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4-1-1975 SFRA ewN sletter 39 Science Fiction Research Association

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Scholar Commons Citation Science Fiction Research Association, "SFRA eN wsletter 39 " (1975). Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy Publications. Paper 171. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/scifistud_pub/171

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ISSN 0048-9646 SFRA . newsletter The SFRA NEWSLETTER is the official publication-of the Science Fiction Research Association, and is published monthly for the membership. Editorial correspon­ dence should be directed to the editors, Beverly Friend, 3415 W. Pratt, Lincolnwood, IL 60645 or H. W. Hall, 3608 Meadow Oaks Ln., Bryan, TX 77801. Books for review and announcement should be directed to H. W. Hall, Book Review Editor. SFRA membership inquiries should be directed to Dr. Tom Clareson, Box 3196, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691.

No. 39 April 1975

A STRANGE EXAMINATION by Muriel Becker, Montclair State College, New Jersey The sixteen students in K 1504-1492-02, Seminar in Comparative Literature: Science Fiction, rejected totally the limitations of the fall '74 examination schedule (Wednesday, December 18, 10:15-12:15, for Classes with First or Only Meeting on T or R at 12:00). A discussion ensued. One month and four days passed. On the assigned date, with the time extended to 5 P.M .• "the ballrooms of the Student Center at Montclair State College housed the sixteen students, their instructor, and their several hundred guests. In Ballroom C, SF , varying in length from nine to ninety minutes ran continuously; in Ballroom B, SF books were swapped, ali ens appeared througfrut the wi zardry of make-up, dart-l i ke pro­ jectiles aimed at the galaxies, and trekkies wandered "where no man had gone before"; meanwhile, in Ballroom A, Fred Pohl talked about being a "card carrying member of First ," the mentalist Bob Cassidy courted death, and among other events, the faculty guests beat the students in an SF College Bowl. Both guests and the students (despite their ignominious loss) passed the examination. RENEWAL NOTE This is the last issue of the Newsletter to go out on the 1974 mailing list. Those who have not yet renewed should send checks to Ivor Rogers, Box 1068, Des Moines, IA 50311 immediately to insure receiving all SFRA mailings. CONFERENCES AND INSTITUTES ***July 7-25, 1975: INTENSIVE ENGLISH INSTITUTE ON THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE FICTION, The University of , Lawrence, Kansas. The Institute will provide a back­ ground in the history and literary aspects of SF upon which teachers can build a course or a foundation for further study. Three hours of academic credit will be offered to qualified students. Enrollment will be limited; no applications will be accepted after June 6, 1975. For further information, contact , English Department, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045. ***April 11-13,1975: REGIONAL SCIENCE FICTION CONFERENCE, University of Colol'ado, Denver. The conference will focus on the study and teaching of SF with concen­ tration in five' areas of investigation: scholarly criticislIl, teachinq, libl'ary collections, publication, and discussions with Juthors. (Editor's Note: The SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 2 announcement of this conference was received too late to be published in the Newsletter prior to the conference.) ***April 26, 1975: SCIENCE FICTION IN THE CLASSROOM-A WORKSHOP, Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas. The Workshop will be led by Bernard Hollister and Beverly Friend. Registration, including a luncheon is $10.00. Registration and queries should be sent to: Horton Presley, Box 127, Ottawa University, Ottawa Kansas 66067. A detailed schedule will be sent to all applicants. ***Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois, focused on the theme "Images of the Future" in their Interim 1975 program Jan. 6-11, 1975. The program featured courses in "Facing the Future: a look at Tomorrow through Science Fiction" and ": Marvelous Visions of the Future - The Earth, the heavens, and the sea." The program also included a play, "Solitaire," by Robert Anderson, which is set in a "Computerized future where marriage has been abolished, life is lived in mech­ anized hotel rooms, and voluntary self-destruction is a citizenls ultimate ser­ vice to the state." SF films shown included Metropolis, Things To Come, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, The Andromeda Strain, Westworld, and THX-1138. (Beverly Friend and Thomas R. Giddens) ***The third annual NCTE Secondary School English Conference to be held at the Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, April 18-20 will have a program titled "Science Fiction: Forecasts of Human Potential. II Invited speakers include Bernard Hollister and Beverly Friend. (Beverly Friend) NEWS AND NOTES ***The Garland Publishing Company (10 East 44th St., New York, N.Y. 10017) has announced "The Garland Library of Science Fiction," a collection of 45 impor­ tant works of science fiction, selected by , and including del Reyls Science Fiction, 1926-1976, a critical history of SF. This collection concentrates on more recent books than other available collections. A des­ criptive brochure is available from the publisher. (H.W. Hall) ***Avon Books has announced the following titles for their IIScience Fiction Re­ discovery Series" (SFRA Newsletter #34, p. 5): , Man in the Maze; , The Iron Dream; Philip Jose Farmer, Inside, Outside; Edgar Pangborn, A Mirror for Observers; Eric Frank Russell, The Great Explo­ sion; Chad Oliver, The Winds of Time; John Christopher, No Blade of Grass; Piers Anthony, Omnivore; , Bill, The Galactic Hero; Hugo Gerns­ back, Ultimate World; , Three Hearts and Three Lions; Kenneth Bulmer, City Under The Sea; E.C. Tubb, Space Born; Edgar Pangborn, The Judge­ ment of Eve; Rex Gordon, First On Mars. A new title will be issued each month, beginning with Silvergergls Man in the Maze in January, 1975. (H.W. Hall) ***There is a possibility that Pennsylvania State University Press will publish at least a selection of the papers read at the SFRA Conference held at Penn State, Sept. 1973. (Arthur O. Lewis) ***It is worth $4.00 (prices go up May 1) supporting membership for the Mid­ Americon, if only to get their progress reports. Report #2 begins "An Illus­ trated History of the World Science Fiction Convention" by and covers NYCON, New York, 1939, CHICON, , 1940, and DENVENTION, Denver, 1941. Material on early conventions is very difficult to come by. Only two conven­ tions have had their proceedings published, CHICON III, the 20th World Conven­ ion, :'12L; ';;1 ChiCaCjO in 1952, and DISCOi'L 21 st h.::ld iil '!Jash'illC)ton, D.C. in ('G3, buth by /'.c!ljent:Publishe~'s J.nd nOI'! out of print. SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 3

Patten's research covers the large fanzine collections of Forrest Ackerman, Bruce Pe1z, Donald Wo11ehim, Bob Tucker, and Harry Warner, and the answers to direct inquiry addressed to these men. Therefore it covers a relatively untapped area by scholars. Further information can be obtained from MidAmericon, P.O. Box 221, Kansas City, Missouri, 64141, or Fred Patten, 11863 W. Jefferson Blvd., Apt. 1, Cul­ ver City, , 90230. (Beverly Friend) ***Greenwood Press (51 Riverside Ave., Westpont, Conn. 06880) announced a collec­ tion of "Science Fiction Periodicals, 1926-1970" in their latest catalog as "in production." The collection is edited by Tom C1areson, and is scheduled for summer 1975 release. The catalog lists fifteen titles, including Amazing, Comet, Cosmic Stories, Extrapolation, Fantastic Adventures, Miracle Stories and . Prices are to be announced later. (H. W. Hall) ***The University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, Indiana 46556) has published Structural Fabulation: an essay on Fiction of the future, by Robert Scholes, a critical and theoretical study of the SF field. The book is priced at $6.95. The Newsletter will carry a full review as soon as possible. (H. W. Hall) *** reintroduced their "Ace Science Fiction Special" line in April 1975 with two books: From the Legend of Bie1, by Mary Staton, and Red Tide by D.O. Chapman and Deloris Lehman Tarzan. The earlier "Ace Specia1" line of SF books was well received and included some excellent books. SF teachers may wish to watch this line for new titles for classroom use. (H. W. Hall) ***Mankind at the Turning Point: The Second Report to the Club of Rome, edited by Mihaj10 Mesarovic and Edward Pestal. (N.Y.: Dutton, 1974), is a "scientific but smoothly readable analysis of man's long-term prospects II and, along with the first report to the Club of Rome, should be of great interest to SF teachers. (H. W. Hall) ***Dr. Arlen Ray Zander (Department of Physics, East State University, Com­ merce, Texas, 75428), Professor of Physics at ETSU, has prepared "Science Fic­ tion: Fact or Fantasy" an illustrated lecture. Dr. Zander's lecture touches on the probability of extraterrestrial life, communications with the extra­ terrestrial life, and the functions of science fiction. The lecture is liberally illustrated by slides. Dr. Zander also coordinates an interdisciplinary science fiction course at ETSU. For further information, contact Dr. Zander at the address above. (H. W. Hall) ***Due to an editorial error, the review of Bernard Hollister's Another Tomorrow is SFRA Newsletter No. 36, Jan. 1975 was not credited. The review was pre­ pared by Veronica M.S. Kennedy, St. John's University. ***Professor William Reynolds (Hope College, Holland, MI 49423) sends the follow­ ing proposed format for next year's MMLA Forum on Science Fiction for your com­ ment and reaction: WHY DO WE TEACH WHAT WE TEACH? 1. Syllabi: Forum members are invited to bring/send 50 copies of their favo­ rite syllabus. Those who produce a syllabus get first choice at others ' contributions with the remainder for public pickup. Papers will be sought giving a detailed rationale for why works are included on or excluded from a specific syllabus. 2. Papers will be solicited which advocate and demonstrate the value of par­ ticular authors or books for science fiction courses which advocate and SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 4

demonstrate that certain authors or books regularly included in science fic­ tion courses do not deserve to be. We will suggest that the standards for selection be at least implicit in the papers. 3. Papers will be invited supporting: a) the popular culture justification for science fiction, b) the application of special aesthetic standards to science fiction and c) the application of traditional mainstream aesthetic standards to science fiction For further information, or to exchange ideas and suggestions, contact Professor Reynolds. ***The next SFRA meeting, at Florida International in Miami, will have a substan- tial section on the study and teaching of science fiction. What concerns are relevant to you? In addition to those listed by Wm Reynolds for the future MMLA meeting, other suggestions brought to my attention include: the study of SF as a specific (and legitimate) genre of literary criticism, the problems of defining (and defending) the legitimacy of SF as an essential part of both English and Foreign Language curricula, goals and problems of teaching SF in the secon­ dary school and the variant approaches offered by secondary and high school classes. In addition, there is also consideration of SF as a "means to an end" (as in composition or creative writing classes) versus SF as an end in itself (in the lit. class). The SFRA program will focus on the problems YOU think most impor­ tant. Please respond. (Beverly Friend) ***GUYING GYRE #2, published by Gil Gaier 1016 Beach Avenue, Torrance, California, 90501. Intended for teachers, this second issue of the devoted most space to a project aimed to aid the instructors who are interested but not prepared to teach classes in Science Fiction and Fantasy by ranking variouSbooks "at various reading levels with various subjects/categories---which are enjoyable and/or worthwhile reading." The following appeal is made to the readership: As a teacher (or as an SF/F reader) there seems to be no place where I can go to find subjective/objective evaluations of an author's work. For instance, I have a shelf at school with at least ten books each by Dickson, Anderson, Laumer, Silverberg, Simak, Dick and others that have not yet been read. I don't know how many years it will take before I can weed out the "strong" Dickson books and put the rest to rest. A "good book" for my pur­ pose would be a good book for anyone's purpose. Maybe readability and action might be given an evaluative edge. But aside, generally, from having a smaller vocabulary and being a little less patient with tough pieces or descriptive ones, my sixteen year old students have the same general taste and preference of most adult fans .... I'd like you to choose your favorite writers or those you are most familiar with and evaluate their works .... Gaier then gives an evaluation based on the following numerical chart: 95--one of the best books I've ever read 85--excellent/superior 75--good/enjoyable/recommendable 65--above average 55--average/satisfactory/readable 45--below average 35--poor/weak 25--bad/terrible 15--1 couldn't finish reading it! Of course there is room for gradations of feeling between the cited numbers on -the scale. SFRA NEWSLETTER NO. 39 Page 5

Don D'Ammassa then proceeds to evaluate the works of 78 authors. (And it is in­ teresting to compare--and contrast--your own rating with his). GUYING GUYER is also especially interested in letters of comments from the readers. (Beverly Friend)

QUERIES ***Bonnie O'Brien (Alfred B. Nobel Junior High Schook, 9950 Tampa Ave., Northridge, CA 91324) writes: "Il ve been teaching science fiction on the Junior High Level for three years .... I would like to find a story, or novel, or explanation that would help my students understand the difference (if any) between and androids. I often see these words used interchangeably and it is confusing. Do you know of any material that would clarify this problem?" ***Peter Koenig (479 Paderborn, Furstenweg 15-17, Postfach 454, West Germany), on Sabbatical in Germany, is seeking titles related to SF and Nazism, and SF and Marxism for his research. Suggestions should be sent to the West German address above. ***Lyman Tower Sargent (Dept. of Political Science, Univ. of Missouri-St. Loujs, 8001 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, Mo 63121), sends the following query: lion page 11 of the University of Nebraska edition of H. G. Well IS A Modern Utopia? he refers to Mr. Stead's "queendom of inverted sexual conditions in Central Africa." Does anyone know what he is referring to? Prof. Sargent also has available a tentative bibliography of British and American utopias for anyone who is interested. BOOK REVIEWS Stover, Leon E. La science fiction americaine: essai d'anthropologie culturelle. Paris: Aubier Montaigne, 1972. 189 p. Tr. to the French by Simone Beserman. La science fiction americaine is at once a fascinating and aggravating book, but Tf is in any event a most interesting one. Leon Stover has set out to examine modern American society in the light of science fiction and the result illumin­ ates the works and the culture. Stover's thesis rests on the premise that science fiction acts as a reflecting or distorting mirror of the society in which it is written. "All literature is, in sum, a form of anthropological criticism, a way of moralizing on human behaviour." In opening chapters entitled Form and Function he discusses the roots of American cience iction, stressing its connections to popular literature such as the and the dime novel. He dismisses attempts to place this 'paraliterature' in a line begun by Lucian or and places it solidly in the line of Argosy, and the ninety or so pulps that have seen daylight in the U.S. in the twentieth century. He claims sf performs the function of judging technology on a popular level, or reinserting moral ques­ tions relating ends to means in a country where the technology of Research and Developme~t (which Stover pictures as the result of considering research as an industrial product) has made efficient means the only accepted standard in the scientific community. Stover credits the turn to a judging function to John W. Campbell and argues that the genre goes outside of the private, psycholgical protrait of man presented in most modern literature to deal with Man, the state of the race in the face of rampant technology. SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 6

The bulk of the book is divided into nine chapters matching the nine principal aspects of anthropology: communication, society, work, sexuality, time and space, the acquisition of knowledge, play, defence and tools. Stover examines works of sf in each of these categories to show American attitudes, frequently by indicating how the authors see through the accepted American way of life. Culture, man's way of facing the world, involves moral as well as utilitarian tests, and Stover accentuates the way in which sf undertakes this responsibility. Stover's individual observations are acute and fascinating. In Chapter III, Comminication, he suggests that the interest in stories dealing with telepathy stems from the ~lerican obsession with honest communication, the desire to get beneath the veneer of manners to the 'real' man. This much-desired fantasy flies in the face of a good deal of evidence against E.S.P. and rests on the pious hope that we can get at the true man through direct and total communica­ tion. Stover se"lects relevant stories, such as Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life," to show how sf authors expose the flaws in the fantasy of total contact. He suggests that fascination with a means of communication, telepathy, blinds people to the danger of its ends, a contact that would be intolerably intense. In Chapter IV, Society, Stover examines the American dream of the return to Eden, to the intimate and uncomplicated social unit, and suggests that sf writers such as Herbert in The Santaroga Barrier or Vonnegut in Cat's Cradle are aware of the way that human aggressiveness and individuality would have to be sacri­ ficed to drug control extremes of social engineering to bring about this ques­ tionalbe 'Eden'. From the above examples it can be seen that the book's strength lies where most critics of sf find fertile ground, in social criticism. It is also where the book's principal problem lies. For Stover is a professional anthropologist who has chosen to write a book using the outlines of his discipline in a less­ than-rigorous fashion. He does not hide this fact, for the book makes open admission of its subjectivity, its aspect as 'a labour of love' and its special debts to John W. Campbell and Astounding Science fiction. Despite this, Stover's background and the book's full title suggest more than a personal glance at sf. Instead the book tends to float loosely within its structure. The chapter head­ ings are deceptive, so that Chapter XI, The Instruments, deals exclusively with communications devices while the chapter on communications deals primarily with telepathy. The chapter on work begins with the simplistic parallel that work is the economy of man and ecology is the economy of and then proceeds to deal with ecology rather than work. Within this context there are fascinating insights, such as an explanation of the relationship between John W. Campbell, ecology and scientific progress or notes on how specialisation narrows our per­ spectives on ecology, but one cannot help wishing that Stover would define his grounds in each chapter and stick to them. This flaw in organisation leads one to reflect on the cause and effect process involved in the writing of the book. This reviewer can't help feeling that Stover has begun with a generalisation about, say, communication, and brought in a selection of the sf stories that support his point. This method of bring­ ing forward bits of evidence stands out because at least six chapters of the book have no proper conclusions. They merely stop at the end of an example. Stover's approach of reinforcing generalisations leads to close examination of the generalisations. They are fuzzy and often truisms, even if the support­ ing evidence enduced from the stories is interesting. The alternative method, that of eXJlliining the stories Jnd building up the premises from this evidence, would have provided an evidence-to-conclusion case based solidly on sf. As it ie, one rnust question the choice of stories, wonderinq if they represent a fair select-ion from the genre or a selection made to support the generalised statements about the society. SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 7 Perhaps one should not demand such things of 'a labour of love ' , but without them the book is only a collection of insights on specific stories and ideas without the binding of a scheme or the logic of evidence presented systematically to make a case. As a series of vignettes it is interesting work, but one is left with the wish that Stover had followed his discipline more closely, rather than floating from observation to observation under the cover of a claim to or­ ganisation. The book is interesting but in no way definitive because Stover has not brought his sharp eye as a professional anthropologist to bear on American science fiction. Peter Brigg University of Guelph

Garner, Alan. . New York, Macmillan, 1973-.-197 p. $5.95. Honeycombe, Gordon. Dragon Under The Hill. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973. 350 p. $7.95. There is no need to remind readers of this publication that England has pro­ duced many fine writers of fantasy novels - for adults as well as for chil­ dren. Now, two more English fantasists have arrived to try to ensnare the American reader in a net of magic. Mr. has had considerable success and critical acclaim for his children's books: The Owl Service won the Carnegie Medal and Award in 1968, and The welrdstone of Brisingamen was introduced glowingly by in her Preface to the Ace Paperback Edition (1960). However, Red Shift, a novel directed at adults -- but with a callow teenage love-affair --- as its main plot line -- is a strangely unsatisfactory novel of time travel. Tom, the son of a sergeant-major in the British Army (father is a love-depicted eccentric, who bakes and ices cake in the shape of a railway engine for his eighteen-year-old son), travels in time between his own late Twentieth Century. Unfortunately, Mr. Garner is not able convincingly to suggest the at­ mosphere of the Third and Seventeenth Centuries. Somehow, in spite of mysterious Mother Goddesses, early Celts called IIMaceyll and IIMagoo ll do not seem quite right. And, though one does not expect Seventeenth Century personages to say IIEftsoones ll and the like, neither does one expect them to say IIDon't ." So, though Mr. Garner does make good use of a stone axe that is the artifact which, so to speak, releases Tom from the shackles of Twentieth Century time (Tom's girlfriend, Jan, tiresomely calls the axe IIBuntyll after a long-dead pet budgerigar), Red Shift simply does not work very well. Mr. Gordon Honeycombe is well known to English TV audiences as a newcaster, and was formerly an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Unfortunately these qualifications, though interesting, do not necessarily qualify one as a writer of supernatural fantasy. His Dragon Under the Hill is, especially in its crea­ tion of the strange, archaic atmosphere of Lindisfarne Island, a much more re­ warding novel than Red Shift, but somehow it fails to stand up to a second read­ ing. Little Erik is possessed--to the usually chilling and gory purpose--by the spirit of the Eighth Century Viking warrior, Guthorm, but in spite of Mr. Honeycombe's expertise, and perhaps because of, his lush descriptions of the sexual re-Iationship between Erik's parents, Dragon Under the Hill might best be summed up as IIS on of Grendel meets The Other. II Veronica M.S. Kennedy St. John's University SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 8

Millies, Suzanne. Science Fiction Primer for Teachers. Dayton, : Pflaum Publishers, 1975. 104 p. 74-21100 $ . Millies Primer is basically an expanded course syllabus. The book is organized in four segments: "Wha tis SF "; liThe Hi s tory of SF "; and liThe Va 1ue of SF. II Millies has taken her "Outline of a semester course in science fiction" (p. 95- 96) and provided adequate material to aid the teacher unable to obtain the ori­ ginal source material. Of particular value are Millies l capsules of major writers in the history of science fiction and on modern sf writers, which give brief but highly pertinent information invaluable to the teacher lacking a wide background in sf. The section on themes in sf is also of value in helping identify stories on particular themes. The annotations in this section are very short and cryptic but do give some sense of the content of a book. The final section liThe Value of Science Fiction," briefly touches on literary, sociological, psycholgical and philosophical values of sf. It will be of some value to sf teachers as a quick reference source on books and authors, or as a starting point for beginning teachers. It will not, how­ ever, allow a teacher to "acquire a fairly complete acquaintanceship with the genre ... II H. W. Ha 11 Texas A&M University

McNelly, Willis E., ed. Science Fiction: The Academic Awakening, a CEA Chapbook. College English Association, Shreveport, Louisiana, 1974. 64 pp., $2.00. Distribu­ ted as a Supplement to The CEA Critic, XXXVII:l (Novem- ber 1974). -- According to the editorls defensive introduction, this booklet is only intended for first-time teachers of classes in science fiction. It seems doubtful that they will find much in it which turns them on and unlikely that anyone else will find much use for this collection of articles by writers and teachers of science fiction. Most of the essays seem abrupt and even disconnected, as if truncated for space limitations. Yet this slim volume (the sixty-four pages includes front and back covers and seven and a half pages of advertising) is dotted with short "definitions" of science fiction and ends with what appears to be filler material: a list of "SF Awards" and a 350-word "squib" on liThe British Scene," as if that were worth a mere postscript and unconnected with anything which went before (both of these are by McNelly). Two of the essays are reprints. One from the introduction to l Billion-Year Spree discusses the "Gothic" roots of science fiction. The other from Harry Harrisonls introduction to Best SF: 1974 plays pseudo-scientific games with mathematically defining a storyls "science fiction quotient. II Two pieces by the editorls colleagues at California State University, Fullerton (both of whom are listed as "associate editors") do not reflect well on academic criticism. James Stupple carefully argues that anti-utopian (not dystopian, kakatopian, etc.) literature should be defined in opposition to such utopian features as comunality (vs. individualism), perfectibility and happiness (vs. freedom). His examples are well-chosen and carefully limned, but the pointls been made before, and its relevance to "first-time teachers of SF" seems a little obscure. Jane Hipolito repeats, without bothering to demonstrate, old charges that 1) SF characterization is stereotyped and 2) lithe New Wave" is changing all ~hat. Later on, however, (in his usual sweet, intemperate way) tries to destroy the idea of "New Wave," though he defends (without much concrete substance) what he feels it stands/stood for. Two other SF writers, John Boyd SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 9 and Philip K. Dick, make general cases for why they like to write the stuff (in the abstract), without much apparent relevance to why anyone else would want to read it. And Mark Hillegas, from the academic side, doesn't enlighten us very much on that score in his rambling attack on English professors for whom SF is not literature, and who don't know much about anything other than lit­ erature. The most useful contributions, which provide the reader with some parameters and illustrations, are woefully short. 's opening article is another of his compressed surveys of what's going on and what's available (he's done much better in other places); this is supplemented, at the other end of the chapbook, by Tom Clareson's selective annotated bibliography of secondary materials, most of which update his Wayne State University Press Checklist. Leon Stover surveys perfunctorily some examples of SF dealing with the social .sciences, arranged simply by discipline. And Greg Benford's examination of the role of science in SF, though too truncated to make its points satisfac­ torily, is buttressed by his annotated listing of some novels in which science does playa significant role, however distorted it may be for the purposes of ,storytel 1 ing. Despite some bright spots, this booklet mainly rehashes materials available in the late Fifties, and it's hard to imagine how it could convert dissenters, ex­ cite fence-sitters, or interest the jaded cognoscenti. If this is an "awaken- ing," it's from a Rip Van Winkle nap of twenty years. Dave Samuelson Californ'ia State University, Long Beach

Wilson, Robin Scott, ed. Those Who Can: A Science Fiction Reader. New Yor~ Mentor- 1973. 333p. $1.50. Wolfe, Jack C., and Gregory Fitzgerald, eds. Past, Present, and Future Perfect: A Text Anthology of Speculative and Science-F..,--crron. Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1973. 544 p. 95¢. Both volumes under consideration here should be of considerable interest and value to those who teach Fantasy and Science Fiction courses on the High School or College level and to those who seek critical approaches to the genres. Those Who Can offers a stimulating selection of stories by distinguished writers, in­ cluding, to name only three, Ursula LeGuin, and , with essays by the writers in which they discuss and explain their methods of work, their sources of inspiration. The collection should be rewarding to both readers and writers. Past, Present, and Future Perfect offers an astonishing range of complete stories or selections from longer works, including contemporary, early 20th century, 19th century and earlier material -- for 95¢ we get Plato, Lucian, Voltaire, Conan Coyle, H.G. Wells, Poul Anderson and Kurt Vonnegut (to name only seven of those represented). This reviewer's only adverse criticism, and that is a tiny point, was that the material is arranged with the last first -- but this is too picayune a point. Let us fervently pray that neither publisher will let so valuable and so inex­ pensive collections go out of print! Veronica M.S. Kennedy St. John's University SFRA NEWSLETTER No. 39 Page 10

REVIEW COPIES The following non-fiction titles from the Arno Press reprint series are available for review. Please request titles you have an interest in reviewing. Amis, Kingsley. New Maps of Hell. [N. Y.: Harcourt, 1960J. 161 p. Barnes, Myra Edwards. Linguistics and Languages~ Science Fiction-Fantasy. [Ph.D. Dissertation, East Texas State University, 1971J. 196 p. Cockcroft, Thomas G. L. Index to Fiction Magazines, ~. I and II. [Lower Hutt, N. Z.: The Autho~1962, 1964.J 100 P Cole, Walter R., ed. A Checklist of Science Fiction Anthologies. [s.l.: The Author, 1964.J 374 p. Gove, Philip Babcock. The Imaginary Voyage ~ Prose Fiction. [N. Y.: Columbia Univ. Press, 1941 .~445 p. Green, Roger Lancelyn. Into Other Worlds: Spaceflight ~ Fiction from Lucian to Lewis. [N. Y.: Abelard Schuman, 1958.J 190 p. Menville, Douglas. ~ Historical and Critical Survey of the Science-Fiction . [Master's Thesis (Cinema), Univ. of Southern California, 1959J l85p. Samuelson, David. Visions of Tomorrow: Six Journeys from Outer to Inner Space. [Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ. of Southern California, 1969. Dissertation title: Studies ~ the Contemporary American and British Science Fiction Novel.J 429 p. Science Fiction Horizons. No. 1-2, 1964-1965. 64,64 p. (End Arno listing) Silverberg, Robert, ed. New Dimensions 5. N.Y.: Harper, 1975. 234 p. Tripp, Maggie, ed. Woman-rn the Year 2000. N. Y.: Arbor House, 1974. 302 p. Knight, Damon, ed. llC-N. Y.: Harper, 1975. 271 p.