And Walk Now Gently Through the Fire
Roger ElwoodMan will forever seek his destiny, no matter what his vehicle. In the past, science fiction has served as one such vehicle, combining phantasmagorical illusions with sensationalism. But science fiction has been realistically grounded and forced to evolve with the problems of today. Choosing this course, it has shifted its emphasis toward a bizarre mixture of biochemistry and religion, reaching a maturity which few literary genres have yet displayed. This new science fiction represents a subtle union of these two, precision and sharp technicalities meeting with the mystical reverence of the occult. This anthology confirms this union. Roger Elwood’s collection of neverbefore-published stories are fascinatingly entwined around this central theme of biochemistry, subtly laced with the hidden mysteries of the occult. R. A. Lafferty’s “And Walk Now Gently Through the Fire” is an absorbing encounter between the ancient Queer Fish (the Ichthyans) and their evolutionary counterparts, the Odd Fish. A chilling dip into the occult. “Caught in the Organ Draft,” a splendid contribution from Robert Silverberg, explores the possibilities of a society where man’s vital organs are draftable for transplant from the nation’s young to its senior citizens, the leaders of the society.