Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Astounding Science Fiction, July 1959



A fairly bad issue with dated stories. The last part of Dorsai! takes a lot of space.

But, I Don't Think • novelette by Randall Garrett
A guesser (who is able to guess the orbits of ships accurately during battle situations) is stranded on an underdeveloped planet after an attempt against his life. The world is very militaristic with extremely stiff class divisions. A light look to a pretty grim world, where the protagonist doesn't show any personal growth – and that is pretty much the point of the story. ***½
Broken Tool • shortstory by Theodore L. Thomas
A man due to space command faces the last test. He must visit his home town and see if he will regret abandoning the earth. He has no need for the Earth; all he wants is to get to space. So he fails the test. A very short bitter sweet story. Not bad. ***+
Straw • shortstory by Algis Budrys
Corruption and shady dealing on some sort of casino. Extremely boring and somewhat confusing. How was this science fiction? There might have been some speculative aspect, by mind was too glazed by total indifference to notice it. *
Leverage • [Federation of Humanity] • shortstory by Christopher Anvil
A space colony has serious problems due mosquito like insects and giant, violent birds. (I wonder why no one uses mosquito nets or helmets; apparently the author wasn’t familiar with areas with severe mosquito infestations). Then a stupid solution is found. A pretty bad and childish tale. **
Vanishing Point • shortstory by C. C. Beck
Man invents a sort of four dimensional device, which seems to suck the parallax out from the world. Or something. A very short and stupid story. **-

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