[Sep. 3, 1959] Out the other side (September 1959 IF Worlds of Science Fiction, Part 2)

[galacticjourney]

We left off on a cliff-hanger of sorts, half-way through my review of the second issue of IF under Gold and Pohl’s management. In brief, it ends as it began: with a strong start and a fairly middlin’ finish.

Gordy Dickson is back to form with Homecoming, a quite nice novelette about a fellow running afoul of Earth customs agents when he tries to declare his pet. If you had a beloved companion, would you sacrifice your chances at immigration by refusing to part with it? The deck is extra stacked in this case—said “animal,” an enhanced kangaroo, is near-sentient. It’s a page-turner, and over too fast.

I’ve never heard of Kirby Kerr, but his An Honest Credit, about a down-on-his-luck fellow with nothing to his name but a priceless, ancient coin (with which he refuses to part) is pretty good. A bit maudlin and short on much that would identify it as science fiction, but I enjoyed it.

I normally don’t include book-review columns in these reviews, but Fred Pohl takes his column a step further, making it a sort of essay. Worlds of If discusses the appearance and non-appearance of gadgetry in science fiction stories, and whether or not it adversely affects the story (or makes it less “science-fictiony.” What do you think? Do you require whiz-bang inventions, or do you prefer a more subtle kind of s-f?

The penultimate tale is Escape into Silence by Australian Wynne N. Whiteford. I enjoyed most of it, this tale of a colony world that has slowly but inexorably ended up under the strict and paternalistic dominion of another colony, one that has risen to supremacy. The protagonist tries to escape, is given the opportunity to emigrate lawfully, but ultimately embraces the confined, noisy enclosures of his home town. I suppose people are loathe to give up what they know, even if they have a chance at something better. Something about the end rang false, however.

Finally, we have Hornets’ Nest by a Mr. Lloyd Biggle Jr. (which suggests there is a Lloyd Biggle Sr. roaming about; that makes me smile). Nest could have been written in the 1930s. A human starship returns to the solar system and finds all of humanity dead for having DARED TO PROBE THE HEART OF JUPITER, THE PLANET WITH THE BALEFUL EYE OF DEATH! It’s not quite so hackneyed; it’s actually a decent read, but I take my amusements where I can.

IF continues to be a solid, if uninspiring, magazine. Lacking the utter dreck of Astounding, it is, nevertheless, not as consistently good as its sister, Galaxy. It feels like what it is—a repository for the second-rate Galaxy stories (though, to be fair, they are not bad so much as often mediocre, and some are quite good). Three stars, and that makes it one of the better mags this month, sad to say.

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P.S. Galactic Journey is now a proud member of a constellation of interesting columns. While you're waiting for me to publish my next article, why not give one of them a read!



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Comments

[stardreamer]

Do you require whiz-bang inventions, or do you prefer a more subtle kind of s-f?

I have no objection to inventions, but some authors seem to depend on them to the detriment of actually telling an interesting story. It's hard for me to stay interested in a story where the machinery is front and center and the people are just kind of there in the background.

[galacticjourney]

I agree. I am reading this month's F&SF, and it's the quality of Sturgeon's and Henderson's writing that compels me to rate them as 4-5 star stories, not the ideas.

Though good ideas are worth a lot, too!

[laurose8]

I'm afraid I'm prone to skimming the whiz bang. Just a matter of taste. Mind you, the occasional touch can make the story more convincing. Stunners instead of killing guns, for instance.

One thing my cat would like me to mention is: considering the number of cat-saves-the-spaceship stories (or civilisation as a whole, or at least the important, cat feeding, part), there isn't much about the feline intrastructure in spacships. Are there self locking cat doors? Android catnip mice? Has the idea of giving a cat separate diets been scrapped completely, or do they live on perfectly balanced diet biscuits? Though the last is a bit ott.

[galacticjourney]

Laurose, I believe there is an unwritten science fiction story with your name on the byline. If you write it, I'll publish it!

(I actually wrote a story for this column, but I have been waiting to publish it until I can get someone to draw an illustration for it.)

[laurose8]

If I could write - I can't any longer - I'd love to write that, and have it here. Thank you.

I'm certainly looking forward to your story. A good illustrator is woth waiting for, but I hope it's not too long.

Hard vs Soft SF

[victoria_silverwolf]

Although I can definitely appreciate the kind of imaginative scientific and technological ideas seen in such works as "Childhood's End" and "Mission of Gravity," I cannot enjoy a work of science fiction unless it is decently written. I find "Doc" Smith to be literally unreadable, for example, and I have trouble figuring out what Van Vogt is trying to say. (As a contrast, most of Asimov's work is idea-heavy, but it is also very clearly written.)

Thus, I tend to fall into the subtle SF camp rather than the gadget camp. The best SF, of course, contains the virtues of both.