"Astounding Science-Fiction", May 1941 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

I've read stories of Heinlein, Asimov & Russell elsewhere; am posting this only for the two unread shorts - "Fish Story" & "Subcruiser".

Links on author fetch more stories of author. Where I've a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. My rating for stories I've read & still remember appears in brackets.

Table of contents.

1. [novelette] Robert Heinlein's "Universe"; MP3 of radio adaptation: "an unique & fascinating civilization in a spaceship that missed its goal!"
   
   Collected in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A" (ed Ben Bova).
   
   See also: its sequel, "Common Sense", in Astounding, October 1941.
2. [novelette] Robert Heinlein's "Solution Unsatisfactory" (as by Anson MacDonald): "a story of the very near & grimly probably future. Man's apt to have that irresistible weapon soon--& no method of control!"
3. [ss] Isaac Asimov's "Lier!": "Herbie was a robot; he was also a mistake. Somewhere in the assembly, an accident made him telepathic, with inevitable & disturbing consequences!"
4. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Jay Score" (A): A passenger ship on earth to Venus voyage is hit by a meteor, & is now headed for Sun! 
5. [ss] Vic Phillips & Scott Roberts' "Fish Story" (B): A "fishing" adventure on Venus.
6. [ss] Harry Walton's "Subcruiser" (B): Foiling a warship hijack.
7. [serial - 2/2] L Sprague de Camp's "The Stolen Dormouse": "In a slightly delirious world of the future where noble Sir Businessman feuds, & the times are more than a little out of joint."

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XXVII No 3".
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1940s.

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British Edition), December 1955 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I've read a story, my rating appears in brackets. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

1. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "The Waitabits" (A): Different people run their lives at different pace. What happens when faster ones try to bring up the slower ones to their pace? 
2. [ss] Frank Herbert's "Rat Race" (A): Rats are to men as men are to...
3. [ss] Algis Budrys' "In Clouds of Glory": "Combat of Champions is an old method of settling disputes--but when hiring champions, there is a certain danger they aren't fighting for quite the goals you think..."
4. [serial - conclusion] Poul Anderson's "The Long Way Home": "Sooner or later, every adult human being makes a discovery--or lives dissatisfied, unhappy. That there never was, & never will be, a way to go home ... but there is always a way to make home."

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XI No 12.
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Download link points to a RAR file that contains the target CBR as its sole contents, probably to work around some file naming constraint of hosting service.

See also.

1. Fiction from Analog/Astounding (only issues edited by Harry Bates, John Campbell; whole issues only).
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

Eric Frank Russell's "Exposure" (short story, alien invasion, free): Bad luck dooms alien invasion of earth

A Rigelian colonial party of shape-shifters has found earth, & early evidence suggests this should be a world easy to take. So they land near a small human camp, take samples of local life, including 2 humans, for dissection, & plant 2 spies each in 4 small towns nearby - spies taking the shape of the two humans they'd picked. How were they to know the specific human samples they had picked will look out of ordinary in pretty much every other city?

Of course, the alien party will never leave earth.

Notes.

1. This is one of the stories with feel good effect, but I found the quick human win in the end too convenient.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, July 1950.
Download full text as part of the scans of Astounding, July 1950.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated & ranked list - infrequently updated).

"Astounding Science Fiction", July 1950 (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Link on author fetches more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For stories I've read, my rating appears in brackets.

I've not read Heinlein's non-fiction piece, "Destination Moon", noted on cover.

Table of contents (best first).

1. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Exposure" (A): Bad luck dooms alien invasion of earth.
2. [novelette] C M Kornbluth's "The Little Black Bag" (A): A bum finds purpose in life...
   
   Collected in SF Hall of Fame, #1. 
3. [ss] James E Gunn's "Private Enterprise" (as by Edwin James) (A): Taking charge of a country by overtaking its economy...
4. [ss] Ford McCormack's "Skin Deep" (B): A human party, aided by a member of an elder alien race, are investigating another alien race. So they kidnap a local for examination in lab, only the local was a beauty queen about to give a major stage performance. So the kidnapping became a major issue. 
5. [novelette] Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "Heir Apparent" (as by Lawrence O'Donnell) (B): Hero helps contain a political rebellion plot. It's a complex story with elements of cyborgs, swarm intelligence & waves that can make an island invisible!

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XLV, No 5.
Download scans as a cbr file. [via David T @pulpscans]
Related: Stories from Astounding/Analog, only issues edited by John Campbell, only whole issues; old "pulps"; 1950s.

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British Edition), November 1956 (ed John W Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

I'd read "Next of Kin", the novelization of "Plus X" (another longer variant of the story is "The Space Willis"), when I went through a Russell phase some years ago, & just loved it. Now, reading the original novelette in this issue, I had a milder reaction, but it still made me laugh at many places. It's a funny jailbreak story - a human smart alec vs his dimwitted alien captors.

Table of contents.

1. [novelette] Eric Frank Russell's "Plus X" (A); humor: Didn't you know that humans can only exist in pairs?
2. [novelette]  Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett's "The Chosen People" (as by Robert Randall) (A): Teaching the scientific method to deeply tradition bound.
3. [ss] Poul Anderson's "The Live Coward" (B): Cop catches a fugitive in colorful circumstances.
4. [ss] Algis Budrys's "The Peasant Girl" (as by Paul Janvier) (B): Humans are supermen to supermen!
5. [ss] Thomas N Scortia's "Sea Change": 'Of course, everybody knows what "being human" means--it's just that they can't define it, but of course they know what it means..."

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XII, No 11.
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link points to a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around some hosting service file naming constraints.
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1950s.

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British Edition), July 1958 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free) : Annotated table of contents

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I've read the story, my rating appears in brackets. If I have a separate post on a story, link on its title goes there. Where I'm aware of an alternate download location of a story, I include that too.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

1. [novelette] Christopher Anvil's "Revolt!" (A); download; humor, adventure: Bureaucratic turf war & monster machines run amok...
2. [novel - part 1, 2, 3 (this) of 3] Poul Anderson's "The Man Who Counts" (A): What if, during the creation of Israel during the 1940s, US had sided with Arabs instead of Israel? A very colorful fantasized variant of it.
3. [ss] Jon Stopa's "A Pair of Glasses" (as by John Stopa) (B): Materialism is better than spiritualism.
4. [novelette] Eric Frank Russell's "Basic Right": "It's a basic right to try anything you want--a right the Universe itself grants. But it's necessary to distinguish between the right to try--which is real--& the right to succeed at it--which doesn't exist!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XIV No 7.
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link points to a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around some hosting service file naming constraints.
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1950s.

Eric Frank Russell's "Brute Farce" (short story, diplomacy, humor, free): Meet a lateral thinker...

In my book, this is among the better stories of Russell. And apparently never reprinted. May be my tastes are different from most editors?

This is the kind of story Russell is best known for: a lone smart alec vs a less witful universe.

Story summary.

In a galactic Union of many species & worlds, two particular ones - Drenes & Salamards - have been corroding the atmosphere by their constant bickering & minor fights, both driven by ambitious, unscrupulous & corrupt leaders.

Sebastian Snodgrass is an unconventional diplomat assigned by Terra to solve the problem. Very funny story.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, February 1958.
Download full text as part of the scans of Astounding (British edition), May 1958.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated & ranked list).

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British Edition), May 1958 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Where I have a separate post on a story, link on its title goes there. Where I'm aware of another text version of a story, I include that link too. Links on author fetch more of their works. My rating for read stories appears in brackets.

Table of contents (best first).

1. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Brute Farce" (A); humor: Introducing a lateral thinker... 
2. [novelette] L Sprague de Camp's "Aristotle and the Gun" (A): Teaching the scientific method to Aristotle... 
3. [novel - 1 (this), 2, 3 of 3] Poul Anderson's "The Man Who Counts" (A): What if, during the creation of Israel during the 1940s, US had sided with Arabs instead of Israel? A very colorful fantasized variant of it.
4. [article] Mark Clifton's "The Dread Tomato Addiction" (A); download; satire: How to reach wrong conclusions from the right data! 
5. [ss] Jon Stopa's "Hot Water" (B): This government doesn't know how to handle civil unrest; both sides are throwing atom bombs at each other!
6. [ss] Christopher Anvil's "Achilles' Heel" (B); download: Starfaring humanity's military commander finally gets insight on how to defeat "Wij-Wij", aliens that look like "giant inchworms" & with whom earth is at war. 
7. [ss] Robert Silverberg's "No Way Out" (B): Chief executive of an overpopulated earth still breeding uncontrollably finally has enlightenment: to take measures to cut the breeding rate!

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XIV, No 5 (British Edition)".
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link fetches a RAR that contains target CBR, probably to work around the file naming conventions of hosting service.

Related.

1. Stories from Astounding/Analog (whole issues only).
2. Fiction from 1950s, old "pulps".
3. Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.

Eric Frank Russell's "Test Piece" (short story, first contact, free): Don't say it. Or die!

This is a contest story - great anticipation buildup, & a positive conclusion, but key to conclusion is for the reader to find! I wonder how it would look like in a reprint, without contest details of the original publication.

Story summary.

A human ship with 3 crew members has just landed on the alien world of Shaksembender - a followup to the world's discovery message from a scout 300 years ago. A world with hominids who now revere that long forgotten scout as a god. A god who'd asked them to be wary of the coming of men - it will either spell their doom, or will lead to salvation.

And he gave them a test to give to the future human landing party - when put in a certain situation, if the visitors utter two specific words in a sentence, that means doom & they must be immediately destroyed. What are those words? That's for reader to guess.
PS: Rob Slaven thinks the two words are likely to be racially derogatory to blacks of US in 1950s, & that the story is essentially an anti-racism piece.

The crew will meet a reception committee & will successfully pass the test.

Fact sheet.

First published: Other Worlds, March 1951.
Download full text as part of the scans of the magazine it originally appeared in.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

"Other Worlds Science Stories", March 1951 (ed Raymond A Palmer) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. My rating for read stories is in brackets.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

1. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Test Piece" (B): Don't say it, or your life is forfeit!
2. [novelette] Theodore H Sturgeon's "Last Laugh": "There was nothing so terrible as the Gabblers. Human ears could not withstand their horrid uproar--& death to all comers glared from their eyes."
3. [ss] Lou Tobakow's "The Wedding Present": "Only the god-color's golden glory could be a fitting gift--& Vroom found just the thing for the wedding present".
4. [ss] David H Keller's "The Plot Machine": "Here's advice to those of you who want to write science fiction--"
5. [novelette] Ray Palmer's "Eye of the Temptress": "Beginning with Eve, each period of our history has been influenced by a beautiful woman. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? Take, for instance, our present day temptress..."
6. [novelette] Charles R Tanner's "Angus MacAuliffe & the Gowden Tooch": 'Angus received a legecy from his warlock uncle, but it wasn't what it seemed--for it contained a Greek, & what was worse, he was a Greek who came bearing "gifts."'
7. [ss] Fredric Brown & Mack Reynolds' "The Switcheroo": "The switcheroo did a wonderful thing--it sent you into the body you were thinking of at the time."
8. [novelette] William C Bailey's "The Solution": "When young Pinky Lane returned to Castor, he was considered fair game by everyone at the Casino. Pinky, however, had learned his lesson the first time & now had a few plans of his own."
9. [ss] Charles E Fritsch's "The Wallpaper": "He came out of the wallpaper, intent on seduction--as was Pan's usual practice, but..."

Fact sheet.

Download scans as a CBR file. [via Rog@pulpscans]
Related: Fiction from Other Worlds, old pulps, 1950s.

Eric Frank Russell's "Down, Rover, Down" aka "The Case for Earth" (short story, first contact, free): Man not mature enough to join elder aliens' union

One of the minor stories of Russell.

Story summary.

Moon & Venus have been conquered; now it's time to expand outwards. Carlow is the sole occupant of the first human ship to Mars. He'll lose contact with earth on the way, & meet an interstellar reception committee on arrival there. And made to attend hearing that will decide the fate of humanity...

Notes.

Title is alien's answer to human's objection to aliens' decision:
  "Even if we haven't learned to keep the peace, we are smart & tough & we keep going. Man's a rover, see?"
  "Down, rover, down!"

See also.

1. Robert Heinlein's "Have Space Suit - Will Travel": Has a somewhat similar sitting of an alien committee to judge the fate of humanity.

Fact sheet.

First published: Nebula Science Fiction, #14 (November 1955).
Download full text as part of the scans of the magazine it originally appeared in.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

"Nebula Science Fiction", #14 (November 1955) (ed Peter Hamilton) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

For read stories, my rating is in brackets. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. Links on author fetch more fiction by author.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

1. [novelette] James White's "Pushover Planet" (A): Surrender your stuff. And life. Or else...
2. [ss] E C Tubb's "Quis Custodiet" (A): Musings on the idea of a "traitor"... 
3. [ss] Sydney J Bounds' "The Beautiful Martian" (B): Fear creates hate creates destruction.
4. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Down, Rover, Down" (B): Man is not yet mature enough to join elder aliens' union!
5. [ss] Mark Trent's "Question Answered" (B): Computer, save the human civilization, please...
6. [novel] Kenneth Bulmer's "Sunset": An overpopulation dystopia. I'm yet to finish it.

Fact sheet.

Download scans as a CBR file. [via JM@pulpscans].
Note: Download is in the form of a rar file. Rename it as CBR after download.
Related: Old pulps; fiction from 1950s.

Eric Frank Russell's "Dreadful Sanctuary" (novel, thriller): Man must not go to space cultists vs hero who says we'll go

This is one of those Fortean stories of Russell ("Sinister Barrier" is his best known of the type) - something above humanity is pulling our puppet strings.

Story summary.

Over a dozen human attempts to reach moon have all failed - rockets exploding when they're about a certain critical distance from moon. It's too much of a coincidence & there is no reason to suspect sabotage; rockets of several countries have met the same fate.

There is a man financially involved in the next rocket to go. And he's smelling conspiracy...

Notes.

1. Title refers to earth. There is an unreliable back story: Humanity independently evolved on 4 worlds - blacks on Mercury, browns on Venus, yellows on earth, & whites on Mars (skin color depends on their distance from sun). All civilizations except earth reach maturity a long long time ago, & banished war. But they still had crazies who were not cured of need to war. They were herded on 3 worlds, & transported to earth to rid the mother worlds of them - back when earthmen were really primitive. So earth is a prison planet & all except those of yellow skin are descended from the crazies dumped here!

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, June/July/August 1948.
Rating: B. 
Among the stories edited by John Campbell for Astounding/Analog. 
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

Eric Frank Russell's "Legwork" (novelette, alien invasion): Solving a weird bank robbery

Most of the story is a detective work - as cops trace the culprit of an extremely weird bank robbery.

But as readers, we already know the culprit: an alien scout who's here to prepare the groundwork for invasion. And he has an unusual ability: within a mile of him, he can make anything with some brains, animal or human, see whatever he wishes them to see.

How do you track someone who could look like anyone or anything? Or nab one who could make you handcuff yourself instead of him!

See also.

1. "Spiro" (download scans as part of a larger package): Another Russell story with similar theme - catching an alien spy that can masquerade as anything to humans around him.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, April 1956.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

Eric Frank Russell's "Study in Still Life" aka "Still Life" (novelette, bureaucracy, satire)

This would rank among my all time favorites. Very funny satire on bureaucracy.

Only puzzling thing is: why hasn't it been widely anthologized?

Story summary.

A star faring human empire spread across many worlds. Moving goods between worlds is expensive, so they're prioritized. Of course, the liqueur for an influential bureaucrat on an outworld has higher priority than equipment needed to make the place habitable!

We get to view a fat bureaucracy in action, as a well intentioned insider games the system to get the cargo shipments' priorities right...

Collected in.

1. Eric Frank Russell's "Major Ingredients" (ed Rick Katze).

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, January 1959.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

Eric Frank Russell's "Major Ingredients" (ed Rick Katze) (collection): Annotated table of contents & review

Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. Where I am aware of an online copy, I include download links too. My rating appears in brackets.

Table of contents (30 stories, best first, unread last).

1. [ss] "Allamagoosa" (A); download; Astounding, May 1955; humor: Data fudging can have unforeseen consequences!
   
   Winner of Hugo award 1955 in short story category.
2. [novella] "The Ultimate Invader" (A); Planet Stories, January 1953; space opera: Mythical intergalactic super-cops are out to enforce new war-free rules for space lanes! 
3. [novelette] "Dear Devil" (A); download scans as part of a larger package; Other Worlds, May 1950; uplift: Humanity rises from post-nuclear-war apocalypse - with some external help.
4. [novella] "And Then There Were None" (A); download; Astounding, June 1951: A gang of imperialists is frustrated by a planetful of Gandhian natives.
   
   Later included as half of 1962 fix-up novel "The Great Explosion".
5. [novelette] "The Waitabits" (A); Astounding, July 1955: Different people run their lives at different pace. What happens when faster ones try to bring up the slower ones to their pace?
6. [novelette] "Late Night Final" (A); Astounding, December 1948: A variant of "And Then There Were None", but with a very different ending.
7. [novelette] "The Army Comes to Venus" (A); download as part of a larger package; Nebula Science Fiction, December 1953: Persistence pays. 
8. [ss] "Jay Score" (A); Astounding, May 1941; thriller: A passenger ship on earth to Venus voyage is hit by a meteor, & is now headed for Sun!
9. [novelette] "A Little Oil" (B); Galaxy, October 1952: Even precision machinery needs a bit of lubricating!
10. [ss] "U-Turn" [as by Duncan H Munro] (B); Astounding, April 1950: State helps a bored man commit "suicide"... 
11. [ss] "Diabologic" (B); Astounding, March 1955; humor: The art of driving other people nuts! And using it as a political strategy!
12. [novella] "Hobbyist" (B); Astounding, September 1947: A stranded spaceman on an alien planet hasn't realized he's actually met god!
13. [ss] "Top Secret" (B); Astounding, August 1956; science fiction, humor: Fun with data-corrupting communications channels!
14. [ss] "I Am Nothing" (B); Astounding, July 1952: A ruthless dictator has a change of heart...
15. [ss] "Tieline" [as by Duncan H Munro] (B); Astounding, July 1955; science fiction: Sole man on an entire planet that serves as a space lighthouse is very lonely.
16. [ss] "Into Your Tent I'll Creep" (C); Astounding, September 1957: Humans have long been slaves of a master race unknown to them. And now this master race has used humans to spawn itself as masters of an alien race too - aliens that are friendly to humans.
17. [novelette] "Basic Right"; Astounding, April 1958: Not read.
18. [ss] "Fast Falls the Eventide"; Astounding, May 1952: Not read.
19. [ss] "Homo Saps"; Astounding, December 1941: Not read.
20. [novelette] "Last Blast"; Astounding, November 1952: Not read.
21. [ss] "Meeting on Kangshan"; If, March 1965: Not read.
22. [novella] "Metamorphosite"; Astounding, December 1946: Not read.
23. [ss] "Minor Ingredients"; Astounding, March 1956: Not read.
24. [ss] "Now Inhale"; Astounding, April 1959: Not read.
25. [novella] "Nuisance Value"; Astounding, January 1957: Not read.
26. [ss] "Panic Button"; Astounding, November 1959: Not read.
27. [novelette] "Plus X"; Astounding, June 1956: Not read.
    
    I have, however, read its 1959 novelization - "Next of Kin"; very funny.
28. [novelette] "Study in Still Life"; Astounding, January 1959: Not read.
29. [ss] "The Timid Tiger"; Astounding, February 1947: Not read.
30. [novelette] "The Undecided": Astounding, April 1949: Not read.

Fact sheet.

First published: 2000.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

Eric Frank Russell's "Muten" (as by Duncan H Munro) (short story, humor): Fun transporting an intelligent talking horse

US government's Board of Social Survey keeps a record of country's mutants. Now they've got a call for a possible mutant, & Steven Yule is dispatched to investigate it. He finds the mutant all right, only it's a horse - an intelligent talking horse! A lot of fun transporting him to government's labs...

Title is mutant mispronounced by the farmer in whose stables talking horse was born.

See also.

1. James Blish's "How Beautiful With Banners" (download): Another story where the resolution is primarily by sexual arousal.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, October 1948.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (as by Duncan H Munro) (annotated list).

Eric Frank Russell's "Hell's Bells" aka "Bentley's Old London Djinn" (as by Duncan H Munro) (novelette, humor): Glad to get rid of Alladin's magic lamp!

An American tourist in Cairo picked up a souvenir - a "sistrum". A gadget with some small bells tied variously. That's the magic lamp of the story.

On a London train some months later, he'll notice the gadget again & playing around, untie a bell. Well, that's the clue for djinn to appear. We'll have fun as literal-minded djinn does the master's bidding...

See also.

1. Murray Leinster's "Gateway to Elsewhere" (download): Adventure in an alternate reality where djinns actually exist.

Fact sheet.

First published: Short Stories, March 1945 as "Bentley's Old London Djinn".
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (as by Duncan H Munro) (annotated list).

Eric Frank Russell's "A Little Oil" (novelette): Even precision machinery needs a bit of lubricating!

Most stories on this theme tend to be melancholy - a very few people, packed together in a small spaceship for years, with little hope of ever locating home, cracking up one after the other. This one, on the other hand, is sometimes funny, & made me laugh once.

There is something here I don't think I've seen in this kind of stories before: main thing driving the crew crazy is noise the ship's drive is making - relentless, day after day, with no respite for years.

Story summary.

First 2 manned starships never returned. Story is set on 3rd one - 4 years out from earth - 2 of them going to an unnamed target star, 2 returning. Sol should have been located by now & is not, & everyone seems to be cracking up. Everyone, that is, except ...

Notes.

1. Title comes from analogy to a precision machine - cogs & wheels working together generate friction - so you oil the interfaces to cut friction. Here precision components are highly skilled crew members, & oil is...
2. There was "a film offer by Metro Goldwyn Mayer, MGM, for A Little Oil". Looks like the movie never came through. 

Collected in.

1. "Major Ingredients" (ed Rick Katze). 

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, October 1952.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

Eric Frank Russell's "The Glass Eye" (short story, alien invasion)

It has been quite some time since I saw a really good story of Russell; this one breaks the jinx. It's as good as anything by Russell at this story length.

Story summary.

Two arrogant "Sagittarian" invaders, Qvord & Eenif, have finally discovered Earth, & want it. So they plan to soften up the inhabitants for slavery, before masters arrive in hordes.

Near the end of the week long softening, they'll finally face the horror...

Notes.

1. Title refers to a camera lens, employed as a weapon by humans.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, March 1949.
Rating: A.
Among the stories edited by John Campbell for Astounding/Analog. 
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).