Book Review: The Fourth Galaxy Reader edited by H.L. Gold
Galaxy Magazine had a decent run with a lot of good stories, so it’s not surprising that even this fourth collection of fifteen science fiction reprints from the 1950s has a strong selection. (I recognized almost all of these!) There’s an introduction which runs down inferior Communist Russian SF (hobbled by government interference.)
“I Am a Nucleus” by Stephen Barr opens the book with the tale of an advertising man who’s having a bad day already when suddenly he becomes the center of an ever-growing series of unlikely coincidences. It’s even beginning to affect local weather patterns! If the protagonist and his academic friend can’t figure this out quickly, probability may break forever. Some lovely descriptions of the bizarre things going on.
“Name Your Symptom” by Jim Harmon is set in a world where psychopharmacology never took off. Instead, neuroses are treated with physical gadgets. For example, a magnetic grapple safety belt for people with a fear of falling. A psychiatrist goes undercover as one of the Cured to investigate a new movement he’s heard rumors of, one that will change the definition of sanity.
“Horrer Howce” by Margaret St. Clair has a designer of haunted house scenes showing around a prospective buyer. Freeman’s career has crashed since HUAC got him blacklisted, so he’s desperate to make a sale. Problem is, some of these scenes are a little too realistic…a nice twist on the “horror attraction as revenge” theme.
“Man of Distinction” by Michael Shaara concerns Thatcher Blitt, who was the first to realize that the newly invented time scanner could be used to trace ancestry. He built a successful business around finding people’s famous ancestors. But then it occurred to him to look into his own forefathers…. I’ve seen this plot and the exact twist ending repeatedly, so it’s worn thin.
“The Bomb in the Bathtub” by Thomas N. Scortia stars Caedman Wicks, private investigator specializing in odd complaints. In this case, a talking bomb in a man’s bathtub. It says it’s there to destroy this universe, which is the best of all possible worlds, and “sings” in a way that makes all songs sound alike–and terrible. Absurdist comedy with a quirky detective, so it will very much depend on your sense of humor.
“You Were Right, Joe” by J.T. McIntosh is told in the first person by a man sent forward to the future reporting back to the person who did this to him. Turns out there’s a few side effects to this kind of time travel, and the danger is about to hit.
“What’s He Doing In There?” by Fritz Leiber concerns the first ambassador from Mars visiting a relatively normal American family. The ambassador indicates that he needs to use the facilities, but then doesn’t come out again. It slowly dawns on the family that they know nothing about Martian biology. Also absurdist humor, but does it better.
“The Gentlest Unpeople” by Frederik Pohl is set on Venus, where the emissary from Earth has been exploiting his position of power. The Venusians are civilized people who would never resort to violence or harsh words, but now the Earthling has interrupted their most sacred sporting event. This will not do. Most interesting for the justification that caused Earth to send an unsuitable emissary.
“The Hated” by Paul Flehr examines the aftereffects of manned missions to Mars. In specific, having a small group of men crammed into the confines of a tiny spaceship together for years at a time. The space agency treated them in such a way as to prevent their aggression from spiking during the mission. Unfortunately, that only works once, so the returned astronauts must live in entirely different sections of the country lest they murder each other. There’s a double twist at the end.
“Kill Me with Kindness” by Richard Wilson stars Oliver, a man who has been captured by (presumably) aliens for unknown purposes. His captivity is very comfortable, with any food or drink he desires, recorded entertainment (but only from before the date he was abducted) at request, and a seemingly limitless clothing budget. Catch is, it’s very lonely in Human Run Two. Then one day, he’s allowed to meet the inhabitant of Human Run One. What I didn’t remember from reading this as a child is how sexist in a genteel way Oliver is. He learned nothing from his first divorce.
“Or All the Seas with Oysters” by Avram Davidson. Ferd (something of an intellectual) and Oscar (a ladies’ man) run a bicycle shop together. The partnership is falling apart due to their clashing personalities and what Ferd sees as Oscar’s irresponsibility. A number of seeming coincidences gives Ferd a hypothesis about why sometimes you have no safety pins and sometimes there are plenty, and how come you always seem to have more wire hangers than you remember buying. Three months later, Oscar is running the shop alone. One of the best stories in this collection.
“The Gun Without a Bang” by Finn O’Donnevan examines the stock science fiction cliche of the disintegration ray through a space explorer stranded on a hostile planet with an experimental disintegrator as his only weapon. Very dry humor.
“Man in a Quandary” by L.J. Stetcher, Jr. is in the form of a letter to an advice columnist. The letter writer describes his gradual cyborgization over the course of years, building up to his actual question. That question is not necessarily the one you would have thought. Most notable for taking place in a world where miniaturization of gadgets is not a priority.
“Blank Form” by Arthur Sellings has a psychiatrist run into (almost literally) an amnesiac shapeshifter. They establish that the shapeshifter is probably an alien, and that by returning to its natural shape it should be able to regain its memories. The rest of the story leads up to finding out what that shape is, with a fairly obvious twist.
“The Minimum Man” by Robert Sheckley finishes the book strong with an interesting twist on planetary exploration. The first wave of space explorers were square-jawed, omnicompetent heroes who laughed at danger and overcame any obstacles in their way. But for actually colonizing other planets and allowing ordinary people to live there, you need a different kind of explorer to test the waters. The “minimum man” who can barely survive on civilized but overcrowded Earth. If that person can survive on the new planet, anyone can. This is the story of Anton Percerveral, recruited just as he was about to commit suicide in despair.
This is a classic “underdog makes good” story with a heartwarming ending. Like many SF stories from this period with an overcrowded Earth, birth control is not even a concept brought up, the only solution is more planets to colonize.
Overall, a good selection of stories, with “Horrer Howse”, “Or All the Sea with Oysters” and “The Minimum Man” as standouts. “Man of Distinction” only fails due to the plot being overused and “The Bomb in the Bathtub” feels like it’s trying too hard to be absurd, but they’re not actually bad stories.
Recommended to any fan of 1950s science fiction.
