The False Ducks Blahg

   A couple of blahgs back, WILLIAM MORRISON…HALF-WAY THERE, I posted an update on my attempt to read all 79 short science fiction stories written by Morrison.  At that point, I had read 43 stories and provided a bit of a review for some of them.  I had read up to “The Joker” that had been published in Fantastic Adventures, December 1951.  As I had noted in that previous blahg and the one before that, THE SLY BUNGERHOP ET AL, that very few of Morrison’s short science fiction stories had been published in anthologies and the only other place to read them was by tracking down the original publication, like the Fantastic Adventures from December 1951.  That’s what I’ve been doing.  I’ve found a few online sources to download and read the stories and this is an update on my progress to finish reading the remaining 36 stories. 

   The title of this blahg should explain that I’m not quite finished reading the rest of the stories.  As of the writing of this blahg, I have read 69 of the 79 short science fiction stories.  Here’s a list of what I’ve read in the past few weeks: 

1944:
The Companions of Sirius – Captain Future, Winter 1944

1952:
The Addicts — Galaxy, January 1952
Asylum — Marvel Science Fiction, May 1952
The Luckiest Man Alive! — Science Fiction Quarterly May 1952
Shipping Clerk — Galaxy Science Fiction June 1952
New Universe — Startling Stories July 1952
Temptation — Fantastic Adventures – July 1952
Runaway — Galaxy Science Fiction November 1952
Scent Of Danger — Science Fiction Quarterly – November 1952
Dragon Army — Fantastic Adventures, November 1952
Revenge — Space Stories December 1952

1953:
Forgotten Danger — Science Fiction Adventures February 1953
The Hunters — Space Science Fiction – February 1953
The Gears Of Time — Space Stories – April 1953
The Haters — Rocket Stories, April 1953
Long Life to You, Albert! — Science Fiction Adventures July 1953
Task of Kayin — Planet Stories July 1953
The Weather on Mercury — Galaxy July 1953
The Model of a Judge — Galaxy – October 1953

1954:
Split Personality — Fantastic Story – Winter 1954
G’rilla — Beyond Fantasy Fiction January 1954
Playground — The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1954
The Inner Worlds — The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1954
Heads You Lose — Beyond Fantasy Fiction May 1954
Messenger — Imagination July 1954
There Ought to Be a Lore — Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction – September 1954

   I should note that I had missed “The Companions of Sirius” from the pulp magazine Captain Future, Winter 1944 when I had first started reading the stories.  I had to loop back and read that one and that’s where I will start off.  I’ll admit that I didn’t remember much of this one because it was the first of 26 stories I read this time around.  The earlier stories by Morrison from the early to mid-1940s are very rough and tumble with a dash of romance thrown in for the hero.  The tag line is the best description:  Trapped Aboard a Spaceship by Three Ferocious Criminals, Ross Jameson and Lora Page Struggle to Balk a Sinister Scheme!  By the way, Sirius is the name of the spaceship they’re all on.

   Moving back to the correct chronological order, I started in with seven stories from 1952.  The first of these was “The Addicts” from Galaxy, January 1952.  Not a lot of humour in this one but an interesting story nonetheless of a couple on an asteroid running out of supplies with hostile creatures outside.  The husband is also addicted to a drug that makes him happy and calm and the wife wants him off his addiction.  The solution?  Drug the beasts!  Interesting story but not enough of the Morrison humour for my liking. 

   I won’t go through all of the stories in depth but will highlight where I can.  “Asylum” from Marvel Science Fiction, May 1952 dealt with another form of addiction:  Analysis.  Not much meat to this one. 

“The Luckiest Man Alive!” published in Science Fiction Quarterly, May 1952 is chock full of the Morrison wit.   What’s the prize waiting in store for the winner of the ‘Mister Earth’ contest and is it worth what one entrant has to go through to ensure he wins?  Short but very enjoyable.

“Shipping Clerk” from Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1952 is another humorous story.  A homeless person who is always hungry eats something that makes him even more hungry.  He’s swallowed a shipping mechanism and it plays havoc with his digestion!  Of course there’s aliens behind it all.  Add this to the Morrison funny stories I liked.

“New Universe”  from Startling Stories, July 1952 was another short but interesting story but without the humour.  If you’re a God who is bored with ruling this universe, what makes you so sure the next universe will be even better? 

In “Temptation”, Fantastic Adventures, July 1952, an alien race wants to know if absolute power corrupts absolutely.  One earth scientist is their experiment but sometimes the love of a good woman can ground you.  Interesting story but only average on the Morrison spectrum. 

“Runaway” from Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1952 is another fascinating story told from the viewpoint of a child.  This had worked so well in Morrison’s 1943 story “The Great Invasion.”  In “Runaway” a boy at a boarding school/orphanage dreams of going to the stars and sets out to make it happen.  Does he get there?  Is he even really a boy?  All good questions that are answered in this gentle short story. 

“Scent of Danger” published in Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1952 didn’t really work for me.  A scientist with an advanced sense of smell on an alien world can sense more than danger.  Weaker entry. 

The next entry from 1952, “Dragon Army” from Fantastic Adventures, November 1952, was one of the longer stories that Morrison had published during his lifetime.  This one clocked in at 28,000 words and took up 44 pages in the magazine.  The previous long story of Morrison’s that  I had read was “Two Worlds To Save” published in Startling Stories, September 1942 and it ran 70 pages in that pulp.  “Dragon Army” was more interesting about a scientist trying to prevent his colleague from taking over a planet and causing catastrophe.  There were no Dragons in this one but the reference is to seeds that sprout up as walking trees who do the bidding of the evil colleague.  Middle of the pack type of story but at least it gets a mention on the cover:

The last story from 1952 is “Revenge” which was published in Space Stories, December 1952.  This is a very dark entry.  A Martian mother wants revenge on the people who killed her two sons…and gets it.  No humour in this one! 

   William Morrison’s output in 1953 was significant in that he published one more than he did in the previous year.  In 1952 there were ten published stories and Morrison published eleven in 1953. Previously, when I had been reading the Morrison stories in alphabetical order, I had read “Divinity,” “Date of Publication, 2083 A.D.,” and “Country Doctor.”  I reviewed those in my previous blahg, WILLIAM MORRISON–HALF-WAY THERE.  I’ll now speak about the remaining eight stories from 1953.

In “Forgotten Danger”, Science Fiction Adventures, February 1953, Morrison revisits the homeless/hobo theme he used in “Shipping Clerk” from 1952.  The main character has also lost his memory.  That’s another theme that occurs in Morrison stories.  Aliens, tramps, and danger.  Again, middle of the road.

“The Hunters,” Space Science Fiction, February 1953, is Morrison back again with his wit and charm.  This time it’s aliens versus school girls.  No contest…put your money on the school girls. 

Next up, “The Gears Of Time,” from Space Stories, April 1953 is another lengthy story by Morrison.  It is described as a “complete novel” and runs 76 pages of the Space Stories magazine.  There’s a lot going in this one with different types earthlings and martians moving at different speeds.  I found it overlong and overly confusing in parts.  Again, however, it gets mentioned on the cover…even if the image has nothing to do with the story:

“The Haters,” Rocket Stories, April 1953 is all about criminals who are space explorers.  Their hatred for everyone and everything may be the only thing that saves them in the end.  Again, I rank this somewhere in the middle. 

My William Morrison kick started out with the very funny story “The Sly Bungerhop.”  The next story “Long Life to You, Albert!”, Science Fiction Adventures, July 1953 ranks up there as one of Morrison’s funniest and best.  A woman sets out through various means to kill her husband but nothing works.  He ends up invincible and immortal.  Scientists study the husband to find out what causes his gifts.  The wife could tell them but then she’d be admitting to her guilt!  Track this one down and read it.  You won’t be disappointed.

 

Kayin, the main character from “Task of Kayin” Planet Stories, July 1953, understands the dangers of the scientific discoveries that an earthling scientist is putting to work.  After all, being an alien where these discoveries destroyed his home planet, shouldn’t he know better than anyone else?  What’s an alien to do with such knowledge?  A good story of a stranger in a strange land.

I didn’t really enjoy “The Weather on Mercury” from Galaxy, July 1953.  It was a throwback to 1940s type adventure stories.  The science and the deception were typical in some of Morrison’s stories from a decade before but I expected better from something published in 1953.

Morrison redeems himself with “The Model of a Judge” from Galaxy, October 1953.  The tagline for this story is “Should a former outlaw become a judge–even if he only need pass sentence on a layer cake?”  A reformed carnivore alien gets to judge a bake-off but will everyone trust his decision and will he trust his instincts?  Very pleasing and comical story. 

   

   William Morrison’s published stories in 1954 reached the amazing tally of 13 stories!  He would never again publish that many stories in one year.  I had previously read “Battleground,” “Bedside Manner” and “No Star’s Land.”  I have since read seven more stories from 1954 and have three more to read.  I’ll dedicate the last part of this blahg to those seven stories I read most recently. 

There’s something about psychiatry and analysis that keeps popping up in Morrison’s stories.  I mentioned the analysis theme in “Asylum” from May 1952 and I believe there was another one from the 1940s as well but the title escapes me.  In “Split Personality,” Fantastic Story, Winter 1954, Morrison explores the difficulty of treating the mental health of an alien with two heads and two distinct personalities.  Again, the humour comes through in this one. 

 

“G’rilla”, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, January 1954, is another Morrison story told from the viewpoint of a child.  A very sweet story about a little girl and her littler brother who encounter an alien in their bathroom and no one believes them.

“Playground”, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1954 is a cross between Lost In Space meets Land of The Giants.  A family crash lands on a world of giant creatures and must fix their ship.  Dad’s constantly trying to fix everything and mom’s keeping the kids entertained on an alien planet.  Has the same kind of cuteness as “G’rilla” but the adults learn a thing or two in this one. For some reason, the magazine decided to add overlong introductions to its stories.

The next entry was another story published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.  “The Inner Worlds” from the April 1954 edition is about a symbiotic relationship of organisms inside an alien creature on a distant planet.  It had an interesting premise when humans showed up but not one of Morrison’s best.  It too, received a long introduction. 

 

Morrison was back again with another child narrated story called “Heads You Lose” in Beyond Fantasy Fiction, May 1954.  Every child’s mother has always said you’d forget your head if it wasn’t screwed on or attached to your body or some other variation of that theme.  What happens when a child can roam around with just his head and leaves his body behind?  Another cute and funny story from a child’s viewpoint. 

 

“Messenger” from Imagination, July 1954 features another character who has lost his memory.  He’s on a mission to set something right but he can’t remember what that something is or where the somewhere is he’s supposed to be going.  Enjoyable and the ending is worth the read alone.

Finally, this time around, we end up with “There Ought to Be a Lore” published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,  September 1954.  Another henpecked husband story who thinks he knows better than his wife what’s going on with the population on this strange world.  His knowledge will ultimately get him into trouble and will his wife tell him ‘I told you so’ or will he live long enough to tell her he was right after all? Another comical story from Morrison.

That’s it for now.  I have ten stories left to read from the 79 short science fiction stories by William Morrison.  Let the countdown begin!

 

 

 

   So, this is going to be a quick follow-up blahg to my previous blahg, THE SLY BUNGERHOP ET AL where I talked about the science fiction author, William Morrison.  I detailed how Morrison was an unsung science fiction author who is all but forgotten today.  He wrote 79 short science fiction stories and 3 longer, novel length science fiction stories.  I had set myself a goal to start reading everything in the science fiction category penned by Morrison.  I decided to start off by reading the short stories and I’m happy to say I’ve passed the half-way mark.  This blahg will highlight my efforts and my impressions of some of these stories. 

   I originally had started by reading “The Sly Bungerhop” again.  I once set out to read all of the short science fiction stories of Clifford Simak and had purchased a number of anthologies that carried different stories by Simak.  One of those anthologies, “Mind Partner,”  carried the short story “The Civilization Game” by Simak.  I had owned my copy for a number of years and the only story from that anthology that I had read was a story called “The Sly Bungerhop” by William Morrison.  That’s where my Morrison interest began.  So, I started compiling the list of stories by Morrison and that list can be found in my previous blahg.  From that list, I began to read by alphabetical title and then switched to reading by publication date.  Here are the stories I have read so far with the year of publication and the pulp magazine in which they were published:

1941:
Bad Medicine – Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1941
Plastic Pigskin Daze – Thrilling Wonder Stories – March 1941
Crossroads of the Universe – Startling Stories July 1941
Masters of Chance – Thrilling Wonder Stories August 1941
The Barbarians – Future Fiction August 1941
Undersea Snatch – Captain Future – Fall 1941
Christmas on Mars – Thrilling Wonder Stories December 1941

1942:
The Lion-Hearted – Captain Future – Summer 1942
The Man in the Moon – Startling Stories July 1942
Two Worlds To Save – Startling Stories Sept 1942

1943:
Forgotten Past – Startling Stories January 1943
Garments of Doom – Super Science Stories February 1943
The Great Invasion Startling Stories – March 1943
The Invincible Wrestler – Thrilling Wonder Stories – April 1943
The Wheezers – Captain Future – Summer 1943
Light in Darkness – Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fall 1943
The Monkey and the Typewriter – Startling Stories Fall 1943
The Treasure – Captain Future – Winter 1943

1944:

Get Your Extra Here! – Startling Stories Summer 1944

1949:
Free Land – Thrilling Wonder Stories August 1949
Skin Dupe – Thrilling Wonder Stories December 1949

1950:
Stars Over Santa Claus – Startling Stories, January 1950
Hop O’ My Thumb – Super Science Stories May 1950
Disappointment – Startling Stories, July 1950
The Ancient – Fantastic Story Quarterly – Fall 1950
The Sack – Astounding Science Fiction, September 1950
The Strangest Bedfellows – Thrilling Wonder Stories – June 1950

1951:
Star Slave – with Harry Nix Super Science Stories – June 1951
Monster – Planet Stories July 1951
Vermin – Fantastic Story Magazine, Fall 1951
The Cupids of Venus – Startling Stories, November 1951
The Dark Dimension – Marvel Science Fiction – November 1951
The Joker – Fantastic Adventures – December 1951

1953:
Divinity – Space Science Fiction March 1953
Date of Publication, 2083 A.D. – Fantastic Universe Oct/Nov 1953
Country Doctor – Star Science Fiction Stories, 1953, edited by Frederic Pohl

1954:
Battleground – Amazing Stories, November 1954
Bedside Manner – Galaxy May 1954
No Star’s Land – Fantastic Universe July 1954

1955:
Dead Man’s Planet – Galaxy v09n05 February 1955
Dark Destiny – Startling Stories Spring 1955

1957:
The Sly Bungerhop – Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1957

1958:
A Feast of Demons – Galaxy, March 1958

The switch to reading by publication date has made for more interesting reading as I noticed changes in the way Morrison wrote.  I won’t talk about all the stories I’ve read but I’ll highlight some I enjoyed and possibly others that didn’t work for me.

   “Bad Medicine” from 1941 is, I believe, Morrison’s first published science fiction story.  Here’s the art that was published with the story when it appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1941:

This was a very fun story.  It’s about two hucksters who, like the old medicine shows of old, sell phony elixirs to the locals.  This time the locals are slow-witted aliens on another planet and the potion guarantees an intelligence boost.  What happens when it really works and the aliens become suddenly smarter than the hucksters?  A fun idea that works well and is an enjoyable read. 

   I’ll breeze through the other 1941 stories.  “Plastic Pigskin Daze” was about football and technology.  I didn’t find it all that interesting.  The next chronological story, “Crossroads of the Universe” also wasn’t as good.  It was more a hard-fisted crime story of Mercurian criminals and human smuggling.  It didn’t benefit from the exotic locale or the use of aliens and spaceships.  “Masters of Chance,” published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1941 was a better story. 

A robot learns to gamble, but he’s needed elsewhere to keep a factory going.  Human insight is the only thing that can defeat the robot’s winning streak.  This story was another of those “fun to read” entries.  “The Barbarians” is about war between two factions on a remote colony in space.  How they wage war and why it’s considered barbaric makes it worth reading.  The other two 1941 entries, “Undersea Snatch” and “Christmas On Mars” were just so-so.  Both stories were better suited to be on land or on Earth.  The science fiction adds no real value to the stories. 

   William Morrison’s output in 1942 was less than the previous year with only three stories published.  “Two Worlds To Save” was extremely long.  I’m not sure of the word count but of the 132 pages of Startling Stories, September 1942, “Two Worlds To Save” takes up 70 pages.  It’s clearly a novella and, for me, it ran on for too long.  In the July 1942 edition of “Starling Stories,” Morrison had his short story, “The Man In The Moon” published. 

This is a first-contact story that has a twist at the end.  The science fiction really complements the story but humanity gets in the way.  “The Lion-Hearted” is about a movie producer who is turned into a human-lion hybrid.  It was just okay. 

   1943 was a more prolific year for science fiction stories by Morrison.  The two best stories were “Garments of Doom” and “The Great Invasion.”  The “Garments of Doom” is about an invasion that goes horribly wrong because of diapers.  If that doesn’t intrigue you then nothing will.  “The Great Invasion” is told from the viewpoint of children. I don’t even think adults could have handled it better.

The other stories from 1943 were of the so-so variety.  None much better than the rest, although I still enjoyed reading them.

   1944 only saw the publication of  “The Companions of Sirius” and “Get Your Extra Here!”  Somehow, I missed reading “The Companions of Sirius” so I’ll have to circle back to it.  In “Get Your Extra Here!” a hen-pecked  earth man starts receiving a newspaper from the future and then ends up travelling there.  Yes, the only entry for 1944 but very enjoyable.

   William Morrison did not publish for the next 5 years.  In 1949 he published “Free Land” and “Skin Dupe.”   Both were published in Thrilling Wonder Stories with “Free Land” in the August edition and “Skin Dupe” coming out in September.

“Free Land” is the better of the pair.  Earthlings are offered free land on Mars.  “Simply complete in twenty-five words or less, the following sentence —I’d like to live on Jupiter because— That’s all! Send your completed sentence along with ten units entrance fee, to the following address—”.  The problem is that the soil won’t grow anything.  The lead character is an ‘aeroponic engineer’ and he figures things out for the better.  “Skin Dupe” was less interesting.  It was cosmetics in the future.  Yep, that’s as exciting as it gets.

   There were six stories from Morrison published in 1950 in five different science fiction magazines.  “Disappointment” was the best one of the year.  

“You just can’t stop Horton Perry, the salted nut king, from complaining about that ultra-scientific son-in-law of his!”  Despite all the scientific breakthroughs discovered by his son-in-law, Horton Perry cannot forgive him for not solving the problem of salt ratio in the packages of Perry’s salted nuts.  The other stories were good but “Disappointment” has the humour that puts this story over the top.   “Stars Over Santa Claus,” Startling Stories, January 1950 was another one I missed the first time around.  Having finally read it, I will say it was a minor delight.  Stuck on another planet with invading armies, what you really need is a materializer that works.  You could materialize guns or supplies or even a decent turkey dinner.  Of course, if your materializer doesn’t work then it’s looking to be a dismal Christmas unless someone can fix it.  Fun.

   1951 saw six stories from Morrison in six different magazines.  “Monster,” “Vermin,” and “The Joker” are the highlights.  “Monster” is about dangerous critters on an earth colony and how importing a dog from Earth to deal with things has its advantages and disadvantages.  Great ending on this one.  “Vermin” is like a Land Of The Giants world where the humans are considered as “vermin.”  How can they improve their lot in life and deal with their giant problem?  If you’re a Star Trek Next Generation fan you’ll know about “Q.”  He’s an omnipotent being who plays with the lives of what he sees as lesser beings.  That’s like “The Joker” in Morrison’s story.   

Incidentally, “The Joker” is the most recent story I have read as I progress through these stories chronologically.

   I haven’t read any of his output from 1952 but have read some from 1953.  In 1953 he published “Divinity” in Space Science Fiction, March 1953, and “Date of Publication, 2083 A.D” in Fantastic Universe Oct/Nov 1953.  There were eleven stories in total published by Morrison in 1953 but I have only read these two plus “Country Doctor” which was first published in the anthology “Star Science Fiction Stories” released in February of 1953.  Clearly, “Date of Publication, 2083 A.D.” and “Country Doctor” are the better stories.  “Divinity” is about an escaped criminal who sets himself up as a god on an alien world.  His change into a respectable and respected person is the not result he expected.  “Date of Publication, 2083 A.D.” is about a book from the future that lands in 1950s suburbia and changes everything to humorous consequences.  Morrison’s science fiction stories with this type of humour are always a pleasurable read. “Country Doctor” is just as enjoyable as a homespun country doctor, like the story title suggests, has to diagnose a giant space cow by going on the inside of the beast.  “Country Doctor” is the only Morrison science fiction story not to be published in a pulp magazine.

   I’m not sure what was the best story by Morrison of those published in 1954 that I have read.  This was Morrison’s most prolific year with thirteen science fiction stories published.  The three that I have read are “Battleground,” “Bedside Manner,” and “No Star’s Land.”  Both “Battleground” and “Bedside Manner” had medical themes.  Neither was better than the other.  Here’s he tag for “Battleground”:   

Snatching an appendix neatly and efficiently was Doctor Verner’s dish, so the operation appeared to be entirely routine. But this particular patient was constructed along strange lines, he needed his appendix very badly!    

And here’s the tag for “Bedside Manner”: 

Broken, helpless, she had to trust an alien doctor to give her back her body and mind—a doctor who had never seen a human before!  

“No Star’s Land” was about a couple who are trapped in a “no man’s land” or “no star’s land” in this case between two warring planets.  Not any better or any worse than the other two stories published in 1954

   Morrison’s output was definitely slowing down moving into the mid 1950s.  He would only publish eleven more stories between 1955 and 1958.  From 1955 I have read “Dead Man’s Planet” and “Dark Destiny” The latter story is about castaways having to survive on an inhospitable planet.  Not as good as you’d think.  “Dead Man’s Planet” was definitely more interesting.  A Father and Son who are grieving discover a dog on a planet where nothing else lives.  Why is the dog there and what is the dog grieving?  This is a good solid story.

   In 1956 and 1957, Morrison published two stories in each of those years.  The only one I have read is from 1957 and was the inspiration for my previous blahg and this one.  “The Sly Bungerhop” was published in Galaxy Science Fiction in their September 1957 issue.  It even rated a mention on the cover:

What do I say about this story?  It’s got that Morrison humour that works so well in some of his stories.  It’s about a science-fiction author who pays a visit to a publishing-house editor who has just rejected the author’s latest story about the thirty-first century.  There’s an altercation and the author breaks his glasses and he can hardly see a thing.  He stumbles away and inadvertently summons and boards an elevator that takes him to the distant future…but he can hardly see or understand a thing.  Check out the humorous artwork for the story (click on it for a larger version):

Late in his career and Morrison was still knocking out great stories.  If you only check out one of Morrison’s stories then I suggest this one.

   Finally, 1958, and Morrison publishes his last science fiction story, “A Feast Of Demons” published in Galaxy Science Fiction in March 1958.  This one, I have also read.  It’s full of that Morrison wit and is well written.  The story also received a mention on the cover: 

A scientist discovers the secret to eternal life but what does this mean for Earth if no one ever dies?  A couple of old college buddies hatch the scheme at a reunion.  One’s the scientist and the other is a schemer who should have kept his mother shut!  Not a bad way to end off a science fiction career.  I only wish there had been more.  Well, at least there are for me.  There’s nothing after 1958 but I have the other half of the stories I’ve yet to read in chronological order.  Can’t wait!