Look carefully at the Table of Contents and you’ll notice that for the first time in 21 volumes of The Great SF Stories, no stories came from Astounding Science Fiction. By 1959, John W. Campbell and Astounding were in decline. And, you’ll also notice, Science Fiction began being published in “Men’s Magazines” like Playboy and Gent that paid a lot better than most SF magazines.

My favorite story in The Great SF Stories #21 (1959) is “What Rough Beast” by Damon Knight. Most SF readers regard Damon Knight as a great SF critic and a formidable SF editor. But, from 1955-1965, Knight published high quality stories. And “What Rough Beast” might be the best of them.

Also notable is Clifford D. Simak’s “A Death in the House” about a peculiar First Contact in the wilds of Wisconsin. I remember that when I read “A Death in the House” as a kid, I was very moved. You will be, too.

I suspect that many SF writers in 1959 started to shift their output from SF short stories to SF paperback novels. Markets were opening up and the payments for books dwarfed the payments for short stories. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Martin H. Greenberg 9

“Make a Prison” by Lawrence Block (ORIGINAL SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, January 1959) 15

“The Wind People” by Marion Zimmer Bradley (IF, February 1959) 21

“No, No, Not Rogov!” by Cordwainer Smith (IF, February 1959) 45

“What Rough Beast?” by Damon Knight (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, February 1959) 69

“The Alley Man” by Philip José Farmer (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, June 1959) 101

“Day at the Beach” by Carol Emshwiller (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, August 1959) 159

“The Malted Milk Monster” by William Tenn (GALAXY, August 1959) 173

“The World of Heart’s Desire” by Robert Sheckley (PLAYBOY, September 1959) 199

“The Man Who Lost the Sea” by Theodore Sturgeon (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, October 1959) 209

“A Death in the House” by Clifford D. Simak (GALAXY, October 1959) 225

“The Pi Man” by Alfred Bester (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, October 1959) 251

“Multum in Parvo” by Jack Sharkey (GENT, December 1959) 273

“What Now, Little Man?” by Mark Clifton (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, December 1959) 279

“Adrift on the Policy Level” by Chandler Davis (STAR SCIENCE FICTION 5, 1959) 323

Back when I taught at the College, I was covered by a Cadillac Blue Cross/Blue Shield health plan. And, one of the benefits was that when I needed a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine to treat my sleep apnea, BC/BS bought it for me. About every 5-7 years, they would contact me and say, “It’s time for a new CPAP machine” even though the CPAPs I had were working fine.

That’s how I ended up with three working CPAP breathing machines in my closet. Then, with the coronavirus pandemic raging in my county, I called Memorial Hospital (who is treating Covid-19 patients) in Niagara Falls, NY and spoke to the Head of the Respiratory Unit. “I’d like to donate three CPAP machines to you, ” I offered. “We have three patients who could use them right now,” she answered.

So I loaded the three CPAP machines into my Rogue and drove to Memorial Hospital. When I got there, I was I greeted by a nurse wearing a mask, gown, and gloves. She had a small cart. I opened the hatch of the Rogue and she took out the CPAPs and carted them away.

A local business in Western NY has a contract to convert CPAP and BiPAP machines into ventilators. Check out the link below. I glad I had some equipment that I could donate for the Greater Good!

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/buffalo-startup-turns-cpaps-into-ventilators/71-241e03aa-ccd9-4483-9868-0efb68b015db

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer is a Young Adult novel that features a newly conscious Artificial Intelligence. The AI (who sometimes calls itself CheshireCat) runs an online social media web site named CatNet.

The narration of Catfishing on CatNet alternates between the AI and a smart 16-year-old high school student named Stephanie who deals with a difficulty forming friendships (and getting enough credits to graduate from High School) because her stressed mother moves her from small town to small town at almost random intervals to evade Stephanie’s father who is stalking them. 

Unlike the AI in The Terminator series, Kritzer’s AI is helpful and loves cats. Up to this time, the AI has just been supportive of the groups on her web site, but when Stephanie and her mother are threatened, the AI decides to take action.

In addition to dealing with her stalker father, Steph tries to make friends in the Real World. Her friends on CatNet are dispersed throughout the country. Yet, they play important roles when Steph is confronted by danger. Kritzer also provides comedy to break up the tension. Reprogramming the robot intended to teach SEX EDUCATION in a HEALTH class cracked me up!

Catfishing on CatNet presents several important issues within an exciting story. Kritzer captures the angst of teenage life and piles on more tension with an abusive father secretly lurking. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series! GRADE: A

What’s worse than a coronavirus pandemic?

How about a a world devastated by giant, powerful monsters! My friend Glenn Morton gave me this Blu-ray edition of Godzilla: King of the Monsters after he realized he had inadvertently bought TWO copies (I’ve done that myself numerous times).

In this latest installment of Godzilla, a group of eco-terrorists seek to free the monsters (aka, Titans) to destroy our polluting and unworthy civilization. Once the monsters have done their deadly work, the eco-terrorists believe they can rebuild a clean, sustaining culture.

Meanwhile, another group called Monarch determines the Titans have been infiltrated by a creature not-of-Earth: Monster Zero. Monster Zero has three heads and flies. The other monsters like Rodan and Mothra fall under Monster Zero’s sway. Monarch is convinced on Godzilla can save us.

As you might suspect, there are plenty of battle scenes. Cities get crushed. I could have done without the lame family of dysfunction subplot. But, if you’re looking for action and excitement and thrills, Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivers. Are you a Godzilla fan? GRADE: B

Diane’s friend Sandie (who taught with Diane for years and is a member of Diane’s Book Club) is a master at sewing who offered to make us a pair of coronavirus masks. I chose the Super Hero theme and Diane chose a Blue theme (her favorite color). Do you have a coronavirus mask?

Humor can be the best medicine. That’s why my viewing lately has been featuring funny movies that have delighted me over the decades.  Leslie Nielsen cracks me up every time I watch this film. In fact, Airplane (1980)  was listed at #10 on the American Film Institute’s best comedies of all time. 

With cameos by Rod Steiger, Lloyd Bridges, Kareem Abdul Jabar as well as the unforgettable Barbara Billingsley (aka, June Cleaver)–whose role as as a passenger who could “speak jive” makes me laugh every time I see it–Airplane produces more hilarity than most comedies.

Are you a fan of Airplane?

Way back in the early 1960s, I started reading Carter Brown’s Al Wheeler series. I enjoyed the wacky plots and Wheeler’s skirt-chasing tendencies.

Stark House is reprinting the novels in Al Wheeler series. The latest omnibus volume includes The Unorthodox Corpse, Death on the Downbeat, and The Blonde, the 10^th, 11^th,  and 12^th Al Wheeler mysteries.  The Unorthodox Corpse was first published in Australia by Horwitz Publications of Australia in 1957 and then revised for the U.S. market and published by Signet Books in 1961. Death on the Downbeat was published by Horwitz in 1958, then revised for the U.S. as The Corpse. Signet published The Corpse in 1958.  The Blonde was published by both Horwitz and Signet in 1958. Stark House reprints the original Australian versions in this omnibus edition.

The Unorthodox Corpse was one of the first Al Wheelers I read as a teenager back in the early 1960s. Wheeler gives a speech at an exclusive finishing school with a student body of 50 gorgeous girls. After Wheeler delivers his speech, a magician, The Great Mephisto, steps up to entertain the audience. The lights go out..and when the lights come on, one of the young girls is found with a knife in her back. I liken The Unorthodox Corpse to a screw-ball comedy. Wheeler play fast and loose to nail the killer.

Death on the Downbeat opens with Wheeler on a date at a jazz club with Annabelle Jackson, the constant object of his desire. But, a member of the audience takes the stage…and catches a bullet. The date turns into a murder investigation.

The Blonde features the most convoluted of these three mysteries. Wheeler is sent to protect two women who are getting death threats. And, of course, one of them is blown up with a bomb! Wheeler deals with TV people, mobsters, and constant deception before he finally reveal the cunning plot.

If you’re looking for humor, action, and wackiness you’ll find it in abundance in this wonderful Stark House omnibus! GRADE: A

You can read my reviews of the other Al Wheeler volumes here, here, and here.

Sometimes, I get in the mood for a Medieval mystery. And, of course, with the coronavirus raging, S. D. Sykes’s Plague Land checked all the boxes. This is the first book in the Somershill Manor series. Oswald de Lacy, the youngest son of Lord Somershill, is called back home from the monastery where he was placed after his father and two older brothers die of the Black Death.

The 14th Century was a grim time and Sykes shows the lack of medical knowledge and the grip of superstition on the villagers of Somershill Manor. Oswald has to deal with his conniving Mother and scheming sister. Fortunately, Oswald has his Benedictine Brother, Peter, as an older and wiser companion. Oswald has no idea how to run an estate or how to deal with disgruntled villagers. But Peter does.

In addition to the post-plague problems, the politics of rural life, a murder committed has been committed. As Lord Sumershill, Oswald feels that he must solve the crime and prevent the murderer from striking again. All in all, Plague Land is an entertaining Medieval mystery. GRADE: B+

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS’ DAY!

But this is NOT an April Fools joke. A Rochester doughnut shop actually sold hundreds of these Dr. Fauci doughnuts! What’s your favorite doughnut?