Reading Around in Old SF Magazines

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Bester is a wild romp, combining the author's usual pyrotechnic style with a outrageous plot that often takes jabs at some of the typical tropes of speculative fiction.

 

[Hugh]

So, I’ve have just read these four issues of Startling Stories

Top Left: May 1939 Volume 1 Number 3
Top Right: Sept 1947 Volume 16 Number 1
Bottom Left: British Edition No 1 1950 (partial reprint of the US Winter 1946 issue)
Bottom Right: British Edition No 2 1950 (partial reprint of the US March 1946 issue) (at 9d, all of 3d cheaper than No 1)

Who can resist these covers?

All of them follow the same format of one long story with one or two short ones, but sadly the British editions are a poor copy of the American in that they contain no editorials ( the Sept 1947 editorial casts doubt on the theory of continental drift), no letters, no references to scientifiction, and no advertisements. The September 1947 issue for instance contains nine pages of letters, including one from Lin Carter, and their editorial responses. In much the same way I remember feeling very disappointed with the UK edition of MAD magazine.

Given none of these (with one exception) have made it into anthologies as far as I can see, I’ll take you through the contents without worrying too much about SPOILERS.

May 1939 Volume 1 Number 3
“The Prisoner of Mars” by Edmond Hamilton (80 pages)
Philip Crain has always felt there’s something strange in his brain that sets himself apart from others. Fortunately he has two friends, the geologist Dr Martin and his daughter Kay, who explore with him his unusual origins – his father had been found wounded and amnesiac in the Canadian wilderness and never recovered his memories. A rip-roaring roller-coaster ensues in which Crain finds himself transported to Mars where the king turns out to be his identical half-brother. Naturally, palace politics are complicated and various adventures with much derring do ensue, before Crain succeeds in halting the Martian invasion of Earth by giving the Martians our un-needed icecaps that will both revitalise life on Mars, and benefit Earth greatly (!!!). Crain becomes king of Mars and marries the Princess Mara.

“Pygmalion’s Spectacles” by Stanley G. Weinbaum (a reprint from Wonder Stories)
Dan Burke tries on Professor Ludwig’s ‘magic’ spectacles (these have been rejected by the movie studios because only one person can use them at a time) and enters a surprisingly realistic world.

“The Lost Hour” by Alexander Samalan
Pure filler. Three pages of nonsense anecdotes about the earth speeding up.

Startling Stories September 1947 Volume 16 Number 1
“Lord of the Storm” by Keith Hammond (aka Henry Kuttner)
Where to start? Mart Havers was kidnapped as a newborn baby to become part of the resistance against the Cromwellian rulers of the world. He was kidnapped because he’d already been identified as a “Leader” suitable to join the ruling clique, and it was hoped he’d be key in the resistance. However, turns out he’s a disappointment and hangs out with dubious companions with little signs of motivation to create a better world. But wait! He is captured, reprogrammed and trained in Weather Control. But then old memories start to resurface… and there’s also the matter of the forbidden erotic attraction to his mentor in Weather Control….

“The Circle of Zero” by Stanley G. Weinbaum (a reprint from Thrilling Wonder Stories, and appears in Mike Ashley’s “History of the Science Fiction Magazine 1936-1945” )
Can Jack and the old Professor get back everything they lost in the Crash of 1929 through self-hypnosis and time-travel?

“Lodana” by Carl Jacobi
“There were five of us at BeTaba, five Earthmen surrounded by some pretty alien landscape and by a couple of hundred treacherous mutants”. We’re on the Sixth Moon of Jupiter mining blue crystals that contain the recorded conversations/sounds of the lost Upper Caste Sixtian race. I think you can guess it won’t be plain sailing.

“Up and Atom” by Ray Cummings
Tubby’s attending a lecture on atomic fission (“Deep stuff this!”) when a certain Professor Pluton tugs at his sleeve and urgently requests his help to stop a villainous colleague destroying New York City. The last of a series of Tubby Maguire stories. If this one’s anything to go by, Tubby may not be the brightest spark but he’s prepared to put his fists in the right place when it comes to saving the world.

Startling Stories British Edition No 1 1950 (partial reprint of the US Winter 1946 issue)
“Outlaw World” by Edmond Hamilton
One of a series of Captain Future stories involving Captain Future (Curt Newton), Simon Wright (the Human Brain in his own life support case), the Robot Grag, and the android Otho, among others. In this one, essential radium supplies have been disrupted by a series of mysterious attacks. An evil genius is at work. Disappointing - rather dull and predictable. I mean Curt is captured by the evil mastermind on three occasions and yet somehow escapes each time.

“The Futuremen” by Grag’s Pet, The Moon-Pup (maybe Edmond Hamilton?)
Origin of Eek, the Moon-Pup, telepathic companion of the Robot Grag.

“The Forgotten Man of Space” by P. Schuyler Miller
After striking it rich with a radium find followed by three years hard mining, Cramer’s been left behind to die by his two fellow prospectors. Somehow he makes it across the desert for ten days to a water source where he’s looked after by rabbit-like creatures. Twenty years pass….

Startling Stories British Edition No 2 1950 (partial reprint of the US March 1946 issue)
“Valley of the Flame” by Keith Hammond (aka Henry Kuttner)
Brian Raft is a doctor working in the remote Amazon when a co-worker is kidnapped by a strange man. Raft is determined to rescue his colleague, and at the same time is drawn to do so by the live image of a woman that he has accidentally contacted through a mirror-like pendant around a dying man’s neck. Adventures ensue. You can see the woman on the cover illustration above. Note the yellow and brown striped hair indicating that unlike humans she has evolved from jaguars.

“Twelve Hours to Live” by Jack Williamson The cover mistakenly attributes this to Clark Ashton Smith.
That vandal of the interstellar void, the Black Hawk, is pursuing the great liner, Queen of Night, and her Captain, David Grant. Although Grant and Nell, his lovely bride, are spared by the space pirate, further challenges await.

“Shadow Over Venus” by Frank Belknap Young
The explorer David Tomlinson has reappeared after five years in the Venusian wilderness to the delight of those who’ve been searching for him. He is accompanied by a number of natives and a ‘gule’ in a cage. A certain mystery surrounds the role of gules in Venusian society.

 

[dask]

Enticing glimpses into the lost greatness of science fiction.

 

[hitmouse]

Astounding, October 1958

View attachment 93653

Clifford D. Simak - The Big Front Yard
October '58 kicks off with a genuine classic, which I'd been looking forward to getting to in this read-through (albeit as a re-read). Given a famous Kelly Freas cover - which perfectly captures a scene in the tale - Simak's story won the 1959 Hugo for best novelette. A Yankee tinkerer, fixer of gadgets and antique dealer finds machines are being mysteriously mended in his old house overnight or while he's away from home. He later discovers the front of his house and yard disappears, and he can only get in by the back door! He comes to realise he's been visited by beings from another world, and his house has become the gateway to new horizons. The tale is a quintessential rendition of Simak's common theme of a small-town everyman's interactions with aliens, and how old traditions and values might not lose their merit, just because times change. Great fun, and of course highly recommended.

Rog Phillips - The Yellow Pill
In researching the author for this note, I discovered that Phillips' SF was extensively published from the mid-40's until about 1961, with over a hundred short stories to his name. This tale has been heavily anthologised, including inclusion in Kingsley Amis' highly regarded Spectrum anthology series. This tale asks the thorny question of how can we know that what we see and hear is reality or merely subjective? This is the kind of idea PKD and others wrestled with, and this is a classic take on the theme. Well written, pacey and fun - even if you can see the conclusion coming - it's a bit of a belter.

Pauline Ashwell - Big Sword
As written by "Paul Ash", a pseudonym Pauline Ashwell chose to use here. There is an assumption that female writers felt they had to use male names to sell their work and succeed in SF, and this may be true sometimes, but I doubt any pressure came from Campbell here, though he tends to be the targeted for criticism for this kind of thing. The editor clearly liked Ashwell's work; he 'discovered' her after all, and published her work prior to this under her own name (and many other women under their own names). In any event, this novelette is quite an inventive and enjoyable tale about a colony on an alien planet, and their interactions and understanding of a small, telepathic, alien lifeform. Ashwell's ideas tended to be somewhat brighter than her prose, which could verge on the sluggish, however. This was highlighted a little by the next story in the issue.

Randall Garrett - ...And Check the Oil
Garrett's story is written in his usual peppy, engaging style, and it was more enjoyably readable than Ashwell's. A large spaceship has settled to Earth on an Indonesian island, and various world science and linguistic experts, including the protagonist - a chemist - are brought in the try and understand why it's here, and whether the inhabitants can be conversed with. It's certainly entertaining and a nice idea, though the ending is a bit on the negative side, I guess. A decent novelette though.

Jay Williams - False Image
This was quite a good short story. Told from the perspective of an alien farmer on Earth, we learn by the end what the state of the world is, and how humans see the aliens. But the different perspective is well done, and you don't see it all coming, so the end is quite satisfying. Williams wrote a dozen or so adult SF stories between '54 and the '70's but was perhaps most well known for his Danny Dunn children's SF series (co-written with Raymond Abrashkin).

Overall Thoughts
This was an excellent issue of Astounding, possibly only matched this year by May '58. If you see copies of Astounding from this year in a used book store, grab October '58, as it won't disappoint. Book reviews this month include Leinster's Out of this World (described as a pot-boiler).

Something I had not realised before is that the British edition does not match the US edition. This is my Oct 58 Astounding:

Does anyone know how the US and British eds match up?

 

[hitmouse]

I have been looking through my very disorganised collection and answered my own question. The Oct 58 US edition was published as the Jan 59 British edition. The cover pic appears to be an inferior copy of the US cover.

 

[Bick]

Something I had not realised before is that the British edition does not match the US edition. This is my Oct 58 Astounding:

Does anyone know how the US and British eds match up?

They were delayed, partial copies of the original, and missed out much of the contents. They are certainly 'lesser' and not nearly as collectable, unfortunately.

If you are ever ordering an old US-based SF magazine from a specialist online supplier or an eBAY auction, for instance, always double-check its not the British edition. I've been caught by this before (though happily, I got a full refund).

 

[hitmouse]

This came from a box of British Astoundings covering about 1955-60 that I found in a car boot sale a few years ago. I made a silly offer for the the whole box to the vendor of £5.00, which was accepted, so I will live with the shortcomings of the British editions.

 

[dask]

This came from a box of British Astoundings covering about 1955-60 that I found in a car boot sale a few years ago. I made a silly offer for the the whole box to the vendor of £5.00, which was accepted, so I will live with the shortcomings of the British editions.

Sounds like a windfall to me.

 

[Bick]

This came from a box of British Astoundings covering about 1955-60 that I found in a car boot sale a few years ago. I made a silly offer for the the whole box to the vendor of £5.00, which was accepted, so I will live with the shortcomings of the British editions.

Cracking deal, British eds or not!

 

[Bick]

Astounding, November 1958

Poul Anderson - A Bicycle Built for Brew (Part 1 of 2)
Anderson's best work is his serious SF or his richly imagined fantasy. This two-part serial is a humorous SF tale which fails to engage the reader and is one of the few things I've read by the author which I've struggled to get through. Interestingly, this long novella is one of the least 'collected' of Anderson's SF stories, perhaps suggesting that posterity agrees with my critical assessment.

Christopher Anvil - Goliath and the Beanstalk
This was actually a fair bit better than some of the other tales published in Astounding in '58 by this author. Two human diplomats of the Terran Empire accompany an alien mission to subjugate an independent human world. The nature of the subjugation and response is not the main attraction here so much as the manner of speech and communication between the human diplomats and the aliens, which is rather neat.

Andrew Salmond - Stimulus
This novelette reaches far but doesn't quite match its ambition. When humans attempt to land unmanned vessels on the moon, they discover the the vessels immediately explode upon touchdown. The same thing occurs when attempts are made to land on any other planet in the solar system. It seems that the Earth is made of 'contra' matter (a kind of antimatter) to everything else in the solar system. The tale then takes up from the perspective of the alien race who artificially made the Earth this way to prevent mankind's expansion throughout the galaxy. It's rather a cheerleader piece for how great humans are, and runs out of steam after a fairly bright start.

Gordon R. Dickson - Gifts
An 'everyman' called Jim is visited by a man who spirits into his house and announces that he is an alien with an offer for mankind. Jim has been chosen as a perfect representative of humanity to decide whether they should accept the ability to have whatever they desire, to ease the burdens of the hard life so many face of Earth. Like most work by Dickson, this is a superior little tale, well-written and engaging.

Katherine MacLean - Unhuman Sacrifice
This is a decent novelette by the reliable MacLean. A missionary priest has been sent to a far-flung alien world to convert the primitive population. He is accompanied by two much more prosaic space ship engineers who believe the missionary was sent so far to get rid of him. But the primitive sentient lifeform they encounter has an apparently self-defeating tradition of entering adulthood from childhood in a ritual that kills many of them. The reveal at the end is quite well done, and the writing is better than average for the magazine.

Overall Thoughts
A decent issue, once one had skipped through the Anderson serial, with the Anvil, Dickson and MacLean all worth a read. Also of note was the science fact article, which this month was provided by Isaac Asimov, entitled Our Lonely Planet. He provides a lot of interesting data about the number of stars and their density and then posits a rationale for why we haven't (yet) encountered any alien races visiting us. Asimov is always readable, and this was no exception.

 

[Hugh]

So, here are four more isolated issues from the pile…

Top left: Planet Stories, British Edition, No 1, 1950
Top right: Weird Tales May 1950, UK Edition
Bottom left: Fantastic Adventures UK edition June 1953
Bottom right: Futuristic Stories No 1 October 1946

I think ‘Futuristic Stories’ is a UK publication that only lasted two issues.
The others are all UK versions of the USA mags with UK prices added to the covers – of these ‘Planet Stories’ has suffered the most in the transition with no editorial/letters/adverts, while the others have much more a feel of the genuine article.

Although I have only the one copy of each of these magazines, it’s been a pleasure to read them. I've always wanted to get my hands on a copy of Planet Stories, if only for the lurid covers.
The stories I enjoyed most were “Enchantress of Venus” by Leigh Brackett in Planet Stories and “The Triangle of Terror” by William F. Temple in Weird Tales. The others were decidedly variable.

Here’s a brief run through of the contents: mainly just scene setting comments to avoid the risk of SPOILERS.

Planet Stories British Edition, No 1, 1950

“Enchantress of Venus” by Leigh Brackett
I haven’t read much Brackett, but I found this a very pleasant romp. Though Stark is an Earthman, he was raised from infancy as N’Chaka, by the half-human aboriginals of Mercury, starving, fighting, hunting. Apparently this is one of a series. In this adventure he’s crossing the gaseous Red Sea of Venus, heading for the pirate stronghold of Shuruun in search of an old friend who has disappeared.

“The Giants Return” by Robert Abernathy
The Quest III is returning to Earth after a ten year long fruitless search for habitable planets. However nine hundred years have passed on earth.

“Ordeal in Space” by Ralph Sloan
Lieutenant Mike Logan is ordered to escort a man to Earth for execution. However, this is the man who killed his brother, and who Mike has already attempted to kill.

“Captain Midas” by Alfred Coppel, Junr.
“My crew was a rough bunch, like all those early crews. I remember them so well. Lean, hungry men with hell in their eyes and a great lust for high pay and hard living.” Then they come across a derelict spaceship like none ever encountered before…..

“Signal Red” by Henry Guth
Old Shano’s dying from gum-choked lungs, the result of years in the vanium mines of Pluto. He’s desperate to return to Earth to die there and books himself onto a flight that no other passengers will risk.

“The Wheel is Death” by Roger Dee
Old Kaliz, the Head Priest, explains to young Ortho why his friend Gor Zan had to be thrown over the precipice. Just two pages.

Weird Tales May 1950, UK Edition

“Tell Your Fortune” by Robert Bloch
Big Pete Mosko has been rigging his roulette wheels courtesy of an illegal Italian immigrant, Professor Tarelli. However, he pushes Tarelli too far….

“Djinn and Bitters” by Harold Lawlor
It’s the first afternoon of their honeymoon, and Pete and Connie are relaxing on a deserted beach, when Connie finds a stoppered bottle in the sand.

“The Round Tower” by Stanton A. Coblentz
A young American stumbles across an unusual medieval fortress while wandering around Paris.

“The Last Man” by Seabury Quinn
Roger Mycroft consults an Haitian medium concerning his former army comrades.

“The Triangle of Terror” by William F. Temple
Genuinely scary story of a writer of occult fiction on secluded retreat in order to finish his latest work.

“The Monkey Spoons” by Mary Elizabeth Counselman
Elderly hunchbacked antique dealer is pressured into selling a set of spoons to three young adults who couldn’t care less that that they are cursed.

“The Last Three Ships” by Margaret St Clair
Pickard has been stealing scrap from abandoned ships but has always avoided going on three of them.

“At the End of the Corridor” by Evangeline Walton
Young American archaeologist seeks to re-open Mycanaean tombs covered by landslides in strange circumstances during WWII

“The Man on B-17” by Stephen Grendon
The driver of Number 12 train into Hungerford keeps on thinking he’s going to hit a man that appears in front of him on the trestle bridge.

“Mr Hyde and Seek” by Malcolm M. Ferguson
Young doctor gets asked to help deal with a polkergeist.


Fantastic Adventures UK edition June 1953

“The Woman in Skin 13” by Paul W. Fairman
Government agent has her skin dyed green in order to penetrate the camp of the alien invaders.

“The Lion’s Mouth” by Stephen Marlowe
Dan’s 12 year old nephew has come round to ask some questions. He’s been made a Monitor by Karadi School – the school set up by the Karadi invaders to indoctrinate the young.

“The Man Nobody Knew” by Dan Wilcox
Ronnie Conwell had been asked to check out the company business on Venus, but now he’s in a swamp trying to escape murderous Oojags and a monstrous fifty foot long Water-Slitter.

“Mortality Unlimited” by Russell Branch
Private Detective Ty Knox is busy evading the Civil Security Service when he’s asked to investigate the death of a young man in a teleportation unit.

“The Satellite Wrecker” by Charles Reeve
Rocket interceptor pilot Johnny Falkner is asked to destroy a Russian satellite. Just two pages long.


Futuristic Stories No 1 October 1946

“The Lords of Zorm” by N. Wesley Firth
Grant Mex and crew are in search of a planet that has the essential metal gundame. Only this can protect Earth from the Mars-Venus-Saturn alliance. Unfortunately the ship has become ensnared in some form of mist.
“Captain, I’ve been all over the Solar System. I’ve seen the Death Clouds of Venus, The Plant Men of Saturn, The Skeleton Men from Mars, and the Giant Octopi of Omega. But I’ve never seen anything as unnatural as this damned mist”.

“Laughter of the Gods” by Earl Ellison
Cautious unassertive Mr Seedly finds a small alien object buried in his garden.

“The Timeless Dimension” by Rice Ackman
Michael Owens steps into a stage magician’s “Vanishing Cabinet” and finds that there is more to it than he thought. Fortunately his close friend Morley West followed close behind.

 

[Bick]

View attachment 99176


So, here are four more isolated issues from the pile…

Top left: Planet Stories, British Edition, No 1, 1950
Top right: Weird Tales May 1950, UK Edition
Bottom left: Fantastic Adventures UK edition June 1953
Bottom right: Futuristic Stories No 1 October 1946

I think ‘Futuristic Stories’ is a UK publication that only lasted two issues.
The others are all UK versions of the USA mags with UK prices added to the covers – of these ‘Planet Stories’ has suffered the most in the transition with no editorial/letters/adverts, while the others have much more a feel of the genuine article.

Although I have only the one copy of each of these magazines, it’s been a pleasure to read them. I've always wanted to get my hands on a copy of Planet Stories, if only for the lurid covers.
The stories I enjoyed most were “Enchantress of Venus” by Leigh Brackett in Planet Stories and “The Triangle of Terror” by William F. Temple in Weird Tales. The others were decidedly variable.

Here’s a brief run through of the contents: mainly just scene setting comments to avoid the risk of SPOILERS.

Planet Stories British Edition, No 1, 1950

“Enchantress of Venus” by Leigh Brackett
I haven’t read much Brackett, but I found this a very pleasant romp. Though Stark is an Earthman, he was raised from infancy as N’Chaka, by the half-human aboriginals of Mercury, starving, fighting, hunting. Apparently this is one of a series. In this adventure he’s crossing the gaseous Red Sea of Venus, heading for the pirate stronghold of Shuruun in search of an old friend who has disappeared.

“The Giants Return” by Robert Abernathy
The Quest III is returning to Earth after a ten year long fruitless search for habitable planets. However nine hundred years have passed on earth.

“Ordeal in Space” by Ralph Sloan
Lieutenant Mike Logan is ordered to escort a man to Earth for execution. However, this is the man who killed his brother, and who Mike has already attempted to kill.

“Captain Midas” by Alfred Coppel, Junr.
“My crew was a rough bunch, like all those early crews. I remember them so well. Lean, hungry men with hell in their eyes and a great lust for high pay and hard living.” Then they come across a derelict spaceship like none ever encountered before…..

“Signal Red” by Henry Guth
Old Shano’s dying from gum-choked lungs, the result of years in the vanium mines of Pluto. He’s desperate to return to Earth to die there and books himself onto a flight that no other passengers will risk.

“The Wheel is Death” by Roger Dee
Old Kaliz, the Head Priest, explains to young Ortho why his friend Gor Zan had to be thrown over the precipice. Just two pages.

Weird Tales May 1950, UK Edition

“Tell Your Fortune” by Robert Bloch
Big Pete Mosko has been rigging his roulette wheels courtesy of an illegal Italian immigrant, Professor Tarelli. However, he pushes Tarelli too far….

“Djinn and Bitters” by Harold Lawlor
It’s the first afternoon of their honeymoon, and Pete and Connie are relaxing on a deserted beach, when Connie finds a stoppered bottle in the sand.

“The Round Tower” by Stanton A. Coblentz
A young American stumbles across an unusual medieval fortress while wandering around Paris.

“The Last Man” by Seabury Quinn
Roger Mycroft consults an Haitian medium concerning his former army comrades.

“The Triangle of Terror” by William F. Temple
Genuinely scary story of a writer of occult fiction on secluded retreat in order to finish his latest work.

“The Monkey Spoons” by Mary Elizabeth Counselman
Elderly hunchbacked antique dealer is pressured into selling a set of spoons to three young adults who couldn’t care less that that they are cursed.

“The Last Three Ships” by Margaret St Clair
Pickard has been stealing scrap from abandoned ships but has always avoided going on three of them.

“At the End of the Corridor” by Evangeline Walton
Young American archaeologist seeks to re-open Mycanaean tombs covered by landslides in strange circumstances during WWII

“The Man on B-17” by Stephen Grendon
The driver of Number 12 train into Hungerford keeps on thinking he’s going to hit a man that appears in front of him on the trestle bridge.

“Mr Hyde and Seek” by Malcolm M. Ferguson
Young doctor gets asked to help deal with a polkergeist.


Fantastic Adventures UK edition June 1953

“The Woman in Skin 13” by Paul W. Fairman
Government agent has her skin dyed green in order to penetrate the camp of the alien invaders.

“The Lion’s Mouth” by Stephen Marlowe
Dan’s 12 year old nephew has come round to ask some questions. He’s been made a Monitor by Karadi School – the school set up by the Karadi invaders to indoctrinate the young.

“The Man Nobody Knew” by Dan Wilcox
Ronnie Conwell had been asked to check out the company business on Venus, but now he’s in a swamp trying to escape murderous Oojags and a monstrous fifty foot long Water-Slitter.

“Mortality Unlimited” by Russell Branch
Private Detective Ty Knox is busy evading the Civil Security Service when he’s asked to investigate the death of a young man in a teleportation unit.

“The Satellite Wrecker” by Charles Reeve
Rocket interceptor pilot Johnny Falkner is asked to destroy a Russian satellite. Just two pages long.


Futuristic Stories No 1 October 1946

“The Lords of Zorm” by N. Wesley Firth
Grant Mex and crew are in search of a planet that has the essential metal gundame. Only this can protect Earth from the Mars-Venus-Saturn alliance. Unfortunately the ship has become ensnared in some form of mist.
“Captain, I’ve been all over the Solar System. I’ve seen the Death Clouds of Venus, The Plant Men of Saturn, The Skeleton Men from Mars, and the Giant Octopi of Omega. But I’ve never seen anything as unnatural as this damned mist”.

“Laughter of the Gods” by Earl Ellison
Cautious unassertive Mr Seedly finds a small alien object buried in his garden.

“The Timeless Dimension” by Rice Ackman
Michael Owens steps into a stage magician’s “Vanishing Cabinet” and finds that there is more to it than he thought. Fortunately his close friend Morley West followed close behind.

Great review. I’m also attracted to those old Planet Stories magazines, both for the terrific covers (usually a young woman in a ball gown in some strife on an alien planet!), but also for the famous content. The Brackett you read is the first of three of the original Stark stories I think. Glad to hear it was good. I’ve been keeping an eye out for that very issue because it has this story.

 

[Bick]

Finishing up my reading of Astounding from 1958:

Astounding, December 1958

H. Beam Piper - The Ministry of Disturbance
This novelette is part of Piper's 'Terro-Human Future History' that includes such novels as Little Fuzzy and Ullr Uprising. It's quite entertaining, telling the tale of the Imperial Emperor dealing with a scientific breakthrough and student protest. It's too episodic and inconsequential to be of much note, however.

J. F. Bone - Triggerman
The triggerman of the title refers to the army general who lives in a bunker, with his had on the nuclear 'button'. In this case a genuine white button. He refers in thought and speech to the enemy as "Ivan" and he must keep his cool while all around panic at the appearance of an unusual 'missile'. It's not badly told, but neither is it a stellar SAF story. It's very much of its time in the cold war of the late '50's though, which made it quite interesting reading from a historical/sociological perspective.

Mack Reynolds - Pieces of the Game
The day after reading this I had trouble remembering it, which tells all you need to know, perhaps. It's barely SF; a spy enters Switzerland to visit Vienna (now part of the new nation sometime in the future) and gets away with his mission on account of his small stature, essentially. Very skippable.

Randall Garrett - The Queen Bee
This was kind of fascinating to read, in the same way it's hard not to look at a car crash on a highway as you pass by. It's quite engaging and well written (Garrett could certainly write well enough) but the theme of a reduced colony crew having to work out how to populate a new planet was awkwardly explored to say the least. One colonist is a strident and unpleasant women with a spoiled child complex. She is punched and slapped on numerous occasions by one of the men to bring her into line and behave. In the end she is given a lobotomy so they can breed with her without having to put up with her anti-social antics. She is a murderer, it has to be said, but the storyline the author has spun provides an opportunity to exploit unsavory treatment of the woman in a way that looks to appeal in quite a base way. It's very dated, let's just say!

Christopher Anvil - Seller's Market
Anvil again. That's 5 story entries in the last 6 months of '58. He was a scribbler, and no mistake. This tale is set on a frozen alien planet and concerns a war between humanity and the 'Outs'. Like much of the stuff you got from Anvil its not up to much to be honest.

Poul Anderson - A Bicycle Built for Brew (Part 2 of 2)
This was rapidly skimmed through, see comments for November, and so no further comments to add here.

Overall Thoughts
It was quite a readable issue, to be fair, but that's testament to the reliability of the writing of Piper and Garrett, more than the quality of the stories. As SF, this was not a great issue - in fact one of the weakest of '58, which was a slight shame to end on. The cover is interesting: it's a 'pictorial essay' by Ed Emswiller, and isn't actually related to any of the stories in the issue. I can't help wondering whether Campbell initially agreed to publish a story it illustrated and then it was withdrawn, or he changed his mind. In any event it was unusual.

------------
Having now finished Astounding '58, I plan to move on to a reading of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1971, of which I have acquired a complete mint condition set of issues. I don't plan on reading every story in this set, but to take a similar approach that I did with the mid-70's Analogs, and select 1 or 2 stories that most appeal from each one.

 

[Extollager]

Looking forward to the installments of that F&SF survey, Bick!

 

[Bick]

In reading through The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1971, I thought I'd choose two stories from each issue, based on the fame of author, or whether the story has been anthologised much, or perhaps just on whim, and see how we go. Here are my thoughts from the first three issues:

Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1971

January 1971
The Human Operators - Harlan Ellison & A.E. van Vogt
This was a terrific novelette, which imagines that a fleet of starfighter spaceships gained self-awareness, killed off all but one human to maintain each ship and then subjugated the imprisoned humans in isolation and torturous conditions for generations. Only when the ships need to create the next generation of human operator do the ships meet in space to bring two humans together to procreate. It's a fantastic concept, and the mix of Ellison and van Vogt works well. The story later featured in Ellison's collection of collaborative stories, Partners in Wonder (1972).

Heathen God - George Zebrowski
This short story was nominated for the Nebula Award in 1972, losing out to Robert Silverberg's Good News from the Vatican. It is pretty good; a mission comprising a priest and a politician travel to see a gnome-like alien who eons ago made the solar system, and gave humankind sentience. The priest goes to reconcile it's god-like nature with his faith, while the politician goes to gain an electoral edge. It has the hallmarks of being a bit of a classic in its theme and Nebula nomination. One feels that if the writing were slightly edgier and challenging, it would have that status. As it is, it's simply pretty good.

February 1971
Repeat Performance - Bob Shaw
This was a terrific concept, wherein a cinema owner notices, on Wednesday showings, bit part actors from the films he's playing leaving the cinema after the reel finishes. Additionally, his projectionist complains that there are dimming brown outs during each of these movies. Given this is Bob Shaw, it's told very well, and his idea is great and would suit an Outer Limits episode well. Unfortunately, I feel he missed an opportunity for a great end.

The Beginning of April or the End of March - Thomas M. Disch
This is new wave in the best sense - it pulls and pushes at our assumptions and works up to a great ending. The writing is excellent, keeping the reader entranced while every word is made to seem strange and odd. We can't tell why it's so strange until the last line. It's impossible to summarise the story without giving too much away, but seek out this little gem.

March 1971
The Tenant - Avram Davidson
This short story by Davidson is a weird tale, more than a SF story, with rather a Lovecraftian feel. A slumlord looks to move on his tenants from some high rises he plans to demolish, but one old lady doesn't want to move. A strongarm is deputized to move her on. It's not a bad tale, and ends fairly well in a creepy way, but Davidson's writing is not the crispest prose, and it's only so-so.

Birdlime - B.L. Keller
This fantasy story by Beverly Keller is a product of its time. A sassy, sexually curious teen girl is too much for the devil to handle. If this were written by a man, it would be seen as sexist and criticised for its objectification of the girl, as it is I guess its just slightly odd. I selected this as the second story to read from this issue as it was chosen by Ferman for a "Best of..." collection of the magazine's contents in 1973. Interestingly, all the preceding stories reviewed above are better, but none were selected for that volume. I've found this is a common occurrence - the editor of a magazine rarely seems to be the best person to select the choicest stories from their own publication. Dozois was pretty poor at it too.

----------------
Incidentally, I'm reading quite a bit of Isaac Asimov's non-fiction material in these issues too (he contributed an essay each issue, of course), as well as some book reviews - this was a fertile period for short SF (probably my favourite period), so discussion of the genre at the time is always interesting.

 

[Hugh]

Finishing up my reading of Astounding from 1958:

Astounding, December 1958

Overall Thoughts
The cover is interesting: it's a 'pictorial essay' by Ed Emswiller, and isn't actually related to any of the stories in the issue. I can't help wondering whether Campbell initially agreed to publish a story it illustrated and then it was withdrawn, or he changed his mind. In any event it was unusual.

Very likely

 

[Hugh]

Well, I've been doing some more pulp exploration: here are four 1946 – 1948 copies of “Unknown Worlds”:
Winter 1946 (Vol III, No 8)
Spring 1947 (Vol III, No 9)
Summer 1947 (Vol III No 10)
Spring 1948 (Vol III No 12)

I'd never heard of it before, but “Unknown Worlds” is a British edition minimalist reprint of stories originally published in John W. Campbell’s Unknown 1940 – 1941. Sadly, there are fewer stories per issue and no editorials, letters etc. I think this reduced size is linked to paper quotas allocated to UK publishers in the years immediately after WWII.

The contents can be found below, courtesy of Phil Stephenson-Payne. Note the contents described on the covers do not include all the stories within the magazines:
Magazine Contents Lists: Page 10625

I was a little thrown at first because I’d thought Unknown was SF rather than fantasy/horror, but I enjoyed the stories more than I’d anticipated. The stories are decidedly variable despite Campbell being the editor, but there are several I particularly enjoyed. Here are some non-plot-spoiling summaries...

“The Land of Unreason” by L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt . ( Winter 1946) (59 page novelette).
It’s Midsummer’s Eve and Fred Barber amuses himself by drinking the bowl of milk his landlady had left out for the fairies and substituting whisky. Maybe this wasn’t the greatest idea, as he wakes up to find he’s been transported to Fairyland as a changeling. (59 page novelette).
This was better than I expected as I’m not always that keen on these authors. I particularly liked the way the main character began to work out the peculiar logic of fairyland. Funnily enough, I’m sure I’ve read an extract from this before and thought it disappointing, whereas in the context of the longer story it makes much more sense.

“The Case of the Friendly Corpse” by L. Ron Hubbard (Spring 1947)
Jules Riley is about to receive his Doctorate in Ancient Languages when he finds himself in another reality where he’s known as Achmed el Abd Mahmud and is about to graduate from the University of Unholy Names – and to get his doctorate he has to sell (or rent) his soul to his satanic majesty.
I’ve read very little Hubbard, and again, this was better than I’d expected. I was briefly excited over the date of this magazine, given that it was Spring 1947, and in early 1946 Hubbard had been involved in those strange occult rituals with Jack Parsons, a follower of Aleister Crowley, and I wondered if there was some link, but then I realised the original publication date was 1941.

“Yesterday was Monday” by Theodore Sturgeon (Summer 1947)
Harry Wright wakes up to find it’s Wednesday, but it’s odd because he knows yesterday was Monday. He becomes even more confused when he leaves the house and sees three foot high men busy at work on everything wherever he goes.
A pre-Philip K. Dick type take on our fragile reality – all is not as it seems.

“The Fountain” by Nelson S. Bond (Summer 1947 )
The story begins with an extremely rich but embittered old man finding the Fountain of Youth somewhere in the swamps of Florida (though surprisingly close to a road where his chauffeur can park the car and wait for his employer while he walks off into the swamp). Naturally things don’t turn out exactly as he’d hoped.
I’d thought this was going to be tediously predictable, but by the end I was rooting for him.

“The Howling Tower” by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Summer 1947)
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are camping for the night on a vast uninhabited plain when they hear a faint but ominous wailing and howling.
Need I say more?

“When It Was Moonlight” by Manly Wade Wellman (Spring 1948)
The impoverished journalist Edgar A. Poe investigates a local story of a woman whose husband heard noises coming from her tomb and found she was still alive. Nicely atmospheric, and I thought the use of Edgar Allan Poe as a character very original.
I was excited to come across this, as the only Wellman stories I’d read had been the Silver John series, and it did not disappoint. Strangely the story does not feature on the cover.

“The Pipes of Pan” by Lester del Rey (Spring 1948).
Another story that is not listed on the cover.
Fred Emmet, the last worshipper of the God Pan, is dying, and Pan himself comes to attend his death. Following this, with no remaining worshippers, Pan has to resign himself to dying or else make a living in the everyday world.
Lovely story. Neil Gaiman must have read this as the basic scenario is not a million miles from the premise of American Gods.
This is one of my favourite del Rey stories and I was delighted to be reminded of it. I remember reading comments by del Rey, that when he first began selling stories to John W. Campbell, he tried very hard to write science fiction, until Campbell took him aside (or, more probably, wrote to him) and explained that hard SF was not del Rey’s forte, but what he very good at was character-driven stories and this was what Campbell wanted from him.

“Transparent Stuff” by Dorothy Quick (Spring 1948)
This concerns the “Patchwork Quilt”. Anyone who places their hand on one of the patches of this bedspread as they go to sleep will relive an experience connected to that material. In this story, the author goes back to Babylon where of course she finds she is a princess (what a surprise!).
I include this story because I had hopes for it – the whole idea of a series of stories about a witch’s patchwork quilt transporting you to other realities seemed to offer all kinds of tongue in cheek possibilities. However, sadly, I thought it pretty dire and just like a thousand other reincarnation-type accounts. Nonetheless the author seems to have been an unusual character, who as a child on a transatlantic voyage became friends with Mark Twain. On her eleventh birthday Twain sent her this telegram: “I tried to get some elephants for your birthday but they charge ten thousand dollars apiece, 3 for twenty-five thousand, I can get one elephant & sixteen hundred monkeys for the same money if you prefer.”

 

[Hugh]

These are the last of my Unknown Worlds – all British editions
Summer 1948 Vol IV, No 1 (stories taken from Unknown December 1941)
Summer 1949 Vol IV, No 4 (taken from Unknown/Unknown Worlds 1940 - 1942)
Winter 1949 Vol IV, No 5 (taken from Unknown 1939 – 1941)

And one issue of “Cosmic Science Stories” No.11 (June 1950)
The No.11 is misleading as this is a one-off issue. The No.11 is actually #11 in a series of British reprints covering a number of genres such as Westerns and crime/mystery. “Cosmic Science Stories” was the only SF title in this series and is in fact a partial reprint of the September 1949 Super Science Stories. However, a lurid cover is always a bonus...

Here are my brief scene-setting (non plot-spoiling) summaries of the stories…
Those I liked are in bold

Unknown Worlds: British edition Summer 1948 Vol IV, No 1

“Bit of Tapestry” by Cleve Cartmill
Great story. Webb Curtain finds himself caught up in events beyond his control with narrow escapes from death, local lynch mobs, and a mysterious briefcase among other plot threads. He finds unlikely allies in three elderly sisters.
I loved this story and read it slowly savouring it, never knowing how it would develop. The three old woman are obvious references to the three Fates and/or Norns of mythology, but they are cleverly rendered everyday. I’ve only read a few by this author but I’ll now look out for others with interest.

“Occupation Demigod” by Nelson S. Bond
An unusual interview at the local draft board interrupts a game of poker.

“With a Blunt Instrument” by Eric Frank Russell
Dan Fletcher is an insurance company investigator and is suspicious about claims for twenty four deaths from ‘natural causes’ in one small town.
I always look forward to any Eric Frank Russell story.

Unknown Worlds: British edition Summer 1949 Vol IV, No 4
This whole issue was disappointing and forgettable

“Solomon’s Stone” by L.Sprague de Camp
Lengthy (and tedious) story about a man whose body is taken over by a demon until his astral body returns to this plane with the Stone.

“Fisherman’s Luck” by Frank Belknap Long
Mason has been granted his first holiday in years, and is enjoying using the excellent fishing rod he found in a pawn shop, when he pulls up something unpleasant.

“Prescience” by Nelson S. Bond
Famous psychiatrist Dr Barton is fed up with his neurotic patients. and certainly doesn’t believe a new patient disturbed by dreams that subsequently turn out to be true events in her life.

Unknown Worlds: British edition Winter 1949 Vol IV, No 5

“The Ultimate Egoist” E. Hunter Waldo (aka Theodore Sturgeon)
Narcissist comes to the conclusion that everything in existence is a product of his imagination.

“The Crossroads” by L. Ron Hubbard
Eben Morse is determined to find a buyer for his vegetables and sets out with horse and cart to the city. He’s never been there, but he knows the city is somewhere south. I've read very few pulp Hubbard, but he's better than I'd expected.

“The Forbidden Trail” by Jane Rice
Allan and Meg Rutherford are in Liberia filming wildlife when rumours of zombies intrigue them.

“Carillon of Skulls” by Philip James (aka Lester del Rey & James H. Beard)
Ann Muller meets with an old crone in the ruins of Lefferts Park in the hope of picking up a “remedy”.

“They” by Robert Heinlein
Paranoid individual held in a psychiatric hospital plays chess with his psychiatrist. Cleverly done. So well done in fact that I suspect Heinlein must have had personal experience of a friend suffering paranoid delusions.
Surprising that the story isn't featured on the cover.

“The Hexer” by H.W. Guernsey
There’s a well-dressed old man about town causing anatomical difficulties for all sorts of people just by looking at them. These difficulties are invisible to the observer, but can be felt and touched.

“The Summons” by Don Evans
Dunston Raynor overhears voices accusing someone of poisoning a man because he loves that man’s wife.

“Cosmic Science Stories” No.11 (June 1950)

“Minion of Chaos” by John D. MacDonald
Peter Lucas is a closely supervised in a high security unit where he repairs scientific equipment. He’s sensed that he’s living on borrowed time and plans his escape. Basic pulp stuff, but a good twist at the end.

“Minus Danger!” by George O. Smith
Jed Malone’s theories have been laughingly dismissed at the Conference of the American Physical society. Determined to prove himself he put in long hours after work at the university laboratory and, unobserved by him, he created a sphere of negative space.

“The Metal Moon” by Neil R. Jones
One of the series of Professor Jameson stories (new to me), in which the good professor in the far future has had his brain transplanted into a metal casing, and explores the galaxy along with his fellow Zoromes. In this one they find four alien scientists in suspended animation among the fragments of a broken moon. Not the greatest story, but apparently this series was a significant influence on the young Asimov.

“Bride of Eternity” by Margaret St Clair
Two archaeologists on Ganymede discover the body of a queen of the ancient race, that lived on Pluto when it was still warm and green, in suspended animation.

“The Miniature” by Peter Reed (aka John D. MacDonald)
Absent-minded Jedediah Amberson walks into a bank to cash a cheque, feeling a slight tremor as he goes through the door. He then notices the teller is dressed unusually.

 

[Bick]

Continuing my readings from...

Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1971

April 1971 (Poul Anderson Special Issue)
The Queen of Air and Darkness - Poul Anderson
I actually re-read this fairly recently, but it's a very good story - it won the 1972 Hugo award (best novella), Nebula award (best novelette) and Locus short fiction award - so I read it again. How could it be both a novelette and a novella incidentally? Anyway, it's terrific, so please hunt it down if you've not read it. This is great example of how well Anderson can combine hard SF, with an understanding and an evocation of dark ages mythology. On a little-visited colony world an ecologists young son is kidnapped by the 'Outliers' who live in the arctic circle, and she engages the world's only detective to help her get him back. This issue also contained a brief biography of Anderson, by Gordon R. Dickson, and review of his speculative fiction, by James Blish - both articles were luminating and entertaining.

Darktree, Darktide - Michael Bishop
Michael Bishop is a double Nebula award winning SF author who is still going strong. This was one of his very first SF story sales. A boy of 10 is forced to keep company with a dying old lady, described to him a distant family relative, but all is not how it seems. This is a dark fantasy tale, rather than SF, but it's well told and rather chilling.

May 1971
The Bear with the Knot on his Tail - Stephen Tall
This is a rather good space opera, in which an artistic observer of the galaxy identifies a 'knot' in the constellation of Ursa Major. Trusting to her inspiration, an exploratory team is sent out from Earth to investigate. Upon arrival, our heroes discover the star they arrive at is about to go supernova, which will wipe out the sentient civilization on an orbiting planet. Tall's tale is well written and his aliens are interestingly imagined. Part of his "stardust' short fiction series, this story placed fourth in the '72 Hugo Awards.

The Frayed String on the Stretched Forefinger of Time - Lloyd Biggle, Jr
This shares some ideas with Philip K. Dick's The Minority Report, written 15 years earlier. Biggle similarly imagines a 'pre-murder' department, wherein detectives try to prevent murders before they occur, but the twist in this case is that the predicted murder is between two business antagonists who each run suspended animation centers. It's not at all bad, and the end is quite satisfying. Carr anthologised this in the 1972 edition of his "Best Science Fiction of the Year".

June 1971
There's a Wolf in my Time Machine - Larry Niven
This is a science fantasy adventure featuring Niven's time-travelling animal collector, Svetz. Niven wrote half a dozen or so stories following Svetz's adventures, which have been collected in The Flight of the Horse (1973) and more latterly Rainbow Mars (1993). When Svetz travels to an age 100o years preceding the 'atomic era';, he encounters more than he bargained for. It's a light and humorous tale, but with some scathing satire on the modern world.

The Man Who Collected "The Shadow" - Bill Pronzini
This was a great little fantasy about a man who succeeds in collecting all the issues of The Shadow, with unexpected results. It's very well done, and nice idea. Fans of old comics and The Shadow, especially, would doubtless warm to it.

 

[Hugh]

Great reviews. I remember the Queen of Air and Darkness well. I thought it was absolutely brilliant.
My notes tell me I've read three of the other five, but I have no memory of them....
I think those Carr + Wolheim Best of Year anthologies are among the best there are.