![\"FSF196307x600\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/FSF196307x600.jpg?resize=416%2C600&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Fiction: Non-fiction: Emsh\u2019s cover is for Robert Heinlein\u2019s three-part serial Glory Road<\/em><\/strong> and shows three of the characters: Astar, Oscar and Rufo. Emsh would provide two\u00a0covers for this serial.<\/p>\n The serial dominates this issue by reason of size if nothing else: its eighty or so pages are almost two-thirds of this 128pp. issue, which makes it quite unbalanced.1<\/sup> It would have been better, probably, to run it in four parts. It is mentioned in the In this issue<\/em><\/strong> section and there is also a lengthy introduction\u2014a full page\u2014that includes some material that does not augur well:<\/p>\n Among Heinlein\u2019s attitudes and conjectures, his social and political tones have not been the least evocative of comment\u2014\u201ccomment,\u201d indeed, is perhaps too mild a word for the reaction to some of them\u2014and he says of this new novel, \u201cIt will outrage all those who were outraged by STARSHIP SOLDIER [F&SF, Oct.-Nov. 1959], and will upset all those who were upset by STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND [G. P. Putnam\u2019s, 1961]; therefore I have great hopes for it\u2026\u201d<\/em> p.5<\/p>\n Glory Road<\/em><\/strong> tells of Evelyn Cyril Gordon, later Oscar, an ex-Vietnam veteran who ends up in a fantasy world with a stunningly beautiful woman called Astar and her companion Rufo in a quest\u00a0for the Egg of the Phoenix. However it starts quite differently to what you would expect with a discursive, interesting and pacey three or four chapters where Gordon leaves the Army and travels in the south of France. In a parallel universe there is probably an interesting sixties mainstream novel that springs from this. I wanted a Roc\u2019s egg. I wanted a harem loaded with lovely odalisques less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels, the rust that never stained my sword. I wanted raw red gold in nuggets the size of your fist and feed that lousy claim jumper to the huskies! I wanted to get up feeling brisk and go out and break some lances, then pick a likely wench for my <\/em>droit du seigneur\u2014I<\/em> wanted to stand up to the Baron and dare him to touch my wench! I wanted to hear the purple water chuckling against the skin of the <\/em>Nancy Lee in the cool of the morning watch and not another sound, nor any movement save the slow tilting of the wings of the albatross that had been pacing us the last thousand miles. If only we had gotten that novel. What happens next is that he meets Astar, and they are soon transported\u2014by what seems like magical means\u2014to another world where they meet up with Rufo, who becomes his squire. Oscar would seem to be destined to be a Hero in this world. Unfortunately after this things slow down, and in chapters five to nine much less happens: a couple of fights, one with an ogre and another with strange animals beside a musical waterfall (The Singing Waters). Then Oscar has a misunderstanding about the sexual mores of this world when they stay over at an ally\u2019s house which causes them to have to depart rapidly in the morning.<\/p>\n The main reason for the slowdown is that the characters endlessly talk to each other. The worst example of this is on p.76 where a long anecdote about Strong Muldoon goes on for a page and never comes to a conclusion. There are many other examples of endless chatter, and this is because Heinlein has now reached the stage in his career where he doesn\u2019t want to tell a story, he wants to endlessly lecture the reader about myriad subjects. You will always\u2014<\/em>always!\u2014address me politely and with respect. One more word of your nasty rudeness and I\u2019ll spank you until the tears fly.” <\/em> I would have thought this risible when reading it for the first time as a teenager in the seventies, never mind now.<\/p>\n What makes this issue even more unbalanced is that all the remaining fiction is fantasy too. Success<\/em><\/strong> by Fritz Leiber is a fairly good allegory about a Hero trying to get past a huge Wall with an Eagle and a Bull. I\u2019m not quite sure what to make of With These Hands<\/em><\/strong> by Kenneth Smith. With its account of an university student’s strange acquaintance, who turns out to be far stranger than expected, it seems to start off bemoaning the latter\u2019s lack of artistic ability before veering off into a cry of pain about his alien home. \u00a0I am not sure this adds up to much really; it is also uneven and obviously the work of a new writer.<\/p>\n As Long as You\u2019re Here<\/em><\/strong> by Will Stanton appears to be an intriguing modern fantasy to begin with. It tells of a couple who start building a fall-out shelter, but once they get started digging they just keep going… The hoary ending is disappointing. Finally,\u00a0McNamara\u2019s Fish<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0by Ron Goulart is the longest short story in the issue. This is one of his \u2018Max Kearny\u2019 series\u2014an adman who freelances as a psychic investigator. He visits a couple who both suspect the other is having an affair. The significant difference is that the wife, Joan, thinks her husband is having an affair with a mermaid. This slick but unconvincing story resolves with water elementals and statues.<\/p>\n The non-fiction is as uninspiring as the fiction. Davidson contributes an eclectic book review column that has as many non-fiction reviews as fiction ones. Asimov contributes a sensationally boring science column in which he lists the top seventy eight scientists (he found creating a top ten too difficult)2<\/sup> and describes their achievements in three or four lines each. Half-way through this I had to stop and have a nap.\u00a0<\/span>The poem did nothing for me either.<\/p>\n All in all, quite a disappointing issue, especially after such a promising cover.<\/p>\n This magazine is still being published!<\/b> Subscribe: Kindle UK<\/a>, Kindle USA<\/a>\u00a0or physical copies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fiction: Glory Road (Part 1 of 3) \u2022 serial by Robert A. Heinlein\u00a0\u2665\u2665 Success \u2022 short story by Fritz Leiber\u00a0\u2665\u2665\u2665 With These Hands \u2022 short story by Kenneth Smith\u00a0\u2665 As Long as You\u2019re Here \u2022 short story by Will Stanton\u00a0\u2665\u2665 McNamara\u2019s Fish \u2022 short story by Ron Goulart\u00a0\u2665\u2665 Non-fiction: Glory Road \u2022 cover by Emsh […]<\/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-474","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\/p6Pcj7-7E","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","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=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":729,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGlory Road<\/em><\/strong> (Part 1 of 3) \u2022 serial by Robert A. Heinlein\u00a0\u2665\u2665
\nSuccess<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Fritz Leiber\u00a0\u2665\u2665\u2665
\nWith These Hands<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Kenneth Smith\u00a0\u2665
\nAs Long as You\u2019re Here<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Will Stanton\u00a0\u2665\u2665
\nMcNamara\u2019s Fish<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Ron Goulart\u00a0\u2665\u2665<\/p>\n
\nGlory Road<\/strong> \u2022 cover by Emsh
\nIn this issue\u2026 Coming next month\u2026<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe Respondents<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 poem by Doris Pitkin Buck
\nThe Isaac Winners<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 science essay by Isaac Asimov
\nBooks<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Avram Davidson<\/p>\n
\nWhatever: he is a restless man in search of adventure, as the following, almost stream of consciousness passage, shows:<\/p>\n
\nI wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme and Holmes shaking me\u00a0awake to tell me, “The game\u2019s afoot!” I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and the Lost Dauphin.
\nI wanted Prester John, and Excalibur held by a moonwhite arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be what they had promised me it was going to be<\/em>\u2014instead of the tawdry, lousy, fouled up mess it is. <\/em>p.24<\/p>\n
\nOther problems are evident as well. There appears to be some sloppy editing (if, at this stage of his career, Heinlein was edited at all) when Rufo appears for the first time. There appears to be an altercation between him and Oscar but we only find out about this after they have had several verbal exchanges.
\nFurther, some of the comments about and behaviour towards women are just irritating. I know that attitudes have changed in the last fifty years but, at one point, Oscar threatens to take down Astar\u2019s tights and spank her when they start arguing, at which point she immediately becomes submissive.<\/p>\n
\n\u2018\u2018You wouldn\u2019t dare!”
\n“Get your hand away from that sword or I\u2019ll take it away from you, down your pants right here on the\u00a0road, and spank you with it. Till your arse is red and you beg for mercy. Star, I do not fight females\u2014but I do punish naughty children. Ladies I treat as ladies. Spoiled brats I treat as spoiled brats. Star, you could be the Queen of England and the Galactic Overlord all rolled into one but ONE MORE WORD out of line from you, and down come your tights and you won\u2019t be able to sit for a week. Understand me?”
\nAt last she said in a small voice, “I understand, milord.\u2019\u2019<\/em> p.79<\/p>\n\n
![\"rss\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/16x16\/rss.png?resize=16%2C16&ssl=1\" "\\"Subscribe")
<\/a>![\"rss\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfmagazines.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/32x32\/rss.png?resize=16%2C16&ssl=1\" "\\"Subscribe")
<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"