Black Gate

Mel Hunter’s “Flight Over Mercury” is featured on the cover of the January, 1954 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. It’s much more interesting than the actual surface of Mercury, which looks a lot like our moon.

“Natural State” by Damon Knight — The major cities of the United States operate as industrial nations of their own while the rest of the country becomes agricultural. The cities repeatedly try to subjugate those in the country, but the cities’ technology can’t compete against the genetic engineering of those in the country.

Alvah is sent from New York to open trade with the outsiders — the Muckfeet — in hopes of bringing them into a civilized world and to support the needs of the city. When he meets with the Muckfeet, he finds that they consider him backwards – that those in the cities are the uncultured, uncivilized people. It’s up to a young woman named B.J. to reeducate him, if he’ll listen.

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Featuring festive, seasonal artwork from Ed Emshwiller, the December 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction includes fiction from both Theodore Sturgeon and Isaac Asimov.

“The Dark Door” by Alan E. Nourse — Harry Scott hides in an apartment, waiting for them to find him. Who they are, he doesn’t know. But they aren’t men. He tried to learn about them only to become their target. He can’t go to the police. But if he can get back to the center where he works, he might find help. Unless the mysterious not-men get to him first.

I like the feel of this story. It’s not clear what’s happening, and as a reader, you aren’t certain if you can trust the main character’s point of view because it’s clear he’s unstable.

I’ve mentioned this in a past article, but Nourse wrote a novel titled The Bladerunner in 1974. And Ridley Scott bought the rights to the title “Blade Runner” for his 1982 film (which was based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). I mention this again because of the recent release of Blade Runner 2049. And if you haven’t seen that movie yet, what are you waiting for?

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The November, 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction is one of the better ones, from my perspective. Aside from the continuation of The Caves of Steel by Asimov, Michael Shaara and Roger Dee contributed a pair of good tales.  (The cover art is by Ed Emshwiller.)

“Keep Your Shape” by Robert Sheckley – Pid and his crew arrive on Earth to prepare for a mass invasion. All previous teams failed in their missions for unknown reasons. The Grom (a race of shape-shifters), conquer new worlds as a course of survival. The dangers of Alterationism and Shapelessness are at the forefront of Pid’s mind, but he’s determined to succeed where all other teams failed.

Sheckley does a good job with the Grom, who aren’t very close to humans but still have motives and ideas that I can understand. It’s a fun read.

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Galaxy Science Fiction began its fourth year of publication with the October, 1953 issue. Editor H. L. Gold kept up a great pace of monthly issues, each one containing all original stories, many of which were later reprinted. I applaud Gold for his efforts as I do editors of today’s fiction markets, who, like Gold, are striving to deliver great works of fiction to the world.

The Caves of Steel (Part 1) by Isaac Asimov — Lije Baley is a police detective in New York — an immense city spread over two thousand square miles (compared to the mere 300 of the early 21st century). Covered by a roof and walled in, like all other Cities, it’s like a cave.

Those who had ventured into space to colonize beyond Earth are known as Spacers. Over time, their technology advanced beyond the people on Earth, and when some of them returned to establish their own territory on Earth called Spacetown, no one on Earth had the power to stop them.

The police commissioner summons Baley to inform him that a Spacer was murdered in Spacetown. If they can’t find the murderer, the Spacers could ask Earth to pay indemnity fees, which would only fuel further outrage toward Spacers. Or if Earth refuses to pay, the outer world governments could use their advanced technology to harm the Earth in other ways.

Baley agrees to investigate, but the commissioner tells him the Spacers will only keep the murder confidential if one of their agents helps on the case — a robot named Daneel Olivaw.

Asimov has created an amazing world with this novel — imaginative yet gritty with tension. I can’t wait to see how the story continues to unfold. It’s been a great ride so far.

“The Model of a Judge” by William Morrison — A colony on one of Saturn’s moons holds a baking contest. The judge is a reformed carnivore named Ronar whose sense of taste is well beyond that of any human. He’s confident in his ability to choose a winner, but he’s amused by the varying ramifications in choosing each of the three finalists.

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The September, 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction opens with Editor H. L. Gold weighing in on vocabulary guessing for future science fiction. He writes that

Objects and methods must be named so the reader will recognize them. All the author can do is apply logic, which sometimes works, as in the case of several commonly used terms invented by science fiction, but more often does not, as in terms that are born naturally, not synthesized.

He describes how some words, like nylon and Kleenex, are trade names. The word jeep came from how soldiers abbreviated “General Purpose Car” (listed as “G.P.” in stock lists). He concludes his remarks by writing:

If we were trying to predict instead of entertain, you’d be right in objecting to our inevitable bloopers (origin unknown). But would you rather wait for the correct lingo (lingua, tongue) or enjoy our guessing right now?

My answer: bring on the bloopers!

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