These old issues tend to be more miss than hit for me. This isn't simply because of the white dude hero theme, but the writing style--the slowness is very evident to me. Computers have radically changed the ease of editing.

Such is the case in this issue from May 1980, when I was a mere baby. I was intrigued by several of the stories. "Window" by Bob Leman starts off like sci-fi but ends on a note of profound horror--really, this story will stay with me a while! I enjoyed the concept of "Others' Eyes," about a child who is blind except when family is in close proximity, though the ending by modern standards would be egregiously ableist. However, I ended up skimming most of the other works. The cover novelette of "The Merry Men of Methane" not only made me want to pull out a red pen (these are the best scientists around? really?) but the heavy-handed emphasis on the prettiness of the wife and the way she is described is being 'smart by accident' made me gnash by teeth.

Issues like this really highlight for me how genre short fiction has advanced in recent decades; I mean, this issue has ads in the back for Oriental and Mexican mail order brides! Yikes. The modern run of F&SF is highly readable and inclusive, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. (No ads for mail order brides, either.) ( )

This magazine is currently the same age as myself — 31 years; and in May of 1980, F&SF had been in publication 31 years!

Amazing how in David Hardy's rendition for "The Merry Men of Methane", the Stardust ship looks like an electric smokeless cigarette, or maybe a pot-bat, even with nodules. The native is going to bust it up good with his big stone club.

The only author I recognized was Asimov, and he only wrote an essay on world population, which wasn't too interesting, but would be interesting to compare with the population of today.

R.M. Lamming is a woman. I knew instinctively that I would not like her story, "The Ink Imp", despite her Oxford background. Seldom do I like female prose. It was a dark and really depressing story, somewhat obscene (imp testicles are fondled), and ended with her character proclaiming himself superior and judging his cynical brother inferior. The moral is that caffeine fueled cynicism creates degenerate and asinine literature and leads to madness and demonic activity. I argue that female prose does do those things, at least in this case. I couldn't help but think that the entire story was a jib at her rather pessimistic male companion, whom, I gather from the story, was interrupting her writing with his friskiness.

Stephen Tall's "The Merry Men of Methane" was part of his "Stardust" series. I thought it was a bit of an outdated juvenile adventure, just barely entertaining enough to keep you progressing through it.

Bob Leman's "Window" didn't really make an impression on me until its surprising and somewhat disturbing plot twist, which I rather liked. The story was inventive to say the least. I thought the ending could have been better thought out, as it wasn't too clear. I rate it as third best story in the issue.

Keith Roberts "The Comfort Station" was really good, but in an annoying way. I rather think there is something deeply Freudian within the story - too deep to fully understand. I believe the major communication here is that man would rather enjoy an unreal and idealized woman rather than a material one, whose natural curiosity always drives her to do such annoying things as to try to save man from himself; to psychologically evaluate man, and tell him of her finding of faults. Curiosity killed the cat. I think the main character, known only as "the attendant", not only speaks to those men that society would label as submissive males (they are certainly not alpha males) but also, the attendant really is defining all idealizing males in their immature states. Reality sees these males adapt to the opposite sex and evolve into new creatures or face the fruitless future of the attendant, with his sacred picture book of the feminine and candle. The latter become sort of bizarre aesthetic disciples of femininity; often, by strange metamorphosis, transforming themselves into that which they worship but do not desire. I think this same strange manifesting principle is at work on all things. Anyhoo, I rate this story as second best in the collection.

John Shirley's "Eludes A Bride" is my favorite. He gives us bawdy masculine humor in its finest form. I really think Shirley is somewhat of a Rabelaisian genius. I wonder what else he has written?

Karen G. Jollie's "Bunny-Eyes" is the perfect example of why I despise the products of female writers (Agatha Christie excluded).

I'm always somewhat annoyed by the non-story departments of F&SF. Budrys article was OK though. Swarles article on films was putting on airs. ( )