Tue 8 Jul 2025
SF Diary Review: GALAXY SF – October 1967.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Magazines , Science Fiction & Fantasy[9] Comments
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION. October 1967. Seventeenth anniversary issue. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover artist: Gray Morrow. Overall rating: ****
ROGER ZELAZNY “Damnation Alley.” Novelette. Previously reviewed here. (*****)
POUL ANDERSON “Poulfinch’s Mythology.” Non-fact article. A look from the future at twelve gods of contemporary America. This did not interest me enough to make me want to see if I agree with Anderson or not. (1)
H. L. GOLD “The Transmogrification of Wamba’s Revenge.” Novelette. A secret formula of the Pygmies, capable of shrinking all living beings to a tenth of their former size, is used on mankind. This means the end of all warfare under the benevolent rulership of the Pygmies, on whom the formula does not work. Pretty obvious when you think about it. (3)
GEORGE O. SMITH “Understanding.” A fifteen year old boy, Terry Lincoln, without Understanding, is given a secret message to Earth that he cannot understand. To obtain the message from him, the Xanabarians must see to it that he obtains Understanding. Which is impossible to explain to he who has it and unnecessary to mention to he who has it, but it is a sort of refined premonition or intuition, necessary for all interstellar traveling cultures, ready to take on responsibility. So why not a better story to go with it? (3)
July 9th, 2025 at 5:35 am
The star here, of course, is the Zelazny. Poulfinch’s Mythology interested me far more than it did you, and Fred Pohl’s presentation of the Galaxy of Future Fashion (illustrated by Carol Pohl) — which you did not cover — was a waste of five pages. I honestly dpon’t remember my reactions to the Gold or the Smith stories, which probably ranged between “okay” and “meh.” What really got to me in this issue was the book review column by Algis Budrys, where he pontificated on four writers of the day: Delany, Aldiss, Ballard, and Zelazny, specifically: “Aldiss, for instance, seems the least talented of them. J. G. Ballard seems the least intelligent.” Ptah!
All-in-all, not the greatest of the GALAXYs that Pohl edited, but gimmicky enough to make a good anniversary issue.
July 9th, 2025 at 12:05 pm
Jerry, I don’t know exactly why I didn’t cover the other aspects of these old magazines, the non-fiction accessories, so to speak, but I guess my approach (stories only) does make sense. I don’t remember Pohl’s fashion pages anywhere nearly as well as you do (not at all), nor the book review column. Aldiss really made a stand he probably shouldn’t have, didn’t he?
July 9th, 2025 at 7:21 am
I was still buying GALAXY in 1969 and reading it immediately. I agree with Jerry: DAMNATION ALLEY is the big draw.
And, I’m with Jerry on Algis Budrys’ wrongly dismissive review of Aldiss and Ballard. Those two writers proved Budrys wrong…very wrong!
July 9th, 2025 at 10:16 am
Well…in 1969, I could see where Budrys was coming from in this intentionally provocative way, as most of Ballard’s fiction was about experiencing overwhelming phenomena of various sorts, and not being able to make much of it as washed over one…while Aldiss would publish stories such as “Another Little Boy” which (IIRC) which involves an alternate history where humans remained hairier, since they never became swimmers at all, and so they still have beach vacations (OK…) but never look at the water (um…). In short, Aldiss would drop some overly cute notions in his stories, for the hell of it. No worse than many of the Comic Inferno stories, but not much better, either…
July 9th, 2025 at 12:15 pm
I’ve always enjoyed Budry’s fiction — well, mostly — but as a person, I know nothing about him. He seems to have been a great person to have lunch with, though, that’s for sure.
July 9th, 2025 at 2:31 pm
I knew him just a little, mostly through correspondence. He bought my first pro story for his magazine TOMORROW SPECULATIVE FICTION, and I have read most of what he published in book form in and about SF…he was definitely one of those who was somewhat looking for SF to help us see ourselves as more valuable than the world was likely to encourage, and so I think he was somewhat puzzled by what seemed at first to him, in what would be tagged as “new wave” SF, as stressing the “What now, Little Man?” sort of questions, with the stress equally on each word of the question. I also think he was dogged by the expectations of his parents, who were fierce Lithuanian patriots working in and for the government there before the USSR swallowed up their country, that he would do great things and Finish THeir Work in helping free Lithuania again. Even from the back of mind, it’s a lot to carry. He didn’t become a US citizen, despite being here essentially all his life, till the USSR fell apart and there was, suddenly, an independent Lithuania again.
July 9th, 2025 at 2:55 pm
Thanks, Todd. Lots there I didn’t know, but nothing either that shocks my socks off. (Back in 1969, of course, I never thought of him as much more than a writer whose work I’d read and enjoyed.)
July 9th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Or, even, 1967! Vs. my typo of ’69…(and all the bros high-five).
July 12th, 2025 at 12:06 am
Budry’s fell into that category of reviewer who seemed to take some pleasure is shocking readers with often broad flat statements and harsh reactions as if certain writers personally offended him. It didn’t affect my enjoyment of his work. I do recall he skewered Brian Hodge for daring to send him a horror novel to review once rather badly, though in that case it may have been deserved.