Wed 22 May 2024
SF Diary Review: IF SCIENCE FICTION, July 1967.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Magazines , Science Fiction & Fantasy[9] Comments
IF SCIENCE FICTION, July 1967. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover art by Jack Gaughan. Full text and illustrations available at archive.org. Overall rating: ***½
PHILIP JOSE FARMER – The Felled Star. Serial, part 1 of 2. See review later after both parts are available. [The entire two-part serial is a section of Farmer’s novel The Fabulous Riverboat.]
E. A. WALTON “Pelandra’s Husbands. First story. Love proves stronger than possible immortality. (1)
ANDREW J. OFFUTT “Population Implosion.” Novelette. The plague hits only old people, in direct correspondence to the birth rate. Excellent idea suffers [is marred] only by jumps in the story. (5)
C. C. MacAPP “A Ticket to Zenner.” Novelette. A thief leaves behind a ticket, in a SF intrigue story, reminiscent of Eric Ambler, but without the convincing background. (3)
ALAN DIRKSON “Adam’s Eve.” Novelette. A world without humans has only waiting robots, but two find how to obtain services for themselves. (3) [His only published SF story.]
KEITH LAUMER – Spaceman! Serial, part 3 of 3. See review coming up soon. [Book publication as Galactic Odyssey.]
May 23rd, 2024 at 2:40 pm
A rough page count suggests that 75 pages of this issue was devoted to serials, out of 160. Almost half. If you waited until you had all of the issues you needed to read either one of them, you didn’t get a lot for your 50 cents you had to pony up for this one when you bought it.
May 24th, 2024 at 8:42 pm
Good Laumer and Farmer, worth a read.
May 25th, 2024 at 12:09 am
But only if you have both or all three installments. Otherwise the paper they’re printed on is worthless.
May 25th, 2024 at 1:06 pm
Back in 1967, I was a subscriber to IF (and GALAXY and WORLDS OF TOMORROW). I would wait until had all the issues necessary before I read the serialized novel. I miss serialized SF novels because no seems to be doing that any more.
May 25th, 2024 at 1:18 pm
Not even ANALOG? It’s been a while since I even looked at a copy at Barnes and Noble, so if so, I’m a little surprised.
But as for me, I’ve come to the position that serialized stories in fiction mags are a waste of both newsprint and money.
I suppose it was done to keep readers coming back and buying the next issue, much as serial installments at the local movie theater. Or did serials in magazines come first, and the movies copied them?
May 25th, 2024 at 5:29 pm
Serials seem to have started in the Middle Ages (eg 1001 Nights where the narrator staved off execution by always ending on a cliffhanger), and were very popular in Victorian England, with Dickens and Hardy publishing in serial format with each section ending in a ‘cliffhanger’—sometimes literally leaving a character hanging on a cliff. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffhanger
May 25th, 2024 at 10:20 pm
Thanks, Tony. As usual, Wikipedia knows all, if only you know where to look. In this case, under Cliffhangers, not “SF serializations.”
No matter. Looks like the prose version of the same came long before the movies came up with the idea.
May 25th, 2024 at 10:22 pm
To change the subject. I got to wondering about the story by Andrew J. Offutt that I gave a “5” to. Looks like I wasn’t the only one. It was reprinted the nest year in World’s Best Science Fiction: 1968 edited by Terry Carr & Donald A. Wollheim for Ace Books.
May 25th, 2024 at 10:25 pm
On the other hand — there usually is one — this fellow summarizes the story, probably fairly well, and ends up calling it “awful.”
https://sfshortstories.com/?cat=297
And maybe (can’t quite tell) 0*.