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Shangri-la, issue 6, May-June 1946
Page 12
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EVER SINCE BELLAMY By Russ Hodgkins as Told to Weaver Wright Back tot he Future, a new science fiction novel from England (Nicholas Vane, Ltd, 8/6) purports to tell in its 264 pages "how to give everyone cake and make them eat it!" But author Meaburn Staniland's picture of the future is pretty depressing after a similar effort, "Summer in 3000", by contemporary Peter Martin. John Monkton, the hero, is tossed into the future by a time-machine which controls him physically. At the beginning of the story he makes 2 or 3 excursions, each of a little further penetration into the future, until he finally goes a full 100 years--and is marooned by a temporary failure of the machine. The complications of the plot are rather amusing. The girl in the story; who, incidentally, does not enter it till the book is well along; is the daughter of the inventor of the time machine. The inventor himself had traveled into time, got married in the future, had a daughter who grew up and has been living there "all the time" under another name. The protagonist and his wife finally return to the "past" (1947). Like most writers with a message to convey, Mr Staniland uses the future of [sff?] content of the book primarily as a vehicle to portray what the future might be, in this case a socialistic bureaucracy carried to the ultimate, wherein the poor class has achieved total unemployment and the landed owners, the gentry, the rich, those with all the wealth, do all the work! What little work is actually done, that is, in this system whose government promises vast undertakings--housing projects, etc.--but never achieves more than ground-breaking. It is a rather drab, morbid picture of the future, in which the author confines himself exclusively to England, with the rest of the world unconsidered. (He does mention in passing that a new record has been established between England and the USA--a Transatlantic stratosphere flight has been completed in 3 minutes--but due to customs inspection, passport formalities, medical check and several other strands of red tape, the passengers are delayed about 2 days after arrival!) There is one amusing episode where the hero gets involved with the Law of 2047. Hailed into court, he is given no trial by jury but--without charge or accusation--is judged and sentenced to prison for an unlimited time. Delivered to the institution of his incarceration, he is nonplussed to find it operating on the scale of a country club...a palatial lodge where he is treated as a guest rather than a criminal. It's a pleasant place, populated by radicals who have spoken or acted against the government---but wouldn't leave "prison" under any circumstances! The book's purpose would seem to be that of warning the readers against allowing Socialist government to develop to the point where the individual would be completely subservient in such a bureaucracy as the author believes would follow. Recommend as interesting reading to any fan. 12
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EVER SINCE BELLAMY By Russ Hodgkins as Told to Weaver Wright Back tot he Future, a new science fiction novel from England (Nicholas Vane, Ltd, 8/6) purports to tell in its 264 pages "how to give everyone cake and make them eat it!" But author Meaburn Staniland's picture of the future is pretty depressing after a similar effort, "Summer in 3000", by contemporary Peter Martin. John Monkton, the hero, is tossed into the future by a time-machine which controls him physically. At the beginning of the story he makes 2 or 3 excursions, each of a little further penetration into the future, until he finally goes a full 100 years--and is marooned by a temporary failure of the machine. The complications of the plot are rather amusing. The girl in the story; who, incidentally, does not enter it till the book is well along; is the daughter of the inventor of the time machine. The inventor himself had traveled into time, got married in the future, had a daughter who grew up and has been living there "all the time" under another name. The protagonist and his wife finally return to the "past" (1947). Like most writers with a message to convey, Mr Staniland uses the future of [sff?] content of the book primarily as a vehicle to portray what the future might be, in this case a socialistic bureaucracy carried to the ultimate, wherein the poor class has achieved total unemployment and the landed owners, the gentry, the rich, those with all the wealth, do all the work! What little work is actually done, that is, in this system whose government promises vast undertakings--housing projects, etc.--but never achieves more than ground-breaking. It is a rather drab, morbid picture of the future, in which the author confines himself exclusively to England, with the rest of the world unconsidered. (He does mention in passing that a new record has been established between England and the USA--a Transatlantic stratosphere flight has been completed in 3 minutes--but due to customs inspection, passport formalities, medical check and several other strands of red tape, the passengers are delayed about 2 days after arrival!) There is one amusing episode where the hero gets involved with the Law of 2047. Hailed into court, he is given no trial by jury but--without charge or accusation--is judged and sentenced to prison for an unlimited time. Delivered to the institution of his incarceration, he is nonplussed to find it operating on the scale of a country club...a palatial lodge where he is treated as a guest rather than a criminal. It's a pleasant place, populated by radicals who have spoken or acted against the government---but wouldn't leave "prison" under any circumstances! The book's purpose would seem to be that of warning the readers against allowing Socialist government to develop to the point where the individual would be completely subservient in such a bureaucracy as the author believes would follow. Recommend as interesting reading to any fan. 12
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