{"id":1858,"date":"2016-08-28T22:16:08","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T22:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=1858"},"modified":"2019-06-08T14:04:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T14:04:23","slug":"the-magazine-of-fantasy-and-science-fiction-145-june-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=1858","title":{"rendered":"The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction #145, June 1963"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FSF196306ax600\"<\/p>\n

ISFDB<\/a> link<\/p>\n

Other reviews:
\nAdmiral Ironbombs, Battered, Tattered, Yellowed, & Creased<\/a>
\nGideon Marcus, Galactic Journey<\/a><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Executive Editor, Avram Davidson; Managing Editor, Edward L. Ferman<\/p>\n

Fiction:
\nNo Truce With Kings<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novella by Poul Anderson \u2217\u2217\u2217\u2217<\/strong>
\nPushover Planet<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Con Pederson –
\nGreen Magic<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Jack Vance \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nThe Weremartini<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Vance Aandahl \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nThrough Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot: LXIII<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Reginald Bretnor [as by Grendel Briarton]
\nBokko-Chan<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Shinichi Hoshi [translated by Noriyoshi Saito] \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\n\u2019Tis the Season to Be Jelly<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Richard Matheson \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nAnother Rib<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Juanita Coulson and Marion Zimmer Bradley [as by John Jay Wells and Marion Zimmer Bradley] \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong><\/p>\n

Non-fiction:
\nBooks<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Avram Davidson
\nStarlesque<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 poem by Walter H. Kerr
\nThe Light That Failed!<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 essay by Isaac Asimov
\nThere Are No More Good Stories About Mars Because We Need No More Good Stories About Mars<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 poem by Brian W. Aldiss
\nIndex to Volume Twenty-Four \u2014 January-June 1963 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

I had intended to get back to modern magazines with this review but noticed that there was a one issue hole between the Ray Bradbury special I\u2019d just read (F&SF<\/em>, May 1963) and the reviews I\u2019d done for\u00a0Heinlein\u2019s serial Glory Road<\/em> (F&SF<\/em>, July-September 1963). So, I pulled out the issue in question, and when I saw the lovely Emsh cover1<\/sup>, and that it contained Poul Anderson\u2019s No Truce With Kings<\/em><\/strong>, that was the next couple of days\u2019 reading sorted . . . .
\nAnderson\u2019s novella has a number of story elements that are, to be honest, quite hackneyed: a post-holocaust world that has a balkanised USA, armed militias that use firearms and swords, an order of telepathic Espers whose psionic ability is dependent on extra-terrestrial technology, etc. While there is a touch of the kitchen sink about all this Anderson manages to blend this into a remarkably good example of what I think is now called \u2018the good old stuff,\u2019 and the story won the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction.
\nThe story opens in Fort Nakamura, a heavily fortified keep of the Pacific States of America, with a Colonel James Mackenzie receiving a signal that tells of changes to the political and army leaders out West. This starts a civil war between those that want to reunite the whole of the United States versus those that want the status quo of smaller feudal communities or \u2018bossdoms.\u2019
\nThe story thereafter is centred around the various military engagements that occur between the two sides, something which is given more emotional depth than usual in this type of tale by two factors: the first is that Colonel Mackenzie is on one side of the conflict and his daughter and son-in-law are on the other; the second is the war-weariness that is described by Mackenzie later on in the narrative:<\/p>\n

He would endure in the chronicles, that colonel, they would sing ballads about him for half a thousand years.
\nOnly it didn\u2019t feel that way. James Mackenzie knew he was not much more than average bright under the best of conditions, now dull-minded with weariness and terrified of his daughter\u2019s fate. For himself he was haunted by the fear of certain crippling wounds. Often he had to drink himself to sleep. He was shaved, because an officer must maintain appearances, but realized very well that if he hadn\u2019t had an orderly to do the job for him he would be as shaggy as any buck private. His uniform was faded and threadbare, his body\u00a0stank and itched, his mouth yearned for tobacco but there had been some trouble in the commissariat and they were lucky to eat. His achievements amounted to patchwork jobs carried out in utter confusion, or to slogging like this and wishing only for an end to the whole mess. One day, win or lose, his body would give out on him\u2014he could feel the machinery wearing to pieces, arthritic twinges, shortness of breath, dozing off in the middle of things and the termination of himself would be as undignified and lonely as that of every other human slob. Hero? What an all time laugh! p.43<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Between the two sides, supposedly, are the Esper order, a group who have historically unleashed deadly \u2018psi-blasts\u2019 when their communities have been attacked. Although supposedly neutral they are controlled by extraterrestrials who are using their science of psychodynamics to control the future development of humanity to become a more peaceful species. However, the Espers eventually enter the fray in an exciting climactic battle south of San Francisco that is fought with a mixture of firearms, swords, cavalry, artillery and psi-blasts!
\nIf you are looking for an entertaining old-fashioned read to lose yourself in for a couple of hours this one is recommended.
\nAnother story of particular note in this issue is Green Magic<\/em><\/strong> by Jack Vance. This is a highly original fantasy about Howard Fair, who finds his great uncle\u2019s journal and its descriptions of his experiments in purple and green magic. Although Fair is experienced in the cycles of white, black and purple magic he has never heard of green magic and starts researching the matter. His initial work affords him a short audience with a green sprite:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat,\u201d he asked, \u201cis the green cycle like? What is its physical semblance?\u201d The sprite paused to consider. Glistening mother-of-pearl films wandered across its face, reflecting the tinge of its thoughts. \u201cI\u2019m rather severely restricted by your use of the word \u2018physical.\u2019 And \u2018semblance\u2019 involves a subjective interpretation, which changes with the rise and fall of the seconds.\u201d
\n\u201cBy all means,\u201d Fair said hastily, \u201cdescribe it in your own words.\u201d
\n\u201cWell\u2014we have four different regions, two of which floresce from the basic skeleton of the universe, and so subsede the others. The first of these is compressed and isthiated, but is notable for its wide pools of mottle which we use sometimes for deranging stations. We\u2019ve transplaned club-mosses from Earth\u2019s Devonian and a few ice-fires from Perdition. They climb among the rods which we call devil-hair\u2014\u201d he went on for several minutes but the meaning almost entirely escaped Fair. And it seemed as if the question by which he had hoped to break the ice might run away with the entire interview. p.73-74<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Needless to say Fast makes no progress, and the interview ends with his request to be taught green magic declined by the sprite as he bears Fast \u2018no particular animosity.\u2019
\nFast continues his investigations, initially with a golem created from a miniature television camera, a beer-bottle top and graveyard clay, which he sends into the green realm. After the unintentional damage caused by the golem\u2019s visit, two sprites petition Fast to desist, acceding to his request to learn green magic.
\nThis is a strikingly original work. What is particularly impressive is the vastness and complexity of the fantastical world that Vance hints at but sparingly describes. As Avram Davidson says in his introduction:<\/p>\n

We would like to know more about merrihews, sandestins, and magners, creatures benign and malignant which Jack Vance merely mentions in passing. We would like to know more about the Egg of Innocence, which [Howard] Fair broke open, disturbing among the Spiral towers. But it may be just as well that we do not. p.71<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If I have one minor criticism it is that I found the ending a little weak, although it mordantly observes there are worse things in life than boredom and misery….
\nIf two very good stories in one issue weren\u2019t enough there are another three items that aren\u2019t bad at all.
\nThe Weremartini<\/em><\/strong> by Vance Aandahl, believe it or not, has a title that is an accurate description of the story\u2019s narrator, a university professor who can change into a martini. During the story he sensuously describes the change process and goes on to detail the crush he has on one of the young students in his English class. He eventually (spoiler) uses his \u2018gift\u2019 to possess her, but not for the reasons you may think.
\n\u2018Tis the Season to Be Jelly<\/em><\/strong> by Richard Matheson would seem to be a post-holocaust story about hillbilly mutants who have parts of their bodies falling off:<\/p>\n

Pa\u2019s nose fell off at breakfast. It fell right into Ma\u2019s coffee and displaced it. Prunella\u2019s wheeze blew out the gut lamp.
\n\u201cLand o\u2019 goshen, dad,\u201d Ma said, in the gloom, \u201cIf ya know\u2019d it was ready t\u2019plop whyn\u2019t ya tap it off y\u2019self?\u201d
\n\u201cDidn\u2019t know,\u201d said Pa.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s what ya said the last time, Paw,\u201d said Luke, choking on his bark bread.
\nUncle Rock snapped his fingers beside the lamp. Prunella\u2019s wheezing shot the flicker out.
\n\u201cShet off ya laughin\u2019, gal,\u201d scolded Ma. Prunella toppling off her rock in a flurry of stumps, spilling liverwort mush.
\n\u201cTarnation take it!\u201d said Uncle Eyes.
\n\u201cWell, combust the wick, combust the wick!\u201d demanded Grampa who was reading when the light went out. Prunella wheezed, thrashing on the dirt.
\nUncle Rock got sparks again and lit the lamp. p.107<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As you can probably gather, the style and jocular ghastliness are the high points here.
\nAnother Rib<\/em><\/strong> by Juanita Coulson and Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of Davidson\u2019s \u2018pushing the genre envelope\u2019 stories, and he states\u00a0in the introduction that the writers have \u2018taken an admittedly daring theme and dealt with it in good sense and good taste.\u2019 p.111
\nIt tells of a sixteen man spaceship crew from Earth on another planet and a near immortal alien called Fanu who brings the Captain information showing our solar system has been destroyed in a nova. Later, after the men have started to come to terms with this disaster and have begun settling on the planet, Fanu mentions to the Captain it would be possible for him to convert some of the men into women. This (spoiler) is what eventually happens with three of them, the story ending with the difficult birth of the first child.
\nSome of the narrative concerns the Captain\u2019s observations of his men, including some implied homosexual behaviour, but mostly it details his drama queen reactions to this and the sex-changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we shouldn\u2019t survive!\u201d he snarled. \u2018\u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be more decent to die, die clean and human and what we were intended to be, than as some\u2014some obscene imitation of\u2014it\u2019s not natural!\u201d p.119<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nowadays\u00a0his histrionics are\u00a0more amusing than anything else, but\u00a0I doubt this was the case in 1963. So, kudos to Davidson for publishing, and the writers for writing, a story about homosexuality and sex-change that wouldn\u2019t have seen the light of day elsewhere.2<\/sup>
\nThe rest of the stories are\u00a0also-rans. Pushover Planet<\/em><\/strong> by Con Pederson is about a pair of prospectors who land on an alien planet and are met by a telepathic alien. When they go prospecting later on in spacesuits (spoiler) the alien misidentifies the\u00a0pair\u00a0as a threat and kills them. This is a gimmicky ending and I fail to see why Davidson was impressed with this story (in the introduction he makes a plea for the uncontactable writer to get in touch to get paid by his agent and to provide more material).3<\/sup>
\nThrough Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot: LXIII<\/em><\/strong> by Reginald Bretnor is another pun, an OK one for a change, about an unusual planet and their radio transmission problems.
\nBokko-Chan<\/em><\/strong> by Shinichi Hoshi is about a robot girl in a bar, an unrequited love, and has a neat twist end.<\/p>\n

There is the usual non-fiction and also the six-monthly Index<\/em><\/strong>. In Books<\/em><\/strong>, Avram Davidson raves about Philip K. Dick\u2019s The Man in a High Castle<\/em> for two pages:<\/p>\n

This is a remarkable book. Just how remarkable it is is little suggested by the basic premise, which is that the United States lost the Second World War. Other writers, such as Budrys and Kornbluth, have based stories on this notion, but in neither case was the story one of their best. If Mr. Dick ever writes anything better than this (indeed if he ever writes anything else as good), he deserves to take his place among the foremost in the field; how he has escaped my notice until now, I own to you I do not know. I don\u2019t think he will elude me again. p.59<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It surprised me that as of 1962-3, Davidson was unaware of Dick. Otherwise, it is another eclectic column which,\u00a0once again, makes me feel that I don\u2019t read (a) widely enough or (b) enough non-fiction.
\nBoth the poems in this issue are fairly good: Starlesque<\/em><\/strong> by Walter H. Kerr is a fairly gruesome poem about a striptease that involves quasi-humans peeling parts off their body; There Are No More Good Stories About Mars Because We Need No More Good Stories About Mars<\/em><\/strong> by Brian W. Aldiss tells how succeeding generations of writers have portrayed Mars.
\nFinally, The Light That Failed!<\/em><\/strong> by Isaac Asimov is an article about the history of the measurement of the speed of light and how this came to prove the non-existence of an \u2018ether\u2019.<\/p>\n

A highly recommended issue: two very good stories (including a Hugo winner) and three other good pieces (one taboo-breaking).\u00a0\u25cf<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

1. This is what the cheapskates at Atlas Publishing did with the cover for the UK edition:\"FSF196306UKx600\"<\/p>\n

2.I was a little surprised\u00a0that\u00a0Coulson and Bradley\u2019s\u00a0story has never\u00a0been reprinted. ISFDB<\/a> link.<\/p>\n

3. According to ISFDB<\/a> it looks like they found him (another story was published years later).\u00a0\u25cf<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

This magazine is still being published!<\/b> Subscribe: Kindle UK<\/a>, Kindle USA<\/a>\u00a0or physical copies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Edited 19th<\/sup> May 2018 to change the quote formatting, etc., and add the Galactic Journey review link.<\/em>
\nEdited 8th<\/sup> June 2019 to add the Admiral Ironbombs review link.<\/em><\/p>\n\"rss\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISFDB link Other reviews: Admiral Ironbombs, Battered, Tattered, Yellowed, & Creased Gideon Marcus, Galactic Journey _____________________ Executive Editor, Avram Davidson; Managing Editor, Edward L. Ferman Fiction: No Truce With Kings \u2022 novella by Poul Anderson \u2217\u2217\u2217\u2217 Pushover Planet \u2022 short story by Con Pederson – Green Magic \u2022 short story by Jack Vance \u2217\u2217\u2217\u2217 The […]<\/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":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy-and-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pcj7-tY","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858","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=1858"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10590,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions\/10590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}