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This is my blog which I intend to use for the new group that I am joining |
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I November 2012, I decided that I would like to join a blogging community on WDC. It basically required that we write blog entries according to specific prompts. Here is the result Edit: the stuff from 2012 is still there, but i have a new use for this blog, namely my thoughts on old pulps. . . |
| Beatrice was another story which Atheling complained was too much like a detective story. He's right, to a point, but unlike Man in the Dark, this is actually a Science Fiction story in that it takes place in the future where all kinds of strange electronic devices are available. The plot revolves around an unfortunate man who finds out that his wife is cheating and plots a revenge. Like I said, it's kind of familiar. Atheling disliked this story because all of the characters were underdeveloped types.He's not wrong. In fact, some of the weird futuristic devices kind of steal the show from the characters. And in a way, that's what I liked about it. it's almost reminiscent of Philip K. Dick with the absurdism. To be fair, it's not nearly as good as what Dick would have done with a similar premise.. |
| Atheling-Blish's next target was the Fall 1952 issue of a magazine called Fantastic. The first story he attacked was Man in the Dark by Roy Huggins. I had never heard of Roy Huggins , but when I Googled him I learned that he was a television writer producer who created, among other things, The Fugitive The story is about a man who receives word that his wife's car has met with a fatal accident. One problem. He spoke with his wife on the telephone just a few minutes before the police called. As Atheling pointed out, this is a mystery. Unlike Atheling, I found it an enjoyable one. Sure as Atheling mentions, there is a great deal of prose spent describing smoking. That was a pet peeve of Atheling. Also there is a horny female character in it for no good reason, but there is also some interesting deduction and clues to learn about what happened. That said, I have to agree with Atheling's main complaint which can be paraphrased as, "How the Hell did a story like this get into a Science Fiction magazine?". The editor's introduction implies that the mysterious phone call has a supernatural explanation in which case it would be a ghost story, but SPOILER ALERT: it turns out to be perfectly rational. Atheling reviewed four more stories from that issue of the magazine. Stay tuned for entries about them. |
| So now, I have read Cold Awakening, the story which William Atheling--James Blish quietly praised. I agree with him that it's not nearly as overwritten as The Face of the Enemy but it is overplotted. It's about the countdown to the first interstelllar flight. The plan is to cryogenically freeze all of the colonist for a trip that will last five hundred years. However, three men have been given the unenviable assignment of being woken up early if something goes wrong. It's unenviable because if they are woken up, they will not go back to sleep and be forced to spend the rest of their natural lives on the ship alone. There's a lot of discussion and grim speculation about what could go wrong. Eventually, there is a suspicion of mutiny and sabotage. As Atheling points out, the story becomes a detective story which is kind of hard to follow. I basically agree with Atheling that it's an easier read then some of the previous stories, but it also lost me after a while. |
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