From: jdnicoll@panix.com   
      
   In article <0001HW.2E5749EB000F398F70000D0CF38F@news.supernews.com>,   
   WolfFan   wrote:   
   >On Aug 20, 2025, James Nicoll wrote   
   >(in article <1084jb1$kid$1@reader1.panix.com>):   
   >   
   >> In article<0001HW.2E55102F0049C4B5700008B5C38F@news.supernews.com>,   
   >> WolfFan   wrote:   
   >> > On Aug 19, 2025, Vincent Maycock wrote   
   >> > (in article<4ij9aklhcdektihdnr6k6ou9gpg3n1rm5b@4ax.com>):   
   >> snip   
   >>   
   >> > > So because you want to travel through space, Newtonian mechanics   
   >> > > *must* be wrong?   
   >> >   
   >> > that’s it, right there.   
   >>   
   >> It's a classic motivation for magic space drives, going back at   
   >> least as far as John W. Campbell, jr.   
   >   
   >John Campbell was... special.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> (from Space for Industry, 1960, which ran in Astounding/Analog)   
   >>   
   >> "In the first place, we're never going to get any engineering use of   
   >> space until we get something enormously better than rockets.   
   >>   
   >> (...)   
   >>   
   >> So: assume some form of true space-drive. A modified skyhook or an   
   >> antigravity gadget--anything. It's a space-truck--not a delicate and   
   >> hyper-expensive rocket. It can carry tons, and work for years."   
   >>   
   >> The whole essay can be found in Collected Editorials from Analog,   
   >> which I once described as like "eating a whole box of bon-bons,   
   >> if said bon-bons were not in fact candy but deceptively-shaped   
   >> pieces of dog-shit."   
   >>   
   >> The only real product of Campbell's relentless space drive advocacy   
   >> was a tendency of SF authors to write stories about magical space   
   >> drives because while Campbell was an unpleasant, racist, kook, he   
   >> paid well and he paid on time.   
   >   
   >Well, m’man is certainly trying to get paid. If only he could produce   
   >_quality_ fiction, he might have been able to sell to Campbell. I just   
   >don’t think that he’s good enough to be published in The Magazine With   
   >Rivets. (No, my Italian boy, that does NOT refer to a certain modern mag with   
   >pix of girls half or less clad in denim.)   
   >   
   Oh, the bar for late period JWB was pretty low. Howard L. Myers and the   
   Richmonds cleared it. Just toss in the Dean Drive, General Semantics,   
   psionics or even a bit of dianetics and JWC might buy anything.   
      
   --   
   My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/   
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