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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Other reviews: Fiction: Non-fiction: This issue contains the brilliant Flowers for Algernon<\/em><\/strong> by Daniel Keyes, one of the best stories that F&SF<\/em> has ever published. It tells the story of Charlie Gordon, whose IQ is 68: his diary begins with this:<\/p>\n progris riport 1-martch 5 1965<\/em> He becomes a test subject for an experimental program that will triple his IQ. Just over two months later:<\/p>\n May 18<\/em> This process is far from straightforward and the account of what happens makes it one of the best, and most heart-breaking, SF stories ever. And Keyes doesn\u2019t even get his name on the cover!2<\/sup><\/p>\n If Daniel Keyes\u2019 story didn\u2019t dominate this issue we might have all been talking about Anne McCaffrey\u2019s \u2018debut\u2019 story The Lady in the Tower<\/em><\/strong>.3<\/sup> This accomplished story tells of \u2018The Rowan\u2019 who is a Prime or T1 that works for Federal Telepath & Teleport on Callisto station in Jupiter orbit. Her job is flinging freight and people to other Earth colonies by mechanically aided teleportation. The normal routine of the day is interrupted when an unknown Prime, \u2018Deneb\u2019, comes \u2018on the air\u2019\u2014telepathic communication between all the talents, from T1s to T12s\u2014and requests serums and patrol ships as they are being attacked by aliens. An emotional frisson develops between them while they deal with this.4<\/sup> She abandoned her most guarded self to him and, with that surrender, the massed power she held flowed into him. The tired mind of the man grew, healed, strengthened and blossomed until she was only a small part of it, lost in the greater part of this immense mental whole. <\/em><\/p>\n This Mills & Boon stuff is one of the story\u2019s minor weaknesses as is the fact it is populated with quite a lot of stock SF furniture, but it is hard to hold this against it when the story is told with such gusto. An impressive \u2018debut\u2019, and I\u2019ll be digging out the sequel story that appeared a decade later.5<\/sup><\/p>\n The Feghoot is wedged into the space at the end of the McCaffrey story. In the spirit of showing that even a broken clock is right twice a day it provides a pun about men communicating with fish that actually made me smile. Or maybe that was a grimace\u2026<\/p>\n The rest of the fiction in this issue is a mixed bag. The Flying Islands<\/em><\/strong> by Anton Chekhov (Budilnik<\/em>, 1883, translated by Frances H. Jones) is supposedly a parody of Jules Verne. \u00a0This gets off to quite a good start but tails off. There are three pieces of non-fiction in this month\u2019s issue. Isaac Asimov\u2019s Life\u2019s Bottleneck <\/em><\/strong>is an interesting essay on the importance of phosphorus for life and how we may be flushing it all into the ocean… There is also an essay from Aldous Huxley, Chemical Persuasion<\/em><\/strong>. This is one of the chapters from Huxley\u2019s Brave New World Revisited<\/em> (1958) and looks at current and past drugs in relation to the soma of his Brave New World<\/em>. Interesting piece (who knew there were a million speed addicts in the Japan of 1959?) The last piece of non-fiction brings with it the news that Damon Knight is replacing\u00a0Tony Boucher as F&SF\u2019<\/em>s reviewer. Knight’s\u00a0short column covers books by Murray Leinster and Edmund Cooper. To conclude, a must read issue for Flowers for Algernon<\/em><\/strong> with good support from Anne McCaffrey.<\/p>\n This magazine is still being published!<\/b> Subscribe: Kindle UK<\/a>, Kindle USA<\/a>\u00a0or physical copies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other reviews: Anonymous: Galactic Journey Part 1 \/\u00a0Part 2\u00a0\/ Part 3 Fiction: Flowers for Algernon \u2022 novelette by Daniel Keyes \u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665 The Flying Islands \u2022 reprint short story by Anton Chekhov \u2665\u2665 The Amulet \u2022 short story by Gordon R. Dickson \u2665\u2665 The Lady in the Tower \u2022 novelette by Anne McCaffrey \u2665\u2665\u2665+ Through Time […]<\/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-602","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\/p6Pcj7-9I","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602","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=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1023,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions\/1023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAnonymous: Galactic Journey Part 1<\/a> \/\u00a0Part 2<\/a>\u00a0\/ Part 3<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFlowers for Algernon<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Daniel Keyes \u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665
\nThe Flying Islands<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 reprint short story by Anton Chekhov \u2665\u2665
\nThe Amulet<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Gordon R. Dickson \u2665\u2665
\nThe Lady in the Tower<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Anne McCaffrey \u2665\u2665\u2665+
\nThrough Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot: XIII<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short fiction by Reginald Bretnor \u2665\u2665\u2665
\nUnto the Fourth Generation<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Isaac Asimov \u2665
\nThe Martian Crown Jewels<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 reprint short story by Poul Anderson \u2665\u2665
\nNightmare<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Jane Roberts \u2665
\nTo See Another Mountain <\/em><\/strong>\u2022 short story by Frederik Pohl \u2665\u2665<\/p>\n
\nFlowers for Algernon<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 cover by Emsh1<\/sup>
\nThe Lady in the Tower<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 interior artwork by John Schoenherr
\nLife\u2019s Bottleneck<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 science essay by Isaac Asimov
\nChemical Persuasion<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 essay by Aldous Huxley
\nHalf Loaves<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 book reviews by Damon Knight<\/p>\n
\n Dr. Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and every thing that happins to me from now on. I dont know why but he says its importint so they will see if they will use me. I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart. My name is Charlie Gordon. I am 37 years old and 2 weeks ago was my brithday. I have nuthing more to rite now so I will close for today.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n I am very disturbed. I saw Miss Kinnian last night for the first time in over a week. I tried to avoid all discussions of intellectual concepts and to keep the conversation on a simple, everyday level, but she just stared at me blankly and asked me what I meant about the mathematical variance equivalent in Dorbermann\u2019s <\/em>Fifth Concerto.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMatters escalate\u00a0when the aliens starts a missile attack and, eventually, Rowan and several other Primes form a gestalt to link up with \u2018Deneb\u2019 and fight them off. Part of this is described thus:<\/p>\n
\nThe Amulet<\/em><\/strong> by Gordon R. Dickson is a fantasy about a murderer jumping off a train and finding himself at a witch\u2019s house. He is persuaded\u00a0to perform an errand that involves another witch who lives over the ridge.
\nIsaac Asimov has a story as well as a science column is this issue. Unto the Fourth Generation<\/em><\/strong> is a fantasy about a man noticing certain odd Jewish names. Eventually he goes\u00a0looking for someone and subsequently finds one of his ancestors. At this point in\u00a0the story he then seems to go back to when\u00a0he first recognised the strange names. Maybe I missed something but this didn\u2019t work for me, and I have the vague memory that I felt the same way about the story the first time I read it.
\nThe Martian Crown Jewels<\/em><\/strong> by Poul Anderson (Ellery Queen\u2019s Mystery Magazine<\/em>, February 1958) is a detective story that involves the theft of the Martian Crown Jewels from an unmanned Earth-Mars spaceship. It is solved by a Martian detective who gives off a Sherlock Holmes vibe. Pleasant and original, but like a lot of mystery stories rather formulaic.
\nNightmare<\/em><\/strong> by Jane Roberts is what it says. A woman dreams of catastrophe and her dead baby. Difficult to work out what is happening and it goes nowhere.
\nFinally, To See Another Mountain <\/em><\/strong>by Frederik Pohl goes on longer than it needs to with its story about a great scientist and his treatment in a medical centre. He has been insane in the past and the government have been expending a lot of time and money trying to cure him because of the importance of his work. The last image is striking but a standard SF trope.<\/p>\n
\nAlso of note in this issue is the fact that Anne McCaffrey\u2019s story has an interior illustration by John Schoenherr! I never knew that F&SF<\/em>\u00a0ever used interior illustrations, so this was a bit of a surprise.<\/p>\n\n
\n I stared at him. How does a beginning writer respond to the editor who bought one story from him, and wants to buy a second? The years of labor over this story passed through my mind. What about my Wedge of Loneliness? My tragic vision of Book Mountain? My challenge to Aristotle’s theory of The Classic Fall?<\/em>
\n \u201cI’ll have to think about it,\u201d I mumbled. \u201cI’ll need a little time.\u201d<\/em>
\n \u201cI’d like to buy it for one of the upcoming issues, but I’d need that revision. It shouldn’t take you long.\u201d<\/em>
\n \u201cI’ll work on it,\u201d I said, knowing there was no way I’d change the ending.<\/em>
\n \u201cGood,\u201d he said, showing me to the door. \u201cIf not, I’m sure you’ll write other stories for Galaxy in the future.\u201d<\/em>
\n I called Harry Altshuler from a pay phone and told him what had happened. There was a long pause. \u201cYou know,\u201d he said, \u201cHorace is a fine editor, with a strong sense of the market. I agree with him. It shouldn’t be too hard to make that change.\u201d<\/em>
\n I wanted to shout: This story has a piece of my heart in it! But who was I to pit my judgment against professionals? The train ride back to Seagate was long and depressing.<\/em>
\n When I told Phil Klass [William Tenn] what had happened, he shook his head. \u201cHorace and Harry are wrong. If you dare to change the ending, I’ll get a baseball bat and break both your legs.\u201d<\/em>
\n \u201cThanks.\u201d<\/em>
\nWhen I first read this account in 2000 the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.<\/li>\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")
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