The Steiger Effect Explained

"The Steiger Effect" is a science fiction short story by Betsy Curtis. It was first published in Analog Science Fiction in October 1968.

Synopsis

Human merchants sell internal combustion engines to a planet whose inhabitants view the devices as magic — and when the humans leave, the engines stop working, because internal combustion only functions in the presence of a psionic field unknowingly emitted by humans.

Reception

"The Steiger Effect" was a finalist for the 1969 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.[1]

Galactic Journey noted that "'Humans secretly have psi powers and don't know it' certainly sounds like a plot tailor-made for [''Analog'' editor] Campbell", and observed that the aliens' social stratification ("Men" who use their minds, and "Boys" who use their muscle) was uncomfortably evocative of "antebellum days in the American South".[2]

Title

Historian Maggie Thompson – Curtis's daughter – has described the story's premise as "there are people who have a sort of 'repairing field' [said Steiger Effect] around them – which is why, for example, your car runs fine when you have it at the service station but renews the grinding noise after you've driven away", and noted that "[o]ur local service station was run by Mr. Steiger."[3]

Notes and References

  1. https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1969-hugo-awards/ 1969 Hugo Awards
  2. http://galacticjourney.org/september-30-1968-a-spoonful-of-sugar-october-1968-analog/ September 30, 1968 - A spoonful of sugar… (October 1968 Analog)
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20200918211521/https://www.waywordradio.org/discussion/topics/resistentialism-1/ Resistentialism