Q->

Theodore Sturgeon was an odd man. But then, all writers are odd, if not completely loony. Ernest Hemingway ended his life by sucking on a shotgun, and Hunter S. Thompson did the same thing. I intend no disrespect. In fact, I have a great deal of admiration for Sturgeon’s writing ability. He not only wrote great science fiction, he did mystery, nonfiction, and poetry successfully. He just had some quirky characteristics, like Q->. He said this symbol means, “ask the next question.”  OK, but why not just ask the next question? Why take a simple idea and create a pictograph to represent it. Maybe it was the times. He did come up with this in the 60’s when the peace sign was popular. And that cross looking thing with the loop at the top, I still don’t know what the hell that one means. I’ve often wondered if Prince got the idea for his “symbol” phase from Theodore Sturgeon. They look kind of similar.

The point is: I’m an American, and you know what they say about us. We only speak one language, and that one not too well. Sturgeon was an American and he should have understood our mutual short coming.

Based on everything I’ve read about Theodore Sturgeon, he had a great sense of humor. So, I’m sure, wherever in the universe he is, he’s looking down with a big grin, giving me the uplifted middle finger symbol.

Sleeping With The Lights On

Rod Serling was the coolest guy when I was a kid. Unfiltered cigarette in hand, neatly tailored suit, fresh haircut. He looked like one of the Rat pack. Frank, Sammy, Dean, and Rod has a nice ring to it; like John, Paul, George and Ringo. There is one big difference though, Frank, Sammy and Dean didn’t scare me shitless, Rod did.

The Twilight Zone was an anomaly. It was an exercise in intellectual sophistication that was almost nonexistent in the late fifties, early sixties. Serling’s scripts had deeper meaning than the surface story. He dealt with issues of racism, bigotry, and intolerance in a subtle manner. You never felt preached at, and it was entertainingly scary too.

To this day I can’t watch It’s A Good Life without looking away when Billy Mumy turns that guy into a jack in the box. The first time I saw it, I had nightmares for a week. It’s not that the scene is so scary, the image is shown only in shadow, its how my imagination made it more horrendous than the actual image would have been. I’m sure Serling knew this and that just shows what an artists he was. Of course Jerome Bixby’s script was great too.

Night Call is the episode that made my butt pucker. When you’re seven and your parents tell you not to watch something, you should listen. I sneaked into my older brothers room, where there was a small TV, and watched anyway.  I actually peed myself because I was too afraid to go into the dark hallway where the bathroom was. Many years later, my mother told my wife  about this incident. So my wife, having a rather sophomoric sense of  humor, set the ring tone on her phone to the old style, like in the show, and gets  special amusement setting it off in the middle of the night. Guess I’ll never live that one down.

All things considered, I think it was worth the trauma of  personal humiliation at the hands of people I love, and the inability to sleep in the dark until I was eighteen to experience this one of a kind Television show.

L. Ron Hubbard: A Matter of Matter

Even though this blog is about science fiction, particularly the golden age, you won’t find anything about L. Ron Hubbard. There are two reasons for this deliberate oversight. First, I have always been a firm believer in: “If you can’t say something nice about someone don’t say anything at all.” Second, I don’t want those NICE PEOPLE at Scientology getting upset with me. I’m nuttier than a squirrel turd to begin with. So, I don’t need my paranoia aggravated. However, I recently came across an August 1949 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and there, on page 59 was

A Matter of Matter by L. Ron Hubbard.

I have always considered Hubbard a mediocre writer. So, I reluctantly read the fourteen pages. Boy, talk about insight into the mind that developed a world wide religion….philosophy….whatever. The basic story is about a guy, Chuck , that gets swindled in an intergalactic real estate deal by a guy named Madman Murphy. With pedestrian plot twists and turns, Chuck ends up rich and famous, with the girl …Yada,Yada,Yada. All very predictable. What struck me, among other things is a bit on page sixty nine. Shortly after coming in contact with the easily manipulated indigenous inhabitants of “his” newly purchased planet, Hubbard writes, “Instantly Chuck knew he was a god. Now there have been many men in the human race who have found themselves gods and never once has it failed to bolster their drooping spirits nor spur their lagging wits.” You have to remember he wrote this while developing Dianetics and a few years before he actually enlightened the world with his revelations.

The perplexing thing to me is how John Campbell, a great editor and writer himself, allowed this crap in his magazine in the first place. Maybe, just maybe, Ron cast a spell on him. You know, from his days as a follower of Allister Crowley.

Of Time and Third Avenue: It’s Science Fiction Dammit!

If you are into science fiction you know Alfred Bester is the author of The Demolished Man. It consistently ranks first among fans, critics, and fellow writers as all time best Scifi novel. If you don’t believe me, take a look at James Wallace Harris’s site where he laboriously analysed the data and posted the results. I like The Demolished Man; I liked it so much I read it twice. However, it’s not my favorite novel. That’s neither here nor there. This post is about his short story, Of Time and Third Avenue.

Bester says in the introduction to Of Time and Third Avenue that he always did an extensive outline before he began to actually write. The exception was this funny, original short story. Bester explains his reason for this deviation as originally planning to write a story about his favorite watering hole. Something happened and the story wasn’t written. Some time later, feeling disgusted with the state of “knowledge of the future” tales, he sat in front of his Smith Corona and began banging the keys. The result was Of Time and Third Avenue. He’s right about these “temporal displacement” themes (I got that from Star Trek). Even today there is a rehashing of this tired and predictable line. TV shows, movies, you name it and somebody, somewhere has done it. Hell, several years ago I was in Thailand and there was a mini-series on that dealt with, you got it, knowledge of the future. I have to admit though Bester did about as good a job as any I have ever read. The story is humorous, original, and most important entertaining.  Alfred had a sardonic wit he reveals in a statement about having to go to the bank in order to find out who’s picture is on a hundred dollar bill. If you read the story you’ll get it.

I have an on going argument with a friend about which genre this story should be in. My friend says it’s fantasy. I say science fiction. My reasoning is that most fantasy gives me projectile vomiting, explosive diarrhea and erectile dysfunction. Of Time and Third Avenue gives me none of these. So, logically I must be right. It’s science fiction dammit!

The “War Effect” and Cyril M Kornbluth

A while back Charlie Jane Anders at io9 did a piece on how serving in the military influenced science fiction writers. She did a good job. However, since my interest is in the golden age writers, I thought a world war two veteran would be a good subject to analyse.

Most science fiction writers of the post world war era served in one capacity or another; some in civilian jobs, and a very few in combat. This latter esoteric group contains an author I have always admired for his unique style. He not only served in combat,  he was decorated for bravery.

Cyril M Kornbluth received a Bronze star and at the same time a chronic heart condition during the Battle of the Bulge. Fred Pohl, Kornbluth’s friend and writing partner says Cyril wouldn’t talk about his experience as a heavy machine gunner. Evidently his commanding officer was impressed enough with Cyril’s action during the battle to nominate him for the fifth highest combat decoration the United States awards her service personal. Undoubtedly, the experience traumatize Kornbluth. I am quite sure he saw his share of dead and mutilated men,  men cracking under the strain of combat, and all the other madness that occurs in war . Rather than portraying men that couldn’t “take it” as cowards, he exhibits compassion for them in his writing.  He probably knew it could  just as easily have been him.

One of his post war stories, The Quaker Cannon,  has as it’s protagonist an officer captured and tortured twice; both times he breaks and reveals what he knows to the enemy. This soldier is treated with a great deal of empathy by the author, revealing an understanding for those that could not hold up under strain. In fact, this character receives the Distinguished Service Cross. Perhaps giving this character a decoration higher than the one he received shows more than empathetic understanding. Perhaps he is expressing the “why me?” so many men that survive war ask.

Another of Kornbluth’s stories that allows us to gain some insight into the influence his war experience  had  on his writing is The Silly Season. The title refers to a term used in journalism for a period, usually in summer, when decent news stories are in short supply, and not quite news worthy stuff gets printed. This story’s main character is a journalist investigating unusual happening in the Midwest that begin during the “silly season” of late summer.  A few pages in Kornbluth introduces a secondary character that was once a rising star in journalism. Blinded while serving as a combat correspondent, he returns to his hometown and resumes a “normal”  life. He is the one that breaks the story of the strange occurrences, and ultimately is the only one that understands what is actually happening. It seems obvious that Cyril Kornbluth is encouraging men, wounded so severely, to live a productive life.

Combat changes values and perspectives. Some men become hard and cynical accepting death as inevitable. Others see death and destruction as happening to those around them but not to themselves. This is done as a means of managing the constant threat of sudden oblivion and keeping ones sanity in an insane situation. A few can’t develop a coping mechanism at all and loose their ability to reason.  All are permanently scarred either physically or mentally; some just hide it better than others.

Cyril M. Kornbluth died suddenly at the age of 35. Whether his heart condition was cause by exposure during Hitler’s last gasp or just aggravated by it we’ll never known. The point is he died a young man. If he had taken better care of himself or not shoveled the snow from his driveway that morning maybe he would have lived another 40 or 50 years…or maybe not. One thing is for certain the world of science fiction in particular, and the world in general would be a much richer place if he were around….. even a little longer.

The Greatest Science Fiction Writer You Never Heard Of

The July 1949 issue of Astounding Science Fiction introduced James H. Schmitz as a new author. It also introduced the world to his genius as a writer.  Agent of  Vega  is one of the best novelettes of the period. Crafted in a way that few of his contemporaries could have equaled. This “Space Opera” is unique and very original.

Schmitz creates a universe where humans and other sentient beings live and work together in a harmonious  and cooperative society. They have formed special operatives to keep criminals at bay. These “agents” are recruited from member worlds of the Vegan confederacy. Most are human or human descended species with allied aliens.  The plot twists and turns are intricate; yet, Schmitz does an excellent job of explaining what is happening, and so, the story flows smoothly.

Agent of Vega is the first of four stories based on the Vega confederacy. In my opinion it is the best of the group.

James H. Schmitz, the man, is something of an enigma. Born in Germany to American parents. The family left shortly before the Nazi’s embarked on world conquest in 1938, and returned to America. James served the US military in the Pacific theater. He seems to have written Greenface(Unknown Worlds 1943), his first published work, during this period. It was another six years before Agent of Vega would see print.  During this early period Schmitz apparently didn’t have that “passion” to write most authors have. Whether it was a fear of not being able to make a living as a writer or difficulty finding his muse is something we will never know. The success of Agent of Vega must have been what he needed because he became a productive writer shortly after its publication.

Schmitz died at the relatively young age of 70, from complications related to emphysema. He left behind a collection of work any author would be proud of. I just can’t understand why he never got the respect he deserved.

Arthur C. Clarke must have been one hell of a poker player

I have always enjoyed games of strategy and tactics. I suppose that’s why I like a good hand of poker. 

 Arthur C. Clarke must have enjoyed strategy and tactics as well. Two of his short stories, Hide and Seek and Superiority are both built around S&T.

Hide and Seek (1949) is about using what you have to get the job done. It concerns a spy trying to evade capture in an almost hopeless situation.  The lone fugitive is well aware of his enemies superior technology and is able to use this knowledge to his advantage. The enemy is continually frustrated and baffled by the weaker opponent’s  tactics until finally giving up and leaving.  As in poker, the guy with nothing in his hand is able to win by keeping his cards close to his vest and bluffing his way to victory. Incidentally, there is also a surprising twist at the end that kind of tweaks the nose of stuffed shirts everywhere.

This allegory not only reveals Clarke’s tactical ability, it reflects his preference for the underdog as well. Since this story was written shortly after the second world war, I suppose you can extrapolate the events to that of the British and Axis early in the conflict. Think Battle of Briton.

Superiority (1951) is a lesson in poor planning and execution; you could say it is the antonym of  Hide and Seek. To use the poker analogy again, its like a player with a full house throwing in his cards hoping  to draw a straight flush.

The narrator is on trial for losing a war he should have won. He explains to the court how every strategy was thwarted by defective technology. It sort of reminds me of some CIO getting his butt reamed by the board of directors for deploying too quickly.

This is a humorous tale reminiscent of William Tenn’s Liberation of Earth. The biggest laugh is at the end.

As I am sure you can tell, I’m an admirer of Clarke’s. Most famous for his Space Odyssey series, which is a truly fantastic work, he also wrote great short stories. Hide and Seek along with Superiority are just two of them.

I know one thing for certain, I wouldn’t have played Texas Holdem with this guy.

Betty Curtis: Mistress of the Android Parable

I collect old science fiction magazines. Not as an investment. You can buy them for five or ten bucks on Ebay. I collect them for the great short stories. Sometimes by famous, sometimes by obscure authors. It’s kind of like Forrest Gump’s momma said about life; you never know what you’re going to get. Most of the time the surprise is a good one though.

The August 1951 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction is a good example. Arthur C. Clark’s Superiority was first published in this issue, along with A Peculiar People, Betty Curtis’s android moral tale.

Ms. Curtis is vastly underrated. Her style is more sophisticated than most of the Scifi writers of the time. Characterization is subtle, yet complete. The men are sensitive and the women are strong. Both of which were incongruous in  forties and  fifties science fiction literature. That said, the plot development is just as good or better than most of her male contemporaries. Putting her on  par with the likes of Asimov; considered the master of robot tales.

In many ways Betty Curtis reminds me of Philip K. Dick. The idea of asking, “What is human?” is closely associated with PKD’s work, and Ms. Curtis does a really good job of making the reader feel empathy for the droids in A Peculiar People. This makes the fine line between human and machine even more obscure.

Finding a copy of this magazine might be difficult. However, Betty Curtis was included in some anthologies in the past, and it would be worth the effort to find one with A Peculiar People in the table of contents.

Samsung Wearable Device will put them in front of Apple

I was just looking at the new Samsung wrist wear at Tuvie.  Something tells me this is going to be a BIG seller. Apple had better get their butts in gear or get it chewed off by the big S.

Murray Leinster: Visionary, Prophet, Futurist

Murray Leinster’s 1946 short story A Logic Named Joe may have seemed quixotic at the time. However, it truly is amazing how closely it reflects the world today.

I first read this story in a collection put together by Issac Asimov in the mid-eighties, titled The Best Science Fiction Firsts. At the time the public internet didn’t exist. So, Asimov listed it as the first Scifi story to mention PC’s. If only Issac had lived to see just how accurate Leinster described not only computers, but the web, data centers, and a singularity type situation. 

In fifteen short pages the author tells the tell of a maintenance man  trying to track down a PC that has somehow become self-aware, and is causing a great deal of havoc, not only across the web, but in his personal life as well. The language is rather dated, understandably so, since it was written nearly seventy years ago. However, the story is well worth the read if you can get your hands on a copy.