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Fantasite, v. 2, issue 2, May-June 1942
Page 8
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8 THE FANTASITE among the hams and PROS By JOE GILBERT and HARRY JENKINS PROS Astounding Science-Fiction: May, 1942. Campbell, apparently, is attempt to mould Van Vogt and Asimov into high-powered hacks to take Heinlein's place. Which is a pity, since it's becoming sadly evident from the quality of their recent stuff that neither of them can write decently under pressure. Van Vogt's harshly beautiful style is degenerating into a shamble of tedious and repetitious stylistic tricks, far more frequently incoherent that striking. And Asimov won't be able to turn out enjoyable material by the ream until he gets himself ten or twelve more years of living and observing and writing. Hubbard is going to pieces too. But fast. There is one really entertaining, clever, and well-written tale in the mag, tho -- Bester's. Alfred has got what it takes. If he keeps on whooping it up with stories like "The Push of a Finger", and "The Unseen Blushers" he'll be a favorite in no time. The guy is good. An inquest should be held into the murdering of what started out to be the year's best story and turned into the worst. We mean "Beyond This Horizon". In the second part of the serial Heinlein gives us thirty thousand words of nothing...literally. It's a practically day-by-day account of the Hardy Family of the Future, with no conflict, no plot, no nothing except an indigestible stew of idiotic editorializing, wherein Heinlein declares his faith in miscegenation, the carrying of guns in holsters in our everyday life, and -- Foo-foo help us! transmigration. Quite buzzard-baitfish. We're surprised that a writer like Heinlein would turn out stuff like this. After that sooper-dooper beginning, a collapse like this is inexcusable. Fair cover. Astounding Science-Fiction: June. "Bridle and Saddle" is stuff. Just stuff. All the shorts are stuff, too, and the rest of the novelettes are about equally mediocre, with Del Ray contributing the besta of the worsta, with a plot idea we've seen done infinitely better in a fan story -- Goldstone's excellent "Plurality" in the first Fantasia. Harry suggests that Robert Abernathy is another name for Robert Arthur, who is represented by a stenchy little short under his own name. Abernathy, not taking his pseudo-science so seriously, makes fair reading. Yeah, we said "pseudo-science"! Read his explanation for the hero's "thought-transmitter". Rogers is becoming a part of the Campbell pattern, and that ain't good. Alas, poor Astounding. We knew it well. Famous Fantastic Mysteries: July. "Polaris--Of the Snows" has lots of laughs in the wrong places, stilted dialogue, wooden characters, and creaks with age, but there's an archaic appear about the darn thing that's hard to define. For some cockeyed reason, we liked the blasted relic. Perhaps it's just because we've been studying up on spiritualism lately -- particularly the fraudulent type; which, despite Harry Price's beliefs to the contrary in his "Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter" is, we are strongly inclined to think, the only type-- but
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8 THE FANTASITE among the hams and PROS By JOE GILBERT and HARRY JENKINS PROS Astounding Science-Fiction: May, 1942. Campbell, apparently, is attempt to mould Van Vogt and Asimov into high-powered hacks to take Heinlein's place. Which is a pity, since it's becoming sadly evident from the quality of their recent stuff that neither of them can write decently under pressure. Van Vogt's harshly beautiful style is degenerating into a shamble of tedious and repetitious stylistic tricks, far more frequently incoherent that striking. And Asimov won't be able to turn out enjoyable material by the ream until he gets himself ten or twelve more years of living and observing and writing. Hubbard is going to pieces too. But fast. There is one really entertaining, clever, and well-written tale in the mag, tho -- Bester's. Alfred has got what it takes. If he keeps on whooping it up with stories like "The Push of a Finger", and "The Unseen Blushers" he'll be a favorite in no time. The guy is good. An inquest should be held into the murdering of what started out to be the year's best story and turned into the worst. We mean "Beyond This Horizon". In the second part of the serial Heinlein gives us thirty thousand words of nothing...literally. It's a practically day-by-day account of the Hardy Family of the Future, with no conflict, no plot, no nothing except an indigestible stew of idiotic editorializing, wherein Heinlein declares his faith in miscegenation, the carrying of guns in holsters in our everyday life, and -- Foo-foo help us! transmigration. Quite buzzard-baitfish. We're surprised that a writer like Heinlein would turn out stuff like this. After that sooper-dooper beginning, a collapse like this is inexcusable. Fair cover. Astounding Science-Fiction: June. "Bridle and Saddle" is stuff. Just stuff. All the shorts are stuff, too, and the rest of the novelettes are about equally mediocre, with Del Ray contributing the besta of the worsta, with a plot idea we've seen done infinitely better in a fan story -- Goldstone's excellent "Plurality" in the first Fantasia. Harry suggests that Robert Abernathy is another name for Robert Arthur, who is represented by a stenchy little short under his own name. Abernathy, not taking his pseudo-science so seriously, makes fair reading. Yeah, we said "pseudo-science"! Read his explanation for the hero's "thought-transmitter". Rogers is becoming a part of the Campbell pattern, and that ain't good. Alas, poor Astounding. We knew it well. Famous Fantastic Mysteries: July. "Polaris--Of the Snows" has lots of laughs in the wrong places, stilted dialogue, wooden characters, and creaks with age, but there's an archaic appear about the darn thing that's hard to define. For some cockeyed reason, we liked the blasted relic. Perhaps it's just because we've been studying up on spiritualism lately -- particularly the fraudulent type; which, despite Harry Price's beliefs to the contrary in his "Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter" is, we are strongly inclined to think, the only type-- but
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