Conference noted::sf

    Oh, yes, the Time Machine stories. Wish I could remember the stories
    and the author better. I remember a talking dog (or was it a wolf?)
    
    I seem to remember that the stories were collected and published
    in book form, but I never saw a copy. 
    
    For that matter, is Boys Life still published ?

    
    Give me a day or so and I'll let you know.  I think I still have
    my old Boys Lifes with some of those stories in them....
    
    Characters... I forget the "story teller" name, but his whiz kid
    buddy was "Brains" Baynes, the kid from the future was Kai Beezee
    Tentroi (who lived at the intersections of K, B, and Z "streets",
    floor 10, in the city/building of Troi... his name was his address!)
    They had a sometimes-in-the-story friend from Ancient Sparta
    (name escapes me).  I'm not sure I remember the talking canine...
    
    The stories were collected, in a hardbound book published by
    (who else?) Boys Life Books.  Not generally available in your
    local bookstore.... 
    
    Is Boys Life still published?  YES!!  Monthly, as always, with
    all the news, etc. for national Boy Scouts activities, etc..  
    Stories, last I read it regularly, were not up to the "old
    standards", but were at least a regular feature.  (Who knows
    where some of these writers will be in 30 years??)
    
    Now you've got me going..... I'm moving in another couple of
    weeks, and the Boys Life pile was waiting to be packed.  Now
    maybe I'll do that tomorrow (I get off work at 0800) instead of
    waiting until this weekend!  Thanks for the excuse....
    
                                 - Ed -

    The author was "Donald Keith", pseudonym of Donald Monroe & Keith
    Monroe, though Keith Monroe wrote some of them on his own.
    
    There were two novels (presumably kludged together from the stories),
    both published by Random House. If there's (at least) a third,
    published by BSA, I'd like to know about it (and get my hands on
    a copy!). None of my references have a citation for it (though,
    admittedly, my references are a bit out of date).
    
    The two novels are:
    
    	MUTINY IN THE TIME MACHINE	1963
    	THE TIME MACHINE TO THE RESCUE	1967
    
    Later stories that I either have or know about are:
    
    DK	"The King and the Time Machine"		Aug 1971
    DK	"The Time Machine Cleans Up"		Feb 1973
    KM	"The Time Machine Twins the Jamboree"	Aug 1973
    DK	"Santa Claus and the Time Machine"	Dec 1973
    KM	"The Time Machine Fights Earthquakes"	Nov 1974
    KM	"The Time Machine Saves a Patriot"	Apr 1975
    
    "DK" means it was written as by Donald Keith, "KM" as by Keith
    Monroe. Date, obviously, is the issue of BOYS' LIFE in which the
    story appeared. There are undoubtedly a number of others that I
    don't have citations for, but I can say with reasonable certainty
    that none appeared between 1977 and 1984, inclusive.
    
    Thanks for this note, Fred. It reminds me of a pet project I've
    had in the back of my head for a number of years -- to find a
    complete run of BOYS' LIFE (I think that Boston Public Library
    has one) and index all of the science fiction stories that appeared
    in it. Heinlein, Clarke, and Anderson all had fiction there, as
    well as items like the Time Machine series.
    
    Speaking of Heinlein and BOYS' LIFE, while looking up my info on
    the TM series, I noted that around 1977, they ran a comic strip
    adaptation of BETWEEN PLANETS. Sometime after that ran, they did
    adaptations of John Christopher's Tripods Trilogy. And as far as
    the comic strips go, does anyone remember the "Space Explorers"
    strip that ran during the 60's? Now that would be a nice idea for
    one of the independent comics publishers to pursue --- collections
    of the various sf comic strips from BOYS' LIFE.
    
    re:.2
    
    If you ever decide to get rid of your BOYS' LIFE issues, let me
    know. I'm trying to collect the issues with sf stories and/or the
    sf comic strips. Unfortunately, BL's are not that easy to come
    across. I wish I had kept the ones I got when I subscribed to it
    back in my Scouting days.
    
    --- jerry

    Thanks to all for the info. And jerry, as usual, for such detailed
    information. I remember reading -- and owning -- "Mutiny on the
    Time Machine" (I would have been 11 or 12). It was interesting to
    see that the stories were still being published as late as 1975.
    
    As I said, at the time I found them exciting, well-written stories 
    although -- like so many things -- they might not stand up so well
    now. If you happen to have any other information on Donald and Keith
    Monroe, jerry, I'd be interested in seeing it.
    
    And, for that matter, if you ever get around to doing your index
    of the BOYS' LIFE science fiction stories, I'd *love* to have a
    copy (now *I* want to go to the BPL :-)). I'm fairly certain that
    I first began reading science fiction because of BOYS' LIFE. I still
    remember the beautiful cover painting of the issue which had Clarke's
    SUNJAMMER (STARJAMMER? memory fails) in it. And yeah, I also remember
    the old "Space Explorers" strip, and would love to see it reprinted.
    
    As a matter of fact, I'll make you a deal. Find the time to do your
    index. I'll put together some words on what BOYS' LIFE science fiction
    meant to me (after refreshing my rapidly failing memory :-)), and
    we'll zap off an article to OtherRealms. Chuq would love it.
    
    Gee, now does anyone remember Pedro the Burro? :-)
    
    Fred 

    RE: .1 and .2
    
    One other thing. A few years ago, Bob Greene (a columnist in ESQUIRE)
    had a funny and touching article about "Whatever happened to BOYS'
    LIFE?" a question that's probably occurred to most males in their
    30s or 40s who read and loved the magazine when they were kids.
    As .2 noted and Greene related, the magazine is alive and well,
    though its circulation has shrunk massively. Address, in case anyone
    is interested, is:
    
                                  BOYS' LIFE
                            Boy Scouts of America
                              Magazine Division
                            1325 Walnut Hill Lane
                               Irving, TX 75062
    
    If I had a son I would buy him a subscription. And then probably read
    it first. :-)
    
    Fred

    Re .4 (Fred):
    
    >Gee, now does anyone remember Pedro the Burro? :-)
    
    If you look at it the right way, ol' hayburner was somewhat
    sciencefictional.  (See Eric Frank Russell's "Muten" for a vague
    relative.)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    re:.4
    
    Pedro!!! Yes!! I'd forgotten him, but your mentioning him brings
    back the memory. Ah, sweet nostalgia...
    
    Yeah, Chuq probably would like such an article. I'll have to keep
    this in mind. Hmmm....
    
    --- jerry

    I should mention that if anyone has -- or comes across -- copies
    of either of the two "Time Machine" books jerry notes in .3, I would
    entertain "reasonable" quotes in order to buy them. "Reasonable,"
    in this case meaning whatever I felt I could spend at the time to
    recapture a small slice of my past. :-)
    
    Fred

    While I was in Maine this past weekend, I ran across a used
    bookstore that had a few old issues of BOYS' LIFE (though most
    were scattered through the 60's and 70's, a couple stretched
    back to 1916!). I managed to pick up a bunch with sf stories,
    including the entire 4-part serial of "Mutiny in the Time Machine"
    and two of the three parts of "The Time Machine Hunts a Treasure".
    At the end of the former, it mentioned that a longer version was
    to be published later by Random House. Without a copy of the
    second novel, I can't say whether it was an expanded version of
    the second serial, or "fixed up" from separate stories.
    
    At any rate, I also noted that Boys' Life Books did their own edition
    of MUTINY IN THE TIME MACHINE, which might be what the previous
    note was referring to. So, thus far, there's nothing to indicate
    that any more books than the two I mentioned in a previous note
    exist.
    
    (Among the other issues I picked up was one part of a serial of
    James Blish's THE STAR DWELLERS.)
    
    Another erratum and addendum: The comic strip I mentioned before
    was "Space Conquerors!", not "Space Explorers", and it was by Al
    Stenzel (whose name does not ring a bell). It has run *at least*
    from late 1961 to late 1972, though not in every issue.
    
    --- jerry