Sam Weskit on the Planet Framingham

by William Johnston

Review by John Clarke

It's entirely possible that our other reviewer Bill really did write this book in 1970, when he was four years old, as Sam Weskit very closely resembles a PSSFS story with a smoother plot.

Sam Weskit, two coworkers, and a token useless female travel to the planet Framingham to build a gadget factory. Too late, they discover that their ship was designed for one-way travel. After crash-landing, the group discovers that East Framingham (in the north) is being invaded by West Framingham (in the south), so Sam's boss appoints himself chairman of East Framingham and makes plans to protect his market. The bad news is that the East Framinghamians are planning to run away to the soon-to-be-empty West Framingham, leaving our heroes to deal with the invasion. The good news is that the ultimate weapon on Framingham is the rock.

The humor is typical of PSSFS silliness, with bad character stereotypes, dumb jokes, and an even dumber plot. I highly recommend Sam Weskit for anyone who actually enjoys PSSFS stories, and I strongly urge any would-be authors to send your "absorbing and high quality" reading to Grosset & Dunlap on the off chance they haven't fired any editors since 1970.


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