Author: Joachim Boaz

Short Story Reviews: Clifford D. Simak’s “City” (1944), “Ogre” (1944), and “Spaceship in a Flask” (1941)

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I’ve finally completed my article for Journey Planet on depictions of organized labor in the 40s and 50s science fiction of Clifford D. Simak. I plan on adding to it over the next few months as I read more. After it appears for Journey, I’ll post it on my site in whatever version is current. The project lead me to read a vast range of Simak short fictions, a small slice of which I’ve reviewed on my site, including the first two stories revised for his iconic masterpiece City (1952). I’ll cover “Huddling Place” (1944) soon as well.

Enjoy!

  • William Timmins’ cover for Astounding Science Fiction, ed. John Campbell, Jr. (May 1944)

4.25/5 (Very Good)

“City” first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, ed. John Campbell, Jr. (May 1944). You can read it online here.

This is a good one! I read the 1952 novelized version of the City stories in my late teens. At the time, logically, I was fascinated by the sentient dogs and the slow apocalypse of humanity that unfolds across the generations. For whatever reason, the earliest stories without dogs, for example “City” (1944) and “Huddling Place” (1944), faded from the culminative aura the novel generated all these years later. This project compelled me to break my deep-seated compulsion to read what I haven’t read before.

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Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXXXVI (Clare Winger Harris, Frederik Pohl, Barrington J. Bayley, and Robert Asprin)

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Which books/covers/authors in the post intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. Away From the Here and Now, Clare Winger Harris (1947)

  • Uncredited–JM initials but no known name–cover for the 1st edition

From the inside flap: “In this age of atomic bombs and radar to the moon, Mrs. Harris’ stories may prove closer to the “here and now” than the title would indicate. Mrs. Harris Proudly claims the distinction of being the first woman science-fiction writer in the country. Each of her stories is based upon a sound scientific fact, carried so plausibly to the nth degree that at no time does it overstain credulity. The stories possess the qualities of dealing with ideas of big importance to the human race, of presenting those ideas in a plausible form, and of appealing to emotions that exist deep within the heart of every human being whether he be scientific or not.

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Book Review: Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank (1959)

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  • Uncredited cover for the 1960 edition of Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon (1959)

4/5 (Good)

Pat Frank (1907-1964) began his writing career working for local papers in northeastern Florida before a stint in The Office of Wartime Information (OWI) during WWII. The popular success of Frank’s three nuclear war-themed novels, that culminated with Alas, Babylon (1959), led him to take on the role as a speechwriter for the 1960 Kennedy campaign and beyond.1 As Frank was a lifelong Democrat, Alas, Babylon contains a range of 50s political views that manifest anti-communism and align with the small minority within the party interested in Civil Rights. The novel advocates for vigorous anti-Communist ideology at home and abroad and, in case deterrence fails, survival is possible for those who embody American virtues.

The Narrative Vantage Point Amidst the Mushroom Clouds

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Short Story Review: Kathinka Lannoy’s “Drugs’ll Do You” (1978, trans. 1981)

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Today I’m joined again by Rachel S. Cordasco, the creator of the indispensable website and resource Speculative Fiction in Translation, for the fourth installment of our series exploring non-English language SF worlds. Last time we covered Hugo Correa’s intense parables of alienation and exploitation: “Alter Ego” (1967) and “Meccano” (1968). This time we’re tackling Kathinka Lannoy’s strange Dutch language story “Drugs’ll Do You” (1978, trans. 1981).

Please note that Rachel and I are interested in learning about a large range of authors and works vs. only tracking down the best. That means we’ll encounter some stinkers!

According to the sources I’ve been able to find, Kathinka Lannoy (1917-1996) grew up in Amsterdam and, due to childhood sicknesses, started writing from a young age.1 Lannoy studied music and elocution and worked as a piano teacher in addition to her writing. Her first published work appeared after 1940 in various newspapers and modelled on Norwegian regional novels that were popular at the time. In the late 1950s, Lannoy started writing horror and science fiction stories and joined the Dutch SF association SF Terra. After the King Kong Award for original Dutch SF stories under 10k words started in 1976, her stories often placed in the top ten.2 In addition to writing SF, she also translated SF — including a work by Damon Knight. From the possibly incomplete Internet Speculative Fiction Database listing, it appears that only two of her genre short stories appeared in an English translation.

“Drugs’ll Do You” appeared in Terra SF: The Year’s Best European SF, ed. Richard D. Nolane (1981). The story was translated by Joe F. Randolph. I cannot find an online copy. Please reach out if you want to read it and don’t want to track down the anthology.

Enjoy!

  • Vicente Segrelles’ cover for Terra SF: The Year’s Best European SF, ed. Richard D. Nolane (1981)

Rachel S. Cordasco’s Review

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What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading? + Update No. XIV

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  • A selection of read science fiction novels from my shelves

What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading or planning to read this month?

Here’s June’s installment of this column.

I’m periodically plagued by the virulent Esoterica virus, the relentless desire to catalogue and write about the less known, and even better, the completely unknown. While attending a Medieval English literature graduate class, I remember a conversation I had with the professor, Robert D. Fulk, during office hours about the sheer quantity of scholarship on Beowulf (here’s his edition of the iconic text). I pointed out the panic I experience if I’m unable to read ALL the scholarship on a popular text.

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Short Story Reviews: Clifford D. Simak’s “Conditions of Employment” (1960), “Retrograde Evolution” (1953), and “‘You’ll Never Go Home Again!'” (variant title: “Beachhead”) (1951)

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Bizarre alien civilizations. Homesickness as psychiatric treatment. The dangers of space travel. Capitalism unleashed. Utopian possibilities? Welcome to the strange wonders of Clifford D. Simak.

Today I’ve gathered together three more fascinating Simak tales that chart his deeply critical views of American business ethic. As in my previous post on the theme, the Grandmaster creates a future in which colonization goes hand-in-hand with the exploitation of resources, workers, and threatens the often bizarre alien intelligences they encounter.1

Two of the three rank among my best reads of the year. And now, to the stories!

  • Ed Emshwiller’s cover for Galaxy Magazine (April 1960)

4.75/5 (Near Masterpiece)

“Conditions of Employment” first appeared in Galaxy, ed. H. L. Gold (April 1960). You can read it online here.

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Exploration Log 4: Six Interviews with Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988)

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  • Graphic created by my father

Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988) published science fiction steadily between 1931 and his death in the late 80s. His work–from City (1952) to the Hugo-winning Way Station (1963)–often demonstrates a fascination with the rural environment and the lives of “ordinary” people confronted with the alien. As I am currently working on a mini-project related to Simak,1 I thought I’d give a rundown of six of the seven interviews I’ve found reference to. I’ll also provide quotes of interesting passages, and a scanned version of one that isn’t available online. In the interviews, Simak comes across as an author deeply suspicious of rigorous generic distinctions, passionate about all life, and open to science fiction as an ever-changing and evolving entity.

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database lists five interviews on science fiction conducted with Clifford D. Simak–all published between 1975-1980. Muriel R. Becker’s indispensable Clifford D. Simak: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography (1980) includes two more: a video interview from 1971 and another from 1976 in the Minneapolis Tribune.2 I cannot find a copy of the latter. I provide links to the others in the post.

Obviously, which interview you want to read depends on your interests or questions you have about Simak. That said, I found Paul Walker’s the most fascinating (and frequently references in the little scholarship on the grandmaster).

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Updates: Recent Science Fiction Purchases No. CCCXXXV (Damien Broderick, Brian W. Aldiss, Sydney J. Van Scyoc, and D. G. Barron)

/ Joachim Boaz / 21 Comments

Back from Norway! Time to acquire more science fiction.

Which books/covers/authors in the post intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. The Dreaming Dragons, Damien Broderick (1980)

  • Carl Lundgren’s cover for the 1st US edition

From the back cover: “TO THE PLACE WHERE SECRETS LIE SLEEPING. Alf Dean, an aborigine trained as an anthropologist, knew that his tribesmen, for centuries beyond memory, had warned of a dreadful secret in the mountains of Australia.

His ‘slow-witted’ nephew led him to the secret spot–the same spot where men were claimed by deaths that were secret to the world.

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Short Story Reviews: Hugo Correa’s “Alter Ego” (1967) and “Meccano” (1968)

/ Joachim Boaz / 9 Comments

Today I’m joined again by Rachel S. Cordasco, the creator of the indispensable website and resource Speculative Fiction in Translation, for the third installment of our series exploring non-English language SF worlds. Last time we covered Vladimir Colin’s Lem-esque story of an unusual alien encounter “The Contact” (1966, trans. 1970). We have stories from the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and France in the queue.

This time we shift continents from Europe to South America with two stories by Hugo Correa (1926-2008). According to SF Encyclopedia, Correa was the “leading Chilean sf author of his generation.” Unfortunately, his best-known work, the novel Los altímos (The Superior Ones) (1951, rev. 1959) remains untranslated. Correa’s brief appearance in the American market–three short stories–came courtesy of Ray Bradbury. In 1961, the young Chilean author received a grant to participate in the writers’ workshops at the University of Iowa. He translated a handful of his own stories from Spanish to English and sent them to Ray Bradbury, who responded “with enthusiasm and encouragement.” Bradbury met with Correa when he visited Los Angeles, and the famous SF author sent a few of the translated stories to various magazine editors. Four stories eventually appeared in the North American market. It’s a shame that more of his work hasn’t been translated — yet alone a complete bibliography compiled at The Internet Speculative Fiction Database. The SF Encyclopedia entry mentions works that aren’t listed in the database. And this Spanish-language website contains a far more extensive bibliography.

We’ve selected two of his four translated stories for this post:

  1. “Alter Ego” first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Edward L. Ferman (July 1967). You can read it online here.
  2. “Meccano” first appeared in International Science-Fiction, ed. Frederik Pohl (June 1968). You can read it online here.

Both are super short and worth the read.

Now let’s get to our reviews!

  • Jack Gaughan’s cover for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Edward L. Ferman (July 1967)

Rachel S. Cordasco’s Reviews

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