Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1956

 This is a bad issue with badly written stories which probably felt old at the time of writing, a nearly unreadable issue.

Volpla • novelette by Wyman Guin

A scientist develops a new life form: a flying mammalian sentient being. He plans to prank everyone by leading his creations to believe that they have come from stars centuries ago and lived in secrecy since then. Motivation for that idiotic plan is not revealed. It turns out that his creations are a bit too smart for that, and they have a plan: a horribly stupid plan (they hijack a rocket going to Venus), that is, but a plan -- a stupid story with mostly very stupid characters with no sensible motivation for their actions.  **

Name Your Symptom • short story by Jim Harmon

Psychiatric symptoms are commonly “cured” by “cures”. For example, a fear of closed spaces is cured by an impenetrable stainless steel helmet so that crushing walls couldn’t possibly hurt you. Those who are cured by such cures are starting to think that those who don’t need any devices like that can’t be trusted: a confusing, stupid, and badly written story. *½

A Coffin for Jacob • novelette by Edward W. Ludwig

A junior space cadet kills a man accidentally in a bar brawl. He escapes to Venus where he is contacted by a group of space outlaws who want to use his training. Shouldn’t he join them or turn himself in? After agonizing over that for pages and pages, he makes his obvious decision helped by a conveniently widowed beautiful woman. A silly story with a livable Venus and Mars where the ragtag gang has gone further in space than the official exploration felt very old-fashioned and likely was already in 1956. **+

One Across • short story by Arthur Sellings

A man who solves complex crossword puzzles falls into another dimension. There are a few people there, and one of them is a woman with a plan. She had constructed a puzzle that when solved sends you to that dimension. A pretty silly story where the silly idea doesn’t exactly carry even the shortish length. **-

Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1956

 

Issue which is pretty badly past its time. 

Swenson, Dispatcher • novelette by R. DeWitt Miller

A space delivery company is in financial trouble. They employ a new “dispatcher”, who starts to organize things his own way, eventually of course he solves all the problems. An extremely dull story where people endlessly discuss logistics and shipping stuff and how much better it would be if humans would give birth to eggs. Dull, too long, and not very funny. I, at least, think it was meant to be funny, but I can’t be entirely sure. ** 

 Protection • short story by Robert Sheckley

A Sheckley story I haven’t read. A man gets a helper, an invisible alien, who warns him about possible dangers. At first, that seems nice, but slowly the alien gets overzealous and starts to warn about possible dangers even if they are hundreds of miles away. And being warned about dangers in advance apparently makes new dangers more and more likely - and that is not even all. Not one of his best, but not bad. ***

Point of Departure • novelette by Vaughan Shelton

A research foundation is facing a $300,000 bill and one disappeared researcher. Apparently, some stone tablets belonging to an ancient civilization have been found and they contain wonderful (but totally implausible) inventions, like a sun-powered power source that gives almost unlimited power and, apparently, constant drive. At the start the story was almost ok, but then it worsened until it eventually just fizzled out. **

Garrity's Annuities • short story by David Mason

A space man has a bright idea: he marries a woman at every port, so he doesn’t have to spend his money on hookers. Surely keeping several wives is so much cheaper. However, the first one he marries (who belongs to a race with slight mind-influencing techniques) soon learns about his scheme. She flies on faster transportation to the next port and gets married (again) to the same silly man, who never notices it is the same woman. And then the same happens again. Silly, stupid, and kind of offensive in this day and age. **+

Time to Kill • short story by E. C. Tubb

A man is hired to commit murder in the future, where there is no crime, for a great amount of money. He makes a perfect plan and seems to succeed, but the police arrest him instantly after the crime. It turns out that police can travel in time and the punishment for violent crimes is pretty unique. The ending of the story didn't really make sense at all. A mildly amusing tale. **½

Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1956

A vastly better issue than a couple earlier ones.

A Gun for Dinosaur • [Reginald Rivers] • novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
Time traveling hunting guides journey back in time to hunt dinosaurs (as all big game on contemporary Earth have already been killed). They don't travel to the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods. The guide tells a tale for a prospective client about a hunting trip with some stupid and trigger happy customers that didn’t go well. The trip included several gory deaths. It is a humorous story, a bit behind its time. ***
Flat Tiger • short story by Gordon R. Dickson
A flying saucer has landed on the lawn of a White House. Its rear tiger has inflated (a creature which looks very much like a tiger but is able to bloat from power and enable space flight.). The saucer is invisible and only the President can see it and its occupants. The aliens make an offer: humanity could join the galactic community and get free interstellar travel, along with solutions to all its problems, with little asked in return. There is just a small catch, though. As everything edible (drinkable) closely resembles an alien species, humans must give up eating (and drinking) anything and consume only pure energy.
It's a funny and ironic story that hasn’t lost anything in six decades. ***½
Tsylana • novelette by James E. Gunn
A statistician 1st class has worked in his job for years. He lives in a society where everyone is tested and goes to work at his perfect job. There is no crime, everyone is happy, no one is maladjusted. But the statistician has noticed an anomaly: a candy was stolen from a baby. The next day, a child’s walker was stolen. The crimes increased until ten million dollars was stolen from a bank. Those crimes shake the statistician to the core. But if the society is perfect, is there room for growth? It is a well-written story. ***+
Little Red Schoolhouse • short story by Robert F. Young
A young boy has escaped his home and left his parents. He wants to go to his REAL home, from where put to a “stork train” and said that now it is time to go home. All he can remember is a nice life in the countryside where a couple (who never claimed to be his parents) took good care of him. He is a bit hazy on details on where to find that place, but he starts looking. He finds it, but it isn't exactly what he expected. (It is a method of raising children with an idyllic simulated environment with a goal of producing less neurosis for adults. It should work fine but apparently doesn’t...) ***-

Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1956

Another bad issue of Galaxy. This magazine seems to go badly downhill during this time period. I wonder if I should jump a few volumes forward in reading these? The attitudes are REALLY grating in this issue.


Man in a Sewing Machine • novelette by Joseph Wesley [as by L. J. Stecher, Jr.]
The Earth is being invaded. An inventor has designed a computer which can answer any question, but when asked how the invaders could be beaten, it answers in a riddle. The inventor then explains to his wife, ("once again, I have explained this to you so many times before...") how the FTL drive works. In detail. In extremely small detail. In about five to six mind-numbing pages. Of course, a method to prevent the invasion is found after some pondering. A badly written, overlong story with a ridiculous description of the inventor’s wife and women in general. **-
Dead-End Doctor • short story by Robert Bloch
The last psychiatrist/neurosurgeon (an unusual combination) doesn’t have any patients. All problems of mind are treated by glandular adjustments and there is no need for any psychological treatments at all. His father and grandfather were psychiatrists and he never considered any other career. Most mundane work is done by robots. When they malfunction there is serious trouble, but our hero saves the day. A stupid story, the writing is average for its time. **
The Category Inventors • novelette by Arthur Sellings
Robots have taken over all jobs. A man has lost his job and is at home feeling anxious, as he thinks it won’t be possible to find a new one. His wife (who naturally, has never worked and doesn’t even think of working and apparently her husband doesn't think wives should work either) is a bit bitchy, as there is less money (there is a government stipend enough for living though). However, if you invent a new job, you’ll get an office and a salary from the government. So, you just have to find a new useful occupation. But who defines what is useful? A pretty stupid story on many levels. **+
Trap • short story by Robert Sheckley [as by Finn O'Donnevan]
Two men are on vacation in a forest. They find a strange contraption with a “trap” sign attached to it and instructions for use. They manage to capture four strange beasts with it. The machine is a matter transmitter used by an alien with a wicked plot. If the plot would have been even slightly less stupid, this might have been a pretty tolerable story. Even the aliens manage to be condescending toward females in this issue. (Oh, this was by Sheckley. The beginning of the story DID have a strong Sheckley vibe and I thought about him. Apparently, he wasn’t happy with the story either, and used a pen name) **½
Bodyguard • novella by H. L. Gold [as by Christopher Grimm]
Body-swapping is possible and someone has stolen a body. He is being chased and is chasing someone. At the moment he is pretending to be a husband and occasionally beats the woman, who is married to the bodies owner. For some reason, the wife doesn’t go to the authorities. And then, there is a lot of plotting between characters and some lawyers about who should kill whom and why. A badly written, overlong, convoluted, confused and dull story, which is written by the editor of the magazine. I am pretty sure that it wouldn’t have been accepted if written by anyone else. The writing is on the same level as the plot. **-

Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1956

A pretty bad issue, with mostly mediocre stories that were past their time.

Brightside Crossing • novelette by Alan E. Nourse
A group tries to cross to sun side of Mercurius while it is closest to the sun. An old-timer, who once attempted the same thing, tries to warn them and tell his story. It was very bad (and apparently there was on psychological screen or training whatsoever before the trip). But it is so glorious and manly and brave that he wants to take part in the next attempt, also. A pretty standard adventure story, with some stupid overtones. ***
The Dwindling Years • short story by Lester del Rey
Immortality treatments have been in used for a while. A man goes for his treatment and it turns out that there is a limit for how many treatments can be done for one person and he is one of the first people to reach the limit. A lot of discussion and pondering, but family (which had been partly forgotten) comes first. The writing was okay, but some condensing would have been welcome. ***-
Junior • short story by Robert Abernathy
Aliens who resemble sea anemones discus their son, who is still carefree and swimming around. They think that it is high time that he finds a nice rock, decorate it so that it would catch a nice girl and settle down on the rock for rest of his life. But he has a plan… He assembles a platform on wheels so that he isn’t confined to one place. A pretty stupid story, but I have read worse... ***-
The Body • short story by Robert Sheckley
A man who has been critically ill was transferred to a dog’s body. There are some adjustments needed for everyone involved. A pretty stupid and short story, but the idea couldn’t have carried anything longer, but there was some humor to be found. ***
The Gravity Business • novelette by James E. Gunn
A family of four generations (only men are counted, apparently there are no daughters in the family and wives apparently don’t count) is stranded on the planet. The spaceship runs on some sort of a gravity drive, which was invented by the grandfather of the family. Somehow, he managed to lose the family fortune and now the entire family is looking for metals for other solar systems. One planet looks very promising, but when they land on it, the gravity drive stops working. There is one very strange looking alien on the planet, though. A really, really bad story with vast, vast amount of discussion of the intricacies of the imaginary gravity drive. Who cares? *½
The Snare • short story by Richard R. Smith
A group of explorers finds an alien probe on the moon. It locks down, and leaves for the alien’s home planet. An AI informs them where they are heading and tells them that there is no way to reverse the course. For some reason, the humans are very reluctant to go to meet the aliens (what a chance that would be!). Is there a way to get back to the moon? The writing was at best average; the plot was on the same level than the writing.**½

Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1955

The last Galaxy magazine I read was pretty good. This one was pretty bad. Only the story by Dick was somewhat readable. The others were pretty shite.

The Semantic War • short story by Bill Clothier
An argument breaks up, first in universities, soon spreading across the nation. After a while, the whole country is divided and a civil war breaks out, eventually destroying everything. But one man who took no sides still doesn’t know what either faction wanted. A rather undeveloped story. There were chances for so much more. **½
Autofac • novelette by Philip K. Dick
Apparently, there has been a war. The war has ended; everything is produced by huge autofactories. People would like to take the production into their own hands before the factories “use up the natural reserves” (I don’t exactly understand how they would use more reserves than the production done by humans, as the factories apparently are extremely good at recycling). The humans try to stop the factories, at first, they have little success and later there are some slight drawbacks. A fairly good story in spite of unbelievably stupid protagonists. It was easily the best in issue, but that doesn’t take a lot... ***
Cause of Death • short story by Max Tadlock
A man wants to experience death. He learns to control his heart rate and eventually stops it - with results to be expected. A stupid story, but the writing itself wasn’t the worst in this issue. **+
Warrior's Return • short story by Robert Sheckley
A man returns to his hometown. He apparently has almost superhuman talents: he can levitate, tell the future and destroy almost anything. A recent war has been fought mostly by his contributions. His old friends all seem to want something: stock tips, healing disease. Can he live a normal life? The story ends too soon and too simplistically. Worst story by Sheckley I have read. **½
With Redfern on Capella XII • novelette by Frederik Pohl [as by Charles Satterfield]
A man has lived on an alien planet and has some familiarity with the planet’s pretty strange aliens. A group of traders arrive and plan to use some extortion to get better trade terms. Not a very good idea, especially with aliens. A badly overlong, very talky and extremely stupid story and the writing is on the same level as the plotting. (This was by Pohl? No wonder he used a pseudonym) **

Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1955

A fairly nice issue: some stories were very good, some were mediocre.

A Ticket to Tranai • novelette by Robert Sheckley
A well-known classic about a man who hears about a nice planet where life is really free. There are no taxes, there are ample opportunities for everyone, and all of the women are young and beautiful. But it turns out that there are some catches. And then some more catches. And then even more. An excellent, ironic story. One of the funniest and best science fiction novelettes ever. *****
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway • short story by William Tenn
A mediocre artist and his friend survive mostly by shoplifting and living frugally. One day, a man appears from a hole in a wall of their room and announces that he had come from the future to meet the greatest artists that has ever lived. But he doesn’t recognize any of the paintings the artist has at home, and they are not even close to the quality they are supposed to be. A fun little time travel and time paradox story. ***½
Bolden's Pets • novelette by F. L. Wallace
A man falls ill while trading with the inhabitants of an alien planet. They give him a pet as payment - a nice and friendly creature. Before returning to his base, he must wait out a storm and he feels much better. But after he confines the creature and lands on the base, he starts to feel really sick. It takes a lot of pages before the protagonists figure out what reader already knows. Not a bad story, in spite of that. ***+
Jack of No Trades • novelette by Evelyn E. Smith
A man is severely handicapped. He doesn’t have any psi talents when everybody in his family, and almost everyone in the world, has. He feels very useless, as there is no occupation he could manage to do. But then there is a war and he can easily treat wounded, as he doesn’t feel what they feel. And it turns out he has a talent after all. But, finally, the wars end. A pretty simplistic story, with poor characterization, but it is surprisingly readable, in spite of that. **½
The Lights on Precipice Peak • short story by Stephen Tall
A group of men goes to the mountains, see some strange lights, and meet an alien who must come to a cold climate to cool down. A minor twist at the end, but there is not much else to the story. It is overlong and there is little actual plot. *½
The Game of Rat and Dragon • [The Instrumentality of Mankind] • short story by Cordwainer Smith
Spaceships are attacked by “dragons” whose closeness either kills everyone onboard, or at least turns survivors irreversibly mad. They can be chased away by bright beams of light, but they are too fast for human reflexes. Luckily there are “Partners” who can form a sort of symbiotic and telepathic bond with humans, and together they are able to defeat the dragons. The “partners” are apparently cats. Very nice writing, but the story itself doesn’t really make much sense. ***

Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1955

A bit of a better issue than some of the previous ones.

Little Orphan Android • novelette by James E. Gunn
A man is watching TV and playing games. He gets a delivery: an android, which should be paid by cash on delivery. He doesn’t remember ordering one, but he doesn’t seem to remember anything beyond that same morning. The delivery company has binding proof that he actually did order it, and he must pay it even if it almost depletes his assets. Why has he bought it? Why he doesn’t remember anything? And why does the android he just bought not seem to have any useful purpose? It's a pretty stupid story with some pretty contrived plot points. Androids apparently work only two hours every day, for some strange, artificial reasons, but they perform all the work there is anyway. An overlong and fairly stupid story. **½
Hunting Problem • short story by Robert Sheckley
This is one of the classics. A group of alien “boy scouts” is visiting a planet as corporeal beings. Usually they live on the upper atmosphere in a non-material state, but now they are living like their ancestors. One young scout is a bit timid, but the scout leader tells him that several bulls of the almost mythical beasts, Mirash, have been seen. Maybe he could redeem himself and hunt one of the beasts? At the same time, human prospectors are trying to find valuable jewels on the planet… An excellent and fun story. ****+
One for the Books • novelette by Richard Matheson
A janitor wakes up one morning and speaks perfect French. Soon he starts to know a lot of other things too – he doesn’t necessarily understand everything, but he apparently knows everything. Why and how is this happening? There is a reason, but a pretty contrived one. (Aliens apparently somehow crammed all available information into his brain, and downloaded it from there). It's an average story at best. **½
The Freelancer • short story by Robert Zacks
A man has a job that makes most people despise him: he collects royalties from patented phrases. You can patent a phrase like, “They were made for each other”, and if someone happens to use the phrase in a conversation he is liable for a copyright fee. The protagonist carries a box which listens to conversations, and if it recognizes a copyrighted phrase it automatically bills a fee. There are some good ideas in the story, but little actually happens, only a fairly ordinary day is described. The characterization is pretty bad and rampant misogyny is even worse. **-
End as a World • short story by F. L. Wallace
The end of the world is coming, there are signposts everywhere. People seem to take that very matter-of-factly, and plan for good sightseeing spots. Of course, it turns out to be something else, other than the actual end of the world. Unfortunately, it is much more mundane and much less exiting than anything you could imagine (the first expedition returning from Mars is landing). **+

Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1955

An above average issue. A combining theme on many of the stories seemed to be humor.

The Flat-Eyed Monster • novelette by William Tenn
A professor is kidnapped by aliens with a one-way matter transfer beam. The alien abhor the flat eyed monster who doesn't even communicate. They don't know that even when the professor can't send thoughts, he receives them very well and understands what the aliens are saying to themselves. And soon the flat eyed monster is on loose and rampaging through a peaceful city. A pretty fun subversion of a trope. Especially the ending was pretty surprising and refreshing. ****-
Whiskabroom • shortstory by Alan Arkin
A young man rents a room from an elderly couple. He tried to develop a time machine but actually manages to strip away the third dimension, not move in the fourth. A short amusing story, the humor doesn't work as well as in the first story. ***+
Country Estate • novelette by Daniel F. Galouye
Humans arrive on an alien planet. They try to civilize the natives who are beautiful people who live naked in the forest. Getting the natives to wear clothes is for some strange reason one of the most important priorities. It doesn't work well, not even at gunpoint. And aliens don't seem to eat at all. And they heal almost instantly. Maybe they aren't so undeveloped after all. The plot wasn't so bad, but the writing felt worse than average and some of the plot points were pretty strange. **+
A Gift from Earth • shortstory by Manly Banister
Humans arrive on an alien planet. This time, they sell first metallic kettles at a low price, pushing the clay pots away from the market. And then they bring in some new innovations like radios, roads, cars and debt. With an interest of course. It's hard to say if this story was meant as humorous or as a very dark one. It falls pretty much in the uncanny valley between those two. It is too depressing to be really fun and too light to be really dystopic. ***-
Twink • shortstory by Theodore Sturgeon
A telepath is facing a task: he must deal with Twink. He has a lot of trepidation and is at least partly afraid of what must be done. Slowly it is revealed what the actual task is: he must help his telepathic child – Twink -to be born. The writing was ok, but the story depends pretty much on the slow reveal of what is going on. ***


Proofreading by eangel.me.

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1955

An average or perhaps above average issue.

The Mapmakers • novelette by Frederik Pohl
An interstellar space ship has an accident, and isn't able to find its location in hyperspace. Everything seems doomed, as the ship starts to heat up and there is not enough air to flush the heat out. (Fred Pohl should have known better in 1955 - the concept of the ship heating should have been totally ridiculous already at that time. According to quick back of an enveloped calculations, a decent size space ship should lose several hundreds if not thousands of kWs of energy just by black body radiation. Also, Pohl seems to think that rotating the ship would demand constant energy input). The dilemma is solved by a stupid fortuitous event: it turns out that blind people can “see” and navigate in the hyperspace, and one crew member was blinded in the accident. By far the worst story by Pohl I have ever read. **-
Spoken For • shortstory by William Morrison
A man arrives to a desolate farm on Jupiter’s moon. He wears pretty old fashionable clothes and is looking for his family. The farmer’s daughter is inexplicably attracted to the man. But where is his family? A simple story, writing ok, but nothing really special. ***
Property of Venus • novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
A group of men who are interested in raising unusual plants get seeds of Venusian plants from a friend who took part on the first expedition. The seeds sprout, and the plants seem very interesting, especially the one with the best tasting fruit ever. But those plants aren’t as innocuous as plants on Earth. A pretty standard story for its time. Pretty stupid people, but that isn’t surprising… ***
Deadhead • shortstory by Robert Sheckley
An apparent stowaway arrives to a Mars colony. He wants to get a job, but you need to have at least one doctorate to work at the colony. The scientists do the routine maintenance as well as they are able and have time, and it seems it really might be useful to have someone used to construction work at the colony, but the law is law, and the scientist think about sending the man back to Earth in the same ship he apparently arrived. But that ship was only for cargo and wasn’t even pressurized… A nice story, but not as good as could be expected from Sheckley. ***+
The Amateurs • shortstory by Alan Cogan
You must commit suicide at a certain age – but you may choose any method to do it. One guy wants a reenactment of Socrates’ death. That can be arranged, of course… Not very good, a little twist in the end, but a pretty forgettable story. **½

Proofreading by eangel.me.

Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1955

A pretty average or below average issue. Sheckley’s story was pretty fun.

The Necessary Thing • [AAA Ace] • shortstory by Robert Sheckley
Interplanetary decontamination service has acquired a new tool, which is going to save them a vast amount of money: a replicator which produces a copy of everything which is asked. No more buying things and carrying them around in expensive storing space! How convenient! Until they notice that the machine is able produce only ONE piece of everything. No repeats! Soon their food choices start to be fairly limited and very exotic. And the need of spare parts is getting severe. Fun and well-written story, even after 60 years. ****
The Princess and the Physicist • novelette by Evelyn E. Smith
A some kind of elected god with some sort of apparently supernatural powers takes care of a planet. Earthmen "guard" the planet in more or less colonialist way, but don't believe in the god of the planet. Some scientists come to study the native customs and supposedly powerful god, though. A pretty talky, disjointed and badly overlong story. **½
Picture Bride • shortstory by William Morrison
A young man falls in love with a girl from future. The story is seen from the viewpoint of a little brother. Very short and simple, more of an outline of an actual story. ***-
Grandy Devil • shortstory by Frederik Pohl
A family of immortals has some disagreements. The story is written in a light vein. Is very short and not very special or impressive. ***-
Inside Story • novelette by Richard Wilson
A newspaper man decides to make a scoop and goes to a colony where people with a severe communicable disease live. The sickness seems pretty strange as on the other hand it is described as something which is easily transferable, but on the other hand it described as something which is mostly due to laziness. The newspaper man has a new totally invisible and totally impenetrable shield against all disease. There are some strange lights floating around the "leper" colony, and it turns out that an alien attack is going on. A pretty stupid story with a fairly convoluted and hard to believe plot with average writing for its' time period. ***-

Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1955

A pretty average or slightly above average stories for the time.


The Dreaming Wall • novelette by Gerald Pearce
The first man who has been evaluating new archeological findings on an unexplored planet has killed himself. For some strange reason it is customary that the first evaluation is done by one man. Now two men are trying to find out what happened. And then the dreams start... A pretty simple story which is badly overlong especially considering pretty lackluster payoff. A lot of space is used on discussions about psychological ratings. Every member of the space corps has a rating, and that is apparently public knowledge. The men spend a lot of time discussing those ratings and whose has gone down or up. ***
The Aggravation of Elmer • shortstory by Robert Arthur
A child genius has invented some extraordinarily inventions- it doesn't end well. A short and pretty stupid. **
The Middle of Nowhere • shortstory by Frederik Pohl
Humans have a few colonies on Mars. Martians wage a kind of guerrilla style war. The word comes that another town has been attacked. The main colony must send a rescue effort, but time is running out. Should they use the sandcars, which usually are attacked by the Martians? A readable story, but I was rooting for Martians who were fighting for their world and not for fairly stupid humans - I don't believe I was supposed to do that. ***
Sam, This Is You • novelette by Murray Leinster
A telephone repairman gets a call from his future self. He wishes to get rich, but he and his girlfriend seem to be morons without a slightest grasp of time. A light, but overlong, story with irritating and extremely childish characters who behave in baffling manner. ( for example, for the girl the fact that she once got a bug inside her dress is a huge secret and she gets very angry when her boyfriend’s future self knows about that. Really?)***
Competition • shortstory by James Causey
Explorers go to find out why a colony on a new planet failed. It seems everyone is dead after internal fighting. They start their studies, but don’t find any pathogens. They continue as it is imperative that there would be a new place for those who live in the overcrowded Earth. But somehow games start to take more and more of their times – but some members of the expedition seem to be cheating, which cause more and discord. And eventually fighting. And murders. The story is told as a diary, which makes the fairly worn idea work at some level. The writing wasn’t the best, though. ***-
A Woman's Place • novelette by Mark Clifton
A woman is travelling back to earth on a spaceship. The warp engine malfunctions and they end on an alternate earth with no human habitation. The men try to work towards returning home while the woman starts to prepare for living on the planet. She starts to plan for future generations, also. (and collects wild maize and tomatoes - both plants with no wild forms which would have anything to do with cultivated breeds) But they are able to return. The woman is dying from embarrassment as she already made a certain proposition to the men. It is SO horrible, what they must think! Luckily, she is able to explain that as a result of sickness, so everything is alright. But now she knows what the real purpose of women is! To bear as many children as possible at a new world! Pretty quaint little story. So dated it is pretty funny. The writing is fairly nice, as can be expected of Mark Clifton. ***

Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1955

At best average issue. Sheckley’s story was good, but the others were pretty mediocre.

The Servant Problem • novelette by William Tenn
A dictator of the Earth has finally achieved the total control of the people of the Earth. After through psychological conditioning 100% of the younger generations are totally loyal to him. He is very happy of that achievement. But his main aide is the person who really is in control. But he is controlled by his psychiatrist. But he is totally controlled by a young assistant, who has perfected hypnotic techniques. But the aide is totally controlled by the dictator - or at least he is totally loyal to him. A fairly nice, but badly overlong story. ***
Don't Shoot • shortstory by Robert Zacks
An inventor tries to invent a 3d movie camera and ends up inventing a matter transporter/size changer. A ruthless movie producer tries to benefit from it and ends up as an abominable snowman at the Himalayas. About as stupid and bad it sounds. **-
The Lifeboat Mutiny • [AAA Ace] • shortstory by Robert Sheckley
AA interplanetary service has acquired a new life boat for their terraforming activities. It was a war surplus bought at very affordable price. It turns out to be a very efficient and protective ship with effective AI, who is ready to protect all members of the Drome war fleet at any cost. Even those who are apparently mentally unbalanced and claim to be some strange beings called humans, and turn the temperature of the ship up to unhealthily warm temperatures. A fun and amusing little tale. ****
Target One • shortstory by Frederik Pohl
A group murders Einstein with a time machine of sorts and hope to prevent a nuclear war. And someone else makes all the same inventions less surprisingly. Simple and short. **½
Man's Best Friend • shortstory by Evelyn E. Smith
A man is told that he has been elected as the dictator. As the custom is, he is supposed to assassinate his predecessor. He is more than a little dumbfounded, but he decides to talk with the former dictator, who seems pretty calm about it all. A pretty talky and overlong story without any major surprises. The writing was average. **½
Hurricane Trio • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
A man has been rescued by aliens and rebuild as something similar but better. We learn that after several pages of description of pretty pedestrian vacation where there is some sort of disconnect between the husband and wife. Fairly little happens and the husband seems more than a little stupid even when he was supposed to be "enhanced ". The writing was ok. **½

Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1955

An average issue, but not quite as bad as couple previous ones.

Project Mastodon • novelette by Clifford D. Simak
Three men have invented time travel and travelled to a distant past. They try to sell past to military as a source of raw materials and a refugee area in case of the war, but they are laughed away. They return to the past and have an accident. Meanwhile the military learns that there really is a way to get to the past and gets very interested. Fairly little happens in the story and what happens happens very slowly. A pretty overlong but readable story. ***+
The Candle Lighter • shortstory by Frederik Pohl
A man who has been fighting for the human rights of Martians is appointed as the emissary of the humanity. He is keen to making some changes but the first thing he is supposed to do is an execution of a Martian. As he hasn't bothered to learn anything about the Martian culture he faces some hard learning. A pretty stupid story with even stupider characters. ***-
Dulcie and Decorum • novelette by Damon Knight
Two friends start to suspect that spelling mistakes contain information. But what, from where and why? Overlong, but the ending is rushed and the "secret " is just told by the author - the protagonists themselves won't learn it.**
One Way • shortstory by Miriam Allen deFord (variant of One-Way Journey)
The only son of a couple is selected for a secret mission where only top 200 students of the world is selected. His girlfriend and mother have a plan. She will get a child by the son, so the family will have something. But the baby will be born out of marriage! Horrible! An elaborate plan is needed. Pity that the women have forgotten how the government keeps track of its citizens, but thankfully the husband is smart and is able to find a solution. A pretty stupid story with badly outdated attitudes. It is surprising that even in far future the attitudes are exactly similar that those on 1950s US. **+
Who? • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon (variant of Bulkhead)
A man is having the final test before getting the command of interstellar starship. He must endure a long lone space journey. There is another person on the same ship, but he is behind an impenetrable wall. He could contact him by a press of a button. For some poorly defined reason he is supposed to hold out as long as possible before making the contact. When he finally makes the contact he is due to surprise. Not bad, writing good for its’ era, but the story is overlong with too much psychological non sense. **½
Big Stupe • shortstory by Charles V. De Vet
A ship from Earth has arrived at an almost unknown planet. They are supposed to create good relations, as the planet contains some rare elements worth mining. The natives are little apprehensive, but they seem to warm up and even give earthmen a goofy and stupid monkeylike animal as a pet. A short, simple and pretty stupid story which depends on a stupid end “reveal”. **+

Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1955

A really bad issue with really badly dated stories. Plots were very ridiculous and in a bad way.


Helpfully Yours • novelette by Evelyn E. Smith
The first female of an alien species which has contacted earth has arrived. She goes to work on a newspaper which contains a help column for aliens who are baffled by earth customs. A very strange story with strange characterization. Extremely old fashionable attitudes, especially female ones. The alien looks like a bird, and behaves like a stupid "chick"; she is for example very flattered when her boss is hitting on her. Apparently, the aliens who come to earth know nothing about earth customs and human apparently have almost no interest at all for the aliens or they customs. I even thought if the story was meant as some sort of clever parody, but the writing was so bad, that it is hard believe that the author would have been able to try something so complex. **
The Cave of Night • shortstory by James E. Gunn
Americans have launched the first space ship in secret. It comes to public knowledge after the lone astronaut sends a distress signal - there has been an accident and he can't return to earth. There is a widespread sympathy around the world and a scramble to build a new ship for the rescue effort, which eventually turns out to be futile. The ship is left back as a tomb and mausoleum. Eventually space exploration gains huge popularity and it is truly international effort, which combines nations and eventually leads to world peace. An optimistic story, the end reveal could be seen for miles away, though (it was a scam, just a recording on a ship). ***+
Dead Man's Planet • shortstory by William Morrison
A widower and his son land on an alien planet. They are trying to find animals for a zoo and try to cope with the loss of wife/mother. They find a wild dog on a planet no human is supposed to have visited. The dog seems to be very wild, but the son would like to have it as a pet. A nice, melancholy story, with a small bitter sweet twist. (The dog is immortal, hundreds of years old and has lost all his memories of living with humans, guarding the grave of his master.)***
Open House • shortstory by J. T. McIntosh
Aliens come and bring gifts. No one can really remember what they look like, but things they give were pretty fabulous devices which give limitless energy, dresses which are durable, always warm and comfortable and nicely see through. And a fabulous reading device which can store two million words. (that’s not so impressive today…) But there is a hidden agenda. But as humans are _special_ as almost always in the 50s science fiction, they are able to show to the aliens who is the boss. Moderately readable story, probably made more so by all the stinkers in the issue. ***-
Pythias • shortstory by Frederik Pohl
A secret service agent has killed a man in cold blood, a man who was an old friend of the agent. He is waiting for a trial and almost sure execution. There was a good reason for what he did - the murdered man had made a discovery too powerful to exist. A well-written food story, however, if what the man did were so easy it would have been discovered centuries ago. ***
Blind Spot • shortstory by Bascom Jones, Jr.
Earth has colonized Mars and has established some sort of racist apartheid culture. All dissidents are sent to penal colonies from the slightest offense. A man how works for an office which purpose is namely to increase co-operation but apparently is to mainly keep up the status qua, is dating a beautiful girl. He goes to meet her father, but somehow doesn't notice his is an alien and goes to a forbidden zone and gets punished. Silly and stupid story. I wonder why Martian men would be so enthralled by freakish looking human women with only two eyes? **
Rich Living • novelette by Michael Cathal
A small group of rich people goes to a little planet which reverses aging. You just have to live there for a few weeks, and you are young again. Guess what, as everything is extremely poorly planned they have an accident and are marooned. And they grow younger and younger...another so stupid and badly written story, that it hard to believe. Really rotten plot and almost as bad writing. *½

Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1955

The lead novelette is pretty good and interesting – otherwise most stories were slightly past they due date.

The Tunnel Under the World • novelette by Frederik Pohl
A man has a strange dream: he feels like he is blown apart. His work day is pretty standard, except for some strangely irritating advertisements. The next day starts the same way, and it IS the same day, except some of the ads are even more irritating, but the protagonist doesn’t seem to have any memories of the former day. And there are some strange encounters. This night he happens to be trapped to his cellar by accident at the midnight. And this time when the same day starts he remembers. Groundhog Day meets Truman Show with some shades of Matrix. A pretty interesting story, which would be ready for a movie version – but with a slight rewrite of some of the characters, especially all the female ones. ****
The Vilbar Party • shortstory by Evelyn E. Smith
A grumpy professor from Saturn comes to earth as a part of an exchange program. He is sure that he will be hated and discriminated, but it turns out to be something else… A very stupid story on many levels aims for cute funniness, but mostly fails - at least from modern perspective. **
Perfect Control • novelette by Richard Stockham
A space ship arrives to earth after decades in space. It was aiming at a nearby solar system, but had an engine failure on the way. For some undescribed reason to has drifted back to earth (apparently the author had no knowledge whatsoever of orbital mechanics and how trajectories work in space). The crew members are very old, but they want to repair and refuel their ship and continue their voyage. But why? Cue to long stupid interviews of the crew members on radio by a psychologist. A pretty stupid story on many levels, some psychological thoughts are mildly interesting. **
When You're Smiling • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
Two old friends meet and discuss their lives. One seems to be moderately successful, another somewhat down on his luck. One has a theory that there are people who superhuman, and sometimes kill people who are causing too much trouble those around them. An overlong story which consists practically only from discussion. The writing as such is ok, but there is nothing really surprising. **+
Brknk's Bounty • shortstory by Jerry Sohl
A long tailed invisible furry squirrel-like trans-dimensional being starts to channel writing through a newspaper reporter. Doesn’t sound too good and is even worse. Tries to be funny but isn’t. **
Squirrel Cage • [AAA Ace] • novelette by Robert Sheckley
The Interplanetary decontamination service gets a new job: they must get rid of an infestation of rodents which threats to consume all crops of a farm. When they arrive on site they notice a little catch: the vermin are invisible. A lighthearted well written story which manages to be amusing. ***+

Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1951

Pretty average issue.

Bridge Crossing • shortstory by Dave Dryfoos
A young man lives in a ruined city. Several robots take care of him, feed him, change his diapers and protect him. He doesn’t remember ever seeing other humans. One day he meets a girl. At first he his confused: Can the new creature be taken apart as easily as the robots? A very basic and probable worn plot even in 1952. **
Hostess • novelette by Isaac Asimov
A visiting alien scientist comes as a guest to the family of a female scientist and her police officer husband. The husband isn’t very happy about an alien houseguest. It turns out that humans are the only intelligent species who stops growing. And the only species, which dies from the old age. The alien seems to have a special interest to some unusual details of human life; like the missing person's bureau. That’s apparently something which doesn’t happen on any of the alien planets, as everyone is instinctively aware where their loved ones are at any time. A fairly nice story, where the plot is told for most part by long discussions. Slightly overlong. ***+
Man of Destiny • shortstory by John Christopher
A man crash lands on an alien planet. He encounters friendly aliens and establishes himself as a god-ruler. He tries to introduce steam power and other inventions, but the aliens aren’t too enthusiastic about inventions. Finally the man comes to a realization: the sedentary lifestyle of the simple farmers is pretty nice, after all. ***
Ask Me Anything • novelette by Damon Knight
A powerful alien artifact ends up in a military training camp where young men are being transformed to powerful, android warriors who fear nothing. That is achieved by very rigid training where all information and knowledge is given in very calculated manner. So a device which answer all questions totally truthfully is kind of distractive. The leader of the training camp decides to use the device to created powerful weapons and FTL drive to get power for himself. Of course, there might be a catch somewhere. Ok story, a bit too detailed explanations of the tech involved, but otherwise tolerable story. The writing was average. ***

Btw, I have now read and reviewed every issue of the first four years of the Galaxy magazine.

Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1951

Not bad. A good issue for this time period.

Nice Girl with Five Husbands • shortstory by Fritz Leiber
A man travels to the future, meets a beautiful woman who would be ready to include him in her group marriage and then he returns to present. And that’s about everything what happened in this story. The writing as such was pretty good, but I really didn’t get the point of the story - if there was one. ***
Inside Earth • novelette by Poul Anderson
Earth has been invaded. There is a mutiny brewing, but one alien is sent to find what the mutineers are going to do – and to take care there WILL be a mutiny, but not too soon. The aliens believe that an outside threat could unificate humans and created a more cohesive and far better whole for the good of all species of the universe. A pretty good story with pretty nice writing, the only drawback was the slight overlong length. ***½
Betelgeuse Bridge • shortstory by William Tenn
A group of advanced aliens, who look just like giant slugs, arrive at earth. They are very condescendingly polite and give elaborate answers to all questions apologizing that humans don’t have enough knowledge and background to understand even the concepts. They let it slip that they have a machine that can cure all disease and rejuvenate body. Not surprisingly, humans want to buy that – at any cost. And it is for sale, but at a steep price. But there is a catch, of course. But there is a catch in the catch, of course. An old style average story with a fairly worn premise. ***
I, the Unspeakable • novelette by Walt Sheldon
Everyone who lives in a future totalitarian country has a designation with four letters and six numbers. After the designations have been re-evaluated one man gets an extremely rude designation. He must give up his work and finds that no one wants to have anything to do with him. He tries to find out if it is possible to change the designation. That isn’t going to be easy in a very bureaucratic state. ***-
Field Study • shortstory by Peter Phillips
A strange man is offering wonder cures. He doesn’t ask any money, but accepts it if someone gives. A some sort of criminal examiner goes to evaluate him and expects to expose a fraud. He finds that his sinusitis has healed. An overlong, overtalky and confusing story without any interesting point. **
The Marching Morons • novelette by C. M. Kornbluth
A man who has spent last centuries in suspended animation wakes up in a future where almost everyone is an idiot. A small smart aristocracy is running things and working themselves to death. This is the end result of stupid people getting more children while smarter people have less. The man from the past isn't a nice guy, though. And he has a final solution for the problem. One of the all time classics. There are some ideas which can be later seen in the Merchants of Venus: unscrupulous add men pushing for Venus colony. ****-

Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1951

An average issue for its time. The delRey’s story was badly overlong, otherwise the stories fair fairly readable.

The Wind Between the Worlds • novelette by Lester del Rey
The earth has joined an interstellar alliance of matter transfers network. There is an accident, and the matter transmitter starts to pump air at a very high pressure to another world. It seems impossible to stop the cascade. A badly overlong story about the value of cooperation and trust. **+
The Other Now • shortstory by Murray Leinster
A man has bereaved recently after his wife died in a freak traffic accident. He notices that there are fresh cigarette stumps on an ash tray the wife usually used. Also, her diary seems to get new entries – detailing the sorrow of a wife who has lost her husband. A fairly good story, but could have been longer with more details. ***+
Good Night, Mr. James • novelette by Clifford D. Simak
A man comes aware of himself on a yard. Slowly he starts to remember that he is trying to catch a dangerous alien animal. There are a few surprises in the story, none of them very surprising. Wouldn’t there be SOME sort of controls which kind of animals can be brought to Earth? A fairly dated tale. ***-
Socrates • shortstory by John Christopher
Man stops an owner from killing a misshapen puppy. He offers to buy it and owner agrees to keep it for a while. A few weeks later he comes to get the dog. The owner refuses to give the dog as it has turned out to be extremely intelligent and easily trained. He starts to use the dog as show dog on a theater circuit, and later starts to treat it really badly. But dogs tend to be loyal…A fair, but sad story, another one which was too short. ***

Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1951

An average or even above average issue for its’ time. An impressive array of authors.

A Pail of Air • shortstory by Fritz Leiber
A dark star has pushed earth away from the sun. Atmosphere has frozen. One family still manages to survive by mining oxygen from outside and melting it for air. Not to original, but not too bad. The writing wasn't nearly as good as his later works, but was competent and readable. ***+
World Without Children • novella by Damon Knight
Humans have been near immortal for hundreds of years. The youngest people alive are in their hundreds, and it has been illegal to bear children since that. A scientist makes a discovery: the fertility is going down, and if there won't be new children in a few years or decades it will soon be impossible to reproduce at all. The government tries to suppress that discovery, and a group of scientists go undercover. The idea itself isn't bad. It is a pity that the story isn't too good. The most of the story is spent discussing how to get underground and how to start getting children again. Little actually happened before the more or less deus ex machina ending. **
With These Hands • novelette by C. M. Kornbluth
Art isn't popular any more, as everyone can create beautiful pictures and sculptures by a machine, Estheticon. Is there a place of artists any more anywhere? A slightly disordered story with some interesting viewpoints. ***-
Winner Lose All • shortstory by Jack Vance
A ship has landed to a planet which was supposed to be entirely barren. On the top of the richest uranium deposit grows a very strange looking plant which has roots which seem to bore into the ore. A scientist dies trying to study it. What is the plant and from where it has appeared? ***-
Not a Creature Was Stirring • shortstory by Dean Evans
A man has been digging gold in his very deep gold mine for weeks. When he comes up, everyone is frozen in place and dead. Apparently there has been a Russian attack by a secret weapon. He drinks, performs a little bit of vandalisms, gambles on casino and so on. That is about it. The ending is apparently meant to be moving, but it is mainly boring. ***
Pillar to Post • novelette by John Wyndham
An idiot who has been confined to a mental institution since his birth suddenly has started to speak and co-operate. He claims to be another person, and the story is a letter which tells how his mind was transferred to an “empty” body. He has been an invalid with the amputations of both feet with severe pains. His mind has been transferred to the body of a scientist from the far future. An ok story. I don’t entirely see why the framing story was needed. ***+