Sunday, December 27, 2009

Analog Science Fiction and Fact October 1964



Larger size magazine. Not very good, stories are fairly dated .

Situation Unbearable • novelette by Herbert Pembroke
Birth rate has suddenly gone down all around the world. The cold war has stopped for a while, when everyone is trying to find the solution to the current problem. For some very poorly defined reasons a few of the authorities suspect that one geneticist ,whose laboratory burned, and who went insane soon after that accident, was suspecting that something is happening even before anyone else had any knowledge of the problem. Was that the reason he went mad? No, he was just pretending being mad. He planned the infertility – only people from different parts of the world are fertile with each other. So cold war and “hotter” war would turn out to be impossible. Easily best story in the magazine, but that is not saying much. ***½
The Mary Celeste Move • shortstory by Frank Herbert
Many people, especially older ones are moving far from their home, sometimes even leaving their dinner on the table. Why? Apparently new roads with automatic cars with mandatory speed of 400 mph are so intimidating that if you happen to the fast lane, it is easier just to move where the car takes you. Stupid idea, not very good execution. **+
Flying Fish • novelette by John T. Phillifent
Intelligent life has been found for the first time – and it seems to have more than human intelligence. A group of men, lead by a woman who has lived on a planet for longer time, and who apparently had found the alien intelligence, goes to the jungle to find it. Not very well written, fairly disorganized story. The girl turns out to be a kind of a personification of the planetary intelligence, who apparently just want to be loved or something, as that, or something like that, is so fascinating and rare only human attribute – or something. I really didn't care. **-
Professional Dilemma • shortfiction by Theodore L. Thomas
Very boring story about patents, patent lawyers, and how little people are screwing up the big companies and vice verse. Titled as a “special feature”, not as a story, and it is not strictly science fiction at all. I wonder why this was published? *½

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