Review of "Science Fiction Adventures Magazine," August, 1957

Review of

Science Fiction Adventures Magazine, August, 1957

Four out of five stars

It is always interesting to go back and read stories in science fiction magazines published in the fifties. There are occasional hints at sexual innuendo, but it only reaches the lowest level. This issue contains three lengthy stories between thirty and forty pages long. They are “This World Must Die!” by Ivar Jorgenson, “Alien Night,” by Thomas N. Scortia and “Forbidden Cargo,” by Harlan Ellison.

 In the first one, the human computers have predicted that there will eventually be a war between the planet Lurion and Earth. Therefore, there is to be a pre-emptive action where five human men will land on the planet and by setting up vibrations in precise locations, cause the planet to disintegrate. Loy Gardner is the leader of the human team and he experiences uncertainty as to whether it is truly necessary for the planet to be executed.

 The story by Harlan Ellison is clearly the best of the three, Fargo Jeffers is an independent and neutral captain of an interstellar ship and he is hired to ferry the corpses of soldiers killed in the recently victorious war where the humans devastated the planet of their adversaries. After he takes the job from a disgustingly obese and self-serving officer, he discovers that there is a great deal more to this job than even he anticipated.

 “Alien Night” is based on humanity achieving immortality with a computer network that recognizes suicidal thoughts and knocks the person out before they can act on them. Death is extremely rare and due to the truly bizarre and freakish accident. The main character is forced to deal with disruptive time travelers and others bent on civil disorder and neither plot device is skillfully carried out. It was a very weak story and it was not easy to remain focused in my reading was complete.