Search Results for: short reviews

Cold War, by Kris Neville, appeared in the October 1949 issue of Astounding. It can be read at Archive.org here. A President has a conversation! A hard-nosed journalist is briefly introduced and just as quickly dispatched! The dark secret the conversation was about and the journalist was killed for is revealed in another conversation! Cold […]

Chance Remarks, by J.J. Coupling, and The Great Floods, by L. Sprague de Camp, were the featured essays in the October 1949 issue of Astounding. They can be read here at Archive.org. I probably won’t normally cover the essays in Astounding, but there are a few things I wanted to spotlight. The first essay in […]

The Automagic Horse by L. Ron Hubbard appeared in the October 1949 issue of Astounding. It can be read here at Archive.org. It figures that the first really good story I’d read in Campbell-era Astounding would be by L. Ron Hubbard. Maybe not good enough start a religion around the guy and give him all […]

Time Heals by Poul Anderson appeared in the October 1949 issue of Astounding. It can be read here at Archive.org. I know what I said about Poul Anderson stories, but I would be remiss if I did not thoroughly review issues of Astounding to give as complete a picture (snapshot, really) of the publication. Time […]

Production Test by Raymond F Jones appeared in the October 1949 issue of Astounding. It can be read here at Archive.org. While I was excited to see a Raymond F. Jones story in this issue, Production Test was something of a let-down. Unlike his noir thriller, The Martian Circe, or his raygun epic The Jewels […]

The Aristocrat by Chan Davis appeared in the October 1949 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It can be read here at Archive.org. My next issue of Astounding begins promisingly enough with Chan Davis’ The Aristocrat. While it certainly falls into the category of “thinky stories,” this one manages to strike a balance between the actions […]

Hide and Seek by Arthur C. Clarke appeared in the September 1949 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It can be read here at Archive.org. Arthur C. Clarke’s Hide and Seek is the first really good thing in this issue of Astounding. Clocking in at 9 pages, if it ends up being the only good story […]

Special Jobbery by H. B. Fyfe appeared in the September 1949 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. You can read it here at Archive.org, but only if you feel you must. What if Sturgeon’s Law is right, but it’s only Campbell-era Astounding that skews it true?!* I’m not quite ready to go that far, but the September […]

The Double-Dyed Villains by Poul Anderson appeared in the September 1949 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It can be read here at Archive.org. I am going to need to hurry up and read Poul Anderson’s “important” books that are still being discussed in Appendix N and Pulp Revolution circles, or I’ll be too bummed out […]

The Jewels of Chamar, by Raymond F. Jones, appeared in the Winter 1946 issue of Planet Stories. It can be read here at Archive.org. “When you have looked into the blue depths of a stone that is like the eye of all the universe you’ll never be able to turn your back upon it. You’ll […]

Breath of Beelzebub by Larry Sternig appeared in the Winter 1946 issue of Planet Stories. It can be read here at Archive.org. I’ve noted in the past that drug-use, particularly use of hallucinogens, are so prevalent in pulp science fiction that it’s a wonder that it took rock music decades to fully catch up. Sometimes […]

Savage Galahad by Bryce Walton appeared in the Winter 1946 issue of Planet Stories. It can be read here at Archive.org.  One of the occasional trope you’ll see in the pulps is a story from the Bug-Eyed Monster’s perspective. This can often be played for laughs, but even when it is, such as in the […]