Review: "Final Weapon" by Everett Cole (1955)
Posted on March 4th, 2008
This novella opens with Howard Morely, a conniving, back-stabbing District Leader in a dystopian world of tomorrow. Morely acts as a martinet to those below him and plots against those above him as he leads his district in reconstruction and busy work in the decades following the major war that took place in the 1990s.
The societal picture painted by Cole is mainly gray: for second and third class citizens, life is literally lived underground, at subsistence or lower, and closely monitored in all aspects. The few ruling elite, the first class citizens, enjoy personal freedoms and luxuries and exercise control over the rest, forming the basis for Cole criticism of socialist societies. 
Much of the story is spent fleshing out Morely’s character and the lengths to which he will go to increase efficiency in his division until an invention that enables instant thought communication is introduced and the story begins to follow that line to a greater degree.
Morely encourages the production of the device to minimize communication costs, but soon becomes left behind as individuals with greater empathy quickly become skilled at its use. Eventually, the device enables societal changes because individuals find it impossible to oppress each other when they completely understand the viewpoint of those they oppress. Morely, and dinosaurs like him, have difficulty coping with the regime change.
Despite the somewhat grim face of the society shown in the beginning, such as the underground living quarters and the crumbling remnants of civilization, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, this story is overall rather bright and optimistic. I like Cole because he can draw characters and tell a story and even though I sometimes feel his endings fall apart, I’m calling it
Recommended. You can read it online here or find it at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats or at Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: Tinker’s Dam by Randall Garrett (1961)
Posted on February 22nd, 2008
“Joseph Tinker” is listed as the author at Project Gutenberg, but even though wikipedia does not list “Joseph Tinker” as a pseudonym, I would lay money that this novelette was actually written by Randall Garrett. Sorry for any confusion.
Joseph “Gyp” Tinker is the head of the F.B.I.’s Chief of the Division of Psychic Investigation. He’s a snake hunter issued special powers by Congress, including summary execution. Mainly he just hunts down telepaths and deports them to Oklahoma so they can’t learn sensitive Washington D.C. secrets and spill them by having their own minds read by the Russian embassy telepaths.
Gyp finds himself with a pretty secretary protecting his back from an underling looking to climb over it. Fred Plaice, the backstabber, has captured a telepath that claims to be Gyp’s mother, Maude Tinker, and is looking to ruin Gyp. If you’re wondering, that’s Maude over there, the one giving me the hairy eyeball.
Anyway, the news that Gyp’s mother is a telepath would be troublesome because telepathy is known to be hereditary, and disclosure would cost Gyp his position at the very least.
This novelette is pretty short, so I won’t give away any more. You can read it yourself to see how Gyp resolves the situation. Randall Garrett fans will not be surprised at the ending, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. Therefore I’m calling it
Good/Recommended. You can read it online here or hunt it down at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats or at Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: Supermind [Malone 3] by Garrett & Janifer (1963)
Posted on February 14th, 2008
My comments on the “Malone” trilogy* can be found here in the review of the first story of the series. *Well, the novels are a trilogy, but there are three earlier novellas. Call it what you will, I won’t complain.
This novel is the payoff of the Malone trilogy. Garrett and Janifer pull out all the stops in crafting a humorous story that had me chuckle aloud for the first time in the series. The funny hits hard and fast, so you should figure out quickly whether it’s your type of story. I will give fair warning that the puns are larger-and-in-charger than ever.
This is the third and final tale of psionic FBI Agent Kenneth J. Malone. There are unfortunately no illustrations available for the Project Gutenberg release of this one, but I’m sure they follow the contradictory pattern seen in the first two stories. In this one, Malone can again teleport even though he did not learn the ability in the previous novel; he did learn it in the precious novella on which the previous novel was based. I know, it confuses me too: if you’re not following, and want the full explanation, I discuss it here in the review of the first story of the series.
This story opens with another assignment from his boss, the distracted Director Burris. Here Malone is ordered to sort out certain inefficiencies in the operations of Congress: adding machines are no longer adding correctly, secret embarrassing documents are being leaked, and the paranoids of Congress are being generally persecuted.
Malone quickly finds that the problems are widespread and affecting not just politicians, but labor unions, organized crime, and other major institutions. He also quickly realizes that there are no mundane explanations to be had, so he again enlists the help of the kindly delusional telepath that believes she is Queen Elizabeth I as well as fellow FBI Agent Thomas Boyd.
In his investigations, Malone picks up an incompetent Russian spy ring and accompanies them back to Russia when they are deported. Coincidentally, Lubya, the daughter of one of the spies is an employee at a psionic research organization Malone had encountered while digging up old stories of psionic abilities. The organization bears a striking resemblance to the Fortean Times folks, while Lubya bears a striking resemblance to a romantic interest.
The trip to Russia is madcap, and Malone is escorting not only the three spies, but Lubya and the QEI who agrees to travel incognito. The humor at the expense of the Russians was a little broad, but we are talking 1963. While there, Malone observes that the Russian spy organizations are plagued by just as many suspicious inefficiencies as he has seen in America.
Malone returns to the U.S. and plods around awhile as he normally does, lamenting his lack of deductive superpowers as compared to storybook detectives. Earlier on he had figured out that the problems were caused by some mysterious psionic cabal, and he eventually figures out who is behind it all.
The ending was vaguely unsatisfactory for me, but I do not want to ruin the potential surprise, so I’ll say no more. Even so, this one is
Highly Recommended. Beam your thoughts to your mouse to click here to read it online or teleport over to Project Gutenberg to find it in a couple downloadable formats or at Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: "Out Like A Light" [Malone 2] by Garrett & Janifer (1960)
Posted on February 12th, 2008
My comments on the "Malone" series in general can be found here in the review of the first story of the series.
This is the novella version of the second entry rather than the novel version. Ever-lucky Agent Kenneth J. Malone begins this story with a pleasant daydream after getting coshed on the noggin while checking out a red Cadillac.
Malone was assigned the red Cadillac investigation by Director Burris because it is an odd case, and odd cases are Malone’s specialty after all. Illustration Malone is in full fashion effect with his Mohawk and furry fringed jacket, while Text Malone is again sedately dressed in more normal FBI garb.
Malone plods along as is his wont, gaining occasional help from the Queen and fellow agent Tom Boyd again, although he and Tom are not forced to wear clothes of the Court this time around. Malone finds that he is facing a gang of teleporting juvenile delinquents when one of them snaps his fingers and disappears from an interrogation room while being questioned.
Malone is rightly at a loss at that point, so he plods around a bit more until a tip falls in his lap. He eventually captures the gang after manifesting some extraordinarily strong psionic abilities of his own. Note, however, that the novel version of this story describes instead a mundane method of capture, eschewing the fantastic even though the third novel picks up assuming Malone possesses the described ability.
Garrett & Janifer kick the humor up a notch in this one, and portray Malone as more of a comedic James Bond/dime novel detective than in the first. Compared to the first and third, this middle tale is light on plot, but it does show Malone developing into a stronger, more confident character even with all the weird stuff happening around him. Just to complete that image, he of course again manages to get the girl in the end.
Recommended. You can read it online here or psionically download it from Project Gutenberg in a couple formats or Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: "That Sweet Little Old Lady" [Malone 1] by Garrett & Janifer (1959)
Posted on February 9th, 2008
The Series
This is the first novella in what I’m calling the “Malone” series. Others refer to it as the “Psi-Power” series, and Project Gutenberg even calls it “The Queen’s Own FBI” series but this is my review and that’s what I’m calling it. There were three novellas in the series: (1) “That Sweet Little Old Lady,” (2) “Out Like a Light,” and (3) “Occasion for Disaster,” which were all later expanded and published as novels under the titles (1) Brain Twister, (2) The Impossibles, and (3) Supermind.
Just to add to the confusion, the novels and novellas were all published under the “Mark Philips” pseudonym, which is the name Randall Garrett and Laurence Janifer used when they collaborated (with each other, that is, not in the war criminal sense).
The illustrations that accompany the novellas are bizarrely wonderful. The text makes clear that the main character, Kenneth J. Malone, is a suit-and-tie FBI Agent, and the most daring personal flair displayed by an agent is when one dares to sport a beard.
However, the illustrations inextricably but consistently show Malone rocking a fabulous Mohawk while dressed in an outfit that can only be described as pool hall chic. The Mohawk is carried through the illustrations in all three stories in a gloriously obstinate ignorance of the text of the stories.
The plots and the differences between the novellas and the novels are just as strange, with the second novella ending with a manifestation of psionic power that resolves the plot. The novel version of the same tale ends with a mundane explanation instead, and yet the third novel picks up where the second novella ended, assuming, contrary to the second novel, that the psionic power had manifested.
I would suggest a reading order of (1) “That Sweet Little Old Lady” novella, (2) “Out Like a Light” novella, and (3) the Supermind novel.
The Plot
The series itself begins at strange and goes to wacky. In this first story the main character, FBI Agent Kenneth Malone, comes across as a bit of a schlub, not only dimwitted, but possessed of a literalism that approaches retardation. The reader suspects it is an attempt at humor, because Garrett’s atrocious punning is present, although not as prevalent as in the third story.
Apparently the FBI was smaller in this future 1970s, because Malone is always given his assignments by FBI Director Burris. Malone has a reputation for solving difficult cases, but he personally considers it nothing more than luck. Here he is assigned the task of stopping a telepathic spy from reading the minds of the scientists on a super secret research installation in Yucca Flats.
Using the philosophy of setting a thief to catch a thief, Malone begins by rounding up all the telepaths the FBI can find. Unfortunately, they are all insane due to the early childhood stresses involved in reading the thoughts of others.
The least-insane is delusional Rose Thompson, who believes herself to be the immortal Queen Elizabeth I. With the dubious help of the Queen, Malone and fellow agent Thomas Boyd work on solving the case while dressed in courtly garb. When the resolution comes, it is through an out-of-character flash of insight from Malone.
The third story in the series is the best, but this one is solid enough to stand on its own, and you should read them in order, because many loose strands come together in the final novel. The illustrations here are done very well, so well I almost wish I could also read the story they illustrate. But regardless, this one is
Recommended. You can read it online here or find it an Project Gutenberg in a couple formats or at Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: “Wizard” by Laurence M. Janifer (1960)
Posted on January 25th, 2008
Longish short story about a medieval psionist confronting religious authority.
The year is 1605 and greenhorn Jonas is a hero, at least in his own mind, and being such he undertakes a mission for the local psi lodge. A small village is being terrorized by a zealous church Inquisitor and Jonas is sent to help.
Jonas arrives, eyes up the local farm girls, puts on his mystical witch act, and gets tossed into the dungeon, most of which was according to plan. Being easily bored, he quickly goes stir crazy and forces the situation rather than letting it develop per the plan. As a result he gets an up close look at the dungeon’s confessional devices.
But Jonas’ psi link with his mentor offers him cool advice and he eventually accomplishes his mission, allowing him to follow more important pursuits with the pretty farm girls.
This story remains slightly humorous as it proceeds. Jonas’ character is amusing and the author makes use of the smells ans sights of medieval times for comic effect. Again, I’m not much on psionics, but the humor goes a long way to making it enjoyable.
Recommended. Conjure up a copy in a couple formats at Project Gutenberg or at Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: “Vigorish” by Randall Garrett (1960)
Posted on January 22nd, 2008
Novelette with same setting and some of the same characters as in Card Trick.
Walter “Lefty” Bupp, our friendly neighborhood telekinetic surgeon and local Psi Lodge troubleshooter, is dragged into another casino investigation and winds up with a little more on his plate than he expected. The lodge boss sends Lefty out to Reno to investigate potential psionic misuse at a casino that’s losing big bucks. Vigorish is the percentage, or take, a casino expects to receive from games.
Lefty runs into a skinny woman with buck teeth that quickly attaches herself to him. Turns out she has her own psi abilities and Lefty is a little uncomfortable with the things she tells him, but it all comes together in the end. She’s even able to fix his bad arm, although for some reason the illustrator based Lefty on Dr. Smith from “Lost in Space” (see illustration).
I enjoyed this story more than the previously mentioned Card Trick, but if you like one, you’ll probably like the other. As far as negatives, while Garrett is a great storyteller, his portrayal of women doesn’t tend to be the most enlightened.
Recommended. Psionically click on the links to find it a Project Gutenberg in a couple formats and Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: “Shock Absorber” by E.G. von Wald (1955)
Posted on January 22nd, 2008
Damn fine short story, somewhat in the vein of The First One, but here the author feeds the reader enough to let them see the twist coming.
When a particular spaceship returns from combat and puts in at Mars for overhaul, Lieutenant Maise is assigned as its new executive officer. The previous captain, after seeing action eighty-eighty times, was killed during number eighty-nine along with the previous exec. Lt. Maise therefore takes over command for the two months the ship is refitting in drydock and awaiting the replacement captain. The small crew is hostile to Lt. Maise, suspecting he may be a dreaded Psi Corps officer. Word has just leaked through the fleet that those with special psi abilities are being put into regular Space Combat Service officer positions because they have better odds of surviving combat missions, but the fleet is tense. Outright mutinies against such officers have occurred, started by crews unwilling to obey commanding officers they perceive as relying on hunches instead of experience in combat.
Commander Frendon is assigned as the new commanding officer. Commander Frendon is, of course, the very epitome of the Psi Corps, a too-young, too-skinny, nervous fellow who has no idea how to command. Lt. Maise has his hands full keeping the lid on the mutinous mutterings Frendon’s appearance engenders. The talk centers around a plan to poison the captain by exposure to certain Martian plants, a plot which Maise relays to Frendon. Frendon is poisoned anyhow, Lt. Maise takes over as captain, and Maise and the crew become best buds because the crew knows it did not poison Frendon and now trusts Maise’s judgment.
As I stated, there is a twist at the end that is seen coming a mile away, but again the strength is more in the build-up, in giving the reader just enough to think he’s smarter than the author and to keep reading to prove himself right, than in the final payoff.
Lastly, the opening is a little clunky, with exposition disguised as extended dialogue, but it certainly fits better here, in the format of a military briefing, than in other stories I’ve seen.
Very much recommended. Command your own copy at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats or at Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: “The Best Made Plans” by Everett B. Cole (1959)
Posted on January 18th, 2008
I’m calling this a novella because it was published in Astounding, but it’s right around 40,000 words so it might have strayed into novel length.
This is set in the same universe as Cole’s shorter Alarm Clock and features the same voice command power as that story. It also mentions the Special Corps in passing.
Don Michaels is a student in the beginning, assumedly high school or the equivalent, and playing the role of hall monitor when he intercedes in what at first seems a minor altercation. Pete, the native lad Don helps out, claims not only to be the rightful claimant to the throne, but that the current Prime Minister, Daniel Stern, has murdered his way into position and is intent on removing all potential claimants, thus the school attack.
Don catches some grief when he won’t change his story of about happened in the hallway, enough so that he is offended and leaves school, which sets off events that lead him to throwing in with Pete against the Prime Minister’s forces. They solicit help from the other native hill clans and begin the process to call a clan enclave to allow a vote on succession.
Don, possessing the voice command gift that works on most of the population, turns out to be a significant ally for Pete. It also helps that Don has a close relationship with the native hill clans, so Pete makes Don a member of his clan and his clan advisor. There are plots and counterplots, but in the end, Don and the Prime Minister of course face off, leading to a grim conclusion.
The feel in the beginning is definitely juvenile yesteryear, but as it proceeds, it begins to show some serious decisions, danger, and even death. The school scenes work well in establishing Don’s moral code and grit, but the Leave it to Beaver aesthetic doesn’t hold up as well as the rest of the story. The Dongen illustrations, while good, are also dated.
Lastly, the psionics ability is more prevalent in this story, which may be why I liked Alarm Clock better. I would read that as an introduction to the ability and this as an expansion.
I rate it Fair to Recommended. So flex your own secret powers and command this story to appear at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats and at Manybooks.net in a couple more.
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Review: “The Ambulance Made Two Trips” by Murray Leinster (1960)
Posted on January 17th, 2008
Short story about a police officer trying to nab the town racketeer, but has trouble finding support. Other cops look the other way because nice gifts show up on their doorstep for their wives, and victims are too scared to swear out a complaint lest an accident befall them.
Enter a laundryman with a special box who is running the laundry for a brother-in-law who recently suffered an “accident.” The box is a psionic unit that protects the holder of a related psionic charm from harm. With the help of laundryman Brink, Detective Sergeant Fitzgerald eventually brings in head bad guy Big Jake after numerous thwarted attempts at foul play.
This short story began well, opening with Fitzgerald finding yet another attempted bribe on his doorstep which, like the rest, he hands over to the local orphanage. What they will do with a Meerschaum pipe is their problem. It begins as a slightly humorous police procedural with Fitzgerald chasing down leads in an attempt to finally pin something on Big Jake. The humor broadens and becomes farcical with pratfalls galore, an unwelcome direction that quickly drained the humor from the story.
Fair. If you’re not careful, you’ll trip over it at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats or at Manybooks.net in more.
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Review: “Card Trick” by Randall Garrett (1961)
Posted on January 17th, 2008
I’m on a Randall Garrett tear, no doubt about it. The last couple Garrett stories I read I enjoyed immensely, but this novelette didn’t do much for me. I know that in reading these free stories cribbed from old issues of Astounding I am going to come across psionics a fair amount, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.
Garrett is great at his craft, but this story of a gambler strong-armed into recognizing his psi talents by the local psi fraternal order lost my attention the more it dug into the psi elements. On the other hand, Garrett’s pace is as good as ever: he feeds the reader enough to keep him a half-step ahead of the main character so as to read faster to hurry up the main character.
The setting for this novelette is an unspecified distance in the future where psionic powers such as telekinesis and precognition are common, but not considered desirable by the Normals. Tex, a Ph.D. student who keeps afloat on his constant gambling winnings, believes himself to be a Normal. His girlfriend, a laboratory researcher that runs psi experiments all day to disprove such abilities exist, believes he is a Normal as well.
Walter Bupp (which is also the pseudonym under which Garrett wrote the story) claims that Tex uses psi powers to win at gambling and that the local psi lodge will come down hard on him if he doesn’t cut it out because they don’t want to antagonize the Normals. The story then devolves into whether the psi lodge is legitimate or just rolling him for his winnings, whether Tex possesses psi powers, and whether Tex can win back his best girl as it comes to an underwhelming conclusion.
I’ll rate it Fair. You can wrap your own mental powers around it by downloading it at Project Gutenberg in a couple formats or at Manybooks.net in more.
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