Recently a trip to Half-Price Books resulted in a sweet
find for me. Two stacks of various vintage science fiction magazines. Among
them are Satellite Science Fiction, Infinity Science Fiction, and If
Worlds of Science Fiction, all from the 1950s. They were bundled and
wrapped in plastic, and I could only see the spines of each issue but I liked
the titles and the price was too good to pass up. I figured that at the worst I’d
have some cool covers to admire. Getting home and opening the bundle I was
delighted to find stories by Robert Silverberg, James Blish, Algis Budrys,
Philip K. Dick and Arthur C. Clarke among many other names new to me. All of
the magazines were in fine reading condition and most had that wonderful
old-paper smell that’s like a drug to book addicts like me. Here is a look at
the first one that I sampled.
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| Vol. 3, No. 5, June 1958. Cover by Ed Emsh |
Recalled to Life – Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg has become one of my favorite (Science
Fiction) writers purely because he makes his novels and stories seem
effortless. That comes only with millions of words pounded into a typewriter
and years of dedication. I know I’m several decades late to the party but it’s
a real treat to read his novels now. I’ve had some personal hangups with a lot
of Sci-Fi which I may or may not get to here. Silverberg has surmounted those
and made reading Sci-Fi both fun and thought provoking. The first part of “Recalled
to Life” is no exception. Former governor turned attorney, James Harker, (a nod
to Jonathan Harker from Dracula?) is approached by one Dr. Lurie on behalf of
Beller Research Laboratories seeking a legal advisor. For the past 8 years Beller
Labs has been working on a method for resuscitating the recently dead. Of
course this research has been undertaken in the utmost secrecy. Now, having achieved
successful results, Beller Labs is ready to announce their achievement to the
public. Harker’s job is to maneuver through the inevitable political and
religious fallout that will ensue upon the announcement. Harker takes the job,
with misgivings, and soon learns that Beller Laboratories is undergoing
something of an internal power struggle of its own. Part One of the novel ends
on a cliff-hanger as Harker learns that not all resuscitations are achieved
with ideal results. Questions of the mind, the soul and the role of science as
God abound. Luckily, I have the next issue of Infinity that concludes “Recalled
to Life”, so I can find out how it all ends.
But Who Can Replace a Man? – Brian W. Aldiss
I’d heard of this story from a Brian Aldiss collection by
the same name. I’m pretty sure I had that same collection way back when, but
never read this story until now. It’s a cool little story about the delemna
faced by robots after man’s extinction. The robots only know service to man,
and have developed, or had been programmed with, a caste system of their own,
mandating a pecking order among them. There are no “Three Laws of Robotics”
hampering anyone in this cynical story. I’m looking forward to reading more
Brian Aldiss in the future.
Pangborn’s Paradox – David Mason
This short story is a riff on the time travel paradox
about traveling back in time and killing one’s grandfather. A group of eggheads
debate the theory, and as luck would have it, one of them has actually invented
a time machine to play the experiment out. It has a nice twist at the end.
The Way Out – Richard R. Smith
This one is a cool “military” sci-fi story about a
conflict between man and a race of lizard-like aliens named Antarians. It seems that men who’ve been captured by the Antarians
have been giving up military secrets under psychic and physical torture. A
certain Colonel Donovan has been tasked to oversee a project that will enable
soldiers to withstand any torture without divulging classified information.
There are “Catch-22” motifs that soldiers must abide, madness and the
nature of reality and fantasy that make this story the best one in the issue,
not counting Silverberg’s novel.
The High Ones – Poul Anderson
And lastly we come to Poul Anderson’s contribution.
Anderson had a huge hurdle to cross with me after reading his stinker novel Virgin Planet. This story did nothing to elevate his stuff for me. Every attempt
at reading Anderson reminds me what I hate about some vintage (and recent) Science
Fiction. I don’t know if he’s popular or not among fans anymore, but I do know
that scads of his books can be found in any used bookstore in any state. This story is no different from the Virgin
Planet experience. The first page in was like trying to read a first
draft of prose too cute with whole paragraphs missing from it. Jarring shifts
in scenes, characters chattering between themselves without propelling the
story, too many exclamation points!, 8th grade nerd dialog and...I
shitcanned it without going any further.
So, in summing up, this early issue of Infinity was a
nice read. I have a fondness for vintage, mid-century takes on genre fiction,
clearly, and these pieces totally lived up to my expectations. I’m eagerly
looking forward to reading the other issues I’ve got.
I grew up reading the digests in the '50s, and I always liked Infinity. Some wonderful stories in those issues.
ReplyDeleteI love INFINITY and I still remember buying the first issue off the newsstand. And I love that old paper smell also! Each pulp title had a distinct scent different from every other title. The digests really smelled good, especially GALAXY.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments! Yes, I am very happy with finding these old digests. Granted that even if some of the stories may be dated it takes nothing away from the fun of reading them. That's funny about the smell of Galaxy. Unfortunately I didn't get any of those old issues in these collections.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the digest magazines to the old pulp SF, and collect them with pleasure. Because I live hundreds of miles from any bookstores that handle the older magazines, I pick up duplicates when I can in order to trade with other collectors. That means I end up with thousands of duplicates along the way (LOL), but finding other collectors has been extremely difficult (sigh).
ReplyDeleteTom, I'm a novice to reading this digest magazines. I have a few pulps from the 30's and 40's (Astounding and Amazing) but I'm inclined to agree with you. I can't imagine having hundreds of them, but it would be awesome if I did! I will definitely keep an I out for more of the 50's and 60's digests from now on. Thanks for the comment!
DeleteGALAXY was, from early on, published by its printer, so might've had an even more "fresh" from the presses scent than the others...particularly when the KromeKote cover stock was factored in.
ReplyDeleteINFINITY averaged the best of those three magazines in the '50s, even when Shaw was editing IF...which by the end of the '50s had been bought by the GALAXY folks and would be a sibling magazine till the end of 1974, and absorption.
ReplyDeleteAnd, fwiw, that's a Late issue of INFINITY as well...INFINITY didn't last too long; Larry Shaw moved on to Lancer Books, where Robert Hoskins was allowed to start a short original-fiction anthology series called INFINITY in the early '70s, as a sort of continuation of the magazine. I should double-check, but I think it had four volumes and it was done, as well.
ReplyDeleteBetween INFINITY (and SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURES, its stablemate...one of several distinct magazines with that title) and Lancer Books (where Shaw helped get Conan the Barbarian's general-public popularity going), Shaw edited and largely wrote some amiable imitations of FAMOUS MONSTERS with such titles as MONSTERS AND THINGS...
ReplyDeleteTodd, Thanks for the info on Infinity and Galaxy. I'd heard of Infinity and Larry Shaw but really new nothing of their history. I appreciate you stopping by and providing background.
ReplyDelete