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Dream Quest, v. 1, issue 1, July 1947
Page 22
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11 DREAM QUEST AMAZING STORIES, volume 21 #8, August 1947. 25[[cent symbol]]. There are five stories in this issue. One of them is a 65,000 word novel. Also there are three short stories and one novelet, which really isn't a story at all. Neither, for that matter, is the novel. It is called "So Shall Ye Reap" and is written by the Frame Concept boy, Roger Phillips Graham, under his pename of Rog Phillips. This yarn was advanced-notice as another atom war saga, and we had resigned ourselves to still another session of the End -of-the-world Blues as is so common in FTM. However, a common atom war story is one of the few things this story isn't. It begins like it might be one -- telling the tale of the inhabitants of the atom-wrecked world of the future. Then, however, it returns to 1947 and picks up the causes of the world's downfall; finally ending up where it started, back in the far future with the wrecked world. However, between the identical beginning and ending are packed a more varied assortment of styles, treatments, plots, subjects, than even van Vogt could dream up -- and, we might add, told in a far less confusing manner. In one section the thing runs for several pages in the manner of TITANS' BATTLE, economic history, in a very dry textbook form. A modified form of deroism is apparent when cavern peoples are found when humanity is digging under the surface. There is one normal story plot concerning the life of a citizen of the radioactive surface of the future. Another story thread follows the doings of a modern atom scientist and his friends. Still more parts are deeply philosophical in nature. We must hand it to Phillips-Graham for not getting the story threads all confused and muddled up a la A E vV. Even an inexperienced stf reader could, we feel, tell what is going on at all times. Probably it is stupid to criticize SO SHALL YE REAP as we would criticize a normal stf novel. However, if Graham's only object had been entertainment he could be criticized for too many deep philosophical passages, economic conjectures, etc a la Odd John or Titans' Battle. And for including too many different things in the same novel. But we feel that these are unimportant. The real reason of Graham's writing the novel and of Rap's printing it may be found, we think, in the editorial note at the end of the story: "By now you have undoubtedly realized the truth -- that we have deliberately misled you regarding "So Shall Ye Reap." This novel is NOT a story of what might happen if the atom war came -- it is a story of what MAY ALREADY HAVE HAPPENED. Merely grant the possibility of Mr. Phillips' premise -- that the five bombs already exploded have placed a lethal seed in our atmosphere, then the story he has told is already happening -- and NOTHING ON EARTH CAN STOP IT. Think about that, mankind! We hope this story is fiction -- but what if it isn't? WHAT IF IT ISN'T? ((Amazing, August 1947, page 155)) Yes, that is the premise -- that the five atom bombs already ex-
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11 DREAM QUEST AMAZING STORIES, volume 21 #8, August 1947. 25[[cent symbol]]. There are five stories in this issue. One of them is a 65,000 word novel. Also there are three short stories and one novelet, which really isn't a story at all. Neither, for that matter, is the novel. It is called "So Shall Ye Reap" and is written by the Frame Concept boy, Roger Phillips Graham, under his pename of Rog Phillips. This yarn was advanced-notice as another atom war saga, and we had resigned ourselves to still another session of the End -of-the-world Blues as is so common in FTM. However, a common atom war story is one of the few things this story isn't. It begins like it might be one -- telling the tale of the inhabitants of the atom-wrecked world of the future. Then, however, it returns to 1947 and picks up the causes of the world's downfall; finally ending up where it started, back in the far future with the wrecked world. However, between the identical beginning and ending are packed a more varied assortment of styles, treatments, plots, subjects, than even van Vogt could dream up -- and, we might add, told in a far less confusing manner. In one section the thing runs for several pages in the manner of TITANS' BATTLE, economic history, in a very dry textbook form. A modified form of deroism is apparent when cavern peoples are found when humanity is digging under the surface. There is one normal story plot concerning the life of a citizen of the radioactive surface of the future. Another story thread follows the doings of a modern atom scientist and his friends. Still more parts are deeply philosophical in nature. We must hand it to Phillips-Graham for not getting the story threads all confused and muddled up a la A E vV. Even an inexperienced stf reader could, we feel, tell what is going on at all times. Probably it is stupid to criticize SO SHALL YE REAP as we would criticize a normal stf novel. However, if Graham's only object had been entertainment he could be criticized for too many deep philosophical passages, economic conjectures, etc a la Odd John or Titans' Battle. And for including too many different things in the same novel. But we feel that these are unimportant. The real reason of Graham's writing the novel and of Rap's printing it may be found, we think, in the editorial note at the end of the story: "By now you have undoubtedly realized the truth -- that we have deliberately misled you regarding "So Shall Ye Reap." This novel is NOT a story of what might happen if the atom war came -- it is a story of what MAY ALREADY HAVE HAPPENED. Merely grant the possibility of Mr. Phillips' premise -- that the five bombs already exploded have placed a lethal seed in our atmosphere, then the story he has told is already happening -- and NOTHING ON EARTH CAN STOP IT. Think about that, mankind! We hope this story is fiction -- but what if it isn't? WHAT IF IT ISN'T? ((Amazing, August 1947, page 155)) Yes, that is the premise -- that the five atom bombs already ex-
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