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New Writings in
SF: 9
Ed By John Carnell
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Foreword by John Carnell
Poseidon Project by John Rackham
Folly To Be Wise by Douglas R. Mason
Gifts Of The Gods by Arthur Sellings
The Long Memory by William Spencer
Guardian Angel by Gerald W. Page
Second Genesis by Eric Frank Russell
Defence Mechanism by Vincent King
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by John Carnell
While it was never intended to use individual volumes of New Writings In S-F to emphasize “themes” in science fiction—our primary intention is to .present a widely divergent selection of new and exciting stories in the genre —it is interesting to note that quite inadvertently this is happening. No. 6, for instance, had an underlying theme concerning mental powers; No. 8 was devoted mainly to space. This present volume deals largely with different aspects of over-population and the many facets such a problem is bound to have in the immediate future.
This preoccupation with “things that might happen” has been part of the stock in trade of all good science-fiction writers and it is natural that they should see trends faster than most people—science fiction being largely a literature of prophecy, the writer has to be one jump ahead of current events all the time. Little wonder, then, that the world’s expanding birthrate, coupled with increasing mechanization and computerization, is taking up more time than the possibilities of Man landing on the Moon or Mars within the next decade.
For instance, John Rackham in “Poseidon Project” visualizes that we shall soon have seriously to consider living under the sea and this means taking our environment with us and, as his experimental group discover, this also means taking along the human problems as well. On the other hand, William Spencer sees the overcrowded city of the future as an Orwellian ogre in “The Long Memory”, where everything is seen, heard and recorded. In lighter vein, Gerald Page only infers the background in “Guardian Angel” and proceeds to depict his action all in one room— Man versus Machine. Arthur Sellings, on the other hand, sets “Gifts Of The Gods” right here in the present day— but it is a present day hedged in with a far-reaching problem.
To the far future is but a step in Vincent King’s novelette “Defence Mechanism”, probably one of the most colourful and imaginative stories we have yet published, where so many questions are asked and so many different answers come up that it is unwise to take anything for granted until the end of the story. Off the “theme” but just as exciting are the two character study stories—”Second Genesis” by Eric Frank Russell and “Folly To Be Wise” by Douglas R. Mason.
In either category, good entertainment for an expanding population!
John Carnell
June 1966
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