Transcribe
Translate
Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 247
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
FANTASY COMMENTATOR 247 his entire life---that of bringing together all the isolated supermen in the world. Realizing as he matures that this is an impossible task, he takes his own life. It remains for Odd John to achieve this goal. John shapes his own adolescence with months in the wilderness to overcome natural physical weakness, and later devotes years of touring the world to locating supermen among its population. All of those who consent combine their talents and found a cooperative colony on a solitary Pacific isle. Marvellous advances result in all fields of creative endeavor until the fearful world intrudes. And after using every means at their disposal to avert the encroachment, all to no avail, the colony chooses racial suicide rather than a spiritually-enervating war that it could easily have won. III The "Perfect" Superman Kontrol is placed under this heading solely because no other classification suits much better the slightly superior mental and physical attributes of its prototypes. Actually these beings are very far from "perfect" racial supermen. After numerous intrigues, Snell's plot settles upon "Lost Island," locale of their colony. Some mediocre manoevering about follows, and finally the entire islet with all its inhabitants is destroyed as the volcano Buk'api erupts. Slans---mutants with double hearts and tendrils that give them telepathic powers---are beings of great physical strength, high mentality and longevity. The biography of one of their number, Jemmy Cross, furnishes a cross-section of the three-cornered struggle between slans and humans for world supremacy. Jemmy spends his life fighting not only against human beings but also against the tendrilless slans (a needless plot-complication Van Vogt invents), and searching for the true slans. His search ends as he discovers that the tendrilless slans are in reality true slans whose tendrils have been temporarily eradicated from their heredity. All ends placidly as Jemmy discovers that slans have gained control of the planet without the humans realizing the fact. IV The Microcosmic Superman Although fiction boasts no macrocosmic supermen in racial form, the microcosmic variety is represented by no fewer than six stories. The earliest examples are "The Conquerors" and "The Evening Star" of Dr. David H. Keller. A race resembling very closely in appearance hydrocephalic dwarfs take over most of the southeastern United States, forcing the residents to withdraw. These dwarfs are as far advanced above man as he is above apes. Their actions are racially controlled, and a central governing body containing the greatest minds has totally supreme power. A small captured group of humans is placed within the supermen's colony to preserve the species homo sapiens; this is done in line with the policy of preserving specimens of every creature existing upon the earth for observation and study. Plans for the total destruction of the human race are averted by the supermen's migration to Venus, which is discussed in "The Evening Star". Upon Venus they encounter a race superior to theirs, but their own eventual destruction comes from constant warring with subhuman animals inhabiting the planet. These wars arouse within them the violent emotions that have remained dormant for countless centuries, and it is this which poisons their atrophied bodies and causes their doom. "The Microscopic Giants" presents another race of inner-world dwellers, of altogether different characteristics, however, Little description of the race is given, and the sketchy plot revolves about their appearance and withdrawal to their underworld homes. The only specific facts learned are that they are of diminutive stature and possess bodies of immense density. Their government and de-
Saving...
prev
next
FANTASY COMMENTATOR 247 his entire life---that of bringing together all the isolated supermen in the world. Realizing as he matures that this is an impossible task, he takes his own life. It remains for Odd John to achieve this goal. John shapes his own adolescence with months in the wilderness to overcome natural physical weakness, and later devotes years of touring the world to locating supermen among its population. All of those who consent combine their talents and found a cooperative colony on a solitary Pacific isle. Marvellous advances result in all fields of creative endeavor until the fearful world intrudes. And after using every means at their disposal to avert the encroachment, all to no avail, the colony chooses racial suicide rather than a spiritually-enervating war that it could easily have won. III The "Perfect" Superman Kontrol is placed under this heading solely because no other classification suits much better the slightly superior mental and physical attributes of its prototypes. Actually these beings are very far from "perfect" racial supermen. After numerous intrigues, Snell's plot settles upon "Lost Island," locale of their colony. Some mediocre manoevering about follows, and finally the entire islet with all its inhabitants is destroyed as the volcano Buk'api erupts. Slans---mutants with double hearts and tendrils that give them telepathic powers---are beings of great physical strength, high mentality and longevity. The biography of one of their number, Jemmy Cross, furnishes a cross-section of the three-cornered struggle between slans and humans for world supremacy. Jemmy spends his life fighting not only against human beings but also against the tendrilless slans (a needless plot-complication Van Vogt invents), and searching for the true slans. His search ends as he discovers that the tendrilless slans are in reality true slans whose tendrils have been temporarily eradicated from their heredity. All ends placidly as Jemmy discovers that slans have gained control of the planet without the humans realizing the fact. IV The Microcosmic Superman Although fiction boasts no macrocosmic supermen in racial form, the microcosmic variety is represented by no fewer than six stories. The earliest examples are "The Conquerors" and "The Evening Star" of Dr. David H. Keller. A race resembling very closely in appearance hydrocephalic dwarfs take over most of the southeastern United States, forcing the residents to withdraw. These dwarfs are as far advanced above man as he is above apes. Their actions are racially controlled, and a central governing body containing the greatest minds has totally supreme power. A small captured group of humans is placed within the supermen's colony to preserve the species homo sapiens; this is done in line with the policy of preserving specimens of every creature existing upon the earth for observation and study. Plans for the total destruction of the human race are averted by the supermen's migration to Venus, which is discussed in "The Evening Star". Upon Venus they encounter a race superior to theirs, but their own eventual destruction comes from constant warring with subhuman animals inhabiting the planet. These wars arouse within them the violent emotions that have remained dormant for countless centuries, and it is this which poisons their atrophied bodies and causes their doom. "The Microscopic Giants" presents another race of inner-world dwellers, of altogether different characteristics, however, Little description of the race is given, and the sketchy plot revolves about their appearance and withdrawal to their underworld homes. The only specific facts learned are that they are of diminutive stature and possess bodies of immense density. Their government and de-
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
