Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, Vol. 91, No. 6, August 1973

Astounding/Analog

by Ben Bova (Editor), Gordon R. Dickson (Contributor), Herbie Brennan (Contributor)

Vol XCI No 6.

Contents:
5 • Giant Step Backward • [Editorial (Analog)] • essay by The Editor
10 • The Far Call (Part 1 of 3) • serial by Gordon R. Dickson
52 • The Synchronistic Barometer • [Science Fact (Analog)] • essay by Herbie Brennan
65 • Stimulus-Reward Situation • short story by Gene Fisher
78 • Forty Days and Nights • novelette by Rob Chilson [as by Robert Chilson]
111 • The Analytical Laboratory: May 1973 (Analog, August 1973) • [The Analytical Laboratory] • essay by uncredited
112 • The Epoxy Goat • novelette by David Lewis
135 • In Times to Come (Analog, August 1973) • [In Times to Come (Analog)] • essay by uncredited
137 • The Sweet Smell of the Past • short story by Lawrence A. Perkins
146 • The Jungle • short story by Karl Hudgins
159 • The Reference Library (Analog, August 1973) • [The Reference Library] • essay by P. Schuyler Miller
165 • Brass Tacks (Analog, August 1973) • [Brass Tacks] • essay by uncredited
165 • A Letter from the Editor • essay by The Editor
166 •  Letter (Analog, August 1973) • essay by F. Paul Wilson [as by Dr. F. Paul Wilson]
167 •  Letter (Analog, August 1973) • essay by Ed Bianchi
170 •  Letter (Analog, August 1973) • essay by Lee Strong
173 •  Letter (Analog, August 1973) • essay by Robert L. Forward
175 •  Letter (Analog, August 1973) • essay by Keith Soltys.

【 PREVIOUS ISSUE ← August 1973 → NEXT ISSUE 】

Genres: Science Fiction

180 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1973

About the author

Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.

Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.

Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.

In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.

In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".

Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.

Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.

Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.

Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).

Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".

http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova

Reviews

[David H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the thirty-ninth magazine issue of my personal project to read the Analogs that my dad gave me before he passed away (I collect all my reviews for it here). My parents are still in Tennessee, hopefully enjoying their summer, though I imagine the fall semester is about to start for my dad. The movie American Graffiti just came out, one of George Lucas’s early films. I have to admit I’ve never seen this, I just know that Harrison Ford was in this movie before Lucas cast him for Star Wars.

The August 1973 issue has a cover from John Schoenherr illustrating Dickson’s “The Far Call.” It seems to be accurate, as it represents one of the Marsnauts on their shuttle launch.

Ben Bova's editorial “Giant Step Backward" is one I heartily endorse, as his initial premise is to complain about the presence of the Bible references in a California science textbook, due to the anti-science activists focusing on a "teach both sides" strategy. It's sad to realize how much the anti-science people have succeeded in today's world.

"The Far Call (Part 1 of 3)" by Gordon R. Dickson is the first part of a new serial (it's hard to believe this is my fourth such novel serialization by Dickson since I started this project). Unfortunately, it's shaping up to be one of my least favorite Dickson stories ever. It's set a decade from the writing, with a multinational space mission of "Marsnauts" being sent to, you guessed it, Mars. However, the US President's liaison is panicking because of an ambitious space-experiment schedule, and honestly, I just could not get on board with Jen Wylie's concern, especially as almost the entirety of Part 1 is just Jen rushing around to different people to complain and convince them to change things, despite the geopolitical picture that had to be explained to him at least twice. It doesn't bode well for the rest of the serial, since usually Part 1 is the best and it's the later parts that disappoint me.

Herbie Brennan's Science Fact article “The Synchronistic Barometer" was almost an interesting history article until it turned into Brennan's leaning into a pseudoscientific belief in the "abilities" of the I Ching. It's incredibly disappointing to read crackpot theories in Analog, especially since we're well past the Campbell era.

"Stimulus-Reward Situation" by Gene Fisher starts off with an official bureaucrat coming into a relaxed human outpost, convinced he can bring civilization to the local alien Gangsha (a dog-like species that sleeps 24 out of 28 hours of their day). Given how well-adapted they are to their environment, the Gangsha have no interests in the Commissioner's offer. Things end tragically, and the author ends his story with a groan-inducing pun.

Robert Chilson's "Forty Days and Nights" is the final Chilson story I'll read in these Analogs (if he publishes any more here, it's after my final 1981 issue). I suspect Bova didn't like his writing as much as Campbell did (there are a few other authors whose output has dimmed with the new editor). Unfortunately this wasn't an enjoyable story, as it began with the unnecessary scene-setting of a beautiful woman looking at herself naked in the mirror before getting dressed. The woman in question was a high-powered department head in Washington, DC, organizing bio-engineering for the country, while her husband has been radicalized by groups opposed to her work. It's really a story that lets Chilson suggest various future science fiction happenings that could be cool, but the story left a lot to be desired.

"The Epoxy Goat" by David Lewis is about a guy whose unwanted roommate invented a trash-picking machine for the highway, and the machine goes awry. It's a comedy of errors, mostly, though it ends with the main character finally sticking up for himself and leaving. It's a pretty lighthearted tale compared to his "Common Denominator" last year.

Lawrence A. Perkins's "The Sweet Smell of the Past" features a hapless inventor of a time machine that appears to destroy everything he sends through it. In his smog-ridden world, though, you may be able to guess what he does manage to do from the title of the story.

"The Jungle" by Karl Hudgins is apparently the only science fiction story he ever wrote, and I did not really like it. It presents a future where the United States has specially conditioned soldiers, and one such soldier is sent to deal with a street gang situation back home. I was annoyed by it because it played into the view that the country somehow needed men who play outside the rules, to do whatever it takes. That was stupid when Col. Jessep said it in A Few Good Men, and it's annoying back then, too.

P. Schuyler Miller's "The Reference Library: It Seems There Are (At Least) Two Sexes" is his reviews column, and he looks at two SF anthologies that focus on sex, Strange Bedfellows and Eros in Orbit, as well as David Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself, which honestly may be the push I need to finally read it myself. He also reviews books by Sterling Lanier and Christopher Priest, as well as possibly the first Analog review of a Roger Elwood anthology! (Elwood is infamous for supposed glutting the original-anthology market in the '70s, but I've seen convincing arguments that that was overblown).

"Brass Tacks" is the letters column, and Bova does something unusual here--usually we get 5-10 letters with a response from Bova, but this issue he gathered up 23 letters (in full or part) and organized them by general themes, usually comments (pro or con) on a variety of aspects related to the magazine, with no response from the editor. I suspect Bova was getting a little tired of some of these letters, but I hope this isn't a regular occurrence. Amusingly, I saw some pretty famous names among the letters like F. Paul Wilson and Robert L. Forward.

From a future issue: "The Analytical Laboratory" is a feature where Analog readers rank each issue’s stories, published several months after, with the top two winners getting pay bonuses. Here are the results, posted in the November 1973 issue:
2.00: "The Far Call (Part 1 of 3)," Gordon R. Dickson
3.41: "The Epoxy Goat," David Lewis
3.56: "Forty Days and Nights," Robert Chilson
3.79: "Stimulus-Reward Situation," Gene Fisher
3.80: "The Jungle," Karl Hudgins
4.08: "The Sweet Smell of the Past," Lawrence A. Perkins

This was such a disappointing issue for me, that it's hard to see how I'd rank the stories myself. Even with the bonus that serials usually get in the Analytical Laboratory, though, I'm still surprised to see Dickson's as high as it is, even if it's a measly 2.00. I'd probably have placed it below the Chilson, and pushed the Hudgins to the bottom.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two identical spacecraft, Phoenix One and Phoenix Two, are heading to Mars. Built by a politically precarious consortium of countries including the U.S. and Russia, the ships must head off before the political will evaporates. “The Far Call” by Gordon R. Dickson is a detailed mission outline and the expanded novel I’ve reviewed in detail elsewhere. In “Stimulus-Reward Situation”, Gene Fisher takes us to Connemara where a new commander plans to force the indolent but happy native Gangsha to adopt Human ideals. It ends badly. • Biological engineer Tedi Sorenson must defend her government research against claims of germ warfare and genetic engineering in “Forty Days And Nights” by Robert Chilson. But not all ecological protesters are on the same side. A rather flaky genius invents a machine for automated roadside litter collection, nicknamed “The Epoxy Goat”, but when it accidentally gets diverted to an airport the fun begins in this tale from David Lewis. Fred invents a time machine but finds it really only works well with small amounts of mass. But “The Sweet Smell Of The Past” by Lawrence A. Perkins has a functional use for such a thing. Karl Hudgins closes things with a story of urban anarchy and a mercenary super-soldier brought in to solve it in “The Jungle”.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

B (very good):

The Epoxy Goat by David Lewis
Stimulus-Reward Situation by Gene Fisher
The Far Call (pt 1 of 3) by Gordon R. Dickson

C (average):

Forty Days & Nights by Robert Chilson
The Sweet Smell of the Past by Lawrence A. Perkins

D (poor):

The Jungle by Karl Hudgins