Some surprises in this next quartet of Science Fiction books to be reviewed this June. Let Kris and Winona be your guide!
Continue reading [June 18, 1971] Staring into the Abyss: June Galactoscope #2
![[June 16, 1971] Hell House: June Galactoscope #1](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/710616galactoscope-672x372.jpg)
[June 16, 1971] Hell House: June Galactoscope #1
For our first Galactoscope of Science Fiction this month, we've got four books that run the gamut from tedious to delightful! Read on, so you know what to get and to avoid…
Continue reading [June 16, 1971] Hell House: June Galactoscope #1
![[June 14, 1971] Critical Path [<i>New Writings in S-F 19</i>]](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/NW-19-D-672x372.jpg)
[June 14, 1971] Critical Path [New Writings in S-F 19]
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall
Visiting Britain today you would be forgiven for thinking the end times were upon us. In 1957, Harold MacMillan declared we have never had it so good. In 1966, TIME magazine declared London the Swinging City. In 1971, no one seems to have a positive word to say about the country.
Was this really just five years ago?
Annual inflation exceeded 9% last month, levels previously seen when rationing first ended. Unemployment has remained above 3% and rising for the first time since the war. Productivity growth has stalled as the rest of the world zooms ahead.
Booklet put out by the Angry Brigade
Not content to just be scared by right wing hooligans and the seeming emergent civil war in Northern Ireland, the UK has joined the rest of Europe—not by being part of the EEC, but in having their own home grown left-wing terrorist group. The Angry Brigade have not taken any lives as of yet but have been bombing houses of politicians, banks, airlines and others. Whilst I understand their anger at the state of the country, I am not convinced their methods are changing any lives for the better.
Some of the incredibly uninspired noise coming out of radio speakers at the moment
Turning on the radio doesn’t offer much respite either, as fantastic experimentation seems to have been replaced by banalities, such as the aptly named Middle of the Road, the feeble Dawn, the latest crooner Tony Christie, the bubblegum of Blue Mink or Mozart on 45. About the only listenable singles you get on the BBC or NorthSea at a normal hour are Peter Noone’s Oh You Pretty Things and John Kongos’ He’s Gonna Step On You Again. Did the 60s even happen or was it all a fever dream and we were still all listening to Frankie Laine and Doris Day?
Perhaps my grumpiness comes from my personal situation, as I am caught up in the rising tide of unemployment, but this mood seems to be reflected in the latest British anthology, where people are yearning for a different reality to be true, another New Writings volume:
New Writings in S-F 19, ed. by John Carnell
Dedicated to “James Lovell Jr, Fred Haise, John Swigert and the entire Apollo 13 staff for the First Great Space Rescue, April 11 to 17 1970”
Continue reading [June 14, 1971] Critical Path [New Writings in S-F 19]
![[June 12, 1971] A Hole in the Head? (July 1971 <i>Amazing</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/amz-0771-cover-672x372.png)
[June 12, 1971] A Hole in the Head? (July 1971 Amazing)
by John Boston
The July 1971 Amazing, like the previous issue, is fronted by a bright and initially puzzling cover, this one by Dan Adkins, which resolves on closer scrutiny to a stylized human (or robot?) form with a big hole in its forehead and wires plugged into its scalp, with a planet and a crescent . . . something-or-other . . . in the background. Well, it attracts the eye on the newsstand, which I guess is the point, and I’ll leave it there.
by Dan Adkins
Continue reading [June 12, 1971] A Hole in the Head? (July 1971 Amazing)
![[June 10, 1971] The Scrap Bag (<i>Universe 1</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/710614universecover-354x372.jpg)
[June 10, 1971] The Scrap Bag (Universe 1)
by George Pritchard
Cover by Alicia Austin, who also did the interior illustrations.
![[June 8, 1971] All But the Words (July 1971 <i>Galaxy</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/710608galaxycover-653x372.jpg)
[June 8, 1971] All But the Words (July 1971 Galaxy)
by Gideon Marcus
Hugos there
I just got this month's issue of Yandro, and right at the top are this year's Hugo finalists:
I'll compare and contrast these choices at greater length when we do Worldcon coverage in September, but a few things jump out. First off, Tau Zero and Ringworld are on our Stars list, and Tucker's Year of the Quiet Sun is absolutely on mine. But Tower of Glass was mediocre for Silverberg, and Star Light was just awful. Maybe it was the only book those 200,000 Analog subscribers read last year.
There's good agreement on Best Novella, which makes sense—there aren't many novellas these days, so the risen cream is hard to miss. It will be a tough race between Ellison's story and the Leiber, I think. The Koontz is probably the least of them, but all of them are worthy.
I'm not at all surprised that Ted Sturgeon's "Slow Sculpture" made the short story cut. The rest of the stories feel like a random sampling with no forethought. Brillo probably came from The Analog Crowd. As for the others, given that two came from Orbit and one from Nova, pretty clearly those anthologies are getting wide circulation.
Part of the problem is "short story" covers what we would split into three categories. Still, the Hugo voters could have done a lot better.
The usual suspects made the Best Magazine list, but Vision of Tomorrow, which died this year, has one chance to edge them all out. Buck doesn't say why he underlined VoT as his choice, but it may well be because this is his last chance. That said, it was also a consistently good mag.
I'll leave the rest for September, but all in all, it's not a ballot I'm too unhappy with. At the very least, there's a deserving entry in every category.
Hugos here?
Speaking of which, I don't know if there's a Hugo winner in this month's Galaxy, but if the magazine can maintain this level of quality, there might be one or two possibilities this year. Let's take a look, shall we?
cover by Jack Gaughan
Continue reading [June 8, 1971] All But the Words (July 1971 Galaxy)
![[June 6th, 1971] Something Wicked This Way Comes (<i>Doctor Who</i>: The Daemons)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/710606drip-672x372.jpg)
[June 6th, 1971] Something Wicked This Way Comes (Doctor Who: The Daemons)
By Jessica Holmes
First things first: it’s pronounced: DAY-mons.
Second things second, we’re entering into the final story of this year’s Doctor Who run, but the good news is that it’s a good’un. Something terrible is lurking beneath the quaint rural village of Devil’s End, and a certain renegade Time Lord is about to wake it up. The Doctor thinks of himself as a rationalist, but with elemental spirits, demonic forces and even a real life witch to contend with, will he come out the other side a believer? Grab your iron implements and unscrew your salt shakers, and join me as we commune with… The Daemons.
Continue reading [June 6th, 1971] Something Wicked This Way Comes (Doctor Who: The Daemons)
![[June 4, 1971] <em>Night Gallery</em>: "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar" and "The Last Laurel"](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Randy-672x372.jpg)
[June 4, 1971] Night Gallery: "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar" and "The Last Laurel"
by Amber Dubin
Lucky episode number seven of Night Gallery feels more like a short film than some of the others. It’s a little lop-sided in its delivery, containing one segment over 40 minutes long while the second is less than 10, but both feature incredible acting and meaningful plots. It does make sense that these stories would be paired, however, as both feature middle-aged protagonists lamenting changing times and the loss of their glory days.
![[June 2, 1971] Others (July-August 1971 <i>IF</i>)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IF_1971_08-Cover-482x372.jpg)
[June 2, 1971] Others (July-August 1971 IF)
by David Levinson
Hating the other
As I reported back in April, the leaders of West Pakistan have made it clear that they are unwilling to accept a democratically elected parliament which places government in the hands of Bengali people from East Pakistan. At the time I handed in my article, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the East Pakistani Awami League and expected new Prime Minister of all Pakistan, had been arrested; East Pakistan had declared independence as Bangla Desh; the Pakistani army was bombing cities in East Pakistan; and Bengali refugees were streaming toward India, which had opened its border to them. Since then, things have gotten worse.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in military custody in West Pakistan
On April 3rd, Tajuddin Ahmad, the general secretary of the Awami League, met with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to ask for aid. The results of that meeting are unknown, but Ahmad used an Indian plane on a daring mission to find as many high-ranking Awami politicians as he could. Sometime between the 10th and 12th, those men met in Agartala, India to issue a provisional constitution and assign cabinet offices. Sheikh Mujib was named President in absentia and Ahmad was named Vice President and acting President.
Two weeks later, they met in the as yet unoccupied town of Baidyanathtala, close to the Indian border, to take their oath of office. The proclamation of independence was also read out. Fearing attack by the Pakistani army, the new government quickly crossed back into India and established the seat of the government in exile in Calcutta.
Meanwhile, refugees continue to flee toward India by the hundreds of thousands. They bring with them stories of massacres being perpetrated by the Pakistani army, with refugees being rounded up and machine-gunned in large numbers. Apparently, loyalty to Pakistan and adherence to Islam aren’t enough to keep Bengalis from being murdered. The principle of kill them all and let God sort them out has a long tradition.
Tajuddin Ahmad, the current leader of the Bangla Desh government in exile.
Tajuddin Ahmad has issued appeals to neighboring countries to recognize Bangla Desh and to offer unconditional military aid. He has also asked Bengalis living abroad to give whatever aid they can. The war is not the only problem the new country faces. Famine would also seem to be impending. The economies of the two Pakistans are tightly connected and the disruptions is already affecting both halves. One businessman in West Pakistan told a reporter that they had, after all, lost a colony.
That attitude probably sums up the roots of this disaster better than anything else.
Seeking the other
Science fiction often deals with interactions with people who are different from us. This month’s IF really dives into examining others who aren’t like us.
Suggested by “To Seek Another.” Art by Gaughan
Continue reading [June 2, 1971] Others (July-August 1971 IF)
![[May 31, 1971] Red Planet, Here We Come! (US and Soviet Mars Missions) and the June 1971 <i>Analog</i>](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/710531analogcover-672x372.jpg)
[May 31, 1971] Red Planet, Here We Come! (US and Soviet Mars Missions) and the June 1971 Analog
by Kaye Dee
A recent picture of Mars, taken with the new 88-inch telescope on Mount Mauna-kea, Hawaii
Through a Window, Quickly
This year Mars is making its closest approach to the Earth since 1956, reducing the travel time to reach the Red Planet. Now that the launch window for Mars transit has opened, both the United States and the Soviet Union have wasted no time taking advantage of it, each nation sending a pair of spacecraft towards the Red Planet this past month. Once again, The Traveller has kindly given me a space to provide an update on these next steps in the exploration of the Solar System.
Not Plain Sailing
NASA was the first off the mark, with the 8 May (US time) launch of Mariner-8 (also known as Mariner-H), the first of the twin Mariner Mars '71 Mission spacecraft. The Mariner Mars '71 project was planned to consist of two identical spacecraft, each of which would go into orbit around Mars, performing separate, but complementary, missions.
Unfortunately, Mariner-8 didn’t even make it to low Earth orbit, with the upper stage of its Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle tumbling out of control and dumping the spacecraft into the Atlantic Ocean about 350 miles north of Puerto Rico.
The accident investigation has already discovered the cause of the vehicle loss: a malfunction in the pitch rate gyro amplifier.
Second Time Lucky
But at least the second half of Mariner Mars ’71 is proceeding. Mariner-9’s launch was delayed while NASA investigated the loss of Mariner-8, but just a few hours ago as I write this, Mariner-9 (alias Mariner-I) has launched successfully from Cape Kennedy on 30 May and is now on its way to Mars. The space agency is also hoping that it might be able to pull together a back-up mission before the Mars launch window closes, to join Mariner-9 as a replacement for Mariner-8. However, if that doesn’t happen, plans are already being made to combine as much as possible of Mariner-8’s planned observations into Mariner-9’s mission profile.
The current plan is for Mariner-9 to operate for a minimum of 90 days in Mars orbit gathering data on the composition and characteristics of the atmosphere and the topography and characteristics of the planet’s surface. The spacecraft is expected to take about 6,500 photographs of Mars during its first 90 days in orbit.
A full-size display model of the Mariner-9 probe now on its way to Mars. The lost Mariner-8 was identical
Red Stars to the Red Planet
Seven years after its first Mars mission (Mars-1), the Soviet Union is off to a better start than NASA, with both its Mars spacecraft (Mars-2 and Mars-3) safely on their way to the Red Planet – although it has been suggested that Cosmos-419, launched on May 10, may also have been a Mars mission that failed to leave Earth orbit. Speculation is that this spacecraft could have been intended to steal the honour of the first spacecraft into Mars orbit ahead of the Mariner probes by taking a slightly faster trajectory.
As ever with Soviet space missions, very little information has so far been forthcoming about these Mars probes. Mars-2, launched on 19 May, is reported by the TASS news agency to weigh around 10,250 lb, making it considerably larger than the USSR’s most recent Venus probe, Venera-7 (which weighed in at 2,602 lb) and about five times heavier than Mariner 9.
A photo provided by my friends at the Weapons Research Establishment, which is said to show the Mars-2 spacecraft. The "conical hat" at the top of the probe may be the heatshield for a landing vehicle carrying a small rover.
A "Mars Walker"?
Mars-3, which launched on 28 May, would appear to be very similar, if not identical, to Mars-2. TASS has indicated that the two Mars missions might help to clarify whether life might exist on Mars and in what form, as well as investigating the structure of the Martian atmosphere and the nature of the so-called Martian "canals" (although the images from Mariners 4, 5 and 6 already indicate that they do not exist at all).
TASS has not indicated whether Mars-2 or 3 will attempt to land on Mars or just orbit the planet, like Mariner-9, but there are rumors that one of the two probes could be carrying a “Marsokhod” – a vehicle similar to Lunokhod-1 to explore the Martian surface.
This isn't a Russian probe; it's a Mars Rover prototype recently developed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students and faculty—not yet flown of course
Mariner 9 is following approximately the same flightpath as the two Soviet spacecraft, and all three are expected to arrive at Mars in November. Watch out for our mission updates once they arrive in Martian orbit!
And meanwhile, now it's back to The Traveller for his next reviews.
by Gideon Marcus
Science Fact vs. Science Fiction
Isaac Asimov famously gave up writing science fiction vocationally when Sputnik went up in 1957—real-world advances in science had outstripped our imagination when it comes to delivering an exciting story. Well, nothing proves the point better than contrasting the exciting news Kaye just relayed to you and this month's Analog…
Cover by Kelly Freas
