Gutenberg Sci-Fi 6

Robert Crowther Jun 2024
Last Modified: Nov 2024

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Robert Sheckley

Ask a Foolish Question showed us the future, and has come true. But the future is a drama, and the point is relevant now as it was then. As a guy who knows a bit about this, I thought of what could have been done with this story by the likes of Samuel Beckett or Kurt Vonnegut. This is brushing against Douglas Adams’s territory, a crew of characters more varied then you usually get, and a lively writing style. Intrigued, I tried Keep Your Shape. This takes an idea from a gray area between science and fantasy, metamorphosis, then throws in an original and near‐funny plot drama—it seems that Mr. Sheckley is good at taking the proposition then heading in unlikely directions,

“Interesting,” said the tree…

And Proof Of The Pudding uses a a post‐apocalyptic drama to raise a hallucinogenic drama that is not as acute as Philip K. Dick, but on his territory. The Status Civilization is a cornball from this author, a novel, a prison drama into an invert‐joke society, with stock dramas to a stock end. More Soc‐Fi than Sci‐Fi, nowadays this would be an excuse for violence, but with this author it’s more about amusing social commentary.

The critic Damon Knight gave a mixed assessment of the work of Robert Sheckley. He disliked the non‐scientific propositions of the stories and grumbled the protagonists (when they appeared) were idiots, if bright; but liked the terse telling and logic of plot. Seems to me a difference of weight, not opinion, that I don’t mind the fantasy base and love the Sheckley way with development. If you can live with that, The Leech gives an alien that is at base an action, or one side of a drama, which I find far more compelling than the usual human‐with‐tentacles. Which the author disposes of for a neat ending. I figured an alien by Robert Sheckley would be worth my time. Watchbird suffers from a plot which depends on the characters being idiots. That said, it introduces an anti‐gun and the idea of artificial intelligence. The argument follows the recent debate on artificial intelligence closely so either M. Sheckley was a genius or we are idiots lost in satire, or both. Warm is an oddity even from an M. Sheckley base. It proposes a psychological moment that most people will know, unwraps that moment—with brief references to psychology and a philosopher—then disposes with a cute ending. Sci‐Fi in method, or the ‘parable’ that Damon Knight was unsure about, it’s PsiFi the way it should be done.

There’s about thirty of Robert Sheckley’s shots on Gutenberg, so check in.

Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg was a professional writer and—rarely for this at‐base commercial area and without ever having a legendary top hit—made good money. Maybe that was because, even by science fiction (and romance) commercial standards, he wrote more than seems possible for one human. M. Silverberg is also known because, as the age of Sci‐Fi moved into it’s later season of the mid‐Sixties, he shifted concern and style into areas deeper. Master of Life and Death dates as 1957, the end of M. Silverberg’s early period, when the Sci‐Fi market died and for a while he turned to history, pornography and other fields. ‘Master of Life and Death’ is a long story, a mini‐novel, patched together from ready‐mades like spaceflight and immortality serums. It reminds me of a loose generality by Damon Knight, that, on the whole, English and other writers were better at internal drama (‘characterization’) and dialogue, but Americans could get societal drama (‘plot’) moving—because the ready‐mades here have only the bare minimum attention, and the whole thing has an amazing drive. And there is a useful if shallow base about population control.

Over thirty of Siverberg’s earlier work on Gutenberg, so plenty to read.

Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett

Randall Garrett was Robert Silverberg’s neighbour, and in the early phase they often collaborated and co‐credited. Anyway, Slaughter on Dornel 5 is a very short story, and is Sci‐Fi only in it’s monster‐pitch—otherwise, it’s a bar‐room brawl. Of all the stories I’ve read, it’s the closest to a model of what ‘sci‐fi’ was at the time.

Maybe five or more of the collaborations on Gutenberg, so interesting and rare to get a feel for this.

Clifford Simak

Ah, Clifford Simak. 50’s writer, reputedly an amiable guy, well‐liked, who said he stuck to science. Well, Project Mastodon is the usual nonsense generated by time‐travel, might have been better interplanetary? Never mind. the interest is in the real‐world practicalities and politics involved in colonisation. Wouldn’t get much of a look‐in in most Sci‐Fi. Poul Anderson is I think sharper, and Robert Sheckley more amusingly fantastic, but this is it’s own thing, has a quiet end, and worth the read. The Call from Beyond is in what might be called the Clifford style—interplanetary adventure and fantasy, but only a few characters, concentration on them, less conflict‐drama, a few touches that seem personal like observations on drunkenness—if not finished, he’s onto something. Second Childhood was for me, given my reading so far, a bolt from the unknown. The author starts from the idea of immortality, not uncommon in ‘SciFi’, but fantasy. When are authors going to accept and grapple with… to not go too far, but that yes, catastrophe aside lifespans will increase, but immortality, no? But the author here proposes a difficulty, then offers a part‐plausible and wonderful solution. Best I’ve read so far, and it’s becoming exposed that these reviews do not, as yet, work as map for this author.

Eleven of Clifford Simak on Gutenberg—a reasonable representation.

Cordwainer Smith

Or by his clumsy social name Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger. What this man got up to is a story itself, he was known for work in Asiatic Studies and “Psycological Warfare”. Aside from the rest of his life, sometimes he pitched fictional work as Sci‐Fi. Prising the reputation of eccentricity from the small body of work is not easy. The Game of Rat and Dragon has has a touch of slang that comes across as an older realism. It uses terms that the author doesn’t care to explain until late—you may need to read the story twice to join the clues. Once you’ve assembled the story, it’s complex psychology, and sometimes funny. There’s also threads of pain and threat, not caused by a launched fist but from a wider world. The end is not like anyone else, but right. It’s not scientific speculation, that’s all dressing, but as psychological speculation, rock solid. Cats indeed. If you’re good for mid‐Fifties style, this one is special. As for Scanners Live In Vain I’ll give you a start—‘cranching’ is being pulled back into a body that consciousness is largely disassociated from. Even with that, you may be adrift to start. The author has stacked ideas—the difficulties of the effect, the uses, the technical and mental adaptions and the sociological outcomes. But what stays with you is that, pulp plot or not, these are characters that fear, bicker, adapt and fail.

There’s a few by Paul Linebarger on Gutenberg, but most of them are serious books on Asiatic Studies.

Doc E.E. Smith

It’s not possible to change people, I think. If you constructed a parser, fed in a scan of the complete works of Doc E.E. Smith, it would spit out that he is not sci‐fi. But nobody will listen. Mr. Smith’s output was space opera, and he near‐invented the genre. You want space battles (a giveaway), skullduggery, and upright Top‐Gunners getting medals on their broad hairy chests? You got it. I tried First Lensman, which blew open the seam. In fairness, most of the book stays within the bounds of physical probability—no lightsabres, thank goodness. And his writing is lively, if nothing notable. If you like Star Wars and have an open mind, try this to see how far you might drift with the idea. Or, if you liked the TV series Firefly, this lacks the depth and wit, but it’s not smug, and committed to it’s world building.

There’s a wedge of Mr. Smith on Gutenberg, including his first shot, Skylarks of Space, and the second Triplanetary which is a Lensman prequel. If you can say that of a book written before the big event.

Evelyn Smith

Woman’s Touch would by some I think be taken nowadays as sexist. I’d say it may be better understood as a representation of cultural differences from a different (sexist?) society. After all, the story is written by a woman, and it is the female point of view that becomes the norm. There is perhaps a mild satire in this, and it’s a point worth making. And, if you can stand for those attitudes, the story is mildly funny.

There’s more than twenty entries on Gutenberg by Evelyn Smith, so clearly people feel her work is worth transcribing.

Jerry Sohl

Without mystery people don’t talk about Jerry Sohl much. He is, they say, unconvincing and trains unoriginal ideas with no connection. I will add, his inner drama would shame a cartoonist. Which ignores that his talk has an unusual flex and he has nice visual ideas, hence his work in screenwriting. Both attributes make The Elroom a neat micro‐story about a new form of communication. The fact these technologies now exist, and that the discussion is a conservative winge is not an issue—point made and real today.

Theodore Sturgeon

Theodore Sturgeon had failures in his life which gave his stories—plots and drama—credibility. Also, he developed into a philosopher who wandered—long before hippies he mused, sometimes in unpublished stories, about sex as a healer for ills. Outside his writing he passed time tinkering or travelling… his writing style followed with patches of experimentation. Not famous outside of SciFi, with Edgar Pangborn he was noted by the writers of the later more literary age of SciFi as an influence. Memory is can‐do stock assembled with an offbeat/modest subject, a proposed scientific development relevant to this day, and personal drama that is slightly unconvincing but strong and cranky. The Sky Was Full of Ships is for me an annoying exercise in writing in the voice of a lifestyle—did people ever talk like this?—but the payload is a literary trick I’ve never read before, for an end like nothing else here.

Only these two on Gutenberg but, if you would be interested in seeking outside Gutenberg, they are representative.

Jack Vance

Jack Vance was an all‐round guy, but never served due to poor eyesight. Not a known Sci‐Fi writer, but well‐regarded. A read of Sjambak will show why; with efficient style he gets a reader straight into the action, his start may be stapled from ready‐mades but the drama is tougher than most, the other‐world is intelligent and sharper than other Empire‐riches or Medieval scenes, he glues in a neat fantasy, swerves the usual space‐opera, then snaps off at exactly the right place. This is Soc‐Fi with a fantasy twist, not Sci‐Fi, but if you’d like your reading to make sense (e.g. Harry Harrison), he’s one to read. The Men Return has a fabulous teaser, “…you will like it [this story] tremendously, or hate it violently.” It’s a length‐of‐story dystopia where the structure of physics and chemistry has inverted, so hard is soft and soft is hard. Well, there’s more, while the author has a bundle of fun and imagination to go with it. More than logic.

There should be more Jack Vance on Project Gutenberg, but currently two.

Alfred E. Van Vogt

Alfred E. Van Vogt was from the first age of the SciFi uplift. He’s one of those people who is not famous beyond a scene but a Titian within it—you can still find today some who follow Van Vogt. The Expendables is Gutenberg’s only entry, but it’s typical. The science is a heap of power‐technology obscured by mangled names that could be generically called ‘Mugglewumps’. The writing is packed with cobbled together, if fluent, idiom. Characters are zeros with distinguishing features of not liking each other though, surprising, this story has no men with super‐powers. Drama is interplanetary‐far from plausible, and some of the style relies on double‐takes to absurdity—on the other hand, at least the characters fear, are suspicious, are anything other than people doing the right thing. The plot upends, near every page, in contradictory but convenient ways. Damon Knight made his start in criticism by trashing this style, and he is representative because others can’t stand it, but it does have a surreal logic unmatched.

Only one Alfred E Van Vogt on Gutenberg, but it’s typical.

Kurt Vonnegut

As a sale, the work of Kurt Vonnegut was fantasy, so within Sci‐Fi culture. This has been disguised after the success of the novel ‘Slaughterhouse Five’. Mainstream criticism needed to get to grips with the book, so unloaded the prejudice needed to split M. Vonnegut’s work from it’s origins. As a ‘life is a relentless joke’ writer, the work of Kurt Vonnegut was something of an outlier anyway. The Big Trip Up Yonder is a story about what life would become in an over‐populated world, not told as societal misery but bickering over who gets the bed in the corridor, how Grandad makes his will, and a joke ending. Who knows, but evidence so far suggests this story may be as realistic as the dystopias? Especially the dislocated trauma. Kurt Vonnegut’s work is a stream of ideas constructed as jokes without much conventional payoff so, though they were different, has something in common with the work of Philip José Farmer and James Tiptree Jr.. Pick them up at the wrong time, these writers are hard work, but no question they are good writers.

Only two entries by Kurt Vonnegut on Gutenberg, but they are representative.

Stanley G. Weinbaum

A writer from the first age of SciFi, 1930’s, Stanley Weinbaum died barely a year after his first SciFi publication. In the short time, he was prolific. And… Note! A Martian Odyssey was not only Stanley Weinbaum’s first story but is, at least within SciFi, famous. Even from the time of this text, it’s not difficult to understand why this story was appealing. The writing has characters not deep or purposeful but present, the drama is basic but plausible. The story, about mysterious creatures, has an inventiveness closer to fantasy than SciFi, but builds a world modestly strange. Best of all, and frequently noted, is that the human characters struggle to understand the life they meet, while one character argues that one of the creatures encountered is intelligent, possibly more than humans. That is a truth rare today. Pygmalion’s Spectacles uses a genuine SciFi setup to dump the reader into an Empire/Naturalist/fairy landscape that I’ve found inaccurate then and now and bores me to sludge. Only terse writing and good sense kept me with it, until it picked up the SciFi again at the end. It’s M. Weinbaum’s most popular story on Gutenberg, which is beyond me. As for The Ideal it’s the second in a series of three about Van Manderpootz, starring Van Manderpootz—immodest and comically despairing—and his story‐foil, Dixon Welles. I know others find this kind of comedy dated, but after scores of nobles and villains I find relief. Anyway, Van Manderpootz invents a machine, using a surprisingly strong proposition, in which Dixon Welles finds the woman of his dreams, then looses parts of her or, to be precise, most of her. Which made me think SciFi is usually better when the monsters and gadgets spring from the human. If you like this kind of thing, you will like this.

Weinbaum wrote twenty two stories, and there are maybe five on Gutenberg.

Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson was about from the start of the Sci‐Fi boom. He was a writer from the start, and later became a professor. The Cosmic Express is a mild and friendly satire of other‐world and fantasy fiction. In that, it’s slightly unexpected and put together well—M. Williamson is one of the sane writers here. The frame‐world is particularly worth noting, it’s convincing and barely dated—I figure because it’s well‐rounded. There’s also an amusing attempt to scientifically base the loose fantasy notion of teleportation.

About seven other stories by Jack Williamson on Gutenberg, probably enough to get the hang of an earlier season, though covering his seventy‐plus year career would take more than that.

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Order of first encounter

References

Clumsier than me, which is remarkable, this site is a notable example of putting in the hard yards. Under‐referenced, under‐visited, and a world in itself—if you want for basic information on a name, this is the place,

https://sf-encyclopedia.com

Sub‐domain of a home‐brew site that seems to know what it is doing, but is incapable of explaining itself. You can’t fault the sub‐domain for scale—it categorises on a century‐long timeline. And the enthusiasm for the artefact is clear—if you are looking for SciFi artwork, look here. The timeline is loose‐beaded, but the reviews are tighter than mine, and do not have the self‐imposed limit of placement on Project Gutenberg,

http://www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/

Notionally a review of three books about early authors in science fiction, this is a well‐informed discussion about the origins of the Sci‐Fi uplift,

https://web.archive.org/web/20120905042510/http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/review_essays/mullen62.htm

If you have an interest in Pulp Fiction as publication, here is a short interview with the creator of Dark Roasted Blend,

http://www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2018/06/collecting-pulp-magazines.html

Video of Damon Knight on what he sees as the earliest Sci‐Fi impulses with, predicatively, some of his own opinion on what Sci‐Fi is,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ouYZVFBGUc