SON OF THE WSFA JOURNAL WSFA JOURNAL Supplement: News/Reviews, etc. - - - 2nd March, 1972 Issue (#51) Editor & Publisher: Don Miller - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20<£ per copy In This Issue — ' IN THIS ISSIJS; IN BRIEF (misc. notes & comments); COLOPHON .......... ,.... pg 1 THE BOOKSHELF: New Releases, etc. (AVON, DOUBLED..! SFBC) ......................... pg 2 ON THE MOVE: Changes-of-Address .............................................................. pg 2 S.F. PARADE: Book Reviews (j.dlES R. NEWTON: Holding VJonder, by Zenna Henderson (Doubleday); B.JB.'iRA E. KELLER: The Currents of Space, by Isaac Asimov (Fawcett)) ’........................................................................................... Pg 3 MOVIE NOTE: The Hellstrom Chronicle ..................................................................... Pg 3 MAGAZINARAMA: Contents of Recent Prozines (AN.1L0G, h/?2; FANTASTIC, b/72) ............................................................................................................................... Pg THE STEAD! STREAM: . Books Recently Received :........................... pp 5,6 THE .CLUB CIRCUIT: News, Minutes (ESFA, 6/2/72; WSFA, 3/3/72) ................ pp 7,8 THE CON GAME: Early April '72 .......................................................................... • Pg 8 THE FOREIGN SCENE: Fanzines Recently Received (AUSTRALIA, CANADA) .... pg 9 THE AMATEUR PRESS: ' Fanzines Recently Received (A'.JRY #1; B.C. #1; CANTICLES FROM L..BCWITZ #8; PREHENSILE TWO; MOEBIUS TRIP #12) ..........pg 10 In Brief — , Reviewers (both out-of-town & local)remember to check ’’The Steaay Stream” and let us know ASAP which books you'd like.to review.... And Translators, we've still got plenty of material for you.... The 1972 DISCL..VE is almost upon us, and we arc hurting very badly for material for the DISCLAVE issueof IWJ. So far, only about 20 pages of material (and only a couple of reviews) oh hand. More material is urgently needed—and soon or there will be no DISCLAVE issue this year.... (The delay in the publication of #79, which is still at the orinter's, is hurting us here—no LoC's or feedback from the issue, and no' follow-up articles, until it is published.. .which now. looks like it will be too' late for the DISCLAVE issue. So don' t wait—send in your contribution now.) Needed are LoC's, reviews, fiction, ooetry, artwork (particularly full-page), articles, etc. on any SF/fantasy-related subject. SOTWJ is aporox. bi-weekly. Subs (via Ist-class mail): 20£ ea., 6/&1.10, 12/02; via 3rd-class mail (in bunches): 12/01.75 (12/70p UK). THE WSF.i JOURiL-L is 60£ ea., h/$2, B/(?3.5O (UK: 25p ea., 5/bl, 9/&1.75; Canada & Mexico: same as U.S.; elsewhere: 60^ ea., 5/Q2.5O, 11/05), & is quarterly. For names & addresses of Overseas Agents (UK -.gent: Brian Robinson, 9 Linwood Grove, Manchester, M12 uQH, England) & Air-Mail Ratos, write the Ed., or see TWJ. Ads & Flyers accepted for . distrib. with SOTWJ, but not with TWJ (write Ed., for rates). For meaning-of Address Code, see #50 (but note that K: Something of yours is mentioned/reviewed herein; N: You arc mentioned herein). • . — DLM THE WSFA JOURNAL (Supplement) % D. Miller 12315 Judson Road Wheaton, Maryland U.S.A. 20906 . TO: FIRST CLASS MAIL FIRST CLASS MAIL SOTWJ-51/2 THE BOOKSHELF: New Releases, etc. AVON BOOKS, 959 Bth aVO., New York, NY 10010 — Partners in Wonder, by Harlan Ellison (Nkl6; 95$; 272 pp.) — ". the first book of collaborative science fiction stories ever published! Harlan Ellison has collected his best short fiction written in collaboration with other SF masters, including A.E. Van Vogt, Theodore Sturgeon and Roger Zelazny, in this anthology. #// "He has .written introductory notes on each story and an essay on collaborative writing,- signifying a .new .technique in soeculative fiction, but the real excite­ ment is in the stories themselves. • • The Metal Monster, by A. Merritt (V2h22; 75^; 2h0 pp.} — "Hidden in the heart of unknown Asia .were monsters of solid .metal, .pulsating with an unearthly•elec­ tronic life, .powerful with wisdom of this world. THE MET.xL MONSTER dreamt of the day when the harder-than-steel horde, mountains high, could roll forth smashing and killing -the -world of mere -humans. Four -American adventurers, three men and a girl are-captured by the monsters in a fantastic city of living metal. ." DOUBLEDAY -S.-F. -BOOK CLUB, Garden City,--N.Y. ( June, 1972) — The Gods -Themselves, by Isaac Asimov- (Publisher's Ed., $5.95; Member's Ed., $1.98) — "Set in the year 2100, the novel begins on an Earth that has been ra­ dically transformed by a new source of power—the Electron Pump. Thirty years ago, Dr. Frederick Hallam discovered an 'impossible' chemical element whose only source could be a parallel Universe with natural laws strikingly different from our own. Had intelligent life from the para-Universe deliberately sent this new element'to Earth? Apparently so, and the aliens, or para-men, seemed to want Earth's co-operation. By-exchanging matter, both Universes would gain a limit­ less supoly of free, clean energy, jnr "Gigantic Electron Pumps were quickly de­ veloped to harness this power . The Pumps bring unheard-of prosperity to all mankind and present no problems that can be foreseen by anyone—except a young scientist named Peter Lamont. "The Pumps have caused matter from the para­ Universe to spread throughout our solar system and this, Lamont believes, has already begun to alter our most basic natural laws. Unless the Pumps are halted-r- and soon—the -sun will explode and vaporize the Earth. Like him, a para-man has discovered that the Pump will totally destroy our world. But because the oara-men feed on energy and their own Universe is dying, the Pump is absolutely • essential to their survival. Is there no alternative? Or is one of the Uni­ verses inevitably doomed? ..." Midsummer Century, by James Blish (Pub. Ed. $h.95; Member's Ed. :AL.h9) — "Thrust into the far-distant future, a man pits his 20th-century mind against ’ the greatest enemy that humanity has ever known!" ("Birds have evolved into an intelligent, aggressive breed whose implacable goal is to exterminate all men.") And Alternates: The Outline of History, by H.G. Wells (Two Vnls.; Pub. Ed., $9.95; Member's 3d., $11.50: Revised & updated by Raymond Postgate & G.P. Wells); The Dancer From Atlantis, by Poul ...nderson (Member1 s Ed., $l.li9); Three for To­ morrow, by Robert Silverberg, Roger Zelazny, & James Blish (Pub. Ed., •?^.95; Member's Ed., 01.U9); Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison (Pub. Ed., $6.95; Member's Ed., O2.h9); The House in November,- by Keith Laumer (Pub. Ed. / $h'.95; Member's Ed., 01.h9)• ON THE MOVE: Changes-of-Address Cohen, SPh Philip M., 187hoU892, 375th USaSA Co. (EW), Ft. Hood, IX 765hh. Davis, Hank, l;268 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11229. •. .. Labowitz, Gary H., POBox 15727, Philadelphia, PA 19103. _ Silverberg, Bob &. Barbara, Box 13160 Station E, Oakland, CA 9U611. (Eff. 25/h/72) Schmitz, James H., 1256 15th St., Hermosa Beach, CA 9O25U. Stith, John, 1208 Michigan Ave., Alamogordo, NM 88310. (Eff. 15/U/72) SOTWJ-51/3 S. F. PARADE: Book Reviews Holding Wonder: Short Stories by Zenna Henderson (Doubleday; 302 pp.; $5.95). Anyone who has read Miss Henderson's ,rThe People" stories or "The Anything Box" will not be surprised to learn that Holding Wonder also holds that same rare sensitivity so absolutely necessary for an adult to understand a child's world. It does—twenty stories-worth. Although billed as science fiction, only three, or possibly four, are really anything but delightful fantasy. Yet no one can default Miss Henderson for the publisher's unfortunate (and consistent) solecism; the quality of her writing rises far above the distorted persoective of the wrapping. Holding1s stories flash with jewel-like facets that, thinking back to child­ hood exoerience, one realizes are the essence of that never-to-be-regained world of wonder. The joy and pathos, laughter and tears, gentleness and cruelty are reproduced with a clarity few adults can muster, and evoke an almost painful nostalgia and a longing for the brightness that is mostly—exceot for infrequent encounters with the kind of magic Miss Henderson weaves—overlaid with the tar­ nish of time and maturity. Yet whether she writes of human or alien child, in terrestrial or extra­ terrestrial setting, the essence of Man also shines through her words. By superb characterizations, she mixes his foibles and nobilities in proportions that over the long haul lead her to conclude he does possess some inherent qualities of im­ mortality., . Since her Pilgrimage: The Book of the People in 1961, Miss Henderson has had a devoted following. I'm one of them. .• .. — JANES R. NEWTON The Currents of Space, by Isaac usimov (Fawcett. Crest, March '71;.reorint of original Street t Smith Publications, Inc. (ANALOG), 1952). Isaac Asimov, the unofficial i4aster of Science Fiction, again proves him­ self worthy of such a title. He knows what I like to read and he writesrit. This book contains a little mystery, a little.technical jargon, a little social implication, even a little romance (fairly unusual for Asimov). A Soatio-Analyst finds a galaxy-shaking revelation and trys to warn those involved of impending disaster. He discovers the secret of the elemental cur­ rents of soace which can sometimes cause a star (in this case the olariet Florina's sun) to go suoernova. His message is intercepted by a Florinian who disbelieves ’ his theory, but who believes it could be used as nronaganda for Florina's welfare. The Florinian, inadept with medical equipment, attempts to use a psychic probe to quiet the Spatio-Analyst. He doesn't anticipate winding up with a mindless idiot as a result of his tampering with the psyche. After assigning the idiot to a local millworker as her child substitute, the Florinian, a former Townman, can keep a watchful eye on the progress of his mental defective.