Tag Archives: Steele Savage

[July 19, 1970] Dips in road (Maze of Death, The Eternal Champion…and others—July Galactoscope #2)

For our second of July's Galactoscopes, we have quite the mixed bag: two winners and two losers.  Aren't you glad you've got us to navigate the dross for you?

Covers of four books. The first cover is for the novel Quest for the Future by A E van Vogt. The illustration shows a huge, green, tentacled monster about to eat a human whole. Text at the bottom right corner says: In the palace of immortality, all the probabilities of time are waiting for you. The second cover is for the novel The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock. The illustration shows a man sitting on a throne, holding a sword in one hand and a big, shiny crystal ball in the other. A naked woman is kneeling in front of him, pouring a drink into his mouth. The third cover is for the novel Anti-Man by Dean R Koontz. The illustration shows a multitude of people struggling to walk in order. In the foreground, a human face is half covered by a hand. The palm of the hand shows the eye that the hand covers on that face. Text in the middle says: Sam was a miracle being—and a curse to a dangerously overpopulated planet. The fourth cover is for the novel A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick. The illustration shows blue clouds half-covering an orange setting sun. Beneath the clouds, half-closed eyes look downward.

Continue reading [July 19, 1970] Dips in road (Maze of Death, The Eternal Champion…and others—July Galactoscope #2)

[February 14, 1970] Spock must Die!, Starbreed, Seed of the Dreamers, and The Blind Worm

[For this first Galactoscope of the month, please enjoy this quartet of diverting reviews…which are probably more entertaining than the books in question!]

photo of a man with glasses and curly, long, brown hair, and a beard and mustache
by Gideon Marcus

Spock Must Die!, by James Blish

Star Trek is dead. Long live Star Trek!

No sooner had Trek left the air at the end of last year's rerun season than it reentered the airwaves in syndication. And not just at home, but abroad: the BBC are playing Trek weekly, exposing yet more potential fans to the first real science fiction show on TV.

While new episodes may not be airing on television, new stories are being created. I am subscribed to a number of fanzines devoted to Trek. There aren't quite so many these days as once there were, but there's also been something of a distillation of quality. For instance, I receive Spockanalia and T-Negative with almost montly regularity. These are quality pubs with some real heavy hitters involved. They are crammed with articles and fiction. As to the latter, a lot of it is proposed fourth season scripts turned into stories—by people who really know the show. The stories by such Big Name Fans as Ruth Berman, Dorothy Jones, and Astrid Anderson (of Karen/Poul Anderson lineage) are always excellent.

There have been few commercial Trek books to date. You had Gene Roddenberry/Stephen Whitfield's indispensible reference, The Making of Star Trek, released between the 2nd and 3rd seasons, and Bantam has published three collections of Trek episodes turned into short stories by James Blish (rather sketchily, and not overly faithfully). There was Mack Reynolds' juvenile Mission to Horatius, which wasn't very good.

Cover of an orange novel featuring two converging Spocks. The caption reads A STAR TREK NOVEL 
SPOCK 
MUST DIE!
BY JAMES BLISH
AN EXCITING NEW NOVEL OF ITERPLANETARY ADVENTURE
INSPIRED BY THE CHARACTERS OF GENE RODDENBERRY CREATED FOR THE FAMOUS TELEVISION SERIES

Now Bantam has released the first "real" Trek novel, one aimed at adults. It is also by James Blish, who liberally sprinkles footnote references to prior episodes he has novelized. The basic premises are two-fold:

Continue reading [February 14, 1970] Spock must Die!, Starbreed, Seed of the Dreamers, and The Blind Worm