Fiction Flights in Space & Time

20 Fiction Flights in Space & Time S.-F. Roundup These are the books that Mr. Pratt discusses in the accompanying arti cle: FLETCHER PRATT THE BLIND SPOT. By Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint. Philadelphia: Prime Press. $3.50. SEEDS OF LIFE. By John Taine.' Read ing, Penna.: Fantasy Press. $2.75. ET's face it: the leading drawback perfectly aware that a story should TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND THE from which science-fiction cur progress from point A to point B, not FAIRY CHESSMAN. By Lewis Padgett. I rently suffers is bad writing. This merely move from situation to situa New York: Gnome Press. $2.75. SLAN. By A. E. Van Vogt, New York: is, of course, traceable to the fact tion until the author is ready to write Simon & Schuster. $2.50. the the form is firmly rooted in the 30. He has proved it on numerous TIME AND AGAIN. By Clifford D. pulps, but not for the reason a super occasions, especially in the domain of Simak. New York: Simon & Schuster. ficial glance would suggest, that the $2.50. fantasy. But the constant demand of SEETEE SHIP. By Will Stewart. New pulps are storehouses of bad writing. the science-fiction magazines for new, York: Gnome Press. $2.75. After all, H. G. Wells and Arnold Ben not merely carefully worked out, sci GRAY LENSMAN. By Edward E. Smith. nett were published in pulp maga Reading, Penna.: Fantasy Press. $3. entific principles has caused those BULLARD OF THE SPACE PATROL. By zines, and so was C. S. Forester's "Cap principles to become intricate and ab Malcolm Jameson. Cleveland: World tain Horatio Hornblower." A certain struse to such a degree that the two Publishing Co. $2.50. amount of really badly written sci KINSMEN OF THE DRAGON. By Stanley long stories in this volume are ar Mullen. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. ence-fiction does get into the pulps and cane; only the constant reader* of $3.50. out of them again into hard covers, science-fiction will know what is being WINE OF THE DREAMERS. By John D. to be sure; accepted, read, and even MacDonald. New York: Greenberg talked about. That constant reader will Publisher. $2.75. bought for the novelty of the scientific welcome the new Padgett volume, but FOUNDATION. By Isaac Asimov. New idea on which the story is based, or any other will find it heavy and dif York: Gnome Press. $2.75. because of a rapidly-moving story line. ficult. THE HOUSE OF MANY WORLDS. By Sam A fine example in the current batch Merwin, Jr. New York: Doubleday & It is quite as bad with three other CO. $2.75. is "The Blind Spot," by Austin Hall books from the past season's produc THE CITY IN THE SEA. By Wilson and Homer Eon Flint •— not really Tucker. New York: Rinehart & Co. tion—A. E. Van Vogt's "Slan," science-fiction at all, but something $2.50. 'like the other-worldly adventure stor Simak's "Time and Agaiii," and- Will THE PUPPET MASTERS. By Robert A. Stewart's "Seetee Ship." "Slan," Heinlein. New York: Doubleday & ies of the late A. Merritt, with the ob Co. $2.75. ligatory explanation at the end read (a reissue, by the way, but somewhat SPACE ON MY HANDS. By Fredric rewritten) moves rapidly until one Brown. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. ing, "The occult is concrete." It $2.50. jumps maddeningly from character to gets to inquiring what is going on FANCIES AND GOODNIGHTS. By John stock character, the events are not among all these mind shields and Collier. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. atomic flows, and discovers that es $3.50. even faintly plausible, and the dia THE HOLY SINNER. By Thomas Mann. logue comes straight out of mid-Vic sentially it is nothing but good old New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $3.50. Superman of the comic strips, not a NEW TALES OF SPACE AND TIME. Edited torian mellerdramer. But there is by Raymond J. Healy. New York: something doing every minute, even story at all, but a parade of marvels Henry Holt & Co. $3.50. if you cannot understand just what. and without much scientific justifica THE OUTER REACHES. Edited by August Derleth. New York: Pellegrini & In the same category as to literary tion. "Time and Again" is almost a Cudahy. $3.95. quality falls John Taine's "Seeds of superman story, but not quite, be THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION STORIES Life," like "The Blind Spot" a popular cause there is an acceptable explana OF 1951. Edited by Everett E. Bleiler tion of why the superman is super and, and T. E. Dikty. New York: Freder old-timer revived, and not standing ick Fell. $2.95. modern competition very well. Even in addition, it has a pretty nifty treat POSSIBLE WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION. the idea of altering germ plasm by ment of both the eternal recurrence By Groff Conklin. New York: Van hard radiation, which is the central and time-travel themes; clearly the guard Press. $2.95. scientific theme, has become common best of these three. But the science is place and has been exploited by more pretty pseudo, and there is so little at skilful hands. The fact that the story tention given to mere human reactions cosmic, with planetary and inter-plan has nothing to offer in the ideological and so much to cosmic problems that it etary forces tossing around like dust- field brings distressingly to light thfe will make few converts among those motes and often in defiance of known long passages of summary, the weak who are not already members of the scientific fact, which is a violation of dialogue, and the fact that it is only church. The latter will eat it up. An ex the very principles of science-fiction. one more mad-scientist-bent-on-de- amination of "Seetee Ship" puts the But more than that, the people are re stroying-the-world story. finger on some of the reasons why duced to types, there are long and things have been going a little bit pointless meditations and even longer Both these are collector's items, wrong in the science-fiction field this and more pointless conversations. however, good stories when written, past year. It also is overwhelmingly E. E. Smith's "Gray Lensman," and chiefly of nostalgic value today. part of a well-known series, is super- They do not represent the type of cosmic, with all sorts of super beams, bad writing that is the current afflic super seeds, mind forces, and mind tion of science fiction. Lewis Padgett's screens. It follows the classical pat "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" does. tern of a struggle between' good and Now let it be set down that Padgett evil, and guess who wins; that is, it is a highly competent literary crafts is a fairly low-level adventure story. man who knows what dialogue is for, But the series has had an enduring can characterize through action, and is popularity among science-fiction read- PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 2] ers and for a couple of good solid rea sons. Smith never over-writes his dialogue, and there is always some thing happening; really happening, not threatening to happen. In fact, it is possible to oppn "Gray Lensman" at the beginning of any given chapter and read to the end of that chapter without having previously made the acquaintance of any of the entities in it (few of them are human) and with a certain amount of interest in how the thing is going to be worked out. The same is true of "Bullard of the Space Patrol," by the late Malcolm Jameson, which is quite frankly a series of connected shorts and quite as frankly directed at the upper level of adolescent readers. Jameson, a Naval officer himself, has simply and ingeniously altered the problems and customs of the U. S. Navy to what might be encountered in a space navy, taking his Bullard from cadet up to high admiral. The result is really good reading for the age group in tended. The same age group will probably get a heavy charge out of Stanley Mul len's "Kinsmen of the Dragon," but so will the more adult and far larger group who have for years hung on the doorsteps of bookstores panting for the next item in the saga of the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. Rarely have there been wilder goings-on or more of them than in this story, which com bines druidic lore,- the world at the center of the world theory, and the Atlantis legend. Yes, I know; a com bination like that has to be seen to be believed, but there it is. Jacket design for "The Outer Reaches." jects, which is the foreseeable recovery also because he has filled his worlds T this point the borderline is of a technical civilization after a long with perfectly real people whose in A crossed into an area of books period of eclipse, forces him to com dividual fates become important. which have something to say to the press wide historical movements into The purpose is somewhat more seri adult reader who is not a devotee of small fields of action and short spaces ous in Wilson Tucker's story of a re science-fiction and does not intend to of time, and the result is some over mote postatomic world, in which man devote much time to it. I am not sure simplification. But having allowed for has mutated into various species out that John D.

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