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galacticjourney[if you’re new to the Journey, read this to see what we’re all about!]
by Gideon Marcus
A plague has invaded the galaxy.
Well, more specifically, a plague has invaded Galaxy, as evidenced in the December 1962 issue.
It has become de riguer at my former favorite magazine, that of Fantasy and Science Fiction, to print "funny" literary stories. Tediously amusing, dully droll, laden with parenthetical (uselessly so) clauses -- and hyphenated articulations, sometimes "quoted" for extra sardonicism. And did I mention the extra verbiage? These magazines pay three cents per word, you know.
An author will not impress me with her/his command of the typewriter keys beyond the 36 letters and numerals, nor with an arcane talent for stringing comma-connected clauses unbroken across a paragraph. I want a plot, compelling characters, and for God's Sake, science in my science fiction. I have nothing against humor. The likes of Sheckley and (for the most part) Lafferty make me smile just fine. I've nothing against avant garde prose -- viz. the incomparable Cordwainer Smith.
No, what drives me crazy is the supremely affected garbage that is shouldering aside honest fiction. Am I the only one who hates this stuff? I'm not asking for a return to the mediocre gotcha tales starring James McAnglo-Saxon that larded the surplus of digest in the 50s (and which still regularly appear in Analog.) I just want good, readable stories with reasonable extrapolations of technology populated by genuine human beings...or plausible aliens (I'm no xenophobe.)
Read on, at your own risk. There's precious little to enjoy in this month's issue, save for the second part of Pohl's serial (the change in tone may give you whiplash) and the rather pedestrian nonfiction articles. Don't say I didn't warn you. And if you actually like this stuff, well, it's a free country.
(see the rest at Galactic Journey!)
by Gideon Marcus
A plague has invaded the galaxy.
Well, more specifically, a plague has invaded Galaxy, as evidenced in the December 1962 issue.
It has become de riguer at my former favorite magazine, that of Fantasy and Science Fiction, to print "funny" literary stories. Tediously amusing, dully droll, laden with parenthetical (uselessly so) clauses -- and hyphenated articulations, sometimes "quoted" for extra sardonicism. And did I mention the extra verbiage? These magazines pay three cents per word, you know.
An author will not impress me with her/his command of the typewriter keys beyond the 36 letters and numerals, nor with an arcane talent for stringing comma-connected clauses unbroken across a paragraph. I want a plot, compelling characters, and for God's Sake, science in my science fiction. I have nothing against humor. The likes of Sheckley and (for the most part) Lafferty make me smile just fine. I've nothing against avant garde prose -- viz. the incomparable Cordwainer Smith.
No, what drives me crazy is the supremely affected garbage that is shouldering aside honest fiction. Am I the only one who hates this stuff? I'm not asking for a return to the mediocre gotcha tales starring James McAnglo-Saxon that larded the surplus of digest in the 50s (and which still regularly appear in Analog.) I just want good, readable stories with reasonable extrapolations of technology populated by genuine human beings...or plausible aliens (I'm no xenophobe.)
Read on, at your own risk. There's precious little to enjoy in this month's issue, save for the second part of Pohl's serial (the change in tone may give you whiplash) and the rather pedestrian nonfiction articles. Don't say I didn't warn you. And if you actually like this stuff, well, it's a free country.
(see the rest at Galactic Journey!)
