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Galaxy Science Fiction November 1969: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction November 1969: A Retro-Review

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Galaxy Science Fiction November 1969-small Galaxy Science Fiction November 1969 back cover-small

This is Part 2 of a Decadal Review of vintage science fiction magazines published in November 1969. The articles are:

Amazing Stories, November 1969
Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1969
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1969
Worlds of If, November 1969
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November 1969

Cover by Gaughan, the TOC notes that it was “Suggested from Downward to the Earth.”

Editorial, “Brain Pollution” by Ejler Jakobsson. This delves straight into race issues, in a kind of winking/new-wavy way. There was, it would seem, an article or articles on IQ tests between blacks and whites making waves, with Jakobssen quoting an editorial by John W. Campbell.

If they, (the blacks) basic intelligence pattern is of a different type — naturally it’s harder for them to fit into the Scholarly type that Caucasoids developed — with unquestionable and world-shaking success — so that although they’ve been working into Western culture for as long as time as the Scots, they haven’t been able to fit in anywhere near as well.

Jackobsson doesn’t agree, or at least I don’t think he does. His weird addled-fanboy style makes it hard to tell if he disagrees with the fundamental IQ test issue, or just the way J.W.C. stated it. The former… I think.

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Amazing Stories November 1969: A Retro-Review

Amazing Stories November 1969: A Retro-Review

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Amazing Stories November 1969-smallThis is Part 1 of a Decadal Review of vintage science fiction magazines published in November 1969. The articles are:

Amazing Stories, November 1969
Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1969
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1969
Worlds of If, November 1969
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November 1969

Almost every year I go to a small sci-fi conference in Lawrence Kansas called The Campbell Conference. The people who run the Campbell Conference have a lot of sci-fi magazines and books; boxes and boxes of them. In fact, they have them out in the common area and sell them for like a dollar apiece. I was there last year and pulled out, completely at random, an Amazing Stories from November 1969 — which is remarkable because that was the year and month I was born.

And it occurred to me that, truth be told, I actually haven’t read all that much science-fiction. I read a Larry Niven short story collection in high school, and The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 1 off and on in early college. The majority of my science fiction reading has been novels; I didn’t really return to the short-form until the early 2000’s — and mostly because that’s when I first started going to the Campbell Conference!

When I saw that ’69 Amazing I was struck with the idea that I’d raid those boxes, gather the magazines from November ’69, read ‘em, and review ‘em. Then, because a decade is a nice number, I figured that I’d add ’79, ’89, and ’99, possibly (depending on how this all goes over) I may do ’09. Yes, a Quatro-Decadal Review!

I’m going to delve fairly deep into these works, so if you’ve got an issue with spoilers for 47 year old stories, you have fair warning! Also, I’m gonna end the reviews with my thoughts on the general ‘vibe’ of the magazine.

And away we go!

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Military Androids, Space Zombies, and the Business of Time Travel: A Review of the March/April 2017 Analog

Military Androids, Space Zombies, and the Business of Time Travel: A Review of the March/April 2017 Analog

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Analog Science Fiction and Fact March April 2017-smallThe cover story this issue is “Nexus,” by Michael Flynn, with cover art by Tomislav Tikulin. A series of coincidences brings a time-traveler, an immortal, a group of aliens mostly passing as humans, a secret military android, a telepathic private-eye, and an alien invader all together. It has a lot of plates spinning, and looks a little silly packed into that last sentence, but Flynn pulls it off.

The nonfiction article this issue is “Sustainability Lab 101, Cuba as a Simulation of Possible Futures,” by Stanley Schmidt. Condense Cuba’s history, pick a couple of outlandish internet comments and go! Dr. Schmidt presents a good case, and opens up some interesting discussions. Still… for a sci-fi guy, I find his lack of imagination about the future to be a bit alarming.

“Europa’s Survivors” by Marianne Dyson. This has a great illustration by Vincent DiFate, but the story doesn’t quite measure up to it. The tale demands a bit too much of the reader — rockets landing on Europa have to actually smash through the ice (a “thin layer”) and go down the same shaft where the pumps that keep the ice from being a “thick layer” are housed; robo-stress relief pets and a convenient lack of qualified personnel. I liked the basic set-up with the cancer patient going one-way due to the radiation exposure in space and, although it was a bit much, the problems faced and the solutions found were quite good.

“Eli’s Coming,” by Catherine Wells. One of seven (eight if you count “Nexus”) time travel stories in this issue. An owner of a time-traveling business tries it out for himself, ends up at the wrong place and time, instead of the Herod’s Palace at the top of Masada in 10 BCE, he ends up at Herod’s Palace at the top of Masada as the Roman 10th Legion is just finishing up their siege ramp. This one I liked quite a bit. The rebels under Eleazar are desperate, the situation is dire, and Eli (the MC) is trying his best to keep calm and survive until his retrieval chip activates.

“Time Heals,” by James C. Glass. Another time travel story. I’m going to admit that at this point I wasn’t in much of a mood for another one, so after the first attempt to change the past and discovering one couldn’t change the past, I skipped it.

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Belated Movie Review #8: A Correlation of Certain Musical Contents

Belated Movie Review #8: A Correlation of Certain Musical Contents

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My last belated movie review “Towards a Unified Theory of Hudson Hawk” ruffled feathers and inspired what the political class calls ‘spirited debate.’ However! I made the following statement in that review :

Is there any movie genre so thoroughly degraded as the musical? Where once they roamed the Theater Landscape in thunderous, glittering fabulous herds, their numbers are now constrained to a few preserves in boutique dinner theaters, and I suppose, the breeding program that is Glee. Oh sure, a few attempts to re-introduce them to the wild have happened, ending tragically vis-à-vis Moulin Rouge.

It has come to my attention that I made a woeful error (some might even say a merciful deletion) of omission! My sin is compounded by the fact that there was a great and grand musical, that it had a plethora of 80s stars, and it was a sci-fi, and a re-make to boot! I refer, of course, to 1986’s Little Shop of Horrors, itself a remake of the 1960 Roger Corman film of the same name.

I’m not sure how I could have forgotten this. Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, and with Martin Robinson spearheading ever increasingly complex puppetry/animatronics that would make Jim Henson blush!

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Belated Movie Review #7: Towards a Unified Theory of Hudson Hawk

Belated Movie Review #7: Towards a Unified Theory of Hudson Hawk

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Hudson Hawk poster-smallSo there’s this network, Comet TV, that shows old sci-fi shows and movies and such. As I live in a media cave without cable or Netflix I sometimes catch said old movies there. A couple of weeks ago I caught the 1991 Bruce Willis vehicle Hudson Hawk — a movie both loved and reviled! An action/comedy that is, in most senses, the final word on action comedies.

Most people absolutely HATE this movie. Especially snobs whose jobs depend on them hating movies. Can I provide examples? Oh yes:

Terry Cliffored, writing for the Chicago Tribune notes:

Boring and banal, overwrought and undercooked, Hudson Hawk is beyond bad.

Kenneth Truan scribbling gloomily for the L.A. Times had this to say:

The saddest thing about Hudson Hawk is that director Lehmann and co-screenwriter Waters were previously responsible for the clever, audacious “Heathers,” a film that represented all that is most promising about American film, while this one represents all that is most moribund and retrograde. Perhaps they both earned enough money here so that they won’t be tempted to indulge themselves in similar big-budget fiascoes. Here’s hoping.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t include Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers trying to be cool by bemoaning it thusly:

A movie this unspeakably awful can make an audience a little crazy. You want to throw things, yell at the actors, beg them to stop.

You know what? Screw them! There are some movies that are simply beyond the grasp of tiny minds — and this is one of those movies, if not the king of such movies.

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The Thing In the Lower Rack: A Tale of Truly Lovecraftian Experience

The Thing In the Lower Rack: A Tale of Truly Lovecraftian Experience

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dishwasher baby-smallHP Lovecraft once said that “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the-” wait, wait a second. If I never have to hear that quote again I’ll die happy.

HP Lovecraft also said:

One of my strongest and most persistent wishes being to achieve, momentarily, the illusion of some strange suspension or violation of the galling limitations of time, space, and natural law which for ever imprison us and frustrate our curiosity about the infinite cosmic spaces beyond the radius of our sight and analysis.

And he also said:

There will always be a small percentage of persons who feel a burning curiosity about unknown outer space, and a burning desire to escape from the prison-house of the known and the real into those enchanted lands of incredible adventure and infinite possibilities which dreams open up to us, and which things like deep woods, fantastic urban towers, and flaming sunsets momentarily suggest.

So with that in mind, there is a certain way my family has always loaded the dishwasher.

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The Best Of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Volume 1

The Best Of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Volume 1

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The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly-smallIt is hard to believe that David Farney and I started Heroic Fantasy Quarterly in the waning half of 2009. Six years ago; and internet years are like dog years so that’s, well, that’s a long time.

It’s also hard to believe that we’ve been talking about this best-of idea since 2013! We finally did it, though, and made hard choices from our first eight issues to bring out the best work, summoned the incredible skills of artist Justin Sweet, and even brought Black Gate‘s own John O’Neill in on it.

And now it is a real thing, available for pre-order and going live/shipping on Black Friday.

Our table of contents:

Introduction: “Over the Hills and Far Away…and Hiding Right Next to You” by John O’Neill

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The Old Ones Unleashed: Apotheosis – Stories of Human Survival After The Rise of The Elder Gods

The Old Ones Unleashed: Apotheosis – Stories of Human Survival After The Rise of The Elder Gods

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It isn’t all bad, some of the Newcomers mix a fine screwdriver

Apotheosis2Post Halloween funk got you down? Looking for something to cut the coming wave of forced holiday cheer? I have come from Kadath in the wastes to bring you news to make your sick heart feel so glad. Jason Andrew’s anthology Apotheosis: Stories of Survival After the Rise of the Elder Gods has been released to the world. A fearsome tome, seeping into your consciousness in both hardcopy and electronic formats.

It would be a lie of omission if I didn’t come clean and point out that my own story, “Dilution Solution,” is in the anthology. It would also be crass for me to rave about the quality of my own work — which I will simply describe as a tribe of self-gratifying warboys defending the lingering shreds of humanity, their fragile minds protected by crappy 90s virtual reality technology.

And far more grisly tales await in this collection — 17 tales to make you lose sleep, hoping that the stars are not right.

For some outside opinions, check out reviews from Black Gate contributor Fletcher Vrendenburgh and adventure aficionado Keith West at Adventures Fantastic.

Slushpile Blues

Slushpile Blues

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Heroic Fantasy Quarterly 24I’m going to start this by getting on my high horse for a second.

When we started Heroic Fantasy Quarterly back in ’09 we had several goals; one of them was to bring a little class back into the public face of editing. We had seen one too many editor panels at conventions that turned into sad little pity parties. We vowed (and at HFQ when we vow something, blood oaths are involved) that we would not do that.  Further, we would blood-eagle ourselves before we bitched, pissed or moaned about having to read slush.

In fact, from day one, we don’t even call it reading “slush”, we call it reading submissions. “Slush” is a fundamentally derogatory term. And I want everyone to know that if you see me on a panel and someone else is going on about the slush pile, I’ve got a devil on my shoulder telling me to bust their stupid face into next week. And all the angel on my other shoulder is telling me is just not to use a closed fist to do it.

With all that out of the way, I will be using the term “slush” and “slushpile” in the following article, as distasteful as it is for me to do so.

I ran into this article at New Republic: “Cheat! It’s the Only Way to Get Published.” The writer was an intern at a literary magazine and, aside from the usual denigration of, and projection onto, the writers on the slushpile, the important part is this.

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Belated Movie Review #6: Mad Max: Fury Road

Belated Movie Review #6: Mad Max: Fury Road

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Mad-Max-Fury-Road-smallI’ve been reading Black Gate over the last month waiting for a Mad Max Fury: Road review… I guess that, if you’re anything like me, after watching the movie all you can manage is to light up a cigarette and take some time to recover.

So! It looks like I need to fire up my modified combat wagon (a ’78 Gremlin with a 79 Fiat Bertone welded on top) and GO TO VALHALLA VIA THE FURY ROAD!

It has taken me a while to come up with a review of Mad Max: Fury Road (MMFR) that isn’t simply “its f-ing awesome!” or “Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” or even “Oh what a love-eh-lee daay!”

It is a two+ hour fever dream! Modified dragsters and their support motorcycles tearing across a hellscape, bent on destruction! Ah, what the hell, throw in the pack from Gas Town, the Bullet Farmer, the Hedgehogs, and multiple biker gangs while we’re at it!

You know how the original Mad Max was mostly bad things happening and then like a 10-minute chase? Then Road Warrior (Belated Review #4) was bad things happening with like a 30 minute chase? And Beyond Thunderdome (Belated Review #5) threw a curveball by having weird things happen and then a 15 minute chase? Well Fury Road has like 10 minutes of bad things happening, and then IT IS ALL CHASE.

Sometimes they have to find excuses to actually stop chasing for a bit. Mostly so bad things can happen. Sometimes they manage to shout over the screaming engines and groaning metal long enough to engage in the absolute bare minimum of character development. It is so refreshing!

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