ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact December 1971

ANALOG PLUS 50: Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, December 1971

Twelfth Issue! I made it through One Year!

The December Analog in my Deep Dive brings .... For anyone finding these reviews, my purpose is two-fold: enjoying some "classic" sci-fi, and looking for stories that I think could be adapted for TV broadcast since so much of what shows up on anthology shows is rough to awful. Additional Note: I do NOT work in television. I just watch it.

In this issue:

The Editorial: "Those Impossible Quasars", by John. W. Campbell. In a purely scientific essay, Campbell starts with the differences between optical telescopes and radio telescopes and radio astronomy interferometry. This leads into the discussion of quasars. They seem impossible because they are billions of light years away, putting out massive amounts of energy and moving at speeds of 10c. However, if the red shift calculations were incorrect, it could turn out that they are only millions of light years away. The resulting calculations would mean that their energy output would actually be reasonable and they would be moving at about 1/10 c.

Serial: "A Spaceship for the King" by Jerry Pournelle (Part One of Three Parts) with an illustration by (unknown), A castle on the shore and a classic looking rocket taking off. The caption reads, Primitive is a relative term. The Empire was oppressive, not evil, and its weapons could kill men and defeat nations but it takes a lot more to defeat men!

I'm looking forward to reading this, either in Februaru when it concludes, or sooner if there is a novelization available from the library.

Science Fact: "A Matter of Perspective" by Gordon R. Dickson and Kelly Freas, with an illustration (presumably) by Kelly Freas, labeled Night Launch at Cape Kennedy. The caption reads, Some Cape Kennedy constructions are so big they trick the eye. Perhaps the same thing is true about some potentials of the Space Program itself?

Short Story: "The Incompetent" by Chris Butler, with an illustration by Kelly Freas, showing a panicking man parachuting with the word "SPY" imprinted in reverse on the bottom of his boots. The caption reads, Now you may not believe this -- so ... So have fun with it!

World War III started in 1983 and has continued for 40 years. It's been good for the world's economy and doesn't seem much hotter than the Cold War. Into this (now) alternate Soviet Union, a man named Carsdale is dropped into Russia, given a limited objective and not much information. It is patently obvious to all who meet him that he's a spy. Back at home, in Omaha, General Gary Peters thinks that the entire mission is preposterous and is waiting for Carsdale to be captured and executed. The whole point of the endeavor is to keep the Soviets (and every spy from every other country) guessing as to what Carsdale's mission actually is. Since few (or none) in the U.S. seem to know, that information cannot be leaked. So the Russians allow him to continue on his way and watch him, until they finally pick him up and bring him to a secure facility to interrogate him. And once there, his incompetence pays off.

Obviously, the story would have to be played for laughs, and would have to take place in a future with the Cold War restarted and heated up again, which would be a more humorous background (or at least allow for more humor) than a full-scale World War. A big budget wouldn't be required, except for some special effects or CGI at the end. It could have a small with a handful of extras.

Short Story: "Ecology Now!" by Wade CUrtis, with an illustration by Kelly Freas, showing a group of people (of different walks of life) protesting with signs to liberate Ecology and to get Career men and technology out of ecology. The caption reads, IN a world Man dominates, the most critcal ecological area has never been reduced to a science -- it's handled entirely by rule-of-thumb engineers.

Dr. Arturo Martinez is the Acting Director of Nuclear General's San Juan Capistrano Breeder and Power Reactor. Bill Adams in a younger troubleshooter who wants to see if Martinez can handle the job of Director, with all of its distractions. The rumor is that Adams is only sent to places where they expect trouble. Martinez gives him the tour, showing him things like how they are using the reactors waste heat. Among other things, they've been a desalinization plant (California needs water) and a plankton farm (the world needs food) that produces tons of protein per square mile. They're trying to breed oysters that can survive the high temps.

Thrown into the mix is Senator McGehee, a man of the people, who pretty much inherited his seat. He can talk to the ecological protesters outside, but chooses not to. He is against nuclear power as a general rule and would like to see the plant taken offline. He says the eco-protestors, who threaten the plant, would disperse if they take it offline temporarily. He doesn't want to understand that such a thing is not possible. You can simply shut down a reactor with the flip of a switch, and if the reactor is such down, it would destroy the ecosystem that they've created.

While Martinez tries to argue and persuade, Adams has a plan of his own, and soon another Senator arrives. He is a friend of the McGehee family and a mentor to the young Senator.

It's an enjoyable story, but I don't know that it would get made. Hollywood types are usually pro-ecology and No Nukes. This would put the ecologists in a bad light and make this nuclear power ecosystem the savior of a hungry and thirsty California. For all that, I don't think the success of a Chicano rising to the position of Acting Director of a power plant would be enough to offset it -- particularly because that part of the story has slowly become mainstreamed over the past 50 years. If Martinez appeared onscreen today in that position, it would be met mostly with shrugs and "Okay".

Basically, even though I enjoyed reading it, it would be boiled down to a tour of the facility and a lot of lecturing back and forth if adapted for television. There's more to it than that, but that's what we'd likely get.

Short Story: "Priorities" by Ben Bova, with an illustration by Leo Summers, showing an older man pounding the table with one fist while raising a pointed finger in the air with the other hand. Another man sits next to him. In the foreground, there is another raised hand with point finger. The caption reads, Do you suppose Puck was right when he said: "What fools these mortals be"?

The old man is Dr. Ira Lefko and he isn't as timid as he seems. The man next to him is Major Robert Shawn from the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories. They are in the office of Harrison Bower. Basically, they are searching for life in the universe, they are making breakthroughs, finding evidence of high technology on distant planets, and their fund has just been cut. If they wish to continue their work, they need another agency to fund it.

The doctor and the major travel to an airport bar where they vent a bit about their program. Other planets are putting out the same intense microwave radiation that we are. Who knows? Maybe some day, they'll come and find us instead. In the final paragraphs, we meet Tor Kranta, complaining to his wife that the idiotic priests have objected to his research. And he hopes that other races in the universe aren't so blind.

I wouldn't normally give away the ending, but the story isn't much without it. The funny thing is that I remember a story with a similar central idea appearing in Analog in the late 80s or early 90s. But that would've been more than 15 years after this story. It, too, was short. The one I'm thinking of was a Probability: Zero short short (what I'd call "flash" these days).

This one is easily filmable, and could probably be made cheaply. Any necessary sets probably already exist and just need to be rented. The only expense is creating two aliens for the final scene and they can be humanoid. (Again, I don't work in the business, and I don't know how much of this paragraph is actually true. But that is my perception.)

The only problem is that the "twist" at the end might be cliche by now.

Novelette: "Foundlings Father" by Jack Wodhams, with an illustration by Kelly Freas, showing a tall man dressed in black with a wide-brimmed hat, framed with the Sun behind him like a religious figure, is pointing his finger in a "Get Out" fashion. In front of him are a naked man and naked woman, the latter of whom is eating an apple. And, yes, they're all standing in the middle of a large garden. The caption reads, It's not necessarily true that what men want is what they need -- and tumbling with friction is a great polishing agent!

The story takes place in two parts, which are interwoven. There is the Program Manager, who wants to ensure the enduring happineess of people he directs, along with history about rockets and people going out into space. The main part of the story centers on two groups that both settle on same planet about a thousand miles apart on one of the continents.

The group that arrived first are Puritan in nature and they want the nudists to leave. (The back and forth about leaving goes on for a couple of pages.) The Puritans, led by, not making this up, Humble Rector Galvin Khodpease (codpiece), try to limit technology and get back to basics, which could be part of the reason the naturalists didn't discover them. (It also seems like they didn't look very hard.)

Khodpease gives them a week to leave, but neither side believes that the other will use force. Some of the religious folks think that the new colony will die out on its own, but the Rector believes that their depravity will spend if it is not taken care of. The two sides start capturing each other, stripping the religious naked, or putting the nudists in clothing in the chilly northern territory.

They form an uneasy truce when a third group arrives and plans to take over anotehr continent. This circles back to the Program Manager believing that another Utopia has been created.

The story was amusing but the final payoff was lacking for me. Obviously it will play well on TV depending on the outlet and the amount of nudity. (Honestly, directors are more creative when it comes to hiding what they need to with nude bodies without resorting to black boxes and pixelations.) Also, it should be played for laughs because the entire setup is ridiculous from the start. I'd also leave out the Program Manager and focus solely on the planet because that's where the heart of the story was.

Casting-wise, since these are two disparate future communities of people, pretty much anyone could be cast into any of the parts. But you know that casting folks will go with "young" and "pretty" for the nudists.

Novelette: "Just Peace" by William Rupp and Vernor Vinger, with an illustration by Leo Summers, showing a blimp in the sky, people on the ground and smoke or fire or something in the background. The caption reads, When war is a century-old tradition -- how can you bring essential cooperation? Teddy Roosevelt had a valid answer ...

I didn't get the Roosevelt reference, but I'm not a history buff.

Chente, aka Vincente Quintero y Jauleiro, is an agent of the Canadian Hegemony. The actual man is near Jupiter where an artificial star flickers and sends a copy of the man to a receiver 19 light years away to a planet orbiting Delta Pavonis. That planet is New Canada. This isn't the first time he's made this trop, but the last time, his double didn't come back. He was killed on the planet.

The colony was settled several centuries earlier, but a great Cataclysm shattered the planet and flooded most of the low ground. There is a chain of islands that used to be mountaintops. As a result, rival politcal blocs have formed bewteen the Ontarans and the New Provinceans, which are always at odds with each other. The problem is that another cataclysm will be coming within the next century, and if they don't all work together, they will all be doomed. This message doesn't resonate.

There's a dirigible ride to another island. While hiking there, there's another attempt on Chente's life. He defeats the people who want to kill him. He and Marge Blount make their way across the land to a secret N.P. naval base, where they're building up forces. Chente has a GPS tied into the orbital satellites that are still working even though no one on the surface knows about it. The other thing that there seems to be an abundance of (at least five of them) are "communincation bombs", which seem to be for sending information back to Earth but can also blow things up real good. (They're little nukes, but without the heavily radioactive fallout.)

Chente has to conspire to eliminate the bombs and bring everyone togther, which he does by trickery and becoming everyone's enemy.

This is an interesting play on the Cold War where everyone is Canadian (but not overly polite). The other thing that stands out is a reference to Canadian IBM, which is right up there for 1970s stories with phone booths and Ma Bell. For television, this would be a little on the expensive side to produce. It's movie material, but perhaps not enough plot for a movie. It would make amusing satire if they play up the Canadian thing (for a U.S. audience, that is) because who could imagine a Canadian civil war, unless it's French vs English, and this story is not that.

I rushed a little to get through it because it's close to the end of the month but it wasn't holding my interest totally either.

The Reference Library , by P. Schuyler Miller. The intro is about the book Science Fiction: What It's All About by Sam J. Lundwall, which tells about the building of the genre in the preceding decades.

Reivews include Analog 8 edited by John W. Campbell; Destiny Doll by Clifford Simak; Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson; Sleepwalker's World by Gordon R. Dickson; and World's Best Science Fiction: 1971.

Brass Tacks: The opening letter is from Arthur C. Clarke about malaria and the use of DDT is Ceylon. A letter from G. Harry Stine about the miscoloring of the Saturn V rocket on the July cover illustration by Kelly Freas, and then a response from Freas. And then the usual commentary that you can expect to find.

And that concludes my first year of Analog. On to the next year! I'll keep this going for a while.