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MSA Bulletin, v. 2, issue 4, May 1940
Page 10
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Page Ten M S A BULLETIN May 1940 AMONG THE CLASSICS A Voice Across the Years: novel by I. M. Stephens and Fletcher Pratt. Amazing Stories Quarterly - Vol. 5 No. 1 Winter 1932) Available to MSA'ers in stf library volume A Q 4. by Norman Stanley: Those who appreciate satirical fiction a-la Coblentz or otherwise, will find meat worthy of their digestion in this seldom mentioned, but none-the-less classic tale of interstellar travel. It is one of my favorites. I consider it to be in some ways superior to the Coblentz satires, especially in that the authors achieve the satirical effect without resorting to the ridiculously extreme comparisons that are Coblentz' stock in trade. And in addition they have put a wealth of sound science and philosophy into the story. To give an idea of some of the thought, and mirth provoking situations which occur therein, the following gives a brief idea: An explorer from a human, technologically advanced race on a distant world (Murashema) lands on Earth with a space ship, cracks up, and learns English telepathically from a copy of "The Merchant of Venice", and for some time thereafter, speaks only in blank verse with a decidedly limited Shakespearean vocabularly (his ship must perforce be a "leaden casket") . His Tellurian friends strive to pass him off as an earthman and things go from bad to worse as his exceedingly complex Murasheman code of ethics continually bumps up against the equally complex, but oh so different Tellurian standards . The story then takes him back to Murashema with an earthman companion, where much the same difficulties arise when the latter tackles the Murasheman brand of civilization. Where is a really wonderful description of the Murasheman social organization, which is totally unlike anything to be found in Tellurian society. It is a concealed dig at Utopias in general. Murasheman society has no unemployment, no wars, no crime, no youth problem, in fact, none of the ills of earthly society. But the Murashemans have their troubles never-the-less. As a satire , the "Voice" is superb and as a story it is not without its moments of suspense and action. If you like stf, you'll like this novel. * * * * * * * * Norm Stanley has written up an interesting account of his lending library and offers several plans for its use.--Don't fail to read this in the next issue. _------------------ SEABURY QUINN: has just completed a ghost story with a Civil War background entitled "The Last Waltz". It hasn't been sold as yet. We understand that STRANGE STORIES is going to bring out another of Quinn's, the Damned. This is a ghost story - one of the kind we knew years ago before the present flood of ghost-like monsters who are not true ghosts. (It is beginning to appear as though STRANGE is going to monopolize Quinn, with WEIRD losing out--we wonder if this will be true of the other WEIRD authors as well----. ed. * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Page Ten M S A BULLETIN May 1940 AMONG THE CLASSICS A Voice Across the Years: novel by I. M. Stephens and Fletcher Pratt. Amazing Stories Quarterly - Vol. 5 No. 1 Winter 1932) Available to MSA'ers in stf library volume A Q 4. by Norman Stanley: Those who appreciate satirical fiction a-la Coblentz or otherwise, will find meat worthy of their digestion in this seldom mentioned, but none-the-less classic tale of interstellar travel. It is one of my favorites. I consider it to be in some ways superior to the Coblentz satires, especially in that the authors achieve the satirical effect without resorting to the ridiculously extreme comparisons that are Coblentz' stock in trade. And in addition they have put a wealth of sound science and philosophy into the story. To give an idea of some of the thought, and mirth provoking situations which occur therein, the following gives a brief idea: An explorer from a human, technologically advanced race on a distant world (Murashema) lands on Earth with a space ship, cracks up, and learns English telepathically from a copy of "The Merchant of Venice", and for some time thereafter, speaks only in blank verse with a decidedly limited Shakespearean vocabularly (his ship must perforce be a "leaden casket") . His Tellurian friends strive to pass him off as an earthman and things go from bad to worse as his exceedingly complex Murasheman code of ethics continually bumps up against the equally complex, but oh so different Tellurian standards . The story then takes him back to Murashema with an earthman companion, where much the same difficulties arise when the latter tackles the Murasheman brand of civilization. Where is a really wonderful description of the Murasheman social organization, which is totally unlike anything to be found in Tellurian society. It is a concealed dig at Utopias in general. Murasheman society has no unemployment, no wars, no crime, no youth problem, in fact, none of the ills of earthly society. But the Murashemans have their troubles never-the-less. As a satire , the "Voice" is superb and as a story it is not without its moments of suspense and action. If you like stf, you'll like this novel. * * * * * * * * Norm Stanley has written up an interesting account of his lending library and offers several plans for its use.--Don't fail to read this in the next issue. _------------------ SEABURY QUINN: has just completed a ghost story with a Civil War background entitled "The Last Waltz". It hasn't been sold as yet. We understand that STRANGE STORIES is going to bring out another of Quinn's, the Damned. This is a ghost story - one of the kind we knew years ago before the present flood of ghost-like monsters who are not true ghosts. (It is beginning to appear as though STRANGE is going to monopolize Quinn, with WEIRD losing out--we wonder if this will be true of the other WEIRD authors as well----. ed. * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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