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ISFDB link<\/a><\/p>\n Other reviews: _____________________<\/p>\n Editor, John Campbell; Assistant Editor, Kay Tarrant<\/p>\n Fiction: Non-fiction: _____________________<\/p>\n This issue\u2019s fiction starts with Enough Rope<\/em><\/strong> by Poul Anderson, the second of his\u00a0\u2018Wing Alak\u2019 stories, a series about a Galactic League Patrol who operate as a department of dirty\/slick tricks. In this one the Galactic League is being threatened by an external alien race called the Ulugans. Alak returns to Earth from their home planet and states they need to be stopped now, even though they will not necessarily cause a war for centuries to come. The medical officer halted at the entrance to the tent. The steady, endless rain dripped off his shoulders and made a puddle about his muddy feet. By the one glaring lamp inside, he noticed that the fungus had begun to devour this tent, too. It would be a rag before the eight-day was out. And you couldn\u2019t live in the metal barracks left by the Patrolmen\u2014they were bake-ovens, and air-conditioning units rotted and rusted too fast to be of help.<\/em> A straightforward but entertaining story. The Cover\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>2<\/sup> by Walt Miller illustrates the Poul Anderson story. A painting of a blue-skinned alien is accurate but seems a little juvenile to me. The report forecasts that domestic production of petroleum will start to decline in the 1960s. Eventually, it thinks, crude oil may be conserved for use in petrochemicals and fine lubricants while liquid fuels are synthesized from our tremendous supplies of shale, tar sands and low grade coal. Or the coal may be burned right in the ground to produce gas that can be liquefied under pressure. Taxes well spent on futurology. For newcomers: The magazine pays a normal 3\u023c a word rate for stories. Yarns I think exceptionally good I\u2019ll pay 4\u023c on. But if I underrate a story, and the reader-vote shows it earned the bonus . . . my error, and the author gets an extra check. (If I paid on one that you readers didn\u2019t think earned it, the author doesn\u2019t have to pay back the bonus, just to settle that question! But it\u2019ll encourage me to make better predictions of reader response!)<\/em> p. 100<\/p>\n The clear winner of the poll is the first part of Mission of Gravity<\/em> by Hal Clement, followed by Chad Oliver, Alan E. Nourse, Charles Dye and April Smith, and W. T. Powers. This is pretty much as I had it, except I\u2019d put the Dye\/Smith in last place. The \u201cpetrified planet\u201d of the title in this Twayne \u201cTriplet\u201d is Uller, second planet of Beta Hydri, whose life-forms have evolved around a silicone metabolism, assimilating assorted minerals and excreting them as CO2<\/sub>, H2<\/sub>0 and silica armor. It has a neighbor, Niflheim (Nu Puppis IV) with a fluorine economy. Both were invented for the occasion, and described in considerable detail, by Dr. John D. Clark, who lives at being a chemist but once sank so low as to sell two stories to this magazine in 1937 and to work out a biography of Robert E. Howard\u2019s utterly unscientific hero, Conan. Brass Tacks<\/em><\/strong> has a letter about solving mazes that runs for several pages.<\/p>\n A solid, if uninspiring, issue.<\/p>\n _____________________<\/p>\n This magazine is now published as Analog Science Fiction and Fact!<\/em><\/b> Subscribe: Kindle UK<\/a>, Kindle USA<\/a>\u00a0or physical & digital copies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Edited 28th December 2019: added review link.<\/em><\/p>\n ISFDB link Other reviews: L\u00e4hett\u00e4nyt Tpi Klo, Tpi\u2019s Reading Diary _____________________ Editor, John Campbell; Assistant Editor, Kay Tarrant Fiction: Enough Rope \u2022 novelette by Poul Anderson ♥♥♥ Solution Delayed \u2022 short story by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides ♥♥ Survival \u2022 novelette by Don Green ♥♥ Mission of Gravity (Part 4 of 4) \u2022 serial […]<\/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-2922","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-L8","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922","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=2922"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11847,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions\/11847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nL\u00e4hett\u00e4nyt <\/span>Tpi Klo, Tpi\u2019s Reading Diary<\/a><\/p>\n
\nEnough Rope<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Poul Anderson ♥♥♥
\nSolution Delayed<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides ♥♥
\nSurvival<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Don Green ♥♥
\nMission of Gravity<\/em><\/strong> (Part 4 of 4) \u2022 serial by Hal Clement ♥♥♥+<\/p>\n
\nCover<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Walt Miller
\nInterior artwork<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Walt Miller, Orban, Dreany, Van Dongen
\n\u201cOur Catalogue Number…\u201d<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 editorial by John W. Campbell, Jr.
\nThe Analytical Laboratory: April 1953<\/em><\/strong>
\nLocum Tenens<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 essay by Wallace West
\nThe Reference Library: Man, the Improbable<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 book reviews by P. Schuyler Miller
\nBrass Tacks<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 letters<\/p>\n
\nThe ensuing story tells how the Patrol fleet makes a number of feints in the alien\u2019s neighbourhood (settling temporarily on nearby planets, etc.), and thereby lure the Ulugan commander into responding. These Patrol manoeuvres are just diversions, however, and they cause the Ulugan forces to chase\u00a0shadows, harming their own forces and economy in the process.<\/p>\n
\nHe saluted wearily. The commandant of Garvish Base looked up from his game of galanzu solitaire. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d he asked listlessly. <\/em>
\n\u201cFifteen more men down with fever, sir,\u201d said the medical officer. \u201cAnd ten of the earlier cases are dead.\u201d<\/em>
\nThe commandant nodded. Light gleamed off his wet bald head. The blue face was haggard, unhealthily flushed, and the smart uniform was a sodden ruin. \u201cThe sanitators don\u2019t work, eh?\u201d he asked.<\/em>
\n\u201cNot against this stuff, sir,\u201d said the doctor. \u201cIt seems to be a virus which isn\u2019t bothered by the vibrations, but I haven\u2019t been able to isolate it yet.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cWe just aren\u2019t built for this climate.\u201d The commandant wagged his head, and one shaky hand reached for a bottle. \u201cWe\u2019re cold-world dwellers.\u201d<\/em>
\nA beast screamed out in the jungle.<\/em>
\n\u201cPoison plants got several more this eight-day,\u201d said the doctor.<\/em>
\n\u201cI know. I\u2019ve begged and pleaded with headquarters to send us air domes and space armor. But they claim it\u2019s needed elsewhere.\u201d<\/em>
\nA faint hope flickered in the medical officer\u2019s eyes. \u201cWhen that planet Umung really gets to producing\u2014\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cYes, yes. But we\u2019ll probably be dead then, you and I.\u201d The commandant shivered. \u201c I feel cold.\u201d His voice as suddenly high and thin.<\/em>
\n\u201cSir\u2014\u201d \u00a0The doctor took a nervous step forward. \u201cSir, let me look at you\u2014\u201d <\/em>
\nThe commandant stood up. For a moment he leaned on the table, then something buckled within him and he went toppling to the floor.<\/em> p. 26<\/p>\n
\nSolution Delayed<\/em><\/strong> by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides does not get off to a good start with its talking-heads introduction. However, it picks up somewhat with a story about a group of non-conformists planning to steal a spaceship to escape from a stultifying future Earth. At the end of the story, of course, the technicians and administrators (spoiler) are shown to have set the whole thing up as they realise that only the non-conformists in their society will have the drive to spread humanity throughout the universe. I can\u2019t say that this premise is particularly convincing, but overall it is an OK story.
\nYou rather get the impression that Survival<\/em><\/strong>, by Don Green, is the product of a writer from outside the genre,1<\/sup> given its central idea of a spaceship crashing onto an asteroid with an atmosphere. The story starts with one of the passengers regaining consciousness on the spaceship, and then proceeds to describe his activities in and around the crash site. He finds food, oxygen, spacesuits, etc., but no survivors. He disposes of the bodies and later explores the asteroid.
\nAt the end of the story (spoiler) he finds an engineer alive but injured at the back of the ship. The narrative then turns into an astrogation lecture as they try to work out where to point their communications beam to get rescued. This was initially intriguing but got a little boring at the end so OK overall, I guess.
\nThe last instalment of Mission of Gravity<\/em><\/strong> by Hal Clement brings matters to a suitable conclusion, with the expedition getting\u00a0past the cliff, and also solving the problems of food supply, navigation, and finding\u00a0the space probe.
\nIt isn\u2019t hard to appreciate why this novel was so popular when it first appeared: interesting aliens, a series of (almost endless!) scientific problems to overcome, and an eventful journey through the hugely varying gravity and terrain of the planet Mesklin. The\u00a0flaws it has (two-dimensional characterisation, authorial info-dumping and some unclear description) are minor in comparison. I would suggest that this classic still holds up for modern readers.<\/p>\n
\nThe Interior artwork<\/em><\/strong> by Walt Miller, Orban, Dreany, and Van Dongen is all competent to good. There is a nice illustration by Van Dongen3<\/sup> on p. 143 but, as it is in advance of the story, it rather spoils the final scene.
\n\u201cOur Catalogue Number…\u201d<\/em><\/strong> by John W. Campbell, Jr. is an editorial about the things that used to be SF but are now becoming reality. He lists a number of devices that are now available in the technical catalogues, cyclotrons, X-Rays, etc.
\nThe old joke about Astounding\/Analog<\/em>\u00a0is that it is the SF magazine \u2018with rivets.\u2019 We get a flash of that here with Locum Tenens<\/em><\/strong> by Wallace West, another dull article, this time about the development of metal technology with an emphasis on the history of the steel industry. It also examines other metals and materials at the end, and also quotes from a 1952 report from the President\u2019s Materials Policy Commission which predicts what the future will hold in this field.<\/p>\n
\nAtomic fission may provide about a fifth of the world\u2019s power until the uranium runs out a century or so hence. Then, unless the fusion of hydrogen has become practicable, more and more dependence will be placed on sun power, tidal power and warmth obtained from the earth itself by means of heat pumps.
\nLand and sea will be farmed with equal intensity, particularly if the world\u2019s population keeps climbing at the present rate. Eroded soil will be rebuilt with synthetic resin conditioners and with synthetic ammonium nitrate and sulfate fertilizers made from oil and coal. The weather will be at least partially controlled to get the greatest benefit out of rainfall, delay frosts, et cetera.
\nForests will be allowed to grow only the most useful varieties of trees while chips, bark, sawdust and roots will be made into chemicals, playwoods or food.
\nMagnesium, vanadium, salt and hundreds of other materials will be extracted from sea water. The fresh water obtained in the process is almost certain to be used in vast irrigation projects. Such projects are becoming vital even now because of the steady drop in the underground water table all over the world.
\nFishing and the collection of kelp and other sea foods certainly will not be done On the present wasteful hit-or-miss basis. The PMPC report thinks the sea itself may be fertilized.
\nBut the greatest visible change in the world of the not-so-distant future may be its use of glass and other silicon products to make everything from fabrics to highways; to replace many structural metals and to coat those that remain so they can resist corrosion indefinitely. Such products will remain as plentiful as the sands of the sea. They may well provide the substitutes to end all substitutes, the shining ones that, in the end, will make it forever unnecessary for mankind to creep back into- the cave in search of warmth and shelter.<\/em> p. 99<\/p>\n
\nThe Analytical Laboratory: April 1953<\/em><\/strong> reports on the ongoing process of moving to an absolute rather than relative scoring system. Campbell reminds readers of his payment system:<\/p>\n
\nThe Reference Library: Man, the Improbable<\/em><\/strong> by P. Schuyler Miller has a couple of interesting snippets after a long discussion about two books on evolution. One is that Andre Norton edited (\u2018into a neat whole\u2019) Malcolm Jameson\u2019s \u2018Bullard\u2019 stories for book publication; there is also this information about the anthology The Petrified Planet<\/em>:<\/p>\n
\nThree skilled writers have then built stories around the chemistry of these two worlds: Fletcher Pratt in \u201cThe Long View,\u201d H. Beam Piper in \u201cUller Uprising,\u201d and Judith Merril in \u201cDaughters of Earth.\u201d The first two stories appeared in current magazines, while the book was in press. If the third did, I missed it, though it\u2019s the best of the three.<\/em> p. 162<\/p>\n\n
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\nAnd one from Orban: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/AST195307i2x600.jpg?resize=431%2C600&ssl=1\")
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