Number 527
Mail Rider to the Stars!
I get a kick out of this short story from Mystery in Space #42, Feb.-Mar. 1958. It fits my observation that most science fiction I grew up with was an extrapolation on what was then current. If we got daily mail delivery to our homes, then by golly in the far future they'd have mailmen who'd go to other planets. Maybe they couldn't get interplanetary Internet.
I also love the hallucinations in this story. Giant gorillas with antennas coming in the window of the craft, yow. If I saw that I'd wonder if I got slipped some bad acid.
According to the GCD, which in turn depended on MIS editor Julius Schwartz' editorial records, the story was written by John Broome, the artwork by Sid Greene and John Giunta.
Hard to squeeze much suspense out of a mail delivery. In fact, as this story seems to prove, it's impossible! Still, I love the art. Definitely Greene, and I'd have to agree that those sure look like Giunta's pencils under there, making this all the cooler to see.
ReplyDeleteBy the way "Surrounded by... three suns?" Great stuff.