Magazine Review: Strange Fantasy Spring 1970
“Strange Fantasy” was a short-lived reprint digest-sized magazine from Ultimate Publishing. This issue’s stories were originally published between 1959 and 1964, which somewhat belies the cover text.
“The Shrine of Temptation” by Judith Merril starts us off with an anthropologist’s tale of a mysterious shrine on an isolated island. The anthropology expedition befriends a child nicknamed “Lucky” (a direct translation of his native nickname) and learn more about his culture through the questions he asks. But a combination of poorly translated words and the tradition of not explaining things until “the fullness of time” means that one of the shrine’s functions is not revealed until ill-intentioned strangers come to the island looking for wealth. Even then, certain things remain ambiguous.
“The Soft Woman” by Theodore L. Thomas. A serial womanizer returns to the tropical island he first got lucky on. He meets a hot woman, gets lucky, and is found dead in the morning. It may or may not have anything to do with a frog-headed woman statue he has. Heavy on the “you figure it out” end of the scale.
“The Sudden Afternoon” by J.G. Ballard has an ordinary Englishman suddenly remembering scenes from his childhood in Calcutta. Except he’s never even been to Calcutta, let alone been born there. Is he just having vivid daydreams based on something he read or saw…or is something more sinister going on? Content note: skirts stereotypes about people from India.
“The Mermaid and the Archer” by Barry P. Miller. A mannequin in a sporting goods store slowly realizes that he’s self-aware, but can do nothing about it until he’s turned to face a mermaid puppet that’s also aware. Can they find release?
“Planet of Change” by J.T. McIntosh is more of a science fiction tale. Executive Officer David Simpson led a mutiny and refused to set down on the planet Frobisher on the grounds that expeditions don’t return from there. Judge Advocate General prosecutor Paton smells that something isn’t quite right about how the mutiny went down, and digs for more truth. But can he handle the truth?
This one raises some hackles, as it presupposes all-male exploratory teams, and some particular mindsets about the role of women in a society, and I question whether the exploitation of an alien species’ willingness to please can ever be considered ethical to the degree depicted. This just isn’t a story that’s aged well.
“Daughter of the Clan” by Wilton G. Beggs is about Molly, a teenager with bulimia. Or that’s what she thinks is wrong, but in fact her hungers are perfectly normal…for her people. With a heavy rewrite, this would be usable as the first chapter in a modern YA fantasy/horror novel. Content note: stereotypes about East European immigrants, use of “Gypsy,” attempted rape. People with eating disorders may want to skip this one.
“Keepers in Space” by Rog Phillips is about a couple on an isolated space station that realize they’re being socially ostracized as part of a game the other inhabitants are playing. They could call to be replaced early, but that just means their replacements will have the same problem. Is there another way to handle it? A horrific ending. Content note: bullying.
“Hear a Pin Drop” by Edward Wellen is a variation on the old “man locked in lightless solitary cell finds way of maintaining sanity” story, but with a fantasy twist.
“Victim of the Year” by Robert F. Young has an unemployed man at the end of his rope on Halloween discover that witches are real, they’re evil, and they are bent on his destruction. The one thing that might help him? Satan is Lawful Evil. Actually a pretty fun story, if again a bit dated. Content note: the protagonist allows ageism and ethnic prejudice to mislead him as to who the witch trying to destroy him is.
“Sword of Flowers” by Larry Harris rounds out the issue with a tale of a paradisiacal society without hierarchy, and how vanity and jealousy introduced the concepts of “queen” and “slave.” It bids the reader to wake up from a dream to face reality.
“Shrine” and “Victim” are the stories I liked best. Getting hold of a copy of this issue will be difficult, so tracking down reprints of the individual stories might be easier.
