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galacticjourneyGood morning, dear readers. Based on the incidence of fan mail, it appears you now number nearly half a dozen (unless, of course, it's just you, Laurose, writing in under a number of pseudonyms; if that be the case, I'm still grateful).
And now comes the moment you have all been waiting for: my review of the December Astounding. Did this issue top the last in terms of sheer awfulness? I'm afraid not. The magazine is, in fact, back to its old low but passable standards.
I mentioned last time that Randall Garrett has the lead novella in this issue. The Destroyers starts off well enough. Slowly, even compellingly, Garrett describes a group of farmers in a barony on one of the more backward planets in the galaxy. The placid cycle of years is disturbed by the news of impending interstellar war. When it does break out, the conflict seems far away and does not immediately disturb the peaceful farmers. But over time, the fight comes closer and closer to home until the barony is taken by the conquerors, and the planet surrenders.
So what's wrong with this story? Garrett, as you know, is fond of the historical parable. In Despoiler of the Golden Empire, he writes rather praisingly of Pizarro's murderous conquest of Peru with the "twist" being that the readers were meant to think the story was one of science fiction rather than historical fiction.
About half-way through The Destroyers, I started to worry that he was doing it again. When he spoke of the invaders' blockade and the plucky captains who dared run it, I began to look for other Civil War parallels. Sure enough, the conquerors come from the north, they represent an industrialized society preaching equality and freedom, they are superior technologically. The "South" wins at first but inexorably starts to lose. Their country is split in two. The war ends with the taking of the capital.
Even this would be fine except for the story's punchline. The Union colonel who comes to accept the baroness' surrender (yes—by this time, Randy has named the invaders "The Union") announces to the farmers that they are all free, and that now they can earn money and get an education. And what is the reaction of the farmers (read: Negro slaves)?
Horror! All of their needs had been tended to under the old regime. They had been happy, had had purpose and direction. What, oh what, would they do with money and education and freedom?
That smell assailing your nostrils is last night's dinner. My apologies. I don't think I need comment further other than to observe that it may be impossible for Randy to write without offending. But I guess he keeps Astounding's target demographic happy...
On to happier, or at least less saddening, entries. Chris Anvil's Mating Problems, about how a colony deals with the aftermath of two crises by combining their ill effects, is not bad. I note that Anvil likes stories about pioneering colonials, and I do too. At some point, he'll write an outstanding one, perhaps.
Les Collins has a non-fiction article entitled How to write Science faction, a rather glibly written description of the technical writing field. Perhaps the best part of the column is a list of ten technical paragraphs in need of editing. Collins invites those who are able to properly fix a majority of them to contact him for a possible job opening. I'm tempted.
George O. Smith's The Big Fix is kind of fun. In a world where everyone is psionic, how does one keep the gambling "honest?" And once that puzzle is solved, how does one rig the game? The story even features, though doesn't star, a cigar-chomping tough gal, though she ends up a romantic interest, sadly. The dialogue consciously imitates the over-verbose New York gangster dialect featured in the recent hit, Guys and Dolls. The conceit is either cute or annoying. I suppose it depends on your mood.
I skipped Part Two of Everett Cole's The Best Made Plans since I could not finish Part One. I think it's a futuristic ignominy to imperial throne story, but I can't be certain.
Last, and fairly least, is Tell the Truth, by E.C. Tubb. In this story, humans are confronted with a stronger, aggressive alien foe (that looks just like us). As a prelude to conflict, both races agree to exchange a single representative who will serve as the exemplar of the species. Based on the examination of said ambassador, the choice between peace and war will be made.
Of course, the humans are able to select the exact right person to hoodwink the aliens. It turns out that the aliens are wholly logical and, thus, deduce from the ambassador, who sells military toys to children, that Earth is a highly armed camp whose youth are trained from birth to be soldiers.
It's a typical Campbellian piece, and it makes no sense. For one thing, the aliens are trained from birth to be soldiers. Moreover, much is made of the fact that the ambassador cannot lie (for the aliens are experts in preventing deception); therefore, the conclusion that the aliens make is inescapable. One would think that these aliens, who clearly have a profound knowledge of deceit, would recognize the cheap ploy for what it was. After all, the ambassador may be telling the truth, but that doesn't mean his masters are obligated to.
At least I've saved dessert for last—the December F&SF is next up, and with its reading, I will have an entire year's worth of magazines from which to choose this annum's Galactic Stars.
See you soon!
Note: I love comments (you can do so anonymously), and I always try to reply.
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!
(Confused? Click here for an explanation as to what's really going on)
And now comes the moment you have all been waiting for: my review of the December Astounding. Did this issue top the last in terms of sheer awfulness? I'm afraid not. The magazine is, in fact, back to its old low but passable standards.
I mentioned last time that Randall Garrett has the lead novella in this issue. The Destroyers starts off well enough. Slowly, even compellingly, Garrett describes a group of farmers in a barony on one of the more backward planets in the galaxy. The placid cycle of years is disturbed by the news of impending interstellar war. When it does break out, the conflict seems far away and does not immediately disturb the peaceful farmers. But over time, the fight comes closer and closer to home until the barony is taken by the conquerors, and the planet surrenders.
So what's wrong with this story? Garrett, as you know, is fond of the historical parable. In Despoiler of the Golden Empire, he writes rather praisingly of Pizarro's murderous conquest of Peru with the "twist" being that the readers were meant to think the story was one of science fiction rather than historical fiction.
About half-way through The Destroyers, I started to worry that he was doing it again. When he spoke of the invaders' blockade and the plucky captains who dared run it, I began to look for other Civil War parallels. Sure enough, the conquerors come from the north, they represent an industrialized society preaching equality and freedom, they are superior technologically. The "South" wins at first but inexorably starts to lose. Their country is split in two. The war ends with the taking of the capital.
Even this would be fine except for the story's punchline. The Union colonel who comes to accept the baroness' surrender (yes—by this time, Randy has named the invaders "The Union") announces to the farmers that they are all free, and that now they can earn money and get an education. And what is the reaction of the farmers (read: Negro slaves)?
Horror! All of their needs had been tended to under the old regime. They had been happy, had had purpose and direction. What, oh what, would they do with money and education and freedom?
That smell assailing your nostrils is last night's dinner. My apologies. I don't think I need comment further other than to observe that it may be impossible for Randy to write without offending. But I guess he keeps Astounding's target demographic happy...
On to happier, or at least less saddening, entries. Chris Anvil's Mating Problems, about how a colony deals with the aftermath of two crises by combining their ill effects, is not bad. I note that Anvil likes stories about pioneering colonials, and I do too. At some point, he'll write an outstanding one, perhaps.
Les Collins has a non-fiction article entitled How to write Science faction, a rather glibly written description of the technical writing field. Perhaps the best part of the column is a list of ten technical paragraphs in need of editing. Collins invites those who are able to properly fix a majority of them to contact him for a possible job opening. I'm tempted.
George O. Smith's The Big Fix is kind of fun. In a world where everyone is psionic, how does one keep the gambling "honest?" And once that puzzle is solved, how does one rig the game? The story even features, though doesn't star, a cigar-chomping tough gal, though she ends up a romantic interest, sadly. The dialogue consciously imitates the over-verbose New York gangster dialect featured in the recent hit, Guys and Dolls. The conceit is either cute or annoying. I suppose it depends on your mood.
I skipped Part Two of Everett Cole's The Best Made Plans since I could not finish Part One. I think it's a futuristic ignominy to imperial throne story, but I can't be certain.
Last, and fairly least, is Tell the Truth, by E.C. Tubb. In this story, humans are confronted with a stronger, aggressive alien foe (that looks just like us). As a prelude to conflict, both races agree to exchange a single representative who will serve as the exemplar of the species. Based on the examination of said ambassador, the choice between peace and war will be made.
Of course, the humans are able to select the exact right person to hoodwink the aliens. It turns out that the aliens are wholly logical and, thus, deduce from the ambassador, who sells military toys to children, that Earth is a highly armed camp whose youth are trained from birth to be soldiers.
It's a typical Campbellian piece, and it makes no sense. For one thing, the aliens are trained from birth to be soldiers. Moreover, much is made of the fact that the ambassador cannot lie (for the aliens are experts in preventing deception); therefore, the conclusion that the aliens make is inescapable. One would think that these aliens, who clearly have a profound knowledge of deceit, would recognize the cheap ploy for what it was. After all, the ambassador may be telling the truth, but that doesn't mean his masters are obligated to.
At least I've saved dessert for last—the December F&SF is next up, and with its reading, I will have an entire year's worth of magazines from which to choose this annum's Galactic Stars.
See you soon!
Note: I love comments (you can do so anonymously), and I always try to reply.
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!
(Confused? Click here for an explanation as to what's really going on)
no subject
Date: 2014-11-22 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-22 11:12 pm (UTC)Klaus J.
Date: 2020-12-17 09:12 pm (UTC)Personally I'm so radical that I think writers should be allowed to write their characters any way they like.
Gone With the Wind
Date: 2014-11-22 08:26 pm (UTC)Strictly as fiction, without thinking about the obvious allegory, I had mixed feelings. There were some vividly realized characters, but to no real purpose. All they did was talk about events happening off stage. Two stars if I ignore the story's connection to the real world.
The theme of "liberators" causing destuction to those they are supposedly helping is a powerful one, and could have resulted in a strong story. Unfortunately, it's impossible to read "The Destroyers" without becoming aware of what the author is doing.
Once this became obvious, I was able to decode the author's word games. Once in a while, particularly toward the end, there was not any attempt to disguise things. Blue-coated Union soldiers! In other places, the allegory was almost clever. The medicinal plant "cataca" for cotton, for example. Most of the time, however, the author just uses anagrams and puns.
"Xedii" (how is one supposed to say that?) = "Dixie"
"Samas" = "Massa" (!)
"Basom" = "Sambo" (!!)
"Blejjo" = "Black Joe" (!!)
"Tana L'at" = "Atlanta"
"Eeler" = "R. E. Lee"
Most outrageously, the main couple:
"Memi" = "Mammy" (!!)
"Anketam" = "Uncle Tom" (!!!)
I'm sure there are many other examples. My point is that the author knows exactly what he is doing.
I could be generous and suppose that the author is making fun of romantic versions of the antebellum South, but the story's arguments that life for the "workers" in the industrial North would be much worse seem too serious to be taken for satire.
The blurb for the story (from JWC, I assume) set off my alarms:
"Any war is made up of a horde of personal tragedies—but the greater picture is the tragedy of the death of a way of life. For a way of life—good, bad, or indifferent—exists because it is dearly loved...."
Nonsense! There have been people in horrible situations all through history (and now) who endure a "way of life" which
is not "dearly loved"!
My copy of "Mating Problems" was unreadable, so I can offer no comment. Given what you have said about "The Best Made Plans," I didn't bother with it.
"The Big Fix" was just light entertainment, but I enjoyed it. I actually liked the wisecracks, and the plot was clever and logical. (The way in which poker was played among psychics was interesting and plausible as well.) I always thought of George O. Smith as a writer of what might be called "engineering fiction," but he seems to have a gift for SF/crime stories as well, given "The Undetected." I'd give this one a solid four stars.
Re: Gone With the Wind
Date: 2014-11-22 11:17 pm (UTC)And you're saying exactly what I said about Despoilers--the utter lack of satire or condemnation suggests endorsement.
Whatta jerk.
Agreed on Smith. He's usually decent to pretty good.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-22 11:44 pm (UTC)I had my soap box positioned for the Garrett, with cracks about Northern blacks running away to the South, and Anglo nostalgia for the good old days of serfdom, but decided Victoria Silverwolf's review is certainly better. Let's hope in the future - the very near future - US blacks will be prosperous enough so magazine editors will have to consider black opinion.
Mating Problems and The Big Fix are both basically good ideas, but the writing is much weakened by the female characters. I'm particularly disappointed with Anvil. You'd think it would be very congruent to his voice to say women's contributions, with both vocation and crafts, were as important to a pioneering society as men's. And perhaps even more a minority in a heavy tech society.
Thank you for the reads, and looking forward hopefully to F&SF.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-22 11:53 pm (UTC)regarding Brian Aldiss) "If this author ever writes a book with his right hand, it'll be something to look forward to."
no subject
Date: 2014-11-23 12:13 am (UTC)Mating Problems
Date: 2014-11-23 05:47 pm (UTC)I found the story nagging at the back of my mind for quite a while, which is better than being forgettable, I suppose. I have to admit that the opening was subtle; so subtle that I had to go back and reread the first several paragraphs in order to grasp the implications of what was being described.
I was also bemused by the strange changes in tone throughout the story, from light comedy (the silly name of the spaceship) to tragedy.
Of course, the most troubling aspect of the story was the way it dealt with the relationship between the sexes. (The source of the rather strange title, I assume.) Without this aspect of the story, we would just have another "clever rustics defeat the haughty technologists" yarn, typical of "Astounding."
With this theme, however, we have something very different. The "eternal triangle" subplot -- otherwise seemingly irrelevant to the main plot -- gives us a clue that this is yet another variation on "The Taming of the Shrew." The message seems to be that women who step out of line -- whether an adulteress or one who dares to tell men what to do -- need to be firmly put back in their place. At the very end the author seems to be saying that women really prefer this, given the rather implausible twist that the women on the spaceship volunteer to join the colony.
All in all, a disturbing story, difficult for me to judge objectively, although I'll give it two stars.
Re: Mating Problems
Date: 2014-11-23 06:19 pm (UTC)Re: Mating Problems
Date: 2014-11-24 01:12 am (UTC)The Destroyers
Date: 2020-12-17 09:54 pm (UTC)Campbell loved to explore such ideas, and I find them much more interesting than his obsession with the superiority of Mankind and "Psi".
The purpose of the story was probably to make you question wether concepts like "freedom" and slavery is as black and white (pun intended) as one usually thinks, and not a defense of racism.
But of course it assumes you are able to think in the first place, and not just feel.
Although the anagrams were rather tasteless, and cheapens what could have been a more subtle story so maybe your feelings are right.
Klaus J