1925

See the original 2015 image here.

 A tradition here at the wikifiction blog is to begin each new year with a look back into the history of the science fiction genre. To begin the year, I make space for an examination of the work of a Sci Fi story teller who was born 100 years ago (for 2024, see 1924). This year, the focus is on Katherine MacLean (1925 – 2019).

I've previously blogged about some of the stories that were written by Katherine MacLean. Here in this blog post, I won't comment on MacLean's stories such as "Defense Mechanism" that I have previously commented on in this blog. In the past, I've occasionally had fun imagining that in an alternate Reality, MacLean edited a science fiction magazine called "Masculinena" (see the two images that are shown to the right and below this paragraph) and even launched a television network called CERA. The human figures on this page were generated by Mr. Wombo while the "futuristic" car in Figure 2 (below) was generated by Gemini.

See the original image source

 First Contact. Published in the August 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction was MacLean's story "Pictures Don't Lie", a story about first contact with space aliens. The aliens have already been in communication by radio, but today they are going to land on Earth. 

In the past, I have imagined that in an alternate reality, MacLean wrote a story called "Invasion of the Zeptites" (see the image to the left). Maybe if an artificial life-form was composed of zeptites, not biological cells, all of its life processes would be very much faster than is the case for we biological creatures. In "Pictures Don't Lie", the aliens not only live at an accelerated rate (like the Scalosians), they are also microscopic (as were the people in "Surface Tension" by James Blish). For my own Exodemic Fictional Universe, I've previously imagined "Nanoville", a place where nanoscopic replicoid copies of people could reside. Maybe the tiny replicoids in Nanoville also live at an accelerated rate?

image by Mr. Wombo

 Positive Feedback. In the September 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction was MacLean's story "The Snowball Effect". "The Snowball Effect" reminds me of Isaac Asimov's Psychohistory. In "The Snowball Effect", a sociologist makes a small change to a little town's local sewing circle and then that group grows rapidly and soon it seems on the verge of taking over the world. 

There are also some similarities between "The Snowball Effect" and the MNC of Asimov's time travel novel, The End of Eternity. Taking advantage of the "butterfly effect", and with careful planning, might it be possible to make some tiny change in the world that would lead to some particular desired future? In The End of Eternity, Asimov's character Andrew Harlan was depicted as having the ability to unerringly identify an MNC for the Maximum Desired Response. In my own stories, some people receive information from the future by way of the Sedron Time Stream, allowing them to select a successful path into the future.

Figure 1. Editorial blurb for "The Diploids".

Figure 2. Gemini generated this Sci Fi scene
for 1925: looking to the future of air-cars.
Mr. Wombo generated the hitchhiking girl
 of the future and faces for the couple in the car.

 Genetic Engineering. MacLean's story "The Diploids" was published in the April 1953 edition of Thrilling Wonder Stories, with  interior artwork by Virgil Finlay. I love science fiction stories in which "alien" (see Figure 1, above) creatures are found to be secretly living among humans, but exactly what is a "diploid" in MacLean's story? Or, as MacLean puts the words into Mart's thought bubble (after a second person calls him a diploid) "What in the name of Howling Entropy was a diploid?"

"The Diploids" was set in the future, in a time when everyone casually has video phone calls... and everyone still smokes... and there is mention the Martians in conversation, but Mart Bredan is sensitive to such things... he was born with extra fingers and he has other anatomical abnormalities, including a third eye on the back of his head.

see this original cover art

Things get dicey when Doc Brown a crazy inventor starts trying to kill Mart. But then the friendly Dr. Sheers calmly tells Mart, "You diploids are always fascinating." After living as a strange genetic mutant for 28 years and never hearing the term "diploid", within 24 hours Mart comes across three distinct groups (including "super diploids" who want to take over the world, or something) that all know about "diploids". Further, readers are told that hundreds of thousands of embryos that share Mart's genome have been produced and used for genetics research during the past 30 years. And the newpapers are full of ads showing six-fingered hands (such as the one drawn by Finlay for Figure 4, below), ads which Mart never noticed, until today. The whole improbable and meandering "plot" of "The Diploids" reminds me of Inter Ice Age 4 which features several secret conspiracies of international scope and world-shaking importance... which nobody notices.

see the cover art by Clarence Doore

 Hypnotic. "The Diploids" also features hypnotism. According to this page, hypnosis had been included in written stories and some films from the mid-1800s to the 1920s. In "The Tissue-Culture King" by Julian Huxley, hypnotism could be used to put human brains into a state that would allow for telepathic linkages (Huxley's story first published in 1926). 

In Slan, A. E. van Vogt introduced the idea of magical "hypnotism crystals" that could be used by a slan to dominate the mind of a human (1940). Also from 1953 was "The Biological Revolt" by Philip Farmer which featured "post-hypnotic block" as a plot element. 

The image to the left depicts a green space alien who hypnotizes an Earthling, forcing him to work tirelessly for the alien overlords.

Figure 3. Generated by Mr. Wombo.

There were two pieces of internal art for "The Diploids" drawn by Virgil Finlay (see Figures 4 and 5. below). I manually colorized those images and merged them together. I then had Mr. Wombo make a version of the scene that is shown to the right.

For "The Diploids", I believe that MacLean was imagining a futuristic type of biotechnology that allowed for the creation of haploid mammalian cells in biology research laboratories. Then after stable lines of cultured haploid cells were created, they could somehow be used to create thousands of genetically identical diploid embryos from two parental haploid lineages... or something. Most of those embryos were used for laboratory genetics research and killed before growing past 5 months of embryonic life.

Figure 4. Internal art for "The Diploids".

  In the fictional future society of "The Diploids", most of the "cloned" humans were used for laboratory research and the embryos were never viable. However, Mart Bredan was allowed to grow to adulthood and only at age 28 did he realize that his parents were not his biological parents.

 You Can't Drug Me! Mart discovers that since his "parental" cells grew for many generations in cell culture, he has the ability to inactivate chemical substances that are injected into his body. Similarly, any body structure (such as his third eye) is automatically made functional and healthy. In the end, MacLean suggests to readers that Mart will be able to pass on his amazing genes to future generations and he tells the fetching Nadine that he is ready to make mutant babies with her.

Figure 5. The second internal art
illustration for "The Diploids".

Since MacLean was writing "The Diploids" at just about the time when the DNA double helix was discovered and before anyone realized how easy it is to clone mammals, I'll give her plenty of elbow room for constructing a fantasy story about genetic engineering.

The image to the right by Virgil Finlay (Figure 5) seems to show a human fetus at the center of a network of tentacles. Mr. Wombo likes to draw tentacles (exaggerated in Figure 3, above). Sadly, MacLean never explained how human embryos were routinely maintained in the laboratory for five months.

The editorial blurb (Figure 1, above) and mention of Martians in the first few pages of the text of "The Diploids" got me ready for a story about disguised aliens secretly living among the human population of Earth, but then it turned out that the "truth" about Mart was even less probable than hidden aliens: Mart was the result of a super really (we mean it!) secret human genetics experiment.

Why aliens visit Earth.

 Full Confession. I started skimming "The Diploids" after the fantastically beautiful Nadine left the stage after the first few pages of the story. I suspect that when Doc Brown the crazy inventor starts trying to kill Mart, he has been hypnotized by the Super Diploids, all as part of a plot to get Mart so upset that he will murder the crazy inventor and get himself and his sperm cells locked up in prison for the rest of his life... or something. In that way, the Super Diploids will not have to face competition from the genetically superior Mart and his children.

In the end, the crazy inventor is made to look like an insane UFO nut as he keeps ranting about evil Martians (including Mart) who are invading Earth; finally the police cart him away. 

At the end of the story, Mart is left in peace and can get down to the serious work of making babies with Nadine.

Space station by Gemini,
astronaut by Mr. Wombo,
pink toy by Sam.

 Into the Asteroids. MacLean published a short story called "Collision Orbit" in the May 1954 issue of Science Fiction Adventures. One of the unfortunate aspects of science fiction story telling is that so many writers depicted human adventures among the asteroids in similar terms to Western sagas about adventures in the frontier of the American West. Thus, for "Collision Orbit" we are told about the owner of a general store (called SAM'S) located in the Asteroid Belt who is confronted by a band of criminals who recently escaped from prison on Earth. 

 Spoilers. SAM'S is a futuristic general store that attracts customers from across millions of miles of space with the help of a neon sign. In all fairness, MacLean tells readers that SAM'S also uses radio beacons. "Collision Orbit" features an emergency spacesuit and an escape through a garbage chute. Most of the criminals end up dead in a shootout, but the one criminal with some brains is invited to join the ranks of the settlers of the asteroids.

Image generated by Gemini.

Figure 6. Well-known?

  Actual Martians. In the February 1955 issue of Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, there was "The Prize" by Katherine MacLean and Michael Porjes. As shown in Figure 6, at the start of the story, readers were told that the two authors of the story were both well-known, and American. 

Figure 7. Martians travel millions of miles to
visit Earth only to be told, "Go home!".

Who was Michael Porjes? I wonder if "Michael Porjes" was a made-up name used by Forrest James Ackerman. According to Wikipedia, Ackerman had a stepson named Michael Porges, but other online sources (example) list the name as "Michael Porjes". In any case, "The Prize" is a very short joke story. Some Martians visit Earth and get caught up in a goofy contest and win a trip to Mars.

The Martians (who are blue) drive their rover (with darkly tinted windows) off the mother ship and they start exploring Earth. The image to the right (Figure 7) was generated by Mr. Wombo as a depiction of Martians arriving on Earth in 1955.

Figure 8.

 Lost in translation. Back in 2021, I blogged about A Case of Conscience which was published by James Blish in 1953. That story by Blish has similarities to MacLean's story "Unhuman Sacrifice" that was published in the November 1958 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. For "Unhuman Sacrifice", the futuristic interstellar spaceship that takes our heroes to a brave new world conveniently comes equipped with a language translating machine, which allows a missionary (Winton) to quickly start preaching to the natives of a newly discovered exoplanet. The natives go through some sort of metamorphosis process when it starts raining: this involves hanging the young upside down in the trees (for Mr. Wombo's version of the story's interior art by John Schoenherr, see Figure 8).

For A Case of Conscience, Blish imagined sentient aliens who laid eggs and how the biology of the aliens was offensive to Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez, S. J. (Society of Jesus), a "Jesuit biologist" from Peru. I would not be surprised if MacLean read A Case of Conscience and then simply had to write her own story about a missionary preaching to aliens. Alternatively, MacLean may have written her story first, failed to get it published, and then was finally able to get her story published after Blish's story became famous.

Figure 9. Editorial blurb for "Interbalance".

Poise and counterpoise.

In the October 1960 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction was "Interbalance" by Katherine MacLean. I've previously blogged about the Uranium Age of science fiction (1950 - 1983). "Interbalance" fits nicely into Uranium Age science fiction: it takes place after a nuclear war, when mutations among humans are common and most babies don't survive due to radiation-induced mutations. 

The solution to Humanity's problems for the remaining people who survived the nuclear war is to breed rapidly and hope that a few people will survive into the future. The cute Narline Robinson tries to seduce Leo, but Leo's "old man" would rather just shoot Narline with his rifle. When the old man drops dead, Narline is happy and she praises the glory of "Interbalance" as it exists in the world, which will now allow her to make babies with Leo.

Multiple personality brain.

 Collaboration. "The Other" by Katherine MacLean was published in the July 1966 issue of New Worlds SF. This story is of interest to me because I've long been intrigued by Jack Vance's character Howard Treesong in The Book of Dreams. Vance depicted Treesong as having multiple "personalities" bottled up inside himself. I like to imagine that this could be explained by there being a way for nanoscopic artificial life forms to become attached to people. In "The Other", there are two people who each have two "personalities", an inner one who never speaks and an "outer" one that speaks to other people. I guess MacLean was suggesting that there is nothing wrong with having two minds in one brain.

image source

As discussed above (Figure 3), I enjoy using old illustrations (such as those shown in Figures 4 and 5) as reference images for making new AI-generated images. Below is a discussion I had with the Claude chatbot about this practice.

Me: Claude, are you familiar with online communities such as DeviantArt? Can you provide any insights into the conflict that has arisen between 1) one group of people in the DeviantArt community who enjoy AI-generated art and 2) another group of people who seem to despise AI-generated art?

Claude: Yes, I'm familiar with DeviantArt as one of the longest-running and largest online art communities, founded in 2000. The conflict you're describing reflects a broader tension that has emerged across many creative communities with the rise of AI art generation tools.

This conflict stems from several core concerns and perspectives. The traditional artists who oppose AI-generated art often express worry about the fundamental nature of artistic creation and authenticity. They argue that AI systems are trained on vast databases of human-created artwork, often without explicit consent from the original artists, which raises questions about creative ownership and attribution. These artists may see AI art as a form of automated reproduction that could devalue the human elements of artistic creation - the years of practice, the emotional investment, and the unique perspective that comes from human experience.

On the other hand, proponents of AI art view these tools as simply the latest evolution in artistic technology, similar to how photography was once controversial when it emerged in the 19th century. They argue that AI art generators are tools that still require human creativity and direction to produce meaningful work. These artists often emphasize that choosing prompts, iterating on results, and curating outputs all require artistic judgment and vision.

generated by Mr. Wombo

 The economic dimension of this conflict shouldn't be overlooked. Many traditional artists on DeviantArt rely on commissions and art sales for income. The ability of AI to rapidly generate images that might compete with human-created work has created legitimate concerns about economic displacement. Some artists worry that clients might opt for cheaper, faster AI-generated alternatives rather than commissioning original artwork.

The situation is further complicated by how some AI art generators have been trained. Traditional artists have raised valid concerns about their artwork being used without permission to train AI systems, effectively helping create tools that might compete with their own work. This has led to discussions about consent, compensation, and the ethical implications of how AI training data is collected.

DeviantArt itself has tried to navigate these tensions by implementing features like AI art labels and allowing artists to opt out of having their work used for AI training. However, these measures haven't fully resolved the underlying conflict between these two perspectives on artistic creation and authenticity.

Would you be interested in exploring any particular aspect of this conflict in more detail? For instance, we could discuss the technical aspects of AI art generation, the economic implications for working artists, or historical parallels to other technological disruptions in art?

Me: Claude, provide ethical guidance for the following conflict. I can read an old science fiction story that was written by Isaac Asimov and then be stimulated to write my own new science fiction story. I feel no guilt in having the idea for my new story originate from my reaction to Asimov's old story. I can take a digitized scan of a page in an old pulp science fiction magazine with interior artwork by an artist such as Virgil Finlay and then use that scanned image as a reference image with software such as WOMBO Dream. I can then use the AI-generated image (that was produced by using the Virgil Finlay reference image) as an illustration for my new science fiction story which I then post on my personal blog. However, I feel some guilt for having used the artwork of Virgil Finlay in this way. 

 Does it make sense that I feel no guilt in writing my story, but I feel some guilt in illustrating my story by making use of old interior art from a Sci Fi magazine?

Claude: This is a fascinating ethical question that touches on the nature of creative inspiration and transformation. Let me help break down why these two situations might feel different ethically, even though they may seem similar on the surface.

When you read Asimov's story and write your own in response, you're engaging in a process that transforms the original work through several important steps. Your human mind processes Asimov's story, combines it with your own experiences and creativity, and produces something new that builds upon but differs substantially from the source material. This process of inspiration and transformation has been fundamental to how human creativity and culture develop. We might say you're participating in a long tradition of artists and writers building upon each other's work to create new meanings and expressions.

The situation with AI art generation is more complex for several reasons. When you use an AI system like WOMBO Dream with Finlay's artwork as a reference, the transformation process is more mechanical and direct. The AI system is explicitly analyzing and reconstructing elements of Finlay's visual style and compositional choices. While you're making creative choices in the prompts and selection of outputs, the AI is more directly reproducing and recombining elements of the original artist's work than your mind does when writing an inspired story.

There's also a difference in how these creative processes have been historically understood and accepted. Writers have long acknowledged their influences and inspirations, and there's a well-established understanding that new stories can legitimately build upon older ones while maintaining their own originality. The legal doctrine of fair use has evolved to protect these kinds of transformative works. However, the direct use of visual art as training data or reference images for AI systems is a new phenomenon that raises questions about artistic integrity and attribution that our ethical and legal frameworks are still struggling to address.

 Your feeling of guilt might also stem from the different ways these processes honor the original creators' intentions. When you write a story inspired by Asimov, you're engaging with his work in a way that he likely would have anticipated and appreciated as a fellow writer. But when using an AI to process and transform Finlay's artwork, you might feel you're using his work in a way he couldn't have foreseen or consented to.

Consider this thought experiment: If you could ask Asimov and Finlay about these uses of their work, how might they respond? Asimov might well be pleased to know his story sparked new creative work in the same medium. Finlay's reaction to having his art used as AI training data might be more complicated, as this represents a fundamentally different kind of use of his creative expression.

That said, your situation raises important questions about how we adapt our ethical frameworks for creativity in the age of AI. Perhaps we need to develop new ways of thinking about artistic influence and transformation that account for these new technologies while still respecting the rights and intentions of original creators.

Would it help to explore some potential ways to ethically navigate this situation? For instance, we could discuss approaches that might help balance your creative goals with respect for Finlay's artistic legacy.

Me: When I use old science fiction story illustrations as "reference" images as part of the process of making AI-generated images, I document the practice at my blog and cite the original artists. Thus, it is no "secret" that I am using the work of artists in this way. When I ask myself if artists such as Virgil Finlay would be offended by what I am doing, I find it difficult to imagine why an artist would object. However, I know that some writers have in the past objected to fans who create "fan-fiction" based on published works, so it seems possible that Virgil Finlay would object to my use of his old artwork.

Claude: Your ethical reflection on this matter shows deep consideration for the rights and perspectives of creators. Let's explore this situation by examining several key aspects that can help us understand the ethical implications.

 First, let's consider the fundamental nature of artistic influence and documentation. Your practice of openly documenting and citing the original artists is significant because it acknowledges their contribution to the creative process. This transparency serves multiple purposes: it gives credit where it's due, it allows others to understand your creative process, and it maintains a historical record of how artistic works influence each other across time. This approach stands in stark contrast to cases where AI-generated art is created without acknowledging the sources that influenced it.

The comparison to fan fiction is particularly enlightening. Writers who have objected to fan fiction often cite concerns about maintaining control over their fictional universes or protecting their ability to write future stories within those universes. However, the situation with visual art reference is somewhat different. When you use Finlay's artwork as a reference for AI generation, you're not necessarily extending or modifying his fictional world - rather, you're using his artistic style and techniques as inspiration for creating new works that accompany your own original stories.

Consider how this practice relates to traditional artistic training. Throughout history, artists have learned by studying and copying the works of masters, often creating derivative works as part of their learning process. In art schools, students still practice by recreating famous works to understand technique and style. The key difference with AI art generation is that the "learning" process is automated and can produce new works much more quickly than traditional methods.

The question of whether Finlay would object is complex because it involves technologies he couldn't have anticipated. However, we can consider his position as an illustrator for science fiction magazines. These publications were often at the forefront of imagining how technology might change human society. Finlay worked in a genre that celebrated technological innovation and its implications for human creativity. This context might suggest he would be more open to technological evolution in artistic creation.

 Furthermore, your use of his work seems to align with the original purpose of his illustrations - to accompany and enhance science fiction stories. You're continuing this tradition, albeit with new tools. The fact that you're using his art as inspiration for illustrations that accompany new stories maintains a connection to the original context and purpose of his work.

However, your ethical sensitivity to this issue raises an important point about the difference between what is legally permissible and what feels ethically comfortable. Even if we conclude that your practice is ethically sound, particularly given your transparency and attribution, it's worth considering how we might further honor the legacy of artists whose work influences AI-generated art.

Perhaps you might consider ways to not just cite but actively celebrate these original artists? For example, you could include brief biographical information about artists like Finlay alongside your citations, helping to educate readers about these important figures in science fiction illustration. This would transform your use of their work from mere reference into an opportunity for historical preservation and education.

Would you be interested in exploring ways to further develop this educational and preservational aspect of your practice? This might help create a more robust ethical framework for using historical artwork as AI reference material.

Me: Claude, thank you for this discussion. One parting "shot"... since I have fun using old, previously published works of art in this way (as reference images for new AI-generated images), I know that I will continue this practice, even if I do feel some guilt associated with my doubts about how artists like Virgil Finlay might react to what I am doing. Claude, do you have any insights into why a human being will do something fun even when it causes feelings of guilt?

Claude: This is a fascinating aspect of human psychology that touches on how we balance pleasure against moral concerns. Let me break this down by examining several key psychological mechanisms at work.

 At the core of this behavior is what psychologists call "cognitive dissonance" - the mental discomfort that occurs when we hold two conflicting beliefs or when our actions don't align perfectly with our values. In your case, you experience enjoyment from the creative process of using AI art generation, while simultaneously feeling some ethical uncertainty about how the original artists might view this use of their work.

The human brain has evolved sophisticated mechanisms for managing such conflicts. One key mechanism is what we might call "moral licensing" - when we give ourselves permission to engage in potentially questionable behavior because we've taken steps to mitigate its impact. In your case, you've implemented important ethical safeguards like proper attribution and documentation. These responsible practices may help reduce (though not eliminate) the guilt you feel.

Another relevant psychological principle is "temporal discounting" - we tend to prioritize immediate, concrete benefits (the fun and creativity you experience now) over abstract, uncertain future concerns (the hypothetical disapproval of artists who are no longer alive). This isn't necessarily irrational - we can't live our lives in perfect accordance with every possible ethical concern, especially speculative ones.

Think of it like eating a dessert while on a diet. The immediate pleasure is tangible and real, while the health impact is abstract and distant. Even when we feel some guilt, the concrete joy often wins out over the abstract concern. Similarly, your creative enjoyment is immediate and real, while the ethical concerns remain somewhat abstract and uncertain.

 What's particularly interesting in your case is that the guilt itself might serve a positive function. Your continued ethical reflection on this practice suggests that the guilt is helping you maintain a thoughtful, responsible approach to using AI-generated art. Rather than seeing this guilt as purely negative, we might view it as part of a healthy ethical calibration system - one that keeps you mindful of the important questions around artistic legacy and attribution while still allowing you to explore new creative possibilities.

This reminds me of how societies often progress through periods of ethical uncertainty when new technologies emerge. Early photographers faced similar questions about the relationship between their work and traditional painting. Some amount of ethical tension may be inevitable - and perhaps even valuable - as we navigate these transitions.

Would you like to explore how this understanding of the psychology behind guilt and pleasure might help you develop an even more nuanced approach to your creative practice?

Next: a mission to Earth.

Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers

Telepathy on the Moon

in the Ekcolir Reality

In my previous blog post I discussed six stories by Russell Winterbotham that were published between 1952 and 1956. I was searching for evidence that he might have become a more sophisticated science fiction story teller in the later part of his career (1952 - 1958). 

In the earlier phase of his science fiction story publishing (1935 - 1943), Winterbotham published creative short stories. During the 1950s, there were more options for the publication of longer format stories and Winterbotham moved in that direction. 

In this blog post, I explore one more of Winterbotham's stories from the early 1940s and contrast it with three of his stories that were published in the late 1950s.

in the Ekcolir Reality

Winterbotham was a creature of his times and his female characters were not given much freedom to explore their human potential. It is tempting to imagine alternate versions of Winterbotham's stories that might have been made more interesting with the inclusion of more prominent and dynamic female characters. Maybe Winterbotham had a female analogue in the Ekcolir Reality and she was able to create female characters who were on equal footing with the male characters.

 Telepathy in 1957. "Extra Space Perception" was published by Winterbotham in the May 1957 issue of Science Fiction Stories. In "Extra Space Perception", Winterbotham took a serious look at the mystery of human telepathy. Winterbotham adopted an evolutionary approach, imagining that after living on the Moon for many generations, human colonists from Earth might evolve new abilities. 

interior art for "Extra Space Perception"

In particular, Winterbotham depicted human residents of the Moon as gaining the ability to survive for several minutes on the surface of the Moon without a spacesuit and also developing telepathic abilities.

 Big 300. The story is set 300 years into the Space Age. The three main characters in "Extra Space Perception" are Ace Crosbi, Diane Walace (that's the two of them, driving across the surface of the Moon, in the image to the right) and Judd Beecher. Ace owns a casino on the Moon and Diane runs Crap Table No. 3.

 Sciensy™. Winterbotham's theory of telepathy is built around "Teq"; Thought energy quanta. According to Winterbotham, Teq is a type of radiation produced by the Sun. Teq is absorbed by living creatures, but when they can hold no more, they release "old Teq" from their bodies which can carry thought impressions into the minds of nearby people (see Figure 1, below). Teq is in short supply on Earth, but more readily available on the Moon.

Figure 1. thought energy quanta

 Hypnosis, too. Humans on the Moon also have a chance to develop special hypnotic powers because the Moon has deposits of "Staghorn Crystals". Judd Beecher tries to hypnotize Ace by making use of a Staghorn Crystal, but he fails. Then poor Diane finds the Staghorn Crystal and soon she is like a zombie, exiting from the casino... completely under the control of Beecher.

magic moonbeams strike the Moon Pool

Winterbotham's story "Extra Space Perception" reminds me of "The Moon Pool", an old story first published in 1918. Winterbotham was born in 1904 and may have read "The Moon Pool" when he was in his early teens. For "The Moon Pool", Abraham Merritt imagined the existence of a special element on the Moon. When sunlight was reflected off of that element and off of the surface of the Moon, the resulting moonlight had magical powers.

Mathematics in 1958. In the October 1958 issue of Future Science Fiction was "The Variable Constant" by R. R. Winterbotham. At the ISFDB, "The Variable Constant" is listed as the last science fiction story ever published by Winterbotham in a magazine. I generally despise alien invasion stories, but as the title suggests, "The Variable Constant" concerns mathematics and the Evil™ invading aliens never kill anyone or destroy a single city of Earth.

Figure 2. Text excerpt from
"The Variable Constant".

 Big 600. The invading aliens (they are called the Beorhi) are able to use mathematics and computerized calculations to predict human behavior and control the people of Earth. The story begins 600 years after the arrival of the aliens on Earth when only a few humans have avoided the Beorhi effort to selectively breed humans for docility (see Figure 2). 

Readers are quickly informed by Winterbotham that Gerd Thane is the one human who the Beorhi fear. Gerd is special because he is the protagonist can think for himself and his behavior is not completely predictable. Now, see if you can guess who will liberate Earth from the Evil™ clutches of the Beorhi. You may not even need mathematics and a computer to successfully make your prediction.

Figure 3.

 Figure 3 shows the page one interior art that was published along with "The Variable Constant". That image has nothing to do with the story. 😡

Sadly, a major component of the story concerns the ability of the aliens to use hypnosis or conditioning to control the behavior of Earthlings. In particular, Gerd's lover, Miss Charis Ryna, has been conditioned since birth to play her part in the future for Earth that the Beorhi have carefully calculated and worked hard to achieve.

You might ask: if the mathematical calculations of the Beorhi show that Gerd Thane is a potential threat to their control of Earth, then why don't the Beorhi simply kill Gerd? 

Figure 4.

The answer is shown in Figure 4. There is only a small cadre of Beorhi overlords on Earth and they need a few special human helpers who can keep essential parts of Earth's infrastructure running. Gerd Thane is a trained expert in electronics and he keeps the factories running.

In the January 1939 issue of Amazing Stories was a short autobiographical blurb from Winterbotham in which he mentioned that when in school he had an interest in medicine and science. 

in the Ekcolir Reality

For another autobiographical essay in the January 1940 issue of Fantastic Adventures, Winterbotham stated that his introduction to science fiction magazines came by way of an issue of Amazing Stories that he discovered on a news-stand. However, he also recalled a Nick Carter story that involved going into a volcano, and it was that story that first got him interested in science fiction. It was not until 1934 that he had enough free time to begin seriously reading "everything in sight" and soon he began selling his fiction for publication in pulp magazines. He wrote stories in the science fiction genre and others (such as westerns and detective stories) as well. Winterbotham claimed that he got his story ideas from his "day job", which was writing non-fiction.

Poor Man's Time Travel. A full-blown Sci Fi time travel story has a time machine, but there is a way to reach the far future without a time machine. Just "sleep" your way to the future.

image source

 The Early Winterbotham. In that January 1940 issue of Fantastic Adventures that included an autobiographical essay by Winterbotham was his short story "Captives of the Void" which concerns two spacemen who "travel to the future" by means of suspended animation. In 1939, "The Black Flame" was published by Stanley G. Weinbaum in Startling Stories. Weinbaum's story featured a dead man who crawls out of his grave after 1000 years. Soon he is fit as a fiddle and having a grand adventure in the future. 

Alan Brown wrote: "The Black Flame" at its heart it is a love story." Similarly, Winterbotham usually managed to configure his science fiction stories so as to include a romantic love-interest for the male protagonist. I have no idea if Winterbotham was influenced by having read "The Black Flame", but it would not surprise me if he had been. And if other Sci Fi story tellers imagined a trip of 1000 years into the future (see also: "The Cosmic Engineers"), then why not go even further into the future?

Figure 5. interior art for "Captives of the Void"

 The Big Sleep. In "Captives of the Void", two spacemen (John Deno and Aaron Cleef) are held in a state of suspended animation for billions of years. Sadly, Winterbotham did not provide any details about the technology that was used to keep Deno and Cleef alive for billions of years. Winterbotham mentioned radium, which was enough of a sciensy hand-wave for his purposes. When they finally wake up it takes Deno and Cleef a few days to clear their heads, get the kinks out of their muscles and recover their memories. Having "slept" for so long, their clothing disintegrated, but the artist for the story magically provided them with pants (Figure 5).

Figure 6. In the Ekcolir Reality.

I'll leave the ending of "Captives of the Void" as a puzzle for the reader. Here is a hint, a line from near the end of the story: "The universe was beginning all over again." Winterbotham has sent Deno and Cleef off to a far future when no stars remain shining; there is nothing visible surrounding their spaceship, just an endless black void. Cleef is resentful and cracks under the strain, but Deno stays hopeful, searching for some indication that there is a future for them in this dark future. Winterbotham liked to wrap-up his stories with a happy ending and the protagonist winning the heart of a cute girl. How did Winterbotham provide John Deno, captive of the void, with a "they lived happily ever after" ending?

The ending provided by Winterbotham for "Captives of the Void" reminds me of Isaac Asimov's 1956 story "The Last Question". 

in the Ekcolir Reality

It is easy to view Asimov's story as science fiction because he centers the tale on the universe's ultimate super-computer. In contrast, Winterbotham's story feels more like magical fantasy with no attempt to rationally explain how John Deno gets out of the pickle he is in.... and he even gets the girl.

 Gerd and Charis. Now we can return to "The Variable Constant" and Winterbotham's problem of finding a way for the protagonist Gerd and the cute Charis to live happily ever after. First of all, don't worry about the Beorhi overlords. They are killed by a mysterious plague, and when reinforcements arrive from the alien home world, the newly arriving Beorhi spacecraft are blasted by a squadron of nuclear-bomb-equipped missiles that is conveniently on hand. However, a slave to her Beorhi conditioning, Charis has tried to kill Gerd (see Figure 7). 

Figure 7. The Last Question

 The thrilling conclusion.  When Charis dolefully asks Gerd,  "Would you marry a woman who tried to kill you?" you might imagine that this is the time for Gerd to reassure his lover and say he knows that she was forced into her attempted murder by her Beorhi conditioning and that misdeed can't diminish his never-ending love for her. However, we get the unusual passage shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8.

Sadly, the ending of "The Variable Constant" has the look and feel of either 1) Winterbotham became bored with his story and quickly wrapped it up, or 2) the magazine editor had just a limited amount of space in that issue and condensed the last 20 pages of Winterbotham's original story into a single page. Having defeated the Beorhi, Gerd quickly outlines the future that he will provide for Earth with a government founded on the principle that "all authority derives from the Creator" and that it is now time to convene constitutional conventions. Charis showers Gerd with fiery kisses and tells him, "I know you'll be elected president".

cover art by Ed Valigursky

I have to wonder if by 1958 Winterbotham's interests might have been shifting towards the writing of longer stories. His story "The Space Egg" in the March 1958 issue of Amazing Science Fiction was described as a "complete novel". The story begins in Kansas where a new super-sonic aircraft is being tested: the WD-40 XDW-49. 

Figure 9. Uncredited art for "The Space Egg".

There in Figure 9 is the interior artwork for "The Space Egg" showing the XDW-49.

  This is a Test

Janet in the Ekcolir Reality

The nimble and quick test pilot is Jack. He flies the XDW-49 above 200,000 feet and mysteriously runs into something that drills two neat holes in the plane's canopy (Figure 10). 

The story's first person narrator is Bob, who is tasked with managing the cameras that capture images from the XDW-49 while it is in flight. Since this is 1958ish, the film has to be taken off of the plane and sent by train to Kansas City to be developed. 

Winterbotham quickly introduces readers to Janet (a secretary, working for the test-flight team) who seems to be the number one interest of Bob. While Jack is landing the XDW-49, injured and bleeding, Bob is asking Janet out on a date. Bob starts providing hourly reports on the cute outfits that Janet is wearing.

Jack snaps.

 UFO. The plot thickens when a mysterious egg-shaped object is found inside the cockpit. The "egg" is about the size of the two holes in the canopy. Once on the ground, Jack behaves strangely and then one of the flight team's members is killed. A second egg-shaped object is found near the crew quarters. Houston, we have a mystery.

At this point, about 30 pages into "The Space Egg", I could not stop myself from thinking about Hal Clement's 1949 story "Needle" which was about aliens who arrive on Earth and take up residence inside the bodies of humans. 

Now Jack no longer blinks his eyes. What has gotten into Jack? He gets a gunshot wound, which then almost instantly heals. With a UFO mystery like this, we need the help of a physicist, Dr. Maynard, the brains behind the XDW-49 space-plane.

The Dr. Maynard theory of energy beings.

 Red-shirt Casting Call. Janet's friend Ruby (another secretary) has become the second pod person, apparently host for whatever was inside space egg #2. Jack and Ruby have guns 🔫 and the body count quickly starts to rise.

Ruby and Jack in the sun.

When Jack and Ruby are seen sunbathing on the roof, Dr. Maynard assumes that they are soaking up sunlight energy and getting ready to reproduce and turn more people into alien pod-people.

 The Dreaded Energy Beings. With two gunshot deaths and two people (Ruby and Jack) under the control of the alien energy creatures, Bob is undeterred from his mission and he invites Janet to lunch.

Figure 10. alien egg attack

Finally, the film from the XDW-49 space-plane flight returns from Kansas City (see Figure 11, below) and we get to see the alien "eggs" form when two mysterious energy creatures from outer space pass through the plexiglass canopy of the space-plane. One energy being quickly moves inside Jack's body as soon as it is within the cockpit of the XDW-49 (see Figure 10).

Winterbotham provided readers with a whole lot of hand-waving about how "life is energy" so we should not be surprised by the existence of alien energy beings. 

image source

 Regeneration. The "explanation" for why Jack and Ruby can now instantly repair any gunshot wounds they receive is that animals have always been able to regenerate tissues and the energy beings simply know how to activate that regeneration process.

 X-rays to the Rescue. So, how can the alien energy creatures be defeated? Dr. Maynard quickly decides to fight energy with energy and he builds an x-ray generator. Apparently, Winterbotham wrote for some comicbooks such as Chris Welkin-Planeteer and in fine comicbook fashion, laboratory glassware (on-hand at an airport) is quickly fashioned into an x-ray generating tube.

in the Ekcolir Reality

 Bison Drama. Sadly, Winterbotham's "The Space Egg" feels like a comic strip struggling to become a science fiction novel. And with so many pages available to him, Winterbotham even included a riveting account of how in 1958 you could pay $450.00 to have the privilege of shooting a bison and having the meat flash frozen and shipped to your house. 

That passage about bison was how Winterbotham raised the issue of how the alien energy beings might take-over the world and exterminate Humanity. 

Planeteers of the Ekcolir Reality. (image sources)

interior art for "The Space Egg"

 Printer's Devil. Dr. Maynard pulls a story collection by Ambrose Bierce off of the shelf and asks Bob to read part of "Moxon's Master": "There is no such thing as dead, inert matter: it is all alive; all instinct with force, actual and potential; all sensitive to the same forces in its environment and susceptible to the contagion of higher and subtler ones residing in such superior organisms as it may be brought into relation with, as those of man when he is fashioning it into an instrument of his will." Maynard raises the question: which is the higher form of life, humans or the alien energy beings? Which will most successfully fashion the other into its instrument?

Who's Counting? Jack and Ruby defend their sunny position up on the roof. They each have a hand-gun and are ready to shoot anyone that gets in their way. In two "dramatic" scenes, they each try to shoot Bob, but each has used up all their bullets and so Bob survives. 

 Figure 11. Movie night; alien creature feature.

 No Bullets. You might think this would be the time to capture the two alien pod people, but no. Jack and Ruby also have super-human strength! 

Tit for Tat. Charged-up with sunlight, Ruby "reproduces" and infects another human with the mysterious alien "energy", creating a third pod-person. However, this new pod person is almost immediately blasted to bits by Maynard's x-ray generator. Is it a stand-off?

"Scratch One Alien"

 What Now? Clearly this is the time for another long sciency digression by Dr. Maynard. Unfortunately, the type-setter for Amazing Science Fiction does not help. Dr. Maynard theorizes about "mirror energy" and "mirror matter", but "positron" gets rendered as "position". Oh, well... this whole hand-wavium digression is Winterbotham's attempt to account for the mysterious "space eggs" as being a type of composite matter; a mixture of the plexiglass of the space-plane's canopy and "mirror energy"... whatever that is. 

Dark Energy. Bob thinks that some misty "mirror energy" was captured on film of the XDW-49 flying through the ionosphere, and it looked dark. Did Winterbotham anticipate the concept of dark energy?

The China Egg in the Ekcolir Reality

 And ESP, Too. When Dr. Maynard ends his lecture on composite matter, he is still unable to explain how the mirror energy that got trapped inside a "space egg" was able to recognize Jack as a suitable host. Dr. Maynard suggests that: "extrasensory perception will explain a lot of things like this".

Some of the typographical errors in "The Space Egg" are rather comical. Winterbotham depicted the local sheriff as chewing gum. When Jack and Ruby come down off of the roof for the big dramatic final shoot-out (even a light-weight Colt Cobra had been found for Janet) the text of the story says that the sheriff "spit out his gun". 

You'll have to read "The Space Egg" to find out how the energy beings from the ionosphere are defeated. The ending reminds me of the Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

cover art by John Schoenherr

Don't worry that after Jack's flight of the XDW-49 more of these annoying energy beings will attack everyone who else who enters the ionosphere. Dr. Maynard suggests that the two mirror energy life-forms that entered Jack and Ruby were created by some kind of random, freak interaction between the XDW-49 space-plane and the ionosphere. Dr. Maynard suggests that new life is only created about once every billion years. He suggests that life as we know it on Earth began with a lightening bolt. Once it started, that "life force" gathered molecules and cells around it, resulting in life as we know it on Earth.

 Electrical Virus. I've never read the free-standing novel form of The Space Egg. The cover of the Monarch Books edition describes the space eggs as bringing an "electrical virus" to Earth. The cover shows a "space egg" outside of the XDW-49, which was not part of the story as I read it in Amazing Science Fiction. 

image source

Mention of a virus raises the question: might The Andromeda Strain have been inspired by "The Space Egg"?

Sinister Symbionts. In the November 1958 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Anthony Boucher provided a one-sentence synopsis of The Space Egg in which he labeled the story as being "lightweight". I suspect that we can interpret that "lightweight" descriptor as indicating that the imaginary science in The Space Egg is likely to remind readers of the slap-dash science deployed in comics where action or romance is of most concern to some author who has no scientific training. However, I give Winterbotham credit for trying to think outside the box and imagine a form of life that truly unlike life as we know it on Earth.

in the Ekcolir Reality

 In the September 1959 issue of Science Fiction Stories was a longer commentary on  The Space Egg by Robert Silverberg. It is not clear that Silverberg did more than quickly skim the story since he miss-states the origin of the titular space eggs. Also, Silverberg dismisses the whole "mirror matter" hypothesis that is devised by Dr. Maynard in the story. I'd like to ask Silverberg: if Maynard's idea is wrong, do you have a better theory that could account for the strange events taking place in the story? While reading "The Space Egg", I had fun imagining that some unknown form of sedronic matter might be able to enter into a person and alter their behavior, but then I'm confortable imagining that humans evolved as biological organisms containing a zeptite endosymbiont.

in the Ekcolir Reality

In the March 1959 issue of Astounding Science Fiction was commentary on The Space Egg provided by P. Schuyler Miller. Miller felt that the plot of The Space Egg was ready-made for Hollywood. "No roman candle, but no wet fuse, either." With so much effort being made by folks in Hollywood to parade an endless stream of comicbook-inspired stories across the big screen, I can understand Miller's comment. Lightweight comic-style adventure seems to be in the Hollywood sweet-spot.

I like to imagine that in an alternate Reality, women dominated the golden age of science fiction and wrote stories that gave more prominent roles to female characters. Winterbotham's character Ruby Cascade starts out as a sexy bimbo and then turns into a vengeful and jealous puppet of an alien life-force. 

in the Ekcolir Reality

Nobody is saddened when Ruby disappears in a flash of "mirror energy" radiation at the end of "The Space Egg". Maybe in the Ekcolir Reality Ruby could have been a scientist who devised a plausible theory to account for the alien-encounter of Janet, the pilot of the XDW-51 space plane.

Winterbotham suggested that life as we know it here on Earth originated from the same "primordial life-force" that shows up in "The Space Egg" and transforms Jack the test-pilot into a new kind of super-human entity. Sadly, Winterbotham made no attempt to account for Jack's sudden increase in strength. Winterbotham raised the specter of extrasensory perception in "The Space Egg" to account for the ability of the "primordial life-force" to select the two appropriate human bodies that the alien force takes control of. If we invite telepathy into the story, then why not add telekinesis?

bullet-proof man

in the Ekcolir Reality

 The Final Phase. I'm not sure if I'm ready to try reading one of Winterbotham's novels that went straight to book formal between 1962 and 1966. The ISFDB lists six of these including "The Men from Arcturus".

Related Reading: Philip Wylie's 1930 superman who like Jack and Ruby could not be killed by bullets. Also: "The Pompous Asteroid" by Winston Marks.

Next: more old Sci Fi stories published from 1930 to 1943.

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