Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 67 — page 157: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Discussions KICKS! Your editorial in No. 64 really cannot be allowed to pass without some comment. How can you have the brazen effrontery to think Authentic good? Let’s cast a calm, dispassionate eye over the past year. The magazine is called Authentic Science Fiction. Over 1955 you’ve gradually changed that title to Authentic Science (and some fic- tion). Now, if I want science articles I buy a magazine specialis- ing in them, where the illos and cuts are more than a ghastly smear. And if I want science fiction I buy a magazine specialising in that. You have now dropped neatly into a limbo halfway between the two. By all means have a few articles— interesting ones dealing with space travel and so on—and without the awful illos. If you insist on using photographs please print them on art paper, not pulp. What of the fiction? Well, two comments . . . The standard isn’t high enough and there isn’t enough of it. So how about a change in policy ? More, better fiction; fewer, more apposite articles. And, while I’m on the subject, why not an adult question and answer depart- ment? W. M. Beaulie, 2 Redesdale Street, London, S.W.3. You've got it, it is here, this is it, the question and answer department, I mean. While it is not possible for me to answer each question privately, 156 yet, if they are of general interest, they can be dealt with in the readers’ section. The rest of your criticism may, to you, no longer be a cause of complaint, Will you let me know? THE RED SHIFT I’ve been reading Authentic for a long time now and I like it very much. I like the articles, too, as lam deeply interested in science. There is a question which has been bother- ing me, and I wonder if you could answer it? It is about the Red Shift. What is it? What does it do? And what does it mean? I think it has something to do with the expanding universe, but I’m not sure what. I don’t know whether you do answer questions but, if you do, I would be grateful if you would explain this to me. Leigh Wright, 26 Westwood Road, Southampton. The Red Shift is the name given to a phenomenon which could quite possibly explain the observed data which has given rise to the theory of the expanding universe. As you know, light observed from distant nebulae has shown a distinct shift towards the red end of the spectrum. Now, this shift can be explained in either one of two ways. The upholders of the theory of an expanding universe say that the shift towards the red is caused by the Doppler effect which shows that the source of that light is receding from us at incredible velocities. Perhaps you would grasp the concept a little better if I were to comicloooks.com