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rrated in my opinion short fictions foster you re dead 1955 if you want to read the short story before you listen to the quite detailed discussion it s available online here i m a sucker for science fiction satires of 50s american defense policy commercialism and the idiocracy of fallout shelters as i am allergic to listening to myself i ve not given it a re listen hopefully it went as well as i thought it did at the time also here is my short review of the story part of my larger review of the entire original anthology star science fiction no 3 ed frederik pohl 1955 from last year if you don t have time to listen to the podcast at the moment continue reading short story reviews harlan ellison s night vigil variant title yellow streak hero 1955 and life hutch 1956 july 21 2026 july 22 2026 joachim boaz 40 comments the following reviews serve as the 38th installment of my series searching for sf short stories that are critical in some capacity of space agencies astronauts and the culture which produced them some stories i ll review in this series might not fit or are poor quality and that is okay i relish the act of literary archaeology i ve previously covered two harlan ellison short stories for this series psycho at mid point 1956 and the discarded variant title the abnormals 1959 as always if you know of any others that might fit let me know i ve compiled an extensive list but like all lists it s incomplete thank you richard friend of the site for these recommendations all the way back in 2022 i didn t forget previously clifford d simak s madness from mars 1939 up next tbd let s get to the stories ed valigursky s cover for the amazing stories ed paul w fairman may 1957 3 5 average harlan ellison s night vigil variant title yellow streak hero first appeared in the fanzine peon ed charles lee riddle may 1955 it was reprinted in amazing stories ed paul w fairman may 1957 you can read it online here in peon and here in amazing stories futuristic press gangs continue reading updates recent science fiction purchases no cccli arkady and boris strugatsky philip k dick howard l cory ward moore and avram davidson and muriel jaeger july 14 2026 july 15 2026 joachim boaz 38 comments which books covers authors intrigue you which have you read disliked enjoyed 1 arkady and boris strugatsky s roadside picnic 1972 trans olena bormashenko 2012 dominic harman s cover for the 2012 edition from the back cover red schuhart is a stalker one of those misfits who are compelled in spite of the extreme danger to venture illegally into the zone to collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around his life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the the alien products even the nature of his mutant daughter has been determined by the zone and it is for her that he makes his last tragic foray into the hazardous and hostile territory initial thoughts one of those obvious holes in my sf knowledge i certainly have read about the writing pair but i ve only read a story here and there for example wanderers and travellers 1963 trans 1966 and one novel that i never managed to review my father has been pushing me to read more of their work and yes andrei tarkovsky s adaptation stalker 1979 remains one of my favorite movies i took a history of russian film class in college and wrote my term paper on tarkovsky s use of color continue reading short story reviews david ely s court of judgment 1961 the last friday in august 1961 and the wizard of light 1962 july 13 2026 july 13 2026 joachim boaz leave a comment in 2019 i reviewed and adored david ely s science fiction thriller seconds 1963 the source material for john frankenheimer s similarly brilliant 1966 film i did not know that ely got his start in genre magazines under the editorship of cele goldsmith lalli 1933 2002 known for discovering sf luminaries like ursula k le guin thomas m disch keith laumer sonya dorman and roger zelazny among others 1 before his writing career ely served in the navy 1945 1946 and army 1950 1952 and as a reporter in st louis until 1956 before entering the corporate world as an administrative assistant for the nebulously named cold war organization development and resources corporation in new york 1956 1959 2 after a handful of short stories in genre magazines ely moved to far more lucrative venues like playboy and cosmopolitan i ve had my eyes on his collection containing additional sf tales time out 1968 for years unfortunately prices rarely drop below 70 with shipping science fiction seems to have been close to his heart as he returned to the genre with his novel journal of the flood year 1992 let s get to the stories alex schomburg s cover for fantastic stories of imagination ed cele goldsmith october 1961 3 5 average court of judgment 1961 first appeared in fantastic stories of imagination ed cele goldsmith october 1961 you can read it online here received an honorable mention at the 1962 hugo award for best short fiction continue reading exploration log 15 clifford d simak s fanzine article the future of science fiction 1941 july 6 2026 july 6 2026 joachim boaz 14 comments cover image from the fanac fan history project clifford d simak is the second from the left in the back clifford d simak s the future of science fiction appeared in the fanzine fantasite no 2 ed phil bronson february 1941 you can read it online here as the quality of the scan at the link is quite poor and close to unreadable in spots i ve transcribed the entire article below in a few instances i have guessed based on vague letter shapes if you spot an error let me know the fanzine fantasite comprised of twelve issues between 1940 and 1944 was the official organ of the minneapolis fantasy society for more on the fanzine and its creator consult the fancyclopedia entries the mfs was formed when when simak arrived in minneapolis and joined with the old minneapolis science fiction league hugo gernsback s sf clubs the second meeting happened at simak s house as members went off to wwii the group became less formal and eventually dissipated simak helped briefly resurrect the club after wwii joined by poul anderson and others other sf authors who were members included theodore r cogswell noel loomis oliver saari and gordon r dickson for a fan history of the organization check out jim young s fanzine rune 17 issue this is a fascinating if a bit vague and imprecise look at simak s early views on the evolution and potentiality of science fiction unfortunately as his professional life as a newspaper reporter ramped up he paired back his fan activities these three points stood out 1 simak believes that the science fiction of the 1930s in particular 1933 and 1934 transformed the genre by departing from wooden men who stalk through wooden plots 2 he speculates that science fiction will diversify even further with new ideas and new ways of presenting them 3 he emphasizes the importance of careful delineation in character with superb plotting even from simak s earliest fannish writings he shows an interest in a genre without clear boundaries a genre that grows and expands and explores new things for a more overt statement on his toleration for a diverse genre check out his 1971 worldcon guest of honor speech given in the middle of the new wave movement continue reading what pre 1985 science fiction are you reading update no xxix june 24 2026 june 24 2026 joachim boaz 45 comments what pre 1985 science fiction adventures have you started this summer any great reads disappointing ones intriguing discoveries here s the april installment of this column a selection of read volumes from my shelves in a conversation on blueksy someone asked for my history of science fiction recommendations including a few general surveys i scoured my shelves and came up with an all too large pile with some notable volumes i wanted to include but could not find of favorite histories of science fiction see photo below i tried to include monographs that were not studies of single authors as i am a historian by training and trade who holds on to some of my disciplinary ticks and hangups i also included works by trained academics with two major exceptions 1 mike ashley s multi volume study of science fiction magazines but no other recent works exist and they re really good for the nuts and bolts of genre magazines and 2 alec nevala lee s approachable and well researched group biography astounding john w campbell isaac asimov robert a heinlein l ron hubbard and the golden age of science fiction 2018 both should be read a photo of a few of my history of science fiction recommendations i deliberately avoided works by science fiction authors like damon knight brian w aldiss and frederik pohl they re great sources and i own and have read many of them but they are not histories by trained scholars i do not mean for this to come off as elitist rather my personal remit for my list i needed to winnow down the hundreds and hundreds i own was deliberately narrow i read and use sources widely remember these are my favorites they might not be the best but they got me thinking and reading and writing and that s what we all should be doing reading what makes us happy continue reading exploration log 14 anti racism in chandler davis stereotypes are dangerous 1950 june 21 2026 june 21 2026 joachim boaz 7 comments john grossman s cover for vol 1 of the fanzine futurist ed redd boggs spring 1950 write a story that will give a few bigots the jolt they need write a story that will open the eyes of the unconsciously bigoted 8 chandler davis 1926 2022 strikes a fascinating figure he was a communist activist science fiction author fanzine editor a professor of mathematics at the university of michigan and political prisoner he was fired from the university of michigan in 1954 and imprisoned for six months in 1960 on charges of contempt of congress leveled by huac 1 between 1946 and 1970 he published 12 short stories one additional story a casualty of harlan ellison s infamous unpublished last dangerous visions appeared in 1994 2 i reviewed three of his 1940s short stories on the theme of nuclear war back in 2023 the nightmare 1946 to still the drums 1946 and the aristocrat 1949 he s certainly an author i need to return to on the merits of his article stereotypes are dangerous 1950 continue reading short fiction review clifford d simak s madness from mars 1939 and hermit of mars 1939 june 14 2026 july 21 2026 joachim boaz 8 comments the following review is the 37th installment of my series searching for sf short stories that are critical in some capacity of space agencies astronauts and the culture which produced them some stories i ll review in this series might not fit or are poor quality and that is okay i relish the act of literary archaeology i ve added an extra simak story to round out the post i m on another clifford d simak binge previously john wyndham s the man from beyond variant title the man from earth 1934 up next harlan ellison s night vigil variant title yellow streak hero 1955 and life hutch 1956 howard v brown s cover for thrilling wonder stories ed mort weisinger april 1939 3 5 average clifford d simak s madness from mars first appeared in thrilling wonder stories ed mort weisinger april 1939 you can read it online here in the 1941 article the future of science fiction clifford d simak described the transformative effect of stanley g weinbaum s a martian odyssey 1934 and a handful of other stories on the development of science fiction 1 he uses the story to explain how sf has achieved realism by moving beyond wooden plots plot by incorporating a scientific basis of the story i d suggest madness from mars is simak s attempt to craft a scientifically grounded and truly alien alien in the weinbaum mold i will feature simak s early commentary on the genre in a future exploration log post 2 continue reading posts navigation older posts search 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