When

[james_davis_nicoll]

Was the Dec 1972 Analog actually released?

"Pard" is Dec 1972 Analog time, while The Halcyon Drift is Nov 1972 book time; which, if any, was first?

Wilson being in the US and Stableford in the UK I assume this is an example of parallel development, particularly given the timing.

Comments

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

That being the old days of magazine distributors, I can tell you that magazine retailers would get rid of anything that had a current date on it, so that issue of Analog was almost certainly released in November of 1972, maybe earlier.

That means that it's content was probably reasonably set by end of September, 1972, if not earlier. (Ads and maybe some illustrations would have been later, and stories were probably still undergoing some editing, by then, but Campbell probably had the issue lineup set by end of September.)

I am, of course, guessing, because I was all of eleven at the time. But that accords with the general industry practice that I've read about in things like The Mad World of William M. Gaines or whatever it was.

[dsrtao]

I'll generally agree with this. The book was probably finished in mid 1971 or earlier, with review copies being available by July or August 1972. Longer shipping times, longer lead times.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I guess this goes on my list of ideas developed simultaneously by two authors unlikely to have had direct contact.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

At least it's not like Web Between the Worlds and Fountains of Paradise, where there were so many parallels iirc Clarke decided to write Sheffield an intro explaining the situation. Aside from the mind-rider, Healer and The Halcyon Drift are not much alike.

[seawasp]

Yeah, the most striking being that even the protagonists NAMES were similar in Web/Fountains, and neither one a common name (Merrick/ Merrill, if I recall correctly).

[narmitaj.livejournal.com]

The names are actually Kliatt Rob Merlin (Web) and Vannevar Morgan (Fountains).

Merlin was of course a top Arthurian magician, and in engineering the most famous British WWII aero-engine was the Rolls-Royce Merlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin), of which 150,000 were built - so it's a pretty evocative (even cliched) name choice, if not too common in real life.

There are now and were then lots of Morgans about, especially in Wales, including the rugby-player-turned-BBC-executive Cliff Morgan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Morgan), and on the engineering front the Morgan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Motor_Company) car company - not that I imagine either would have impacted much on Sir Arthur, especially in Sri Lanka. No doubt for him the Vannevar part of the name would have been more evocative because of Vannevar Bush (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush) and the Morgan element was some euphonious afterthought.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

I've recently read a web-posted story from a slightly earlier era where the hero is a split-brain concert pianist whose non-speaking half he also calls "Pard", and Pard turns out to be a telepathic spy and otherwise action-heroey. I can supply more plot details, but I can't specifically re-google it. IIRC the author died about the time the other two stories were being written.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Here it is: Howard L Myers' "Duplex" aka "Partner" from June 1968 Analog

http://variety-sf.blogspot.com/2009/10/howard-l-myers-duplex-aka-partner-as-by.html

[malada.livejournal.com]

I remember reading "Pard" in Analog many many years ago. Great story.

-m

[andrew barton (from livejournal.com)]

While I can't give a precise figure, as I don't have that specific issue, the October 1972 Analog indicates that the next issue will be on sale on October 10--so likely sometime in early November.

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

And I do have all the Analogs from 1972. The November issue says that the December issue will be on sale November 9th.