LRC.HJJH@UTEXAS-20.ARPA (01/19/84)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Hurray for High! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hey, that's great! Some other Philip E. High fans! It's a pity that
there's so little chance you would be able to read the rest of his
books, as, unlike his compatriot John Brunner, if you enjoyed one
you'd probably like them all.
Most of what people admire by John Brunner is not to my taste, tho I
do like his non-fiction (nobody's said ANYthing about his "consumers'
report" on time machines!!!!) and his "uppers", STARDROPPERS, THE
LONG RESULT, and particularly THE WHOLE MAN. If you've tried some
better known Brunner's that turned you off, give \these/ a read, for
they're neither ponderous nor dismal.
But, Philip E. High, between 1964 and 1968, had eight good 2nd rate
novellas/novelettes published in the U.S., mostly in Ace doubles
(while Wollheim was editor, I think. So I wondered why we never got
any as DAW's.) Once in a blue moon you might run across one nowdays,
as nobody seems to want them except collectors trying to fill in all
the numbers of their Ace Double collections. Fortunately, I managed
to get the whole set some years ago with only minor difficulty--
specifically, interference from the great orthographic similarity of
his name with Philip K. Dick's. When you're scanning unsorted rows
of paperbacks for a name, you don't so much read as rely on a sort of
visual template. And those two names both fit the same shape-pattern.
Anyhow, the 8 titles are:
1964 NO TRUCE WITH TERRA
THE PRODIGAL SUN
1966 THE MAD METROPOLIS
1967 REALITY FORBIDDEN
THESE SAVAGE FUTURIANS
TWIN PLANETS
1968 INVADER ON MY BACK
THE TIME MERCENARIES
I didn't hear anything more of High till somewhere along in the 70's
when I ran across a reference to a non-fiction book by him, maybe for
kids, to do with dinosaurs. Then sometime maybe 2-3 years ago I saw
a couple unfamiliar titles by him in lists of new British SF.
Hardbacks, tho, so too pricey for me. But I can't help wondering what
his new stuff would be like after that ten year hiatus. If only
SF-LOVERS was truly intercontinental!
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