Sukkanauhakäärme by Reijo Mäki

A hard-boiled detective story about a private detective, Vares, living in Turku. He is hired to trail a Spanish musician who seems to a sleeping with a wife of wealthy attorney. Soon the musician ends up as dead. The attorney hires Vares to find the murderer (and clear his name, as he is naturally one of the top suspects). Fast nice read, fairly early story for the author, I have enjoyed more some of thelater ones.


Vares on Turkulainen viinaan ja naisiin menevä yksityisetsivä. Tällä kertaa Vereksen palkkaa rikas Turkulainen asianajaja jäljestämään Espanjalaista ravintolamuusikkoa, johon hänen vaimonsa on ihastunut. Jo nopeasti ilmenee, että muusikko on lumonnut noin puolet koko Turun naisista, ja hänellä on muitakin hyvin epäilyttävältä näyttäviä bisneksiä. Tutkimukset eivät ehdi kuin alkuunsa, kun muusikko löytyy kuoliaaksi ammuttuna. Vares saa jatkopestin murhaajan löytämisestä (jolloin samalla hän vapauttaisi mustasukkaisen aviomiehen kiusallisista epäilyksistä). Tapahtumat seuraavat nopeasti toisiaan, ja alkaa jälleen kerran vaikuttaa siltä, että Vares on saanut ratkaistavakseen suuremman jutun kuin kukaan osasi odottaakaan. Ja mikä yhteys vankilapakoa valmistelevalla pitkäaikaisvangilla on tähän kaikkeen? Suhteellisen varhainen Vares-kirja. Kuten yleensä, hyvin viihdyttävä ja nopeasti luettava teos – tosin olen tainnut suurimman osa Vares-kirjoista jotka olen ”lukenut” kuunnella äänikirjoina autoa ajaessa. Ei ehkä aivan yhtä hyvä kuin osa sarjan myöhemmistä kirjoista.

284 s.

This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

A Hugo award winner for 1966.
Earth has been devastated by a ”three day event”, apparently a nuclear war. There are areas which are still radioactive, and strange mutants are roaming on the forests. The most of people who survived the cataclysmic event have moved out from earth, and most of them are working for Vegans. The Vegans are aliens who picked up pieces – at least some of them – after humans had destroyed earth. Now they own the earth and they are using it mainly as a tourist curiosity. The main protagonist of the book is Conrad, a man who seems to be immortal. He seems to be running most things on earth, but he must stop what is is doing and function as a guide/bodyguard for an important Vegan visitor who wants to see the highlights of Earth's culture. Someone seems to be trying to kill the alien, and for some reason it is very important that he will stay alive.
Pretty good story, writing is nice, but it is not something what can be read quickly. Some very interesting concepts. Background of the main character is left intentionally very open, perhaps too open. And the ending was a bit too easy and had some shades of deus ex machina.
174 pp.

Astounding Science Fiction August 1954

A bit old-fashionable stories, however most of them were not too bad.

The Cold Equations • novelette by Tom Godwin
Very famous story. I have heard a lot about this one, but this was the first time ever I have read it. A bit longer that I thought, I had thought that this is a short story, not novellette. A small space ship is on a critically important mission, carrying a cure for a deadly disease which is spreading on a colony planet. The pilot finds a stowaway, a young woman, hiding in a closet. But the mass of the ship has been calculated very carefully, and the surplus mass will doom the ship, and the vital medication will not reach the colony. The only solution is that she must be jettisoned out from the airlock. Pretty good story, but very stupid in several ways. It is hard to imagine that critical mission would have NO safety margin at all. Also, there should be enough mass to throw out side of airlock. Clothes, some air, some water, furniture (at least a chair is mentioned, also, the closet the girl was hiding in, was mentioned to have a door.) It shouldn't have been hard to find a few dozens of kilograms of surplus mass. ****
Superstition • novelette by Lester del Rey
Planet which should have been destroyed by a solar flare is found to have human inhabitants. They seem to have very close relationship to their god, and they seem to think that they get direct help from him. That seems like a silly superstition, until it is noticed that the natives can move a giant spaceship to another location alone, only by using the power of their god.
There are some fairly good parts in this story, but it is a bit overlong. The ending isn't too good – psionics seem to solve anything in the Astounding in the beginning of the 50s. **+
Welcome, Strangers! • shortstory by H. B. Fyfe
An alien and human meet by accident. The alien is an inventor who has developed a sort of matter transporter which can travel everywhere instantaneously. They travel to earth, and to the aliens home world, and then try to get attention of the officials on the both places. Bureaucrats in both places refuse to acknowledge them as their paperwork isn't in order, and furthermore, officially there are no aliens. Ok, simple, mildly ironic story. ***+
This Is the Way the World Ends • shortstory by H. W. Johnson
The son of a late nuclear physicist starts to manifest a power of mind-reading. Moreover, he seems to be able to read minds from the future. At the same time nuclear scare is at its highest. When he sees just fire, and nothing after that, his mother and her boyfriend start for the mountains. It turns out that the boy seems just his own death after a accident with a gasoline truck. ***+

Analog Science Fiction and Fact April 2010

Very good issue, clearly better than average.

Swords And Saddles • novella by John G. Hemry
A cavalry company is transported by a thunderstorm to an alternative earth. Pretty pure fantasy, but ok. In that world there is no Bering Straight, and Asia and America are connected by a land bridge enabling more travel between the continents that has enabled the transfer more people over the years than in our world. (considering how inhospitable both Siberia and the northern parts of Alaska are, I wonder if that had made a great difference). Pretty good and interesting story, but there is an overlong and (at least for me) boring description of a battle in the end. More details of the society would have been more interesting, but one might hope for more stories happening in this world.***½
Snowflake Kisses • novelette by Richard A. Lovett and Holly Hight
A researcher who is more or less unhappy in her own love-life, studies the effects love have in the brain. Not really much happens, but very well written, something I really enjoyed. ****
A Sound Basis For Misunderstanding • shortstory by Carl Frederick
A cultural liaison is trying to impress a fairly unknown alien species trying to a get a valuable mining contract. Music might be a bit different for a race who has very limited hearing range. Amusing little story. ***½
Nothin' But Blue Skies • shortstory by Stephen L. Burns
A used car sales man makes a deal of a lifetime (trading well worn used cars to flying super-fast super-cars) with an alien looking just like a demon. Pretty good beginning for for a story. I demand to get the rest of it! ***½
When We Were Fab • shortstory by Jerry Oltion
A shopkeeper uses nanofabrication to meet a demand of older things. If there were so high demand for such products, there would a be supply for them. Okay story anyway. ***+
The Planet Hunters • shortstory by S.L. Nickerson
Astronomers who are seeking exoplanets find several solar systems with very similar planets than our own solar system. They then even manage to capture TV-transmissions from one of them. I suspected the solution from early on (those are some kind of “echoes” of our own solar system). The story takes fairly long time to get to the not so surprising, not so well explained end. **½
The Robots' Girl • novelette by Brenda Cooper
A young couple has just moved to a new neighborhood. They start to pay attention to a house next door, where a young girl seems to live alone, tended only by robots. They try to befriend with her, but the guard robots guard her very enthusiastically, and she herself doesn't seem to be very interested of making friends. But they won't give up so easily... Another very well written, good story, which seems like start for a longer tale. ****-

They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton

I read this novel in its' serialized form from Astounding Science Fiction magazines.

The second winner of the Hugo Award for the best novel. I wonder why. Seems to continue an earlier story, as the background of the story seems to be a bit sketchy. Two old scientists have developed an artificial mind called “Bossy”, and for some unnamed reason a powerful telepath is helping them to escape police and persecution, as there is a sort of censorship for forbidden ideas (no explanation is given which ideas are ”forbidden” and why, but computers which are capable for near-independent thought seem to fall to that category). They manage to escape their pursuers, and then they make the finishing touches to the “Bossy”. And for what are they going to use the first artificial intelligence? For psychoanalysis, of course. And the psychoanalysis done by the machine is SO effective and profound, that ALL neuroses are removed, and that somehow removes all the effects of old age, if you are willing to give up all your preconceptions of everything... Oh, so logical. That also gives a nasty stench of Scientology (or that idiocy was probably still called dianetics at that point in time).

The writing isn't too good either. There are a lot of long lectures that consist of psychobabble, and complaining about how stupid most people are, and relatively little of anything of interest happens between those. Another very baffling Hugo win. What were they smoking? Or was the Worldcon bought out by Dianetics nuts?

app. 173 pp.

Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven

This book contains the original Swetz short stories, and a new novel where he is the main character. The Swetz of short stories was a bumbling comedic figure, but the Swetz of the new novel is an action hero who shoots the aliens and gets the girl. And there are a lot of aliens to shoot. The newest secretary general of UN, and supreme overlord of all earth is more interested in space aliens than exotic animals. So they must find some aliens from somewhere. The only place where there might be aliens available is the past of Mars. So that's where they'll go. As an added bonus the past Mars seems to have a giant tree, which grows up to the geostationary orbit. That would be pretty nice on Earth too – so they are going to try to find some seeds for that. The Mars turns out to be inhabited by several species of people (modeled on Martians from the classics of sf) and then our heroes have have battles with them. A lot of battles. A lot of boring battles. The book is probably meant as a parody of some kind, but it didn't work for me, the battles were boring, and writing wasn't very captivating. By far the worst book by Niven I have ever read.
The original stories – at least some of them - were a lot better. In those stories Swetz tries to find some samples of animals in the past, and to transport them to his own time (where all animals have died out due to massive pollution). Unfortunately his time machine not only travels back in time, it also travels sideways at the same time, and the animals he captures tend to be "a bit" special. These stories are for most part at least amusing.

367 pp.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact October 1999

Below average issue.

Late Lessons • novelette by Paul Levinson
Time travellers try to change key points in history to create a future which has space travel and doesn't have Soviet Union. Continues earlier stories, which I haven't read. It seems to be more of a character based story than an action piece. A bit hard to get into, as I didn't know the characters beforehand. **+
The Poisoned Feather • shortstory by Laurence M. Janifer
How to rescue a damsel from distress? Especially if the damsel is kidnapped by a notorious torturer. A very short story which depends on a trick done by magic tech. **+
Kinds of Strangers • novelette by Sarah Zettel
A space ship returning from an expedition to asteroid belt has suffered the failure of a light sail and will be unable to return to earth. The crew is unraveling and there has already been a suicide or two. Then they get a strange message...there might be a way out after all. Pretty good story, the only irritant is that the aliens never come out. (the other explanation for the signal (that it was faked by one of the crew) isn't very logical). ***
The Menace from Earth • novelette by Jerry Oltion
Another astral astronauts story. Earth is finding the “paradise”. Is there something that could prevent the destruction of paradise? Ok story, problems are solved a bit too easily. ***+
What Lurks in a Man's Mind • shortstory by Christopher McKitterick
Space marines mount a rescue mission to a planet surrounded by an almost impenetrable force field. Sounds much more interesting, but the story with “a guardian of a hiding civilization” turns out to be much less exiting as it sounds. **+
That Sleeper in the Heart • novelette by Ramona Louise Wheeler
A spaceship almost hits a derelict ship, and the guidance computers automatically come to a full stop orbiting the giant ship. (two really big stupidities - killing all the velocity to avoid a direct hit is very unnecessary. Then the smaller craft goes to an orbit around the larger craft. Even if the larger craft were as big as the Death Star from Star Wars, orbiting a space ship isn't really a practical possibility – it can't have enough mass for that. The writing is somewhat better that the author's grasp of orbital mechanics, but that doesn't really save the story, which is an over long ghost story about a haunted space ship. Ending is fairly stupid, and wasn't one key point left open? It might be that I just didn't care. At least the tone shift from horror to comedy was jarring. **

Galaxy October 1950

The first ever issue of Galaxy. Most of the stories are fairly mediocre.

Third from the Sun • shortstory by Richard Matheson
The giant war is starting. A couple of neighbors are planning to capture the only starship in existence, and escape to another planet. They succeed, and start their journey to the third planet. This MUST have been ages old story in 1950. The title of the story removes even the slightest uncertainty what the “end-twist” is.
The Stars Are the Styx • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
People are leaving earth from a base near moon alone or in pairs. They are embarking on six thousand year trip, and almost half of them will be destroyed. After the six thousand years, their ships will establish a kind of net which makes FTL flight possible and the travelers are able to return to earth and no time has passed for them. The premise isn't established too well, but the main point of the story is the relationships of the people who are getting ready for the journey. Writing is fairly nice, but the behavior of most protagonists have a very fifties vibe. ***+
Later Than You Think • shortstory by Fritz Leiber
An explorer and a historian discuss a new, surprising, find the historian did, while the explorer was on a journey on the space. Not very surprising story, but there was however a little twist in a ending. It wasn't the remains of humans the squid civilization found, it was the remains of rats. **+
Contagion • novelette by Katherine MacLean
An expedition is starting the evaluation of a strange planet. To their surprise, they find a handsome man there. They are afraid of contagions, and invite him to their starship only after rigorous disinfection process. But all males of the ship start falling ill. Why only males? Fairly well told tale, some pretty bad medical inconsistencies, but considering the writing time nothing really bad. Probably the best story in the magazine. ***½
The Last Martian • shortstory by Fredric Brown
A drunk tells a strange story: he is from Mars. He noticed that everyone was seemingly dead, and there was a big button on a platform on the largest city on Mars. He pushed it, and found himself on Earth, in the body of an earthling. Fairly good story, with a little twist in the end. All Martians have escaped their dying planet, and are going to take the control of the earth. One poor mental defective, who has only about the same intelligence as a average earth man, was left behind by a mistake. ***½
Darwinian Pool Room • shortstory by Isaac Asimov
Mainly a discussion about evolution with a small (very small) twist in the end. One of the least impressive Asimov stories I have read. **