Evening star., 1952-03-16

3 !
Schuster are among the pub
fishers on the bandwagon.
When science fiction is not
too far out Of this world, il Is
good gamble for publishers Of
25-cent pocket type books.
These need . sale Of perhaps
200. 900 copies To make the nut.
Many publishers who have relied
In the past on mysteries are
offering space opera to the rail-
road station trade and having
no trouble selling $50, 900 to
100000 copies at q quarter q
throw.
The Heinlein Output
Robert Heinlein is to science
fiction what Erie Stanley Gard
ner Is to whodunits. He Is q
prolific writer and is going over
big In the pocket editions. He :
Is. however. much more Of a
craftsman In his field than
Gardner Is in his. and as such
deserves special mention.
Part Of Heinlein's success as
science fiction writer comes
from his sound engineering
background. A graduate Of An
napolis, Heinlein understands
the physical principles he writes
about, and weaves them unob-
trusiyely into convincing story
lines.
To non-fan readers. and even
to those who ordinarily would
not, touch science fiction with q
l0-light-year pole. Heinlein is
acceptable because his stories
are basically about people. He
Is the compiler of the future
history of the solar system"
which covers the period 1876
2600. His history unfolds rea-
sonahly-so reasonably that the
reader finds nothing strange
about q history Of things that
have not yet happened. It is.
according to Heinlein, q good
many years after 1875 before
space travel begins, and then it
starts logically-first to the
moon, then to the nearby plan
cts. His characters get them
selves into the same situations
we do today and why shouldn't
they: Is there any reason that
men in 2052 should behave or
react differently from those Of
1952-or 1852? Heitllein says no.
chollenge for Whodunits
Some literary men predict the
eventual ascendancy of space
opera over whodunit- as soon
as the availability Of writing
talent increases a bit. This day
apparently is not far of.
Fantasy and Science Fiction was
cited five times in a recent short
story anthology and a eollec-
ton of 10 science fiction stories
published recently came half
from science fiction magazines
and half from sticks. Mr.. An
goff predicts that it will not be
long before Harpers and Atlantic
start using science fiction. I'm
der his editorship in the 4Os,
the old American Mercury be-
came one of the first quality
magazines to toy with this story
form.
Science fiction definitely Is
growing up and in the process
it is abandoning the Bug-Eyed
Monster Cor Benz, as science
f1ctioneers call him) unless
there is some good reason that
he should be both bug eyed and
a monster. A revealing exam
pie Of this was in the serial,
Revolt Of the Trifiids," in Col
liers year or so ago.
The author took note Of the
fact that the atmosphere Of
Venus is largely carbon dioxide,
a gas that would suffocate any
form Of animal life. But carbon
dioxide nourishes plants. So
the trif1ds-inhabitants of
Venus-were intelligent plants
with the power Of locomotion.
Impossible? Well, there are
plants on earth that have some-
thing like a low form Of intelli-
gence-the Venus fly-trap for
example. And this same plants
ability to snap its leaves shut
on an insect is certainly di-
rected motion of a sort. The
triff1ds were just vastly smarter,
vastly more mobile plants. And
why not?
Anyway, that was the authors
story, and several million readers
were stuck with it.