Vintage Pulp | Dec 30 2017 |
Nothing is more human than being inhuman to others.
This issue of Adam magazine hit newsstands this month in 1967, and as always it has vivid cover art by either Phil Belbin or Jack Waugh, in this case illustrating Bill Starr's science fiction story “Almost Human.” Starr's story deals with human-like androids created by the U.S. to win the Cold War. Problem is the Soviets have their own androids. The main character is a U.S. spy trained to infiltrate a Soviet android base, but there he finds that the machines are more human than he thought. These types of android tales were not unique in sci-fi, but still you have give Starr credit for coming up with his take a full year before Phillip K. Dick changed the game with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? You may know that book better as the source material for Blade Runner. Starr is no Phillip K. Dick, but the story is interesting, with sex serving as the key to the question of the androids' potential humanity. Which is more fun than using that Voight-Kampff test Dick dreamed up. We have about thirty scans from Adam below, and many more issues in the website.