Shooting Star: Murder from the Moon [Guest Post]

By GW Thomas

Robert Bloch

Robert Bloch holds an unusual position in genre fiction in that he wrote for both the science fiction and mystery magazines equally well. (Fredric Brown and Anthony Boucher also come to mind.) This odd fusion finds the author writing SF mysteries as well as mysteries with a tinge of SF. Let’s look at two stories in question: “Murder From the Moon” (Amazing Stories, November 1942) and the Ace Double Noir novel, Shooting Star (1958).

I’ve written before about Isaac Asimov’s complaint that SF mysteries prior to his Caves of Steel (1954) were of poor quality because they don’t play fair. The author hides some element the reader could not know or simply pulls out the SF equivalent of a magic wand and solves the case. I suppose that includes “Murder From the Moon” (along with Edmond Hamilton’s “Murder in the Void,” Robert Leslie Bellem’s “Robots Can’t Lie,” Mickey Spillane’s “The Veiled Lady,” and others). Bloch is in good company. Let’s see if Asimov is correct.

“Murder From the Moon” centers around the visit of a man from our satellite, and the long-standing feud between Stephen Bennet and Professor Champion. Avery Bennet, Stephen’s father, had gone to the Moon and made claims of alien life, which Champion denied. Avery Bennet left on a second expedition but never returned. With the visitor’s coming, it looks like vindication is at hand. After a publicity photo with four scientists shaking all of the moon man’s multiple hands, the Lunarian says he is cold. Someone gets the Lunarian a cup of hot chocolate. He drops dead, crying, “Cold, so cold!” Bill Stone, a reporter, wants to tell the world, but is persuaded to hold on and solve the mystery.

While an investigation is begun we learn more about Stephen Bennet, his Solar Foundation, Lila Valery (Bennet’s girlfriend), and his life-long servant, Changara Dass (a cliché Hindu valet right out of Aurelius Smith). Dass manages the foundation, keeping the environment at a steady 80 degrees Farenheit. We hear that Bennet lives at the foundation like a recluse, for he was born in space and after the ridicule of his father’s memory, feels no warmth for his fellow humans.

An autopsy is performed on the dead Lunarian by Changara Dass. He calls everyone together because he has made an important discovery, but when they arrive they find him strangled to death. The marks on his throat indicate it was done by a moon man, but the visitor is clearly dead, his arm having been cut off. Bill Stone investigates the crime scene, knowing that when the police arrive his access to the evidence will be limited. He finds a single clue, a cup containing something very cold. He has solved the mystery.

Next Stone gets Stephen Bennet alone, so he can question him. The man most likely to suppress the moon visit, the obvious suspect, is Dr. Champion. But the killer turns out to be Stephen Bennet, who wants to sneak off with his girl and take the alien’s ship back to the Moon. Stone accuses Bennet of the two murders. Bennet begins to wrestles with the reporter. While his hands are locked in battle, a second set of hands reveal themselves and clutch Bill Stone’s throat – clawed Lunarian hands! Stone defeats and kills Bennet with the cup of coldness, ordinary dry ice. After Bennet dies, the reporter explains to Lila that the man born in space was half Lunarian and his secret would have been revealed by the visitor. Bennet had spiked the hot chocolate with dry ice to kill him. Dass was killed because he was about to reveal Bennet’s secret. The killer secretly planned to take Lila to the Moon where he would rule over his Lunarian brethen like a king.

Isaac Asimov’s complaint was that science fiction mysteries did not play fair. And I think Robert Bloch’s story should be included amongst these types of stories. If we knew all the facts about Lunarians, we would have figured out the killer pretty quick. In an Asimovian SF mystery, we would know all about the Lunarians, their physiology and such, and still would not know who the killer was. Bloch has not done this, though I don’t think he particularly cared in this case. He wasn’t writing for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, but for Ray Palmer’s Amazing Stories. Bloch certainly was able to follow the rules as he did in novels like The Scarf (1947) and in the 1950s and 1960s stories for EQMM.

Instead, Bloch is interested in “the reveal” – as he would be in his most famous work, Psycho (1959), when we learn Norman Bates is really the voice of his dead, cruel mother. The pay off is sensation – not a logical puzzle. The reveal that Stephen Bennet has a second set of arms is meant to be the pay off, as a horror writer might do it. (A possible inspiration for the idea is Clifford Ball’s “Thief of Forthe” (Weird Tales, July 1937), in which the wizard Karlk escapes from being tied up because he has a second set of weird arms. Bloch was certainly familiar with the story as his tale “The Creeper in the Crypt” is in the same issue. Bloch’s use of the idea is much more dramatic, being part of a fight scene.

I mention Shooting Star here merely as a delicious aside. It has no science fiction ideas in it, nor is it placed at an SF convention like Anthony Boucher’s Rocket to the Morgue (1942). Instead, Bloch peppers it with references from the world of SF. The main character is a one-eyed literary agent, Mark Clayburn. He begins his day:

I went over to the desk and sat down. This was no time to feel sorry for myself. Save that for tonight. Right now I had work to do: a science-fiction yarn to send to Boucher, for a client; another to try on a confessions mag, and a true-detective job to revise.

The plot and style of the novel is pulp noir with Clayburn investigating the murder of a film star for an old friend who has bought up the cowboy star’s run of old Westerns. Later, when another actor is murdered, the undertaker is named Hamilton Brackett. He could have been named anything but Bloch is leaving a treat for two dear friends, the husband and wife team of SF writers, Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett. None of this comes close to a SF mystery, but it is great for fans of both genres. Bloch’s personal insight into Hollywood, agents, and the writing game are all spice to what is a decent mystery. This is why Hardcase Crime have reprinted it along with Spiderweb, another short novel, as part of their noir series.

GW Thomas has appeared in over 400 different books, magazines and ezines including The Writer, Writer's Digest, Black October Magazine and Contact. His website is gwthomas.org. He is editor of Dark Worlds magazine.

Tweenies of Venus: The Early Asimov [Guest Post]

By GW Thomas

Isaac Asimov never made any secret about the fact that he was not an instant success. Where Robert A Heinlein and AE van Vogt exploded into science fiction fully formed, Ike had to crawl his way slowly through an apprenticeship that included dozens of stories. The Good Doctor collected these initial tales in a book called The Early Asimov (subtitled Or Eleven Years of Trying) (1972).

The Early Asimov, despite containing none of his best work, is a fascinating read for he chronicles his first experiences as a writer, especially those with editor John W Campbell, to whom he dedicated the book. Amongst these early pieces, Ike also tells of stories he wrote and threw away. At least a dozen of them, enough to make any completist cry. If they still existed, we could have published a second book, something like The Worst of Isaac Asimov.

Amongst the stories that didn't disappear, is an Astounding reject called "Half-Breed," which Asimov sold to new editor (and former agent), Fredrick Pohl. The magazine was called Astonishing Tales and because of its low pay it received stories rejected by Astounding and Amazing, including such charming pieces as Manly Wade Wellman's "Elephant Earth" and Asimov's now classic robot story, "Robbie."

"Half-Breed" was a number of firsts for Asimov. The Astonishing Stories February 1940 issue was the first time Asimov had his name on the cover of an SF magazine. The story was 9000 words long, so it appeared as "a novelette," also a first for the Good Doctor. Best of all, the story was popular enough that Pohl asked him to write a sequel, something he had not done up to that point, though he would in the future with his Foundation series. "Half-Breeds of Venus" appeared in Astonishing Stories December 1940 and was another first. The cover art for the issue featured Asimov's story, not just an author mention. He'd "made the cover," a big deal back in those pulp days.

The plot of "Half-Breed" has frustrated scientist Jefferson Scanlon rescuing a "Tweenie" boy named Max. Tweenies are half breeds of human and Martian blood. Their appearance is striking: "...There was no mistaking that brush of wiry, dead-white hair that rose stiffly in all directions like porcupine-quills. (The story's illustrator, Eron, makes sure to include this impressive feature.) Scanlon adopts the boy, who helps him discover nuclear power and make him an important and rich man. As Max gets older, Scanlon seeks a bride for his adopted son, taking on Madeline and her two younger sisters as wards. Scanlon and the Tweenies become progressive in politics, creating Tweenietown. When government men begin to realize that Tweenies are superior to purebred humans or Martians, trouble lies ahead. Fortunately, Max and the other Tweenies have been secretly building three spaceships, which they use to head for the frontier planet of Venus. Max wants Scanlon to join them but he refuses, staying behind. The story ends with Jefferson Scanlon standing in the deserted Tweenietown, knowing he has furthered a race that will one day conquer the entire Solar System.

The sequel, "The Half-Breeds of Venus" continues the story of the fugitive Tweenies. Their ships make it to Venus and they begin an underground complex to live in. Max Scanlon hands the reins over to his son Arthur, while his younger son, Henry has a blossoming romance with Irene. The Tweenies discover a race of telepathic lizards in the lake nearby. These creatures, that they dub "Phibs," are peaceful allies to the Tweenies. Before the new base or a force field device can be perfected human settlers show up in valley and the Tweenies discuss their options. They could wipe out the humans or hide from them. Max knows that if the humans are attacked retaliatory forces from Earth would follow and the Tweenies would suffer. They choose to hide. Henry and Irene sneak out and approach the Phibs with their plight. The Phibs agree to go to the jungles with the Tweenies to corral three Venusian dinosaurs. After a harrying trip back, the dinosaurs are let loose in the human village, but only after the inhabitants have had time to flee. The plan has worked and the Tweenies and Phibs can go on being friends without human interference.

The second story lacks the power of the first. Asimov writes more action and romance than he usually does, but he is no Edmond Hamilton. There are some dialogue sequences that are embarrassingly bad. Asimov apologizes for the scientific impossibilities in these early stories, but there are other writing offenses that make you cringe more. He wisely leaves his Tweenies to their destiny and moves on.

Story elements aside, there is one interesting feature about these stories: the use of the word "Tweenie." Asimov's "Tweenie" is similar to "Tween" or "Tweener," used to describe children 10 to 13. Both words are derived from the word "between." Tween also rhymes with Teen, making it more attractive than "preteen." In Asimov's case, the Tweenies are between human and Martian. The expression Tween doesn't really become prominent until the 1990s, a good fifty years after Asimov. Like the words "robotics" (which Asimov coined), "astronaut" (Neil R Jones), "terraforming"(Jack Williamson) and "alien" (as an extraterrestrial) (Otto Binder), science fiction was there first.

GW Thomas has appeared in over 400 different books, magazines and ezines including The Writer, Writer's Digest, Black October Magazine and Contact. His website is gwthomas.org. He is editor of Dark Worlds magazine.

Robots Can't Lie: SF Mysteries Before Asimov [Guest Post]

By GW Thomas

Isaac Asimov claims that the science fiction story was never truly married with the mystery story before 1953. Some authors tried, while others danced around the problem, like Anthony Boucher who wrote the mystery novel, Rocket to the Morgue in 1942, about science fiction fans, rather than being science fiction itself. It was Asimov who took this challenge most seriously. In his book Asimov's Mysteries (1968) he wrote of his quest:

But talk is cheap, so I put my typewriter where my mouth was, and in 1953 wrote a science fiction mystery novel called The Caves of Steel (published, 1954). It was accepted by the critics as a good science fiction novel and a good mystery and after it appeared I never heard anyone say that science fiction mysteries were impossible to write. I even wrote a sequel called The Naked Sun (published, 1957) just to show that the first book wasn't an accident. Between and after these novels, moreover, I also wrote several short stories intended to prove that science fiction mysteries could be written in all lengths.

The Caves of Steel and its sequels feature murders that involve robots. Was this an original idea? Hardly. Eando Binder had made robots famous as early as 1939 with his stories of Adam Link, a robot that is accused of murder and faces trial. Asimov's interest is not to turn robots into protagonists, but to explore his Three Laws of Robots (and how a clever murderer might get around them.)

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled across "Robots Can't Lie" by Robert Leslie Bellem in a copy of Fantastic Adventures, July 1941. This murder mystery has a man, Tim Kermit, framed for murder by a robot that identifies him as the killer. Because of the way robots record what they see, they are considered infallible witnesses. Tim's only chance of avoiding the Lethal Chamber is to escape and repair another robot that was found broken at the murder scene. In the end the escape and repair are a trick that brings out the real killer.

Bellem tells the tale in his usual loose, noir style with Q-rays replacing .38s and gliders replacing cars. What the author lacks in style he makes up for in pace. Editor Ray Palmer interrupts in Hugo Gernsback fashion (with footnotes) to explain the SF trappings such as the Q-bolt used in the murder weapon, the viso lens of the robot, and the personal radio wave of the autorad, all in pseudo-scientific gooblygook that does nothing to further the story.

Now to go back to Asimov. He never said that no one ever tried to do it, only that it had never succeeded. What strikes me first off, is how similar the mystery ideas are between "Robots Can't Lie" and his Lije Bailey novels. I doubt Bellem was familiar with Adam Link (though he may have been), but Ray Palmer certainly was aware of his competition. Isaac Asimov was also fully aware of the Binders. He had permission to use the title I, Robot from the brother duo who had used it earlier. Was Asimov familiar with "Robots Can't Lie"? He was a bit of an Astounding/John W Campbell snob, so would he have read anything as pulpy as Fantastic Adventures? Unlikely, but his interest in robot stories may have superseded his snobbery.

Does "Robots Can't Lie" work as an SF-Mystery? Better than Asimov might have liked to admit. The robot-witness idea certainly could not happen in a regular mystery. This is one of Asimov's key criteria: a good SF-Mystery can't work as a regular mystery, nor is it simply SF. I'm not going to say you couldn't rewrite this story without SF trappings or robots. Replace the robots with human witnesses and it would work. (There is even a chance Bellem's story was largely rewritten by Palmer, though I have no proof of this.) Bellem was a high production writer, pumping out millions of words a year, and his ploy of trapping the villain is hardly novel. Asimov's novels by comparison could not be rewritten in this fashion. Even if Asimov wasn't the first, he certainly was the best at creating such SF Mysteries.

The other thing that makes me giggle is the 1980s adoration of how William Gibson brought a Raymond Chandler style to Cyberpunk. You want full-bore noir SF, here it is, the real thing from one of noir's cheesier hacks, back when Gibson's father was still reading Thrilling Wonder Stories.

GW Thomas has appeared in over 400 different books, magazines and ezines including The Writer, Writer's Digest, Black October Magazine and Contact. His website is gwthomas.org. He is editor of Dark Worlds magazine.

Adam Link: The Autobiography of a Mechanical Man [Guest Post]

By GW Thomas

Sympathetic robot characters were not the norm in the 1930s. Robots were either the tools of mad scientists or out-of-control monsters. Isaac Asimov's fame as an SF writer rests partly on his tales of likeable robots. He created the famous "Three Laws of Robotics," logically deduced rules that robots would have to follow to be used safely in society. Asimov wrote entire novels around possible issues with the Three Laws and how robots would be accepted or not by humans.

But this was in the 1940s. Asimov's first story, "Robbie," was written in 1939 and did not see print until September 1940. Authors who predated Asimov include Neil R Jones with his stories of the Zoromes and John Wyndham (under his real name of John Beynon Harris) with "The Lost Machine," but most influential was Eando Binder (Earl and Otto Binder, a brother team). They created Adam Link, a robot who is judged by humanity, but not found wanting. The stories of Adam Link appeared in Amazing Stories between January 1939 and April 1942. The first of ten stories was entitled "I, Robot," because the narrator of the piece is the robot itself. This was revolutionary. Nobody had ever told the story from the robot's point-of-view before. When the stories were collected in book form the title I, Robot (1965) was selected. This was also the name of Asimov's first robot collection (1950), with the Binders' permission.

The original Binder stories are more like episodes in a novel. (In fact, when it came time to collect them, the story titles were dropped and only chapter titles were given.) The first story, "I, Robot" ends with Adam Link in prison, waiting for his destruction. The second part, "The Trial of Adam Link," has Adam being represented in court by Dr. Link's nephew, Thomas. This story ends with the case lost and Adam's facing death again. The next story has reporter Jack Hall finding the people Adam saved from a fire (and a small child from a speeding car), who speak out and free him. It is these two stories that will form the television adaptations of the future. "Adam Link in Business" has the robot searching for some form of meaning and employment. Jack Hall is interested in Kay Temple, but she falls for the metal man. Adam is forced to leave so that Kay can fall in love with a human. The story leaves off as Link goes on a new journey. What will happen to him next? These cliffhanger endings worked well to force editors and readers to ask for the next portion of the tale. In consecutive episodes, Adam fell under the control of an evil scientist, created a metal mate named Eve, then became a detective to save her from the Black Fist Gang's frame-up, and he became an athletic champion to win over public opinion and the right to have American citizenship. He even fought for humanity against alien invaders. Not bad for a robot.

Asimov casts a big shadow, but SF fans still have a fondness for Binder's Adam Link. The stories were adapted into comics and television. First in 1955-56 with EC's Weird Science-Fantasy #27-29 (March/April 1955 through May/June 1956). Adapted by Al Feldstein and drawn by Joe Orlando, the last three issues of this title adapted "I, Robot," "The Trial of Adam Link," and "Adam Link in Business." Feldstein's adaptation simplified the stories a little, but otherwise were faithful. Joe Orlando's art was low-key by EC standards, drawing Adam with a pointed conical head.

"I, Robot," the original story, received two television adaptations, first by the original Outer Limits (November 7, 1964) and again in the new version of Outer Limits (July 23, 1995). The best thing about these two, very similar versions is that Leonard Nimoy was featured in both. In 1964 he played the journalist Jack Hall (renamed Judson Ellis) who acts as a kind of foil to the lawyer, Thurman Cutler (played by Howard Da Silva) who represents Adam Link and loses. In the 1964 episode, the lawyer is not the relative. That is the beautiful Marianna Hall as the professor's niece, Nina Link. In 1995, Nimoy got to play Cutler himself (and wins the case) with his son Adam Nimoy directing the episode. Cynthia Preston is the prof's daughter, Mina Link, now playing foil in place of the reporter.

The first television version may have sparked an interest in another comic version. More likely it was an adaptation of "Adam Link's Vengeance" in a fanzine, Fantasy Illustrated #2, adapted by Otto Binder and drawn by D Bruce Berry and Bill Spicer. This piece won the Alley Award for Best Fan Comic Strip of the Year. Binder was interested in adapting more of the Adam Link stories, but who would publish them? The unusual choice was James Warren's Creepy. Known for down-beat horror, the magazine in its early days was edited by Archie Goodwin and attracted the likes of Frank Frazetta, Gray Morrow, Reed Crandall and Steve Ditko. The new adaptation by Otto Binder would be drawn by Joe Orlando, the original artist of 1955!

As you'd expect, Binder's adaptation is accurate and he gets to tell five more episodes about Adam Link. Orlando's second time around as artist is interesting because rather than replicate what he did ten years earlier, he uses the black and white medium well with gray shades and a more realistic look. He drew Adam differently too, abandoning the conical head for a more human one. In the end, the Creepy adaptations were well done, but ended too soon when the Warren company fell on hard times. In the end they published "I, Robot" (Creepy #2, April 1965), "Trial of Adam Link" (Creepy #4, August 1965) "Adam Link in Business" (Creepy #6, December 1965) "Adam Link's Mate" (Creepy #8, April 1966) "Adam Link's Vengeance" (Creepy #9, June 1966) "Robot Detective" (Creepy #12, December 1966) "Adam Link, Gangbuster" (Creepy #13, February 1967), and "Adam Link, Champion Athlete" (Creepy #15 August 1967).

Except for the 1995 Outer Limits episode, Adam Link's career ended here. And it's not surprising. He had a lot more competition by 1967. Robots were appearing in all kinds of media from books like Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to television with Lost in Space and Astro to films like Forbidden Planet to comics like The Metal Men. Likeable robots are here to stay and Earl and Otto Binder did their share to make them a permanent part of the science fiction fabric.

GW Thomas has appeared in over 400 different books, magazines and ezines including The Writer, Writer's Digest, Black October Magazine and Contact. His website is gwthomas.org. He is editor of Dark Worlds magazine.