Page
Reference
Refers to
4
Dedication: To Ted Johnstone, for ten years of unremitting labor which put me where I am today.
McDaniel had joined LASFS as Ted [A.] Johnstone on June 21, 1956, five days after his 17th birthday. He'd picked the name out of the South Pasadena phonebook when answering a newspaper classified ad, and that led circuitously to his coming to a LASFS meeting and then to joining organized SF fandom, in which he'd participate for the rest of his life.
5
The tramp steamer, Paxon Merchant...
reference???
A tramp ship does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call.
5
Suzie Danz, 26, American (page 25: Suzanne Danz of Chicago)
???
6
John MacKendricks, Mac (page 16, middle name Calvin)
???
7
Kurt Schneider
???
8
Donnerwetter!
Literally "Thunderstorm!" Corresponds to
"Gosh!"
Donner is the South Germanic version of Thor, so Donnerwetter (literally
"Thunder weather") is equivalent to "Thor weather."
Similar to the way an anglophone might say "Good God!" when
startled by something.
11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Read the first letters of the chapter titles (not the section titles) down,
and you'll see that they spell out (if you supply appropriate spaces) "A
A WYN IS A TIGHTWAD."
Aaron A. Wyn founded Ace Books in 1952. McDaniel's initial contract with Ace provided that he got $1500 for each of his first three "Man from U.N.C.L.E." books as a work for hire, with the copyrights and all royalties going to MGM, Inc. After The Monster Wheel Affair, McDaniel got a new contract: $2,000 for each book.
13
"The Sailor Told Me Before He Died..."
See "The Fucking Machine": "A sailor told me before he died"
14
Tennessee windage
In shooting, a method of adjusting the aim of your second shot by aiming to the left (or right) of the target by the same amount as you missed your target to the right (or left) on the first shot.
14
Gyrojet pistol
A family of unique firearms developed in the 1960s named for the method of gyroscopically stabilizing its projectiles. Gyrojets fire small rockets called Microjets which have little recoil and do not require a heavy barrel to resist the pressure of the combustion gases, producing a weapon that is lightweight and nearly silent See Wikipedia article "Gyrojet"
17
Finjet, smaller version of the rocket
Gyrojet type: a miniature rocket aerodynamically stabilized in flight by fins, like an arrow.
17
"Caution: cigarette smoking may be hazardous to the next guy's health."
Starting in 1966, cigarette packages were required to bear the statement: "Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health."
24
Channel D put him in direct communication with Waverly, by way of an automatic relay station and the nearest communications satellite, where it was beamed to New York, multiplexed on an apparently innocuous carrier.
See Wikipedia "Communications Satellite"
Channel D stood for Direct and also for Distance.
26
Channel L
Channel L stands for Local.
27
Ballyshannon
See W. S. Gilbert's poem "Etiquette" which
begins:
The Ballyshannon foundered off the the coast of Cariboo,
And down in fathoms many went the captain and the crew
28
Archie Gunderson signed on the Miyako Maru....Alexei Kropotkin shipped out... on the Duke of York. Waleed al-Fadly...."
????.
29
BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation)
Ceased: 31 March 1974 (merged with British European Airways to form British Airways)
29
redcap
Usually a porter at a railway station, while a porter at an airport is a "skycap."
31
Russian T 3-A...,
more powerful than anything but our Saturn V
Not mentioned in Arthur C. Clarke's 1968 The Promise of Space, probably not a reference but something out of McDaniel's fertile imagination. and the Skylab launch, starting in December 1968 .
33
proctoscope
The Wikipedia article says this is a short, straight, rigid, hollow metal tube, usually with a small light bulb mounted at the end, about 5" long, while a rectoscope is similar but about 10" long. McDaniel seems to be thinking of a rectoscope..
38
Yanara
a reference to a character from a series of stories written by various LA fen set in the imaginary world of Coventry.
38
A Fonte Sujo
The Dirty Fountain
39
"Zdrastvoutye, tovarich Kropotkin."
"Hello, Comrade Kropotkin."
44
balvani
???
44
cerveja, puta
beer, prostitute
45
Svolochi!
Bastards!
45
Santa Rosalia
???
47
"They Built Themselves a Monster Wheel"
See "The Fucking Machine": "So he fashioned out a big fucking wheel,"
49
Nancy Brigg
an allusion to W. S. Gilbert's Bab Ballad "The Yarn of the Nancy Bell":
"Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold,
And the mate of the NANCY brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig."
52
first mate...Fisheye
???
52
Neu-Schloss (see page 45: He (Kurt) and Archie spoke German between themselves mostly)
literally "New-Castle" in German (see page 65)
54
"It's early morning in New York, and a couple hours later in Rio."
Nowadays Rio is only one hour later. Assuming Rio kept the same time as Sao Paulo in the 1960s, , it would be two hours ahead of New York. Nowadays (2015), Rio is only one hour later than NY.
62
North African power, hieroglyphics
references to Egypt
62
bird tracks
a reference to Thrush
64
"never take the first cab"... "or the second"
A. Conan Doyle's play Sherlock Holmes has Holmes
telling Watson, "In times like this you should tell your man never to
take the first cab that comes on a call—(smokes)—nor yet the
second—the third may be safe!"
McDaniel was a Baker Street Irregular.
66
Odile, Magdalene
???
67
Willie Muller
???
67
wild German chase
twisted version of wild goose chase
69
The black opals are very rare and valuable. They come from only one area....
Opal is the national gemstone of Australia. Australian opal has often been cited as accounting for 95-97% of the world's supply of precious opal. Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, is the main source of black opal, but it is also found in Andamooka and the Mintabie Opal Field in South Australia.
70
in the Smoke
???
79
Research Department, Mr. Simpson
a reference to Don Simpson, a LASFSian. Simpson is also one of two people Tuckerized as "Ron Cole" in "Cloak of Anarchy" by Larry Niven and Fallen Angels by Niven, Pournelle, and Flynn.
80
Dauringa Island
Dauringa is a reshuffling of "Guardian" and was a name used by "Doc Dauringa," a leader of the anti-Coventranian allied fans. The man behind this pseudonym turned out to be Dean W. Dickensheet.
81
"Round And Round Went the Monster Wheel"
See "The Fucking Machine":" "Round and 'round went the big fucking wheel"
81
"This Is Your Submarine—Keep It Clean."
See the sample signs found by Google Images.
82
Stewart Way of Westinghouse
Dr. Stewart Way did indeed work for Westinghouse and developed a numbed of interesting inventions, including turbojets.
83
the Coanda effect
This is real: see the Wikipedia article
83
General Atomics
a San Diego firm, founded July 18, 1955
89
yellow [as a color to repaint the submarine]
The Beatles song "Yellow Submarine" was released in 1966. The film of the same name didn't come out until 1968.
90
Colombo
largest city of Sri Lanka
92
South Equatorial Current
see the Wikipedia article
94
wet-suits
These would probably black neoprene with nylon sheeting.
94
...a hundred feet of sea water....
The pressure was high, but if they got the surface with reasonable dispatch
there would be insufficient time for nitrogen to dissolve in their
bloodstreams....
Wikipedia's article on Nitrogen Narcosis doesn't mention how long it takes for nitrogen to dissolve, but does state that the symptoms for 100 feet down are "mild impairment of performance of unpracticed tasks, mildly impaired reasoning, and possible mild euphoria."
96
the highly pungent Kerguelen's Land cabbage
Pringlea antiscorbutica: grows on the Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Crozet, Prince Edward and Kerguelen Islands. The Wikipedia article mentions its taste but not any smell.
102
a von Braun-type space station [Bonestell art of von Braun
space station at right]
Wernher von Braun, one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the US. In 1952, von Braun published his concept of a manned space station in Collier's Weekly series of articles by himself and other scientists entitled "Man Will Conquer Space Soon!" illustrated by Chesley Bonestell and other artists.
104
mimeographed...letterpress....
wastebins
Xerox machines weren't yet in common use. Note that there aren't any paper shredders in evidence; in the 1960s, they weren't commonly used outside of government agencies. Barry worked in a defense contractor, and "classified waste" was typically discarded in a special bin to be taken away and burned. Today, classified waste is usually taken to a hammermill.
105
"Chiggers, the cops."
or "Jiggers, the cops." Old slang for "Watch out, the police are coming."
108
all the way up to the Ultimate Computer
McDaniel devised this idea of THRUSH's organization.
112
kemosabe
the endearment and catchphrase used by sidekick Tonto to team leader "The Lone Ranger," sometimes translated as "trusty scout"
117
"Head for home, James...."
Urban Dictionary defines "Home, James" as --
The original saying (to the coach driver) was supposedly "Home,
James, and don't spare the horses!"
(The movie one allegedly goes, "Once around the park and home,
James"--said to the chauffeur.)
Dates from the mid-1800s; there was also a 1934 song with the same phrase
as a title: "Home, James, and don't spare the horses" by Fred
Hillebrand.
119
"Is There No Way Of Stopping It?"
See "The
Fucking Machine":
"There was no way of stopping it."
122-3
"That couldn't just be a balloon up there?"
"Picture a balloon—like the Echo satellite, but shaped into a wheel
...."
Project Echo was the first passive communications satellite experiment. Each of the two American spacecraft, launched in 1960 and 1964, was a metalized balloon satellite acting as a passive reflector of microwave signals. Communication signals were bounced off them from one point on Earth to another
124
"With it(*) Thrush could -- dare I say it -- rule the world."
(*) That is, a real space station instead of the fake one.
In HELP! (1965 Beatles film), Professor Foot says, "With a ring like that I could dare I say it? Rule the world."
130
Captain Blood
a reference to either a Rafael Sabatinni novel about a pirate or to one of the films based on it..
130
"Then fire the nasty thing."
From HELP!: Clang: "Well, fire the nasty thing." (in the film, a bazooka)
131
falling leaf maneuver
motor off, wings-level stall, allowing the plane to side-slip in one direction, then countering the slip with rudder before a spin develops, allowing it to side-slip to the other direction, countering with rudder again, diving to exit the maneuver.
132
Yaound° in Cameroon
the capital of Cameroon
134
NASA Headquarters in Washington, Doctor MacTeague
???
136
I haven't eaten my spinach
a Popeye reference
136
the bird people
Thrush
138
Oscar Wilde, "A poet can survive everything but a misprint." playing Botticelli
see Wikipedia on "Botticelli (game)"
The quote is from Wilde's The Children of Poets.
138
"Not so fast, you mad impetuous Russian."
"You mad impetuous boy" was first been used in the 1947 Loony Tunes cartoon (Birth of a Notion) in which a Peter Lorre lookalike is slapped by Donald Duck.
151
Toujours l'audace
Literally "Always audacity," more freely:
"We must dare." A quote from Georges Danton, a leading figure of
the French Revolution:
Il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!
We must dare, dare again, always dare!
152
San Juan de la Trine
??? (St. John of the Trill, Warble, Shake, Quaver). This may also be an indirect reference to "bird", and therefore to THRUSH.