Something To Read by Ken Slater

The most important book of recent months, to my mind, is a work on non-fiction titled SCIENCE AND FICTION, by Patrick Moore, F.R.A.S., and published by Harrap at 10/6. Its 192 pages hardly serve to do justice to the theme Mr Moore has attempted, and in that may perhaps be found the reason for some of the faults of the book. Other reasons for the faults are that Mr. Moore is possibly not sufficiently acquainted with some parts of the s-f field, and that he has the expert's habit of making use of "all," "every" and "always" when these words are not truly applicable. When one says of a class of things that they "all" have such-and-such, the implication is that each and every one has been examined, and found to be so. When one says "always," again, one means "every time." When on page 134, speaking of mutants, in s-f stories, Mr. Moore states "and the modern mutant is always repulsive and bloodthirsty, generally possessing several ears and (if female) a few extra breasts," he is being very misleading. The emphasis on “always" is mine, and not Mr. Moore's. But, unemphasised or not, the meaning is the same, and the statement is wrong. The next sentence commences “Moreover, mutants are invariably telepathic." Not “invariably," Mr. Moore, any more than “always." The “espers” of Alfred Bester's THE DEMOLISHED MAN are certainly telepathic, but they are not "repulsive," etc. Nor, for that matter, do all mutants in all stories fall into either the "repulsive" or the "telepathic" class.

In support of my statements that Mr. Moore may lack a sufficient knowledge of some parts of the field on which he has given an expert opinion, I quote from page 77: "If Astounding Science Fiction and its kind had monopolised the field there would have been no harm done, but between 1930 and the outbreak of war there arose... sensational magazines known collectively as 'pulps'." 'Mr. Moore either overlooks or does not know that the term "pulp"  was used to indicate periodicals  produced in "pulp" format printed on "pulp" paper; the type of paper rather than the content being defined by the word. In this pulp class were detective, western and romance magazines, among others...and in the science fiction section of the “pulp" magazines was Astounding Science Fiction. Again, on page 148, discussing A. E. Van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle, Mr. Moore refers to Ixtl as a "recent example" of a class of s-f creature. I take it from the text that by “recent” Mr. Moore refers to the stories of, for example, the post-war period, and obviously is not aware that poor Ixti, “Discord in Scarlet," originally appeared in the December 1939 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

Apart from these things, and within the limits of his own very restricted definition of science-fiction, Mr. Moore has written a very useful survey of the origin and growth of the s-f with some remarks on the "horror comics" and indication that they have no connection with "true" science fiction or even with magazine science fiction (which in the main does not fall within Mr. Moore's definition of "true" s-f). He then discusses the modern magazine, based largely I suspect on the six issues of a 1955 s-f magazine he admits he has read. Hardly a fair sampling, even of 1955's meagre output of some 150 magazines. Assuming Mr Moore's six magazines were "average," I hate to think what his opinion would have been if he had been confined to certain magazines which I will leave unmentioned. Mr. Moore seems to be obsessed with the opinion that s-f is primarily “interplanetary" fiction, that all the stories have “gloomy” outlooks, and that s-f should (a) be educational and/or (b) have a meaning. By educational, it must be scientifically accurate and such weak excuses as overdrives for exceeding the speed of light cannot be permitted. Personally, I think a wider view is necessary. I'll agree with Mr. Moore that an overdrive for the sake of a "cops and robbers" yarn which could as well be played out on the lone prairie has no excuse; but if the spacedrive-gimmick is the one item of "suppose that" the author has allowed himself, and he then goes along to build the balance of the yarn logically on that premise, and that the yarn brings out some sound sociological or psychological point, then I say by all means let him have his gimmick. In any case, Mr. Moore himself adds the conditional phrase “though a good deal of licence must necessarily be allowed" to his requirements of scientific accuracy in his own definition of science fiction. And, in this field, each reader issues his own licence!

Recommended. If you are a fan, you will get the "irate-letter- to-the- editor" feeling on occasion...especially in reference to the "fan circles" item on page 181... but at the same time, if you are a modern fan, able to take an objective view of this monster s-f that has sprung up around us, you'll be able to see that Mr. Moore is talking some very sound commonsense from the "non-fan" reader's viewpoint.

Fictionally speaking, THE ISOTOPE MAN should appeal to Mr. Moore, if he likes detective stories. This is the latest novel from the pen (or typewriter) of Charles Eric Maine (Hodder and   Stoughton , 11/6, 189 pages) and is only on the borderline of s-f. In fact the publisher has sub-titled it "a novel of the atomic age" and that is just what it is. Reporter Delaney, on loan to British weekly View Magazine, spots an "unknown" hospital case as atomic scientist Stephen Rayner. He advises the police and hospital of this, only to be advised in turn to mind his own business, the police having checked and found Rayner is at work in the atomic lab where he belongs. Unsatisfied, Delaney does mind his own business...trying to find out the "news" about Rayner and his double—whichever way round they are. Apart from the "time-slip" which has affected the Rayner in hospital, making his answers to questions quite illogical until Delaney points out the secret—and apart from the atomic plant scenes there is nothing "s-f" about the story. Just the same, it is an excellent yarn worthy the attention of every s-f reader a n d non-s-f reader who likes detective yarns. This one takes us right back to the Mr. Maine of "Spaceways" ... and is equally good. Incidentally, it is based on the screenplay “Time-slip." John Wyndham now has another collection of his short, stories on the market, THE SEEDS OF TIME (Michael Joseph, 12/6, 253 pages), containing ten items which show all sides of Mr. Wyndham's writing personality. Of course, it is quite possible that Mr. Wyndham will come up with something entirely different again, and surprise me... but so far as it goes we have Mr. Wyndham the whimsical, with Pawley's Peepholes; Mr. Wyndham the nostalgic with Time To Rest; Mr. Wyndham the terrifying with Survival; Mr. Wyndham the subtle with Dumb Martian... and so on. Of course, even Mr. Wyndham gets confused with his own changes of pace, and writes two quite excellent stories based—more or less—on time-travel, both of them humorous. One I've mentioned above, the other is Chronoclasm. Perhaps the latter one was written by John the jovial... I don't know. I do know that this is a very fine collection by one of Britain’s (if not the world's) masters of science-fantasy. Mr. Wyndham makes yet another appearance on the scene as one of the trio of writers in SOMETIME NEVER (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 12/6, 224 pages), The other contributors are William Golding and Mervyn Peake. "Envoy Extraordinary" is a story set in the past, a delightful item by William Golding. You can, after you have read it, decide for yourself whether it is set in the “historical " past, or a might­have-been past; Mr. Golding kids the reader along all the way to the end of this fast-moving episode from a Rome that might-have-been... or was ? All the reader's cries of "no, it couldn't have been" are neatly answered in the end... and new set of worries handed out. In the middle of the book comes John Wyndham's CONSIDER HER WAYS, and frankly not quite what one expects from the author of the short collection just mentioned. First off, the story might have been a dream... except for the part following Jane's return from the future world of a bee­hive civilisation of women; Mothers, Workers, and all the usual what-have-you. Admittedly, there are bits of Wyndham floating around here and there, especially in some of the conversations between the protagonist, Jane Waterleigh, and Laura—a historian, in fact, the historian of the future world in which Jane discovers herself trapped (in the body which is not hers). Laura is the only person who can recall the downfall and death of Man (male). And again John Wyndham takes over—the one we know—to give the story the final twist. But on the whole, a very pedestrian effort for Mr. Wyndham. The final third is by Mervyn Peake, entitled BOY IN DARKNESS, and of course that refers to Titus of Gormenghast, the central figure of those two nightmarish novels “Gormenghast” and “Titus Groan." To be frank, I disliked both these, and did not find this new adventure of Titus any more to my liking. Despite the power of Mr. Peake's writing, the intense and horrifying atmosphere of the setting he reveals, the vivid meaning of the microcosmos of Gormenghast, I have never been able to sit down and read either of these books with any enjoyment. This despite the lucid and detailed explanation once given me by Dr. David H. Keller... And this I fear is again true of BOY IN DARKNESS; I do not need Dr. Keller to make clear the details for me today, but still I like it not. I'm sorry, Mr Peake, for that...  if I could enjoy it I know it would be really something. But please, you readers, don't let my personal prejudices get in your way. I think YOU will like it!

from Nebula No.20. March 1957 

 

Return to Something To Read index

Return to NEBULA SF home page