Thu 10 Aug 2023
Diary SF Review: ANALOG SF – June 1967.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Magazines , Science Fiction & Fantasy[3] Comments
ANALOG SF – June 1967. Editor: John W. Campbell. Cover artist: by John Schoenherr. Overall rating: ** ½.
MACK REYNOLDS “Computer War.†Serial, part 1 of 2. See report following that for the July 1967 issue.
LLOYD BIGGLE, JR. “The Double-Edged Rope.†Iron Curtain censorship can “protect†the populace or keep important news from coming out. (2)
JOSEPH P. MARTINO “Security Measure.†A spy inside the USSR finds it necessary that US security measures be declassified to protect Russian missile sites from the underground. Interesting, but not science fiction. (3)
LAWRENCE A. PERKINS “Project Lion.†Analogous to Analog editorials: scientists who don’t know the rules make the greatest discoveries. (1)
CHRISTOPHER ANVIL “The Dukes of Desire.†Novelette in Anvil’s ‘Federation of Humanity’ series. Sequel toâ€Strangers in Paradise†in the October 1967 issue, would not seem to stand well by itself. Roberts and his crew return to that planet with the want-generator to help correct the damage they had done there. They must have a feeling of power along with their altruistic motives, but they manage to get the planet’s population working together again. Fun, if the previous story has been read. ***
August 11th, 2023 at 6:33 pm
Looking over the authors in this issue, and what I had to say about the stories, I think that at this point in time in its long history, ANALOG was running only on fumes, and thin fumes at that.
August 11th, 2023 at 7:22 pm
Good writers, but ANALOG in that period seldom really held my attention unless there was a real star in the line-up.
August 11th, 2023 at 10:07 pm
No stars in this issue. Mack Reynolds may have been in Tier Two at the time, while Biggle and Anvil, while good writers, no better than Tier Three. The other two, while their work was obviously publishable, made no impact on the field.