SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW March 1971--------- Number A3 P.O. Box 3116 Santa Monica, Cal. 90403 RICHARD E. GEIS Editor and Publisher Cover by ALICIA AUSTIN PHONE: (213) A51-9206 DIALOG by The Editor—Where Geis-&-Geis, tormented by ♦ disease, assailed by sloth, stagger forward into an un­ ♦ SUNPofr realistic matter transmitter..................................................5 BOOKS REVIEWED THIS ISSUE INSIDE LAUMER—an interview by Richard Hill. A time­ ly look at the background and backbone of one of the More Issues at Hand.......... 25 most prolific sf writers..........................................................7 ♦ Scientology: The Now ♦ Religion.............................. 28 TWENTY YEARS ON by George Hay..a poem................................11 ♦ by VAUGHl)BODE- ♦ Nebula Award Stories ♦ Five.......................................30 NOISE LEVEL—a column by John Brunner................................12 ♦ If sf writers are the world's "leading edge", are The Space Novels of the poets ahead of the writers? ♦ Jules Verne, Vols.l-2....32 ♦ Ouark/1.............................33 BEER MUTTERINGS—a column by Poul Anderson...................... 1A Orbit 8................................ 33 The trials and tribulations of a would-be lazy man, a ♦ A Thunder of Stars............38 cut or two at the core of sf, and a mild look at ♦ First Flights to the Moon38 Wimlib. The Dream Quest of Vaughn Bode, creator of SUNPOT I REMEMBER CLARION by Damon Knight.....................................21 ♦ Unknown Kadath....................39 for Galaxy magazine, has collected the Sweet and Sour anecdotes from the memory freezer. Phantastes............................59 ♦ The Sorcerer's Skull.........39 saga of SUNPOT in one volume called BOOK REVIEWS by guests Robert A. W. Lowndes and Barry ♦ * Tower of Glass.................... AO appropriately enough, SUNPOT. A N. Malzberg, plus the regulars: Paul Walker ♦ Children of Tomorrow.........A2 Ted Pauls Wayne C. Connelly folded schematic of SUNPOT planet ♦ Waters of Death.................. A3 George Zebrowski Richard Delap ♦ The Man Who Fell to EarthAA has been included. Fred Patten Earl Evers...................... 25 ♦ The Mind Cage...................... A A ♦ Beneath the Planet of "MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE NEWSSTAND..." a column by ♦ ♦ the Apes............................... AA These collected works represent, David B. Williams which looks at circulation before ♦ drawing blood...........................................................................A? Kelwin................................... A A possibly, the sole example of an art­ Indoctrinaire......................50 THEN I READ.... book reviews by The Editor......................50 ♦ ist's world presented from conception ♦ Gadget Man........................... 51 through destruction. P.O. BOX 3116—the letter column. Watch your step Satan's World......................51 here...you may snuff out a fuse.........................................53 ♦ The Great Brain Robbery..51 Freezing Down......................51 MONOLOG by The Editor who reveals the disgusting Revel in the joy of a mind un­ Nine Princes in Amber....52 facts of life! Raw Truth! Intimate knowledge!........66 The Star Treasure.............. 52 leashed! Reserve your copy of this big volume (7%" x 9Vi") now—only $2.00 INTERIOR ART----------------------------------------------------------------- (plus 50 c! for postage and handling). Tim Kirk—5, 12, A?, 50, 66. Mike Gilbert—13, 36. Steve Fabian—6, 22, 52. Jim Shull—1A, 15, A2. Jim McLeod—7- Bill Rotsler—18, 21, 25, A9, 53. In addition, a copy of the sche- Jeff Cochran—8. Doug Lovenstein—38, 39. maticof SUNPOT planet (1 QTi" x 24") Grant Canfield—28, 30, 32, 38, AO, A3. Atom—17. is available for $1.00. Jay Kinney—19. Alicia Austin—27. George Foster—31, 37. Jack Gaughan—33, Al. Contents Copyrighted © 1971 by Richard E. Geis. All rights to their material are assigned to the writers and artists who contributed to this issue. STELLAR PRODUCTIONS 37 West 20th St., New York, N.Y. 10011 SFR Agents Overseas turning our hairs gray Ethel Lindsay in spite of Courage House one by one 6 Langley Ave. all your wheat germ, vitamin A and E and C Surbiton, Surrey, and—" UNITED KINGDOM SUBSCRIPTIONS--------------------------------------- "You are saying, U.K. RATES: 50$ each issue for as many as you wish Alter, why work hard V- or 5 for 1 pound to pay for in advance, in the U.S.A., if it all comes to Canada, and Australia. death anyway. The HANS J. ALPERS But please pay from Canada in lazy bum may last as 0—285 Bremerhaven 1 Canadian P.O. Money Orders in U.S. long or longer than Weissenburger Str. 6 dollars. the production type. WEST GERMANY Right?" 84.00 for one year (8 issues) "Right! Now let's WEST GERMAN RATES: 88.00 for two years (16 issues) 2DM per issue—16DM Yr. go to the refrigerat­ or, open the freezer, get out the half-gal­ Ulf Westblom First Class Rate: 758 per issue in Studentbacken 25C/1O5 U.S.A, and Canada. lon of pistaschio- S—115 40 Stockholm nut..." SWEDEN REMEMBER* SEND YOUR CHANGE OF ADDRESS "That's for later... IF YOU MOVE, PLEASE. Johnny Carson, and so (Postgiro 15 68 81-5) on. You didn't answer MY question—-why not SWEDISH RATES: *If you don't, you will be 5:-/2 issues sentenced to review (in work? If it's all the 20:-/one year depth) every story Leroy same in the end, why Yerxa ever wrote! not work and produce and accomplish?" John Foyster "Well, it's easier 12 Glengariff Dr. BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE---------------------------- to be a bum! It re­ Mulgrave, #28, 29, 50, 39, 41, 42. ALL OTHER Victoria 3170 ISSUES ARE SOLD OUT. (#28-29-50 quires no effort." "Sure it does: over- AUSTRALIA were photo offset) coming cultural conditioning, living with AUSTRALIAN RATES: "Geis, do we have to write the Dialog guilt, shame, defense-reactions; you pay for now? We feel awful; a cough is tickling 50e each, $4. per year PRINT RUN THIS ISSUE: 1700 our throat *cough-cough* (see?) and The Bug all your deviations from what your society says is right. A bum lives quite badly UNITED KINGDOM, WEST GERMAN, is raping our body." while alive, too. Very few half-gallons of SWEDISH and AUSTRALIAN sub­ "Duty, Alter-Ego, duty!" ice cream. Besides, writing for me is fun scribers: Make cheques and •Wheeeze* "Screw duty. Let's go to work. So is SFR." money orders payable to the bed and read some sf. That's duty, too! "If you like work so much, how come this name of the agent, not to SER. Let's pile high a dish of ice cream and—* "No. Not yet. We must—" issue is professionally printed? Hah? Got­ "Tyrant! A hundred years from now, cha!" Geis, no one will care a fig that we lived, "I'm not a compulsive worker. All that SFR will possibly be a teeny, tiny footnote mimeoing and collating and stapling was work SFR ADVERTISING in a reel of microfilm, or a fading charge work. The object is to produce a good maga­ zine which fulfills its function, to enjoy FULL PAGE: 5-1/2" x 9-1/4"------815-00 BACK COVER------ 820.00 in a memory circuit in a tired computer. Do the process and to bask in the warm glow of Also, any ad of approximate page size or shape can be used. you realize that? Probably every copy of approval from others." For instance, an x 11 size ad is acceptable. SFR will be dust. Why go to all this trou­ "There goes the ego-bit again." ble? Why put in long hours on this magazine LESS THAN FULL PAGE: "Alter, the ego is one of the most pow­ while writing books, too? Why, in short, Any size or shape ad less than 5-1/2" x 9-1/4" is acceptable. erful engines in human affairs, in its var­ knock us out like this? Cost may be judged as percentage-of-page used at S15.00 per ious guises." "Why not?" full page rate. "Was that a pun?" "What? I'm trying to say, idiot, that "No. Now, I must admit that ego and Unclassified ads—2t per word. we are mortal! We are forty-three years old seeking-after-approval is a strong motivat- and the cold clutch of the waiting grave is 5 ion in me." "It was cheating! Inexcuseable! Does "I know. The thing goes CLUNK-CLANK- Bob Silverberg expect me to believe that BANG...CLUNK-CLANK-BANG every minute. I there wouldn't have been all kinds of safety try to get some extra rest or slip in an ex­ devices built into a dangerous thing like tra movie or pint of something mouth-water­ that? There would be "no-go" circuits, and SY RICHARD HULL ing, and all the time that engine is run­ back-up circuity and there would even be ning, getting louder and louder! Can't you gates that only an adult could open." turn it off?" "Well, I suppose..." "Not possible." "Do you realize how easy it would be to "But—" commit the perfect crime with a Transmat as "Alter, this is the way I am! You are described by Silverberg? The murder rate the way you are. Don't fight me. Be con­ would be fantastic. Transmat "accidents" tent. Enjoy your used synapse collection would be the prime divorce mechanism." and strike like lightning in the supermark­ "Yeah...I guess a society with that many et when we're near the ice cream section and Transmats wouldn't exist without fool-proof, my guard is down." tamper-proof safety mechanisms on its Trans­ "Yeah... Heh. I gotcha good last night. mats." You didn't realize that jar of marshmallow "Exactly. And there is one other thing— topping was in the basket until it was too if as Silverberg says, Transmats can be "op­ late." en", what happens to the air that blows into "Just for that—" one or a dozen or hundreds of them? Disin­ Laumer denies it, denies not only that "No, Geis, no! Not another diet'." tegrated! How long would it take for the he's a conservative force in science fict­ atmosphere to become too thin to support ion, but that there is anything in South life? There are always a sufficient number Florida that deserves to be called "New of psychotics around who wish to die and Wave." For that matter, he denies that take the world with them.