| Contributed by
"William E. Emba"
This short novel, originally published in the January 1931 ASTOUNDING,
and republished by Damon Knight in SCIENCE FICTION OF THE 30'S (1975),
involves a mathematical physicist whose theories get applied by an
experimentalist who gets trapped, along with his beautiful daughter,
in an alternate dimension. The theoretician must think out a rescue.
The story rolls in its simple-minded goshwowness, plotting, and
characterizations, of the traditional pushbutton sort. Mathematics
is mentioned frequently, including a nifty attempt to explain how
higher-dimensional rotations can be induced from below: one attaches
right-angled frames in tension, with the natural spring lengths
corresponding to the lengths they will have in the desired folding.
The simple-mindedness of the characterizations becomes comic, even
ridiculous, at times. Of mathematical interest is that the hero is so
handsome in his appearance, and drives such a sporty car, that various
characters are confused, and have a hard time believing he is the famed
mathematical genius who has been called in for the rescue. Even the
third-person narrator makes an effort to convince the reader that this
peculiar mixture of looks, hipness, and brains is in fact the truth.
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