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Spacewarp, v. 4, issue 2, November 1948
Page 14
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A regular WARP feature..... FILE 13 by REDD BOGGS 2215 Benjamin St. N.E., Minneapolis 18, Minn. OUT OF THE PAST. What's your favorite scene in all science fiction? That's a pretty tremendous question to ponder on an empty brain, but order a pine float and let's consider it. Just let your mind drift back and pick out some likely candidates from among those tattered magazine files you've got. Think of the scenes that hauled you out of your britches and hurled you across the galaxy till you wondered if you'd get back to Earth in time to make the first class tomorrow. The scenes that nudged your chuckle-bone till you rolled on the linoleum. The scenes that made your eyes a bit warm at the corners, silly slob that you are! (There are a few of these scenes even in this field where human interest is scarce). When my good old mind gropes back in time, it hauls out such all-time thrills as that taut scene in "Legion of Time" where the boy (what was his name?) either reaches for the maneto half-buried in the sand or a pebble beside it -- and by his choice settles the fate of two mighty future worlds. It grasps the conclusion of Arthur C. Clarke's "Rescue Party," where Earth's huge armada pours across interstellar space at a steady clip. It drags out that super-wedding of Kim and Chris at the end of "Second Stage Lensmen" (I'm a sentimental silly myself, bien entendu!) It dusts off the great scene where Hugh Hoyland (I remember his name!) gets his first intense view of the stars. It relives that amazing scene in Harry Bates' "A Matter of Speed" where the skyscraper seems to spend minutes or hours falling into ruin after the bomb explodes within it. But as my mind turns up these nostalgic scenes and a myriad of others, the one that tickles me most is one I remember actually bringing me leaping from my chair first time I read it. It is in Ted Sturgeon's "Two Percent Inspiration." The story concerns a very nasty school superintendant, a very clumsy kid, and a very human millionaire-inventor. The millionaire owns the school, and after several pages of nastiness on the super's part he enters the scene in time to see the clumsy kid being bullied. A shrewd duck, the old boy sees the kid's possibilities and tells off the super. The kid sees the drift of things, calmly measures the distance between his first and the super's jaw -- and wham! It doesn't sound very dramatic, maybe, but I recommend you read the story yourself. I think you'll agree that the kid's one-two on the superintendant's glass jaw is the perfect climax to the indignities recorded on earlier pages. One derives a lovely feeling of satisfaction from it, and no mistake. How are you coming with your own favorite scene? Not so good, perhaps. Better shove that pine float aside and I'll order you a beer. Let's see now, maybe you liked that scene in Hubbard's "Kilkenny Oats" [[illustration text]] ED COX [[end illustration text]]
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A regular WARP feature..... FILE 13 by REDD BOGGS 2215 Benjamin St. N.E., Minneapolis 18, Minn. OUT OF THE PAST. What's your favorite scene in all science fiction? That's a pretty tremendous question to ponder on an empty brain, but order a pine float and let's consider it. Just let your mind drift back and pick out some likely candidates from among those tattered magazine files you've got. Think of the scenes that hauled you out of your britches and hurled you across the galaxy till you wondered if you'd get back to Earth in time to make the first class tomorrow. The scenes that nudged your chuckle-bone till you rolled on the linoleum. The scenes that made your eyes a bit warm at the corners, silly slob that you are! (There are a few of these scenes even in this field where human interest is scarce). When my good old mind gropes back in time, it hauls out such all-time thrills as that taut scene in "Legion of Time" where the boy (what was his name?) either reaches for the maneto half-buried in the sand or a pebble beside it -- and by his choice settles the fate of two mighty future worlds. It grasps the conclusion of Arthur C. Clarke's "Rescue Party," where Earth's huge armada pours across interstellar space at a steady clip. It drags out that super-wedding of Kim and Chris at the end of "Second Stage Lensmen" (I'm a sentimental silly myself, bien entendu!) It dusts off the great scene where Hugh Hoyland (I remember his name!) gets his first intense view of the stars. It relives that amazing scene in Harry Bates' "A Matter of Speed" where the skyscraper seems to spend minutes or hours falling into ruin after the bomb explodes within it. But as my mind turns up these nostalgic scenes and a myriad of others, the one that tickles me most is one I remember actually bringing me leaping from my chair first time I read it. It is in Ted Sturgeon's "Two Percent Inspiration." The story concerns a very nasty school superintendant, a very clumsy kid, and a very human millionaire-inventor. The millionaire owns the school, and after several pages of nastiness on the super's part he enters the scene in time to see the clumsy kid being bullied. A shrewd duck, the old boy sees the kid's possibilities and tells off the super. The kid sees the drift of things, calmly measures the distance between his first and the super's jaw -- and wham! It doesn't sound very dramatic, maybe, but I recommend you read the story yourself. I think you'll agree that the kid's one-two on the superintendant's glass jaw is the perfect climax to the indignities recorded on earlier pages. One derives a lovely feeling of satisfaction from it, and no mistake. How are you coming with your own favorite scene? Not so good, perhaps. Better shove that pine float aside and I'll order you a beer. Let's see now, maybe you liked that scene in Hubbard's "Kilkenny Oats" [[illustration text]] ED COX [[end illustration text]]
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