SCIENCE FICTION
SIR,—In his interesting but difficult article on 'Soviet SF,' Mr. Maurice Goldsmith makes a number of mis- statements about American science fiction. Since almost every non-professional statement about science fiction is a misstatement, it seems a duty to correct these wherever possible.
Modern SF (or SiF) hardly ever reflects 'a belief in authoritarianism'; its political alignment is that of democratic conservatism. In most cases, again, the authoritarian party is not only shown as wicked, but as unsuccessful: freedom prevails in the end. Similarly, the professional soldier is not as a rule 'finally' called in to control the scientist's inventions; much more often what happens 'finally' is the soldier's defeat and humiliation. And in the more imaginative science-fiction hells, from Kurt Vonne- gut Jnr.'s Player Piano to Frederik Pohl's 'The Midas Plague,' the satanic force is less authOritarian than benevolently—but maleficently—despot'ic: a more intelligent guess at the future, probably.
John Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction is a good magazine all right (which in this field means that it publishes one good story every month or so), but at the moment H. L. Gold's Galaxy Magazine is at least its equal, and until recently The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction was decisively superior.—Yours faithfully,
KINGSLEY AMIS
53 Glanmor Road, Uplands, Swansea, Glam.
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