Short Story Reviews: David Ely’s “Court of Judgment” (1961), “The Last Friday in August” (1961), and “The Wizard of Light” (1962)

In 2019, I reviewed and adored David Ely’s science fiction thriller Seconds (1963), the source material for John Frankenheimer’s similarly brilliant 1969 film. I did not know that Ely got his start in genre magazines under the editorship of Cele Goldsmith Lalli (1933-2002), known for “discovering” SF luminaries like Ursula K. Le Guin, Thomas M. Disch, Keith Laumer, Sonya Dorman, and Roger Zelazny (among others).1 Before his writing career, Ely served in the Navy (1945-1946) and Army (1950-1952) and as a reporter in St. Louis (until 1956) before entering the business world as an”administrative assistant” for the nebulously named Cold War organization Development and Resources Corporation in New York (1956-1959).2 After a handful of short stories in genre magazines, Ely moved to far more lucrative venues like Playboy and Cosmopolitan. I’ve had my eyes on his collection–containing additional SF tales–Time Out (1968) for years. Unfortunately, prices rarely drop below $70 with shipping.…