{"id":4354,"date":"2018-03-11T15:03:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-11T15:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=4354"},"modified":"2020-10-15T20:21:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T20:21:51","slug":"new-writings-in-sf-1-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=4354","title":{"rendered":"New Writings in SF #1, 1964"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01x1200.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4361\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=4361\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01x600.jpg?fit=366%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"366,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NWISF#01&amp;#215;600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01x600.jpg?fit=122%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01x600.jpg?fit=366%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4361 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01x600.jpg?resize=366%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"366\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01x600.jpg?w=366&amp;ssl=1 366w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01x600.jpg?resize=122%2C200&amp;ssl=1 122w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 366px) 100vw, 366px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>ISFDB <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isfdb.org\/cgi-bin\/pl.cgi?252433\">link<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Other reviews<sup>1<\/sup>:<br \/>\nAndrew Darlington, <a href=\"http:\/\/andrewdarlington.blogspot.co.uk\/2017\/02\/sf-anthology-series-new-writings-in-sf.html\">Eight Miles Higher<\/a><br \/>\nP. Schuyler Miller, <em>Analog<\/em> (January 1967)<br \/>\nMichael Moorcock, <em>New Worlds <\/em>#144 (September-October 1964)<br \/>\nVarious, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/535504822?book_show_action=true&amp;from_review_page=1\">Goodreads<\/a><br \/>\nRoddy Williams, <a href=\"https:\/\/deathrobotsfrommars.wordpress.com\/2014\/09\/20\/new-writings-in-sf-1-john-carnell-ed-1964\/\">SF to Read Before You Die<\/a><br \/>\nCharles Winstone, <em>Vector<\/em> #28 (September 1964)<\/p>\n<p>Editor, John Carnell<\/p>\n<p>Fiction:<br \/>\n<strong><em>Key to Chaos<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Edward Mackin &#8211;<br \/>\n<strong><em>Two\u2019s Company<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Douglas R. Mason [as by John Rankine] <strong>\u2217\u2217<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Man on Bridge<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Brian W. Aldiss <strong>\u2217<\/strong><strong>\u2217<\/strong><strong>\u2217<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Haggard Honeymoon<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Joseph Green and James Webbert &#8211;<br \/>\n<strong><em>The Sea\u2019s Furthest End<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Damien Broderick <strong>\u2217<\/strong><strong>\u2217<\/strong><strong>\u2217<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Non-fiction:<br \/>\n<strong><em>Foreword<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 essay by John Carnell<\/p>\n<p>The third leg of the stool for British SF magazine readers in 1964 (<em>New Worlds<\/em> and <em>Science Fantasy<\/em> being the other two) wasn\u2019t another magazine but a new original anthology series by John Carnell. Although there had been earlier SF anthologies containing new fiction, they were not common, and\u00a0<em>NWISF<\/em>\u00a0was unique\u2014it had initial hardcover publication by Dobson Books<sup>2<\/sup>, followed a few months later by the paperback from Corgi Books<sup>3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01Dobsonx1200.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4358\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=4358\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01Dobsonx600.jpg?fit=404%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"404,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NWISF#01Dobsonx600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01Dobsonx600.jpg?fit=135%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01Dobsonx600.jpg?fit=404%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4358 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01Dobsonx600.jpg?resize=404%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"404\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01Dobsonx600.jpg?w=404&amp;ssl=1 404w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01Dobsonx600.jpg?resize=135%2C200&amp;ssl=1 135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The anthology was initially quarterly in frequency but this publication schedule would not be maintained for long. However, the series lasted thirty volumes, and to 1977. Beyond John Carnell\u2019s death in 1972 it was edited by Kenneth Bulmer.<br \/>\nThe interior format stayed remarkably consistent throughout its run: there would be an editorial or foreword by the editor, and each story would have a short introduction, followed by a blank page, followed by the story itself.<sup>4<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The <strong><em>Foreword<\/em><\/strong> by John Carnell starts with this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>New Writings in S-F<\/em> is a radical departure in the field of the science fiction short story. As its name implies, not only <em>new<\/em> stories written specially for the series as well as s-f stories which would not normally be seen by the vast majority of readers, will appear in future editions, but <em>new<\/em> styles, ideas, and even new writers who have something worth contributing to the <em>genre<\/em>, will be presented. p. 7<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He then mentions short fiction and the SF magazines, and how anthologies have until now presented already published material. He goes on to say:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Now the time has come to take this development one natural stage further\u2014and introduce new material specially written and selected for the new market. p. 7<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He briefly trails the contents before finishing with:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Science fiction (an unwieldy and unattractive title which should more aptly be called \u201cSpeculative fiction\u201d) is now expanding into the field of general literature and has largely outstripped the western romance in popularity and is fast catching up with the thriller. <em>New Writings in S-F<\/em> will, in future volumes, form a bridgehead between the old and new versions of speculative fiction. p. 9<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Given this editorial pitch, it is surprising that the volume opens with <strong><em>Key to Chaos<\/em><\/strong>, a long novelette by Edward Mackin<sup>5<\/sup> which reads like an overly padded, single-draft story from the 1940s. It is one of Mackin\u2019s series about the cyberneticist and all-round chancer Hek Belov. It starts intriguingly enough:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The first time I met Frank Tetchum he was hammering on the front door of an apartment house block on East Third Level. Beside him was a chair, a small table, and a plastic bowl with some cutlery in it. Evicted tenants are not an uncommon sight in these parts, and I was about to walk on when he spoke to me.<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s one thing being slung out,\u201d he said heatedly, \u201cbut it\u2019s a bit thick when they slap an order on your furniture and you don\u2019t even owe any rent. The scoundrels have got my id-scope in there, too, and they\u2019re hanging on to it.\u201d He recommenced his hammering on the door, using the chair this time.<br \/>\nI looked at him, curiously. He was slimly built, perhaps thirty years old, and badly in need of a shave. \u201cWhat\u2019s an id-scope?\u201d I asked.<br \/>\nHe put the chair down, and frowned at me. \u201cIt\u2019s a thought visualizer,\u201d he said. \u201cI invented it.\u201d Then he went back to his frenzied assault on the door, and smashed the chair without eliciting any response. p. 13<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The story then details how the two of them obtain the device under false pretences from the businessman who has repossessed the flat. They hide away in a nearby deserted building, and Belov gets Tetchum to demonstrate the device. He sees (lascivious) visions from his own id, and then sees Tetchum\u2019s. The latter involves a nightmarish machine making all sorts of devices, including what would seem to be killer robots.<br \/>\nThe two are\u00a0soon found by Benson, the businessman that appropriated Tetchum\u2019s flat, and they are both pressured into working for him.<br \/>\nLong story short, the machine they build produces a small globe that is a rejuvenation device. There is some attempted double-dealing after this, and then the discovery that the machine is actually some sort of chaos device. If it sounds like I am struggling to synopsise this story it is because I am. The story wanders all over the place, and my comprehension was not aided by all the scientific gobbledygook. Take this far from atypical example:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d I asked him.<br \/>\n\u201cA simple K-type amplifier.\u201d<br \/>\nI shook my head. \u201cAs far as the machine, or I should say the computer, is concerned that\u2019s a key. A key to Chaos. My guess is that this is anything but a simple K-amp. The bit about youthfulness was the barb. I programmed that as part of an explanation; but the computer has referred to its standard banks, and got some other answers, which it chewed over in that decision box, the homeostatic part of the set-up. The result was that the computer was faced with something of an insoluble problem. It knew what to produce; but the materials weren\u2019t available, not all the materials, that is.<br \/>\n\u201cNow this is where we have to make a leap in the dark. Here we are, a speck in the cosmic eye. The tiniest of tiny islands, where two and two make four, and logic\u2014our peculiar brand of logic\u2014holds sway. Outside, and everywhere, the primal stuff of the universe patterns itself crazily on stray thoughts escaping from the odd, alien, organism in its midst, because Chaos has its own logic. The logic of perfect illogicality. The infinite patterning that both is and isn\u2019t, now and forever, in the shifting nevernever land of everything and everywhere and nothing anywhere. That\u2019s what lies outside the mind; but it doesn\u2019t lie outside the mental scope of a machine. A machine has no fear, and only the mental reservations with which man, in his wisdom, endows it. . . .\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cCut the prologue and get to the explanations,\u201d said Tetchum impatiently. \u201cI still think you\u2019re waffling.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Quite.<br \/>\nI presume the random plot and gibberish explanations are meant to be overlooked as the piece is allegedly a \u2018humorous\u2019 one, but this appears to consist largely of Belov calling people names (one extended example is a two page diversion where Belov goes for a meal in a restaurant and the owner attempts to get Belov to pay an outstanding bill, p. 36-38). Now name-calling can be funny (e.g. John Cleese in <em>Fawlty Towers<\/em>) but it isn\u2019t here. This is an awful start to the anthology.<br \/>\n<strong><em>Two\u2019s Company<\/em><\/strong> by Douglas R. Mason is the first of his pseudonymous \u2018Dag Fletcher, Womaniser in Space\u2019 stories (although that description is accurate, it\u2019s really the \u2018Dag Fletcher\u2019 series). In this one he is on an alien world, the Controller on a terraforming project, and his new colleague is a reserved female mathematician, Meryl Winguard. When I say reserved, I mean she pays no attention to Fletcher.<br \/>\nThey go to one of the distant stations to rectify a computer fault and, when they are finished, leave in time to get back to base before the planet\u2019s freezing night begins. En route they crash. They have to spend the night cuddled together in a makeshift sleeping bag, and then have work together to traverse rocky terrain and a cliff edge to get home before the next nightfall. During this they establish a bond.<br \/>\nThis is an economically told story that is okay I guess\u2014if you can ignore the period sexism, and that the story is essentially an adolescent sexual fantasy. Fletcher is almost constantly aware of Meryl\u2019s model looks and figure\u2014even when he is about to perform mouth to mouth resuscitation on her after the crash there is this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He registered the light strength she had, the perfectly modelled knees and ankles and high round breasts. p. 82<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And, of course, after they are safely back to base, and Fletcher has showered and dressed, he comes out of his room to find Meryl has made dinner and slipped into something more comfortable.<br \/>\nIn the introduction to<strong><em>\u00a0Man on Bridge<\/em><\/strong> by Brian W. Aldiss,\u00a0Carnell says it has \u201covertones of 1984,\u201d something repeated in other reviews. Personally, I don\u2019t really think the story is more than tangentially about totalitarianism, but is perhaps more an examination of human consciousness. That said, you can see why some would make the comparison, given the story takes place in an unspecified Eastern European country where proles keep the intellectuals, called\u00a0\u2018Cerebrals,\u2019\u00a0in camps under armed guard. This is from\u00a0later in the story:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The common people had often revolted against the rich\u2014but the rich were not identifiable once shorn of their money; then the tide of anger turned against the intelligent. You can always tell an intellectual, even when he cowers naked and bruised before you with his spectacles squashed in the muck; you only have to get him to talk. So the intellectuals had elected to live in camps, behind wire, for their own safety. Things were better now\u2014 because we were fewer and they infinitely more; but the situation had changed again: the stay was no longer voluntary, for we had lost our place in the world. We had even lost our standing in the camps. Throughout the more than-mediaeval darkness that had fallen over Europe, our cerebral monasteries were ruled over by the pistol and whip; and the flagellation of the new order of monks was never self-inflicted. p. 109<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the camp two of the Cerebrals, Grabowicz and Winther, have created a new kind of man, Adam X, by removing half his brain. Adam has no visceral responses at all.<br \/>\nGrabowicz and Winther are summoned by the camp commander, who interrogates them about Adam X, and later sends a report to his superiors. Grabowicz is taken away and punished for his insolence to the commander during their conversation, whereas Winther and Adam X are allowed to temporarily leave the camp to visit Winther\u2019s family in the nearby village.<br \/>\nOn the way there Winther, the narrator, talks to Adam X:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I took his arm and led him towards the gates. It was always an ordeal, moving towards those great slab-cheeked guards, so contemptuous of eye, so large in their rough uniforms and boots, as they stood there holding their rifles like paddles. We produced our identity sticks, which were taken from us, and were allowed to pass, and go through the side-gate, between the strands of barbed wire, into the free world outside.<br \/>\n\u201cThey enjoy their show of might,\u201d Adam said. \u201cThese people have to express their unhappiness by using ugly things like guns and ill-fitting uniforms, and the whole conception of the camp.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWe are unhappy, but we don\u2019t find that sort of thing necessary.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cNo, Jon, I am not unhappy. I just feel empty and do not wish to live.\u201d<br \/>\nHis talk was full of that sort of conversation-stopper.<br \/>\nWe strode down the road at increasing pace as the way steepened between cliffs. The ruined spires and roofs of the town were rising out of the dip ahead, and I wanted only to get home; but since I had never caught Adam in so communicative a frame of mind, I felt I had to take advantage of it and find out what I could from him.<br \/>\n\u201cThis not wishing to live, Adam\u2014this is just post-operational depression. When it wears off, you will recover your spirits.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cI think not. I have no spirits. Morgem Grabowicz cut them away. I can only reason, and I see that there is no point to life but death.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cThat I repudiate with all my heart. On the contrary, while there is life, there is no death. Even now, with all my limbs aching from that filthy prole punishment, I rejoice in every breath I take, and in the effect of the light on those houses, and the crunch of this track under our feet.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWell, Jon, you must be allowed your simple vegetable responses.\u201d He spoke with such finality that my mouth was stopped. p. 104-105<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>They arrive at the village, and later socialise with Winther\u2019s family and their neighbours. Later, Adam X disappears and Winther goes to search, finding him walking on the parapet of the bridge above a perilous drop. Adam only just avoids falling to his death and is rescued by Winther and two of the onlookers. On the way home, Winther has another conversation\u00a0with Adam, and a realisation:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I told him then. \u201cI can\u2019t work on these brain operations any more.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cGrabowicz can. Grabowicz will. You\u2019re too late to be squeamish, Jon; already there is a new force in the world.\u201d<br \/>\nAfter what I had seen on the bridge, I felt he might be right. But a new force for good or bad? How would the change come? What would it be? I closed my eyes and saw clearly the sort of world that Grabowicz and I, with the unwitting co-operation of the prole leaders, might have already brought into being. Given enough men and women like Adam, with their visceral brains removed, they would bring up children unswayed and unsoftened by human emotion, whose motives were inscrutable to the rest of mankind. The rulers of our world would find such people very useful at first, and so a place would be made for them.<br \/>\nAnd from being instruments of power, they would turn into a power in their own right. It was a process often witnessed by history. p. 116<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019m not entirely sure what this story is about, but it is an absorbing, intellectual piece that would have been a good fit for the <em>New Worlds<\/em> of 1966.<br \/>\n<strong><em>Haggard Honeymoon<\/em><\/strong> by Joseph Green and James Webbert is a long novelette in four chapters about an alien planet where a colony is mining uranium: the men do the mining, the women look after the domestic side of life, and the Rilli natives act as servants.<br \/>\nThe first part of this story sets up one of many maguffins, which is that the planet causes men to crack up after a few months there. Previously, a young wife had smuggled herself out with her husband and it was found that newly-weds had the best chance of lasting the six months required to make the operation economically viable. The reason newly-weds last longer is never adequately explained.<br \/>\nWhen the narrator, Carter Mason, is watching an evening film in the rec room with his wife, he sees one of the other men have a breakdown.\u00a0The next morning, after his mining shift at the lake (second maguffin: this is a weird place, with lumps of uranium at the bottom, and red water that acts as a radiation baffle) he is promoted to major to take the sick man\u2019s place.\u00a0Soon after this Carter\u2019s wife, atypically, starts having the dreams. The colonel agrees that she and Carter need to go back early.<br \/>\nThe third chapter introduces three more elements: one of the other colonists tells Carter he thinks the lake wasn\u2019t made by an asteroid but by a spaceship; there is mention of the native Rilli temple on forbidden ground; and Valle has a waking dream where she is riding a creature between the stars and a Rilli swings a sword at her throat.<br \/>\nIn the final act (spoiler) Carter deduces what the problem is: the Rilli are the descendants of the spaceship crew, and their priests are mind broadcasting to their people from the forbidden temple. Their transmissions are driving the humans crazy. Carter takes one of the crawlers to the temple and (after running over one of the defending Rilli) sabotages the coolant system and runs away, leaving the nuclear drive to go critical and explode (no fail-safe then), killing many Rilli and leaving others to die of radiation poisoning. The broadcasting stops.<br \/>\nBack at base he explains himself to the colonel, who is not convinced by Carter\u2019s \u2018ends-justify the means\u2019 actions:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cBut this doesn\u2019t fully explain why you chose the drastic method of blowing up the tower, killing the broadcasting priests and ruining one valuable crawler, instead of simply telling me about your suspicions and letting us check them out together.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cValle couldn\u2019t have lasted the night,\u201d said Carter simply. \u201cAnd it hadn\u2019t occurred to me those people would be broadcasting on line-of-sight.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWell, it\u2019s too late to worry now,\u201d said Simpson with a sigh. \u201cI suppose your contribution to the programme will far outweigh the demerits you\u2019re in line for. You\u2019ll have to go through a formal court-martial when we get back to Earth, of course, but that shouldn\u2019t be for several years now.\u201d p. 149<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is an unconvincingly contrived piece with many plot holes (why are the newlyweds better at surviving, why is Valle the first female affected, why didn\u2019t he put Valle in the crawler and drive her away from the temple?). It also has a morally repugnant ending. (I know it is unwise to view older fiction from a modern perspective but I suspect some of the attitudes here may have been unpalatable even in the mid-sixties. With the excesses of the Vietnam War to come it is, at least, an unsettling ending.)<br \/>\nI\u2019m not sure that <strong><em>The Sea\u2019s Furthest End<\/em><\/strong> by Damien Broderick is his first published SF story but it is certainly an early one.<sup>6<\/sup> It has a data dump beginning (including an italicised prologue) that describes a collapsed Galactic Empire, and centres around Aylan, the son of a new Emporer who intends to reunify it.<br \/>\nAylan\u2019s friend Milenn visits, and tells him that rebel forces at the Calais are in danger of being slaughtered. Millen asks Aylan to get the Emperor to give him control of the besieging forces, and suggests that Federation and not Empire is the way forward. When Aylan\u2019s plan is humiliatingly rejected by his father at Council, he challenges him to a duel. Aylan already hates his father because of what happened to a lover of his:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Adriel was the lovely daughter of the ex-Tyrant of Corydon. The scientists of that Rim system had reached their finest achievement in her, for she was genetically, designed for beauty, intelligence, and . . . something else. Geneticists gave her a talent, a wildly improbable gift, and even they did not know what it would be.<br \/>\nShe was an Emote.<br \/>\n\u201cChameleon-like\u201d was the inevitable adjective, but it wasn\u2019t accurate. Adriel could control her Emoting. It was a defence-mechanism, but it was more. It was a talent, and she could use it at will.<br \/>\nOf course, everybody loved her. In a fraternal, helping fashion. Her subconscious knew better than to Emote in a sexually attractive manner. She had no desire to be raped by every male who came within her Emotive range. But for Aylan, the quiet son of her father\u2019s conqueror, she had felt the stirrings of love.<br \/>\nThey had been like children, in their new discovery. Their love was sunrise and the scent of roses and the soft breath in the sheets. She drew the beginnings of manhood from the frightened adolescent who was Aylan, and their love was a burgeoning flower.<br \/>\nFor Malvara, it was unthinkable that his son should have such a victory. So Adriel became his diplomatic mistress. p. 162<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Before the duel Milenn gives Aylan a stasis gun from the old Empire to make sure he wins, which he does. Aylan departs with a small fleet for Calais to take control of the attacking forces. En route he learns of a mutiny by the Duke of Calais. Millen then gives Aylan plans for stasis weapons to fit to their ships (throughout there are a number of short italic passages suggesting an omnipotent \u2018Player\u2019 is externally manipulating the events that are unfolding). Aylan arrives at the Centre and puts down the mutiny.<br \/>\nUp until this point the story is a competent enough piece but clich\u00e9d and unexceptional. The last chapter\u2019s revelations about Millen, however, lift it to another level:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>So, finally, he became the Civilizer.<br \/>\nHe was Gilgamesh, Odin, Ra, Indra, Zeus, Tonactechtli, Moses, Gandhi, Hammarskjold, Holden-Smith, Porter, and Andreas. In the mud of the Nile he trod water and straw; his statue was carried before the tallow candles in Tenochtitlan; he advised the Great One in Tibet while the wind whistled through his thin bones; he thundered in the Terran Planetary Parliament; he laboured on alien worlds, muscles twisting to hammer wood and steel into homes for his fellows. And everywhere, he remembered. Peace was his goal, for no man can go through a million years\u2019 odyssey without learning compassion and humanity. p. 187<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Then, during the peace conference on Calais, reality dissolves, and we find events have been controlled by Millen, who is also the Player, to amuse and distract itself. The last lines are pretty corny but still work for the story:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Alone. Darkness, bodiless, infinite. All the questions answered and the tears wept. The Immortal wondered at the memory, and knew the reason. There was no Player. There was only himself, alone, eternally lonely. Infinity is a quiet place, eternity a lonely time. The Immortal remembered himself as Milenn, and forever the memory satisfied him. But forever is a short while, and memory is no cure for loneliness. Only participation, and forgetfulness.<br \/>\nThe Tasks had been a good idea, but they had ended. The problem he had set himself: a universe, a race of naturally belligerent sapients, a goal of peace, freely accepted by them. And three times he had succeeded. Planetary government, Galactic empire, Galactic Federation. Himself eternal, not knowing the reason, only aware of the compulsion.<br \/>\nAn Immortal Child grows lonely in the dark of eternity, and he knew that there was forgetfulness in the Game. So again in the deep of himself he uttered the Words.<br \/>\n\u201cLet there be light!\u201d<br \/>\nAnd, yet again, there was light.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This bootstrapping of the story in the final pages really worked for me, and improved my opinion of the story considerably. I was reminded of Charles Harness\u2019s more complex super-science stories of the late 1940s and 50s.<\/p>\n<p>As for the volume as a whole, it is not so much a \u201cbridgehead between old and new SF,\u201d but a better than normal issue of the Carnell <em>New Worlds<\/em>.\u00a0\u25cf<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">_____________________<\/p>\n<p>1. Because <em>NWISF<\/em> #1 is a book and not a magazine there are three off-line reviews listed on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isfdb.org\/cgi-bin\/title.cgi?34471\">ISFDB<\/a>. I managed to obtain copies (thanks to Andy Sawyer for his help with the <em>Vector<\/em> one). James Colvin (Micheal Moorcock) in <em>New Worlds<\/em> #144 says it is another of Carnell\u2019s \u201csolidly balanced\u201d collections, and adds the Aldiss is \u201cvery good,\u201d the Broderick \u201cexcellent,\u201d and that he \u201cenjoyed the Belov [Mackin] best.\u201d I don\u2019t think he particularly appreciated the Rankine.<br \/>\nP. Schuyler Miller in the January 1967 <em>Analog<\/em> says the Aldiss \u201cis bound to get itself reprinted,\u201d and the Mackin \u201cis as close as we\u2019ve come in years to the broad, outrageous comedy of the great \u201cGallagher\u201d stories that \u201cLewis Padgett\u201d ([Kuttner\/Moore] used to writer for <em>Astounding<\/em>.\u201d He found the Rankine \u201ctrite\u201d and thought the Green\/Webbert made the \u201cpsychic perils very convincing\u201d despite some \u201cunbelievable chemistry.\u201d He ends on a positive note about the Broderick.<br \/>\nFinally, in <em>Vector<\/em> #28, Charles Winstone reckons the aim of the anthology , as John Carnell writes in the introduction, to be \u201ca radical departure in the field of the science fiction short story\u201d is \u201cnot achieved.\u201d He adds \u201cthe stories are new but the plots and characters are not. In only one story did the feeling of \u2018I\u2019ve been here before\u2019 leave me.\u201d Winstone liked the Aldiss best, was mystified by the Broderick, and had mixed feelings about the rest.<\/p>\n<p>2. I presume they used the same plates for both editions as the editorial pages (i.e. everything apart from the publisher information at the front and the in-house ads at the back) in the hardback were identical to those in the paperback, except for the larger margins in the former (or at least they are in <em>New Writings in SF<\/em> #13, the only one I own in both formats). The publisher for both editions was Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd.<\/p>\n<p>3. Those Corgi editions would be very popular\u2014the collection was reprinted in 1965 and again in 1970 (with a different cover):<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4364\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=4364\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01reprintx600.jpg?fit=365%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"365,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NWISF#01reprintx600\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01reprintx600.jpg?fit=122%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01reprintx600.jpg?fit=365%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4364 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01reprintx600.jpg?resize=365%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"365\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01reprintx600.jpg?w=365&amp;ssl=1 365w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF01reprintx600.jpg?resize=122%2C200&amp;ssl=1 122w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>3. The story introduction and title pages look like this (the story is Keith Roberts\u2019 <em>Manipulation<\/em> from the third volume in the series):<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4366\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=4366\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p64-65.jpg?fit=757%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"757,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NWISF3p64-65\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p64-65.jpg?fit=252%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p64-65.jpg?fit=625%2C495&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4366 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p64-65.jpg?resize=625%2C495&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p64-65.jpg?w=757&amp;ssl=1 757w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p64-65.jpg?resize=252%2C200&amp;ssl=1 252w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p64-65.jpg?resize=624%2C495&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4367\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?attachment_id=4367\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p66-67.jpg?fit=757%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"757,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NWISF3p66-67\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p66-67.jpg?fit=252%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p66-67.jpg?fit=625%2C495&amp;ssl=1\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4367 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p66-67.jpg?resize=625%2C495&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p66-67.jpg?w=757&amp;ssl=1 757w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p66-67.jpg?resize=252%2C200&amp;ssl=1 252w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NWISF3p66-67.jpg?resize=624%2C495&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>4. Our Edward Mackin should not be confused with Ralph McInerny, who used \u201cEdward Mackin\u201d as a pseudonym (the latter\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ralph_McInerny\">Wikipedia<\/a> entry shows a huge number of non-SF books).<\/p>\n<p>5. On Broderick\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isfdb.org\/cgi-bin\/ea.cgi?515\">ISFDB<\/a> page there are a couple of earlier stories listed but no information as to where or exactly when they were published. It also states that this volume\u2019s story was \u201crewritten and expanded\u201d to become <em>The Game of Stars and Souls<\/em> (2009).\u00a0\u25cf<\/p>\n<p><em>Revised 7th September 2018 to include disambiguation information for Edward Mackin (footnote 4).<\/em><\/p>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-follow\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-follow synved-social-size-16 synved-social-resolution-normal synved-social-provider-rss nolightbox\" data-provider=\"rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/SFMagazines\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:16px;height:16px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"rss\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-follow\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" style=\"display: inline;width:16px;height:16px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/16x16\/rss.png?resize=16%2C16&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-follow synved-social-size-16 synved-social-resolution-hidef synved-social-provider-rss nolightbox\" data-provider=\"rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/SFMagazines\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:16px;height:16px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"rss\" title=\"Subscribe to our RSS Feed\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-follow\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" style=\"display: inline;width:16px;height:16px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/rss.png?resize=16%2C16&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISFDB link Other reviews1: Andrew Darlington, Eight Miles Higher P. Schuyler Miller, Analog (January 1967) Michael Moorcock, New Worlds #144 (September-October 1964) Various, Goodreads Roddy Williams, SF to Read Before You Die Charles Winstone, Vector #28 (September 1964) Editor, John Carnell Fiction: Key to Chaos \u2022 novelette by Edward Mackin &#8211; Two\u2019s Company \u2022 short [&hellip;]<\/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":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-writings-in-sf"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pcj7-18e","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354","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=4354"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13304,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4354\/revisions\/13304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}