Lewis Padgett
1953

This is the third of three books by the Kuttner/Moore team that Gnome Press have in their stable, and like the one other copy I have – Robots Have No Tails… – this is a collection though presented (albeit rather thinly) in novel form.

Each chapter is a short story in the ‘Baldy’ series. There is a brief intro to each that provides a linking device by which these tales are tied together. A Baldy crashes his ‘copter in some remote mountains and accesses shared memories recollecting important events in Baldy history while he waits against hope for rescue. I found this glue rather unnecessary and again, for me, it was a distraction and detraction from tales that were on the whole pretty good as stand-alone pieces – I could have quite readily inferred the progression satisfactorily myself.

Baldies are a post-apocalyptic (or post ‘Big Mistake’ as it’s called) human mutation that have telepathic powers. In actual fact, ‘mutant’ is a bit of a misnomer. The term is traditionally used to describe a one-off genetic aberration such as those sported by the various X-Men, by Johnny Alpha and his Strontium Dog colleagues or to a lesser extent the abilities of the Children of he Atom.  Baldies are really a different species arising from a mutation – not ‘mutants’ per se, but a brand new species of the homo genus. This Big Mistake caused an identical genetic modification in some people so a small percentage of post-Mistake offspring exhibit dominant Baldy traits – Baldies become a permanent and growing percentage of the population.

So, I hear you ask, why were they called ‘Baldies’?  Well, they are bald as you can see from Ric Binkley’s cover art, but further, have a complete lack of bodily hair. Because of this, they were able to be readily identified and most resorted to the habit of wearing hairpieces to camouflage themselves from society at large. A prudent move as Baldies often engender a certain amount of fear in most normal people due to their mind-reading abilities and as a result suffer from some discrimination.  But outside of the extremist ‘Paranoid’ Baldy faction, they are generally understanding of many humans’ attitude towards them in their obviously dominant position, and seek to bring a reconciliation that will be satisfactory in the long term.

Just on the note of conflict, I just want to mention a cultural idiosyncrasy of the times – the duel.  All men carry a dagger so they can engage in duels if challenged.  What is it about this form of conflict resolution that so appealed to SF writers back then?  It seems a bit odd and rather antiquated from the viewpoint of today, The great RAH used this device in his early work Beyond This Horizon (with firearms though, not blades).  But as I so often encourage, you have to read these books with a certain amount of tolerance and with one mental foot in the 1940s or 50s.  These things (the duels) go to the death, so they aren’t taken lightly and to engage with a Baldy is tantamount to suicide as they can read your mind as to what moves you’re about to pull.

As I mentioned earlier, the stories depict several key scenarios in Baldy history – they are snapshots of events leading to the inevitable confrontation between them and regular humans.  This culminates in a solitary Baldy having to make the final decision as to whether to extinguish the threat to Baldy existence or let fate determine how the relationship between the two species develops.

Aside from those unnecessary linking intrusions I really enjoyed the tales.  In contrast to mutant fare we have been getting in the modern sci-fi era – isolated and/or disparate mutations affecting individuals in radically different and bizarre ways – I liked the treatment here. A single mutation consistent and breeding human mutation evolution that has the potential to subsume the inferior (or at least non-telepathic) regular human version.  In some ways this brings to mind John Wyndham’s story The Midwich Cuckoos, but the Baldies aren’t evil as the children in that story apparently are.

What Henry Kuttner (all subsequent editions are credited to him, see the book’s ISFDB page - I suspected as much from the style of the prose) does well here is conveying the sense of community that Baldies experience.  They have a telepathic link that’s kind of analagous to the Internet – each individual is kind of server.  They can all choose to partake of the resource, or ‘log out’ and resist intruding on, or intrusion from others.  It’s quite skillfully handled given that it’s a tough thing to try to impart what is actually happening in the mind.  Let me give you and example:

They looked at each other in silence. Their minds touched and sprang apart and then touched again, tentatively, with light thoughts that leaped from point to point as gingerly as if the ideas were ice-floes that might sink beneath the full weight of conscious focus.
I thought I loved you . . . perhaps I did . . . yes, I too . . . but now there can’t be . . . (sudden, rebellious denial) . . . no, it’s not true, there can’t ever be rightness between us . . . not as if we were ordinary people . . . we’d always remember that picture, how I looked (abrupt sheering off from the memory) . . . (agonized repudiation of it) . . . no couldn’t help that . . . always beteen us . . . rooted too deeply . . . and anyhow, Cas – (sudden closing off of both minds at once, before even the thought-image had time to form.)
Alexa stood up. “I’m going to town,” she said.

page 105/106

That’s a bit lengthy, but it gives you a great example of how he’s handled it.  Pretty slick if you ask me.  Short passages of mind communication are scattered throughout the book and really help us become part of the Baldy experience - not just a third-party to it.

To wrap this up, Mutant is an enjoyable read that presents some interesting dilemmas and makes us hink about how we might handle being in such a position as they.  However, you don’t need to be a telepath to work out what’s happening over the course of the stories, so if you read this collection, keep in mind they are tales separated in time and just skip the linking interludes.  You will enjoy it a bit more.

Origins & Dimensions

The Crotchety Old Fan delivers another installment in the series.  Check out the full story over on his site.

Dec 21, 2009 TIMED is on My Side (Yes it is)
New research confirms that Earth’s upper atmosphere is cooling off.

Dec 22, 2009 Comet Crystals
Comets are said to be composed of “dusty ices.” Why have crystalline structures that require high temperatures been found in them?

Dec 23, 2009 Dione’s Daughter
Instead of a birth at sea, rising up out of the foam, Aphrodite appears to have been born of a fiery furnace.

Dec 24, 2009 Vanishing Rings
Saturn’s rings will soon disappear from view. What force created and sustains them?

Well, it’s been one year today since I made the first post on this site.  It has been a great year for me in working towards my goal of collecting all Gnome Press’ hardcover titles.  I’m almost halfway having only to acquire four more titles to hit that point… or is it only two – I have jacket-less reading copies of City by Clifford Simak and C.L. Moore’s Northwest of Earth.  But I’m really only counting collectible copies, so four it should be.  Things are slowing down a bit at present.  The remaining titles are starting to become a little more expensive and things are biting at home a bit too…  but on it goes regardless.  I have examined and reviewed most of the books I have, but in the interests of keeping a steady input into this blog, I’m going to slow down a little on that too.  Thankfully there is a little more material around that I can feed into this site, both on my bookshelf and out there in general.

I feel like I should do a highlights package, but I’ll leave that in the style I have set with the 25% marker – it can wait for the 50% post.  After all it’s not that far away.

I’ve made a couple of Gnome Press friends out there over the course of the last year and I want to thank them for helping to make this blog what it is.  Christophe in France especially, Brian Pearce from Red Jacket Press, Joe Wherle Jr, Mike ‘bossy4dom2‘ Wood and Geoff Robson whom I hope is still hanging on to a special GP title for me.  And of course my Lovely Wife for enduring my seemingly nonsensical hobby.  Merry Christmas to all.

As you are probably aware, Project Gutenberg delivers ebooks and audio books free.  Read more about what they do and how they do it over on their site.  The reason I mention it is that they have a couple of Gnome Press titles available to read online or to download for viewing on an ebook reader.  Librivox are another who deliver audio books, I’ve mentioned them before in this blog.  I think I’ll start up a new page with free online versions of any books from Gnome Press.  There should be a new link over on the right, or else click here.

News Flash: The Survivors by Tom Godwin was released at Librivox about 4 hours before this post.  Cool.  That will be my next audio book experience so you can expect a mini-review sometime in the next week or so.

L. Ron Hubbard
1951

I jumped on the opportunity to pick this book up.  And I know, it’s not in good shape – probably the worst in my collection aside from my reading copy of City and my ex-library Iceworld.  At $52 for this the price perhaps is a little steep, but from what I can determine it’s not outrageously too much for this title in this condition.  Let’s check out the damage.

I can use one word to sum up the condition of this book: shabby.  You can see the spotting on the jacket and the spine is noticeably faded.  The artwork by David Kyle is a little unconventional, but I like it nonetheless.  Sans jacket it’s not much different.
I really like the imprinting on the front board as GP did for several of their earlier titles.  In this case a cool confluence of the Fear eye and the Typewriter ribbon.
The top and bottom view, along with the close examination of the spine extremities only reinforce the overall first impression.


The spine is a bit wobbly and has a slight lean.

Both the head and tail of the binding are quite badly bruised.
Here’s a closer view of the nasty wear on the top rear edge of the front board.

The jacket, as you noticed over the last five pictures, is in generally poor condition.  Foxing, discoloration and overall wear.
Opening it reveals further misery.  One lengthy split along the front hinge…


..and another beginning to develop in the rear.
The back of the jacket is consistent at least.
Year: 1951
Paid: $52
Art: David Kyle
Quantity: 4000 copies
Binding: Tan boards with black lettering on the spine with a ‘typewriter ribbon and eye’ device embossed on the front board.
GP Edition Notes: 1st edition so stated.
Comments: A shabby but important addition to my collection.  I’m in two minds about the worth at that price.
Expand Upon: wikipedia.com, Internet Speculative Fiction Database

It’s been a while.  Got a new book today.  Judgment Night by C.L. Moore.  I think by way of a Close Up, I’ll do a side-by-side with Red Jacket Press’s  reprint.  Something different.  I’m looking forward to it.

Dec 14, 2009 Seeing Red Giants
Many red giant stars exhibit variations in their luminosities over periods of several months to a few years. Recent observations “show that all the possible explanations…fail.”

Dec 15, 2009 Faster Than Light: Part One
How big is the Universe? How old is it?

Dec 16, 2009 VISTA’s First Light
A new telescope designed to see objects in visible and infrared light has just come online.

Dec 17, 2009 Faster Than Light: Part Two
If distance calculations based on redshift are inaccurate, what does that mean for the consensus opinion about the age or the size of the Universe?

Dec 18, 2009 Things that Go Bump in the Light
The northern aurora contains regions that sometimes emit energetic bursts of light.

Courtesy of Steve the Crotchety Old Fan (link also on the right) comes the first in what I hope will be an ongoing series of analyses of pulp SF magazines.  Get the full run-down from this post at his site.

This series looks to be of special relevance to this site as most of the material that Gnome Press published came from these pulp publications.  Of special interest in this issue is the historical aspect about Hugo Gernsback and the roots of these magazines.

Electro-Pulp Video Magazine Vol 1, No 1 from Steve Davidson on Vimeo.

Great stuff Steve.  There were a few technical and stylistic problems, but hey, it’s early days and I’m certain Steve will get those ironed out in the future.  I’m really looking forward to the next one.  Gets my wheels turning…  maybe I should consider something like this as an addition to some of the Close Ups I do.

Dec 07, 2009 Solar Breeze
The intensity of the Sun’s magnetic field and solar wind have declined to a record low level.

Dec 08, 2009 Joining the Dots Part One: Fireworks on New Year’s Day
Can there be any truth in the traditional linkage of a total conjunction of planets and universal disaster or is this just arrant nonsense?

Dec 09, 2009 Joining the Dots Part Two: The Dating Scene in the Sky
Ancient astronomers from the Hellenistic world to China believed that the cosmos is ravaged by deluges and fires whenever the five naked-eye planets, the moon and the sun ‘meet’ in a linear conjunction.

Dec 10, 2009 Is the Universe Recession Proof?
Cosmologists are no closer to solving the dark energy problem.

Dec 11, 2009 The Global Problem of Turbulence Cooling
Could the widespread use of windmills be responsible for recent observations that the European continent is rapidly cooling?