Fri 27 Jan 2023
SF Diary Review: ROCKET STORIES July 1953.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Magazines , Science Fiction & Fantasy[3] Comments
ROCKET STORIES. July 1953. Vol. 1, No. 2. Edited by Wade Kaempfert [Lester del Rey]. Cover: Schomberg. Overall rating: 1½ stars.
ALGIS BUDRYS “Blood on My Jets.†Complete novel. Detached Operator Ash Holcomb of the SBI is hired to fly the first ship into hyperspace, but as old friend and his iwfe, known since Academy days, plot to steal it from him. Not much of a story, but it reads well enough. (2)
GEORGE O. SMITH “Home Is the Spaceman.†An experimental FTL ship is stopped by a policeman for speeding. (2)
MILTON LESSER “Picnic.†A husband, wife, and two brats stop on a living asteroid for a picnic. (0)
POUL ANDERSON “The Temple of Earth.” Novelette. Civilization on the Moon is headed downhill unless the priests and their knowledge of science can take over. Too much fighting. (2)
BEN SMITH “Sequel.†The paths of three former Academy students meet in space. (3)
CHARLES E. FRITCH “Breathe There a Man.†Rebellion on an Earth where the very air is taxed. The first plot twist really didn’t seem believable. (1)
IRVING COX, JR. “To the Sons of Tomorrow.†Novelette. The crew of a wrecked spaceship become the gods of a new Earth. Distortion of proper names didn’t help. (2)
WILLIAM SCARFF “Firegod.†A fair point to be made, but a basic flaw ruins story of a man playing god. [Pen name of Algis Budrys.] (1)
January 27th, 2023 at 7:56 pm
This was the second of only three issues.
January 28th, 2023 at 5:01 pm
ROCKET was the one of Del Rey’s four magazines for the somewhat undercapitalized (or embezzling) publisher that was aimed explicitly at young readers…more so, even than Pohl’s IF, but apparently about as much as ASIMOV’S SF ADVENTURE was. Notable the story you liked the best was by Ben Smith, overwhelmingly a writer of western fiction otherwise…and more than likely the same Ben Smith who contributed a couple of letters to ASTOUNDING in the ’30s, I suspect, if he was willing to take a flier on an sf story in the heart of his eventual career.
I’ve wondered if “Scarff” was a little Budrys joke about his eating habits, though he was still a relatively slender man in the ’50s. “John A, Sentry” was an English translation of his name, in slightly jumbled order, among his other pseuds (Algirdas Jonas Budrys, the surname meaning sentry in Lithuanian).
January 28th, 2023 at 5:17 pm
More about Ben Smith and A.J. Budrys than I ever know before. Thanks, Todd!
PS. I’m sure you’re right about the reading level of the stories in the magazine. Meant for kids. Smart kids, mind you, but kids.