Close Up: Address: Centauri

F.L. Wallace
1955

I got this in a package purchase along with Renaissance, SF’58 and Space Lawyer, and overall probably in the poorest condition of the four.  Edd Emsh usually provides fantastic cover art, but on this occasion it’s a little on the ordinary side.  However, it does highlight a couple of things about the story which I’ll mention in the Review.  Overall the book is in pretty sound physical condition, but those bugbears of foxing and Gnome’s cheap paper are apparent.  Anyway, let’s check it out.
As I said, physically (tears, chips, wear) it is pretty good, but you can see it’s looking a little mottled, especially down the leading edge.  Some sunning on the spine too.  It’s starting to look better with the jacket off though.  The boards are pretty clean.
Though there is what looks like a slight oil stain along the bottom front edge.
The top and bottom views reveal no issues except that thing I mentioned earlier.
You can see the darkening on the block.  We’ll have a closer look at that later.

The spine extremities are ok, and the edges of the jacket are pretty good.  from the top you can see the discoloration and slight sunning to the spine.  Also on the spine is a graze – right over poor old F.L. Wallace’s name too.  Darn.
You can see the mottling/discoloration too quite well also.
There is staining and/or foxing on the flaps, the rear being the worst.
I’m never quite sure how to tell the difference between what is true foxing and what is a stain from some other source.  I suppose it doesn’t really make much difference as the result is pretty much the same.
The poor quality paper has resulted in the typical browning of the block.
But of more interest to me here (as I am so fond of pointing out) are the cool designs at the beginning of each chapter.  Nice.
The back of the jacket is ok.  General discoloration is apparent, but no real damage.

Year: 1955
Paid: $15
Art: Ed Emshwiller
Quantity: 4000 copies, 1263 copies remaindered.
Binding: Olive/tan boards with black lettering on the spine.
GP Edition Notes: 1st edition so stated.
Comments: A reasonable copy. Basically poor aging drags the condition of this down a notch or two. Pity.
Expand Upon: wikipedia.com, Internet Speculative Fiction Database

This Week in the Electric Universe

Nov 16, 2009 Gamma Gamma Hey
Gamma ray frequency electromagnetic radiation has been detected in terrestrial lightning strokes.

Nov 17, 2009 Kuiper Crater’s Rays
The latest images from the MESSENGER mission reveal a planetary surface similar to Earth’s Moon. Are both bodies the progeny of one electrical parent?

Nov 18, 2009 Planetary Paradigms
A new mission designed to study the Sun’s electrical relationship with Mars will soon be launched.

Nov 19, 2009 Sungrazers
Some comets fly in close to the Sun and then loop back into the outer reaches of the Solar System, with unusual results.

Nov 20, 2009 The Spirit is Willing
The Spirit rover has reached an impasse. Is this the end of its mission?

One More

Super!!  Picked up C.L. Moore’s Judgment Night yesterday.  I expect delivery in about two to three weeks.

Review: The Starmen

Leigh Brackett
1952

I was rather pleased to pick this up.  Check out the Close Up for some visual goodness.

In looking into the writing career of the author Leigh Brackett, I learned some interesting trivia.  Thanks to that fount of all human knowledge, Wikipedia, I discovered that she was, amongst many other notable things,  involved in the writing of several prominent movies, the most notable (from an SF perspective) was the original screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back.  It was eventually entirely rewritten, but she was included in the credits.  Check her out on wikipedia and at the ISFDB – very interesting reading.

This is a good story.  I especially enjoyed the way it began.  On a contemporary Earth, our hero Michael Trehearne (an interesting choice of name) is chasing his origins.  From the U.S. to England and finally to the French countryside he has searched and finally feels he is closing on the source of his difference.  There are no real hints at this being an SF tale until about chapter 4.  A refreshing start, and this is where we pick up his real adventure.

His difference is physical.  Not an obvious difference, but as a very successful test pilot for the USAF his ability to withstand heavy ‘G’s and other subtle differences leads him to suspect something special in his origins.  Though he doesn’t suspect how special.  He does indeed locate his ‘kin’ and thereafter his real adventure begins.  I’m trying to avoid giving too much away here, suffice to say that he embarks on a cosmic adventure with his erstwhile relatives and succeeds in helping to bring interstellar travel to the various peoples of the galaxy.

This is a typical space opera and not really unusual in any respect except for the cool device around which the story is built.  The monopoly the Vardda people have on interstellar travel and its jealous protection provides the interesting backdrop against which this story is penned and it is engaging.  While not being a page-turner, it is consistent with quality golden age space opera in that there is a constant upbeat pace and many interesting changes of location.

In the course of his adventures, Trehearne – what we would now consider true Star Trek or Star Wars fashion – discovers that the galaxy is peopled with many different races based on the basic humanoid form, and to Ms Brackett’s credit she does provide a somewhat reasonable explanation for this:

Trehearne had been amazed at the persistent recurrence of the humanoid form even when the root-stock from which a particular race had evolved was not even remotely human, and Yann had explained to him what every Vardda school-child was taught in General Biology, that the development of the humanoid form [....] rested simply upon the necessity of a species that intended to progress beyond the animal level of intelligence to evolve hands, or a workable substitute, and free them for use.
page 112

Cool.

In subsequent editions known as The Galactic Breed or The Starmen of Llyrdis, it is a well paced, expertly crafted and thoroughly enjoyable tale.  If you’re a fan of fine space opera, I highly recommend taking to the stars with The Starmen.

This Week in the Electric Universe

Nov 09, 2009 Dawn Approaches the Asteroid Belt
A new mission to explore the largest asteroids in the Solar System.

Nov 10, 2009 Dark Power
Astrophysicists speculate that the early Universe was powered by dark matter annihilation.

Nov 11, 2009 Where the Star Winds Blow
Radial filaments within galactic “superwinds” identify them as plasma phenomena.

Nov 12, 2009 Hot Gas vs. Electric Currents
Astronomers have detected a strand of galaxies and gas flowing into a remote cluster.

Nov 13, 2009 Red-Faced Worlds
Some of Saturn’s moons are slightly red in color, as are other bodies in the Solar System.

New Arrival

Not exactly another book, but interesting and relevant nonetheless.  An issue of Fantasy Newsletter from 1982.  I’ve made the article that prompted its purchase available on a dedicated page here, or use the link under the ‘Pages’ section – Collecting Gnome Press.

Enjoy.

This Week in the Electric Universe

Nov 02, 2009 Stars in Collision Part 2
Astronomers have recently discovered a band of energetic neutral atoms around the sky. This discovery supports the hypothesis that the Sun captured a previously independent Saturnian system, in which Saturn was the brown-dwarf primary for the planets Earth, Mars, and Venus.

Nov 03, 2009 Greater and Greater Attractors
Galaxy clusters are being pulled by a force emanating from “beyond the horizon” of the universe. Could electrified plasma be the culprit?

Nov 04, 2009 Pulsar Convolutions
Can stars rotate faster than a power tool?

Nov 05, 2009 Bubble Magnets
Astronomers say that exploding bubbles of magnetic energy might have helped form galaxy clusters.

Nov 06, 2009 How Are Stars Born?
It is commonly assumed that stars are gravitationally compressed hot gas.

Review: SF’58: The Year’s Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy

Judith Merril, editor
1958

I’ve been reading a little slow lately – it’s taken me about a month to work my way through this anthology. My reactions to it are a bit mixed, though before looking a bit more closely at it, first a very brief history.  The SF(‘xx) series edited by Judith Merril was a long-running annual series in which Ms Merril attempted to collect the outstanding SF&F for a particular year.  To put things in their proper order, I’ll talk more about this and her when I review the very first tome in this series.

As I said, my reactions were mixed.  I normally read anthologies cover to cover, as I imagine the editor always has some sort of structure or theme development in mind when putting the thing together.  While I did read the first story first, I thereafter hopped all over the shop in reading.  I’m not sure if this affected my reading experience or not.

I felt it was quite an odd bunch of stories - a couple I thought were fantastic, but others were a little strange to my way of thinking.  I just want to mention a couple of my favorites before taking a general overview.

The Wonder Horse by George Byram is a fantasy tale about a mutant racehorse that goes on to be unbeatable, the controversy the horse generates and how it’s owners cope with the sudden fame and fortune.  A very straightforward story, no real surprises or twists, no startling conclusion, and one that perhaps seemed a little misplaced in an anthology of this nature.  To my surprise though, I enjoyed it a lot.  A thoroughly engaging and satisfying read.

The other (and perhaps the) stand-out tale for me was Zenna Henderson’s Wilderness.  Told with extreme skill and wonderfully paced, it relates the experiences of one young woman – a teacher in a very small and remote South-West town – and the discovery of who she really is.  Confused and frightened by her heightened senses, she thinks her sanity to be slowly deteriorating until she meets someone like her and reluctantly accepts her true identity.  I’ve since discovered that those of you familiar with the ‘People’ series from Zenna Henderson will no doubt more-or-less know what they are in for here, but for me it was new and unfamiliar.  Ms Henderson was a very talented writer and I’m certainly looking forward to reading more of her work; she also appears in both Judith Merril’s first Gnome Press anthology and in SF’57.

The Fly by George Langelaan deserves a mention of course.  A tale with which everyone is very familiar now, but nevertheless it was an education to read in it’s original form.  This is (I think) it’s first publication in hardcover, although it was earlier published in Playboy magazine in July, 1957.

Another notable inclusion is Near Miss.  The last Henry Kuttner story to be published; a tribute to the prolific and very popular author who died that year.

Prefacing each tale is a small introduction by Ms Merril and at the back of the book is a Summary and a section called ‘The Year’s S-F, Summation and Honorable Mentions’ – a kind of an appendix or perhaps a reading list for you.  The short introductions add an extra dimension to each tale -  Ms Merril gives us the occasional bit of insight into her choices, a little background or info on the author and/or story.  They make for interesting reading so here they are reproduced for your appreciation.

View this document on Scribd

Complementing the stories are 6 non-fiction articles that comment on various aspects of science fiction and ’space science’ in general.  The most interesting of which is Sputnik: One Reason Why We Lost written by G. Harry Stine.

In all honesty, I struggle to see how this could be collectively considered ‘The Year’s Best’, but Judith Merril is far more experienced than I when it comes to this kind of thing so I take her at her word.  Having said that though, the inclusion of that non-fiction really adds an extra dimension to this book and this combined with those two or three exceptional tales make the effort worthwhile.

Close Up: The Starmen

Leigh Brackett
1952

This was a snatch buy from eBay, one of those ones that comes up every so often. I have favorite searches set up so they are emailed to me every day. I know exactly when they arrive so I can get the latest listings as soon as I can. This was listed as a ‘Buy It Now or Best Offer’ auction. Well, as soon as I saw it was listed for only $60 I grabbed it. It’s always a risk – I could only see the cover – but it looked pretty good and this is quite a pricey title to pick up from a dealer.  You would have to pay at least $100 or so for for a copy in this condition from a dealer, and more likely much more.  There is a bit of foxing inside the jacket too.  Lets have a look.

Wonderful cover art from Rick Binkley.  Cover is nice and bright, no damage.  Just a bit of wrinkling at the top of the spine.  Concern becomes apparent when we remove the jacket.

You can see the mildewy stains on the front board and particularly on the spine.  The rear board is in much the same condition as the front.  If anyone knows how to perhaps remove or treat this issue somehow, please let me know.
The top and bottom view reveal no surprises, just a bit of dust spotting and discoloration on the top there.
And the bottom looks pretty good.  The spine sits nice and the block is hardly discolored at all.
Likewise the head and tail.  Just a touch of wrinkling at the head…
..and no problem on the tail.  Very, very nice, in fact.  There is no chipping and any rubbing is practically non-existent around the whole book.
I mentioned the foxing inside the cover, we can see a bit externally too.

The edge of the wrap-around is pretty mottled there.
Like a few other books, this one has that little touch that I really appreciate.  You can see the twelve signs of the zodiac introducing each chapter.

Fantastic.
The jacket has one small score with a small hole in it.  You can see it on the edge of the wrap-around center-pic below.

The rear looks great.  No significant staining or wear.  Super.

Year: 1952
Paid: $60
Art: Ric Binkley
Quantity: 5000 copies
Binding: Slate gray boards with black lettering on the spine.
GP Edition Notes: 1st edition so stated.
Comments: A nice copy. This is definitely a very good buy at $60.  Shame about the staining on the boards. Anyone know how to clean them??  Can they be cleaned or at least tidied up a little??
Expand Upon: wikipedia.com, Internet Speculative Fiction Database

This Week in the Electric Universe

Oct 26, 2009 The Coming of the Sky Dancers
The message is increasingly clear: auroras can be extremely violent events.

Oct 27, 2009 Misplaced Mavericks
Why do stars in the Sun’s local neighborhood vary in their chemical composition? They should all be products of the same nebular cloud.

Oct 28, 2009 Plasma Volcanoes
The recent eruption of Mt. Redoubt in Alaska calls to mind the skeptical imperative to doubt again the accepted explanations of vulcanology.

Oct 29, 2009 A Pattern of Forces
Areas of Mars larger than Texas are wrenched and twisted, with deep canyons and sharp fissures, yet they are scoured clean of rocks and dust.

Oct 30, 2009 Stars in Collision Part 1
Astronomers have recently discovered a band of energetic neutral atoms around the sky. This discovery supports the hypothesis that the Sun captured a previously independent Saturnian system, in which Saturn was the brown-dwarf primary for the planets Earth, Mars, and Venus.