Tag Archives: kris Vyas-Myall

[July 8, 1970] I'm Still Marching Some More (Orbit 7)


By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

More than 1,000 women marched through armed cordons in Belfast a few days ago, in a surprising display of bravery and protest. How has such an act come to be seen on British streets?

Still from Black and White film of Women's March to Fall's Road, with a soldier trying and failing to block them.

Since last summer, when British troops were called in by Stormont, the violence has continued to worsen. When the so-called “battle of the bogside” took place in August, British troops arrived too late to stop loyalist violence.

Soon after, a split emerged in December within the IRA, with there now being two groups. First are the “official” IRA, who have adopted a Marxist platform and believe in political engagement to bring about a socialist workers republic. Second are the new militant “provisional” IRA who support armed defence of Catholic communities and believe that their campaign can only end in a single united republic of Ireland. Currently, the momentum seems to be with the provisional group, particularly with increasing loyalist violence. When a member of the official IRA came out to ask a Catholic group to disperse, he was stoned by the crowd.

Things have also been going south (pun intended) in the Republic. In April, a paramilitary group (possibly the provisional IRA or Saor Eire, but unconfirmed) committed a bank robbery and shot dead an unarmed member of the Irish Garda, Richard Fallon, the first to be murdered in the line of duty since the 40s. The next month, Jack Lynch, the Irish Taoiseach, was forced to fire his ministers of finance and agriculture as they are charged with trying to supply arms to paramilitaries in the North.

As tensions continued to ramp up between communities, it was inevitable we were in for another summer of violence. In the most recent incident, it is unclear as yet who struck first. Loyalist sources say the provisional IRA were using the imprisonment of Bernadette Devlin as an excuse to whip up violence. Republican sources say a loyalist mob were trying to drive Catholics living in the Short Strand area out of East Belfast. Whatever the cause, five people died and there was a huge amount of property damage. More importantly for what happened next, members of the provisional IRA used guns to fire back against loyalists in the Falls Road area.

A curfew was declared in the area as three thousand British Army went house to house, armed and firing tear-gas, in order to check for weapons and arrest potential IRA suspects. This, however, is not something that can be done quickly (there were more houses than soldiers) or easily, and took three days to complete. As such, supplies were running low for some households, as people even leaving to get food were liable to be shot.

This is where the march came in. Local Catholic women decided to take action themselves and marched in holding food, in full view of the press. They correctly made the calculation that the British Army would not shoot women armed only with bread and milk to be broadcast on the evening news. Some were blocked but many were able to get through and resupply the community.

Black and White film still of either police or soldiers, armed with riot gear.

It is unclear if the British raids will have done any more than American finding of caches in Vietnam but two things are definitely clear:

1. The Catholic community in the North are not going to have much trust of the British to protect them, if any indeed still remained.

2. Protection and support for the community is coming from the ground up, particularly women in these roles, rather than top down.


One place you can also see women regularly pushing things forward is in Orbit. Whilst not quite having an equal number, it is still the only place I can be certain to see multiple women writers between its two covers.

Orbit 7 ed. by Damon Knight

Cover of Orbit 7 edited by Damon Knight, listing the authors inside. The cover picture has an orange hue, showing a rocket and a set of small figures apparently trapped in a translucent dome. A sun rises over rocky mountains in the background
Cover by Paul Lehr

Continue reading [July 8, 1970] I'm Still Marching Some More (Orbit 7)

[May 18th, 1970] Rematch (Vision of Tomorrow #9)

Black & White Photo of writer of piece Kris Vyas-Mall
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

As I am writing this, the news has come in confirming we will have a general election in one month’s time. This is not an entirely surprising move. Wilson would have been required to call one by March next year at the latest and, for the sake of parliamentary business, it is often seen as better to call one in May or June, in the lead up to the summer recess but before international conferences, like Britain’s negotiation for the common market (so the country’s leadership doesn’t change midway through as in Potsdam).

Harold Wilson out campaigning

However, it is also hard not notice this has occurred at the same time as a massive shift in fortunes of opinion polling for the government. In January, Marplan polling gave Labour a 13 point deficit to the Conservatives, their most recent figures give them a 3 point lead. This is matched by figures from NOP and Gallup, whilst Harris polling gives them a two point lead. The main reason for this turn around is seen as economic fundamentals turning in Wilson’s favour. Wages are rising faster than inflation, the balance of payments crisis seems to be easing, EEC entry is finally on the horizon, and more houses are being built than ever before.

However, there are a number of reasons for us not to assume this is a done deal. Most obviously, if the polls can swing 16 points one way in a few months, there is no reason they could not shift a few points back by election day. In fact Labour’s support has been so rocky over the past 6 years, not because their voters are switching to the Conservatives and back, but they are just saying they will try the liberals or not vote for anyone. The thing about floating voters is one rough current means they are carried miles away.

Secondly, this will be the first nationwide election held under the new Representation of the People Act, giving those aged 18-20 the right to vote for the first time. As such it is new territory for pollsters to try to guess how many will vote and if they are indeed talking to the right kind of young person. Who is more representative of the voter who will turn up, the firebrand on campus or the working-class single mother?

Edward Heath left and Enoch Powell right

Finally, there is the Powell factor. In spite of his removal from the Conservative frontbenches, Enoch Powell’s brand of populism has continued to cause a stir around the country. His bombastic statements on the immigrant birth rates, the need to cut the government budget and condemning American involvement in Vietnam, sometimes seem to get as much coverage as a speech from Mr. Wilson or Mr. Heath. Whether more scrutiny will draw in or push away from voters to the Tory cause is something that is very hard to predict.

Vision of Tomorrow #9
Cover for Vision of Tomorrow #9 illustrating Rebel Planet, with a man looking at a rocket passing a planet.
Cover and all internal illustrations by Eddie Jones

On the other hand, Vision of Tomorrow is as predictable as always. It has got into a groove of quiet competence of late and much of it sticks to well-trodden paths.

Continue reading [May 18th, 1970] Rematch (Vision of Tomorrow #9)

[May 10, 1970] Fever Pitch (New Writings in S-F 17 & Vortex)

Black & White Photo of writer of piece Kris Vyas-Mall
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

The World Cup starts later this month in Mexico and excitement in England is palpable. Winning four years ago at Wembley has raised expectations significantly, and there is a real hope that England can repeat the success Brazil had in the early 60s, to win two years-on-the-trot.

Possibly one of the strangest ways this has manifested is in a new album, sung by the Current World Cup Squad!

Album of Worldbeaters Sing The Worldbeaters, showing the special carboard sleeve (in the shape of a football with the england team's signatures on it) with the actual LP sitting next to it

In its special circular football sleeve, you can discover what it sounds like to have Bobby Moore singing Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da or Gordon Banks covering Lovey-Dovey. (From what I have heard of it on the radio, consider my curiosity fully sated).

Off the pitch, there is once again an international competition for my attention in the anthology releases. With Carnell leading his team for another round of New Writings facing off against new fiction from the Soviet Union. Three years ago, the two countries faced off in one of my articles, now let’s see how each of these new seven stories matchup:

New Writings in SF-17

Hardback cover of New Writings in SF-17, in the usual design style, this one in blue and yellow. Listing of authors:
Joseph Green
Ernest Hill
Michael G. Coney
Lee Harding
H. A. Hargreaves
R. W. Mackelworth
L. Davison
on the front

Continue reading [May 10, 1970] Fever Pitch (New Writings in S-F 17 & Vortex)

[April 28, 1970] A Strange Case of Vulgarity & Violence (Vision of Tomorrow #8)

Black & White Photo of writer of piece Kris Vyas-Mall
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

There has been a steady rise in complaints about the state of current TV in the liberal society. It is commonly held up as the cause of declining moral standards and a crude form of entertainment. The Times decided to look into this and had a team watch through and analyse the 284 hours of television in the first week of April. Of these almost 60% of them contained no hint of violence, vulgarity or sexual content.

Looking at the violent content 19 of the hours are from the news, documentary or sport. And others include such broad definitions as children’s fairy tale containing a threat of “losing your head”. Among the remaining violent content, it is predominantly American films and television, in particular Westerns. If the Western was the cause of growing societal violence, it would be declining from its domination of large and small screens.

Jackanory Title Card
Jackanory, source of violence?

On the other-hand vulgarity tends to come from British comedies in later evening and these are on the milder side of expletives. It tries to make headlines out of 47 uses of the word “bloody” in one week, but this is skewed by the fact that Braden’s Week ran an episode discussing if the word was still offensive.

Braden's Week Title Card
Braden’s Week: Too vulgar for TV?

Finally, nudity and sexual content is barely present. There are a couple of bedroom scenes and double-entendres, but full nudity or sexual acts are absent. The closest is in a cigar commercial where a woman emerges from the sea in a wet t-shirt.

Mannkin Cigars TV ad still a woman in a wet top comes out of the ocean cupping her breasts
Are Manikin’s Cigars causing a breakdown of Britain’s morals?

If that is the case, then where should we look for the riding tide of sex and violence? One MP has a theory, witchcraft! Gwilym Roberts MP has been calling on the Home Secretary to introduce legislation against anyone who claims to practice witchcraft as it leads to drugs and blackmail. This will certainly be news to most of the witches I know.

Poster for Legend of the Witches documentary film with black and white images of women in shadow
Malcolm Leigh’s recent “documentary”

Whatever the cause, the panic over the current changes in society continues apace. It also seems highly present in the short SF of Britain, as its sole surviving magazine is certainly not limiting their bloodshed:

Vision of Tomorrow #8

Vision of Tomorrow May-70 illustrating the inside of a human spaceship where an astronaut has degraded to a skeleton in a suit whilst writing a note. Through the door behind the skeleton, 2 multi-armed aliens enter
Cover illustration by Kevin Cullen

Continue reading [April 28, 1970] A Strange Case of Vulgarity & Violence (Vision of Tomorrow #8)

[March 18, 1970] Future Cities and Past Visions (Vision of Tomorrow #7)

Black & White Photo of writer of piece Kris Vyas-Mall
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

My area of the UK (considered either the Northern Home Counties or Southern Midlands depending on who you speak to) is not a particularly densely populated region. Even with commuter growth since the War, there are only two towns within 50 miles that contain over 100,000 people. This is all set to change with a new government plan.

Milton Keynes Roadmap Plan with an indication of key travel routes and red dot in Bedford
Plan for new town (red dot is where I live)

The £700m plan for a new town has been approved. Called Milton Keynes (from a small village on part of the site) it is set to house 250,000 people before the end of the century and to be one of the biggest experiments in urban planning in British history.

Milton Keynes Housing Estate Plan showing square blocks on a grid system with large areas of green space
Example housing estate plan

First off, the city is designed to appeal to both ends of the social spectrum. For the upwardly mobile it is designed with the car-driving homeowner in mind. As many as half of properties are to be for sale rather than rented and with a density of 10 people per acre, to ensure that the managerial class don’t feel squeezed in. Also, the road system is designed on a grid to ease congestion with places of employment spread throughout the city, to stop rush hour traffic.

Colour coded plan of Milton Keynes
Zoning masterplan. Yellow is residential, purple employment, red commercial, blue education, green is for parks

For those less well off, there will be wide walkways for the handicapped to travel on easily and the development of a “dial-a-bus” service, ensuring that a bus will pick you up only a short walk from your house in a short period of time.

I could spend an entire article and not get close to all the experimentation to take place in Milton Keynes. The city of the future is coming soon!

Back in the magazines though, things seem to be heading in the opposite direction, as Vision of Tomorrow takes a turn towards the past:

Vision of Tomorrow #7

Vision of Tomorrow #7 Cover showing Jupiter as viewed from one of its moon's with two small astronuts in shaddow. In Bottom Left corner is listed Into The Unknown by John Russell Fearn
Cover Illustration: Jupiter as seen from Callisto by David A. Hardy

Continue reading [March 18, 1970] Future Cities and Past Visions (Vision of Tomorrow #7)

[March 12, 1970] It’s A Dog’s Life (Orbit 6)


By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

In 1889, Oscar Wilde wrote “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life”. This month, London has proved that.

Passport To Pimlico 1949 Flm Poster showing photos of the cast's head on cartoon bodies running through London streets, with barbed wire in the foreground and police looking on

In the 1949 film Passport to Pimlico, a small area of London declares independence and it ends with the British government forced to negotiate to get them back. Actual negotiations for reintegration of the Isle of Dogs concluded on Monday.

Reconstruction taking place in the Isle of Dogs as a Victorian building is being demolished in the foreground and a high rise flat complex rises behind it.
Post-War Reconstruction taking place in Isle of Dogs

The Isle of Dogs is not a true island, but rather a low-lying peninsula that marks a massive bend in the Thames. As such in the Victorian era it became a part of the London Docklands. However, as ship size increased more ships were moved further down the river. The railway lines were closed and the area was devastated in the blitz.

In the last decade a large project of council flat building took place in the region, with 97% of the population in government housing. However, amenities did not keep up with the rise in the population Schools, hospitals and shopping areas were not included in the plans, yet only one bus route services the entire region.

Black and White photo of Joint Prime Ministers of the short lived republic, Ray Padgett and John Westfallen standing in front of the docklands but behind a rope.
Joint Prime Ministers of the new republic, Ray Padgett and John Westfallen

In order to bring awareness to their situation, on the 1st March around 1,000 residents of the Isle of Dogs, led by Fred Johns (their representative on the borough council), blocked the swing bridges to the rest of London. They announced that a Unilteral Declaration of Independence would be forthcoming if their demands were not met and taxes would not be paid.

Map of the Isle of Dogs from 1969 showing the Port of London Authortiy buildings in orange and the river Thames in blue.
Area map of the short-lived republic (orange are those buildings owned by Port of London Authority)

On the 9th March the official declaration of independence came with the setting up of a citizen’s council and two Prime Ministers to run each side of the island. They issued a demand to return taxes that they said belonged to the islanders, and started on plans to setup their own street market and turn a disused building into a school. This drove headlines all over the world, with even Pravda from the USSR sending in a reporter.

Small printed card that says:
Entry Permit To Isle of Dogs. To Be Shown at Barrier. Independent State of London. John Westfallen. Prime Minister

After meeting with the Prime Minister, a plan was announced by Tower Hamlets Council for resolving the issues raised by the Islanders with a full consultation. The council, however, denied that this protest had anything to do with the timing of this announcement. Whatever the cause, the Republic of the Isle of Dogs has achieved its goals, so it seems that entry permits will no longer be required to travel in and out of the region.

Back in the world of SF publishing, we have our own odd little affair. That of Orbit 6, which contains some good, some bad and many just plain confusing tales:

Orbit 6

Orbit 6 Hardback Cover as drawn by Paul Lehr showing an open hand with a rocket launching from it where behind is a stream of half lit planets in a line against a starfield. Below the title the editor and authors are all listed.
Cover illustration by Paul Lehr

Continue reading [March 12, 1970] It’s A Dog’s Life (Orbit 6)

[February 16, 1970] Unassailable Fortresses? A Full-Five pair of issues: (Vision of Tomorrow #6)


By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

We are only in the second month of the new decade, but one thing seems to be clear. Women are no longer willing to be silent.

A group of women standing outside Benjamin Simon, cheering at the camera

In Leeds, hundreds of women textile workers have walked out on unofficial strike. They are opposing the pay deal struck between their union and employer, claiming it is unfair that women will be getting smaller pay increases than their male co-workers.

Women's Weekend Programme flyer saying:
Women's Weekend to be held at Buxton Hall, Ruskin College, Oxford on February 27th, 28th, March 1st.
Fee 10s for the weekend.
Programme
Papers to be discussed on Saturday and Sunday morning will be distributed on Friday.
Friday Evening - 8PM: Brief reports from existing groups and organisations. Accounts of activities and projects. Discussion. (This session is closed to men).
Saturday - 10am-1PM: The Social Role of Women (3 Papers)
1) What is the Family?
2) What is the Mother's Role?
3) Changing Patterns of Delinquency Amonst Women
Discussion

Saturday - 2PM-6PM: Women and the Economy (4 Papers)
1) Women under capitalism (including the housewife and advertising).
2) What is 'Women's Work'?
3) Equal Pay
4) Women's Role in Industrial Militancy and in Trade Unions.
Discussion

Saturday - 8PM: Informal Discussion:
Possibility of convening small workshops of particular interest to groups of individuals. One suggestion is "Different ways of living together", the kibbutz, etc.

Sunday - 10am-1PM: Women and Revolution (3 Papers)
1) The Myth of Inactivity: Women in historic struggles.
2) Women and the working class.
3) Political Perspectives on Women's Struggles.
Sunday - PM: Where are we going? (This session is closed to men).
Free discussion to include work of local groups, forthcoming actions, national/international co-ordination, further meetings.
Groups and organisations are asked to contribute brief papers summarising their present work. Please try and duplicate these yourselves. If this is not possible send a gestener foolscap stencil to Juliet Mitchell, 4, Cardozo rd., London N7.
There will be a literature stall. Bring my stuff you or your group has produced on the position of women.
Free accommodation (bring sleeping bags) and limited creche facilities will be available. No hot meals.
Application for accomodation and creche facitilties must be made by Feb 4th. All people making their own arrangements must register for the weekend by Feb 15th. Fees payable at the door.
Please send donations. Please circularise this information among all women you know,

At the other end of the social scale, the hallowed halls of Oxford is set to host the “Women’s Weekend”. Tired of being ignored and shouted down by men at other meetings, this will be an all-women conference to discuss women’s history and their current position in the world.

Annie Nightingale in 1970 wearing headphones and holding two records above her head in each hand.

In a more literal sense, a woman’s voice can now be heard on British Pop Radio. After hiring an all-male team from Pirate Radio and Radio Luxembourg to start Radio 1, the BBC have finally branched out and employed their first woman DJ. Annie Nightingale is only thirty but has already had an impressive career, including working as a journalist, presenting numerous music television programmes, having a modelling career and running her own fashion boutique.

Whether this will lead to changes in British science fiction publishing remains to be seen. The Current Issue of Vision of Tomorrow’s only female representation is in its review columnists. Maybe we need to organize our own flying pickets?

However, maybe some of this atmosphere is affecting our writers, as all these stories are, in one way or another, about people trying to break out of their social circumstances. So, let’s walk through the stench of cigar smoke in this gentleman’s club and check out the contents:

Vision of Tomorrow #6

Cover Vision of Tomorrow #6 showing a ringed planet illuminted by a red sun against a starfield.
Caption says:
The Phoenix People
Brunner - Tubb - Broderick
Cover Art by David A. Hardy

Continue reading [February 16, 1970] Unassailable Fortresses? A Full-Five pair of issues: (Vision of Tomorrow #6)

[February 6, 1970] All We Are Saying Is Give The Peace Game A Chance (The Peace Game, AKA The Gladiators)

A black-and-white author's photo of a young white person with light hair.  They are wearing a striped scarf around their neck and smiling enigmatically at the camera.
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

When reading my morning paper, it can feel like the whole world is determined to blow itself up.

A black-and-white photograph of a field in Vietnam.  A helicopter is either landing or taking off, its rotor blurred and its body tilted upward.  A group of 7-10 soldiers in camouflage uniforms and helmets are moving toward the right, not quite in single file.  They have backpacks on and carry rifles in one hand, not in firing position.

Vietnamese peace talks are going nowhere, with American “help” possibly reaching its nadir when a US helicopter killed friendly South Vietnamese forces by mistake. Israel is once again fighting its Arab neighbours with both Communists and Capitalist countries pouring in military aid to their favoured sides. There is not even goodwill within their respective camps, with the Soviets and Communist China continuing to sabre rattle over the border. And this doesn’t even count the civil wars going on in places like Rhodesia.

A color photograph of a street in Northern Ireland.  Brick buildings with arched doorways are in the background.  A line of soldiers in camouflage uniforms and red berets stand facing toward the left behind a stretched-out roll of barbed wire.  The soldiers are carrying batons and some are carrying heavier helmets.

Closer to home, British troops in Northern Ireland’s attempts to keep the peace so far seem to be counter-productive. Whilst we are also learning more of the atrocities committed by British troops during the so-called “Malayan Emergency” from the official enquiry.

With all this violence going on, it makes you wonder if there could be another way. Well Peter Watkins has come up with one, albeit not necessarily the most pleasant option:

Peace in Our Time

A black and white film poster for The War Game. Across the top the words "Academy Award Winner" in all capitals with a black and white image of an Oscar statue.  
Beneath that are three positive reviews, reading:  
"It may be the most important film ever made." Kenneth Tynan, London Observer
"An extraordinary film." The New York Times
"Extraordinary. I urge you to see The War Game." The New Yorker
The War Game
Directed by Peter Watkins
A British Broadcasting Production
Presented in association with the British Film Institute
A pathe contemporary films release
At the bottom the movie title, The War Game, is in large all capitals with two screaming faces superimposed on each other but slightly offset, such that there are three eyes and two mouths. Behind the heads is a white mushroom cloud.

Continue reading [February 6, 1970] All We Are Saying Is Give The Peace Game A Chance (The Peace Game, AKA The Gladiators)

[December 12, 1969] A More Liberal Society? (Vision of Tomorrow #4)


By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

A composite of three theatre posters. Top left: poster for the play Hair, showing a reflected head in yellow chiaroscuro. Top right: poster for the play Love, showing two naked men wrestling and two women raising their arms in bliss. Bottom: poster for the play The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, showing four women standing next to each other. Behind them is a drawn face of a woman. The poster advertises actress Maggie Smith in big pink letters. The tagline of the poster says: Out of one Jean Brodie would come a whole generation of Jean Brodies... experimenting with sex, society and everything else. All the way to the right of the poster is a drawing of a man looking at the four women.
Just some of the many brands of sex you can enjoy at your local tobacconist theatre

It seems the final death knell for Capital Punishment in the UK will be sounded soon. There is a vote soon in the House of Lords, widely expected to pass, to make the trial period for the abolition of the death penalty permanent. Over the last few years we have seen a raft of reforms, removing Victorian laws and decriminalizing a number of controversial practices. At the same time, censorship is being removed so you can see nudity on the West End or watch young women discussing sex in the cinema. This would seem to be placing Britain into a more permissive society.

Still frame from a Monty Python scene. It shows a policeman talking to two men who are sitting at a table. They're in a room with blue-and-white tiled walls and a hideous yellow door. Through a window on the wall, a portion of a house of red brick can be seen.
“Sandwiches, blimey! Whatever did I give the wife?” – Monty Python’s Flying Circus

But that does not seem to be true in all areas. The crackdown on the use of illicit drugs continues apace, with heavy-handed tactics of the police being widely reported. Meanwhile, the Northern Irish MP Bernadette Devlin is currently appealing against a six-month sentence of “inciting persons unknown to commit the offence of riotous behavior” for encouraging resistance to police during the so-called Battle of the Bogside.

As such, it appears this liberalism has its limits. Actors can get their kit off in front of the public but not smoke cannabis in their own homes. Women can get access to the contraceptive pill and abortions (assuming their GP agrees) but they still cannot get a mortgage without a male guarantor. People from more different backgrounds are becoming MPs but political activity outside of official parameters is still viewed with suspicion.

This sense I have of British society also reflects what I am seeing in Visions of Tomorrow. It seems to be throwing off some of its earlier conservatism but has not become a second New Worlds either. Instead, the contents of this issue would not be out of place in Dangerous Visions.

Vision of Tomorrow #4

Cover of the magazine Vision of Tomorrow. The cover illustration shows a rocket over a rocky landscape. There is a greenish-yellow sky in the background, with a small moon and a huge moon. Text on the cover announces the stories Trojan Horse by E. C. Tubb and Psycho-Land by Philip E. High, plus stories by J. Wodhams, C. Priest, and S. J. Bounds.
Cover illustration by Eddie Jones

Now back on its regular monthly schedule, the editor gives us an incredibly dull introduction, discussing whether SF has become a mainstream genre. No more insight is given than the hundred other editorials on the subject for the past 30 years.

The Ill Wind by Jack Wodhams
Ink illustration of The Ill Wind by Jack Wodhams showing a man in a quarantine suit removing his helmet, causing smell lines to come from him, much to the displeasure of a judge and clerk of the court.
Illustrated by Dick Howett

Gongi Wackerman stinks and has been going through many experiments to see if he can be rid of his noxious odour. However, one such test concludes his scent has a psychedelic effect on people and they want to employ him to help mental patients.

Wodhams is not an author I have particularly enjoyed in the past and this continues that trend. It is so silly and dull, it makes his Undercover Weapon, seem like a work of high literature.

One star, only because I can’t go any lower.

Trojan Horse by E. C. Tubb
Ink illustration of Trojan Horse by E. C. Tubb, showing a naked woman inspecting a naked man in a box
G. Alfo Quinn gives us an illustration that seems more at home in New Worlds

In the future, laws and self-censorship have been abolished. People are free to act on their own choices. Even murder is allowed, but classes are taught to ensure that people are smart with their actions as a means of self-defence.

Marlo French is contacted by Ed Whalen, High Boss of Chicago Chemicals. Whalen’s daughter Naomi has stolen their new compound and is hiding out in the impenetrable Staysafe Apartments. As a discreet freelancer, French is tasked with getting back the pills by any means necessary.

Marlo discovers that Naomi has a penchant for Mannikins, robotic male blow-up dolls, and so proposes to impersonate one in order to get inside her flat.  But this case may not be as simple as he believes.

This is a much darker and more complicated tale than I expected from these pages or Ol’ Edwin. He posits a world without laws or morality but makes it feel real and vivid, not a cardboard cutout for a simple point. The case itself has a great atmosphere and consists of the kind of twists and double-crosses you would expect from hard-boiled detective fiction. I hope we get more exploration of this future, as it is more fascinating to me than Raynolds’ People’s Capitalism or Anderson’s space navy tales. 

I am not sure if he is getting better, or if I am getting more tolerant as I age through my thirties, but I found this to be his second exemplary tale in as many months.

A High Four Stars

Ward 13: A Tale of the first Martian by Sydney J. Bounds
Ink illustration of Ward 13 by Sydney J bounds as a man is held back by two people in the shadows, as he looks at a woman bathed in light.
Illustrated by Dick Howett

In City Seven Hospital, Dr. Kirby is part of a team that collects on scene organ donations before they are stolen by illegal freeze-wagons. One night, on his way home, he finds one of his nurses under attack by a gang. In attempting to rescue her, he is kidnapped and put to a surprising purpose.

I don’t think it was just me grooving to a Zappa record that meant I had trouble concentrating, I found it over-described and dull. Also these kind of panicky stories about organ transplants and population explosions have become so common they already feel more cliched than ray guns and flying saucers.

A moderately interesting twist in the tail keeps it just off the bottom rating.

A Low Two Stars

Breeding Ground by Christopher Priest
Ink illustration of Breeding Ground by Christopher Priest showing a space-suited man walking between a space scene and one filled with small hairy spirals
Illustrated by Dick Howett

Luke Caston, a space salvager, comes across the wreck of the Merchant Princess, a lost ship fabled to carry tons of gems. However, the ship is infested with Space-Mites, three-inch hairy coils that reproduce at an extraordinary rate when they find a source of electrical energy. They also happen to be Caston’s biggest fear.

A reasonable story, reasonably told. Not revolutionary but atmospheric and enjoyable.

Three Stars

Trieste: SF Film Festival by John Carnell

Whilst much of the rest of the SF community were eagerly watching the Apollo 11 mission in July, the New Writings editor John Carnell was attending an SF film festival in Trieste, Italy. The award winners were as follows:

Best Film: The Last Man (France)
Best Actress: Taja Markus – The Time of Roses (Finland)*
Best Actor: Tobias Engel – You Imagine Robinson (France)
Animated Short Film: Cosmic Zoom (Canada)

Others he calls out of note include The Illustrated Man, Mr. Freedom and Windows of Time, whilst pouring scorn on the British entry The Body Stealers and giving a mixed review of an Italian adaptation of The Tunnel Under The World.

An interesting look at films that might otherwise pass us by. I will certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for showings at the BFI.

Four Stars

*Luna fanzine gives the winner as a different actress from the same film, Ritva Vespa.  I have not been able to ascertain which report is accurate.

The Impatient Dreamers 4: Science Fiction Weakly by Walter Gillings
Cover for the magazine Scoops. It shows, in red-and-blue chiaroscuro, a gigantic robot towering over a city's skyscrapers. The text at the top of the cover says: Britain's Only Science Story Weekly. Next to the robot's hand is text that says: The Story Paper of To-morrow. Text at the bottom announces the story Creation's Doom.
Reproduction of a cover from Britain’s short-lived attempt to get into the SF game. Artist unknown.

The recitations of Gillings’ memories of SF yesteryear reaches 1934.  He tells us of the short-lived weekly magazine Scoops, his own early attempts to get an SF magazine off the ground, and serialisations of Burroughs and Conan-Doyle.

By this point you know what to expect from Gillings, and this untold history continues to impress me.

Five Stars

Time-Slip by Eric Harris
Drawn illustration. The words Time Slip appear in big black letters next to the top half of a naked prehistoric man. The bottom of the image has a baby's face looking at the reader with a disturbingly stern expression.
Illustrated by Dick Howett

Constable Paul goes with an Arunta tracker called Nungajiri to try to find a family lost in the outback. Whilst four of the party are found, the baby remains unaccounted for. Even though the rest of the police think he is crazy, Paul and Nungajiri are determined to see if they can bring the child home.

This is a strange kind of tale. It starts of as a standard mystery story and evolves into one involving geometry, nodal-points in the timestream and the concept of Dreamtime. It felt to me like a cross between Picnic at Hanging Rock and an early HP Lovecraft story. One that I am not sure I understood but I am pretty sure I am not supposed to either.

I am afraid I am not particularly familiar with depictions of aboriginal Australians (having never visited the country myself and I have no familiarity with the Arunta religion) and as such I do not feel particularly qualified to comment on it. I will say this felt somewhat cliched to me but not meanspirited, although that is only a personal sense.

A tentative Four Stars, at least until someone with more knowledge than me can fill in the gaps.

Psycho-Land by Philip E. High
Ink illustration for Psycho-Land by Philip E. High showing a man all in shadows walking into a gaggle of angry faces, crashed cars and flames.
Illustrated by Dick Howett

Peter Carton, a sufferer of dementia praecox, has taken control of a machine that makes people in range subject to paranoia and irrational anger. With thirty thousand lives in jeopardy, the government is forced to call on William Charles Hopwood, a noble prize-winning physicist and ardent pacifist, as possibly the only person qualified to both resist the impulses and turn off the machine.

Devices affecting brain waves have become a common feature of SF recently, but this manages to elevate itself above the pack in a few different ways. Firstly, the atmosphere. As it indeed says in the text, High makes a small city seem like an alien world. Secondly, pacificists rarely have an active role in SF stories, so it was fascinating to see how this concept could be used. Finally, the twist in the tail is a good one, I will be thinking about it for some time.

A High Four Stars

Takeover by Harold G. Nye
Drawn illustration. It shows a TV set superimposed over a zoomed-in series of ripples resembling a fingerprint.
Illustrated by Eddie Jones

Charlie Adams is a grumpy hypochondriac who finds himself in the midst of a plan by television sets to destroy humanity.

I am reliably informed this is a pseudonym of Lee Harding, an unprolific but solid writer. As a piece of satire on modern society and religion it is more subjective than most pieces. The silliness didn’t land for me but may appeal more to others.

Two Stars

Prime Order by Peter Cave
Ink illustration of Prime Order by Peter Cave showing a large robot carrying a woman through shallow water in the style of Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Illustrated by Dick Howett

On a routine mining expedition, one of the team caught space fever and then proceeded to murder the crew and destroy the ship. In order to avoid another such incident, Martin Stone at Amalgamated Electronics is asked to design one of the most intelligent and powerful robots ever. It also has one significant difference to all prior models. Asimov’s first law of robotics:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Is replaced with:

The Robot must be able to protect the majority of the party at all or any cost.

The result is Robot R.E.D. 197, who appears to work perfectly in testing. However, when he and a mining crew crash land on an uncharted planet, his logic circuits are pushed to their limit.

At first glance this seems a more traditional tale that would fit snugly into Analog’s pages. However, it is lifted up by the cynicism of the people involved and the darkness of the ending.

A high three stars

Fantasy Review
Ink illustration of white on black showing a spaceman in a tight craft surrounded by a wide array of controls.
Illustration by Jeeves

Ken Slater reviews John Brunner’s Quicksand, which he highly recommends, Peter Weston raves about Larry Niven’s collection Neutron Star and Kathryn Buckley praises Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight (with the caveat of allowances for being a newcomer to novels). Meanwhile, John Foyster has mixed feelings about the contents of Carr & Wollheim’s latest World’s Best SF, Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and the multi-authored Conan of Cimmeria, but is full of praise for Harry Warner, Jr.’s All Our Yesterdays.

A New Era?
Ink illustration of Life of the Party showing a man in an RAF bomber jacket walking emerging from a white portal.
Preview illustration by Eddie Jones for next month’s short novel, Life of the Party

So, this marks a slight change of direction for Vision of Tomorrow. Gone are the Kenneth Bulmer swashbucklers—in their place are atmospheric tales of ambiguous morality. The kind of pieces Harlan Ellison would probably be happy with.

Whether this trend continues or reverses into the 70s will probably be a reflection of where British society heads. On the one hand, all the recent court cases and laws on censorship have been on the side of more liberality. On the other, there are prominent voices that decry the current obsession with “pills and pot” in the media.

A black and white promotional photo for Noel Coward's This Happy Breed on BBC2 in 1969. Newspaper photograph announcing the TV show This Happy Breed. It shows a woman in a dress and a hat, looking straight ahead while a man standing behind her is talking.
Last night, BBC2 went with more traditional fare: This Happy Breed to celebrate Noel Coward's 70th Birthday

Anyway, there will be many years ahead to worry about that. For now, I wish you all the joy of the season and, if I don't see you sooner, a happy new year!



[New to the Journey?  Read this for a brief introduction!]


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[November 14, 1969] To Experiment or Not To Experiment, That is the Question. (The New S. F. & Vision of Tomorrow #2)


By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

Among musicians right now, there seems to be a split around whether to look towards an experimental future or an idealized past for their inspiration.

Covers for Blind Faith LP and Single of Je T'Aime, both featuring nudity
Both in pop music and SF, nudity and sex remain sources of controversy.

The most explicit examples of Futurism come from two recent singles, Zager and Evans’ In the Year 2525 and David Bowie’s Space Oddity. But there is also the debut album from King Crimson, featuring the song 21st Century Schizoid Man, The Moody Blues’ space inspired LP, and Pink Floyd performed a new piece recently in honour of the Moon Landing. In addition, the music industry is pushing what is acceptable sexually whether that be in artwork, such as the Blind Faith cover above, or interesting choices of sounds on pop songs.

Cover for Barabajagal by Donovan, featuring an Edwardian style cover, and Unhalfbricking by Fairport Convention, featuring an old couple in front of a garden fence.
Did the Kinks have a point about preserving village greens?

On the other hand, at this time last month 4 of the top 5 singles were all country influenced songs, from Bobbie Gentry, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. Now, there has always been some country influence in the charts (as shown by Jim Reeves having 7 posthumous top 20 singles and counting) but it is certainly reaching a new level when the Beach Boys and Rolling Stones are both trying it out. In addition, folk is also growing, often with a nostalgic edge, in such songs as Fairport Convention’s Who Knows Where the Time Goes or Donovan’s Atlantis.

These differences can also be seen in SF and, perhaps, there is no clearer division than that which can be observed between the two publications I am reviewing today.

The New S.F., ed. by Langdon Jones
The New SF hardback cover 1969.
Cover by Colin Mier

An introduction by Michael Moorcock

Who else would you choose but Moorcock to introduce this selection of New Wave authors? Here he talks about how the “new SF writers” or “New Worlds group” have moved beyond spaceships and monsters to do more person-centric poetic pieces.

Fourteen Stations on the Northern Line by Giles Gordon

Fourteen different men observe an unnamed woman to different degrees of lechery as she walks up a hill. She fails to notice them as she has other things on her mind.

If it was not in this collection, it would probably not be considered SF, more akin to a Joyce than a Gernsback, only approaching the latter with the surrealism of the mind.

Moorcock’s introduction notes this as an example of a “compacted novel”, one that could be extended to a traditional novel but that would blunt the impact significantly. I cannot determine if I wanted this to be longer, shorter or reworked, but something is amiss. The metaphor, though obvious, is a good one (what passenger on a train pays attention to the small commuter stations?) and the difference in the inner lives of the observer and observed make a solid basis. But it left me wanting something better from it.

Three Stars

The Peking Junction by Michael Moorcock

A Jerry Cornelius story from his creator. In this episode, Europe has been devastated by American bombs (of course Europe still supports their allies in this action) and our dandified spy goes to China to deal with a downed American plane. His mission is complicated by the fact that he falls in love with one of the Chinese generals.

One interesting element here is Moorcock explicitly calls out the connection between Cornelius and his other tales:

Having been Elric, Asquiol, Minos, Aquilinus, Clovis Marca, now and forever he was Jerry Cornelius of the noble price, proud prince of ruins, boss of the circuits. Faustaff, Muldoon, the eternal champion…

There was always a suggestion of this previously, and The Blood Red Game (Science Fiction Adventures, 1963) and A Cure for Cancer both feature multiple universes, but I believe this is the first time we get it confirmed that this is not simply a case of repeated motifs.

Looking at it in this manner, we see the biting contemporary satire evolving into a more epic struggle and Moorcock’s other heroes as more than just throwaway fantasy figures. Rather there is a degree of tragedy in them having to deal with these various forces of order and chaos, making horrific choices for, what they hope, is the greater good (which rarely ends well).

A High Four Stars

Fast Car Wash by George MacBeth

A car gets cleaned… that is the entire story.

Moorcock calls this a readymade poem. I am assuming forthcoming are also a transcription of microwave instructions and George MacBeth’s shopping list.

One star

The Anxiety in the Eyes of the Cricket by James Sallis

Another Jerry Cornelius story, who is seemingly becoming to the New Wave what the Cthulhu tales have become to SF horror. This vignette apparently takes place shortly after the end of The Peking Junction (although Moorcock indicates this is better read as an alternative version) as JC returns to England a broken man. He stays in the house of his friend Michael, a man who predicted the apocalyptic future. They spend their time drinking and having sex between watching devastation from their window and discussing the nature of guilt.

A much quieter tale and more introspective than the other Cornelius tales with a good dose of narrative experimentation (if Michael is not surnamed Moorcock, I will eat my hat) added in. It is also incredibly bleak, with cities burning, Britain used as America’s crematorium, and Cornelius a broken man now simply looking for his missing family. But it is all the more powerful for it.

Five Stars

The New Science Fiction: A Conversation between J. G. Ballard & George MacBeth

This is the transcription of part of a discussion on BBC Radio 3 (formerly the Third Programme) last year titled The New Surrealism. In this extract, J. G. Ballard explains why he moved away from linear storytelling.

I missed this on its broadcast and I am very pleased it was reproduced here. Ballard manages to explain eloquently what he is trying to achieve in his stories and it has given me an increased appreciation for his work. Two sections I want to call out here as particularly incisive:

…one has many layers, many levels of experience going on at the same time. On one level might be the world of public events, Cape Kennedy, Vietnam, political life, on another level the immediate personal environment, the rooms we occupy, the postures we assume. On a third level, the inner world of the mind. All these levels are, as far as I can see them, equally fictional, and it is where these levels interact that one gets the only kind of inner reality that in fact exists nowadays.

…Burroughs’s narrative techniques… [are] an immediately recognisable reflection of the way life is actually experienced, that we live in quantified non-linear terms – we switch on television sets, switch them off half an hour later, speak on the telephone, read magazines, dream, and so forth. We don’t live our lives in linear terms in the sense that Victorians did.

Recommended for fans and confused readers alike.

Five Stars

So Far from Prague by Brian W. Aldiss

Another of Aldiss’ tales of Europeans in India. This time Slansky, a Czech filmmaker, is staying in a Das’ hotel outside Delhi when he hears of the Soviet invasion, He wants to get back home to help resist the attack, Das thinks they should be concentrating on their joint film project on the nature of time. Things get even more complicated when Slansky discovers there is a Russian guest in the room below his.

Interestingly, this manages a similar feel to Sallis’ piece even though it is contemporary rather than apocalyptic and could only be considered SFnal in the broadest sense. Here it is an exploration of the age-old argument of whether art can or should be apolitical, with this sense of gloom and despair. An important reminder that worlds are being blown up outside our window, not just in our magazines.

Four Stars

Direction by Charles Platt

An unnamed man has an argument at home. In response he gets drunk in a pub and then wanders around London in an inebriated haze.

Another piece where I am not sure the point of it, nor what it is doing in an SF anthology. There are some interesting writing techniques but that is all I can see to recommend it.

A low two stars

Postatomic by Michael Butterworth

We are told of four impossible beings, who may or may not be the same character across different time periods.

Not sure what its purpose is but it is certainly evocative.

Three Stars

For Thomas Tompion by Michael Moorcock

Moorcock completes his trilogy of entries with a four-line poem, addressed to the father of English clock-making.

Simple but well done for what it is.

Three stars

A Science Fiction Story for Joni Mitchell by Maxim Jakubowski

A science fiction writer has grown dissatisfied with the genre; instead he wants to write neo-psychedelic pop songs and tales of drug journeys. However, he has a deadline to hit, and the adventures of Coit Kid vs. the Subliminal Police don’t write themselves. Anyway, there is no chance of his other ideas intruding on a good old-fashioned science fiction story, is there?

A hilarious take on writing, modern pop music and science fiction cliches. It is done in a series of cut up pieces but logical rather than disparate. The whole exercise is delicious and I am going to be remembering many of the lines for some time.

Five Stars

The Communicants by John Sladek

This novella is a fragmented narrative, telling of a disparate set of people who work at Drum Inc., a technology company which provides a wide variety of services over phone lines and dreams of superseding Bell as the national monopoly.

Members of this organisation include Marilyn, who keeps getting mysterious calls that simply say “Marilyn, he loves you”, Sam Kravon, who is being driven mad by his job in Estimates, Phil Wang, the Art Director who is sure people are questioning his loyalty to the US, Ray, a cripple who is being constantly shuffled between departments, and David, who believes reality is refrangible.

At the same time, there are hints of experiments going on within the company that are of interest to the CIA.

Partially this is an extension of his multiple-choice form tales from New Worlds, with these regularly interrupting the text. And partially this is an experiment of split narratives, with the narrative like a butterfly flitting between different stories with such regularity that I wondered if I could use a flow chart.

Whilst it is an interesting experiment, it goes on for far too long (at almost 70 pages, far longer than anything else in this collection) and the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

Three Stars

Seeking a Suitable Donor by D. M. Thomas

An organ donor before their surgery contemplates his journey to this point.

The strange alignment of the text doesn’t add much to this tale of familiar themes but a perfectly reasonable example.

Three Stars

The Holland of the Mind by Pamela Zoline

Graham, Jessica and their child Rachel take a holiday from the US to Amsterdam in 1963. However, visiting the Venice of the North is not going to help them outrun their problems.

This is a tricky one to review. On the one hand it is beautifully written but shocking look at depression and the breakdown of a marriage, counterpointing the history of the Netherlands with their personal situation.

On the other, it is barely SFnal. There is one moment towards the end which could be taken as such. But it could also be taken as metaphorical and\or natural phenomena. As such I was partially disappointed. It reminded me somewhat of Morris’ travelogue Venice.

However, I adore Morris’ writing. As such I am happy to give it the benefit of the doubt and judge it as a piece of literary short fiction. On those grounds it is brilliant.

Five Stars

Quincunx by Thomas M. Disch

As the name suggests, this is made up of five vignettes:

• Chrysanthemums: Mr. Candolle ponders the meaning of chrysanthemums in hospital rooms
• Representation: The narrator speaks of his lost love Judith
• The Death of Lurleen Wallace: A circular tale of princes, presidential campaigns and books
• Mate: A letter from former lovers which also deals with a correspondence chess match
• The Assumption: Miss Lockesly teaches her class about death

I am not sure though what shape we are meant to form. To some extent they are all about endings in different ways but no consensus is reached nor are they particularly profound.

Two Stars

Thus ends this experiment of a book, one which I have rated all over the place. To change a famous quote, there is a thin line between genius and drivel. This anthology erases it.


Vision of Tomorrow #2
Vision of Tomorrow #2 cover, with a picture illustrating Quarry by E. C. Tubb
Cover Illustration: Gerard Alfo Quinn

Issue #2 has finally arrived. No explanation is given for the delay other than “circumstances beyond our control”.  Whatever the reason, we shall now dive into the contents:

Quarry by E. C. Tubb
Black & White ink drawing of a man lying in the desert with a hot sun beating down on him
Illustrated by Gerard Alfo Quinn

Quelto Daruti is a prisoner of the Federation. he decides to make use of an obscure law. The Quarry-Hunt. He is to be hunted across the harsh landscape of Zen to sanctuary. If he can make it alive, he will be pardoned, but the only person who ever managed it before died of their wounds soon afterwards.

Durati however has two advantages the authorities do not know about. Firstly, he is a telepath. Secondly, the Terran league are very interested in his survival

Yes, it is yet another spin on The Most Dangerous Game, but a pretty good one. Stylistically it can be heavy at times, but this is made up for when it is action packed.

Just sneaks in at four stars.

Strictly Legal by Douglas Fulthorpe
Black and white drawing of the Moon with a giant spider across it
Illustrated by James

The intelligent spider-creatures of Proxima Centauri claim ownership of Earth’s Moon, on the grounds that it detached from one of their planets when it was molten. At first everyone assumes this is a joke. However, it turns out they are in deadly earnest, and the legal implications of the case will have devastating consequences.

This is a slippery slope argument delivered with all the subtlety of a brick through a window. The style is readable enough, but it requires so many “what-ifs” to make the idea work, I am not surprised everyone inside this piece of fiction assumes it is all a joke.

Two Stars

Moonchip by John Rankine

Millenia ago a small piece of metal fell to Earth. It has now been mined and ended up part of a car, one that is involved in a strangely high number of fatal accidents. But that is just coincidence, right?

I found this to be a dull and violent tale with little purpose. Maybe if you enjoy hoary old horror stories or car-based fiction it will appeal to you, but not to me.

One Star

A Judge of Men by Michael G. Coney
Black and white drawing of two men standing in a jungle shaking hands with a creature who resembles an elephant's leg with tentacles attached.
Illustrated by Eddie Jones

Scott travels with the trader Bancroft to the planet Karumba, the only source of Shroom (a kind of puff ball that can be woven) in the galaxy. The Shroom harvest is lessening as the planet gets colder and Karumbans may face extinction. However, having seen how humans treat animals in zoos, they refuse to allow any scientific help from humanity. Bancroft is willing to respect the Kamburans' wishes, the young ambitious Scott, however, is determined to solve the mysteries of this world, no matter what anyone else may think.

This did not go in the direction I expected. This started out seeming like it was merely going to be an experiment in xenobiology and the effects of planetary tilt but it went into much deeper territory around what it means to be a person, respect for native belief systems and the responsibility of ethical science.

My only complaint is it was too short to address all of the areas it touched on properly. I would love to see it expanded into one-half of an Ace Double.

A high four stars

Frozen Assets by Dan Morgan

Larry is a used air-car salesman who, with his fiancée Olivia is determined to find a way to get rich quick according to their realist philosophy. The first scheme involves being married to a wealthy divorcee but it turns out the pre-nuptial agreement states that Olivia won’t get any money from accidental death until after five years.

Larry then discovers there is a cure for cirrhosis of the liver, a condition his rich uncle Frank was cryogenically frozen with. He hopes to revive Frank and take control of his estate, however Frank is not quite as witless as Larry supposes.

This is the kind of story I dislike. It requires the setting up of a series of silly rules people follow, explaining them as they go along. In addition, it wends all over the place, barely sticking in one place for more than a moment.

One star

The Impatient Dreamers 2: Aims and Objects by Walter Gillings
A series of article cut outs with the caption:
Headlines from the Ilford Recorder of 1931 proclaimed the 'new literary movement' which aimed to popularize science fiction. A leaflet circulated through remainder magazines on sale here appealed to readers to get in touch with the Science Literary Circle started by Walter Gillings and Len Kippin.

Filling in the gap between installments 1 and 3, we learn of Gillings' efforts to show that there is a strong enough market for science fiction in Britain to support a magazine.

This series continues to be excellent and contains a lot of fascinating details. Such as that Britain at this time didn’t have specialist fiction magazines at all and that Len Kippin just would hand out leaflets wherever he saw SF on sale.

Five Stars

Echo by William F. Temple
A human sits in an advanced room with lizard-like men in spacesuits
Illustrated by B. M. Finch

The Saurian Venusians have taken over the body of Richard Gaunt by use of a temporary echo of the personality of Narvel. They intend to steal the secrets of Organic Materials Inc., however, it turns out that being a human is harder than it seems.

I actually covered this last year in Famous, and I was planning to just reprint my review from there. However, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to look for any changes. I was taken aback that it was almost entirely rewritten. The plot remains identical but the prose is almost a complete overhaul. To compare one of the more similar sections:

Famous version:

Being a mammal, without previous experience, was to me a series of surprises, mostly unpleasant.
Gaunt, I knew, had the social habit of drinking whiskey. I first drank whiskey on the Pacific with a couple of engineers from Minneapolis.
After a while, I remarked with some concern. “Darn, it, the grav-motors are failing.”
This sometimes happened on space trips, and until they were repaired everyone had to endure free fall. I’d felt the beginning of free fall coming on; at least, I felt I was beginning to float. And I said so.
The two men looked at me strangely, then at each other.
“One whiskey on the rocks and he’s floating,” laughed one.

And the Vision version:

I became a Tyro mammal among experienced mammals.
My deficiencies first began to show on the spaceship to Earth. On the passenger list I was Richard Gaunt. I was Gaunt, physically. I did my best to act like him personally.
I knew he had this social habit of drinking whisky. I gave it a whirl at the bar with an engineer from Minneapolis.
After two whiskies, I remarked, ‘What’s gone wrong with the grav-motors?’
My companion looked at me strangely.
‘They seem okay to me. Sure I’s not the whisky hitting you? This special space brew is potent, you know, if you’re not used to it.’

Now, the scene being depicted has the same purpose: Narvel giving an example of not being used to certain human situations with impersonating Gaunt by his lack of familiarity with Whisky causing him to think there is an issue with the grav-motors. But the feel is completely changed. The prior version is concentrating on feelings and giving it a more comedic sense. The new version is more cerebral and philosophical about the nature of identity.

I still have a number of problems with the text but the changes make it clearer to me what he is trying to do. As such it jumps up a little bit in my ratings.

A low three stars

Undercover Weapon by Jack Wodhams
A shocked woman standing in a light beam clutching her clothes as they disintegrate around her.
Illustrated by James

The Fiberphut fabric disintegrator was developed as a means of removing bandages without damaging the skin underneath. When the army look to test its possible military applications, Lt. Cladwell makes his own duplicate model at home. He and his brother-in-law are determined to make a fortune from this device…along with many amorous encounters along the way.

This is the kind of unfunny sex comedy that seem to be growing in popularity at the cinema these days. I don’t like it there and I don’t like it here. I am a little surprised to see this included given last month’s stated “no pornography” policy, but I guess as nothing is described it is considered “good clean fun” by Harbottle. I, on the other hand, find it lecherous and dull.

One Star

Dancing Gerontius by Lee Harding
A collage of ink drawing pictures of a young woman, an old man with a thought bubble, an old man being pushed in a wheelchair, a woman with one leg up and a shadow standing with arms raised
Illustrated by A. Vince

The elderly on welfare are generally kept in a dream-like state in specialist facilities. However, annually they participate in Year Day, where a combination of drugs and advanced machinery allow them to participate in a period of bacchanalian hedonism. We follow Berensen’s experiences as he is crowned King for the day.

An evocative piece that did not go in the direction I expected it to. Quite haunting by the end.

Four Stars

Minos by Maurice Whitta
A black and white ink drawing of a spaceman fighting a minotaur like creature.
Illustrated by Eddie Jones

The final piece is by a new writer to me. The colony-ship Launcelot crash lands on Amor VII, killing almost ¾ of the occupants, including all the women. Another ship primarily composed of women also makes landfall, but contact is lost. From the Guinevere there start emerging minotaur like creatures that attack the men of Launcelot, what could have happened?

This whole piece is kind of a muddle, smelling to me of new author problems. The concepts are good and the point an interesting one. At the same time the action sequences are well written. The problem is structural. For such a small piece too much time is spent in irrelevant sections and the more poignant parts are rushed.

It is not bad though and I hope that Mr. Whitta can sort the issues out in the future.

A low Three Stars

Rating of stories from issue #1:
1. Anchor Man by Wodhams
2. Vault by Broderick
3. When in Doubt - Destroy! by Temple
4. Sixth Sense by Coney
5. Are You There Mr. Jones? by Lem
6. Swords For A Guide by Bulmer
7. Consumer Report by Harding
Story rankings from issue 1, my main surprise is seeing the fascinating Lem below the woeful Coney, but each to their own.

Fantasy Review
Naked Woman from behind standing in front of a river filling from a pipe, raising her arms as a planet and its moon are seen in the sky.
Illustrated by Philip Harbottle

Ken Slater reviews Timepiece by Brian N. Ball (which he did not enjoy) and Harry Harrison’s Deathworld 3 (which he did). We then have a new reviewer, Kathryn Buckley, covering Stand on Zanzibar in a highly complementary manner. Perhaps trying to balance coverage of the New Wave along with the Good Old Stuff?

Best of Both Worlds?
Two spacesuited figures setup a large device whilst a futuristic city glows in the distance.
Additional illustration by Eddie Jones


In both my SF and my music, I am generally drawn towards the future facing experimental works, preferring Colosseum and Chip Delany over The Band and Edgar Rice Burroughs. But I also appreciate both have their advantages and place.

Doing a Sunday afternoon of gardening is wonderful accompanied by some Neil Young or Townes van Zandt. Just as an adventurous tale of daring-do might not be as accomplished as one of Ballard’s cut up stories, it can be a more fun and easy read.

So, whilst neither is perfect, with both the above publications showing successes and failures, I like to think that science fiction is big enough to have both our swashes buckled and our minds expanded.