"Murray Leinster - A Logic Named Joe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

stories (published in another volume of this reclamation of his work by Baen Books) and certainly had by
the mid-sixties earned the not at all ironic sobriquet "The Dean of Science Fiction," which phrase in fact
appeared in his obituary in the New York Times.
A remarkable figure, then, one of the central figures (as so noted in the Clute-Nicholls Encyclopedia
of Science Fiction) of "magazine science fiction"тАФand it was magazine science fiction which drove the
category, at least until the early seventies. Until then, virtually all important and influential science fiction
appeared first in the magazines, only to reach book form later, and Jenkins was one of the ten or a dozen
signal figures of the 1940's Campbell Astounding who were integral to the genre, which had reached its
real maturity under Campbell. There is a consensus that Jenkins' novels were not at the level of his short
fiction; certainly he published none which had a fraction of the reach and force enacted by First Contact
or A Logic Named Joe, and most of the novels have been out of print for many years. The best of the
shorter work is, however, unimpeachable and the span of the career, almost fifty years at or near the very
top of the genre, is close to unparalleled. It should be added, and not parenthetically, that Jenkins also
wrote mysteries and was the editor of an important early science fiction anthology.
A writer of significant range, Jenkins published two stories in Horace Gold's sardonic early-fifties
Galaxy, If You Was a Moklin and The Other Now, which managed to embrace Gold's grim world-view
in no less sprightly fashion than First Contact had embodied Campbell's more positive mien, and there is
little doubt that a Jenkins born fifty or seventy years later could have functioned very well on the cutting
edge of contemporary science fiction. Surely A Logic Named Joe was as savagely innovative in 1946 as
anything published in our celebrated cyberpunk eighties.
A remarkable, irreplaceable figure. Take him out of the history and as with Campbell that history
might collapse. Fortunately we do not have to so speculate; he is here and we are lucky to have him. This
collection is both celebratory and as absolutely contemporary as this great writer.
 A Logic Named Joe


It was on the third day of August that Joe come off the assembly line, and on the fifth Laurine come
into town, an' that afternoon I saved civilization. That's what I figure, anyhow. Laurine is a blonde that I
was crazy about onceтАФand crazy is the wordтАФand Joe is a logic that I have stored away down in the
cellar right now. I had to pay for him because I said I busted him, and sometimes I think about turning
him on and sometimes I think about taking an ax to him. Sooner or later I'm gonna do one or the other. I
kinda hope it's the ax. I could use a coupla million dollarsтАФsure!тАФan' Joe'd tell me how to get or make
'em. He can do plenty! But so far I've been scared to take a chance. After all, I figure I really saved
civilization by turnin' him off.
The way Laurine fits in is that she makes cold shivers run up an' down my spine when I think about
her. You see, I've got a wife which I acquired after I had parted from Laurine with much romantic
despair. She is a reasonable good wife, and I have some kids which are hell-cats but I value 'em. If I
have sense enough to leave well enough alone, sooner or later I will retire on a pension an' Social
Security an' spend the rest of my life fishin' contented an' lyin' about what a great guy I used to be. But
there's Joe. I'm worried about Joe.
I'm a maintenance man for the Logics Company. My job is servicing logics, and I admit modestly that
I am pretty good. I was servicing televisions before that guy Carson invented his trick circuit that will
select any of 'steenteen million other circuitsтАФin theory there ain't no limitтАФand before the Logics
Company hooked it into the tank-and-integrator set-up they were usin' 'em as business-machine service.
They added a vision screen for speedтАФan' they found out they'd made logics. They were surprised an'
pleased. They're still findin' out what logics will do, but everybody's got 'em.
I got Joe, after Laurine nearly got me. You know the logics setup. You got a logic in your house. It
looks like a vision receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials and you punch the keys for what
you wanna get. It's hooked in to the tank, which has the Carson Circuit all fixed up with relays. Say you
punch "Station SNAFU" on your logic. Relays in the tank take over an' whatever vision-program