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Katherine MacLean



"And Be Merry"
(also as "The Pyramid in the Desert")
© Astounding, Feb 1950

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"Fear Hound"
(Resque Squad series)
© Analog, May 1968
The Missing Man, 1975
--story : Best SF 1969
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea: ESP fear location service

This story is clearly just a "single-idea" vehicle, but as such it is pretty effective. Katherine MacLean's style is competent if not overly exciting; it moves smoothly and in general exudes this velvety “literate-style” quality. In this story we have a kind of ESP "Ghostbusters" emergency response team that sniffs the psychic air over the whole city, looking for any significant outbursts of fear, and then gets on its way to squash crime that has barely even happened yet. Sounds like a neat idea to supplement existing emergency services - but I think that one could write a significantly more exciting story around all that…

And, by the way, Katherine MacLean returned to this venue later in somewhat more polished novel “The Missing Man” - read the excellent review of it here. This novel got a 1976 Nebula Award nomination, and this novella is part of it - overall a smooth and stylish effort.

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"Feedback"
© Astounding, Jul 1951
--/ cool sf story
--/ emotion award

"Games"
© Galaxy, Mar 1953
The Diploids And Others, 1962
--/ cool sf story

"Kiss Me"
© Analog, Feb 1997

"The Other"
© New Worlds, Jul 1966
--/ cool sf story

"Pictures Don't Lie"
© 1951, Galaxy
Diploids And Others, 1964
--/ cool sf story

"The Pyramid in the Desert"
(also as "And Be Merry")
© Astounding, Feb 1950

"Second Game"
(with Charles V. De Vet)
(Kalin Trobt series)
© Astounding, Mar 1958
--novellette : 1959 Hugo
--/ cool sf story

"Trouble with Treaties"
(with Tom Condit)
© Star Science Fiction # 5, 1959
The Trouble With You Earth People, 1980

"Unhuman Sacrifice"
© Astounding, Nov 1958
The Trouble With You Earth People, 1980

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