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. ***+

Xiaolong Qiu: Punaisen merkin tanssija (A Loyal Character Dancer)

A Chinese police must help an American policewoman who is picking up a wife of an important witness. The wife has disappeared and must be found as soon as possible. An intriguing book where the main emphasis is on life in China and its peculiarities – not the detective plot as itself.

Poliisiromaani, joka tapahtuu nykypäivän (tai paremminkin kirjoitusajankohdan) Kiinassa. Kiinalainen poliisipäällikkö saa tehtävän: hänen pitää avustaa USA:laista naispoliisia, joka on noutamassa USA:ssa todistajainsuojelussa ja laittomasta siirtolaisuudesta todistaneen kiinalaismiehen raskaana olevaa vaimoa. Yksinkertainen tehtävä osoittautuukin oletettua mutkikkaammaksi, kun vaimo katoaa juuri ennen kuin hänen piti poistua Kiinasta. Onko rikossyndikaatti siepannut hänet – vai onko hän paennut jotain?
Kirjassa varsinainen ”salapoliisi” juoni on suhteellisen vähäinen ja ylimalkainen. Pääosan kirjassa muodostaa kiinnostava ja autenttisen tuntuinen kuvailu elämästä kommunistisessa Kiinassa, jossa olosuhteet ovat varallisuuden kasvun myötä muuttumassa. Kiinalaisten tapojen ja kommunistisen kaaderibyrokratian piirteiden setviminen myös kulutti sivuja runsaasti, ehkä hiukan liikaakin – jonkinasteinen pieni tiivistäminen olisi saattanut tehdä kirjalle hyvää.
413 s.

Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, June 1976

A pretty average issue.

A Thrust of Greatness • [Lifeboat Earth] • novelette by Stanley Schmidt
Another part of the series where alien move earth to save humanity from an explosion at the core of our galaxy. The man who has made contact with the aliens must have made the decision and the governments of the earth aren’t too happy about that, especially as the starting movement of the planet causes major disasters around the globe. But ultimately all choices are hard ones. A fairly good, somewhat too talky and long story. ***+
Brains Isn't Everything • shortstory by Christopher Anvil
The aliens come and the make an offer: Each nation may choose one thing for its’ citizens. Perfect health? Long life? Great mental development? Is there a catch? Will they demand extraordinary payment later? Of course, but the catch and the payment aren’t necessarily what could be expected. Nice, short story, but there is nothing really unusual. ***+
Side Effect • shortstory by Hayford Peirce
Just a stupid shaggy dog story about a National Geography –like magazine which offers lifetime subscriptions. *½
Longevity • shortstory by Scott W. Schumack
A centre has been in contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. There have been a few new inventions, but then the nothing seems to come out. Are they hiding something? A preventive strike might be in order? A standard “to powerful invention will cause our destruction” story. Not too good in its’ class, a little disorganized. **+

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The first part of Stephen King’s major fantasy saga. I have read only a few of his books; probably the last one was the Firestarter about when it was published in Finnish a few decades ago. He has lot fans, but somehow I have never had an interest of his work. As this is a popular series I decided to give it a shot. The world where the book happens is fascinating and interesting. It is either a far future world after some kind of worldwide collapse or some sort of future alternative earth. A gunslinger chases an unnamed man in black, who is apparently evil, or at least he is some sort of representation of evil. The man in black seems to have some supernatural capabilities and can influence the minds of people he encounters. The gunslinger meets a few interesting charterers and tells to some of them parts of the backstory of what has happened to him earlier. By the end, we learn some version of what might be happening. The style is at places slightly confusing as at least once there was a story inside a story inside a story. The events were very surreal at places. The writing was pretty good, but this somehow this didn’t really appeal to me. I am not sure if this is fantasy or science fiction, but at least this first part felt slightly too fantasy like to my taste.

336 pp

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, April 2014

A serial takes a lot of space. I haven’t yet decided if I am going to read the serial. I read a few first pages of the first instalment and it seemed to have a pretty strong YA vibe. I'll see if I am going to finish it. Otherwise pretty average issue.

A Fierce, Calming Presence • novelette by Jordan Jeffers
Some sort of ecological trouble solver is visiting a planet where an endogenous almost sentient species has suddenly started to behave violently against the members of a mining colony. Usually, they have behaved fairly peacefully. The alien species seem to be very little known even though there are apparently hundred thousand billion (!!) volumes of books published about the planet. That would correspond only well over 10000 different books for every single living people on earth at the moment. Really? There also some other strange sounding details: for example a false accusation of treason is apparently automatically punishable by death. I imagine there aren’t many whistleblowers around with those laws.. A pretty average “evil and greedy industrials” story which has been told countless times in one way or another. ***
Pollution • shortstory by Don Webb
A foreigner who works in Japan has some trouble with alienation, prejudice and zombie-like humans who are used for menial work. There some nice ideas in the story, but it is too far short to really examine them. ***
The Oracle Boca Raton • shortstory by Eric Baylis
A story which is pretty hard to understand . Seems to be some sort of inside joke or something. Ideas or souls or something of old sf authors are used in some way, or something. I didn’t really care. **
Wind Reaper • shortstory by Jon Hakes
A power of hurricanes is used as energy and harvested by planes which fly into the storms. A very short story. The technology feels extremely iffy, and the background is also poorly examined. A longer form might have been better? ***-
It's Not "The Lady or the Tiger?", It's "Which Tiger?" • shortstory by Ian Randal Strock
An entrepreneur who has failed several times has a discussion on a bar. What does he want from life: comfort or recognition? What if he actually had a choice? A fairly nice story of its length. ***+
Whaliens • shortstory by Lavie Tidhar
Aliens who look like giant floating whales appear over Washington. They want to convert to Mormonism. Or to Scientology. Or perhaps to Judaism. Or they will destroy the earth. A rare funny story that actually is pretty funny. A short but enjoyable short story with many science fiction in-jokes. ***½

Riikka Pelo: Jokapäiväinen elämämme

The winner of last year’s Finlandia award, the most prestigious literary award of Finland. The book tells the story of a Russian born poet and her daughter at two time periods. The chapters which are told by the mother and happen in Czechoslovakia and the chapters which are told by the daughter and happen later in Russia late 30s and early 40s interspace. The writing is beautiful, but it is written in an extreme stream of consciousness style with sentences up to 30 lines long. Not really something I usually enjoy. One of least favorite winners of this award for me.

Tammikuuhuni on jo useamman vuoden kuulunut edellisen vuoden Finlandia-voittajan lukeminen. Tänä vuonna urakka tuntui nimenomaan urakalta, sen verran raskasta ja hidasta luettavaa uusin voittaja oli. Kirja kertoo kahdella aikatasolle venäläisen naisrunoilijan ja hänen tyttärensä tarinaa Tšekkoslovakian maaseudulla 20-luvun lopussa ja Venäjällä 30-luvun lopulla ja 40-luvun alussa. Varhaisemmissa katkelmissa ketojana toimii äiti, myöhemmissä suurimmassa osassa suurimmassa osassa tytär. Perhe on venäjällä syntynyt, elää köyhissä oloissa Tšekissä, josta he muuttavat Berliiniin. Ennen paluutaan Venäjälle he olivat asuneet pitkään Pariisissa, jossa tytär toimi Venäjän salaisen palvelun asiamiehenä vakoillen muita venäläisemigrantteja ja raportoiden heistä. Stalinin vainoissa sitten etenkin tytär saa kokea miten diktatuurit kätyreitään palkitsevat. Kirja on kirjoitettu erittäin, erittäin rasittavalla tajunnanvirtatekniikalla. Alkupuolella lukujen välillä tuntui olevan eroa siten, että tyttären ollessa kertojaäänenä teksti oli lähes luettavaa, mutta etenkin puolenvälin paikkeilla hänen ollessa raskaana ja rakastuneena 30 riviä pitkät virkkeet valtasivat hänenkin lukunsa ja lukeminen muuttui raskaaksi ja lukujen välillä ollut kirjoitustyylin ero katosi. Loppupuolella eroa lukujen välillä taas oli selvemmin havaittavissa. Kielellisesti teksti oli kaunista, mutta ei itsetarkoituksellinen kielellinen kikkailu saisi tarinankerronnan ohitse mennä, ainakin jos minulta kysytään. Ärsyttävän naivin vaikutelman naiset tekivät, etenkin kommunistipropagandan sokaisema emigranttitovereistaan KGB:lle raportoiva tytär. Olen tällä vuosisadalla jaetuista Finlandia-palkituista kirjoista lukenut kaksitoista neljästätoista. Tämä sijoittuu niistä häntäpäähän omalla arvosteluasteikollani, ihan suoraan en osaa sanoa oliko tämä Nenäpäivääkin huonompi, ehkäpä.
525 s

Kari Enqvist: Olemisen porteilla

A short and comparatively easy introduction to particle and quantum physics. Easy to read, almost easy to understand.

Lyhyt perehdytys hiukkas- ja kvanttifysiikan tuoreimpiin saavutuksiin. Yllättävän selkeä esitys siitä mitä mm. Bose-Einstein-kondensaatti, M-teoria ja todennäköisyysaallot tarkoittavat. Muutaman vuoden ikäisenä kaikki sisältö ei enää ole ihan ajantasaista, mm Higgsin bosonin olemassaolon todennäköinen varmistuminen aavistuksen kirjan sisältöön olisi voinut vaikuttaa. Kokonaisuutena mielenkiintoinen ja jopa helppolukuinen kirja, vaikka osa asioista fysiikasta kiinnostuneelle oli entuudestaan tuttuja. Ehkä Enqvist olisi voinut tylyttää vielä enemmän kvanttimystikkoja, joiden mielestä tietoisuus ja aivojen toiminta on kvanttitasoinen ilmiö: biologisesta katsantokannasta koko ajatus on vielä mielettömämpi kuin hiukkasfyysikon näkökulmasta katsottuna.
290 s.

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.