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Reviews by Contributor: Smith, George O. (3)

No Escape That I Can See

Hellflower

By George O. Smith  

23 Apr, 2023

Because My Tears Are Delicious To You

7 comments

George O. Smith’s 1953 Hellflower is a stand-alone tale of interplanetary intrigue.

Charles Farradyne was scapegoated for the wreck of the Semiramide on Venus. Although he was not found guilty, the public believes him guilty of negligence and Farradyne was stripped of his pilot license. Four years after the Semiramide sank into the Bog, Farradyne is a bitter, desperate man making a meagre living on Venusian fungus farm.

Howard Clevis of the Solar Anti-Narcotics Department [SAND] dangles reinstatement in front of Farradyne. There is, of course, a catch.

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Some Kind of Madness

The Path of Unreason

By George O. Smith  

16 Oct, 2022

Because My Tears Are Delicious To You

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George O. Smith’s 1958 The Path of Unreason is a stand-alone science fiction novel. 

Like so many brilliant physicists before him, James Carroll set out to solve the enigma of superluminal Lawson radiation.” Like so many before him, the quest led to a total mental breakdown. The former genius was reduced to near-catatonia, rejecting attempts at communication with a simple no.”

Carroll seems beyond help. But appearances can be deceiving. Perhaps it is the world that is beyond help. 

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Slip-sticks, space stations and wise-cracking secretaries 

The Complete Venus Equilateral

By George O. Smith  

8 Mar, 2015

Because My Tears Are Delicious To You

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Even when I picked up The Complete Venus Equilateral way back in 1976, the stories it contained were for the most part pretty creaky material. Of the thirteen stories in this collection, eleven had been published between 1942 and 1945. There was a 1947 straggler, written to provide a coda and then one last story, written decades later (for reasons I will get into later). For the most part these ran in Astounding (now Analog) and they are straightforward gadget stories. There are a few stories worth remembering, and these exceptions are why I still have my copy of this book.

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