Karvel is sitting on the tavern patio looking over the nearby valley, something very strange happens. Trees start being knocked down in a widening spiral and Karvel is mildly injured in what feels like a natural disaster but actually is far from that simple idea.
Taking on efforts to lead the recovery effort after this apparent hurricane hits, Karvel begins barking out orders, and finds himself becoming inexorably dragged into a mystery which will take him to the moon and across tens of thousands of years of history. He will literally become a new version of himself, emotionally, physically and spiritually, will encounter creatures he scarcely could have imagined existing, and will uncover the mystery which knocked him off his feet in the first place. By being knocked off his feet, Bowden Karvel eventually finds himself able to truly stand on his own two feet once again.
The cause of the disaster is a flying saucer, which Biggle cleverly calls a UO (as opposed to a UFO), which readers slowly learn was created by time travelers from the future – though those travelers may actually be from the past. It’s complicated, and we get to learn how complicated as we dig further into this wacky book.
Part of the fun of this novel comes from Biggle’s clever depictions of different societies in this book. It seems obvious that the author served in the military based on his humorous depictions of the crazily dysfunctional Air Force leadership. Biggle's strong imagination is also on display in the future world in which the bodies of mankind's descendants have evolved in clever ways. In that future world, people are taller and balder than people today, have flatter feet and they even an odd fetish about beards, of all things. I enjoyed Karvel’s inner monologues about that world, and how he wonders about standards of beauty and enslavement.
Similarly, when Karvel travels to a past era when dinosaurs walk the earth, he encounters a race of Hras, very strange creatures with six arms, no faces and stomachs in their bellies. These creatures become Karvel’s allies, but their relationship is complicated. That relationship is surprisingly three-dimensional compared with the classic imperialist-styled science fiction of the past. The way Biggle depicts the relationship between Karvel and the Hras, it’s not clear who the wiser hero is – the one who charges into the middle of a group of dinosaurs or the one who’s too scared to journey far into a world full of predators.
Since we see everything through Karvel’s eyes, I suppose it’s a little wrongheaded to complain the book feels a bit shallow at times. There’s a decided focus on action, and it’s fun to see a middle-aged, slightly disabled guy at the center of trying to figure out the strange worlds in which he finds himself. The thing is, Karvel is smart and clever. He’s not a headstrong James Bond type, always ready for action. He’s an older, slightly broken man who constantly finds his basic value system challenged by the strange circumstances in which he finds himself. It's in the way Karvel reacts that we readers see ourselves and which ultimately pushes this novel ahead.
I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I wasn’t familiar with Biggle's work and was concerned that a book with a UFO at its center would be full of clichés. Instead this book was a light, breezy, and fun ride, a delightful little book which moves along like the Road Runner.
Three stars.
A Man of Double Deed, by Leonard Daventry
by Gideon Marcus
A fringe benefit of having so many fellow writers on the Journey is the ability to read more of the science fiction that's coming out every month. Contrary to forlorn declarations of the doom-sayers, the genre is far from dead. Moreover, new authors are coming into SF all the time.
To wit, Leonard Daventry has just released his first book, A Man of Double Deed, and it's surprisingly mature for a first effort.
Here is the plot, in brief:
Claus Coman is a "keyman," part of a network of powerful telepaths living on Earth in the year 2090. In this far-future time, humanity has already had and recovered from an atomic conflagration that left the planet in ruins. We have spread among the stars, meeting several alien races, though they do not figure in this story. What does figure is a burgeoning plague of violence spreading among the young and disaffected populace. Whether it is a genuine biological malaise or simply a reaction to a society that has become too staid to endure is not known. Coman supports a proposal to emigrate these malcontents to a new world, one where they can create a society to their liking.
But there are forces that strongly oppose this proposal, and keymen in general. Forces with murderous intent. Coman must navigate attempts on his life as well as bigger political currents to see the proposal through.
What makes Deed so distinctive is its unique vision of the future. It's definitely a "New Wave" book with unorthodox depictions of romance and sexuality. In the future, "free love" is the norm, and committed relationships viewed as quaint aberrations. Coman's polyamory, involving two women, is particularly deviant. On the other hand, same-sex pairings are not so much as blinked at.
Daventry does an excellent job of incorporating the third-person omniscient viewpoint, subtly sliding into many characters' minds. This is a trick that doesn't usually work, particularly in Frank Herbert's Dune, where it simply comes off as amateurish. But it's effective in Deed, suggestive of the telepathic contact Comay has with everyone he interacts with. I also appreciate how Daventry describes in a sentence or two scenes of violence and/or sexual relations, conveying a subject vividly but not luridly, effectively invoking the reader's imagination.
Deed is by no means a perfect book. It starts well but loses steam in the final third. Worse, it doesn't really have an ending; the plot is left open only halfway through its course. On a more personal note, as progressive as some aspects of the depicted future may be, it still seems a highly male-dominated world. Women are definitely in a second class, both in their agency, and screen-time. Part of that seems intentional, underscoring the conservative nature of 2090's Earth, but part of it also seems to be the result of Daventry's own instincts.
On the other hand, if Deed be part of a series, like Delany's Toron trilogy, then I may have to revise my opinion. For the nonce, I give it three and a half stars.
And here's a special entry submitted by a fan of the Journey. The book dates back to 1959, but I understand it has been recently reprinted. Since the Journey did not cover it upon first release, we are remedying this omission…
I happened on Ossian's Ride in the drug store’s spinning book rack. I will occasionally find a science fiction book there, but Neldner’s Card Shop in the Point Loomis shopping center is my go to place for the latest sf books from Ace, Pyramid, Ballantine, and Berkley. The cover of Ossian's Ride showed a hand with an open pocket watch. Inside the watch is a rather artsy illustration of a fellow about to throw a flaming molotov cocktail at a cottage with two silhouettes in the window. And oh, yes, there appears to be a body at his feet. In fact, the only science fiction thing about the cover, is “Fred Hoyle the author of A For Andromeda.” Still, having read his The Black Cloud, I picked it up to see what this one was about.
The back blurb read:
“…breathtaking in its suspense… romantic adventure in the true grand manner”
– New York Herald Tribune
The time is 1970. Thomas Sherwood, a young Cambridge scientist, is recruited by British Intelligence to go to western Ireland to learn the origin, nature, and purpose of I.C.E., the mysterious and powerful Industrial Corporation of Eire. I.C.E., hidden behind its own Iron Curtain, is an elite industrial complex that in only ten years has solved many of the major scientific problems the rest of the world is still grappling with. The great nations fear I.C.E. as a menace to the delicate balance of world power and must discover whatever they can about it. Sherwood is immediately caught up in a world of desperate violence among spies and counterspies, the pursued and the pursuing. So, should I gamble 50¢ on Ossian's Ride? Now, 50¢ is not an insignificant amount of cash when living on a three figure allowance – counting both sides of the decimal place. 1970 is only five years from now, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of science fiction in the description either. Still, it’s Fred Hoyle. Oh, why not?
Ride is interestingly framed, beginning with the British prime minister, who has Thomas Sherwood’s report on his desk. It appears that Sherwood reached the heart of the mystery, but then defected to I.C.E. And yet, he has sent this report that purports to reveal the deepest secret of I.C.E. The P.M. wonders if he should believe it. Well, we can read Sherwood’s report for ourselves, and draw our own conclusions. The story then becomes the first person narrative of the amateur secret agent, Thomas Sherwood. With a forged visa, he sets out for Ireland posing as a student on a holiday with £15 (all that a real student on a holiday would carry), a rucksack and some books. Things don’t go well right from the start. But Sherwood is a resourceful fellow, with a streak of James Bond in his makeup, so we are treated to a nonstop series of mysteries, murders, captures, and escapes across a countryside overrun with ruthless agents of all sorts. Against all odds, and with an unwavering determination to get to the heart of the mystery, Sherwood works himself into I.C.E. And once inside, into its secret heart. Only to joint them, as we knew from page one. Having read his full report, do you believe him? Do you blame him?
I wasn’t disappointed with the book — well worth my two quarters. Perhaps what I liked most about the story is its air of being an authentic true life adventure. It feels like it was written by someone who has put on a rucksack and tramped the Irish countryside himself. And because of that, it remained believable despite the rush of life and death adventures that fill its 182 pages. Like the book’s cover, there is not, however, a lot of science fiction in Ossian's Ride. Five pages worth, maybe. And I have to say that the ending left me with questions, questions that could have been more satisfactorily answered with another page or two. Still, all in all, it was an exhilarating ride. And since I read science fiction more for adventure than as explorations of a future world shaped by some marvelous scientific invention, I would rate Ossian's Ride 4 stars.
That's all for today, folks! Join us next month for another exciting Galactoscope!
I'm going to break character for a moment. I hope you'll bear with me, because it's important. We need your help.
One of our goals with the Journey has always been to bring lost classics to light, especially those by marginalized voices. Last year, we took the plunge and launched our own publishing company: Journey Press. Our flagship release was Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963), fourteen fantastic stories by forgotten female science fiction authors.
When we started Journey Press, we had a plan. We’d launch Rediscovery, and if it did well, we’d start selling other books: some by new authors, some reprints of forgotten gems. We decided early on that we wanted to focus on bookstores. Yes, we also made our books available digitally and through Amazon, but bookstores were and always have been at the heart of our sales strategy. People told us we were nuts, but guess what? It worked! Thanks to you and our bookstore partners, Rediscovery ended up being something of a bestseller. Within a few months, it was selling coast to coast in hundreds of stores. We got rave reviews, and word of mouth gave us a swell of interest beyond anything we’d expected.
Now established, we knew future books would have a ready base of support. To that end, we contracted with a couple of big names to reprint a couple of excellent books from the era of Galactic Journey: I Want the Stars, by Tom Purdom, and Galactic Sybil Sue Blue, thanks to the estate of Rosel George Brown. We’ve got a terrific fantasy romance in progress. More books in the Rediscovery series are planned. And on and on.
But before all those, we were ready to release my first novel, Kitra, a space adventure with themes of isolation, teamwork, and hope. It's in the "YA" genre, but it was really inspired by the "juveniles" of the 20th Century, designed to appeal to young and old alike. Not only is it a great book, but The Young Traveler did the lovely interior illustrations.
With great enthusiasm, we were counting down to launch Kitra on March 16, 2020. Many bookstores had already pledged to promote it, and advance reviews had been very positive.
And then COVID-19 happened.
Now the bookstores are closed or under restricted hours, and everyone’s worried about what’s coming next. Our promotional and business plans are completely out the window. The future of Journey Press is uncertain.
This means we have to change our strategy. We need to focus on online sales, working with the beast that is Amazon. We're not neglecting bookstores — in fact, we've got several virtual shows planned, which we'll announce in various media and you'll see on the side of the page and prefacing articles. And when this is over, we'll be partnering with plenty of stores again from the moment they open their doors. But for now, we need to go straight to you, the reader, rather than rely on middlemen. You are the ones who can and will shape the future of Journey Press.
So I'm interrupting our regularly scheduled program to make a request. Several, really:
Buy our books. For you, for friends, for family. The more, the better! Each sale increases the visibility of the books while also directly supporting the Press. Plus, you get an amazing story (or several) to help while away your time in isolation or lockdown.
Please leave reviews, both on Amazon and the Journey Press site on the book pages. Nothing will contribute to the success of our books more than getting the word out. Speaking of which…
Tell your friends! By word of mouth, by blog, newspaper article, megaphone — let folks know we exist and that you like what we do – not just our books, but our blog, too!
Recommend Rediscovery and Kitra to local libraries and bookstores. Most aren't open right now, but they will be. Plus, some are doing curbside pickup and virtual delivery. If you can support your local bookstore through this crisis, we hope you will!
Connect us with presentation venues. Not only are our shows fun and educational, they're a perfect way to connect with us and the outside world right now. If there's a venue you think might benefit from a Journey appearance, please let them – and us – know!
By doing these things you will ensure that Journey Press can continue to bring out more new books from interesting creators, classic and current, for years to come. Plus, you get to read the great books we're coming out with, now and in the future. It's a win for everyone.
You can get Kitra in e-book and/or paperback here. Rediscovery is available here.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for your support.
Another month, another civil rights murder. Viola Liuzzo lived in Detroit and participated in civil rights activities there. Horrified by the carnage of the “Bloody Sunday” attack on civil rights marchers on March 7, she went to Alabama, where the Southern Christian Leadership Conference put her to work on administrative and logistical tasks, including driving volunteers and marchers from place to place as needed.
On March 25, Liuzzo drove some marchers and volunteers from Montgomery back to Selma. On her way back to Montgomery, with a Negro associate in the car, she was passed by a car full of Ku Klux Klansmen, who fatally shot her in the head.
This murder was well publicized, even in remote places like my small town in Kentucky, where it was briefly a major subject of conversation. The consensus: “She should have stayed home with her kids.” The notion that Americans should be able to travel safely in America and that people shouldn't murder other people seems somehow to have been forgotten.
Of course she was not the only one killed by the anti-civil rights forces, though her killing received more publicity than most. The Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian minister from Boston, was beaten with clubs by segregationists on March 9 and died of his injuries in a hospital. In February, Jimmie Lee Jackson was beaten and shot by state troopers who attacked civil rights marchers and then pursued marchers who took refuge from the violence in a cafe. His death prompted the Selma-Montgomery march.
Looks like there’s a long way to go.
The Issue at Hand
by Gray Morrow
The end is much nearer for the departing regime at Amazing. This next to last Ziff-Davis issue is fronted by one of the more ill-considered covers to appear on the magazine. It features what looks like a theatrical mask, with several items of disconnected clockwork behind it, against a sort of green starscape. Well, the colors are nice. It illustrates or represents in some fashion Poul Anderson’s two-part serial The Corridors of Time, which begins in this issue (though there’s no corridor to be seen on the cover; probably just as well).
I will await the end of the Anderson serial before commenting, as is my practice. A quick look indicates that it is a time war or time policing story, in the general territory of Asimov’s The End of Eternity and Leiber’s The Big Time, not to mention Anderson’s own Time Patrol stories, and the protagonist is dispatched to Northern Europe around 1200 B.C. More next month.
Walter F. Moudy, who has published a novel but whose first magazine story appeared only last month, contributes the novelet The Survivor, another in the growing genre of future violence-as-entertainment. That roster includes last month’s lampoon by John Jakes, There’s No Vinism Like Chau-Vinism, a couple of Robert Sheckley stories, Charles V. De Vet’s energetic Special Feature from Astounding in 1958, and no doubt others. In the future, Moudy proposes, the US and Russia are still antagonists, but now they channel their rivalry into the Olympic War Games: each side puts 100 armed soldiers into an arena 3000 meters long and 1000 meters wide, and they fight it out until one side is eliminated, and the viewers out in TV-land see every drop of blood.
The author alternates between a fairly naturalistic account of the thoughts and experiences of the clueless Private Richard Starbuck as he fights, wonders why he is doing it, is grievously wounded, and nearly dies, and the performances of the commentators and their special guests, which treat the event just like the sporting matches we are all familiar with. This is 99% of a pretty good story, with the TV commentary close to pitch-perfect, and the effects on the protagonist of immersion in pointless and terrifying violence are well rendered.
Unfortunately Moudy trips over his feet in the last paragraph with a gross departure from Show Don’t Tell, beating the reader over the head with his message rather than letting events speak (or scream) for themselves. This is the sort of rookie mistake that editors are there to save writers from, and they didn’t. This provides at least a scintilla of support for the charge by Science Fiction Times that the editors seemed to have lost interest. Three stars, unfortunately; it was on its way to four.
The Man from Party Ten, by Robert Rohrer
Robert Rohrer embraces cynicism unreservedly in The Man from Party Ten, a characteristically well-turned, quite short story about factional warfare in the ruins of an extraterrestrial Earth colony, as brutal within its shorter compass as Moudy’s longer story, though also more obviously contrived. Nonetheless, well done. Three stars.
Relief from brutality arrives in the issue’s last story, Clifford D. Simak’s Over the River and Through the Woods, an unassuming small masterpiece. A couple of strange kids appear at a farmhouse in 1896 and address the older woman working in the kitchen as their grandma. It is quintessential Simak: Ordinary decent person confronted with the extraordinary responds with ordinary decency. It’s plainly written without a wasted word, deftly developed, asserting its homely credo with quiet restraint, all in eight pages. Wish I could do that. Wish more writers would do that. Five stars.
Yardsticks in Space, by Ben Bova
This month’s nonfiction piece is Ben Bova’s Yardsticks in Space, about the measurement of stellar distances. It's typical fare from this writer: reasonably interesting material rendered in a fairly humdrum style under a humdrum title. Perfectly readable but a far cry from the better efforts of Isaac Asimov and Willy Ley. Two stars.
Summing Up
So, not bad: one excellent story, one that’s quite good until the very end, and one capable story, plus a reasonably promising-looking serial by a prominent if uneven author, and no Robert F. Young or Ensign De Ruyter! Maybe Goldsmith and Lobsenz will go out on a relatively high note.
We had so much success with our first episode of The Journey Show (you can watch the kinescope rerun; check local listings for details) that we're going to have another one on April 11 at 1PM PDT with The Young Traveler as the special musical guest. As the kids say, be there or be square!
Today's article is on architecture in the modern age, but first, I have a couple of news tidbits for you — one public and one personal:
For a Few Westerns More
While the "western" appears to be a declining genre in the United States, at least on the silver screen, West German audiences are currently flocking to the cinemas to watch an Italian western. Yes, you heard that correctly. After entertaining us with a seemingly endless stream of sand and sandal epics, Italian filmmakers have decided to try their hand at a new genre, the western.
The German film poster for "Per un pugno di dollari" a.k.a. "For a Fistful of Dollars"
The movie in question is called Per un pugno di dollari, which translates as "For a Fistful of Dollars". It features Clint Eastwood, star of the American western TV series Rawhide, as a nameless gunslinger. West German actress Marianne Koch, mostly known for sappy romantic fare, plays a Mexican damsel in distress. Per un pugno di dollari is an exciting movie, full of action and a lot more graphic violence than is commonly found in Hollywood westerns. However, if the plot of a nameless stranger getting involved in a feud between two rival gangs seems a tad familiar, that's probably because it is. Only four years ago, Akira Kurosawa told the same story, albeit set in 19th century Japan, in Yojimbo. And Kurosawa didn't come up with the plot either, but borrowed it from Dashiell Hammett's 1927 crime novel Red Harvest.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to more of this Italian spin on an American genre!
A Happy Couple
Spring is also the time for weddings. And even though April has been cold and wet so far, I nonetheless attended a family wedding yesterday. Here are some photos of the happy couple.
Even twenty years after the end of WWII, there are still housing shortages in West Germany and therefore, the young couple above is thrilled to have found an apartment to start their new life together. I don't know what that apartment will look like, but thinking about it led me to contemplate contemporary interior design in general. So strap in for a tour of what's in, literally.
The Workplace of the Future
Last year, I brought you an article about the exciting modern buildings that are going up all over Europe and elsewhere. Futuristic buildings need futuristic interiors. Thankfully, today's designers are on the ball and are creating some amazing furniture that looks like nothing ever seen before.
In many areas, the so-called International Style, which emerged after World War II from the Bauhaus style of the 1920s and early 1930s, is still dominant. And indeed the clean lines and functional design of the International Style are perfectly suited to hotel lobbies, airport lounges and office buildings.
Companies like Vitra of Switzerland and Knoll International and Herman Miller Inc., both from the US, supply the headquarters of international companies with a mixture of classic thirty to forty year old Bauhaus designs revived for the postwar era as well as new chairs, desks and tables created by designers like Charles and Ray Eames. Of particular note is "Action Office", designed by Robert Propst and George Nelson for Herman Miller Inc. The mobile and modular "Action Office" system breaks up the rigid rows of desks which characterise many modern offices and allows for moving around chairs and desks. Shelving units and filing cabinets serve as dividers, allowing office workers more privacy. "Action Office" makes work seem like fun.
"Action Office" furniture system, designed by George Nelson and Robert Propst, with chairs by Charles and Ray Eames.
Of course, a modern office also needs modern equipment. The Italian company Olivetti produces some of the best and most functional office equipment currently on the market such as the "Praxis 48" typewriter with its bright green keys or the strikingly futuristic "Programma 101" programmable calculating machine. Owning an Olivetti typewriter or an IBM "Selectric" is the dream of many a writer.
An Olivetti store in Italy. What an innovative idea, a shop devoted only to the products of a single manufacturer of office equipment.The Olivetti "Praxis 48" typewriter, designed by Ettore Sottsass
Northern Exposure
But while the International Style may excel at furnishing office buildings, its minimalist purism does feel a little too cold and bland for the home. Thankfully, our Northern neighbours are on the case with furnishings that manage to be both modernist and cosy.
In the past three decades, Scandinavia has emerged as a source of beautiful and functional design to the point that Scandinavian Modern has become a recognisable style found in many homes in Europe (including my own) and beyond.
Traditionally, Scandinavian Modern has been associated with clean lines, neutral palettes and natural materials like wood, leather and wicker. A prime example is the beautiful "Hammock" chair by Danish designer Poul Kjærholm. However in recent times, Scandinavian designers have branched out and embraced materials like plastics as well as brighter colours.
Don't you just want to lie down in this "Hammock" chair by Danish designer Paul Kjaerholm?
A few years ago, Danish designer Arne Jacobsen created the incredibly comfortable organic forms of the so-called "Egg" and "Swan" chairs for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, Meanwhile, his countryman Poul Volther designed the striking "Corona" chair, inspired by witnessing a solar eclipse.
The "Egg" chair by Danish designer Arne Jacobsen. Doesn't it look super comfortable?The "Swan" chair by Arne JacobsenArne Jacobsen's interior for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, featuring the "Egg" chair.The "Corona" chair by Danish designer Poul Vohler was allegedly inspired by witnessing a solar eclipse.
Another Dane, Verner Panton, came up with such innovative designs as the "Moon" ceiling lamp, the "Cone" chair and a cantilever chair from a single piece of injection moulded plastic which is sadly only a prototype for now, though the Swiss company Vitra is looking at possibilities for mass production.
The "Moon" lamp by Danish designer Verner Panton brightens up this lobby.The "Cone" chair by Verner PantonThis chair prototype by Verner Panton is made from a single piece of plastic.
Eero Saarinen from Finland is mainly known as the architect responsible for such stunning buildings as the Trans World Flight Center, the Washington Dulles International Airport and the St. Louis Gateway arch. However, Eero Saarinen is also a talented furniture designer and the plastic "Tulip" chair he designed for Knoll International can be found in homes and boardrooms around the world. Meanwhile, Eero Aarnio, also from Finland, created the fabulous "Ball" chair, which is perfect for curling up with a good book.
These "Tulip" chairs were designed by Finnish designer eero Saarinen for Knoll InternationalWho wouldn't want to curl up with a good book in this futuristic "Ball" chair by Finnish desinger Eero Aarnio?
But Scandinavian designers also excel in fields beyond furniture design. In 1960, Jacqueline Kennedy made the colourful fabrics of the Finnish company Marimekko world famous, when she bought six Marimekko gowns for her husband's presidential campaign. Those carefree days may be over, but Marimekko is still producing striking and brightly coloured fabrics such as the "Unikko" (poppy) pattern, designed last year by Maija Isola.
Jacqueline Kennedy wearing a Marimekko dress on the cover of Sports Illustrated.The brightly coloured "Unikko" (Poppy) pattern was designed by Majia Isola for Marimekko last year.
Meanwhile, Danish designer Bjørn Wiinblad has shaken up the stuffy Rosenthal porcelain company with his elegant and modern designs such the "Romanze" dinnerware line, which can be found on many West German tables, including mine.
The "Romanze" dinnerware with its organic forms and embossed oval pattern was designed by Björn Wiinblad for Rosenthal porcelain.Danish designer Björn Wiinblad also created this striking "Juggler" candlestick for Rosenthal.
From Italy with Love
If Scandinavia is the centre of North European design, the style heart of Southern Europe beats in Italy.
Designer Joe Columbo from Milan may be only 34, but he has already created such revolutionary designs as the stackable "Universale" No. 4860 chair, the desk lamp "Acrilica", the "Combi-Centre" flexible storage cabinet and the "Elda" chair which would not look out of place on the bridge of a starship.
The "Acrilica" desk lamp by Joe Columbo is the most beautiful way to light up your desk.Get organised with this "Combi-Centre" storage cabinet by Italian designer Joe ColumboColoruful and practical: The stackable "Universale No. 4860" chair by Joe ColumboA chair fit for a starship captain: The "Elda" armchair by Joe Columbo
The "Arco" lamp, designed by brothers Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni, is not just beautiful, but also combines the simplicity of a floor lamp with the illumination provided by a ceiling lamp. An "Arco" lamp currently brightens up my living room and was well worth both the price and the hassle of transporting the large and heavy lamp home in a small car. A few years earlier, the brothers Castiglioni also designed the deceptively simple "Mezzadro" stool.
The striking "Arco" lamp, designed by brother Pier Giacomo and Achille CastiglioniThe "Mezzadro" stool, designed by the brothers Castiglioni
But Italian design is not just beautiful – no, the Italians also pioneered the use of space age plastic materials for home furnishings. Above, I already mentioned the "Universale" chair from brightly coloured ABS plastic and the stunning "Acrilica" desk lamp, which turns a sheet of acrylic glass into an stylised ocean wave and lights up your desk, too. Another example of innovative plastic use is the line of "Throw Away" sofas and armchairs designed by Willie Landels for the Milanese company Zanotta. Outwardly, the boxy "Throw Away" armchairs and sofas may not look particularly exciting, but if you were to cut one open – not that you should – you'd find only polyurethane foam inside, no wooden frames or steel springs needed.
The "Throw Away" line of armchairs and sofas was designed by Willie Lendel for ZanottaSomeone took the name of the "Throw Away" armchair by Zanotta a little too seriously. On the plus side, you can see that the armchairs are so light that they float on water due to their innovative polyurethane core.
Making Household Appliances Beautiful
In West Germany, interior and product design are still very much influenced by the purist Bauhaus style of the 1920s and early 1930s. The rise of the Third Reich scattered the Bauhaus alumni all over the world, though some like Wilhelm Wagenfeld remained in West Germany. A son of my hometown of Bremen, Wilhelm Wagenfeld has created both lamps and tableware such as this teapot from heat-resistant borosilicate glass or the salt and pepper shaker combination "Max and Moritz". Wagenfeld's designs can be found in many West German homes, including mine.
This teapot from heat resistant borosilicate glass was designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld.The salt and pepper shaker combination "Max and Moritz", designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld
The original Bauhaus in Dessau has sadly vanished behind the Iron Curtain, but its spiritual heirs may be found at the Ulm School of Design, whose alumni found employment at corporations like Lufthansa airlines and the Braun AG.
The Braun AG has long been known as a manufacturer of high-quality radios, clocks, electric shavers, kitchen and household appliances. However, in the past few years, Braun has also become known for its functional and beautiful product design, courtesy of designers Dieter Rams, Hans Gugelot and Reinhold Weiss.
Braun's most famous product is probably the "Phonosuper SK4", which combines a radio and a record player in a single white box with a lid of clear acrylic. Due to its appearance, the "Phonosuper SK4" quickly gained the nickname "Snow White's coffin". But never mind the somewhat morbid nickname, your Beatles records have never sounded better.
Play your Beatles and Motown records on this stylish "Phonosuper SK4" radio and record player combination. Designed by Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot for Braun AG, the "Phonosuper SK4" is also nicknamed "Snow White's Coffin".
I'm fortunate that my uncle works for the Braun AG and can hook me up with their latest products. And so I'm not only the proud owner of a "Phonosuper SK61", the improved follow-up of "Snow White's Coffin", but also of a Braun KM32 food processor and the HL1 desk fan, which keeps my office cool in the summer.
This Braun HL1 desk fan will keep you cool in summer. Designed by Reinhold Weiss.This Braun KM 32 food processor is the envy of every homecook.This striking circular kitchen scale was designed by Dieter Rams for the Braun AG.
Good Design for the Masses
The many striking examples of modern interior design I have presented above all have one thing in common. They may be beautiful, but they're also very pricey. So what is a couple with a limited budget like our newlyweds above to do? Stick with grandma's Victorian hand-me-downs, until they have saved up enough to be able to afford the stunning pieces seen above?
Not necessarily, because all over Western Europe companies are springing up to bring modern design to the masses at affordable prices. The foremost among those companies is IKEA of Sweden. Founded by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA was originally a mail order business offering furniture for self-assembly. In 1958, IKEA opened its first furniture store in Älmhult, Sweden, followed soon by many others. Whether ordered by mail or purchased at a store, IKEA furniture always comes in a flat box, the contents of which the customer can assemble themselves. IKEA furniture is modern, practical and – most importantly – much cheaper than the expensive designer pieces seen above. Sadly, IKEA only operates in Scandinavia so far, but I hope that the rest of us will get to enjoy their products soon.
The 1965 IKEA catalogue offers Scandinavian Modern for the masses.IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad and store manager Hans Ax outside the IKEA store in Älmhult, Sweden.
Over in Britain, a young designer named Terence Conran had a similar idea. In 1956, Conran created his "Summa" range of furniture, to be sold in flat boxes for self-assembly at home. However, Conran found that few stores would sell his products, so last year he opened his own shop, called Habitat, on Fulham Road in London. Like IKEA, Habitat offers good design at affordable prices. However, Habitat doesn't just sell furniture, they also offer kitchenware and other accessories from around the world to make your home beautiful. And so Habitat's most popular product is not furniture at all, but storage jars for dry pasta.
A look into the Habitat store on Fulham road in LondonBritish designer Terence Conran poses with the staff of his Habitat store in London.
The Return of Victorian Whimsy
But even though practical and beautiful modern furniture is available at increasingly affordable prices these days, the Victorian furniture and accessories of our grandparents, long considered old-fashioned and passé, is currently undergoing something of a Renaissance as well.
Particularly the Art Noveau style of the turn of the century with its flowing, organic designs is back en vogue both due to high profile retrospectives in museums in Paris and London and because the swirling designs of Art Noveau also happen to echo the psychedelic experience, something which would probably have baffled the great Art Noveau designers and artists such as Henry van de Velde, Alphonse Mucha or Aubrey Beardsley.
So far, the Victorian and Art Noveau revival seems to be confined to London, where the walls of trendy apartments are covered in vintage enamel advertising signs and the Biba boutique offers the latest fashions amidst an eclectic mix of Victorian furniture, Art Noveau wallpapers and ostrich feathers. So if you still have some of grandma's old furniture in the attic, by all that's holy don't throw it away, because it's about to come back into fashion.
The interior of London's trendy Biba boutique mixes Victorian furniture with up to date fashions.Miniskirts go well with Art Noveau wallpaper inside the Biba boutique in London.
But what do you do if you don't happen to have inherited any authentic Victorian or Art Noveau objects from your grandparents and if you can't find any at your local antiques store either? Luckily, companies like Dodo Designs of Tunbridge Wells, England, offer a range of tins, mugs, wall plaques and milliner's heads that look as if they fell out of a time warp.
A store display of Dodo design products in the Victorian style on Carnaby Street in London.
Hold onto your seat
With so many different styles and movements currently vying for customers, what will the home of the future look like? Of course, it's always difficult to predict trends with any certainty, but I do think that we will be seeing brighter colours and more furniture made from plastic. We will also be seeing stores like IKEA or Habitat expand and similar enterprises springing up in other countries. Finally, we will also be seeing older styles – whether it's the recently rediscovered Art Noveau of sixty to seventy years ago or the Bauhaus style of the 1920s and 1930s which never truly went away – coexist with the latest designs.
But one thing is certain. The home of the future will be bright, fun and exciting.
We had so much success with our first episode of The Journey Show (you can watch the kinescope rerun; check local listings for details) that we're going to have another one on April 11 at 1PM PDT with The Young Traveler as the special musical guest. As the kids say, be there or be square!
I’ll be the first to admit that my tastes do not run toward mysteries. I much prefer modern science fiction with its hopefulness and cautious approach to new realms of science. Horror, either written or filmed, has likewise fascinated me. But unlike science fiction's surety that logic can always triumph, horror focuses on the deep human fear of things unknown and mysterious.
Thrillers are a territory that I'm developing a growing appreciation for due to their usually modern setting with heavy horror elements. As such, when I heard about the new Mario Bava film "Blood and Black Lace" I thought I would give it a look. Not being one to pay much heed to what magazine or newspaper critics have to say about horror films, I thought I would go ahead and check it out. Now having seen it, I wonder if I should have taken the critics more seriously.
"Blood and Black Lace"
The film opens upon the glamorous life of the people working within a successful avant garde Italian fashion house. In short order one of the models is strangled by a faceless masked killer. Upon her death one of her coworkers discovers the victim's diary. In short order the killer returns to take out one model after another as the diary switches hands and the knowledge held within it comes to light.
Despite leading charmed lives, each victim of the killer is revealed to have been involved in one way or another with drug addictions, infidelity, scandal and extortion. All of which ties back to the records within the diary. Ultimately the identity of the killer is revealed upon completion of their grisly work. But it soon becomes apparent that in order to cover their tracks the killer's work is not done yet. At the end the final murder proves to be their undoing when the most jealously guarded manipulation comes to light.
Initial Thoughts
"Blood and Black Lace" is a windy road of secrets and twisted loyalties. The mystery element of the plot is very entertaining to watch as it unfolds, but unfortunately there are a few things that made the film nearly impossible to finish. Put simply, the acting is so good and cinematography so dramatic that it makes the violence very disturbing to take in.
The brutal beatings rained down on the female victims are all uncomfortably real looking (with the exception of one suffocation death that is acted and shot in a way that makes the victim’s writhing weirdly sexual). One expects there to be struggling as the masked killer corners each of the models and proceeds to dispatch them in different ways, but the camera time given to each death is obscene.
The sexualization of each victim before and after their death is likewise unsettling. Clothing is ripped open to expose undergarments, and bodies are dragged away with lingering looks at long legs and breasts. Worst of all is the suspenseful buildup in several deathblows. During the murders of house models Nicole and Peggy the camera zooms in on the slow approach of the murder instrument before the frightened victim is killed.
It's effective, but even I, horror film connoisseur that I am, thought that this was a bit much. It's frightening, but that kind of violence taken with so much anticipation and pleasure by the killer slides well into the realm of just being gross.
Why? Why is any of this necessary artistically or plot-wise? Extremely violent eroticism with dramatic execution was my conclusion. Is this something new in horror? Well, not really. It's new to see Italian filmmakers taking a crack at the thriller film category, but Germany has long been producing adaptations of mysteries and pulp thrillers.
The works of Edgar Wallace, Agatha Christie, and Erle Stanley Gardner all contain a potent mix of scandal, sex, drugs and murder. Understandably, this scintillating content could very easily be adapted to film. Although virtually unknown in the U.S, the studio Rialto Film has been churning out film adaptations of Edgar Wallace's works for years now.
"Blood and Black Lace" is no mere sleazy mystery/thriller story, however. Mario Bava, perhaps looking to outdo himself following "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" (1963), really stepped up the psychologically twisted elements in this film. With each new movie of his, the thrill of seeing beautiful guilty women "pay" for their misdeeds with a kind of vigilante justice seems to be a common element. It’s an element that, I hope, has a limited appeal.
The Mario Bava Method
What did Mario Bava hope to achieve in this film? The deep dive Bava takes into the psychological camera work is admittedly astounding. His experience as a cinematographer is undeniable. The panoramas of beautiful architecture and the creative closeups and camera angles show far more suspense than mere dialogue could ever achieve. The vibrant neon lighting and clever placement of artwork and statues helps the audience to really feel the fear and anxiety of the characters.
Bava has shown a distinct flair as a writer, director and cinematographer who can bring new life to a project that either due to budget or well-trodden story, could be mired in mediocrity. In his directorial debut "Black Sunday" (1960), his ability to bring together his experience as a cinematographer and writer resulted in a unique gothic vampire story. Despite its critical success, the special effect and violence of the film actually got it banned in several countries. Clearly Bava's controversial love affair with gore is not anything new.
I hesitate to describe "Blood and Black Lace" as a revolutionary addition to the horror genre because the violence that advances it in the genre unfortunately also works against it. Thankfully "Blood and Black Lace" has more than that to offer as an example of modern horror film. Its modern setting, contemporary high fashion aesthetic, and refreshingly riveting musical score all speak to progress away from the stale hallmarks of recent horror films. It is a stark departure from the horror themes which have dominated theaters in the last half century.
In Conclusion
"Blood and Black Lace" demonstrates an advanced approach to camera work and lighting that push it beyond the flat panoramas and muted colors of most other horror films that have made their way to American theaters. This movie is certainly not your grandparent's book-to-film adaptation of a Victorian melodrama. As a sensory experience Mario Bava's "Blood and Black Lace" is exceptional. It grips its audience and pulls them along until the very end. The escalation of Bava's focus of violence against women is deeply troubling though. Is it cheap thrills or thoughtful social commentary that spur someone like Bava on? Only continued analysis of Bava's future films will tell.
We had so much success with our first episode of The Journey Show (you can watch the kinescope rerun; check local listings for details) that we're going to have another one on April 11 at 1PM PDT with The Young Traveler as the special musical guest. As the kids say, be there or be square!
Later today, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, better known as INTELSAT is going to launch its first satellite, INTELSAT-1, which goes by the nickname of ‘Early Bird’. This satellite is intended to be the beginning of a global satellite telecommunications network, which INTELSAT hopes to have in operation by about mid-1967.
INTELSAT aims to connect us all via satellite – starting with the US and Europe
INTELSAT: Connecting the World with Space Technology
I wrote about INTELSAT last year, when the organization was first established in August 1964, with Australia as one of its 11 founding members. Around 45 countries have now joined the INTELSAT consortium and I’m certain that the creation of a world-wide telecommunications system that offers equitable access to all nations will improve international understanding and the prospects for world peace. Satellite communications will certainly prove a boon for countries with poorly-developed internal communications networks, as well as allowing major Southern Hemisphere nations like South Africa and Australia to have more rapid connections to Britain, Europe and North America.
One of the United States' first space stamps recognised the potential for satellite communications to promote world peace
Assuming all goes well with the launch this evening, INTELSAT-1 will be placed in a geostationary orbit at 22,300 miles above the equator, east of the Brazilian coast. Once the satellite has been thoroughly checked out to be sure it’s in full working order, it will go into operation, around the beginning of June, as the first commercial satellite providing regular telecommunications and broadcasting services between North America and Europe.
Soaring to New Heights
Of course, satellite communications between the Unites States and Europe isn’t completely new: Telstar and Relay 1 both provided this service back in 1962. But both satellites were only in low Earth orbit, so they could only provide intermittent service. When Syncom 2 and 3, were launched in 1963 and ’64, respectively, these experimental spacecraft built by the Hughes Aircraft Company demonstrated the feasibility of using satellites in geosynchronous and geostationary orbit to provide a world-wide communications system. They were so successful in connecting America with countries from Japan to Nigeria, that Syncom 3 was the prototype on which Early Bird has been modelled, and you can see the similarity in design.
Syncom 3 above and Early Bird undergoing tests below
Like Syncom 3, INTELSAT-1 is spin stabilised, which is the reason for its cylindrical shape. It has two 6-Watt transponders that enable it to carry 240 two-way voice circuits and one television channel, although not simultaneously: in order to transmit television, all the telephone voice channels have to be shut down. An important difference between the two satellites, though, is that INTELSAT-1 uses commercial rather than military frequencies for its communications to and from the ground.
INTELSAT-1 weighs just 85-lb which, amazingly for its capabilities, is less than half that of Sputnik 1’s 184 pounds. It is covered with 6,000 solar cells that generate 45 Watts of power to operate the satellite. Early Bird’s capabilities are so advanced that it will actually be more economical to operate than international undersea cables, which carry fewer channels and cost nearly 10 times as much!
Getting into Position
Early Bird is being launched by a Thrust-Augmented Delta, the same type of rocket that was used to put Syncom 3 into orbit. This vehicle, also known as the Delta D, is essentially the same as its predecessor, the Delta C, but with the addition of three Castor-1 solid rocket boosters attached to the first stage. The launch is taking place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17A, which was also used for Syncom 3’s launch. The Delta will boost Early Bird into an elliptical orbit, taking it from 830 to 22,950 miles out in space. After 40 hours a series of delicate manoeuvres will place the satellite in its permanent orbital position.
Early Bird's launch vehicle being assembled. The Castor-1 solid boosters are being hoisted into position while the Delta rocket core waits in the background. It will soon be brought forward for mating with the boosters
Demonstrating the Future
Although it will operate as a commercial service, Early Bird will also be used to demonstrate that international satellite telecommunication is commercially viable in the long-term. While its main ground stations will be the huge horn antennae originally built for Telstar, it will also use ground stations with large parabolic ground antennae with diameters of over 85 feet, like the one at Goonhilly in England, and perhaps smaller antennae as well.
The Telstar horn antenna at Pleumeur-Bodou, France, is now being used as an INTELSAT-1 ground station
From my friends at WRE who are involved with the NASA Gemini tracking station at Carnarvon, Western Australia, I understand that if the Early Bird experience goes well, the antennae for the INTELSAT-2 satellites, that are being contracted by NASA to support the Apollo programme, will be an unusual Cassegrain feed-horn design that is already being nicknamed the “sugar scoop”! I’m fascinated to see what this antenna will actually look like, with a nickname like that!
The other thing that INTELSAT-1 will be determining is whether or not the end to end signal delay of 250 milliseconds, while the signal goes up to the satellite and returns to the ground, will be acceptable to customers. Syncom 3 demonstrated that geostationary orbit is so high that, even at the speed of light, there is a perceptible time-lag between comment and response when communicating internationally. Whether people will find this too disconcerting for use with international satellite phone calls could have a significant influence on how future communications satellite systems are developed.
240 phones for 240 conversations simultaneously carried on via Early Bird. But will people accept the time-lag that comes with geostationary satellite communications?
So, my friends in the Northern Hemisphere, enjoy the convenience of satellite telecommunication that will soon be available to you-I can’t wait for it to come to Australia as well.
We had so much success with our first episode of The Journey Show (you can watch the kinescope rerun; check local listings for details) that we're going to have another one on April 11 at 1PM PDT with The Young Traveler as the special musical guest. As the kids say, be there or be square!
With psychotropic drugs having arrived in the national consciousness, it's not surprising that they are starting to be the subject of mainstream science fiction books:
“1993—A frighteningly prophetic novel of the U.S.A. ruled by the Syndicate—Men with super-minds who can probe the ordinary citizen's thoughts at will.”
I suspect the publisher insisted on the name for this one, because the word "psychedelic" only appears once in the book, and it's not referring to the drug PSI-40 that's the focus of the story.
The prologue nicely sets up the conflict: A young boy and his father are on the run, living in a remote rural location and trying not to be discovered by the Syndicate. They have incredible psychic powers, so they can maintain communication and view each others' surroundings, and the father insists on keeping their distance from each other to keep the boy safe. Their powers come from a drug, PSI-40, and the father makes sure to give his son the formula before the Syndicate catches up with him.
The Ultimate Drug
PSI-40 is, as one might guess, a pill that can awaken a person's psychic abilities. It doesn't work that way for everyone—just for the rare "Sensitives" and even rarer "Specials." For most people, its effects seem to be a blend of marijuana, LSD, and Aldous Huxley's "soma": rainbow lights, mellow mood, lowered inhibitions, heightened sensation, and a sense of peace and bliss.
Like marijuana, it causes relaxation and softens the emotions. Like LSD, it causes mild hallucinations: rainbow afterimages, distorted proportions, brighter lights and darker shadows, but nothing appearing real when it's not. And like soma, it has no unpleasant side effects and causes no disabilities—except for Sensitives, who are prone to intense headaches from the psychic powers it awakens.
Among the normal users, some people have religious experiences; some are overwhelmed with sensuality. It's only the Sensitives and Specials who get more than that—they gain telepathy, clairvoyance, and sometimes telekinesis. They also don't get much of the "normal" effects of the drug, so their thinking and reaction times aren't impaired from it.
The book is set in the near future; most of the events begin on the day of the presidential inauguration of 1993. (I wonder what current junior businessman or class president will be elected in 1992?) Jon Rand, security agent for the Syndicate that manufactures and controls PSI-40, is sent to Baja on a manhunt: find the rogue Special who's been eluding them for 17 years. At this point, the reader becomes aware that the hero of the prologue—young Kemp Johnson—is the target of the main story. A bit of math determines that he's probably born next year, sometime in 1966.
Of Kemp, we know nothing except that he has mental powers, and he is filled with rage against the Syndicate. Rand is not so much a cypher, but he is very much a company man, striving to make sure his faction is in the limelight when the current aging president loses control. It's not immediately apparent if he is a "good guy" working within a corrupt and power-hungry organization, or someone who happily supports their regime.
Rand Discovers the World
On his travels to look for Kemp, he encounters a woman who speaks harshly of the Syndicate but does not seem to be one of the "Antis" who object to all uses of PSI-40. He also barely escapes a murder attempt, attends a funeral with people so doped they can't grieve, infiltrates an Anti activist group, and discovers the covert machinations within the Syndicate itself. Through these adventures, Rand is shown to be a good sort of fellow.
He tries to be honest, and he is supportive of the Latino people in Baja whose connection to PSI-40 is very different from his own. He is sympathetic to their hardships, which are eased by the drug, but concerned about both a society without mourning and other deep emotions. He is troubled that the Syndicate pulls strings far beyond what's needed for a business with a product in high demand. He is increasingly uncertain about the purpose of his chase and nervous about the secrets being withheld from him, but with no obvious way to find out more, he has no choice but to move forward as assigned.
Rand starts out contemptuous of the Antis: why would anyone object to a medicine that eases sorrow and enhances joy? But as he encounters more people outside of the Syndicate, he realizes its effects aren't that simple, and there are reasons to be wary of it. Still, he recognizes foolish propaganda when he hears it—the Antis aren't concerned with PSI-40's subtle influences as much as they're caught up in hating the corporate powers that create it.
Formulaic but Not Boring
I found the story compelling and easy to follow, other than losing track of a few people's names. (Several characters were introduced in the first chapter, and not mentioned again until more than halfway through the book, and then only by their surnames.) I found the obligatory romance plausible but unnecessary. I believe that, had the "interesting but maybe-opposition" character been a man, they would've developed a friendship rather than falling in bed together. I did enjoy Rand's innate suspicious nature, and that he aimed it at his own organization as easily as he directed it at outsiders.
I both admired the world building and found it a bit dry: Jon Rand, experienced agent of the Syndicate, is apparently prone to musing over what he knows of PSI-40 when he visits seedy nightclubs, nude beaches, or churches that use the drug as a sacrament. I would like to know more about the world; several characters complained that the Syndicate rations PSI-40, but the method of rationing and the purchase price are both opaque to us. Since the poorest of laborers can afford some (although not as much as they usually want), presumably the wealthy could pass their days in a rainbow-smeared fog of euphoria. Yet we are led to believe that their world works much like ours, albeit with a few technological enhancements brought on by 30 years of peace and prosperity.
The Firebird IV: GM's turbine-powered “Car of the Future” debuted at the 1964 World's Fair. (There are no actual turbines yet.)
While the story was interesting enough, most of the characters were a bit flat. Even the ones with mixed loyalties were complex in predictable ways. There were questions of who will betray him but none about which of these people might be the deceiver? Honest folk were honest, and shifty people with hidden agendas seemed to be hiding something, although it wasn't immediately apparent what.
What's Missing?
Psychedelic-40 was an enjoyable read, a nice consideration of "what if LSD really did expand consciousness, to such an extent that it gave mind-reading super powers to some users?" However, it's less of a science fiction book than a spy thriller with mental instead of physical technology. The psychic powers were a tool in Rand's arsenal, like Oddjob's weaponized hat or James Bond's tricked-out car. He was a super-agent, not super-human.
We saw normal people living distorted lives under the shadow of PSI-40, but it was treated like alcoholism–people using a party drug for everyday life–rather than something that caused an actual shift in perspective or life choices. Some of that can be excused as Rand's passing contact with them, but I would've liked to get a sense of how their communities differed from ours. The Baja of Rand's world seems too much like ours. Its jobs, entertainments, and religious factions seemed very similar to our own. While we did see a church dedicated to PSI-40, it was treated as just another drug den, albeit one with religious-themed accessories.
The book missed the opportunity to consider how a society that welcomed euphoric drug use might change over time, and I wish I'd gotten to read that story, too.
Also, the cover is boring. There is amazing psychedelic and surrealist art available today! Why couldn't Bantam have found an artist in the style of René Magritte or Mati Klarwein to do the cover art?
Left: Magritte's High Society; Right: Klarwein's Adam.
Three and a half stars out of five: quite engaging, but lacking something. See for yourself and tell me what you think.
We had so much success with our first episode of The Journey Show (you can watch the kinescope rerun; check local listings for details) that we're going to have another one on April 11 at 1PM PDT with The Young Traveler as the special musical guest. As the kids say, be there or be square!
March 7th was the first Sunday of Lent. It's a particularly special event this year as Catholics can now hear mass in their local language, rather than Latin. Pope Paul VI marked the occasion by conducting services in Italian at a small church near the Vatican. Mass in the vernacular is not required, but it is encouraged. This is one of the reforms instituted last year as a way to get parishioners more involved in the Catholic faith.
In Living Color
Color television appears to be moving beyond the fad phase. And for that to happen the broadcasters and receivers need to “speak the same language.” The signal the antenna on your roof receives carries a lot of different information. Most of it tells the TV set how bright to make each phosphor dot, some of it tells the speaker what sound to make. The color information is a subset of the brightness information.
In the United States, a standard was developed about a decade ago by the National Television System Committee, commonly known by the committee’s initials, NTSC. It works pretty well, but under poor transmission conditions the colors can shift. (The joke among signal engineers is that NTSC stands for “Never the same color.”) Europe is subject to geographic and weather conditions which are bad for NTSC and so the governments of Western Europe have been looking for a new system better suited to Europe. Two have been developed: the French SECAM (Séquentiel couleur à mémoire or sequential color with memory) and the German PAL (Phased Alternating Line).
Rectangular screens. That’s a big improvement.
On March 22nd, the France announced that they had signed an agreement with the Soviet Union under which the Russians will use a slightly modified form of SECAM. Two days later, a conference opened in Vienna to discuss a common system for Western Europe. Ultimately, the conference chose PAL. The French however are sticking to their guns, so while most of Europe will be using PAL, France and the East Bloc will be going with SECAM. So much for commonality.
Speaking of Common
This month’s IF certainly delivers a heap of the familiar, from old, familiar faces to old, familiar themes.
It's been a tremendous month for fans of the Space Race. I won't go into detail here, since we already published an article on Voskhod 2, Gemini 3, etc. just last week.
Thanks to Newton's Third Law, or perhaps the Second Law of Thermodynamics, or maybe Finagle/Murphy's First, the science fiction mags have been correspondingly lousy. If we call the 3-star threshold making it into orbit, then virtually every SF digest this month was a suborbital dud. John Campbell's Analog, which led the pack last month, is among the damp squibs this month.
15-year old telepath, Telzey Amberdon, is back. On a camping trip with her class in Melno Park on the planet of Orado, she makes psychic contact with a handicapped, housebound fellow named Robane. He seems an innocent and lonely man, but he seems somehow connected with a lurking, murderous presence that Telzey and her classmates have sensed. Can the young ESPer, with the help of her mastiff, Chomir, defeat this menace?
Scmitz keeps Goblin Night's pages turning, and there's no question but that Schoenherr illustrated it beautifully for the issue's cover. But the story is several pages too long (not in plot, but in execution) and Telzey has absolutely no personality at all — she could be Retief or DinAlt or Steve Duke for all we get of her character.
So, three stars. Still, it's probably the best story of the issue.
Fad, by Mack Reynolds
by Alan Moyler
Sometime a few decades from now (slang use suggests Fad is set in Joe Mauser's timeline) a pair of conmen decide to sell the ultimate product. Joan of Arc will be packaged and pitched to be the avatar of a sales empire featuring medieval styles, Joan-inspired games, Jeanne D'arc themed automobiles, etc. etc. High jinks ensue, and high profits are threatened by those uppity women becoming inspired by The Maid of Orleans to take their rightful place on the political scene.
In the right hands, this could have been an interesting, satirical piece. As is, it's about as sensitive and palatable as Reynolds' atrocious Good Indian.
Barely two stars, and that only because it reads fairly briskly.
No Throne of His Own, by Lawrence A. Perkins
by Kelly Freas
Worse is the second "funny" story of this issue, by a brand new author. Something about a human Private on an alien world whose experience with the local booze leads him to understanding how a Terran invasion was at first thwarted and later welcomed. I think. Truth to tell, it was a confusing mess, and I skimmed it as a result.
One star.
The Space Technology of a Track Meet, by Robert S. Richardson
A saving grace of this issue is the nonfiction article by the reliable Richardson. He apparently spent a few weeks doing some complicated math to see how athletes might really perform at sports on planets of different gravities.
Useful, interesting stuff — I just wish he'd included more equations for easier following along.
Last up, we have the humorless, plodding fourth installment of Part Two of the Dune saga. With no transition whatsoever, the setting changes to two years after the last installment. Paul Muad'Dib, son of the late Duke Leto Atreides, is still hiding out with the desert-dwelling Fremen, harvesters of the geriatic melange spice of Arrakis. A vassal of the nefarious Harkonnen Barony, who usurped the Atreides claim two years prior, is slowly losing control of the planet, and the Fremen are anxious to strike. But before Paul can lead his ragtag army in revolt, he must become a full Fremen, which requires that he mount the titanic Makers — the sand worms of Arrakis.
Meanwhile, Paul's mother, Lady Jessica, now the Reverend Mother of the Fremen, deals with the fallout of her transforming spice poison into liquor in her system after ingestion during her induction ceremony two years prior. For her unborn daughter, Alia, was imprinted with all of Jessica's experience, which also includes that of all the Reverend Mothers of the Fremen before her. Alia is, thus, a toddler burdened with several lifetimes of knowledge…much like her brother, Paul, due to his spice-given precognitive skills. This makes her a feared freak, though what role she has to play in the saga is yet unknown.
There are some interesting bits, but for the most part, a could-be fascinating epic is marred by amateur writing, some laughable errors ("A head popped up into the con-bubble beside Gurney — the factory commander, a one-eyed old pirate with full beard, the blue eyes [emphasis added] and milky teeth of a spice diet."), and the damnable constantly switching viewpoint.
A very low three, I guess.
After Action Report
In the end, dreary as it was, Analog was far from the worst SF mag this month. Though it only scored 2.6 stars, it was surpassed in lousiness by Amazing, IF (2 stars), and Gamma (1.9 stars). Galaxy was a little better (2.7), followed by Science Fantasy and Fantastic (2.8), and then Worlds of Tomorrow (2.9). Only New WorldsFantasy and Science Fiction made it to orbit, and only just — 3 and 3.1 stars, respectively.
As with the real Space Race, women are mostly (though not entirely) unrepresented; only Jane Beauclerk and the amazing Zenna Henderson were published this month. Perhaps more women astronauts…er…writers can rescue us from this dark chapter in our genre.
One can but hope!
We had so much success with our first episode of The Journey Show (you can watch the kinescope rerun; check local listings for details) that we're going to have another one on April 11 at 1PM PDT with The Young Traveler as the special musical guest. As the kids say, be there or be square!
![[Apr. 16, 1965] The Second Sex in SFF, Part VIII](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/650416cover-521x372.jpg)
![[April 14, 1965] Furious Time Travel (April Galactoscope)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/650414coversnew-672x372.jpg)
![[April 12, 1965] Not Long Before the End (May 1965 <i>Amazing</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/650412cover-672x372.jpg)
![[April 10, 1965] Furnishing the Home of the Future: Interior Design for the Space Age](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/39340889-672x372.jpg)
![[April 8, 1965] Twisted but Classy (Mario Bava's "Blood and Black Lace")](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/BBLposter-672x372.jpg)
![[April 6, 1965] The Early Bird Catches the Worm (INTELSAT 1)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Intelsat-1-1-620x372.jpg)
![[April 4, 1965] A Future of Rainbows: <em>Psychedelic-40</em>, by Louis Charbonneau](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/650404_PSI-40-672x372.png)
![[April 2, 1965] SPEAKING A COMMON LANGUAGE (May 1965 <i>IF</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IF-April-cover-647x372.jpg)
![[March 30, 1965] Suborbital Shots (April 1965 <i>Analog</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/650330cover-598x372.jpg)
