Discussions of science fiction books in the “quality” press were relatively rare. But, as on this Sunday in 1972, the likes of The Observer would occasionally feature a review column. It’s a perfect encapsulation of how hard it was to keep in touch with what was being released. Firstly, the titles were all hardbacks except for one, and hardbacks were way beyond the pocket of most readers. Information about paperback releases was, for many, what was really needed. (The more prestigious papers had long reserved review space for hardbacks and hardbacks only.) Secondly, as you can see from the original release dates listed below, it was almost impossible for British readers who weren’t highly informed fans to get a sense from book releases about how the genre was developing. When and if a book published first in America might arrive in the UK was, with the exception of big-name authors like Asimov and Clarke and titles that had made a splash in the mainstream, impossible to predict. Thirdly, it was even tough to work out from the titles which actually got reviewed when they had been published. Dimension X, for example, had been written about in the local press in April. As with many review columns of the time, quality or tabloid, national or local, the impression given was of a pile of books that had been randomly acquired being randomly dealt with.
But that was the time, and here are the five books reviewed by Tilney in the august pages of The Observer’s Review section, alongside a few words from other writers in other contemporaneous newspapers.
Can You Feel Anything When I Do This, by Robert Sheckley, first printed in the US 1971.
Henry Tilney, The Observer, 16/7/72: “Sheckley has an over-keenness for shaping his stories around a single joke or conceit – the randy vacuum cleaner, the drug-pusher insect. He either fails to engage at all, or leaves one panting for more.” (£1.80)
Other Days, Other Eyes, by Bob Shaw, first published in the USA in 1972.
Linda J. Cassell, (Durham) Evening Dispatch, 21/7/72: “But what if, in a few years, a compound was discovered which could be developed to elimate privacy altogether? … This book came from a short story written by Shaw some years ago, and this shows … The hard core of SF addicts will enjoy the well-worked revelation of slow glass, and the occasional scenes of horror, while our privacy is so dear to the rest of us that sooner or later the book grips us almost in spite of ourselves.” (£1.80)
Dimension X, ed. by Damon Knight, first published in the USA in 1970.
J.S.C., Huddersfield Daily Express, 6/4/72: “( The) early Heinlein (is) remarkable only for a few prophecies and a typically overweening preoccupation with the great American system of free enterprise … Rather better is the the much reprinted Kornbluth story of a deep-frozen entrepreneur… (Mckenna’s story is) “Firmly of the modern movement, it displays its fineries and its flaws … Brian Aldis excels in a period Wellsian tale of invisible aliens … the final Asimov favourite of the Neanderthal boy transported into future (lacks) its intended effect.” (£1.80)
Nine Princes In Amber, by Roger Zelazny, first published in the USA in 1970.
John Ashcroft, Liverpool Daily Post, 30/11/72: “Across the hazy borderline from science fiction to science fantasy in Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber … (its) world of … bitter rivalries and mutual treachery (is) screaming aloud for at least one sequel”. (£1.75)
The Time Stream, by Eric Temple Bell, first published in the US in 1946.
Henry Tilney, The Observer, 16/7/72: “… an example of rather dated, highly technical 1930s SF … Well worth a try, providing you can handle all the ‘little did we dream…” constructions. (90p)
(But why was Bell/Taine’s novel being reviewed at all? It’s ancient, dated, and obscure. Tilney doesn’t even appear to think very much of it. I can’t even find a scan of the 1972 paperback. It’s a mystery, but in that, it feels very much of the period.)
The Almanac Of The Fantastical 