Gutenberg Sci-Fi 4
Betsy Curtis
There’s only brief information about Betsy Curtis, and she wasn’t prolific. But she was a member of societies, one of her stories won an award (so reports Wikipedia) and Rebuttal clearly made something of a splash at the time. The teaser for this short story, recorded in the Gutenberg transcription, says the work was a response to an Arthur C. Clarke story from the year before. The story is speculative theology, an attempt to reconcile Christianity with science—so the realistic veracity of the Bible is disproved, but truth of God’s existence is found in the necessity of cells for biological life and the immortality of energy preservation. On a practical plane this results in more thoughtful dialogue and character than usually encountered here. Theologically—I’m probably not not the best reviewer for this but…—the argument satisfies rational understanding while finding space for theological belief. As such, of interest to anyone who wishes to grapple with such questions.
Five stories on Gutenberg, and Wikipedia reports Betsy Curtis only published sixteen in all.
Samuel Delany
Samuel Delany is linked with the change in later 1960’s Sci‐Fi towards denser, more wayward writing. I’ll start with the Jewels of Aptor because I think it was the first. It’s a fantasy quest with hints of Sci‐Fi culture, if not science‐fiction, on the magic stones of power which develops into an unusual and effective ying/yang take on what those powers are. The plot rolls on mistaken perceptions that are confusing so I couldn’t be bothered to follow. But a mediocre character, if they know what is going on, can upend the power of a priestess—a refreshing change. As the quest unrolls, with I assume M. Delany themes that drama may not work out for the best and nobody knows what’s happening, the story works through scenes for once meaningful and inventive… I’m not going to spoil, but this would make a gripping video game. If you can stand for the impressionistic writing style, recommended.
Captives of the Flame, another short novel, doesn’t promise much—same fantasy‐world as Jewels of Aptor, which is Empire‐riches and (emphasised!) a 1500’s English pitch that involves fishermen and courts and so forth. At start it’s most notable for free‐form sentence construction in an impressionistic style that’s all cloud edges and thought‐inserted. But then the story scatters an idea that this is future‐earth Sci‐Fi—the culture has photography—which is more involving (though not quite Roger Zelazny’s ‘Lords of Light’). Then the fishermen and good‐hearted‐street‐rogues, even the courtly characters, have odd pitches like mathematics or four arms, and clash in scenes that are unsure and off‐path…. while the plot rolls along gleefully serving injustice on characters with moves like fish‐poisoning. And, for me unconvincing as plot but asserted and present, an idea that the victims of warmongering identities are themselves. At which point, I think anyone must admit, for better or worse, this is different.
Only these two, which were his first, by M. Delany on Gutenberg, but either or both invaluable as a radical personal take on how fantasy conventions can be reworked, and to understand the changes to come.
Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick was, like Harry Harrison (look up a bit), a little later than the first wave. His work became tied, perhaps unfortunately, with the concerns of sixties counterculture movements. An interesting guy who freaked out some, I suspect he would have explained clearly what he was doing, if anyone had been concerned to ask. Most of his work is solid sci‐fi except when considering a speculative ‘if’ of personal drama, politics, or religion.
I tried The Eyes Have It. This is a micro‐story or, as the introduction calls it, a whimsy. For me it’s unkind, but saved by the invention in the plot and the weirdness the author makes of his distance. I also tried The Piper In The Woods. This story works from an irresistible psychological premise and, despite a conventional end, is fun to read. The Gun shows what you can do with a scenario well known from recent movies. It uses non‐heros, and perhaps pushes it’s metaphors too hard, but it is strange. The Defenders is a short story about cold‐war peoples living underground. The as‐usual plain prose is dense here, with odd outcomes and unexpectedly tense drama.
Another story, written only a year after his first publication, The Hanging Stranger, has a plain style, neatly assembled but unremarkable—a little more literary than Harry Harrison because of qualifying terms and pictured asides. It’s nicely constructed, and thoroughly deviant with a central character of a hapless man. There’s a sense of something personal and experienced pushing through the text here. For many, this dynamic is why they dismiss Philip K. Dick’s work—like one of his characters, the man couldn’t win as literature, but became too big for sci‐fi. You are reading a story that seems like a plant in the wilderness, an uncanny thing from a world that can be recognised yet is not. As usual, if you allow it, where it grows is a challenge to everyday life. One or two of these originals are on this list, and this, for sure, is one of them.
Project Gutenberg carries about twelve of Philip K. Dick’s early stories.
Gordon R. Dickson
A John Campbell man who wrote sober, sombre epics. No Shield from the Dead is a game‐play between defensive personal shielding. It’s character drama is convenient and impossible,
Terri laughed, shortly, contemptuously. “No knowledge that you have can threaten my life.”
But I admit the play feels not clever but serious.
Thomas M. Disch
Thomas Disch worked many jobs for money… and wrote for magazines, newspapers and, towards the end, online. He started in late SciFi and, despite being better known as a poet, remained a fan and author. Utopia? Never! is a very early short story, and is societal speculation with little trace of SciFi style, though it has a SciFi, or angry young man, plot‐end. What SciFi there is jars a little against the ethos—there’s clearly style and themes in this horror‐shock story that could be worked at length. Suggested alternate title, ‘Utopia, Balderdash!’. The Demi‐Urge is a report by alien civilisation on Earth civilisation, with a twist argument to cram into it’s short length—that perhaps humans are ruled by machines, or are they? Solves the style problem, though traces remain in character‐interaction‐dunderheadedness, and an argument worth pondering.
Only two on Project Gutenberg. I wouldn’t expect more, but don’t confuse quantity with quality.
Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow should have a place here. At the time of writing, he is contemporary. Cory Doctorow believes in open software, publishes under commons licences, and you can find his SciFi writing on Project Gutenberg (open licences, yes?). Printcrime is a story of defending digital freedoms for people. It’s written in a pulp fiction style that would be utterly convincing if not for modern social references and modern technology. Nice use of the lead character too.
Thirteen items, says Gutenberg…
Dave Dryfoos
…who the Science Fiction Encyclopedia says was “generally competent”. No further information except he edited a story collection. Uniform of a Man is a short story about one of those Fifties types who is very angry, in this case because he’d been chained to a post for years. Unlikely, and it’s not The Count of Monte Cristo, but yeh, competent.
Eight more on Gutenberg by Dave Dryfoos
Harlan Ellison
Nowadays he’s known for arguing with people and making a big show of taking over night‐time parties. He also wrote science fiction, though it is better construction to say he wrote a lot, of which some is called science fiction. Glow Worm was the first story by Harlan Ellison published, and there’s a lot of Harlan Ellison in it. The drive to say something, here about loneliness, means his construction, as often with those who are driven, is not wasteful, skimping or incoherent. There’s also bad science—how can an amateur scientist with no help construct a spaceship, how can any living organism not break when irradiated? But this is maybe better seen as a lack of realism. There is reason—to illustrate overloaded personal reaction, which is a rare intent from the main ages of science fiction. Later, Harlan Ellison became an editor for, and promoter of, the New Age of Science Fiction—‘Glow Worm’ will throw (green) light on why.
The downloads count is a feature of Gutenberg I have no interest in and never refer to elsewhere. Yet the download count of Cosmic Striptese is a puzzle. Is it the snazzy title? No, not the title… I’ll not tell you how, but likely because this story delvers on it’s title. It also shows how M. Ellison was however of the fiction of his age. The characters and dialogue have some of the sparkle of Kuttner and Moore, but are otherwise unlikely and one‐dimensional. Cartoons can do way better than this, as can film (which Ellison wrote for). But the story is well‐made and coherent. And then there is Peter Merton’s Private Mint. This is fantasy wrapped in an enabling excuse of SciFi—it’s time travel! But the work has a good way with it’s idea, adding practical limitations and sticking to them, then adding a condition that is consistent and leads to a fun end. Again, though the characters or wider drama are far from realistic or complex, the drama is developed into plot idea‐by‐idea, which others could learn from. Perhaps not as endearingly odd as the work of Robert Sheckley, this story is wide ranging, and worth a try—you may prefer the character‐based writing and gung‐ho style.
What’s on Gutenberg is maybe five very early stories from a huge output. Though the stories predate work Harlan Ellison is famous for, and which I can’t vouch for, they serve as a dose.
Philip José Farmer
Mr. Farmer was one of those homegrown hackers who love to tinker with the mechanism. A Laurence Sterne of sci‐fi, it can be difficult to say if it’s sci‐fi when he’s prising the badge off to see how it was glued to him. I tried Heel!, which reworks ancient mythology as a film production running into a personal and industrial hell overseen by space pilots. I end that it’s large‐part sci‐fi, well done and original, also airily slick and hard to finish. Or even carry on. Later, I tried They Twinkled Like Jewels. This was unlike—a horror story told from an incomplete perspective with fantastic plot digressions. Outstanding pulp‐horror writing—I read it twice—but where this meets Sci‐Fi, I’m at a loss. In Tongues of the Moon José Farmer takes on guns in space, but highlights with touches of plausible technology, halfway‐likely psychology, keeps action to the moon, uses scenarios with no easy resolution, mines a tricky political background that nowadays would be called Postmodern, and exploits these minerals for vivid scenes including the earth being destroyed by humans. So makes a worn and dull subject gleam and challenge in it’s depths. The Wounded is well‐written with cute asides as it literalises, or physicalizes?, mythology—maybe not the most moving, but you’ve likely never read a plot like this, and I’m not going to spoil it.
There’s no swathe of José Farmer on Gutenberg, currently eight, but clearly worth rooting through.
Charles L. Fontenay
Brief coverage online that he worked for newspapers and wrote a handful of novels. The Gift Bearer is a mild investigation of censorship which throws in a fantasy woman as illustration. Amiable, but barely extra‐terrestrial.
Root round in the trunk, there’s twenty four by Charles L. Fontenay.
H. B. Fyfe
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has a little on this writer, saying he wrote many stories and a novel about how clever humans “outwit thick‐skulled… Aliens”. A Transmutation of Muddles builds up a hustle of promises and insurance counter‐claims with aliens dramatised like every other swindled civilisation. The aliens are scaly, do not wear much and are coloured brown.
H. B, Fyfe was something of a fixture, there are twenty two on Gutenberg.