Wed 25 Nov 2020
Diary Review: SPACE SCIENCE FICTION May 1952.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Magazines , Science Fiction & Fantasy[7] Comments
SPACE SCIENCE FICTION. May 1952. (Volume 1, Number 1.) Overall rating: 3 stars.
LESTER del REY “Pursuit.†Feature novel. A man with unknown assailants pursued for unknown reasons for the major part of the story finally discovers that it is his own unconscious mind plus an uncontrolled psi factor which has been creating his monsters. The plot, meant to sweep the reader along with the hero’s plight, jumps badly at times, simply because of vague details or incongruous background. Also, forty-two pages is a long time for confusion to run rampant. (1)
Comment: Collected in Gods and Golems (Ballantine, paperback original, 1973). Also of note, perhaps, is that Lester del Rey was also the editor of this magazine.
JERRY SOHL “The Ultroom Error.†A readable but pointless story of a life-germ transplanting process gone wrong. (2)
Comment: Collected in Filet of Sohl: The Classic Scripts and Stories of Jerry Sohl (Bear Manor Media, softcover, 2003). Besides a dozen or so SF novels published later on, Sohl also wrote scripts for Alfred Hitchcock, Twilight Zone, Star Trek and several other TV shows.
ISAAC ASIMOV “Youth.†Novelette. The illustrations give away the ending, obviously meant to be hidden. Two alien cultures meet and initiate friendly relations, but the identity of each cannot be determined from the context. (4)
Comment: Collected in The Martian Way and Other Stories (Doubleday, hardcover, 1955). This is clearly a small gem whose first appearance is hidden away in what is today an sadly obscure magazine.
HENRY KUTTNER “The Ego Machine.†Novelette. A badly confused robot carries on an ecological experiment in adjusting a Hollywood screenwriter’s character to his environment. The wild type of science-fictional comedy that made Kuttner famous. Incidentally, this novelette has only three pages fewer than the feature novel. (5)
Comment: ISFDb suggests that this story was co-written with C. L. Moore. Reprinted in Science-Fiction Carnival, edited by Fredric Brown & Mack Reynolds (Shasta, hardcover, 1953). Collected in Return to Otherness (Ballantine, paperback original, 1962).
BRYCE WALTON “To Each His Own Star.†A predictable story of four men lost in space, each wanting to go his own way. (2)
Comment: Reprinted in Space Odysseys: A New Look at Yesterday’s Futures, edited by Brian W. Aldiss (Doubleday, hardcover, 1976). Collected in “Dark of the Moon” and Other Stories (Armchair Fiction Masters of SF #1, softcover, 2011). Walton was the author of several dozen short stories between 1945 and 1969, but only one novel, one of the Winston series of YA books, which I’m sure explains why he’s a Little Known Author today.
November 25th, 2020 at 8:54 pm
Not surprizingly it sounds as if Kuttner is the gem here.
November 25th, 2020 at 9:28 pm
No, no surprise at all. In fact, though, in spite of the fact that I didn’t care for the lead novel, I’d say that the magazine itself, as a whole, was a better than average issue for the time period.
November 25th, 2020 at 11:22 pm
Space Science Fiction was an attractive magazine and only lasted 8 issues during 1952-1953. The SF and crime fiction digest boom during the 1950’s was a fascinating period for magazine collectors. Too bad it didn’t last longer.
November 25th, 2020 at 11:39 pm
The reason why the boom for the fiction digests got busted, or so I’ve read, was that there was too much competition from TV and paperbacks, which were sold almost everywhere.
November 25th, 2020 at 11:44 pm
That’s true about TV and paperbacks but also the different magazines flooded the market and killed off many Sf and crime digests after only a few issues. There were not enough readers to support so many magazines and also not near enough quality fiction authors.
November 26th, 2020 at 11:35 am
The quality of the digest must have been pretty high, judging from the large percentage of stories that subsequently were reprinted.
November 26th, 2020 at 11:46 am
Yes, I find it very interesting to check that out now, in this case almost 70 years later. It gives you a totally different perspective on the stories, and I’m going to keep doing it.