A Son of the Rock

Edited by Edward L Ferman. Mercury Press, 130 p.

Stranger in the House by Kate Wilhelm is perhaps typical of its time. The house in question has a history of spooked occupants, not haunted as such but off-putting in the extreme. It turns out that underneath it is a vlen, a refuge for an alien called a Groth sent to Earth to report back on its suitability to join wider galactic society. The mission has been a failure as the Groth’s companion died years before and contact is all but impossible. The Groth’s mental emanations are a cause of extreme distress to humans. Engaging with their minds induces uncontrollable fear and hatred. Still, Wilhelm manages to convey sympathy for the creature.

The Lucky People by Chet Arthur. The people concerned live in a curfewed neighbourhood where strange creatures come out at night in a show that’s better than television.

The Stars Know by Mose Mallette. A graduate of a handwriting analysis course interprets the letters he receives – without paying any attention to what they actually say.

He Kilt it With a Stick by William F Nolan. A man with a morbid hatred of cats since childhood takes every opportunity to do them harm. Until one night they gang up on him. The spelling mistake in the title is deliberate.

In Wednesday Noon by Ted White the song Dancing in the Street is being played non-stop on the radio and by a truck outside. Except for our viewpoint character people are swept up in the enthusiasm and led away, as in the Pied Piper. But his ordeal still has a way to go.

The protagonist of The Locator by Robert Lory plots all UFO sightings in an effort to predict where the next landing will be so that he can witness it. He gets it all too right.

I Have My Vigil by Harry Harrison is narrated by a robot, the sole survivor of a trip to Alpha Centauri since viewing no-space turned the three human occupants of the ship mad.

To Hell with the Odds by Robert L Fish is a ‘Deal with the Devil’ tale, this time with an almost washed-up golf pro.

The Veiled Feminists of Atlantis by Booth Tarkington. (This is the same Booth Tarkington who wrote The Magnificent Ambersons and is a reprint from 1926.) The story relates to the Kabyle people of Algeria, known as “White Arabs,” whose women go unveiled. The narrator of the legend has it that their origins were in the lost land of Atlantis, where women and men had an equal footing.

Judith Merril’s Books column introduced me to an author of whom I’d never heard, Hortense Calisher. Unfortunately her books are now vanishingly rare.  Isaac Asimov’s Science column relates the discovery of The Predicted Metal (gallium; Mendeleev’s vindication and triumph.)

Pedant’s corner:- “of the acid and alkaline” (alkaline is an adjective – compare ‘acidic’ vs ‘acid’ – the noun is ‘alkali’,) gayety (gaiety,) “at loose ends” (at a loose end,) Bufus’ (Bufus’s,) olefactory (olfactory,) “laying about ten feet from the pin” (lying about ten feet from,) irresistably (irresistibly,) Newlands’ (x 2, Newlands’s,) 1860’s (1860s,) “strange phenomenon” (strange phenomena,) “the whole continent was riven and sunk beneath the waters” (was riven and sank.)