Lincroft-Holmdel Science Fiction Club Club Notice - 3/26/86 -- Vol. 4, No. 36 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon. LZ meetings are in LZ 3A-206; HO meetings are in HO 2N-523. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 04/02 LZ: THE STARS MY DESTINATION by Alfred Bester (Psionics) 04/09 HO: AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H. P. Lovecraft 04/23 LZ: ORION SHALL RISE by Poul Anderson (Societal Reconstruction) 04/30 HO: ? 05/14 LZ: THE WEREWOLF PRINCIPLE by Clifford Simak (Biological Constructs) 05/21 HO: ? 06/04 LZ: THIS PERFECT DAY by Ira Levin ("Utopias") 06/11 HO: ? 06/25 LZ: STAR GUARD by Andre Norton (Humans as underdogs) 07/16 LZ: SHADRACH IN THE FURNACE by Robert Silverberg (Ethics) 08/06 LZ: TUNNEL IN THE SKY by Robert Heinlein (Faster-Than-Light Travel) HO Chair is John Jetzt, HO 4F-528A (834-1563). LZ Chair is Rob Mitchell, LZ 1B-306 (576-6106). MT Chair is Mark Leeper, MT 3G-434 (957-5619). HO Librarian is Tim Schroeder, HO 2G-427A (949-5866). LZ Librarian is Lance Larsen, LZ 3C-219 (576-2668). Jill-of-all-trades is Evelyn Leeper, MT 1F-329 (957-2070). 1. Well, gang, the next film festival entry is one I have wanted to show for years. The problem was that one of the films was totally unavailable in this country for a long time. We at one time showed the first two Quatermass films, QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT (CREEPING UNKNOWN), and QUATERMASS II (ENEMY FROM SPACE) as a double feature. On Thursday, April 3, 7 PM, we will show the third and fourth films. FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE, chap. 3 QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1968), dir. by Roy Ward Baker QUATERMASS CONCLUSION (1980), dir. by Piers Haggard Those of you who know me know that I am a big fan of science fiction films and that QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH) is my choice for the best science fiction film I have ever seen. It is extremely popular in Britain, though due to getting a minimal release in this country it is not extremely well known here. Years after he had done his third and last Quatermass serial for the BBC, Nigel Kneale was enticed to write a fourth serial, THE - 2 - QUATERMASS CONCLUSION. Unlike the first three, this one was re- edited to make a film instead of having an entirely separate film shot. Once again we have a well thought-out story. Not quite as good as its immediate predecessor, but quite good anyway. 2. [ I accidentally ran the following a week early, so I'll run it again. -ecl] Come to the Lincroft chapter's next meeting, on Wednesday, April 2, when discussion will center around "Psionics in Science Fiction." We'll talk about books and stories that involve unusual mental abilities, such as teleportation, telepathy, and telekinesis. One such book is our subject book -- Alfred Bester's THE STARS MY DESTINATION. What if humankind learns how to teleport (with more skillful teleporters able to travel thousands of miles), and how to read minds (with the most adept telepaths going into either law enforcement or crime)? Gulliver Foyle is a man obsessed with revenge. With animal cunning and superior teleporting ability, he sets out to commit the perfect murder, despite the technological and parapsychological difficulties. THE STARS MY DESTINATION is a Great Book in my opinion -- lots of classic "sense of wonder," well-written characterization, a nicely detailed picture of the future, and even some "pictures." That's not the only book that deals with our theme: also to be considered might be Stephen King's FIRESTARTER, James Hogan's THE CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER, A. E. Van Vogt's SLAN, Philip K. Dick's UBIK (where telepaths are used for industrial espionage!), or Theodore Sturgeon's classic MORE THAN HUMAN. [-Rob] 3. Psionics? In CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER? My memory must be going. I don't remember anything about psionics in CotL. Rob will have to refresh my memory. 4. WANTED: Intelligent, carbon-based oxygen-breather seeks compatible lifeforms to share hotel room expenses for the duration of ConFederation. Contact Rob Mitchell at mtuxo!jrrt or 576-6106 during working hours. 5. Don't forget folks--Hugo nomination deadline is April 1! [-ecl] Mark Leeper MT 3G-434 957-5619 ...mtgzz!leeper Mercury Capsules - March 26, 1986 "Mercury Capsules": SF review column, edited by Paul S. R. Chisholm. Appears in the "Lincroft-Holmdel SF Club Notice". A medium for quick reviews of anything of interest in the world of science fiction. I'll pass along anything (not slanderous or scatological) without nasty comments. I prefer to get reviews by electronic mail: send to pa!psc from the AT&T-IS ENS systems in Lincroft, {pegasus,mtgzz,ihnp4}!lznv!psc from everywhere else. If that's impossible, I'm at 113A LZ 1D-212, 576-2374. +o _S_u_r_v_i_v_a_l _Z_o_n_e: movie, 1985. As a post-holocaust film completist, I feel compelled to see every such film, however dismal they appear. _S_u_r_v_i_v_a_l _Z_o_n_e, although not a new low, is nonetheless bad. Essentially a remake of _P_a_n_i_c _i_n _t_h_e _Y_e_a_r _Z_e_r_o seen through the lens of _R_o_a_d _W_a_r_r_i_o_r, _Z_o_n_e is mechanically predictable throughout, except for the improbable loose ends that never connect to anything (e.g. the poltergeist in the empty city). There are worse films out there, but _S_u_r_v_i_v_a_l _Z_o_n_e weighs in at a solid -2. Dale L Skran Jr +o _T_h_e _A_d_v_e_n_t_u_r_e _o_f _t_h_e _E_c_t_o_p_l_a_s_m_i_c _M_a_n: novel, Daniel Stashower, 1985. This is another "Sherlock-Holmes-meets-a-famous-person" novel. This time he meets Houdini, who is accused of stealing some papers from a supposedly impregnable safe. Although Houdini himself is drawn somewhat one-dimensionally, the story moves along well and avoids most of the common mistakes Holmes pastiches often make. It's no great shakes, but it's not unpleasant for a Holmes completist. Evelyn C Leeper Regiment of Women by Thomas Berger Delta, 1973 (1982), $7.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper I read this book because I have remembered it getting a good review somewhere. It just goes to show: when you get older, your memory _d_o_e_s start going! This book is unbelievably bad. The premise is that society has somehow been turned around; women have all the power and men are helpless. At first I thought this might be an alternate history novel, but, no, as it goes on, you discover that this society has developed from ours. How, you ask? How the heck should I know? Women dress in trousers and ties; men wear dresses and bras. Why, you ask? How the heck should I know? Women bind their breasts to flatten them; men get silicone injections in theirs. Why, you ask? How the heck should I know? Although the story can't take place more than a hundred years in the future, test tube babies are the only method of reproduction and no one (well, hardly anyone) can remember society being any different. How, you ask? How the heck should I know? But there's still sex-- except it consists of women with dildoes sodomizing men. Why, you ask? How the heck should I know?! Now, I agree that in science fiction there must be a suspension of disbelief. But there are limits. The situation set up here is so ludicrous, yet it is presented (so far as I can tell) in such seriousness that I cannot believe that it is intended as satire. (Obviously some people do, because the back blurbs rave about it.) It's as though Berger wrote a normal "women's lib" novel on a word processor, changed all the male references to female and vice versa, and then patched a few things here and there. (And badly--although he talks about the "Mono Liso," with "his" enigmatic smile, Berger slips up and leaves it as "Los Angeles" in spite of the masculine gender of the article.) Berger also has some strange ideas about women--he seems to think that if women wear trousers all the time, it will wear the hair on their legs off. I wish! Oh, the plot? Well, Georgie Cornell, a secretary with a publishing firm, finds himself caught up in the "men's lib" underground. He starts out as a nebbish and ends up pretty much the same way, so you can't claim that character development is this novel's strong point. The female lead (she's call Harriet through most of the book, but ends up nameless) starts out with some backbone, but gives that up and collapses into the stereotypical "clinging-vine" female. The ending of the novel (after they've discovered "real" sex, of course--note that Berger has given himself the excuse to write both "deviant" and "straight" sex scenes) is truly wretched. There have been many good books written about sexual-role-reversal societies. This is not one of them. SOUNDING by Hank Searls Ballantine, 1982, $3.50. A book review by Mark R. Leeper In the 1960's and 1970's there were three authors who wrote fringe science fiction for the mainstream market. They would take current technology, advance it a little, and write a story on the edge of mainstream and the edge of science fiction. Most popular of the three was Michael Crichton, known for books like _T_h_e _A_n_d_r_o_m_e_d_a _S_t_r_a_i_n and _T_h_e _T_e_r_m_i_n_a_l _M_a_n. He eventually went in for writing for film and has been doing little or no novel writing. Martin Caidin is known for his popular _M_a_r_o_o_n_e_d and _C_y_b_o_r_g (which was turned into TV's _S_i_x _M_i_l_l_i_o_n _D_o_l_l_a_r _M_a_n). The third was Hank Searls. His big novel was _T_h_e _P_i_l_g_r_i_m _P_r_o_j_e_c_t, a novel about a projected U.S. project to put a man on the moon. (And, yes, Searls's major novel was also filmed, but under the title _C_o_u_n_t_d_o_w_n.) More recently Searls has done mostly stories with a nautical bent. They include _O_v_e_r_b_o_a_r_d and a novelization of _J_a_w_s _I_I. In 1982 Searls wrote _S_o_u_n_d_i_n_g. The book lies somewhere between pure fantasy and speculation. The main characters are sperm whales. In the book they are presented as having intelligence comparable to that of humans. They communicate, they remember history, and they ponder the greatest mystery of cetacean life: Man. Their point of view as envisioned by Searls is often rather cleverly put. They are puzzled how Man can be very friendly at times and other times Man murders whales. They do not understand that some humans can disagree with other humans, though they do remember World War II. Those were the years that the boats got really noisy. Not too surprisingly in a story seen from the point of view of a species being hunted out of existence, the story is downbeat and intended to make the reader feel a little guilty. Still, it is an engrossing account of whale society and the relationship to Man, while it hangs over the whole story, often remains in the background while the reader learns something about cetacean family life. But of course here it is very difficult to tell where what is based on observation leaves off and where the fantasy begins. There is also a predictable subplot of a Russian nuclear sub in trouble. On board is a sonar officer who forms a relationship with the whales. You can probably figure for yourself the rudiments of the plot that Searls would put in about the Russian sub. This is a simple book that could be enjoyed by a grade schooler or an adult. Rate it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. It was better than I expected. THE SAGA OF THE VAGABONDS A film review by Mark R. Leeper Capsule review: Below average for Samurai films but still an above-average film. This is a re-telling of the story of bandits joining together to fight tyranny. Toshiro Mifune stars and the screenplay was co-written by the great Kurosawa. The story of bandits teaming up to fight political oppression and defend the peasants is almost archetypal. It is, I suppose, natural for peasants who do not like their government to look (at least in fiction) for heroes among the outlaws. Outlaws, after all, appear to have some power outside the consent of their government. Examples in Western culture include Robin Hood, Zorro, Russell Thorndyke's Dr. Syn, and the Green Hornet. One of the four great classic Chinese novels, _T_h_e _W_a_t_e_r _M_a_r_g_i_n, is similarly about 108 outlaws who band together against political oppression. In 1959, Toho Films made another re-telling of the classic tale, _T_h_e _S_a_g_a _o_f _t_h_e _V_a_g_a_b_o_n_d_s (_S_e_n_g_o_k_u _G_u_n_t_o-_d_e_n). The screenplay, co-authored by Akira Kurosawa (who directed _T_h_e _S_e_v_e_n _S_a_m_u_r_a_i, _Y_o_j_i_m_b_o, _S_a_n_j_u_r_o, _K_a_g_e_m_u_s_h_a, and _R_a_n). In the story Taro, the son of a great lord, is taking gold from his father to the Governor when it is stolen by bandits. The rumor is that Taro stole the gold and his father and younger brother disown him rather than risk the governor's displeasure. Taro finds a closer friend in the bandit who stole the gold than in his own family and he and the bandit organize the Red Band, a gang of bandits who feed the poor and right political wrongs. _T_h_e _S_a_g_a _o_f _t_h_e _V_a_g_a_b_o_n_d_s lacks both the serious intent and the violence of a _S_e_v_e_n _S_a_m_u_r_a_i. It seems more intended for a family audience. It is, nonetheless, an enjoyable film and is worth watching for in better video stores. Rate it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. 9-1/2 WEEKS in Book and Film A film review by Mark R. Leeper A subject that rarely gets discussed in most of the review media is pornography. I guess that is because most people are afraid that even mentioning the word is in bad taste. I will discuss it as delicately as possible but it is hard to give a reasonable treatment to either the book _9-_1/_2 _W_e_e_k_s or the film without at least mentioning the genre of the pornographic novel. The book is an attempt to recapture the underground classic status that several books had in the early 70's. At that time the leading purveyor of pornography (at least to the high school and college crowd) was Grove Press. Grove would publish things like Victorian "classics" of pornography, some of which were undoubtedly authentic. It has been suggested that some of the "turn-of-the-century classics" were commissioned by Grove. You couldn't go through school without at least seeing and more likely reading books like _S_t_o_r_y _o_f _O, _M_y _S_e_c_r_e_t _L_i_f_e, _T_h_e _P_e_a_r_l, and various pieces by Henry Miller and the Marquis de Sade. Grove studiously maintained an aura of publishing forbidden fruit: "great literature that blue-noses would ban." In actual fact, most of their books were more pretentiousness than pornography. And beyond sixth-grade teachers who caught their students reading them, few were the blue-noses obliging enough to make any sort of fuss over Grove Press books. Grove Press has sort of been eclipsed by time, more or less replaced by the Penthouse Corporation, who have hit on the formula for mass-producing pornography on an assembly line basis, and who stamp out more "effective" pornography in greater volume in a month than Grove published in a decade. They deliver it in a pretty package to every 7- 11 and B. Dalton in the country. Curiously enough, as if to turn back the clock fifteen years, a soft-core book has been published in the past few years that is causing some complaints. The book is _9-_1/_2 _W_e_e_k_s by Elizabeth McNeill. It purports to be M's journal during the time she was having an affair with a man who had a bondage and sado-masochistic fetish. The book is curiously uninvolving, with the characters being flat and uninteresting. The book comes across as being very much what it purports to be: just a log of a woman's personal life, including descriptions of her sex life, for the length of one affair. It would probably have gone unnoticed had feminists groups not singled it out for special attention. What they dislike is the description of the sado-masochism. But the S&M is placed in a negative light in the book. Any convenience grocery store carries magazines that have more of what they object to in two pages than in McNeill's entire novel. - 2 - Due, no doubt, to the notoriety that the book had, MGM has made it into a film, then cut out enough to get it an R rating and to keep the theaters from being picketted. What is left is just a tad more interesting than the book, but not a whole lot. The film has a little bit of everything but not much of anything. There is a little comedy, a little social criticism, a little eroticism, even a little choreography, but it doesn't add up to very much. None of these things, of course, were the virtues of the book. What interest the book had was its depiction of a woman at once repelled and hypnotized by sad-masochism and bondage. By only telling you (instead of showing you) that these things are part of the relationship, the film is reduced to being simply the story of an affair in which the audience is just vaguely aware that something kinky is going on while we aren't looking. The title may say _9-_1/_2 _W_e_e_k_s, but sitting in the theater it seems longer. Give the film a low 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. _N_O_T_E_S _F_R_O_M _T_H_E _N_E_T --------------------------------------- Subject: CAVERNS by Kevin O'Donnell, Jr. (mild spoiler) Path: ihnp4!mot!anasazi!duane Date: Thu, 13-Mar-86 10:20:53 EST The jacket reads: "April 1, 2083. A gastropod sent to Earth by the Far Being Retzglaran swallows McGill Feighan, age 4 days, and studies him for 71.4 hours. At age 5, Feighan becomes a Flinger--able to travel the universe in a flicker and a flash--and one of the most endangered individuals in the Galaxy. And in the year 2100, McGill Feighan begins an unguided quest for the Far Being, source of his powers and his persecution. It is a journey that promises to send him to the far reaches of both experience and space..." The full title of the books is "The Journeys of McGill Feighan. Book I: Caverns". The jacket description is accurate but incomplete. One of the complications in McGill's life is that The Organization, a galaxy-wide crime syndicate, is curious as to why the Far Being took an interest in McGill, and it's almost a full-time job for McGill to remain at liberty. The book's very enjoyable. The characters are nicely portrayed, and the universe McGill finds himself in seems reasonable. The job of "Flinger" is quite interesting, and the author goes to some length to show how a person with a talent for teleportation must be extensively trained before the talent is particularly useful. I give the book 3.0 stars (very good) and look forward to others in the series. Duane Morse ...!noao!terak!anasazi!duane --------------------------------------- Subject: MIRROR IMAGE by Michael G. Coney (mild spoiler) Path: ihnp4!mot!anasazi!duane Date: Thu, 13-Mar-86 14:20:13 EST The jacket reads: - 2 - "If an alien life form can adapt to human shape and emotions and actually believes itself to be human, does that make it a man? That was one of the problems confronting the colonists on Marilyn when they discovered the shape-changing amorphs. At first the creatures were used simply as a labour force, then an experiment produced a super-amorph--and a rebellion. And out of that came something else, something with galaxy-shaking implications: an amorph female gave birth to a baby that would think no evil... to a new messiah?" The jacket description is very misleading in that it covers events from the beginning to the end of the novel, leading the reader to think that the birth mentioned occurs early enough to figure into the plot. It doesn't. All of the action takes place on the newly-colonized planet Marilyn. The conditions there and the behavior of the colonists seem quite believable. The main characters portrayed are somewhat stereotyped: dedicated supervisor, greedy and egotistical tycoon, long-suffering girl friend, eccentric scientist, and so on. The investigation into the nature of the amorphs is very interesting, mainly from the psychological and sociological standpoints. The story kept me well entertained until around the last quarter, and that last part isn't bad; it just doesn't measure up to what precedes it. I give this book 3.0 stars (very good). I don't hesitate to recommend it to others to read, but it's not a book I'd keep permanently. By the way, this was Mr. Coney's first book (copyright 1972). Duane Morse ...!noao!terak!anasazi!duane --------------------------------------- Subject: Recent Reads Path: mtuxo!houxm!ihnp4!hplabs!sdcrdcf!ucla-cs!srt Date: Wed, 19-Mar-86 00:59:23 EST _Conscience Palace_ by (ur, I forget) This stunning view of a bleak future is one of the most powerful books I have read in some time. *This* is what makes science fiction so worthwhile - the ability to present an alternate reality that bears directly on the one we live in. This is the rarest of fiction - a book of vision so strong that by the light of what we are not we see more clearly what we are. - 3 - _Conscience Palace_ is a heart-rending argument against nuclear proliferation and the society that condones it. And more, it is a love story. I daresay this will soon join my science fiction classics shelf, nestled alongside _Songmaster_ and _The Face in the Frost_. _Magician: Apprentice_ by Raymond E. Feist The cover blurb compares this to Tolkien, and while I'm finding the book enjoyable, I think that is overly-high praise. At any rate, comparing a new fantasy to Tolkien is like comparing a new singer to Dylan or Elvis - by-now meaningless industry hype. Still, there's nothing wrong with a well-crafted fantasy epic or two. This book has all the proper elements in the right combinations: a young man coming to manhood, invading army of preposterous size, a fellowship and so on. Say what you will about the _Chronicles of Thomas Covenant_ - I'll probably agree - but they were, at least for a while, a step away from the Tolkien mold. One thing annoys me about this book, and that is the scant characterization of Kulgan, the magician. Nominally one of the more interesting characters, he's given little attention and remains a cut- out. _In Other Worlds_ A.A. Attanasio I went looking for _Radix_, AAA's much acclaimed first novel, but came away with this, his second, instead. _Radix_ has been out for almost a month, so naturally Crown Books wasn't stocking it anymore :-). _In Other Worlds_ is a mild adventure fantasy. Fantasy in the original sense of fantastic settings and characters. It also has pretensions of being "relevatory" in the sense that _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ and similar books are. Apparently _Radix_ is the same kind of book. I didn't find the book particularly relevatory or, for that matter, particularly well constructed. The story is fairly mild and the story events seem distant. This may be on purpose, since the sense of distance seems to grow as the book progresses. However, I'm more inclined to think that it is simply poor writing. _The Wasp Factory_ Iain Banks This is more a horror story than science fiction, but since it shares some elements with the genre I thought I'd mention it here. - 4 - Reviews for this book have been lavish in their praise and unanimous in declaring the book genuinely frightening. Perhaps because of this expectation, I felt rather let down. The book simply didn't frighten me (except for one short passage). What I did find fascinating, however, was the character study of Frank, the main character. Frank is a seveenteen year old boy who seems to be arrested in a pre- adolescent stage of development. One of his favorite activities is building dams out of sand - something that I loved to do...when I was nine. Likewise, all the features in his private landscape have names - Skull Hill, The Bunker and so on. The concept of the pre-adolescent mindset extended to an adult is quite interesting, and I think that Iain does a good job bringing it across. In this forum we often bemoan the lack of authors who can present a truly alien culture. This a reminder that there are human experiences just as alien. _The Wicked Enchantment_ Margot Benary-Isbert There is a tiny sub-genre of science fiction, populated mostly with female authors, that produces what I call "little fantasies". Like space opera and some of the other more well-defined sub-gnres, little fantasies have fairly strict rules of composition and story development. Off-hand, I'd place _The Forgotten Beasts of Eld_ and _The Brokedown Palace_ in this category. _The Wicked Enchantment_ was originally published - in hardback - in 1955. It is only now, for some reason, being released in paperback. The original is in German and I have no idea when it was written - I assume the 1955 issue was in English. Perhaps JMB can bring his formidable talents to bear. At any rate, I found _The Wicked Enchantment_ thoroughly delightful. Like many little fantaisies, it's set in a world where everyone - and every thing - is imbued with its own special magic and significance. The plot revolves around a missing statue, evil birds, and a little girl who's lost the love of her father - but not her wise and mysterious aunts. Scott R. Turner --------------------------------------- Subject: Ender's Game review Path: mtuxo!houxm!mhuxt!mhuxr!ulysses!ucbvax!brahms!gsmith Date: Sat, 22-Mar-86 06:04:50 EST As a part of a revolting two-day orgy of SF reading, I have just finished "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. This is a definite step or two up from "Hot Sleep". - 5 - "Ender's Game" is a potpourri of SF cliches, but quite well done. It has the lone little genius against the world (or is he?) of "Slan", the BEM's like those in "Starship Troopers", military training scenes and space battles. But the writing is always adequate and sometimes good (the computer-generated fantasies are especially interesting). The tension level of overcoming conflict and opposition is consistently high. One amusing feature is a plot to take over the world by two teen-agers using the future's version of the USENET. Net.people ought to read it for this alone, I guess. It has other nice things. It has plot twists near the end. One I anticipated only by checking the number of pages remaining, the other I couldn't get aside from the fact that there had to be something. If you liked "Starship Troopers" or Timothy Zahn's "Cobra", you should like "Ender's Game". I thought it was better than either. ucbvax!brahms!gsmith Gene Ward Smith/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720 --------------------------------------- Subject: SF's Old Guard Path: ihnp4!decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian Date: Sat, 22-Mar-86 08:38:43 EST WONDER'S CHILD won the Hugo as Best Non-Fiction Book of 1984. Some of that might have been due to an urge to honor someone who may very well be science fiction's oldest living author (I can think of no living science fiction author published before Williamson)... Certainly an interesting point to consider. I started wondering if that was true, so I wrote up a list of other sf authors who I thought might be in the running for that distinction. I then went through Reginald's SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY LITERATURE [VOLUME 2: AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES] (1979) looking for relevant data, also keeping an eye out for other big names that I might have forgotten. Of course, there are at least two variables to consider here: (1) Was the author in question born before Williamson? and (2) Was the author published before Williamson? There was another point to consider as well: should I include those authors who, while having published *some* sf/fantasy, are primarily mainstream authors (eg. Isaac Bashevis Singer)? I decided no. Purists should note that I consider "sf" to include all forms of fantastic literature. In any case, even where the authors in question primarily write horror or supernatural fantasy, they have written a goodly amount of "real" science fiction. My final list looked like this, ordered by birth date (I list those born before 1910): - 6 - Birth Date First SF Publication (1) E. Hoffmann Price 3 Jul 1898 1925 Jan (Weird Tales) * (2) Curt Siodmak 10 Aug 1902 1926 Jul (Amazing) ** (3) Frank Belknap Long 27 Apr 1903 1924 Nov (Weird Tales) (4) Manly Wade Wellman 21 May 1903 1927 Nov (Weird Tales) (5) Clifford Simak 3 Aug 1904 1931 Dec (Wonder St.) (6) Robert A. Heinlein 7 Jul 1907 1939 Aug (Astounding) (7) L. Sprague de Camp 27 Nov 1907 1937 Sep (Astounding) (8) Jack Williamson 29 Apr 1908 1928 Dec (Amazing) (9) Carl Jacobi 10 Jul 1908 1932 Jan (Weird Tales) (10) Neil R. Jones 29 May 1909 1930 Jan (Air Wonder) (11) Fritz Leiber, Jr. 24 Dec 1910 1939 Aug (Unknown) * His actual first publication was in DROLL STORIES (5/24). ** This was a translation of a story previously published in German. With the possible exception of Siodmak and Jones (they are retired if not dead --- I cannot find death dates for any of them though), all of the above are still alive and writing. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)