Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 156: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION comment that well-written space opera is no longer space opera. V. L. Blond, 2 Rockburn Crescent, Bellshill, Lanarkshire. If everything expanded at a uniform rate, atomic distances, atomic charges, etc., would we notice a difference? Alterations in size can only be measured against a static device. If a man doubled his height, and a rule doubled its length, would the man have grown? And expansion of atoms would increase size, not weight. The man would still have the same mass; it would merely take up more room, NO WOMEN Authentic has improved in the past year, of that there can be no doubt. The articles are more interesting and well put over. The stories, with a few exceptions, still make good light reading. However, you are still a long way from being 100 per cent. The two-part novels have, with the exception of The Lady and the Bull, been very poor. Your short stories are still of the best, but for a few, which seem to be sinking into a sort of domestic drama with some science put in for good taste. If we want to read about wives, mothers, sisters or girl friends, etc., I don’t think science fiction is the place to look for them. Humour the same. I tend to agree with R. Wild, No. 67, that you have unreality creeping into _the stories; i.e. Reluctant Death and The Room, No. 65. These are not the type of. story one looks for in Authentic of all places. Peter E. Wilson, Lonhurst Lane, Lonhurst, Morpeth. Over one half of the world’s population consists of wives, mothers, sisters, girl friends, etc. Can we ignore them? LITERARY LINE-UP My heartiest congratulations on issue No. 68! From adolescence to adulthood in two months, and an adulthood which bears comparison Hee the leading publications in the eld! What an improvement, not only in the quality of the fiction, but in the general presentation. I hope that the peculiar mixture of small and large print, and those terrible photographs, are gone for ever. My own choice of stories in this issue is as follows: The Deciding Factor, with special merit for keeping the reader guess- ing throughout. A_ skilled per- formance. Cure for Dreamers, a very good ““twist”’ ending. Act of Courage, high average, marred by the unnecessary in- trusion of McGregor and his unmerry men. Secret Weapon, good, but rather “typed”; characterisation was rather poor. The Dilettantes, one feels in- clined to say ‘‘so what?” According to Tradition, a carica- ture more than a story. Competent. The Letter, good. Down-graded in this analysis only because the feminine viewpoint does not appeal to me. Mr. Culpeper’s Baby, well-written, but why written? Leaves an un- pleasant aftertaste without even the justification of illustrating a point 155 conmicloooks.conm