Special 1000^th issue. Dell Magazines.

I read this as it was kindly given to me (along with the June 2015 edition of Asimov’s) by the good lady’s blog friend Peggy when she came to visit us in May.
The cover of ANALOG 1000 is apparently an adaptation of the very first cover (of Astounding Stories of Super Science, Jan 1930) and in his editorial Trevor Quachri says how much he loves both illustrations. He also notes the move under John W Campbell from unashamed action-adventure pulp to a magazine where “fleshed-out characters and realistic science are integral to what we do.” (You might still want to work a bit more on that “fleshed-out characters” thing, guys.)
In accordance with Campbell’s prescription, as well as the fiction the mag has several fact articles. This being the 1000^th issue these include a look at how the magazine might evolve, a statistical comparison of Analog with other comparable magazines (genre or not) with regard to its longevity while also noting its most frequent contributors and a piece on the importance of legendary editor Campbell to the evolution of Astounding into Analog (and SF as a whole.)
The fiction is highly skewed towards the space operatic. Only two out of the featured stories were Earthbound. In The Wormhole War by Richard A Lovett, Zeke Schlachter is piloting Earth’s first exploratory wormhole (to the Earth-like planet Gaia 205c) when it suddenly explodes. Five years later so does the second. Every wormhole meets the same fate. The Gaians turn out to be sending wormholes towards Earth faster than humans can in the other direction. Something has to give.¹ The very YA in tone Very Long Conversations by Gwendolyn Clare has an expedition to an alien planet being contacted by the indigenous population – through sculpture. The Kroc War by Ted Reynolds & William F Wu is told from a variety of sketched viewpoints, pro and anti the war, mostly human but one Kroc, and is the story of said war from beginning to end, and beyond. In Strategies for Optimizing Your Mobile Advertising by Brenta Blevins a man whose T-shirt runs ever-changing advertising slogans (you can’t block adverts from someone standing right in front of you) has his system hacked. The Odds by Ron Collins contemplates the chances of being the one ambassador in the history of the universe charged with lying to the only other sentient species known.² In The Empathy Vaccine by C C Finlay a man wants to buy a treatment that will remove his empathy. (The seller has already taken done this.)³ Seth Dickinson’s Three Bodies at Mitanni relates how three people (though it is their consciousnesses only) have been charged with roaming the galaxy and deciding whether the societies derived from seedships sent out earlier “by a younger and more desperate Earth” are to be culled or not. ⁴ Ships in the Night by Jay Werkheiser has a high c, time-dilated interstellar trader spin a yarn at a pub on a stopover. In The Audience by Sean McMullen, humanity’s first starship arrives at the gas giant Abyss as it passes through the Oort cloud. Under the surface of its moon, Limbo, the crew finds alien life. And it finds them.⁵
Many of these contain the sort of stuff I loved when I was a teenager discovering SF and consuming it voraciously. While I’m glad people are still producing stories like these (they’re entertaining enough and do what they say on their tins) I’ve moved on a bit and wouldn’t seek them out. But it’s great to have the 1,000^th issue of a magazine on my shelves.

Pedant’s corner:- (in one of the book reviews) “who will stop at noting” (if only such people – or indeed aliens – would!!)
¹ mowed (mown,) like Damocles’ (Damocles’s,) Two year later (years.)
² has “lay” for “lie” but this seems to be common in USian
³ he probably checked out me the way I checked out him (checked me out the way I checked him out sounds more natural to me.)
⁴Lachesis’ (Lachesis’s; several instances.)
⁵ Complimenting each others’ skills would be a fine thing for the crew to do but complementing them is actually the reason why they had been selected. Clouds do not contain water vapour (it’s colourless) but rather liquid or solid water. And a scientist ought not to use “steam” in this context either. Gasses (gases.)

(Cover price 1/9 – an increase of 75% over 69 months.)

This is the issue I bought at an antique fair last year along with the corresponding magazine issue from July 1952. The dimensions had by this time shrunk to 8 x 5½ inch. As well as the fiction there is an editorial, an article, some book reviews and a puff for the next issue. The cover illustration is by Kelly Freas. The seventeen interior illustrations are by Freas and van Dongen. The layout is in single columns.

The Gentle Earth by Christopher Anvil
Invaders from another planet land in the central US as a first step. Their knowledge of conditions on Earth – climatic and social – isn’t adequate. The story is meant to be humorous and is diverting enough but it’s a throwaway.

The Shrines of Earth by Robert Silverberg
Earth is a rural backwater, peopled by flute players. It is under threat from the Hrossai and the locals hatch a plan to inveigle help from former colony worlds to protect the ancient shrines of Earth.

Article: Science Fiction in a Robot’s Eye by Jack Williamson
This comments on a “recent” study of stories from 3 SF magazines over the years 1951-3 where statistical techniques were used for analysis. Bug-eyed monsters were rare, predictive type stories over-represented and minorities treated better than in other magazine fiction of the time.

One Per Cent Inspiration by Edward Wellen
A tale about how a Montana farmer one day in 1998 invented the teleportation drive.
This had one linguistic term I don’t remember seeing before, “stacks of timothy.” Apparently timothy is a kind of grass used for hay.

Citizen of the Galaxy, part 3 of 4 by Robert A Heinlein
Since I’m never likely to come across parts 1, 2 and 4, I didn’t bother with this.

Atlas Publishing & Distributing, London. A Street and Smith Publication (Cover price 1/-!)

This is a 10 x 6½ inch magazine which I bought at an antique fair late last year along with the corresponding magazine issue of March 1958. Apart from a few adverts, this one contained nothing but fiction, in double column layout. The cover illustration is uncredited. Three of the four interior illustrations bear the relevant artist’s signature.

Space Fear by James H Schmitz
A very much told, rather than shown, farrago about the overthrow of a psychic illusionist who is holding a planet in thrall. Replete with cardboard characters with unbelievable motivations.

Philosophical Corps by E B Cole
The Corps of the title go about planets ridding them of the influence of degraders who have disturbed the natural order of things by exposing the inhabitants to galactic technology before the natural time. Packed with clunky expository dialogue.

Casting Office by Henderson Stark
History is represented as a sort of horror play by an Author (who parrots Shakespeare) undone by backers who dislike the ending he has written.

Experimentum Crucis by Andrew MacDuff
A trader from Earth pulls off a deal with an alien in a far away system. He may not have got the bargain he thinks.

High Threshold by Alan E Nourse
Someone with a high threshold for adaptation is required to understand the properties, and withstand the dangers, of a strange cube which distorts things – something to do with negative absolute temperatures and negative molecular motion. The only suitable candidate – a woman – has an unusual response.

Protected Species by H B Fyfe
An inspector of colonial installations on a visit to the Planet Torang, decides the local large animals are worth protecting. It is a fateful decision. The twist in the tale – even if a bit deus ex machina – is an effective one.