{"id":1289,"date":"2016-05-06T21:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T21:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=1289"},"modified":"2016-05-06T21:00:05","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T21:00:05","slug":"astounding-science-fiction-n25n03-may-1940","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=1289","title":{"rendered":"Astounding Science Fiction n25n03, May 1940"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Astounding\"<\/p>\n

Other Reviews:
\nJamie Rubin: Vacation in the Golden Age, Episode 11: May\u00a01940<\/a><\/p>\n

Fiction:
\nSpace Guards<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novella by Philip Francis Nowlan \u2665\u2665
\nThe Last of the Asterites<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Joseph E. Kelleam \u2665\u2665\u2665
\nRim of the Deep<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Clifford D. Simak
\nSpace Double<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Nat Schachner
\nHindsight<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Jack Williamson
\nThe Long Winter<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Raymond Z. Gallun \u2665\u2665
\nFinal Blackout<\/em><\/strong> (Part 2 of 3) \u2022 serial by L. Ron Hubbard \u2665\u2665\u2665+<\/p>\n

Non-fiction:
\nCover<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 Hubert Rogers
\nInternal Artwork<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 Charles Schneeman, Paul Orban, Frank Kramer, Rey Isip,
\nThe Perfect Machine<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 editorial by John W. Campbell, Jr.
\nIn Times to Come<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe Analytical Laboratory: February & March 1940 <\/em><\/strong>
\nAstrochemistry?<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 science article
\nWhacky Design Inevitable<\/em><\/strong>! \u2022 science article
\nBrass Tacks<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 letters
\nScience Discussions<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 science letters
\nHot Filament<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 science article by John W. Campbell, Jr. [as by Arthur McCann]<\/p>\n

There is a change in the cover design with this issue and it is an inelegant one. Previously the magazine name\u00a0has been imposed on top of\u00a0the cover art and the title of the lead story has been at the bottom of the page: now we have the magazine name\u00a0against a solid colour bar, with a rectangle containing the title story and author awkwardly sitting astride the colour bar and the artwork below. This cover design persists until the end of 1941 where it is, from what I can see, replaced by something worse.1<\/sup> More moaning about this as and when I see fit.
\nAs to the cover art itself, it is a fairly muddy looking and poorly\u00a0detailed piece: certainly not Roger\u2019s best work. Schneeman and Kramer once again provide the best of the internal artwork.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

The cover story this issue is Space Guards<\/em><\/strong>, the last work by Philip Francis Nowlan, writer of the Buck Rogers<\/em> series. This tells of Bob and Linda, members of the Space Guard, who are on Venus looking for the criminals Tiger Madden and Valita Lenoir. There follow a number of adventures: their space glider is stolen, they are captured by the natives and then freed to watch their\u00a0spectacular victory over Madden\u2019s forces. Subsequently, the\u00a0pair\u00a0encounter a dinosaur-like \u2018luimok\u2019 en route to Madden\u2019s lair and scare it away using a heat ray, whereupon it attacks an enemy camp. After being forced to kill the creature they discover a survivor, Ainetsu,\u00a0who turns out to be a Martian agent who knows where Madden\u2019s\u00a0secret\u00a0city is.
\nThis takes us about halfway through the story and, as you can probably tell, it continues like this for the remainder. It is all competently enough done but there isn\u2019t a moment where you fear for Bob and Linda\u2019s lives. And there are far too many instances where matters conveniently work in their favour: this is the explanation given by Ainetsu when they meet up after being separated in Madden\u2019s secret city:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe indicator showed the car was down. So, as quickly and silently as I could, I slid the door open enough to slip inside, and closed it quietly after me. I know it sounds unbelievable. But nobody noticed. So up I came!\u201d<\/em> p.48<\/p>\n

It is also quite cheerfully grisly on a number of occasions:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not her own blood,\u201d I explained, \u201cbut that of that animal there.\u201d<\/em>
\nAinetsu turned to stare unbelievingly at the ghastly hole in the side of Linda\u2019s last adversary. \u201cBut what did you do it with?\u201d
\n\u201cMy knuckle-knife, of course,\u201d Linda said testily, holding her arm away from her side with an expression of disgust.<\/em>
\nI showed Ainetsu my own knife, which wasn\u2019t quite so gory, and she marveled at its peculiar construction, with its razor-sharp blade of impervium running across the width of the fist. I told her it was standard\u00a0equipment with the Earth Space Guard for in-fighting.
\n\u201cWhat a viciously effective weapon!\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cAnd clever! Whoever thought it up? Martian recorded history goes back about twenty-five thousand of your years, but I never heard of a weapon like this.\u201d<\/em> p.31<\/p>\n

The Last of the Asterites<\/em><\/strong> is by occasional writer Joseph E. Kelleam.3<\/sup> It is a fairly vivid story about Alph, a member of the mutant Narg species of humanity that inhabit a degenerate Ceres asteroid:<\/p>\n

Below him, nearly twoscore of men and women, all of them tall and long-limbed and slant-browed like Alph were leaping and shouting about something that was writhing and roaring amid the flames. \u201cA captive Trog,\u201d thought Alph, and shuddered when the screams of the tortured one rose higher and higher and were cut off in a thin, bubbling squeak. Since infancy, Alph had been taught to hate the Trogs, but he could never bear to take part in their burnings.<\/em> p.53<\/p>\n

He is later saved from a man-eating plant in the jungle by a woman who would appear to be a normal human, or perhaps a cross between the Nargs and Trogs. He eventually reveals to her the secret of the asteroid control room that his dead guardian entrusted to him. This and other machinery had been used to put Ceres closer to the sun where it had originally functioned as a food factory. At the end of this (spoiler) he loses the woman to the rest of his tribe and decides to set the asteroid\u2019s controls for the heart of the sun….
\nOverall, the quality of this was such that I initially wondered if it was a more established name\u00a0writing under a pseudonym. If the rest of his work was of this standard it is a pity he didn\u2019t write much more.<\/p>\n

The next three stories are pulp dross. Rim of the Deep<\/em><\/strong> by Clifford D. Simak has a hard drinking newsman in a universe where there are prisons on Ganymede but you can still find newspapers with damp ink on them. He ends up under the ocean looking for (as in the Nowlan story) an escaped criminal. Well, it is supposed to be undersea but this is the newsman\u2019s first couple of conversations with a man he meets called Gus:<\/p>\n

Old Gus talked as he brewed the coffee. \u201cA man gets sort of lonesome down here once in a while,\u201d he explained, \u201cand you like some company, even if it ain\u2019t nothing but a thing like Butch. Sharks, now, are\u00a0downright friendly once you get to know them, but they ain\u2019t no account, as pets. They wander too much. You never know where they are. But octopuses are home bodies. Butch lairs out in the cliff back there and comes a-humping every time he sees me.\u201d<\/em> p.69-70<\/p>\n

He goes on to detail the problems in the area:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been too dang many robberies,\u201d said Old Gus. \u201cToo much helling around. This country is getting sort of civilized now and we ain\u2019t going to stand for it much longer.\u201d
\n\u201cYou think there\u2019s a gang of robbers down in that deep?\u201d asked Grant.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the only place they could be,\u201d said Gus. \u201cIt\u2019s bad country and hard to get around in. Lots of caves\u00a0and a couple of canyons that run down to the Big Deep. Dozens of places where a gang could hide.\u201d
\nGus sipped gustily at the coffee. \u201cIt used to be right peaceable down here,\u201d he mourned. \u201cA man could find him a bed of clams and post the place and know it was his. Nobody would touch it. Or you could stake out a radium workings and know that your stakes wouldn\u2019t be pulled up. And if you found an old ship you just slapped up a notice on it saying you had found it and nobody would take so much as a single plank away. But it ain\u2019t that way no more. There\u2019s been a lot of claim jumping and clam beds have been robbed. We kind of figure we\u2019ll have to put a stop to it.\u201d<\/em> p.70<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019ve said enough about this pardner, so\u00a0I\u2019ll just mosey on to the next campfire yarn.<\/p>\n

Space Double<\/em><\/strong> by Nat Schachner is not only poor it is actively bad in places. Two gangsters commission a robot copy of a space captain taking some bullion to wherever. After a while the second in command begins to suspect that all is not well.\u00a0At the end there is\u00a0a ludicrous scene where he dives for a control for the robot double\u2014which just happens to be lying on the floor\u2014while the gangsters have a raygun trained on him. Quite unbelievable. I\u2019ll be interested to see how much longer Schachner survives in Astounding<\/em> before he is tossed overboard for the new generation.
\nThe other thing I noticed about Schachner\u2019s writing is the variability in style and tone. One moment he is in standard pulp mode and the next minute he is writing like this, a scene that happens after the original space captain has escaped from captivity:<\/p>\n

Out on the highway, heedless of the figure he cut, he waved his arms violently. An aerocab was skimming by, close to the ground, its yellow pennant streaming to show it was empty. It twisted violently and dropped beside him. <\/em>
\nDow yanked the door open, darted in. \u201cTo the airport,\u201d he rasped, \u201cand in a hurry!\u201d
\nThe cabby\u2019s eyes popped. In his game he ran across plenty of unusual sights, but a bloody madman in a\u00a0pair of shorts was a bit thick.
\nDow yelled at him. \u201cHurry, you blithering idiot. I\u2019m Captain Dow of the Jovian Line. My ship\u2019s past blasting time. I\u2019ve been shanghaied; my clothes snatched by a brace of blankety-blank horse thieves.\u201d<\/em> p.89<\/p>\n

Apart from anything else, that kind of attitude isn\u2019t going to do much for your Uber rating.
\nHindsight<\/em><\/strong> by Jack Williamson is an awful super-science tale about an Earthman, Brek Veronar, who left his best friend and a girl to work for the tyrannical Astrarch, originally an asteroid pirate or some such who has taken control of the solar system. Years later, they inform Brek they are planning a rebellion against the Astrarch. As you would.
\nBrek ends up in the Astrarch\u2019s fleet and they lose the space battle as their weapon auto-sights aren\u2019t as good as the rebel’s ones. Brek then tells the Astrarch he can alter events in the past so they do not lose\u2026.
\nI\u2019ve remarked before about the poor quality of some of the stories in these 1940s Astounding<\/em>s, but it is a bit of a surprise to find three of them in a row.<\/p>\n

Matters improve with The Long Winter<\/em><\/strong> by Raymond Z. Gallun. Viborg, a member of an expedition to Uranus, decides to kill all the other members of the team so all the glory will be his. He opens a small hole in the wall of their shelter to allow frozen methane to enter and eventually be ignited by an electrical short circuit. Matters do not proceed as he planned.<\/p>\n

The last piece of fiction in the issue, the second part of L. Ron Hubbard\u2019s serial, is also the best. Final Blackout<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is a completely different work from the other stories, even the better ones. It has a seriousness of style and tone\u00a0as well as\u00a0a grimness that the others don\u2019t come close to. This passage occurs as the Lieutenant makes his way to GHQ through a Europe where hundreds of millions have died:<\/p>\n

The lieutenant caught sight of the Weasel\u2019s runner signaling him ahead from the side of an overturned railroad car. He quickened his pace and followed the fellow up to the vanguard.
\nWeasel, his small self very still, pointed mutely to a crazily suspended railroad rail which jutted out from a wall like a gibbet. And it was a gibbet.
\nFour soldiers, their necks drawn out to twice their length, were rotting in their uniforms, swaying to and fro in the gentle wind. Below them was a painted scrawl upon the stone:<\/em>
\nSOLDIERS! MOVE ON!<\/em>
\n\u201cBritish,\u201d whispered Pollard, coming up.<\/em> p.124-5<\/p>\n

The Lieutenant eventually arrives at GHQ and, as expected, is relieved of his command. When he returns to his billet he finds two other officers who have had the same happen to them. Subsequently, his men mutiny and take control of the underground fort. The Lieutenant later reveals to his men that his willingness to go to GHQ was so that he could increase the size of his brigade and get better equipment and munitions.
\nAs they leave the fort, and the staff officers and troops the Lieutenant didn\u2019t want, Colonel Smythe tells the General that he thinks that the brigade is heading for England and that they should warn them.<\/p>\n

The non-fiction this issue is the usual assortment.
\nThe Perfect Machine<\/em><\/strong>, the editorial by John W. Campbell, Jr., is about how machines should become simpler to use as they become more advanced. Tell that to any grandparent with a new smartphone. Campbell, under his McCann pseudonym, also contributes a science article, Hot Filament<\/em><\/strong>, on the failure of two hypotheses of planetary formation (contracting sun and star collision theories). There are a couple of short science squibs, Astrochemistry?<\/em><\/strong> and Whacky Design Inevitable!<\/strong><\/em>, which are probably by Campbell too. \u2018McCann\u2019 also has a letter in Science Discussions<\/em><\/strong> alongside a couple of letters taking the science in Ross Rocklynne\u2019s and A. M. Phillip\u2019s stories to bits. Interesting that the correspondents then say they really enjoyed the stories!
\nIn Times to Come<\/em><\/strong> is mostly a puff piece for a science article on a new science, but also mentions the new Heinlein and Knight stories.
\nThe Analytical Laboratory: February & March 1940 <\/em><\/strong>is quite annoying.4<\/sup> Both the February and March stories are ranked almost exactly in length order. Also, how does de Camp\u2019s The Emancipated<\/em> manage to place behind Schachner\u2019s Cold<\/em> for goodness sake?
\nFinally there is an interesting Brass Tacks<\/em><\/strong> letter column. Ralph C. Hamilton of Wooster, Ohio has a long letter about the improving quality of the magazine:<\/p>\n

There has been a gradual evolution of the old into the new; and although it is impossible to say just when the new arrived, the awareness has come that it is here.<\/em> p.148<\/p>\n

He puts this down to the fact the stories are well written, mature, realistic and original. He also mentions the illustrations:<\/p>\n

On the whole, however, the Illustrations are better balanced, saner and of a higher artistic quality, although they have not yet reached the level of the stories. They are probably the weakest point of the magazine.<\/em> p.148<\/p>\n

Lastly, he mentions his reservations about Heinlein\u2019s If This Goes On\u2014<\/em>:<\/p>\n

But I can\u2019t escape the feeling that someone performed a major operation and amputation on the last part of the story; it was bowling along in great style, giving promise of many things yet to come\u2014when it staggered, slumped, and fell with a thud.<\/em> p.148<\/p>\n

An interesting letter, and Campbell mentions there is a sequel in hand, Coventry<\/em>. A couple of the other correspondents single out Heinlein and de Camp for praise.
\nThe back page has a cigarette advertisement5<\/sup> which, by today\u2019s standards, seems quite incongruous.<\/p>\n

Overall, an OK to poor issue.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Astounding<\/em> cover index<\/a> at Galactic Central.<\/li>\n
  2. A fine grisly piece by Charles Schneeman:\"Astounding\"<\/li>\n
  3. Joseph Kelleam\u2019s bibliography is at ISFDB<\/a>. Three stories in Astounding<\/em> and one in Avon Fantasy Reader<\/em> in the thirties and forties, a couple of stories and a couple of short novels sold to Cele Goldsmith at Amazing<\/em> and Fantastic<\/em> in the late fifties\/early sixties, and a couple of other novels was pretty much all there was.<\/li>\n
  4. Analytical Laboratory<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0ratings for\u00a0February in ranked order:
    \nIf This Goes On\u2014<\/em>, Robert A. Heinlein
    \nAnd Then There Was One<\/em>, Ross Rocklynne
    \nThe Professor Was a Thief<\/em>, L. Ron Hubbard
    \nLocked Out<\/em>, H. B. Fyfe
    \nBombardment in Reverse<\/em>, Norman I. Knight
    \nAnalytical Laboratory<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0ratings for March in ranked order:
    \nIf This Goes On\u2014<\/em>, Robert A. Heinlein
    \nCold<\/em>, Nat Schachner
    \nThe Emancipated<\/em>, L. Sprague de Camp
    \nA Chapter From The Beginning<\/em>, A. M. Phillips
    \nIn The Good Old Summertime<\/em>, P. Schuyler Miller<\/li>\n
  5. That cigarette advertisment (I am having a fag<\/em>….):\"Astounding\"<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\"rss\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Other Reviews: Jamie Rubin: Vacation in the Golden Age, Episode 11: May\u00a01940 Fiction: Space Guards \u2022 novella by Philip Francis Nowlan \u2665\u2665 The Last of the Asterites \u2022 short story by Joseph E. Kelleam \u2665\u2665\u2665 Rim of the Deep \u2022 novelette by Clifford D. Simak Space Double \u2022 novelette by Nat Schachner Hindsight \u2022 short […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astounding"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pcj7-kN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1289"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1300,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289\/revisions\/1300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}