Among these many novels were at least a half dozen examples of what might be called the un-novel, composed of, say, two short stories, a novelette and a novella assembled from various magazines and presented as a novel. The practice is more advantageous to authors than to readers, though at its best it can result in, if not a novel, at least a memorable collection of stories, like Zenna Henderson’s Pilgrimage, which presents at last in permanent form the chronicle of those interstellar castaways, the People.
The year 1961 was not totally devoid of good s-f novels. At least two were genuine Golden Age stuff — stimulating thought fleshed in good fiction. A Fall of Moondust showed that Arthur C. Clarke, now writing mostly non-fiction, is still uniquely the master of immediate day-after-tomorrow realism; and Daniel F. Galouye’s Dark Universe brought off a virtuoso technical trick in writing plausibly of a culture which knew nothing of the sense of sight. Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, skillfully expanded from its 1953 magazine version, was a splendidly enjoyable fantasy-romance, in the tradition of Tolkien or T. H. White, with a gimmick or two that might possibly justify its publication as science fiction. Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time, Andre Norton’s Star Hunter, Brian Aldiss’ The Primal Urge and especially John Wyndham’s Trouble with Lichen had their welcome distinctions.
Philip José Farmer’s The Lovers, sensationally controversial when it appeared in Startling a decade ago, proved somewhat disappointing in its long-awaited book form, largely because Farmer has, in the interval, done even better jobs of handling such provocative xeno-sexual-symbolic material. But the year’s major disappointment was Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, in which Heinlein regrettably abandoned storytelling for sermonizing.
Particularly notable among books of short stories were Poul Anderson’s Strangers from Earth, for the high quality of these hitherto unreprinted stories from Anderson’s early days; Fredric Brown’s Nightmares and Geezenstacks, for the technical brilliance of its under-1,000-words vignettes; and Mildred Clingerman’s A Cupful of Space, the first book by s-f’s glowing prophetess of warmth and love. But these— like other good collections by Fritz Leiber, Richard Mathe-son and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. — were composed chiefly of stories published in magazines a number of years ago; the year’s anthologies of brand-new short material reflected s-f’s contemporary state of weariness.
A major event in non-scientific fantasy was the rediscovery, for the English-speaking, of Nikolai Leskov (1831–1895), whose Selected Tales, newly translated by David Magarshack, include the novel The Enchanted Wanderer, as rich in inventive incident, at once as intensely Russian and as broadly human as a mob scene by Mussorgsky.
Fantasy anthologies notable for their intelligent patterning include Things with Claws, by Whit and Hallie Burnett, on the intimate and perilous relation of man and beast; Tales of Love and Horror, by Don Congdon, on the even more intimate and perilous relation of man and woman; and The Unexpected, by Leo Margulies, an interesting archeological dig in the era between the death of Unknown Worlds and the birth of F & S F, when Weird Tales was the only magazine market for fantasy.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Abbreviations:
Amz Amazing Stories
ASF Analog Science Fact & Fiction
Aud Audit
Dude The Dude
Fant Fantastic Stories
F&SF Fantasy and Science Fiction
Gal Galaxy Science Fiction
Gent Gent
If If Science Fiction
LHJ The Ladies’ Home Journal
McC McCall’s
Metr Metronome
Mlle Mademoiselle
MN New Worlds (British)
Plby Playboy
Rog Rogue
SEP The Saturday Evening Post
SciF Science Fantasy (British)
Vog Vogue
“ACOS” A Cupful of Space, Mildred Clingerman (Ballantine, 1961)
“COTM” Call Out the Malicia, John Anthony West (Dutton, 1961)
“F&SF:11” The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Eleventh Series, ed. Robert P. Mills (Doubleday, 1961)
“Sard” Sardonicus and Other Stories, Ray Russell (Ballantine, 1961)
“SCTH” So Close to Home, James Blish (Ballantine, 1961)
“TIM” The Infinite Moment, John Wyndham (Ballantine, 1961)
* * * *
vance aandahl “Cogi Drove His Car Through Hell,” F&SF, Aug.
george sumner albee “Baby Was One,” McC, Apr.
Brian w. aldiss “Hothouse,” F&SF, Feb.
-----, “Moon of Delight,” NW, Mar.
poul Anderson “Hiding Place,” ASF, Mar.
-----, “Night Piece,” F&SF, Jul.
Christopher anvil “Identification,” ASF, May
-----, “No Small Enemy,” ASF, Nov.
russell a. apple “Astronaut Aweigh,” LHJ, Jan.
isaac asimov “Playboy and the Slime God,” Amz, Mar.
J. g. ballard “Deep End,” NW, May.
alan Barclay “Haircrack,” WW, May
-----, “The Scapegoat,” NW, Apr.
Charles beaumont “Blood Brother,” Plby, Apr.
thomas berger “Professor Hyde,” Plby, Dec.
john berry “The One Who Returns,” F&SF, Mar.
lloyd biggle, jr. “Monument,” ASF, Jun.
charles minor blackford “The Valley of the Masters,” If, Sep.
james blish “A Dusk of Idols,” Amz, Mar.
-----, “The Abattoir Effect,” “SCTH.”
robert bloch “Crime Machine,” Gal, Oct.
-----, “Philtre-Tip,” Rog, Mar.
neal brooks “The Peacemaker,” Rog, Oct.
rosel george brown “The Ultimate Sin,” F&SF, Oct.
john brunner “The Analysts,” SciF, Aug.
algis budrys “Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night,” Gal, Dec.
Walter bupp “Card Trick,” ASF, Jan.
OTIS KIDwell burger “The Zookeeper,” F&SF, Jul.
harold calin “A Time to Die,” Amz, Jun.
Arthur c. clarke “At the End of the Orbit,” If, Nov.
-----, “Before Eden,” Amz, Jun.
-----, “Death and the Senator,” ASF, May.