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10/28/2009 10:52:58 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 498
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As well as reading Mildred Clingerman stories and Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl”, I've also been reading those Evelyn E Smith stories I had. She’s another of the women SF writers of the fifties I had wanted to catch up on. Warning: Spoilers Aplenty!
Her first published story was “Tea Tray in the Sky” in the September 1952 issue of Galaxy. When reading it one’s immediate thought is “Robert Sheckley”, but 1952 was the year he was first published too (with quite a lot of stories – he made Robert Reed seem like Ted Chiang): I don’t know if she was inspired by him, or she shared a common sensibility or that was just a common style at the time (though satire was published in the likes of Galaxy I’ve always assumed Sheckley’s style was fairly unique).
“Tea Tray” is about a young man leaving a monastery and making his way in New York; Earth is part of a “United Universe” of many different species. Everyone is supposed to respect the culture/taboos of the other species: when he befriends a New Yorker they decide to go to a café half a mile away, when he suggests they walk the New Yorker is shocked, pointing out nobody walks more than 200 yards out of respect for the Fomalhautions who “never walk”; the young man replies “But they have no feet”, but apparently “that has nothing whatsoever to do with it”; when he protests he is warned that other people may think he’s intolerant. Yes, 1952 and Evelyn E Smith is sending up political correctness! Later on, riding in a bus, it’s announced that a new species has joined the “United Universe” – a cheer goes up – the announcement then adds the new members consider it immodest to go about bare-headed, so those in the bus not wearing hats desperately scramble for something to put on their heads. The problem of so many alien species is highlighted when our hero wants to use a public convenience: his friend says there’s one about here somewhere – the Empire State Building, as its one of the few places big enough to accommodate lavatories for all the members of the “United Universe”.
“The Last of the Spode” (1953) is about the last three humans alive following an alien attack – an old Professor, a young woman and a young man. For vague reasons (“maybe its something to do with the soil”) they are protected from the radiation that prevents the arrival of the conquering aliens until about fifty years time. They spend their time drinking tea (they are British) and politely discussing the situation (“Pity about the Bodleian”); the Professor suggests to the young woman that she and the young man might consider getting together to save the human race, breeding a couple of generations to put up a fight when johnny alien turns up, but she declines – the young man is not her type and frankly, if the choice is between the young man and the extinction of the human race, then the latter is her choice. The young man wanders in: he first tells the the young lady not to worry, when the aliens to turn up he’s saving a bullet for her to save her honour – she points out that as they're aliens that’s hardly a worry; they pour him a drink, the man pauses and says “I’ve just thought of something absolutely ghastly, supposing the tea doesn’t hold out for those fifty years?” For the only time do their upper lips begin to lose their noble stiffness, until the young woman shows her indominitable british pluck and says “The tea will jolly well just have to last”. Apparently Ms Smith was taking the piss out of the British SF of the day!
edited by StevenLP on 10/28/2009
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10/28/2009 10:53:46 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 498
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“Once a Greech” (1957) is about an exploratory earth ship investigating a new solar system; the captain sends his most incompetent officer off to an asteroid belt because he thinks he’ll do no harm there … but the officer discovers a civilisation there. The story is centred around how this officer mistakes the alien’s explanation of their life cycle as a description of their theology/philosophy and converts the crew (except for the Captain). It is a remarkably dysfunctional crew – there’s also the ship’s doctor who is prone to outbursts like “humanity spreads its fell seeds of death and destruction!”, much to the Captain’s irritation.
“Vilbar Party” (1955) is about the first Professor from the civilisation on Saturn to take up a post at an earth University. He – and his friends – expect he will be treated with some hostility by the xenophobic people of earth. In fact he’s treated very well, and the constant friendly attention and invitations to parties becomes a source of irritation. He finds this is mainly because he looks like something called a “teddy bear”. When he goes back to Saturn his friends expect to hear stories of discrimination – “did they refuse to serve you in restaurants” “did they segregate you on buses?” – and refuse to believe him when he reports the earthlings were too friendly: saying he’s being very brave or assuming he’s being discrete (“but I’m your friend, you can tell me, surely”). I was mildly shocked by the flippant references to segregation and not being served in restaurants!
“Not Fit for Children” (1953), an alien ship has crash landed in the Asteroid Belt, buried in the rock. The adults live underground trying to repair the ship, but the kids wander the surface. They have teamed up with a local earthman who ferries in tourists to see the local ‘natives’ (‘Scientists say life couldn’t have evolved on these asteroids, yet here they are - once again, proof those boffins aren’t half as clever as they think they are’) – they’ve built huts and sell the tourists (bogus) cultural artefacts and do (bogus) native war dances (tourist: ‘who are they at war with?’ guide: ‘um ... eh …’ fast thinking child: ‘it’s an historical re-enactment’). They are paid in coins, providing the metal the ship repairs need.
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10/28/2009 10:54:15 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 498
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“Bodyguard” (1956) published under the name ‘Christopher Grimm’ (it also became the title story to a collection of Galaxy novellas); not typical – only occasional humour. A very handsome man, who is accompanied by his beautiful wife (though a little in the shade compared to handsome) is constantly saved whenever he’s attacked (and his arrogance does lead to many assaults), but apparently by a different man each time. It transpires that swapping minds between bodies is not uncommon (using a technology controlled by aliens), though frowned upon, and it’s the same man – in a different body – who’s saving handsome each time. It turns out this ‘bodyguard’ is the original owner of the body, who’s trying to protect it whilst he works out how to get it back. Handsome can’t recognise the bodyguard because he uses a different body each time, but his wife (married after handsome stole the body) can – and there’s a spark between them. The plot become convoluted – desperate for a new body (he’s currently in a terminally ill one) the bodyguard agrees to swap with someone who’s content to swap their healthy body for his ill one, even though he realises this is suspicious. It turns out the other swapee is a murderer with the police after him. Handsome tries to hire the apparent murderer to kill his apparent bodyguard (who he thinks is still in the last body he saw him in).
This seems to be one of the earliest uses in SF of a society in which minds swapping bodies is commonplace – the same year Frederick Pohl did “The Haunted Corpse”, but that’s about a scientist who invents the technique, his excellent “The Day the Icicle Works Closed” has such a society, but it was published later, in 1959. In the late sixties Silverberg (“Passengers”) and Sheckley (“Mindswap”) also had such societies.
There are three Smith stories at Project Gutenberg; two are fairly minor, but the other is interesting – “The Tower” (1958) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23104/23104-h/23104-h.htm here Earth is run by the apparently benevolent Belphins (“the power through which we rule is the power of love! Be happy!”), nobody has to work and everybody is looked after. Nevertheless there are those who believe they should be allowed to shape their own destinies. The main character – Ludovick – is a feckless youth, happy with the status quo, but he has a crush on Corisande Flockhart, who – it turns out – is a member of the human resistance. She manipulates events so that he unwittingly kills the Belphins. The rejoicing populace makes him President and he marries Corisande (both rather against his will). Well, all the machinery operated by the Belphin stops working – there were famines, riots, plagues and everythings' blamed on Ludovick (“even that year's run of bad weather”); Ludovick is also aware that Corisande’s machinations might have killed him “And no husband likes to think that his wife thinks he's expendable; it makes him feel she doesn't really love him”
The story ends:
“So, in thirtieth year of his reign as Dictator of Earth, Ludovick poisoned Corisande—that is, had her poisoned, for by now he had a Minister of Assassination to handle such little matters—and married a very pretty, very young, very affectionate blonde. He wasn't particularly happy with her, either, but at least it was a change.”
There is a slight Vancean feel to the story, particularly the end. Its too long though.
edited by StevenLP on 10/28/2009
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10/28/2009 1:16:17 PM
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karlb
Posts 381
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I remember liking Smith's stories back in the day though none of them really knocked my socks off. Think I read most of them in assorted Galaxy anthologies - Galaxy reprinted a lot of material. The Sheckley comparison is an apt one, IIRC.
Never would have guessed that she had written "Bodyguard," which is the only one I've re-read recently.
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10/28/2009 7:35:53 PM
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Rich Horton
Posts 244
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I enjoyed "Bodyguard", and also had no idea until rather later that "Christopher Grimm" was Evelyn E. Smith.
One somewhat earlier story about bodyswapping is Jack Vance's "Chateau D'If", which originally appeared in THRILLING WONDER STORIES for August 1950, under the title "New Bodies for Old", less euphonious than Vance's preferred title -- and rather giving the game away too!
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10/28/2009 9:34:27 PM
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Thomas R
Posts 2725
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I don't think I've even heard of her, which is odd as I was looking for early women in SF once. (My Dad's collection of old SF paperbacks is almost all male writers exempting Katherine MacLean and Andre Norton)
--
To God be humble, to thy friend be kind, and with thy neighbors gladly lend and borrow His chance is tonight it might be thine tomorrow - William Dunbar
I don't lend money to eight-year-olds, at least not anymore. And if you see Billy tell him I'm looking for him - Coach McGuirk
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10/29/2009 1:40:03 PM
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StevenLP
Posts 498
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KarlB, six of the stories I read were from Galaxy anthologies.
Rich – blast, forgot Chateau D’If!
Thomas: If you can’t be a big name and be regularly reprinted, you need to produce at least one “classic” story (it doesn’t necessarily have to be a great story, just have got “classic” attached to it at some point!); nevertheless Smith was anthologised seven times in the eighties and six times in the nineties though three of those were in the revived Galaxy), but this involved eleven different stories rather than a single, constantly reappearing one, that becomes familiar through repetition.
I wouldn’t argue that Smith is a forgotten major writer (like I would with Margaret St Clair), but she was a good, interesting one. Perhaps even important: when people talk of the “satirical” writers of the fifties, in Galaxy in particular, the names mentioned are invariably male - looking (on the locus index) at the contents of the ten Galaxy collections published before 1963, there are so few women I can easily list them*:
Miriam Allen deFord (one appearance)
Margaret St. Clair (two appearances)
Sylvia Jacobs (one appearance)
Katherine MacLean (two appearances)
Elizabeth M. Borgese (two appearances)
Rosel George Brown (one appearance)
Evelyn E Smith (SIX appearances)
*And two of those collections were massive!
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10/29/2009 7:02:30 PM
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John Thiel
Posts 1462
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That there was an Evelyn Gold listed on the staff of Galaxy at one time and as the largest amounts of Evelyn Smith's stories appeared in Galaxy led some to believe that Evelyn Smith was H.L. Gold's wife.
--
Surprising Stories has a slush pile.
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10/30/2009 6:01:14 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 498
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John Thiel wrote:
That there was an Evelyn Gold listed on the staff of Galaxy at one time and as the largest amounts of Evelyn Smith's stories appeared in Galaxy led some to believe that Evelyn Smith was H.L. Gold's wife.
Interesting: they probably thought Horace helped with the stories too! It kind of backs my suggestion that part* of the reason she has been forgotten may be because satire was largely considered a male thing (its unfeminine for a woman to be cynical).
When looking at the Locus Index for 1984-1998 I realised haven't previously checked it to see if I had any of her stories in collections for that era: I found I had another three. Two were competent short-shorts (from '100 short short fantasy tales'); the third was a story from "The New Eves", a 1994 anthology of SF by women writers from the 1930's to 1980's. It includes Smith's "The Captain's Mate' from F&SF (1956), the editors describing it as perhaps one of their "more controversial selections": its about a female alien captain and her newly hired all male human crew: she is trying to delay the ship getting to its destination, but clearly hasn't the first idea about the ship or how to run it. She frets and panics and the humans are near mutiny. Then she reveals to them why she was delaying: her husband was drunk and if they'd arrived at their destination whilst he was still drunk they'd lose possession of the ship, so she had been distracted by worry: but now he'd recovered and she can now focus on running the ship. The twist is, he's actually the male: his wife (the captain) was in a drunken stupour so he'd put on her attire (some form of chitin) to cover for her until she sobered up - he has no clue as to how to run a spaceship; however, now she'd regained conciousness and was sober, she could put on the female attire he'd been wearing and take over. Given the claim to controversy made by the editors, this was a bit of an anti-climax as - though I can see how this reversal of stereotypes may have been daring in 1956 (when apparently some SF readers thought the only reason a woman appeared in a magazine so often was because she had married the editor!) but surely not in 1994? Neverthess an interesting story.
* accepting another part may also be that she wasn't quite as good as tenn, pohl or sheckley
edited by StevenLP on 10/30/2009
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11/1/2009 2:13:22 AM
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Thomas R
Posts 2725
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StevenLP wrote:
KarlB, six of the stories I read were from Galaxy anthologies.
Rich – blast, forgot Chateau D’If!
Thomas: If you can’t be a big name and be regularly reprinted, you need to produce at least one “classic” story (it doesn’t necessarily have to be a great story, just have got “classic” attached to it at some point!); nevertheless Smith was anthologised seven times in the eighties and six times in the nineties though three of those were in the revived Galaxy), but this involved eleven different stories rather than a single, constantly reappearing one, that becomes familiar through repetition.
I wouldn’t argue that Smith is a forgotten major writer (like I would with Margaret St Clair)
I'd heard of St. Clair, but I hadn't heard of Smith. Forgotten I guess is in the eye of the beholder.
--
To God be humble, to thy friend be kind, and with thy neighbors gladly lend and borrow His chance is tonight it might be thine tomorrow - William Dunbar
I don't lend money to eight-year-olds, at least not anymore. And if you see Billy tell him I'm looking for him - Coach McGuirk
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11/2/2009 10:20:36 PM
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John E. Rogers, Jr.
Posts 1325
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Hey, Steven.
Downloaded Smith's "The Blue Tower" from Project Gutenberg and read it this evening on the Kindle. Mildly amusing. Comical - almost silly - humor with a bit of bite - there at the end. The Belphin's (Belphins'?) "defense system" had a ludicrous Keystone Kopishness. The idea that his (their?) security was only keyed to "acts of hostility" was marginally less believable than the notion of Corisande marrying Ludovick.
Seemed inferior to the much more interesting stories you've summarized (admirably) - like "Tea-Tray in the Sky" and "Not Fit for Children" - which sound excellent.
Too bad there's not a Smith collection. Tracking her down antho by antho? Well . . . .
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11/3/2009 12:27:25 AM
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karlb
Posts 381
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John, honestly I don't think it would be worth the effort. Evelyn E. Smith was a solid, competent pro, IMO, didn't really have the mojo.
Somebody who did have it, also IMO, was Katherine MacLean. You might want to give her collection THE DIPLOIDS a look, though I'm kinda shaky on this recommendation because it's been eons.
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11/3/2009 6:06:01 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 498
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John
It does seem the SF stories on Project Gutenberg are an author's minor work (the stuff they'd rather forget about and so never trouble to renew the copyright*); The Tower is minor, but with a nice ending.
Karlb
I disagree (though not strongly): she was a pro and so published lots of minor work (unlike Clingerman who only published a few stories; presumably when she felt she had something to say, rather than for money), but of the Smith stories I did read there were three or four that were memorable. I assume there are plenty of uncollected stories and that a percentage will be similarly good (this is a problem with there being no collection: there was no opportunity for her to lay out what she considered her best work).
Being primarily a satirist there is perhaps a lack of emotional depth to most of her stories, which mean they resonate less than - for example - the best of Clingerman (but that could be said of Sheckley or Kornbluth). On a 'History of SF' level I think the fact that Smith is one of the few fifties female SF satirists is cause to remember her; as is that, politically, she seems right of centre when most fifties SF satirists were left of centre. But, as I said earlier, I don't consider her a 'lost' major author - more a good one who has several stories worth a re-read.
* pre-internet this had not great consequence: who'd wants to publish third rate stories even if there's no copyright charge? Nowadays not renewing means the stories you'd like to bury could be put on public display! I suspect contemporary authors will ensure even their rubbish stories have their copyright renewed because of this.
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11/3/2009 8:30:43 AM
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karlb
Posts 381
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Steven, I'll defer to your judgement here, it's much more recently-based than mine. I'm going on decades-old memories, not the most reliable things in the world.
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11/3/2009 11:58:54 AM
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John Thiel
Posts 1462
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The "Big Three" in the 50s were Galaxy, F&SF and Astounding. Everyone appearing in any of these three magazines had a bid for being considered a major sf writer. EESmith (I mean Evelyn, not Doc) appeared frequently in Galaxy. As a child, I found her stories some of the best. Recalling them, I'd bring the social turbulence where the wild fanatic is gunned down in the presence of the ambassador up as a scene I liked; the ambassador expresses surprise that the gunning would take place on an apparently normal day. He's told the fellow will come back to life but won't have any status.
--
Surprising Stories has a slush pile.
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11/3/2009 12:25:12 PM
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StevenLP
Posts 498
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John
Pleased to read your comments: the number of stories I'd read by her was fairly small (barely double figures: and some of them were short-shorts or out of copyright), so it was quite possible that the three or four that impressed me may have been her ownly memorable ones; from what your saying there's several more also of note.
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11/4/2009 9:01:36 AM
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John E. Rogers, Jr.
Posts 1325
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karlb wrote:
John, honestly I don't think it would be worth the effort. Evelyn E. Smith was a solid, competent pro, IMO, didn't really have the mojo.
Somebody who did have it, also IMO, was Katherine MacLean. You might want to give her collection THE DIPLOIDS a look, though I'm kinda shaky on this recommendation because it's been eons.
Funny you should mention THE DIPLOIDS, Karl. I was all set to buy that book, to continue my glacially paced survey of older generation female SF writers, when Zenna Henderson popped onto the scene - via Bill - and jumped to the head of the line.
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11/4/2009 11:44:44 AM
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karlb
Posts 381
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If you ever get to THE DIPLOIDS, John, would be most interested in what you have to say. When MacLean was good, she was very very good IIRC.
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11/4/2009 2:17:14 PM
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Thomas R
Posts 2725
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John E. Rogers, Jr. wrote:
karlb wrote: John, honestly I don't think it would be worth the effort. Evelyn E. Smith was a solid, competent pro, IMO, didn't really have the mojo.
Somebody who did have it, also IMO, was Katherine MacLean. You might want to give her collection THE DIPLOIDS a look, though I'm kinda shaky on this recommendation because it's been eons. Funny you should mention THE DIPLOIDS, Karl. I was all set to buy that book, to continue my glacially paced survey of older generation female SF writers, when Zenna Henderson popped onto the scene - via Bill - and jumped to the head of the line.
The Diploids was about the only book or collection my Dad had that was obviously by a woman. Later I discovered Andre Norton was a woman. He might have had some Leigh Brackett too, but I'm not sure.
--
To God be humble, to thy friend be kind, and with thy neighbors gladly lend and borrow His chance is tonight it might be thine tomorrow - William Dunbar
I don't lend money to eight-year-olds, at least not anymore. And if you see Billy tell him I'm looking for him - Coach McGuirk
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