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galacticjourneyMediocre magazines are always the hardest to plow through.
When I've got a good issue in my hands, reading is a pleasure, and I generally tear through in nothing flat. Bad issues are unpleasant, but I also feel no compunctions in skimming.
But it's those middle-of-the-road, "C Minus" magazines that drag you down. Each story is a chore, but none are so offensive as to register on the memory, even in their badness.
Had I known that this month's Galaxy would be so lackluster (my apologies to those who favor the Bird), I might have skimmed faster and compiled my reviews into one article. As it is, I have to devote an entire column's space to the four remaining pieces, and they don't deserve the energy.
Willy Ley's column, entitled What's Only Money, is an arid piece on the history and composition of coin currency. As a numismatist, I found the subject matter interesting, but the presentation was lacking. I miss the Dr. Ley of ten years ago.
Don't Look Now, by Leonard Rubin, is a turgid tale about (I think) image projectors and the way they disrupt our lives in the future. I tackled this story in small increments, and it left virtually no impression on me.
Then you've got the vignette, The Power, by veteran Frederic Brown. It is neither remarkable nor offensive.
Rounding out the issue is George O. Smith's, The Troublemakers, which starts promisingly but falls flat on its face. It is really two intertwined stories. The first involved a headstrong (read: "thinks for herself") young woman who objects to being sedated into placidity, as is the norm in the overcrowded, genetically optimized future. Note that Mr. Smith believes 6 billion souls will lead to cramped living conditions—see my thoughts on this issue in a prior article.
She also refuses to be paired with a somnolent drip of a fellow, who needs medication to act at an even minimal level of energy.
Then you've got the young spacer, who believes he has discovered an efficient hyperdrive that could open the stars to humanity. He is told to cool his heels in a dead-end assignment until he discovers the error in his mathematics. There, of course, isn't one.
It turns out, as is telegraphed far in advance, that the seemingly unfair practices of the society, ostensibly designed to cull outliers, are really designed to find the few exceptional people so that they can be sent to far flung colonies and become the cutting edge of humanity.
I do find the idea of a crowded society a fascinating one, and rigid societal norms take on heightened importance in that circumstance. Contrast the American expression, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," to the Japanese expression, "the nail that sticks out gets pounded." It makes sense that, on an overpopulated Earth, culture would favor conformity and sticking to the center of the bell curve.
But Troublemakers is boring, so even a good premise can't save it. And with that, the April 1960 Galaxy comes to an unsatisfying end.
Twilight Zone is on tonight. Let's see if that improves my outlook. I've got a four-week summary coming up soon.
---
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)
When I've got a good issue in my hands, reading is a pleasure, and I generally tear through in nothing flat. Bad issues are unpleasant, but I also feel no compunctions in skimming.
But it's those middle-of-the-road, "C Minus" magazines that drag you down. Each story is a chore, but none are so offensive as to register on the memory, even in their badness.
Had I known that this month's Galaxy would be so lackluster (my apologies to those who favor the Bird), I might have skimmed faster and compiled my reviews into one article. As it is, I have to devote an entire column's space to the four remaining pieces, and they don't deserve the energy.
Willy Ley's column, entitled What's Only Money, is an arid piece on the history and composition of coin currency. As a numismatist, I found the subject matter interesting, but the presentation was lacking. I miss the Dr. Ley of ten years ago.
Don't Look Now, by Leonard Rubin, is a turgid tale about (I think) image projectors and the way they disrupt our lives in the future. I tackled this story in small increments, and it left virtually no impression on me.
Then you've got the vignette, The Power, by veteran Frederic Brown. It is neither remarkable nor offensive.
Rounding out the issue is George O. Smith's, The Troublemakers, which starts promisingly but falls flat on its face. It is really two intertwined stories. The first involved a headstrong (read: "thinks for herself") young woman who objects to being sedated into placidity, as is the norm in the overcrowded, genetically optimized future. Note that Mr. Smith believes 6 billion souls will lead to cramped living conditions—see my thoughts on this issue in a prior article.
She also refuses to be paired with a somnolent drip of a fellow, who needs medication to act at an even minimal level of energy.
Then you've got the young spacer, who believes he has discovered an efficient hyperdrive that could open the stars to humanity. He is told to cool his heels in a dead-end assignment until he discovers the error in his mathematics. There, of course, isn't one.
It turns out, as is telegraphed far in advance, that the seemingly unfair practices of the society, ostensibly designed to cull outliers, are really designed to find the few exceptional people so that they can be sent to far flung colonies and become the cutting edge of humanity.
I do find the idea of a crowded society a fascinating one, and rigid societal norms take on heightened importance in that circumstance. Contrast the American expression, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," to the Japanese expression, "the nail that sticks out gets pounded." It makes sense that, on an overpopulated Earth, culture would favor conformity and sticking to the center of the bell curve.
But Troublemakers is boring, so even a good premise can't save it. And with that, the April 1960 Galaxy comes to an unsatisfying end.
Twilight Zone is on tonight. Let's see if that improves my outlook. I've got a four-week summary coming up soon.
---
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: 2015-03-14 01:39 am (UTC)Your point about the contrast between societies is a well-taken one, however, and it strikes me that these stories have a particularly American perspective - the young, smart, rebellious people are the ones who are "discovered" so that they can go off to some glorious future. I wonder if the Japanese have similar stories, or if theirs revolve more around teamwork, as their society seems to.
Of course, I suppose what's really being reflected in such stories is the longing to have one's genius be recognized and the alienation felt by the smartest kid in the class...an emotion likely to be the same across cultures.
no subject
Date: 2015-03-14 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-14 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-14 05:06 pm (UTC)Bird Lives!
Date: 2015-03-14 10:03 pm (UTC)Brown seems to be the undisputed master of the short-short story. This one wasn't his best, but it was OK.
"Don't Look Now" was an oddity. I was simultaneously impressed by the author's ability to make me feel that I was in a very different future (although it seemed to owe quite a bit to "Gravy Planet") and disappointed by a lack of storytelling skill. There was a fair amount of interesting speculation, but not much plot logic. (Why didn't the bad guys just kill the folks who knew too much instead of just rendering them speechless?) It also jumped around a lot, so reading it in bits as pieces, as you did, may have been the best idea.
I agree that the set-up of "The Troublemakers" was better than the ending. (How likely is it that the two misfits would wind up together?) I liked Story One (the social satire) better than Story Two (the space adventure.) But is wasn't bad, and it might have been my choice for the best story in a so-so issue if it hadn't been for the Cordwainer Smith tale.
Which reminds me . . .
I'll admit that I seem to be missing something with your references to Bird. Does this have something to do with the late, great Charlie Parker? Just as his type of jazz might not be to all tastes, Smith's strange stories aren't for all readers.
Or did you mean something else entirely? Smith does seem like some kind of exotic creature, a peacock or a lyrebird, among the more mundane fowl of the science fiction roost.
Hmmm. "Cordwainer Bird." That odd phrase does suggest some kind of dangerous vision, doesn't it?
Re: Bird Lives!
Date: 2015-03-15 12:15 am (UTC)