Happy holidays. I hope you’ve been able to squeeze in a bit of science fiction reading.
Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. Those Who Watch, Robert Silverberg (1967)
Gene Szafran’s cover for the 1971 edition
From the back cover: “CRASH LANDING FROM THE STARS.
Only three humans would ever know that the blinding flash in the sky on that night in 1982 was an exploding flying saucer. Only they would learn the truth about THOSE WHO WATCH–about the alien beings who came into this world in a crash landing from the stars. THOSE WHO WATCH is the strange, seductive novel of three accidental colonists from outer space whose chance encounter with Earth triggers interplanetary conflict. It is also the most unusual love story ever written.”
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this week?
I’ve settled on a monthly schedule for this column. Check out the previous installment!
If you’re new and curious about my rationale for the perimeters of my site, check out this recent interview and podcast. And follow me on Mastodon if you don’t already as I no longer post on my Twitter account.
And, most importantly, let me know what pre-1985 SF you’ve been reading!
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
Judith Merril’s collection contains one of the feminist visions of the 50s — “Daughters of Earth” (1952). Reworking a standard pulp plot of alien contact, Merril recasts the encounter through multiple generations of women in one family. She adeptly inverts the Old Testament trope of tracing generations through fathers. Simultaneously, the story itself is a metatextual collection of rewritten family documents containing the lessons necessary for future daughters in the family. Brilliant and heady stuff.
Barry N. Malzberg’s The Men Inside(1973) remains one of his strangest works. A perverse (and Freudian) metafictional (and literary) retelling of Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby’s Fantastic Voyage replete with filmic flashbacks… For Malzberg fans only — if you’ve missed this one, track it down.
And now for something completely different: Murray Leinster’s S.O.S From Three Worlds (1967). I am unsure why I enjoy Leinster’s Med Service so much. Sometimes positivist stories about spacemen devoted to selfless service solving medical crises–and reigning in rampant unchecked capitalism–with their friendly tormals (think furry mobile petri dishes) bring a bit of warmth to my bitter heart.
I sneakily consumed Joe Haldeman’s masterpiece The Forever War (1975) while working my first job as an oil change cashier. In-between angry customers and running domestic incidents, I relished every moment of Haldeman’s defiant Vietnam War satire. As I’ve only reviewed Mindbridge (1976) on the site (I’ve read a bunch more), I’ve been meaning to return his work — maybe a resolution for 2024.
Today I’ve reviewed the 30th and 31st story in my series on the science fictional media landscape of the future. In Edmond Hamilton’s “Requiem” (1962), the newsmen and women of the far future descend en masse to witness Earth’s death. And in John Anthony West’s snarky satire “George” (1961), the titular character’s body slowly atrophies while ensconced in the living room watching TV.
Lloyd Birmingham’s cover for Amazing Stories, ed. Cele Goldsmith (April 1962)
3.5/5 (Good)
Edmond Hamilton’s “Requiem” first appeared in Amazing Stories, ed. Cele Goldsmith (April 1962). You can read it online here.
In 2020, I read Hamilton’s brilliant “What’s It Like Out There?” (1952) which obliterated my ignorant view of his fiction. I asked some of my readers for other ruminative Hamilton works (i.e. not the pulp cosmos-exploding adventures he’s best known for) and “Friend of the Site” Brian Collins mentioned “Requiem.” And onto the queue, it went as it fit this series. Thank you!
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this week?
It’s been over a month since the previous installment. Sorry! While I’d like to keep a schedule, I find myself pathologically unable to do so. As with so much on my site, I’ll post continue to post these updates when I feel the inclination.
As these posts seem to bring in new readers, if you’re curious about my rationale for the perimeters of my site, check out this recent interview and podcast. And follow me on Mastodon if you don’t already as I no longer post on my Twitter account.
Let me know what pre-1985 SF you’ve been reading!
The Photograph (with links to reviews and brief thoughts)
What pre-1985 science fiction are you reading this week?
I apologize for the break in my update schedule. It’s been a month since the previous installment. Alas. As I say week after week, thank you for all the great conversation. The community that’s emerged over the years is one of the main reasons I keep writing. I’ve included a bit about the books in the photograph, birthdays from the last two weeks, and brief ruminations on what I’ve been reading and writing.
Note: My read but “waiting to be reviewed pile” is growing. Short rumination/tangents are a way to get through the stack before my memory and will fades. My website partially serves as a record of what I have read and a memory apparatus for future projects. Stay tuned for more detailed and analytical reviews.
1. Mind of My Mind, Octavia E. Butler (1977)
John Jude Palencar’s cover for the 1994 edition
4/5 (Good)
Octavia E. Butler’s Mind of My Mind (1977) is the second-published and second chronological installment of her Patternist series of novels (1976-1984), that chart the dystopic and hyper-violent development (and destruction) of a telepathic society. The series also contains her disowned (and hard-to-afford without selling a child) novel Survivor (1978). I wish I had read Wild Seed (1980) first!
The immortal Doro, able to hone into those with telepathic talent and shift his essence into new human bodies at will, oversees a generations-old telepathic breeding project. The harrowing story follows one his many daughters, Mary, a rare active telepath (vs. latent), as she comes of age and begins to understand the role that she is designed to play. Doro preys on the downtrodden and abandons the majority of latent telepaths to live miserable lives, unable to filter out the emotions they sponge up. Doro pairs Mary with another active telepath named Karl in order to guide her through her transition. But something new appears in her mind, she seems to have created a pattern that compulsively draws in actives from across the country. And Doro begins to feel threatened by his own creation.
My rough start to the semester proves hard to dispel. I’ll get back to my regular programming soon–I promise. In the meantime, I’ve collected some goodies!
Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?
1. The Man Who Fell to Earth, Walter Tevis (1963)
Jim Burns’ cover for the 1982 edition
From inside page: “He was not a man; yet he was very much like a man. He was six and a half feet tall, and some men are even taller than that; his hair was as white as that of an albino, yet his face was a light tan color, and his eyes a pale blue. His frame was improbably slight, his features delicate. There was an elfin quality to his face, a fine, boyish look to the wide intelligent eyes.
Today I’ve reviewed the 29th story in my series on the science fictional media landscape of the future. In Sydney J. Van Scyoc’s debut “Shatter the Wall” (1962), a bedraggled wife attempts to prevent her daughter and husband from taking on the personas of a television family.
Sydney J. Van Scyoc (1939-2023) published eleven novels and around thirty short stories across her writing career (primarily 1962-1991). Her visions were rarely republished or anthologized. “A Visit to Cleveland General” (1968) might be her best-known short story as it appeared in Carr and Wollheim’s best of 1969 anthology. I have a positive impression of her work so far.
Have you read any of her work? If so, what were your thoughts?
Jack Gaughan’s cover for Galaxy, ed. Frederik Pohl (February 1962)
3/5 (Average)
“Shatter the Wall” first appeared in Galaxy, ed. Frederik Pohl (February 1962). You can read it online here.
According to Gary R. Edgerton in The Columbia History of American Television (2007), a debate emerged in the late 1950s about American materialism and its glorification on television. John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society (1958) suggested that advertising created synthetic needs and damaging desires in American citizens. “Shatter the Wall” is all about synthetic needs and damaging desires.
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 