PHILIP JOSE FARMER – The Felled Star. Serialized in If SF, July-August, 1967. Combined with the serial “The Fabulous Riverboat” (If SF, May-June 1971) into the second Riverworld novel, The Fabulous Riverboat (Putnam, hardcover, 1971).

   Continuing the Riverworld series, we now follow the adventures and dreams of Sam Clemens as he and a shipful of Viking warriors [as they] sail upstream in search of a mysterious tower reportedly seen in the polar regions. One of the Ethicals intervenes again, to cause a meteorite to fall, promising a source of much-needed iron.

   The story does not end, and cannot stand by itself; hence the low rating. Who couldn’t it be told at once? Farmer’s Sam Clemens has only faint resemblance to the historical Mark Twain, though no doubt the facts of his life are correct. Some comments [are included] on the human condition, reflections on life by Clemens, etc.

Rating: ** ½.

IF SCIENCE FICTION. August 1967. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover artist: Gray Morrow. Overall rating: ***

JAMES BLISH “Faust Aleph-Null.” Serial: part 1 of 3. See report following that of the October 1967 (yet to come).

ROGER DEELEY “The Trouble with Vegans.” First story. They are very clever smugglers. An old joke retold. (3)

KEITH LAUMER “Clear As Mud.” Novelette. Retief and Magnan are Terran representatives on a planet where mud volcanoes are a bad problem. And the complications arise. Fun. (3)

FRED SABERHAGEN “The Winged Helmet.” Novelette. Sequel to “Stone Man” in the May issue of Worlds of Tomorrow. The berserkers’ attacks through time are concentrated on individuals who control a great deal of the planet’s destiny. King Ay of pre-civilized times is killed, and a replacement has to be sent to maintain history. The ending is not satisfying; there may be more to come. (3)

BURT K. FILER “Paint ’em Green.” The search of “effects machines” by Terran governments brings about interference by outside interests, for a second time. (3)

PHILIP JOSE FARMER “The Felled Star.” Serial; part 2 of 2. Report on complete story to appear here soon.

WEIRD TALES January 1949. Editor: Dorothy McIlwraith. Cover artist: Lee Brown Coye. Overall rating: *½.

ALLISON V. HARDING “Four from Jehlam.” Novelette. An ancient Indian woman’s curse follows four Englishmen back home and to their not unexpected deaths. Not very well written. (1)

EVERETT EVANS “Food for Demons.” A demon inside one professor’s head feeds on the minds of others. (2)

FRANK GRUBER “The Thirteenth Floor.” Standard tale of non-existent floor in a large department store. (2)

SNOWDEN T. HERRICK “Open Season on the –bottoms.” People whose last names end in “bottom” start disappearing. (0)

JOHN D. MacDONALD “The Great Stone Death.” The great stone lizard attacks two outdoorsmen; one escapes. (1)

HAROLD LAWLER “Lover in Scarlet.” A skeleton in a scarlet cloak. (0)

ROBERT BLOCH “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” A magician’s assistant tries to saw a girl in half, and succeeds! (2)

ERIC FRANK RUSSELL “The Big Shot.” At his time of reckoning, Rafferty finds that his final judge is himself. (4)

STEPHEN GRENDON “Balu.” A boy’s strange Egyptian cat knows the secret of transformation to human form. (1)

MARY ELIZABETH COUNSELMAN “The Bonan of Baladewa.” An old Javanese musician calls of the spirit world to avenge his daughter’s death. (1)

ROBERT HEINLEIN “Our Fair City.” Novelette. A reporter uses the talents of a friendly whirlwind to expose the corruption of City Hall. Farce. (2)

HARRY HARRISON – Deathworld 3. Dell #1849, paperback original; 1st printing, May 1968. Cover art: John Berkey. Ace, paperback, 1987. Serialized earlier in Analog SF, Feb-Mar-Apr 1968, as The Horse Barbarians.

   Jason dinAlt convinces some of the inhabitants of the planet Pyrrus (Deathworld 27) to attempt resettling on Felicity. Rich mineral deposits await them, but the native barbarians make the new planet only slightly less unfriendly to new off-world settlers. Their culture is that of warring tribesmen, cities are [restricted] by traditional laws, and death by following the law is [definitely an] obstacle.

   The Pyrrans attempt infiltration of the most powerful clan, led by Temuchin, but they discover that cultural change can come only from within, and that defeat can lead to final victory.

   Too much of the story is spent on the wrong approach, which would be acceptable if bloodshed were an approved form of entertainment. [Worse], Jason has on page 21 a computer capable of providing the necessary conclusions, and it is not until page 167 that it even appears in the story again. The emphasis on fighting and violence is not justified, […] with the latter breaking out over and over again.

Rating: ***

BRETT HALLIDAY – The Violent World of Michael Shayne. Mike Shayne #51. Dell 9334; paperback original; 1st printing, November 1965. Ghost written by Robert Terrall. Cover art by Robert McGinnis. At least one reprint edition.

   Mike Shayne is hired by a senator’s daughter to come to Washington and frighten away a widow intent on blackmail. Senator Hitchcock is chairman of a subcommittee which is investigating the awarding of a big airplane contract, and certain lobbyists could be capable of arranging compromising situations.

   The widow’s background is not entirely clean, enabling Shayne to finish that part of the job easily enough. But he carries his investigations a bit further, murder results, and all his preconceptions are proven wrong.

   Bribery and blackmail in Washington may be real enough, but this book couldn’t convince anyone of it. The characters are standard: unsavory investigators, crooked lobbyists, industrialists willing to look the other way, and one dishonest senator. Shayne works the whole case suffering from lack of sleep, an easy excuse for messing around for as long as he does. If he was confused, pity the reader.

Rating: **½

ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION. August 1967. Editor: John W. Campbell. Cover art by Chesley Bonestell. Overall rating: 2½ stars.

POUL ANDERSON “Starfog.” Short novel. Ranger Daven Laure is assigned the task of returning a lost spaceship and its crew to their home planet. Complications arise since they have some from a strange region of space, a globular cluster, where abundance of stellar matter and sheer closeness of stars make ordinary navigation impossible. Lots of meat for the astrophysicist, but the story fails to inspire the ordinary reader, Quite boring. **

CHRISTOPER ANVIL “Babel II.” The next world crisis will be caused by the inability of scientists in different fields to communicate. Pertinent, and the analogy is apt. (3)

FRANK HERBERT “The Featherbedders.” Novelette. A race of telepathic beings think Earth would be useful for their purposes, but they don’t quite suspect they’re being exploited in turn. (3)

WALT & LEIGH RICHMOND “Cows Can’t Eat Grass.” A stranded space scout uses bacterial symbiosis, such as a cow does, to survive. (3)

MACK REYNOLDS “Depression or Bust.” A national depression is trace from its very roots. The solution” Go back to that family that started it all. Too long. [21 pages]   (2)

HAROLD Q. MASUR – The Legacy Lenders.  Scott Jordan #11. Random House, hardcover, 1967. Bantam, paperback, 1st printing thus, April 1968.

   While representing a friend whose wife had been killed in a traffic accident, lawyer Scott Jordan us involved in another death, a murder which is neatly and carefully tied into the plot as it develops, The driver of the other car had transferred rights in a future inheritance for a fractional value in cash, but not without involving a number of other people in a fraud necessary to obtain the required insurance on his own life, It is the examining doctor’s nurse who becomes too curious and thus jeopardizing her own life.

   A badly written fake-suicide scene detracts for the otherwise tight plotting. The gun mysteriously switched from the right hand to the left, and wrong, hand. And unnecessarily, too, for medical evidence would have immediately indicated murder.

   Masur knows people, though, and New York City, and writes of both extremely well. He also has side comments to provide to lawyers as they are portrayed in TV series: Perry Mason, are you listening? Also, the current arguments of gun vs. auto licensing are reversed here. Masur seems to have a deep-seated grudge against automobiles – not strangely, as a resident New Yorker [city-style].

Rating: ****½

JOHN D. MacDONALD – The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything. Gold Medal s1259, paperback original, 1962. Reprinted several times. Made-for-TV movie with Robert Hays and Pam Dawber, 1980.

   Kirby Winter’s uncles had died and instead of the millions Kirby expected to inherit, he received only a gold watch as a keepsake. But he finds that there are others, quite unscrupulous, who believe that he must at least have received the secret of his uncle’s success. And in fact he has; the owner of the watch has the ability to stop normal time and t o exist in that stopped world for up to an hour, free to act without fear of exposure or reprisal.

   Such a secret carries with it a tremendous responsibility, and Kirby’s uncle had set up conditions in his will to guarantee that his nephew would have to quickly show that he was worthy. During his adventures, he meets Bonny Lee, and it is his love for the uninhibited singer-dancer that helps change him from the poor ninny he was, afraid of women and life.

   Humorous, wild, sexy, science-fantasy: not to be believed, but wouldn’t it be great? Of course moral philosophy is emphasized: responsibility and other obligations restrict the honest user, but then the watch should also not be used solemnly, but, ah, frivolously or happily. Removing bathing suits, for example, rather than killing folks.

   Which is precisely what happens. Happily. And justice triumphs.

Rating: ****

ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE – August 1967. Overall rating: ***½.

HUGH PENTECOST “The False Face Murder,” A rejected suitor wearing a mask is killed, and everyone is ready to assume the guilt. Would seem to have Meaning, but it all ends as typical detective story. (4)

THE GORDONS “The Terror Racket.” Short novel. First published in The American Magazine, June 1953, as “Case File — F.B.I.: The Faceless Killer.” An anonymous caller threatens a widow’s daughter with violence unless he is paid $10,000. The FBI is called in for protection, and they work quickly to decide which of the mother’s acquaintances is the extortionist. Marred by sloppy writing: the roles of the characters are introduced without introduction, and with no real purpose; and by bad writing: the rookie agent who has to be explained everything, (3)

EDWARD D, HOCH “The Spy Who Worked for Peace.” Rand of Double-C discovers that a defector’s secretary is actually the spy, One of the better ones in the series. (4)

JOHN LUTZ “Quid Pro Quo.” A computer service arranges murders for a price. (3)

AMY. M. GRAINGERHALL (NORMA SCHIER) “Mr, Copable, Criminologist.” Anagram pastiche of Mr. Campion. Otherwise not bad. (1)

MARGERY ALINGHAM “The Chocolate Dog.” First appeared in The Daily Mail, 07 June 1939, as “The Dog Day,” Not a mystery story, but one of British charm. Mr. Campion. (2)

STEVEN PETERS “George Washington, Detective.” First story. Washington traps a spy just before crossing the Delaware, Interesting, (3)’

STEVEN PETERS “The Backyard Dig.” An amateur archaeologist’s discovery. Obvious with a clever twist, (4)

PATRICIA ANN HOLLISTER “The Woman Who Couldn’t Wear Red.” First story. At least her husband didn’t think so. (1)

JULIAN SYMONS “The Main Chance,” First US printing. A con-man gets caught up in a truly fantastic scheme for murder, (5)

BOB BRISTOW “No Margin for Error.” A woman has a secret way of knowing when her husband is out with other women. (4)

H. R. F. KEATING “The Justice Boy.” Novelette. A pet robin is killed at a British boys’ prep school, and an investigation is begun. The appeal is that of reading details of the background. (3)

ROSS MACDONALD – The Wycherly Woman. Lew Archer #9. Knopf, hardcover, 1961. Published earlier in condensed form in Cosmopolitan, April 1961, under the title “Take My Daughter Home.” Bantam, paperback, 1963. Reprinted many times since.

   Lew Archer is hired by Homer Wycherly to find his daughter Phoebe, who has been missing from school for two months. The case is not as simple as it seems on the surface, however, Two murders occur along the trail that Archer follows back, searching for both Phoebe and her mother. Illicit love has led to divorce, now murder, and blackmail of Phoebe for her mother’s death, which in neurotic fashion she blames herself for.

   You know, it’s great to read a mystery with a complicated plot that doesn’t also need complicated explanation. Excellent writing, in spite of occasionally corny similes that Macdonald seems to feel are expected of him, with a perceptive view of all levels of life.

    All of the characters are realistically portrayed, and become personalities rather than cardboard. Archer;s own outlook on life is succinctly summed up on page 10: Mr. Wycherly doesn’t trust himself “to do all the right things.” Archer doesn’t “trust anyone else to do them.”

Rating:   *****