FANTASY REVIEW Come in TV

FANI TASY RTVIEVV

Vol. III, No. 14 ONE SIilLLING .APR.-MAY '49

Fontosy on lelevision JOHI{ CARNELL reports on .THE TIME MACHINE'

Science & Fiction THN SDABOII FOB SUPBBN|AN By JOHN K. AIKEN

Mosters of Fantosy ARTHUR F. HILLMAN on Clark Ashton Smith

Book Reviews The Badio Man and The Golden Amilzzotr By THOMAS SHERIDAN FANTASY gether in a project which, if it had not failed for lack of capital, might have TELEVlSl0ll resulted in the filming of the Time Traveiler's adventures---or, at least, in TAKES TO an attempt at something which even today's film-makers Would scarcely dare to tackle. But could he possibly have dreamed, FANTASY in 1894 (any more than we did only a few months ago), that "The Time Machine" would be presented to &n By J0HN CARI{ELI audience of thousands, sitting com- fortably in their own homes before years young their television screens in 1949? In Over flfty ago, a writer spite ol difficulties which were readily who was destined to become world- recognised, produc- famous for his imaginative conceptions such an ambitious of things to come sat down and wrote tion was not too much for the B.B.C. his first successful fantasy. It'was to attempt; and if they did not succeed an inventor who fashioned to the extent of satisfying the arm- the story of chair critics of the Press-one of whom a machine on which he journeyed into yawn, the future, stopped ofi to take a look described it, with a as " The year Crawl of Time"-at least they were at mankind in the 802701, and quick to see in the brave try the travelled on into the dim vistas of the making of television history. world's end before returning to the were, actually, security of the 19th Century. There two attempts, Wells' The the first having caused such a furore It is said that tale of " of caustic comment* that several Time Machine" set the early British revisions calculated to improve the fiIm pioneer, R,obert Paul, thinking whole production were about the possibilities of the screen made in the been suggested that second showing. Even then yiewers play. It has even who looked-in Versions the author himself ma5r have been on both influenced, if only subconsciously, by found difficulty in deciding which new version was the better. But it the awakening Lechnique of the was generally agreed that " The art form when he wrote his amazing Time Machine" had been worth the tale. At any rate, he and Paul got to- time and trouble-and the money- spent on it. For the fantasy fan, especially, it was a momentous event, indicative of the shape of things to FANTASY REVIEW come in TV. A Journa,l for Readers, Writers and The flrst announcement of the play Collectors of Imaginative Flction caused quite a controversy over the producer SHILLING courageous bid of Flobert BI-MONTHLY: ONE Barr and scene designer Barry Learoyd Editoriral, Advertising and Pub- to present this corner-stone of science lishing Ofrce: 115 Wanstead Park fiction in a medium to which, it seemed Road, Ilford, Essex. to the sceptics, it was quite unadapt Subscription rates: In Great able. The discussions between the Britain and Dominions (except producer and his staff over the ticklish Canada) 6/- per year. Single copies problems raised were the 1/-. Dost free. In Canada and the technical it U.S.A., $1.50 per year. Single x Especially by Observer critic W. E. copies, 25c., post free. Wiuiams, who condemned "the ill-fated Vol. 3, No. 14 APr.-Ma,y '49 endeavour to confine the cosmic vision of H. G. Wells upon a minia,ture screen. Editor: Walter Gillings. Its resources," he argued, "are too Associate Editors: John Carnell, pathetically meagre to cope with such a J. Michael Rosenblum, D. R. Smith, story . and its cardboard improvisa- Arthur F. Hillman, FTed C. Brown, tions of the iandscapes of Utopia reduced Frank Edward Arnold, J. O. New- the fable to banality. The impersonation man, A. Vincent Clarke. of the creatures who inhabited Futurity A me r i c an Correspondents: was another exposure of the limitations David l(ishi (New York), Fbrrest of the medium, a.nd the delicate little J. Ackerman (Hollywood), Sam citizens of the Golden Age (with their Moskowitz (Newark, N.J.), Bob sinister troglodyte guardians) proved a Tucker (Bloomington, IlI.) nere rabble of pantomime elves dressed in horrible co,stumes." REVIEW 3 subject of an artlcle ln The Raillo Tlmes. How could they give an im- pression of the passing of hundreds of thousands of years in the space of some three minutes? How to design sets strictly limited in size to really look Iike a bizarre world of the distant future? Horv to shorv the Morlocks in their dark underground domain? An article in Illustrateil. with three pages of stills and pictures of the production in the making, appearing after the flrst showing, revealed how some of these difficulties were over- come. It also reported how it was proposed to vary the second production to meet the criticism that the whole thing amounted to no more than "an exercise in elementary fretwork," in which buiidings of the future had been cut out of futuristic photographs or plastic spheres, and mounted in frames only eight inches high before being made into fllm sequences. My own reaction, on the flrst show- ing, was that " The Time Machine" was a first-class job of television, consider- ing the limitations of Alexandra Palace The Time Traveller meets the Eloi. with which all viewers are famiiiar A scene from the television version of through the Press. I thought Mr. "The Tlme Machine." Barr had succeeded, as far as anyone could expect with such a di-fficult sub- clock recorded the passing of many ject, in making the show enjoyable hours, the lights began to dip and rise and, at the same time, understandable to indicate the passage of the days, and to the majority of viewe6. But the as this efiect speeded up the walls of gentlemen of the Press, ever ready the room gradually dissolved. In the with their blunt instruments to do second performance this was cut out, murder for the sake of a new anqle, killing the impre$sion of fast-moving thought otherwise; so much so that time. But, outside, the sun moves ever the B.B.C., for the second showing. more swiftly across the sky until it is a made changes in the dialogue and continuous band of light, rising and chopped pieces from the time-travel falling to indicate the equinoxes, and sequences in an attempt to pacify the throwing into vivid relief the changing reviewers and give those of its viewers shapes of successions of buildings which who found it hard to swallow a better become more startlingly futuristic as chance to appreciate the implications the Traveller flashes through the ages. of the idea right from the flrst scene. Eventually the buildings are replaced Condensed to a little less than an by domes and peculiar stilted erections, hour, the play opened with the Time and as they fade the Traveller arrives Traveller, played by Russell Napier, dis- in the era of the Eloi. These were cussing his thmries with his friends played entirely by small women and after dinner. He shows them a model children, the Traveller towering above of the Time Machine, and while they them llke a god-which they imagined watch. it slowly fades from the table him to be-and the difficulty of their on which it is resting. Then he shows speech was easily overcome by limiting them. in another room, the actual their vocabulary to shrill laughs and machine on which he proposes to twitterings. travel, bnt they are even more The action became slower as the sceptical and leave him to his reverie. Traveller, having surveyed his surround- fmpatient to prove his case, the ings, discussed the past and mused Traveller mounts the machine (a upon the present with the uncompre- beautifully designed contraption) and hending Weena. but grew in suspense sets ofi into the future. with his discovery of the fact that the In the flrst showing, after a brief Morlocks had abstracted the Time interval in which the hands of the wall- Machine and his futile efforts to + FA NTA 3Y recover tt. On hls descendlng ltrto the depttrs where these degenerate R,EADEn,S AN,E INVITED machine-minders performed their mys- to let the Editor know which fea- t€rious tasks, it was completely dark tures of Fantasy Review ttrey flnd end all the viewers saw of them was most useful or enJoyable, and tJreir glowing eyes moving the black- which-if any-they like the least. in Constructive criticisms and sug- Dess. gestions for articles are welcomed. Escaping their clutches, the Traveller returns to the surface a^nd ttre patheti- excursion into fantasy, "R.U.R.," which cally hopeless mihistra,tioDs of Weena,, was totally devoid of futuristic feeling. with whom he tries to seek out a refuge Then, the sense of world crisis was for the Eloi against tJre depredations kilied by the use of a single seiting for of the Morlocks. Thus he stumbles the entire performance, whereas the on a derelict museum where he findg present technique of "mixing" prepared decayed books and live matches before telecine films with "live" scenes might they are driven out by tXre Morlock$- have made Capek's drama as animated who again remain lurseen by tlre audt as his robots. But it is signiflcant ence. To keep them at bay, he lights that the B.B.C. is giving so much time a nre, but Weena disappears and he and attention to fantasy themes and returns to make another assault on ttre putting such presentations over witJo entrance to the under\porld. He flnds increasing skill. tJre door open, and his machine just During the past few months, we ha.ve inside, whereupon he continues hls been eble to look-in on several weird Joumey into the future and witnesses plays, outsfanding among whieh was an eclipse at the world's end. Jean Cocteau's "The Infernal Throughout this sequence, Napier Machine," a title that belied the nature continued to tell the story of his adven- of the plot. Brilliantly acted against ture while viewers saw a shadowy scene a background of ever-changing set$ in which a swollen sun hung in the complete with all the mystery of sky above a dismal landscape dotted ancient Egypt, Anubis the woU-man, with stagnant pools of water. In the and the beautiful keeper of the temple second p€rformance, due to over- of the Sphinx, it might have come running, this was hurried through a^nd from the pages of Weirtl Tales of years must have left a confused impression ago. Among ghost plays, we have had in the viewer's mind. Arriving back an excellent production of J. B. Priest- in his laboratory, the Ttaveller is re- ley's "Jenny villiers." And often on vived by his friends, and is almost Saturday nights we are regaled by the convinced that he has dreamed it all creepy tales of Algernon Blackwood, until he puts his hand in his pocket sitting nonchalantly in an easy chair and flnds a flower that Weena had and improvising as he goes along, given him. The show ends with the gesturing and grimacing good- camera focussing on the exotic bloom naturedly, qulte heedless of the camera from the future as he holds it in his a few inches from his face. Fantasy hand. fans who love his books are not alone Although there had been obvi,ous in delighting in these occasions; he ls amendments in the script and the probably television's most popular per- scenic efiects, such promised items as former. giant land crabs, fantastic birds and And we can hope for even more, and beasts, which were scheduled to appear possibly better, futuristic presentations' in the sequence showing the twilight according to lltustrateal. That is' if of the world (and which, it was ad- Mr. Barr's further ambitions are mitted, were not ready for the flrst realised. Among his plans are "a trip screening), did not materialise ln the to the Moon, based on the ofrcial plans second showing. But in spite of its of the (British) Interplanetary Society faults. "The Time Machine" on televi- . another story Probing into the sion was one of t'tre most successful problem of Time," and one about attempts yet made in eny pictorlal the lost continent of Atlantis. says medium tn portray an imaginative con- Charles Hamblett, author of the article: ception of the future. With the "If young Mr. Barr has his way, tele' exception of " Things to Come," lt far viewers are heading for a strange and outrivalled any similar attempt by the unpredictable future." If he does' we film world, which has such & vadety of mav see fantasy developing in a forrn tricks at its command. for" which it seems to us peculiarly ft was a much more satisfying Pro- fltted, in spite of the reluctance of the duction than last year's television crttics to admit of its possibilities' REVIEW IYa,lter Gilling:s' FANTASIA More s-f anthologies coming . . "Sciense Fiction: The Best of 1948," edited by Everett Bleiler and Ted Dikty, featuring recent stories Astounding, Thrilling 'Wond,er, from Blue Book, wiu be Arst of regular annual volumes issued by Frederick Fell, New York . DeU pocket-book collection, compiled by Orson ("The Martians are Coming!") WeIIes, presents script of his notorious broadcast, reprints by Bradbury, Heinlein, Leinster, etc. . Doubleday will publish Isaac Asimov's "pre-Foundation" novel, "Grow OId Along With Me" . . . Ftank Reade-ish plans for overhead bicycles, life-saver cabin trunks, non-horse.scaring trams, in "Patent Applied For-A Century of Fantastic Inventions," by Fred Coppersmith & J. J. Lynx (Press & Publicity, 10/6) . . . Arkham llouse collection of S. Fowier Wright's fantasies to be titled "The Throne of Saturn" Space-travel theme hit Hollywood-hard! Colrespondent Forrest J. Ackerman reports-cautiously-Heinlein's "Rocket Ship Galileo" (see Book Reviews, last issue) may be filmed as "Operation Moon"; no less than flve other interplanetary movies, inciuding "The Rocket Men ate Coming," "Men of Mars," being considered . . . Holly- wood version of BenoiL's novel, "Atlantide," now showing as Maria Montez vehicle, "Siren of Atlantis," in which nosey archaeologists are turned into golden statues . . . "The Perfect Woman" is British fi]m about a robot rivaliing Patricia Roc . . . Edgar Rice Burroughs narrates "The Legend of Tarzarr" in short deaiing with the screen character . . . ''T'he Lost World" re-serialised by BBC, who also presented "The Truth About Pyecraft" . . . John Keir Cross, author of strange tales ("The Other Passenger," "The Angry Planet"), arranged weird classes for iatest series of "The Man in Black," lncluding pieces by Ambrose Bierce, Bram Stoker, John Collier . . . Sciencs-Fantasy Society sponsored second British posGwar Convention-The "Loncon"-this Eastertide . . . Next year's Eighth World S-F Convention may be held in Portland, Oregon . . . I'antasy Foundation to flnance Fantasy Annual for '49 . . . Nerv Canadian S-F Associa,tion appointed Lloyd Arthur Eshbach as President . . Master Mariner A. Bertram Chandler, in dock at Sydney, called on members of local Futurian Society . . . Frederik Pohl, former editor Super Science Stories, now literary agenting, married Astounding contributor Judith Merrill in New York . . . Los Cuentos Fantasticos (see this col., last issue) now borrowing i-llustrations from U.S. fan-mags , . Another South American fantasy mag., Narraciones Terrorificag also reprinting from several sources; while Barcelona's Fantasticas uses original Spanish stories . . . Launching The Lovecraft Collector, editor-publisher Ray H. Zorn confesses "to an incomplete readlng and little study of Lovecraft's tales, but . . . to an avid interest in the hunt for Lovecraftiana" Selection of horror stories by authors from M. R. James to Ray Bradbury assembled by fllm director Alfred Hitchcock in Dell pockeL book ti'uled "Fear and Ttembling" . . . Robert Bloch's "The Scarf" (reviewed Dec. '47 Jan. '48 issue) now available in Avon pocket-book edition; his second. coliection from Arkham House to be titled "Pleasant Drearrs" . . . Avon pocket-book fantasy anthology (see this col., Oct.-Nov.'48), featuring "The cirl with the Hungry Eyes," by Fritz Leiber, Jr., also ouL . . . James Branch Cabell provided title for "The 31st of February,,' collection of thirteen fantasies by Nelson Bond from Scribner's, Esquire, Blue Book, etc., coming from Gnome Press . . . In article on "Solemn Troops and Sweet Societies," The kader bracketed BIS with other organisations of "zealous citizens," said of "The Cosmic Travellers": "You (mey) write them ofl as mere visionaries, but . . . members have published text-books . . . which are as far removed from Jules Verne as the director of a forensic science laboratory is from Dick Barton" . . . Radio tatk by Charles Gibbs-Smith on "Space Ships," based on discussion with Society Chairman A. V. Cleaver, reprinted in Tho Listener, with Council members' designs for piloted rocket, space-station . . . After which came letter from Assistant Sec. Arthur C. Clarke lamenting overlooking of "supremely important philosophical implications of space-flight, (which) may lead mankind to a second Ilenaissance" . . . Meanwhile, Time reported Chicago publicist's founding of "new 'sovereign power . . . known as the nation of Celestial Space.' He presentedafancy document... stakingoutaclaimto'spaceinall directions .. ' Then he debated selling chunks of space as big as the earth, for a dollar each" . . . Please tunr to pagp 7 6 FA NTASY

Science & Fiction THE SEARCH FOR SUPERMAil By JOHN K. A,KEN What is going to haPPen to Homo natural, steady exercise of outdoor Sapiens? Ih its purely physical sense work. Nervous disease and insanity thit question must be daiiy in the mind are caused by the strain on nerves and of everyone who reads or listens to the brain of city life. Nothing is known- news. Atomic war, catastrophic food yet-of the- efiect of unnatural habits shortage, rising population, exhaustion like smoking, persistenf consumptlon of coal and oil in tlre industrial and oi synthetic drugs, and so forth, for mllltarv scramble: will Man be able to geneiations, on human heredity: there extricaie himself from the mess he has has not yet been time. sot himself into? Tnese are the Medical care is saving the lives of duestions which frighten us into read- millions of mental, moral and physical ihg science flction. And there, of weaklings and allowing them to propa- course, we find innumerable answers. gate. Man has assumed control of his New power sources, world federation, own heredity, but the control is un- svnthetic foods, ptanetary development planned, almost unconscious. The re- ... gut the real problem is at a deeper sult is a wholly unnatural selection. level than the mereiy physical. Dr. His inevi|able psychological response is Alexis Carrel, whose lifetime of medical unhappiness, neurosis and, on a mass research ended f,ve Years ago. has scale, war. His natural combativeness anaiysed it, and synthesised the be- was a useful survival characteristic ginnings at least of a solution, in his under natural condi|ions. I{arnessed ievolutlonary and much-reprinted to an industrialisation which makes bookx, which may yet (we hope) turn possible push-button war, it is deadly. oub to be literally epoch-making. tfre oiclure that Dr. Carrell has The problem, of course, lies in Man's painte?l is a terrifying one. How can own nature, in the biological-psycho- Man be re-made, to save him from logical pattern which evolution has himself ? imprinted upon him, and in his own This question, too, has been ignorance of the manner in which he answered, nctionally, many times. functions as a psycho-physical unit. What, then, will he be like, the super- Specialists chemists, physiologists, man who is really fitted to live in the psychologists,- social workers, clergymen complex and mechanised conditions found out a good deal about the his predecessor has created? His -haveparliicular human facets rvhich face metamorphoses are as numerous as his their own field; but of the waY in creators. He may be a nasty Iittle which these facets join and inter-re- emotionless rat, like Andrew Marvel's late to give the complete organism, "Minimum Man." or a far-too-emotional they know nothing. introvert such as Weinbaum's "Nevr As a result of his ignorance about Adam," to choose two of the most himself, Man has drifted into an en- infra-supermen so far conceived. He vironment totally unsuited to his vital may be a vast, passionless brain needs. With lungs adapted for life (stapledon's Fourth Man), capable of in fresh country air, he has forced squeezing out the last mathematical himself into living in citites whose air secrets of the universe, but unaware is choked with smoke, dust and chemi- of the extreme pleasure which may cal fumes; his inevitable bodily res- come from eating steak and onions or ponse is a vast increase in respiratory taking one's girl to a Bach concert. disease, and the rapidly rising incidence His social and intellectual adaptability of cancer may be due to the same may have been much improved by the causes. Muscles decay because of the acquisition of telepathic Powers substitution of tlre unnaturally violent ("Stan") or a true mechanical instinct but curtailed exercise of sport for the (W€1ls' Utopians); he may have an xMan, the Unknown, by Dr. Alexis eidetic memory or a really synthetic Carrel. Penguin Books, 1/6. mind, or the capacity for re-growing REVIEW 7 lost limbs or for mentally controlling the superman ls to be brought into matter, to mentlon onlY a few of the being eugenicatly, much as Bernard super-types due to van Vogt' an author Shaw advocated forty Years ago in who has surely done as much a.s anyone "Man and Superman" but with a to increase the number of recognised practical detail or two added. varieties of Homo SuPerior. While this major programme is going Some of these imagined changes in forward, preparations can be made by human nature are not beyond the education, by a return to hardier and bounds of possibility. Men have been more open-air living conditions, by the bom-are -alive to-day-with marked teaching of higher human types to telepathic faculties, with "perfect" select f,tting mates and (Dr. Carrel has memories or an "intuitive" capacity for skated rather lightly over this point) mathematics. Others have shown by restraining lower types from breed- supernormal powers under violent ing. Like Shaw before him, Dr. stress, like van Vogt's flctional Carrel favours a largely voluntary "Changeling." Dr. Carrel himself scheme in which, through education, mentions the cures of "incurables" at the mass of humanity is brought to Lourdes, suggests that senility may be realise its virtues to the point where merely the outcome of an attitude of it automaticaUy begins to operate. In mind, even that longevity and genius theory, of course, he is right. In time, alike may arise simPlY from ProPer education, even at its present lament- feeding, as the queen bee is produced able rate of progress, might rescue from the undistinguished embryo. In humanity. But is there time? The fact, that each of us is a Potential right to make a fool of oneself in one's superman. One thing onlY is Prob- own way is much prized to-day, at a lematic: a controlied method of bring- time when such a prerogative has ing about the change. never been more dangerous. Never Here Dr. Carrel is less drastic, if has "freedom" been more illusory nor more explicit, than some of his flctional its "sacriflce" more bitterly contested. colleagues; although, accolding to There are many, as a result of condi- modern standards of world organisa- tioning and heredily, who would rather tion, his prescription is drastic enough. destroy the world with atomic flre than First and foremost, a truly synthetic compromise their "principles"; one of study of mankind must be made, these may at any time be in a position particularly with regard to the to do so. one cannot agree too heartily phenomena of mind. For this to be with Dr. Carrel's condemnation of the possible, a group of brilliant men, very idea of "principles," of attempts brought together by a World Federa- to adhere rigidly to any philosophic tion, must be trained not merely in system. But, in the real world, how one or two, but in aU the special studies are we to protect ourselves from people hvolved. Given an active life-span who do? of fifty years, Dr. Carrel does not In Stapledon's "Odd John" we have think. this impossible : one can only read of the danger-to him-of the hope that he is right, pending the superman's too early advent. The advent of the super-synthesists. Then, greatest danger-to us-is that it will when the broad outline is at last clear, be too late.

WALTER GIILTNGS' FANIASTA -cbntinued rrom page 5 Thrilling T9onder Editor Sam Merwin informed contributors: "We are currently altering policy to a somewhat more adventurous swing, and prefer stories whose opening locaie, at any rate, is set qulte close to the future" . . . Substitution of beauties for beasts on Avon Fantasy Reader covers reput€d to have increased circulation by one'third . . . Editor Campbell's published invitation to Astounding contributor Martin Pearson for collection of unclaimed cheque, in recent issue, promptly answered by Avon Editor Donald A. Wollheim, owner of long-neglected pseudonym WriterJ Markets and Methods ran interview with L. Ron Hubbard, whose "present projects inciude a Broadway play, a book of psychology, ten novels published or flnished . , . a slick seriai just completed, and work for Street & Smith and Standard Mags." . . Ray Bradbury's next collection, compiled from The New Yorker, Weirtl Tales, etc., to be titled "The Illustrated Man" . . . His "Dark Carnival" (see last issue) radio reviewed by BBC critic in "Bookshelf"; Willy Ley's "The Lungfish and the Unicorn" (reviewed last issue) ditto in "New Books and Old Books." which also covered ''The Wer of the Worlds".... 8 FANTASY The Story of 'Wonder' By THOMAS SHERIDAN THE DAYS OF DEPRESSION Gernsback and the Technocrats

Wonder Stories was never less im- this sort which tends to inflame an modest than any other magazine. unreasoning public againsb sclentiflc Early in its career, in reporting its progress, against useful machines, and " Dhenornenal success," it boasted of against inventions in general." the " acknowledged fact that, in most That was in the middle of 1931. cases. the masters of science flction Within two years, Gernsback was of offer their stories flrst to Science.also' editorialising on the "Wonders Wontler Stories. And it happens, Technocracy," whose aims and aspira. that mediocre stories rejected by w tions were "nothing new to science appear in other magazines "-a knock fiction," but which gave hlm an excuse ai Amazing this, PerhaPs, though it to launch yet another magazine- was doing quite nicely at the time. But Technocracy Review. rn spite of the there was one type of story' mediocre fact that the new movement offered or not, which Editor-in-Chief Hugo " very iittle which has not been antici' Gernsback would not accept at any nated in stories from H. G. Wells down Drice, even if it was written bY a' io last month's issue of Wontler i'master." It was that which echoed Stories," it also insPired Nathan the currenL cry against the evils of Schachner's "The Robot Technocrat" the Machine Age; for he was quick to (Mar. '33) and " The Revolt of the see in the rampaging of " so-called Scientists" (Apr.-Jun.'33); while authorities" a bigger menace to science Laurence Manning foresaw the world flction than any cosmic threat it could of the future in the thrall of a invent: mechanical dictator in " The Master of "If you admit that Machines and the Brain" (Apr.'33). Gernsback' Science are wrong and that theY are however, made it quite clear that he destroying humanity, then there should was "violently opposed" to the ideas be no such thing as science fiction; of the Technocrats for curing the and it would be useless to preach the efiects of the depression; he wished gospel of science. I feel most strongly onlv to "sive every side its say" and on the subject because during recent show "what sort of foolishness it might months we have received a number of get us into." . stories, probably fostered bY the And " The Magazine of Pr,Yophetlc unemploym,ent ratmosphere, which I Fiction"{t had other things to worry have rejecled because they distorted about, in these troubled times. Its size' the facts and, in many cases, were for one thing; its price, for another- pure out-and-out propaganda against After 18 months of slow Progress, it the Machine Age. Sorne of the had made a mistake which almost authors, who should know better, main- proved its undoing. In abandoning tained in their stories that, little by ihe large size which distinguished both little, the machines and science are it and Amazing from the new Astountl- becoming a Frankenstein monster, and ing, at the end of '30, it claimed.to finally humanity will rise in revolt and hive taken a reader's survey whictr destroy all the mactrines, and go back plumped for the " more convenient" to the Middle Ages. The underlYing iize of the general run of pulps, and a plot is that, because of capitalistic scientiflc test which proved that the concentration of wealth, the machines smailer page was easiet on the eyes' will be ultimately controlled by a few It also promised improvements rn powerful men who will enslave the typography and artwork-neither of entire world to the detriment of which were verY evident during the humanity. This situation has never xTtlis tag was adopted as the result or arisen as yet; and from past experience vet anothdr readers- contest in which we know it cannot arise. And it is Itroo ln qold was oflcred for a descriptive for this reason that Wontler Stories Jtoean ;na 4,362 entries were said to wiU not publish propaganda of have been received. REVIEW I open discussion of the magazine's sholtcomings, they excused themselves thus: "After all, science flction is a young art-it needs continual freshness, new ideas, new authors, new readets. We are getting them all, and we are happy." Again: "Science flction is not perfect-it is too young, too struggling, too new. It is now cutting its teeth . . . learning by experience, and getting the wisdom of the world to grow up into the strong, healthy being it is sure to become . . . We must have faith and be patient." But the readers were neither happy nor content to bide their time. They wanted a betber magazine-and a bigger one. OnIy twelve months after its shrinkage, the editors admitted that the majority had not approved the change, many arguing that "a maga- $Ffl zine of such educational value . should noL be placed on a par with the 42"h:Jg'iH* 'pulp ' magazine of a more sensational type." Sir, with the Nov. '31 issue came a return to the large size-and, unex- pectedly, a brief period of plinting on 'Wontlep in the snall sizo flne quality paper, which with trimmed edges and all gave Wonrler a slickish year which elapsed before it returned appearance that has never been to its original nine by twelve inches. equalled by any publication in the fleld. These '31, small-size issues were At tihe same time. the contents im- hardly impressive on any score. proved as promising new contributorg Though Paul's covers were ever pre- augmented the output of Ed, Earl Repp, sent, they were not always up to Arthur G. Stangland, A. Rowley Hil- his usual standard, while his fev/ liard, and other regulars, and Paul got interiors were hardly equal to those back into his stride. of Marchioni, who had made his Among the newcomers were John W. appearance with other artists no more Campbell and his Astounding star of accustomed to the fantastic medium. later years, Clifiord D. Simak. While As for the stories, apart from the Smith continued his florid fantasies, introduction of Clark Ashton Smitht Jack Williamson returned t,o favour and John Bqynon Harris, it was with "The Moon Era," in the same a pretty dull period, relieved only by (Feb. '32) issue which presented Ed- the continued collaborations of Nathan mond Hamilton's "A Conquest of Two Schachner and Arthur Leo Zagat--+.g., Worlds," ever since lauded even by "Exiies of the Moon" (Sep.-Nov.)-and (Jul.-Aug.), those who consider his work unpraise- " The Time Projector" in Meantime, John Taine's which I{eller combined with Editor worthy. "The Dr. Time Stream" (Dec. '31-Mar. '32) was David Lasser. Unless your taste ran being seriallsed; but the Contrnental to the Interplanetary Police and future element, against which some readers gangster stories of oldster R,. F. Starzl, inveighed, v/as not to be displaced. or the steady progression of Otfrid von After the gloomy prognostications of Hanstein's "Utopia Island" (May-Jun.), Carl W. Spohr's "The Final War" there was little to commend and a good (Mar.-Apr. '32) came von Hanstein's deal to criticise in " The R,eader vision of life "In the Year 8000" (Jul.- Speaks." Sep. '32), and other serialisations of The criti:isms were duly forthcom- foreign novels. ing; though the visitors were not dis- An innovation in this department heartened by the resounding slaps of was the four-part "unflnished" story' disgruntled fans. Pronouncing them- "The Moon Doom" (Feb.Jun. '33), each selveg in continued favour of free and instalment of which was written by a fsee "ifhe Poet of Science Ftction": difierent-and obscure-author, in the page 14. fashion adopted by Fantasy Magazine 10 FANTASY for the fomous "Cosmog"x. There was even more originallity in the covers In the next issue: which, simultaneous with ihe reduc- tion in the price and contents of The Story of the Science the mag. occurring towards the end of '32, exhibited stlange coloured spheres, Fiction League circles and blots which were made the subject of two guessing contests. Prize- by THOMAS SHERIDAN winners identifled the spheres as colloi- dal palticles, the circles as diffraction An lnterview rings; and the blobs were a spot on the cover rrlagnified sixty times. with The Jrop in price and content, RAY BRADBURY occasioned by "the present financial (which state of the country" at the we \\:ere making just same time put paid two a wise and move. to the Evenis have proved that we were Quarterlies and the Clayton Astound- We glad, even proud ing), was another mistake, which wrong! are to Wontlcr admit that . . even the Depression freely acknowledged in teturn- stop our ing to lts 96 pages at 25c. ,.We will not leaders frorn wanting thought and demanding science flction." The _ x'tr'antasy Magazinc (furlnerly Science next discovel'1', three months later, was Fiction Digest) was the leading.tan that " our readers tend to spend the magazine of the '30's, q-hiclr also uub- sunurler months out-of-doors and hence llshed nction b.f prorniur.n r aui hors. do much less reading"-and hence two 'CGsmG," an inter.planel.arv slorI., r&n "combined" bi-monthlir issues, before for l? instalmcnLs contriburcd'b1- as Wonder once more teduced its dimen- many different $Titers, amonrr Lhern sions to those of the new Street and lalph \Iilne Farley. John W. Campbell, Smith Astounding which was to play Edwarcl_.E.- Snr.iLh. Davkt H. Keller, such an important part Eando Birrder. A. ilterritr and Edmond in the further Harnllton. T'lrc magazinc s.as discon- develoirment of the medirrm. linued in '37. (To be con(inut'd)

NOYA PUBLI CATlOllS presents

the$et' NEW WORLDS r 6 Fiction of the Future

Nova PubUcations Ltd. ts privileg€d to a.rurourrco the conilnuance of this popular magazine in a new, tnproved fonna,t. The fourth issue is now on sale. Iou can obtain your copy fronr your newsagent, but if you esperience any dilficultv pte.:rse c{}mmunicate rrith the ner1 publish€rs.

C,etributors to No. 4: A. Bertram Chandler, -.\r.thur C. Cllarko. John K. .liken, John Brody and f:. R. Jam6. l:dit€d by John Carnell. Cbrer by Dennls.

NOVA PUBTICATIO}IS LTD. 25 STOKE NEWINGTON ROAD, LONDON, N.I6 (Telephone: (:Lfssold 55{l) REY I EW 11 Among the Mogazines }V,th KENNETH SMTER GOODBYE TO ALL THAT ! Readers Vote on the Shoyer Mystery At long Iast the infarnous Shaver keiey Livingstone's "City of Sand" Mystery is finished-as far as Amazinq proved to be one of those stories of ,!/r,ries, which started it, is concel.ned. dual worlds which seem so popular in Having dlopped it, Editor palmer took Amazing these days, but left us a readers'poll on whethet'to take it up wondering what happened to the hero again, and although there were onII' in the end; and H. B. Hickel"s six votes against it no mor.e than 132 "Checkmate to Demos" has to do wlth plumped for reviving the whole busi- those four-armed giants we have met ness. As II,AP very justly points out beiore, plus the usual menace to the in the Aplil issue, it would need .,a Earth. "The Plaid Pterodactyl," by great many more letters to bring it Geofi St. Reynard, amused me little back-say 75,000." It would seem that more than the ofher "humorous" there are so few left to vote asainst story; both seemed more suited to a it because those who were opposld to kid's comic than a science flction mag. it-notably its erstwhile fans-have long Unless we have in .F,4 the U.S. equiva- since given up reading the mag., while lent of The Wizo,rd,? I wonder of its new readership the vast majority Anyway. next issue presents BIade's couldn't care less. So that, dea.r. " War of the Giant Apes"! friends, is that! Gu1' Archette did another good :iob 'fhe cover of this issue is quite in March Am,azing, his "The Lost horrible, and depicts the villainous Power " far excelling the rest of the Englishman of S. M. Tenneshaw's sorry set-up. My view is that he could story, " The Monster," who after berat- do with a better vehicle for his storres ing American scientists as fools goes who is he? "The Chemicsl around trying to rape the het'oine, a -butVampire," by Lee Francis, is about as clean-Iiving American girl, and is only sill_v as it sounds; "The Stranqe frustrated by the hero, a clean-living Disappearance of Guy Sylvester," by American boy. To reverse the usual Chester S. Geier and Taylor Vincent procedule, the stor'5' was written around Shaver (?), concerns mysterious beings the cover, but why it should have in- who flit about on moonbeams, and spired Mr. Tenneshaw to such anti- Charles Recour's "The Swordsman ot British feelings is beyond us. If you Pira" is a thinly-disguised adventure can refrain from tearing the mag. to story. Don't let the title of "The pieces, however, you will be rewarded Strange Tea of Ting Sun Fu" put you by Rog Phillips' " Unthinkable," a ofi, though, if you haven't read it yet: thoughtful tale, unusual fot Antuzing. it has little to do with tea, and is quite A new author, Lee Tarbell, also makes fl neat dimensional tale by Leroy Yerxa. out with another explanation of the If your May issue of Startling Stories Flying Saucers in a story which should seems a trifle radio-active, blame it appeal to Kuttner fans. If Mr. 'nrrbell on Charles L. Harness' novelette, stays with the mag. and can ke:.r this "Flight into Yesterday," wt.. h Editor up, he and Rog Phillips may help to Merwin described in the March issue lift Am.azing back to the levet it once as "a 'tory so different from the or- occupied as "The Aristocrat of Science dinary run that its very labric Fiction." But it will take a long time glows with interest." It's a story for it to live down the Shaver Hoax. picturing the world of the future Alexander Blade's "The Mermaid of divided into two great control centres, Maracot Deep," in the March Fantastic and grown so unwieldy that only the Adoentures, has a faint trace of Shaver most centralised oi power systems can about it; it concerns a race of mermen administer it. Eando Binder's living in subterranean caves and mak- "Conquest of Life" is the next to be ing meals of ordinary humans. Much hung in the Hall of Fame, and there more appetising, for me, was "The Re- will be another story in Lafayette's turn of Lan-ning," by Guy Archette, "Conquesi of Space" series, as well an interplanetary short which might as a second article in WiUy Ley's have been a good deal longer. Ber- series on "The Road to Space Travel', L2 FA NTASY which started in the March number. In "The Black Sun Rises," Henry In which I liked particularly Robert Kuttner goes over the rebuilding-of- M. Wiiliams' taie oi the Martians' civilisation theme. Walter l(ubilius triumph over a lack of naturai re- gives a touch of novelty to interstellar sources, "The Sonnd of Bugles," and travel in "A Handful of Stars," and R]y Bradburys n€ai, piece of horror, fan-editor Stanley Mullen makes the "Marionettes, Inc." grade with "Moonworm's Dance," a The cover of. Thrilling Wonder's Aprl| tale of hunters on faraway planets. issue illustrates Ray Eradbury's "The "The Bounding Crown," by James Concrete Mixer," with Miss California Blish, a politico-fantasy with a Venus of 1963 (suitably undressed) hailing setting, and short stories by Ray Brad- invading Martian hordes. His constant bury and Sanford Vaid, with fan depicting of m,ankind as perfectly departments and letter pages, complete beastly must be one of the reasons for the issue which took so long to pro- Eradbury's popularity, but I'm getting duce, I hear, because the stories got a little tired of being told an obvious losf in the mails on the wav to the truth-especially when it applies to you printers. and me I The lead novel is "The Ullimate Planet," in which Noel Loomis Alejandro's cover for li'farch Science apparently seeks to prove that scientif,c Fiction (the "Astounding" is almost upbringing is not the answer to every- invisible, now), depicts a robot with a thing. Maybe there's a sequel in the heart pinned to its metal losom : title, off,ng, but the ending is far from satis- "Missing Ingredient.', Quite impres- f actory. sive.... but when you turn over you In "Alien Earth." Edmond Hamilton come to a research quiz, which is spares us his famous Menace and takes rather a let-down. S. & S., it appears, us into a weird worid where everything want to know ail about you, you and moves so slowly that we can see the you, partly for the benefit of prospec- vines and creepers fighting for survival; tive advertisers. WeU, if fan-mag. but it moves fast enough to be editors can do it, why not? One of the enjoyable. "On the House," by Benj. things they rvant to know is whab oi you Miller, Lransp,orts Sbieve Andro and her s-f mags. read-"if any" I Orig Prem (whom Oil preserve!) into also What you think .ASF lacks in the the orbit of Antony and Cleopatra: I way of features. was amused this time, but only in spots. Besf of a good bunch of tales in this Among the seven shorts, Muray Leins- number is "Opening Doors," a sequel ter's "The Lost Race," which has at to Wilmar H. Shiras' much-appreciated least two plots, is very good; Fredric "In Hiding." He develops the theme, Brown, though stuck for one, is -highly this time, of an I.Q.-plus child who amusing with "All Good Bems"; ,and didn't adapt quite so well as Tim Paul. Rog Phillips' pink rabbits from Venus Sprague de Camp is back with an add to the humour in "Quite Logical." amusing piece calied "Throwback"; Leigh Brackett, Raymond Z. callun, Rex Graham's "Customs Declararion" Margaret St. Clair and Ja,mes Blish are is an excellent interplanetary tale also present. Next (June) issue brings with human interest; and "The Glass Brackett's "Sea Ifings of Mars," Arthur Eye," by Eric Frank Russeil, reverses ,I. Burks' "White Catastrophe," and a the problem of how we may recognise Henry I{uttner story of the fabulous intelligence when $e meet it on other Hogbens, "See You Later." worlds. In "Fireproof," by l{al Slght of Super Science Stories, which Clement, is an answer to the ques- proved tion: what to do about fires in space- finally came through, sadly According you disappointing and eye - straining. craft? to him, don't Printed in Canada.- it is no advertise- do anything-you just don't have any. ment for Empire goods. The cover is Will Stewart's serial, "Seetee Shock," a blodge, bearing no relation to the will be diffcult, to follow for those who contents : apparently a cosmlc giant is have not read "Opposites React" tJan. very annoyed at an up-and-coming '43) and the other "Seetee" tales, which rocket-ship and is throwing the Moon were much more alive than this one. at it. But the inside illustrations It concludes with the current (April) suffer much more from the general issue, which brings another Doc greyness and blurred impressions. Two Methuselah yarn, "Plague," and enables stories are instantly recognisable, how- our ltussell to score a hat-trick with ever, as reprints: "The Sky WiIl be " The Undecided," a.n interplanetary. Ours," by Manly Wade Wellman, and Theodore Sturgeon is also present with "Cabal," by Cleve Cartmill. "Prodigy," and a new cover artist, one REVIEW 13 tee must find them both interesting and refreshing. Otllers in this isstte are the evergreen "Iuachine-Man of Ard- athia," by the late tr"rancis Flagg, Frank Belknap Long's "The Man with a Thousand Legs," and Everil Worrell's '"Ihe Canal," all of which date back to '27; "The Cat-Woman," by Mary Eliza- beth Counselman. one of the best ofi- trail stories Weird, Tales ever published. and "The Temple," which is not one of Lovecrafb's better pieces. Of yet older vintage are " An Inhabi- tant of Carcosa," by Ambrose Bierce, and "The Other Wing," by Algernon Black$,ood; rvhile John Michel's "The Goblins wlll Get You" strikes the modern, humorous touch and Ra] Bradbury's "Zero Hour," from PlLnet o{ onlS; 18 months ago, provides a striking contrast with the horror tales of past years. In No. I will be Otis Adelbert Kline's "The Man from the Moon" and P. Schuyler Miller's "Through the Vibrations," from Arnazittg Stories, and Clark Ashton For selling more stories in 1948 than Smith's "The Flower-Women," from anv other member, new writer E. Weird Tdles, with others of Ure t1'pe nVERETT EVANS was honoured bY which. we are told. "have hibherto been Los Angeles S'cience Fantasy Society as only the high-priced secrets of a few winner of its amateul writers' annu&l fantasy collectors." At 35 cents, it's a contest. His work has appeared in giveaway ! Startling Stories, Weird Tales and August Derleth's novelette, " The Fantasy Book. Testament of Claiborne Boyd," in lMarcl'r Weird Tales, took. us yet again over the old, familiar ground made Santry, illustrates Rene Lafayette's hallowed by Lovecraft, with frequent- latest. acknowledgments to the Master himself Spring '49 Pla?Let Stories maY be to add weight to the plot, which does recommended, at ieast, for Robert not strike us cold with horror an5' Abernathy's "Hostage of Tomorrow," more. But the rest of the issue uas the story of two men who get carried good. Theodore Sturgeon's "The forward in time to a world in which Martian and the Moron" is a science the Nazis have won the war, and for flction tale, more or less, about com- Bradbury's "D$eller in Silence," alrout munication With Mars; "The Strange a man marooned on Mars. Henrl.' Island of Dr. Nork" a strictly whacky Hasse's "Eternal Zmend Must Die" is piece by Robert Bloch, who has taken space opera unadorned; George whit- the heroes of the comic strips for his ley tels an amusing tale, "Moon of characters-taken them for a ride, in Madness," about the flrst men on the fact! Arthur J. Burks has done an- lvloon; Damon Knight's "The Star other slightly screwy piece in "The Beast" is fair enough, and there are Wizard of Bird-in-Hand," concerning other pieces by Basii Wells, Stanley a young genius who might well be a Muilen and Alfred Coppeil Jnr. Next saience flction fan; AIIison V. Harding (Summer) issue will feature another ls here again with "The Holiday": Ieigh Brackett novelette, "Queen of Stanton A. Cobletz plays his favourite the Martian Catacombs." game of poking fun at our civilisation Aaon, Fantasu Read,er's eighth issue in "The WiU of Raminchantra"; and sports the same nude female on the T'horp McCiusky persuades us in "The cover-or, in this case, the ghost of Other Santa" that there really is a one, from Robert E. Howard's "Conan'' Santa Claus-lf we believe in him hard tale, "Queen of the Black Coast." enough. Next (May) issue brings "The Most old stagers will share my appre- Drrmp Man Again," by Allison V. Hard- ciation of the reprints Editor Wollheim ing, and a de Grandin story by Sea- is giving us, and the more recenb devo- bury Quinn, "Vampire l$th and Kin." 14 FANTASY

MASIERS OF FANIASY The Poet of Science Fiction By ARTHUR F. HILLMAN

This is the first of a series of articles Though Hugo Gernsback has been which will deal u'ith the work of given ample credit for the encourage- writers who have distinguishetl them- ment he gave to many early science seh'es in the development of fantasy- flction writers, it is sometimes forgot- fiction, especially in the magazines ten that Clark Ashton Smith was devotetl to the meiliurn. among his prot6g6s. "Marooned in Andromeda," which appeared in More than twentY Years have Passed Wond'er Stories (oct. '30), was his flrst since Clark Ashton Smith, already work of this kind; and it stood out noted at that time for his colourful strongly among the amateurish efforts poetrv, decided to trY his hand once that hampered the progress of this new hore'at writing fiction. Then aged type of popular literature. Science 35, some f,fteen Years seParated him f,ction, in those days, lived up to the from his early efiorts in The Black Cat titles of magazines purveying it: and other amateur magazines, and wonder and amazement were the "The Ninth Skeleton," the flrst of his dominant theme. The followers of work to appear in Weird TaJes (SeP. Wells were being enticed along the '28), gave litlle indiaation of the genius fascinating by-paths he had signposted, which had yet to flower. r{is rare and and they trembled at the prospects on brilliant imagination was not used to every hand. the narrow conflnes of story-teIling, To the wide-eyed acolytes who and for a time he found the strictures relished the work of these pioneers, irksome. Not until the May '30 issue Smith brought not only the delight of did he appear again in the same maga- strange environments but a command zine with "The End of the Story," oi language that was breathtaking. In whose title proved a misnomer: it was "Andromeda," the reader plunged with only the beginning of the story of a Captain Volmar and his crew into great writer of fantasy. depths of space where far-strewn Set in the haunted regions of nebulae spanned complete emptiness; Averoigne, in the France of the Middle and even rrqhen three mutineers of the Ages, the abode of vampires and 'Alcyone' were cast adrift on a bizarre warlocks, of lamia and ternpbing world. the human element was reduced succibi, it drew freely on the fear to a minimum. With a solemn respect and mysticism rampant in those times. for the'cruel hardships of alien sur- But the ingenuity of the plot was over- roundings, the author maintained a shariowed by the colour, depth and wholesome disregard of humanity and erudition of the language in which it its petty moralities. The sequel, was told: Smith had applied his poet's "The Amazing Planet" (Science Wond'er tools to the craft of story-telling, and Quarterw, Summer '31) showed Captain the results were most efiective. The Volmar, once more united with his piece was received with approbation erring companions, engaged in further by Weird ?oles' followers, even though struggles with monstrosities such as he was compefing for their praises only Smith's imagination could devise. with such past masters as Lovecraft, Of mechanistic concepts, however, Long, Howard and Whitehead. This little may be found in all his science success started him on a cycle of fiction. Ray-guns, tractor-beams, similar stories, of which the next, "A NlcMillan projectors, Bergenholm Rendezvous in Averoigne" (Apr. '31), space-drives, and all the scientiflc was even more colourful and beautifully mumbo-jumbo of later writers are as written than the first. But by then rare as the reporter hero, mad scien- Smith's work had already taken a tist and beautiful daughter of a less signif,cant turn: he was writing science complicated decade. Atmosphere is f,ction. and for a difierent market. Smith's forte, even action being subor- REVIEW 15 dinated to this main element, though when necessary he can urge his story along with the best oi the hustling school. Generally, he foilowed the dictum of his colleague Lovecraft in his "Notes on Interplanetary Fiction"'r, and practiced what he preached him- self concerning the raising of science flction's literary standards and the danger of too much "realism" being introduced into the mediumt. His nne attenfion to suggestive detail is strikingly lllustrated in "The City of Singing Flame" (Wonder' Jul. '31) and its sequel, "Beyond the Singing Flame" (Nov. '31), in which the adven- tures of Angarth and Hastane among the queer denizens of an intradimen- sional world are described in words of rare beauty. The stories are examples of pure fantasy of the sort Dunsany used to write; but whereas Dunsany's style has the clear, logical expressive- ness of Bible English, Smith invests his lines rvith an exotic, archaic cast that gives them a peculiar fascinatio,r. It has been said that some of the CLARI( ASHTON SMITH, poet, words he uses are of his own coining, artist, sculptor and fantasy writer, was and it may well be true, for manY of born of French-English ancestry 56 them bafile not only the reader but years ago in California, where he lives every available dictionary. in a cabin on the outskirts of the small township of Auburn. Entirely self- )rwritten for Th€ Californian ('35) educated, he began to write fiction and and reprinted in "Marginalia" (Arkham verse at an early age, and published House: '44). Said H.P.L.: "Atmosphere, his flrst voiume of poetry when he was not action, is the thing to cultivate in 19. For some years he was a journalist; the wonder story . . . A fantastic author he has also worked as a fruit-picker, a should see that his prime emphasis goes rock miner, gardener and windlass into subtle suggestion-the imperceptible a hints and touches of selective and operator. He has contributed flction associative detail which . buiid up a and verse to some 50 magazines, from vague illusion of the strange reality of Thrill Book and the Buccaneer to Yale the unreal-instead of into bald cata- Iieview and the Lonrlon Mercury, and logues of incredible happ€nings which his fantasies have appeared in several can have no substance or meaning apart anthologies in England and Amerioa. from a sustaining cloud of colour and His four volumes of poetry, "The Star mood-svmbolism." Treader," "Odes and Sonnets," "Ebony tA matter which he argued with and Crystal" and "Sandalwood," are author P. Schuyler Miiler in the corres- all out of print, but he is preparing a pondence columns of Wonder in '32-33. new collection of Poems" for As he saw it, "the realisbic wave (which) "Selected is entering science fiction, Iike all other publication by Arkham House. He has trends, has both good and evii possibiii- also received high praise from critics ties . . , The best possibilities lie in the for his exotic paintings and the outre correlation of observed data about life carvings which, cut from unusual and human problems with inspired minerals, often depict characters from speculation as to the unknown forces of the mythology of his own tales as well cosmic cause and efiect . . . The evii iies as those of his friend Lovecraft. in a meaningless Dreiserism, an inartistic heaping of superncial facts or alleged Iack which . . , may be erroneous or, at is wonder, that in least, too incomplete to permit the safe It little therefore, drawing of dogmatic inferences . . . It is this age of hurried reading many paxtiy because of this shifting, unstable should find Smith's stories hard going; ground on rvhich the thing called realism indeed, even in those days, there were stands, that I regard pure, frank fantasy readers who complained of being unable as a more valid and lasting art-expression to cope with his obsolencences. But of the human mind." Gernsback continued to feature his l6 FA NTASV work for seveial years, and each tale was an achievement. "The Invisible Citv" (Jun. '32,, "Master of the Coming in FANTASY REVIEIil: Ast-eroid" (Oct. '32) and "Visitors from Future" Mlok" (May '33) were all stepping Germanyts "Gaptain stones to a secure niche in fantasy's hall of fame. Unfortunately, his by WILLY LEY imagination too often outstripped that of the editor who received his work, and in several stories he had to make re- realistic approach in its stories of visions to conform with orthodoxy. An horror, and "pttre" fantasy slumped in example is "The Dwelier in Martian all directions. Smith's published work Depths" (Mar. '33), the story of a diminished to a mere trickle of short dreladful monstrosity whose obnoxious pieces, until by '38 it seemed no more habit is to pluck out the eyes of those bhan a fading memorY. Then, in rash enough to penetrate its lair. The England, Walter Gillings revived some original ending is repuLed to have been of his former glory by reprinting mani' so horrible than Gernsbeck objected' of Smith's better pieces in Tdles ot and insisted on a less heartrending Wonder, for whose uninitiated audience climax. Even so, it still leaves a vivid they were admirably suited. impression on the reader. The past few years have seen an in- This editorial squeamishness caused creasing interest in his work among Smith to have several of his more those of the nev" generation of fantasy fanciful tales privately printed. "The fans who are able to appreciate the Double Shadow and Other Fantasies"' best of whal has gone before, especialll: a collection of six Pieces which he if it is presented with tire added dignity himself published and sold very of hard covers. Two collections of cheaDlv. eventually became recognised his short stories published by Arkham as a- ialuable coliectot"s item. Subse- House, "Out of Space and Time" ('42) quently, they found their way into and "Lost Worlds" ('44) went quickly Weird Tales. Another booklet of this otlt of print and now command high period featuring "The Immortals of prices. A third, "Genius Loci and Mercury" appeared in Gernsback's Other Tales"i, has lately appeared, Science Fiction Series. Meanwhile, and two more are pending; while more Weird Tales continued to bring his of his stories have recently been seen science-fantasies-"The Monster of the in Weird ?oles, giving promise oi ir Prophecy" (Jan. '32), "The Vaults of welcome return to the finer craftsman- Yoh-Vombis" tMay, '32), etc.-as well ship of yesteryear. as his weird stories before its discerning Like all who have made their mark readers, for whom he drew on his in this field, Smith has often been nnlimited imagination to create the assailed with criticism far from gentle. pre-Atlantean kingdom of Hyperborea, He has been censured by some for ihe lost continent of zothique, the closeting himself in an ivory tower. master wizards Malygris and Maal Fleviewers such as Phil Stong have Dweb, besides enlarging on the Cthulhu taken strong exception to his Byzantine Mythos of his fellow contributor and Ianguage. Apparently such a rare correspondent, Lovecraft*. vintage is too delicate for many palates. By '34 he had reached his highwater They would prefer him towrite inBasic mark of production, his markets in- English, while tethering his soaring cluding Anlazing and Astounding, in imagination to this mundane sphere. whose companion magazine, Strange But his followers know that his attrac- 'toles, he appeared several times while tion lies not entirely in the singing it lasted. But he and a few others were glory of his prose nor the vast scope of fighting a losing battle against the his fancy. There is in his work besides latesl trend of heavy science whicll, a sophisticated wit, a derisive vein of with the growing awareness of the humour, and a degree of characterisa- social and mechanical aspects of tion that few have equalled. Let science fiction, brought a decline in Lovecraft, his friend and correspondent tales of ingenuous lsonder. Even for seventeen years, say the final word: Weiril Tales had to adopt a more "In sheer daemonic stranBeness and fertility of conception, Mr. Smith is ';tW?ro addressed him in his letters: perhaps unexcelled by any other writer "My good old friend and correspondent, dead or living." Klarkesh-Ton, Eeirophant of Atlantis and High Hest of Tsathaggua." '.iSee Fautasy Review, I'eb.-Mar. '49. REVIEW 1? About Boohs By Geoffrey Glles Fontosy Publishers Join Forces in Drive for Bigger Soles With a six-page write-up on " The For evidence of " the extent to which Growth of Science Fiction and Fantasy the science flction books are prized by Publishing in Book Form," the Ameri- their fanciels," Publishers' Weekly re- can Publishers' WeeklY has set the ferred to The Antiquarian Bookman' seal on the recognition of the specialist which ealtier devoted a special issue tantasy presses as a thriving branch of to the field.t " Some readers buy their book production in the U.S.A. Cue for books not only to enjo5' 5u6 as invest- the article, which was illustrated by ments, and at least one flrm, Arkham photos of a get-together by leading Ilouse, advertises that its books are iiehts of the fleld and of some of its 'h small Iirnited editions, never re- recent productions, was the fomation printed, especially for collectors'. oT its own trade group, the Associated Leaving aside the collectors'aspect . . ' Fantasy Publishers*, " for mutual con- il can be said that the Printings of sultation, credit information and joint new titles, whiie nothing like the circu- sales efiorts." lation ol magazines, are growing. At The article reported that, althongh an average of 3,000 to 5,000 copies per lhe field is still not lalge in terms of bitle. somewhat fewer than the detec- sales as the book trade sees them' it tive stoly average nowadays, the runs has "a very loyal public, (including) ale four ot' flve times higher than they lawyels and doctors, engineers and were ten Years ago, scientists, students and technicians " Such modest Printings are onlY a . who, for relaxation from their besinning, the fantasy publishers be- serious pursuits, turn t,o pseudo'science tie-ve, and they expect that generral as others turn to detective stories. publishers will find it profitable sooner Though as yet small, (it) has produced or later to go into the fleld more at least two book clubs, the Fantasy frequently than in the past. Abeady Book Club and the Fantasy Guild, and thei'e ale many booksellers who have is expanding into the 25-cent. reprint found it profltable to set up special market: includes imPort and exPort shelves of science flction, to which little famifications; has for some years had groups of fans glavitate if one or two its own group of avid couectors who copies are displayed in the window . . . $iill pay high prices for out of-print The books seem to need little special volumes; and is the subiect of ea.rnest Irlomotion; thedr weird jackets 'are- bibliographical scholarship." iraffic-stoppers, but the fans wiU sniff It cited the established pulp maga- lhem out in any case." (including the zines in the field "more The article mentions several book- conservative, often sbraight scientinc" U.S. Astounrling) providing the basic stores in various Parts of the as " where the demand for lantasy titles market. A glance through such per- shows the a.vid interest has grorvn to such an extent that magazines maneni displays have been given to of the fans . . . ; reveals the activity of placed shows thoughtful them and standing orders for tantasy fan clubs; customers. reviews of the better books in the field; every title by enthusiastic plain that the fantasY Conipicuous among these, it says' are and makes it physicists psychiatrists; while 30-40 book publishers and bookstores flnd it and worth while to advertise in them re' irei cent. of the mailing lists of Shasta of Fublishers and Fantasy Press are made peatedly. Perhaps three-fourths 15 per the fantasy publishers' books are taken up of professional men. "About from these magazines, but the number cent. are housewives evidently escaping of titles appearing nrst in book fol'm as far away from housework as Pos- is said be growing." sible. The rest of the market consists to of students and of jusb plain readers in *Members of the group: Arkham all walks of life. But it is definitely Ilouse, Fantasy Press, Prime Preis' not a teen-age mabket, saY Mr. Kor- Shasta Publishers, Gnom€ Press, and tlxe shak and Mr. Eshbach." Fantasy. Hadley and New Era Publishing Companies. tSee thts coiumn, Oct.-Nov. '48 issue' 18 FANTASY After analysing tbe appeal and sub- Another book we mentioned recently Ject-matter of fantasy, the article went "Sometime Never," by Roald Dahl, on to trace its " Iong and honourable which has to do with the menace of ancestry," mentioning some of its the Gremlins, has also seen British f,nest exponents (August Derleth, H.P. publication by Collins at 8/6. "To- Lovecraft, M. P. Shiel), and the work morrow and Tomorrow" (Pheonix of military rexpert-book reviewer Fletcher Pratt and mathematician Eric Temple Bell (John Taine) in the science fiction tradibion. It concluded by summarising the organised develop. ment of the fieid since the First World S'-F Convention in '36, and the pubii- cation of the recent fantasy anthcilo Eies and " The Checklist of Fantastic Literature"-which "the editor hopes to bring up to date every two or three yeals." Appended was a list of over 60 titles in print or forthcoming from the eight Associated Fantasy Pub- lishers. COLLECTOR,S' GUIDE. A boon to fantasy book collectors is The ScierLce tr'iction Boaknlo,n, a dup- licated list of s-f and fantasy volumes incorporating current, forthcoming and out-of-print titles, issued at intervals by the house of Bookman's in Washing- ton, D.C. Now in its fourth issue and edited by R,oy W. Loan, Jr., it gives useful dala on each book it lists, and is distribufed free to all who care to write for it. As a companion volume to Shasta's LLOYD AR,TIIUR ESHBACH, DiTec. "Checklist," Everett F. Bleiler has tor of Fantasy Press, one of the first completed a 450-page work which gives of the specialist publishers to concen- summaries, analyses, criticisms and trate on the presentation of science historical evaluations of hundreds of fiction classics in book form. With 20 s-f and fantasy books indexed by title, years' experience of fantasy as a fan author and subject-matter. "The as well as a contributor to Amazing, Guide to Fantastic Literature" will be Wonder, etc., and ten years in adver- much sought after when it eventually tising and sales promotion, Eshbash appears. Meanwhile, an essential launched his organisation in '40, in work of reference for lovers of "The association with commercial artist A. J. Works of M.P. Shiel" is this unique Donnell, sales manager G. H. Mac- study in bibliography by A. Reynolds Gregor and accountant L. H, Houck; Morse, which is now available from the by producing handsome, illustrated Fantasy Publishing Co. at $6.00. volumes and ofiering copies autG graphed by such famous authors as HORRIBLE HUXLEY. E. E. Smith, Williamson, Heinlein and Aldous Huxley's new novel of atomic van Vogt, soon made a success of the war's grim aftermath, "Ape and venture, In its first two years, the Essence," whose British publication we Press has reprinted ten popular tiiles anticipated three issues since, has now by these and other notables of ttre appeared from Chatto & Windus at fantasy magazines, as well as a new 7/6. It has been extensively, if some- novel by John Taine and a text-book what grudgingly, reviewed, t}:e Times on science flction writing. For the LiterdrA Supplenxent devoting a whole future it is preparing further classics page to Huxley's works, the latest of by Weinbaum, de Camp, van Vogt, which it acknowledged as "the most Verrill and Zagat, as well as additions powerfully moving book that has to Smith's " Lensman " series and the appeared since the war," for all of sequels to Williamson's "Legion of its being "the most frankly horrible Space" stories. (one he) has produced." REVIEW 19 House, 1216) is a novel by two Austra- lian women, writing under the name of M. Earnard Eldershaw, which deals with the development of their native land as seen by an imaginary writer of four centuries hence. "Atalanla: A story of Atlantis," by His Honour Judge Hargreaves, is a 30/- Hutchinson volume presenting a fantasy play with music and seven remarkable colour illustrations by the author (the most appealing part of it, for us). On the lighter side is "Heaven Takes a Hand," bY Eliot Crawshay-Williams, a new g/6 novel in Books from the Stephen Vincent Benet tradition forthcoming from John Long who have -also issued at 6/ - a collectlon of the same author's short stories, several of ABK,IIANI which are fantasies, entitled "The Man Who Met Himself." HOUSB William F. Temple's "The Four-Sided Triangle" should be available from this house very shortiy. Meanwhile, Eden For no less than ten Years Ark- PhiUpotts' new science flction novel, ham House has been Publishing "Address Unknown," has appeared fine limited editions of short story f1'om Hutchinson's. collections and other rare works of Eric Romiuy's "Bleeding from the specific appeai to fantasy collectors. (Chapman HaU, a Roman" & 9/6) is noted authors whose de Camp-ish frolic about a man who, Among the transported to the time of Boadicea, stories and novels it has brought upholds Britain's prestige by beatrng to an ever-widening circle of the Romans at chariot-racing and patrons, in volumes whqse excel- advising on propaganda methods. lence has earned general Praise, Geoffrey Dennis' poetic account of have been H. P. Lovecraft, William "The End of The World," which won Hope Hodgson, Algernon Black- the Hawthornden Prize in 1930, has wbod, Cynthia Asquith, RaY been re-published by Eyre and Spottis- Bradbury, August Derleth, Clark woode at 8/6. They have also added Ashton Smith, A. E. CoPPard, and to their Century Library series a new many more. 6/- volume presenting Conan Doyle's "The Losi World" and "The Poison Its future productions will in- BeIt," with an introduction by John clude other unusuai works bY Dickson Carr, author of the much- Arthur Machen, M. P. Shiel, S. noticed "Life of Sir Arthur Conan Fowler Wright, Margery Lawrence, Doyle" (John Murray, 18/ -), which H. Il,ussell wakefleld, Lord Dun- makes little reference to his science sany, Marjorie Bowen, etc. flction. Following "Krakatit," Allen- & Unwin We are the exclusive representa- have now reprinted, at 12/6, "Three tive of Arkham House in Great Novels," by l{arel Capek, which pre- Britain, and wiII be pleased to sents in omnlbus form the trilogy supply any of its titles still in print "Hordubal." "Meteor" and "An Or- or forthcoming. Please send for dinary Life," of which the second is considered among his best fantasies. our current list. And if you are interested in the work of Ftanz I{afka, author of "The Metamorphosis" (which, says one re- G. KEN CHAPMAN viewer, may take the place of "Gulli- ver's Travels" in the nursery, cen- 23 FARNLEY ROAD, turies hence), you may find "Franz I(afka: An Interpretation of his SOUTH NORWOOD, (Secker Works," by Herbert Tauber & LONDON, S.E.25 Warburg:- t8/ -), of value in enhancing your appreciation of them. 2g FANTASY Booh Beuiews The Wonder Woman THE GOLDE|I AI}IAZON RETURNS, am normal, as far as enelgt is con- by John Russell Fearn. The Worlcl's cerned. I might live a hundled years Work, Tadworth, Surrey. 5,'-. --even two hundred-grow old very Reviewed b)' THOMAS SHERIDAN slowly. Maybe I'll even flnd a way to defeat death . . . I'd rather like to be If it were not for her antipathS' to- eternal." wards all men, the Golden Amazon Her first rebuff has made no difier- might make a ver') suitable wife for ence to her driving ambition. Superman. She's only flve feet eight haven't reformed, not bl' a long way inches in height, with a lissom flgure, . Yorl can't keep a spirit like mine invariably clad in skin-tight black silk. in chains, you know. I have not given She wears a gold belt about her waist up hope of ruling the world one day-. and a gold band round her blonde head; and maybe the rest of the planeLs in her skin is yellow, and she has purple the Solar Sysfem. But until I am eyes which can look daggers at times. asked to rule-thereby proving to my- When they do-watch outl For be- self that everybody wants me-I shall neath the soft flesh of her arms and spend my time wiping out those who shoulders lie rippiing muscles of steel, Iook likely of usurping my potential and her slender flngers can crunch a grip throne That's all there is in it." man's wrist in a like a vice. Any No more than a slight louch of pique. six-footer who rouses her ire is liable excusable in any supei.womFn. But to get his back broken in a wrestling weII might her mother intone: "There bout with her; and the rnan who casts are times when I wonder , . . where it a lustful eye over her rounded calves is all golng to endl" and thighs will flnd himself biting the The Golden Amazon flrst made her dust, swung over her head "with efiort- jaw bow in an early issue of Fantastic less ease" or felled by a blow on the Adventures (Jul. '39), in a stoly which from her iron-hard knuckles. She can gained her creator a $75 bonus in spite kick, too. of competition from Mr. Burroughs, When it comes to villainous scientists The idea of a female supennan was. plotting to destrol' the world, she will undoubtedly, the best brainwave Mr. shoot a couple of them in cold blood Fearn trad had for some years; and without turning a hair. One man in her creation was simple enough for this book, having suffered at her hands, one so skilled in imaginative devices. calls her a " female gorilla." Another In fact, lost on venus as a perfectly Iikens her to a tigress-cruel, deadly, normal baby, like little Topsy, she just subtle, but fascinating. Beneath her growed. It was all on account of the sex appeal, though, is a rnisanthropic alien climate that she became possessed contempt for the mere male. "If there of her phenomenal powers, which is one thing on this planet I loathe as enabled her to make rings round the a species, it is a man! I tried once men and leave her terrestrial sister.s to break his power, and I shall go on gawping iike so many dumb brunettes. trying until a world of women with After two or three appealances, she myself at the head tramples all ot faded from the American scene. But them underfoot!" So you know what Mr. Fearn had developed such an to expec[. afiection for his brainchild that he Science, of course, has endowed her resolved to write a book about her and, with more brain-power than an]' man, since it would be for home @nsump- as well as superhuman strength. While tion, give her a more plausible rebirth, others are fiddling with rocket-drives, So, in "The Golden Amazon,"* stre was she has a flier that works bl' ultra- a baby lost in the London blitz and gravity, and she has solved the prob- opelated on bJ' a gland surgeon who iem of television without transmission. wanted her to grrcw up a good influence She has discovered a drug to beat the (super-consumption on the world. Alas for his hopes! ketabolism of When Violet lla5. *"trut"U to a ravish- energy) which threatened to cause her to drop dead an} minrlte. "Now I {'The Worid's Work, '44. REVIEW ZL ing, yellow-skinned blonde, her amaz- Amazon back to life as it was for him inf grasp of super-science, coupled with to create her in the first place. The a ruthtess determination to make her strange thing is that nobody in the mark, proved almosf the death of man- present book €an guess the simple kind-and, apparently, of her. Where- explanation for her sudden revival upon the worid breabhed a sigh of after five years. The beaufiful tyrant relief: for, having created an exact $'hose body shrivelled up on receiving dupliiate of herself, her aim was to a bulleb in the shoulder wasn't the reflace ordinary human beings with Amazon at all, really, but only her syhthetlc creatures who would dance synthetic image; and having been to her clictatorial tune. As her fo,ster- deposed, Violet herself withdrew to sister lemarks, "I never think of 'her build her own secreL city in Brazil, but what I shudder!" abstlacting a few other females from Buf Mr. Fearn wisely decided thab Holloway GaoI to keep her company good in exiie. From which she now emerges the Amazon was too to waste on frustrate a piot by the remnants of a few short stories and a single book. '"o Returns," Hitler's gang who want to establish a Ilence "The Golden Amazon liesurgent Europe, and who which is, in fact, onlY the second of a United he succeed in making a mess of much of series of seven full-length stories rest globe by bombarding has told about her exploits to date. the of the adventures have its cities with atomic rockets from the Five of these further This in spite of the Amazon's already been published in Canada' since Moon. bhe nrst of best efiorts to safeguard from them the Toronto Star featured the secret of space-travel and the them, four Years ago, as its Novel of no living abiiity to reach their Lunar outpost. the Week. Since there is When she foilows them, breaking all genius who can solve the problem puny overnight,-ot records for the trip, she and her Eritain's paper shorbage feliows only manage get sent back however', it witl be several years before to with Violet in a V-10 which will spread them over we are able to catch uP the landscape on landing. But Violet and her ever more daring escapades, just has given us a recovers herseif in time. Turning of which her creator the rocket round by dancing uP and somcwhat breathtaking Previewt. down on its nose in mid-space, she It was as easy for him to bring the contrives to land safely on Earth with the secret of hoisting the plotters in tOther titles in the series: "The Copernicus with their own petard. Golden Amazon's T?iumPh," "The Leaving her free to prepare for the Amazon's Diamond Quest," "The Amazon can Strikes Again," "Tvin of the Amazon," next. adventure, for which we "Conouest of the Amazon." hardlv wait. The Eosion Records THE COSMIC GEOIDS antl One Other' million years of our Decline we have by John Taine. FantasY Publishing laboured to compile and safeguard (in) Co., Los Angeles. $3.1X). these records all the science of our race, now about to vanish from Reviewed by FORR,EST J. ACKERMAN theuniverse..." Billions of years ago, faced with the In his new book, John Taine records destruction of their cosmos, the dawn that the first of these " man "-made race of Eosians wrote: " We know that meteors-spherical reposltories of pre- Eos musi vanish like a dream, and that Iluman, extra-galactic history and all our substance must become less than wisdom-was found on Earth in 18?9. a dream. But we shaU survive. Our The story opens in the 22nd Century, life, our intelligence, shall outlast our by which time another forty-three of extinction by ages. These records the geoids have been discovered and which we have sealed up in hundreds their contents partially deciphered by of miliions of shells resistant of all members of the Alliance of World destructive agencies except directly Scientists. The world is in a bad applied nuclear disintegration, will be way, 300 years hence. The Seventh scattered broadcast throughout the World War is in progress, and by the universe with the annihilation of our end of the story Earth's total popula- planet. For nearly the whole five tion has been decimated to a mere 22 FANTASY twelve million, and science has been the_ last 77 pages of the book, it does scrapped. Man has tur.ned his eyes lrttle more than that. ILs science is from the stars, and with a clouded slim; its plot and style second-rate. mind's eye looks to the star'-gazers* The original title was .,Vitamines Alpha a strologists-instead, and Omega": the spelling vitaniins The Eos of of this book has nothing to will give you an idea wh€n it was do with .the Eos of Taine's .,The Time rvlitten. Strea-m," incldentally. The authol' considers it his best-work-or perhaps Lou Goldstone, whose outstanding his second best now that he nas com- jacket for "Death's Deputy', lost much pleted "The Scar.let Night,,, on which in the reproduction, has again sufiered he has been working for forty years- by the presentation of his dust-wrapper but I doubt if many of his admirers in an unhappy selection of colours will agr€e with him. It is scarcelv a which all but nullifles the force of his story; rather, we have something which original work. Since there is no des- is a sort of combination of .,Death into cription in the story of the Eosians, Life" and " Star Maker," and the style whom he elected to depict on the strongly suggests Stapledon. yet I jacket and twice in the interiors, he cannot enthusiastically recommend it can only be praised for his highly to those who can't get enough imaginative concept of these alien of-except Stapledon. beings. I missed the crackle of character At least, I learned from this book conflrcts so engrossingly developed,,The in what I am-a descendant of one of "Quayle's Invention" and Ilon the Eosian R,enegades. For they felt Star"; though I must give Taine credit that life was but a torment to its for his invention of a set of Stanle- possessors of intelligence, and that a donian intelligences-the Contlolleri of nihilistic acceptaltce of planetarJ' ex- Life. the Fulll' Living, Lhe Living Dead tinction was the only humane solution and the Hopeful Monsters. As fol. for "hurnanitl'." With which rare "Th€ Black Goldfish,', rvhich fiIls out stleak of sanitj' I heartill' concur.

THREE 6REAI T'TIES FROM the prirre press Iiox 2019, Middle City Station, Ptriladelphiia, B, pa., U.S.A. LEST DARKNESS FALL By L. Sprague de Camp A second edition of one of the author's finest lantasy stories. A novel conceming an American explorer who steps back in Time to the days of Gothic rtalv and attempts to modernlse the ancient Romans-with humorous and, someLimes. dire results. TORDS OF CREATION THE HOMUNCUTUS By Eando Binder By Dr. D. H. Keller Ffu:st book edition of one of A new novelette by one of fan_ Argosy magazine's famous serials. tasl"s favourite short stcry writers. FORTTICOMING: EXILES OF TIME N TI M A D By Nelson S. Bond By George O. $mith All at l6/6'd, each SoIe British Representative: !. J. G A R N E L L, 17 BURWASH ROAD, PLUMSTEAD, LONDON, S.E.I8 REVIEW 23 The Humour of de Comp I)MDE AND RULE antl THE S'IOLEN IIOI;IIIIOUSE, by L. Sprague tlc Camp. Fantasy Press, Reading, Pa. $3.00. TIIE WHEELS OF IF and Other Science Fiction, by L. Sprague tle Camp. Shasta, Chicago. $3.00. Reviefed by JOEN K. AIKEN digest Hopper blood containins haemo- Mr. de Camp's best-now, alas, too cyanillc, should retain a likine for [he farely seen-is very good indeed: and hu.rnan or cilnine blood whiih made in his two short novels he is vely therr survival possible. But it is all nearly at his best. Although "Divide great fun. and ll,ule" originally appeared in "The Stolen Dormouse,' is more Unknown (Spring'39), and "The Stolen solidly based, as befits its original piace Dormouse" in Astounding tSpring '41), of appearance; and with its industria- both are really science fiction, of which iist clans whose loVer orders duel with this author's outpuf is better if sparser single-sticks and are in dne course ihan his fantasy--perhaps because ot elevated to the rank of businessman rather than despite the discipline it (tr'ilh insignia of despatch-case and imposes on his mercurial spirit. Iountain-pen), the political philosopher Discipline or no, his science fiction is James Burnham would be quick to see oi a highly personai type. Its interest F it q de';etopment of hia theory-The of does not lie purely in alien monsters the Managerial Revolution. or metals combining the functions of reader, however, will recognise thc irresistible force and immovable object, irrepressible de Camp in the descrip- nor even in human mutants with re- lrion of ttre hero's wedding night, spent markable mental attributes, but in the under his wife's bed in the company of behaviour of real people living in un- & tame puma and in the throes of hav familiar sociai set-nps, logically fever. developed from to-day's trends or from . Altogether, as ,sprighily and enjoy_ u, given premise such as an extra- able a pair of tales as one might me-et terrestrial invasion. His characters do in a.couple oI I'ears' reading: and that ine booK not indulge in pages of dreary pseudo- rs unmarred by any- aftemp! scientif,c badinage of a kind foreign at illustration-a new anci excelleirt even to tire most narrow-minded of departure by these publislleij--nrakes iaboratory specialists; and the novel- it an unalloyed pleasure to possess it. lies and perils of their age are properly Mr. de Camp's second. volume con- .subordinated to the fact that they live. tains one novelette and half-a-dozen In these dramas, the extra-planetary short stories, but is in every way less kangaroos and supra-magnetic beams satisfactory. " The Wheels of If,i was, know their place-among the stage as it nrct appeared, one of his very properties. best other'-worldly fantasies. It has This is not to say that Mr. de Camp's been all but ruined by careless re- sense of humour does not sometimes writing ol editing. The setting is a run away with him, even in his science U.S.A. in which, owing to divagations fiction. One will, for instance, readily in eat'ly English and French history, grant the extremely rmprobable details the original settlers are much moie of the ieudal rdgime set up by the purely Scandinavian, their language Hoppers in "Divide and Rule,' ivith its much more purely Anglo-Saxon, than knights in mediaeval armour, packing in our own world. Ahe author has radios in tireir saddles, and elephant- apparently decided that in the original drawn trains. Granting this, one will version (Unknown, Oct. '40) the talk admit the still hig'her degree of im- was not AnglGsaxon enough, and he probability of the motto, "cive 'em has gone thtough it, pulling up some the Works," on a knightly shield; but of the remaining Latin roots and plant- improbability is here outweighed by ing English ones. Unfortunately and entertainment value and by a certain mysteriously, the reverse process has wild consistency which is supported by also been taking place, resulting not the realness of the characters. so mLrch in restoration of the status A scientific flaw in this story-a more quo as in chaos. serious kind of improbability-is that HaIf the time, the inhabitants of the fleas which bring the human vic- New Belfast are speaking of changelets tory, after breeding for a capacity to in brainly kilter; the other haU, they 't4 FANTASY talk, more intelligibly if less amusingly, roundings. All together, they reveal of amendments in mental condition. themselves as deflnitely thin. In the Even their accent isn't consistent any shorter length, there is no time for more: in place of "nay," 3'ain" and Mr. de Camp to block in his detail "mair," which they remembered duti- enough to make creditable his rather fully back in 1940, they now sometimes irresponsible ideas. The resulting lapse inLo "no," "own trifles, shorn of the Astoundingly heavy One can forgive the frequent errots of setting of science in which most of Allister Park, the New York attorney them were once embedded, are too who has been projected into the body of superflcial to be really entertaining. a bishop of the Ce]tlc Church-he has This is particularly true of " The a virtually new language to learn-but Best-Laid Scheme," a flippant treat- not those of the natives. The general ment of time-travel (a theme which efiect is that of a play (a highly enter- Iends itself all too readily to such); taining one, be it said) being performed "Ihe Warrior R,ace," ditto of the un- by a company of rank amateurs: one dermining of a despotic sway; "The cannot settie down to its enjoyment Contraband Cow," ditto ditio, and because of a sympathetic agony lest "Hyperpilosity." On the last-named, the actors forget their lines. The de incidentally, there seems to have been Camp plausibility, so much a matter a sharp and stubbornly-maintained ol consistency and detail of background difference of opinion as to. the right and character, has largely vanished. spelling, between the lower-case com- In fact, for this book-judge, the out- positor who set up the bulk of the coming is soothly a most rueful and Ietterpress and the upper-case fellow unbrookly brainkilter. who lent a negligent hand with the Nor do the short stories make a very headings, Altogether, in fact, the distinguished group. Each in its proof-reading of the Shasta folk has original magazine matrix sparkled with slipped considerably; and if they can a iustre of humour and humanity manage to forget their splendid ;aux which, it now appears, derived a good pas on p. 160 in a hurry, they rre a deal from the contrast with its sur- shameless bunch.

M'sSING_ONE SPACE EPIC ! Here is the story for which every fantasy lover has been waiting years. The novel which connects "Triplanetary" to the Gaiactic Patrol series. FIRST LENSMAN By Edword Elmer Smith, Ph. D. 1616 A new Lensman story, hitherto unpublished in any form, dealing with the foundation of the Galactic Patrol. No Smith fan can afiord to miss this tremendous novel. Forthcoming shortly, Two Greot fitles from Shosto SLAYES OF SLEEP WHEELS AF F By L. Ron Hubbard By L. Sprague de Camp A swashbuckling story based A collection of eight of de in two worlds-to-day, and the 16/6 Camp's most popular tales from world of the Jinn. Astounaling and Unknown. BOTH WITH SUPERB FTTLLSPR,EAD BOK DUST-WR,APPERS If you are interested in regular advance book news, write for "Postal Preview," sent free upon request. E. .I. CARNELL T7 BUR,WASII ROAD, PLUMSTEAD, LONDON, S.8.18 REV I EW 25 The Walkie-Talkie Mon TIIE RADIO MAN, by ll,alph Milne stories of equal popularity. With the Farley. Fantasy Publishing Co., Los advent of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Angeles. 92.50, Mrs. Gnaedinger embarked on the re- R,eviewed by THOMAS SHERIDAN printing of the series, but she did not get far before the paper shortage set Harry Bates, the flrst editor of in. Now. to clinch their p€rrnB.n€rrc€, Astounding, used to tell a story against the tales which are an essential part himself which concerned author Ralph of every fantasy reader's apprentice- Milne Farley. Several of his offerings ship are appearing between hard having been declined because they were covers. "too juvenile," Mr. Farley called on Editor Bates, who lectured him for an Like Mr. Burroughs with his John hour on vshat he meant by the dis- Carter, Mr. Farley gets his hero trans- paraging term. Mr. trbrley, so the planted with a minimum of delay; an story goes, went away a sadder but experiment with a new radio trans- wiser man. Some later, Mr. mission apparatus is enough to set ',veeks Myles down on Venus, far from his Bates made the somewhat overwhelm- genblefolk, ing discovery that the auLhor of the Boston without recourse to space-ships. The influence oi Bur- "Radio Man" stories was a distinguished just Harvard scholar, an Army ballistics roughs is such that, for a moment, expert, an inventor, an authority on he thinks he has landed on Mars, but patents he soon corrects himself. WhereuDon. law, and a former senator of Mr. the state of Massachusetts, to say Farley has to devise his own sp6cial nothing of his knowledge of unemploy- nomenclature for the Venusian gr-ool, ment insurance, the breeding of horses or Zoo, which contains such creatures as the flerce woofus, the gentle and the growing of giant irises. mathlab, No juvenile himself (he is now 62), and the beetlish buntlote, Roger Sherman Hoar, to give him his which makes a mo,st charming pet. real name. has been active in the fan- The Cupians are almost human, ex- tasy field for a quarter of a century, cept for their butterfly wings, and no less. His output has been both antennae instead of ears. Bv con- considerable and varied; and althougll structing his own walkie-talkie, Mytes they may be classified as schoolboyish contrives to pass as one and communi- by the fan who has graduated to some- cate with them on his travels. And thing rather more intense, his best- the ladies, blonde or brunette, can be known stories still merit the appellation very beautiful in spite of six flngers of "classic" so frequently applied to and toes; especially the Princess Lillia them, if only by reason .of their and her maid-in-waiting, the volup--to honourable origin in the Munsey tuous Bthuh, whom Ifing Kew tries magazines. palm ofi on the man from Minos as It was in 1923 that he wrote "The quite good enougfr for a commoner. Radio Man," as he himself has admit- As for their oppressors, the ant-men of ted, "iargely to amuse my own children Formia, though they have their ker- and interest them in science fiction." kools and airships, they are no match Bob Davis, the editor who had "dis- for e-xplosive bullets once Myles has put covered" Edgar Rice Burroughs, found the -Cup_ians through a feu' para- the story of Myles Cabot among the parlhs of rifle practice. ant-men and Cupians of Venus worthv-a peculiarly ol serial presentdtion in Argosy only The Earth-Iike social barriers of Poros prove more of an few months after Mr. Burroughs had obstacle his ambitions, related the adventures of Tarzan amonE to but in the end he gains the sarkarship Which the Ant-Men of this planet. Thus permits princess encouraged, Mr. Farley proceeded to him to marry the in spite of his deformities, and, when he enlarge on the Radio Man's exploits gazing through the yearsx and to write i9 not into her eyes, start bther thinking about buiiding a radio network xln F"adio (,2b). ,,The on the planet where even the cloudiest "The Beasts" day Fadio Planet" ('26) and "The Radio . may be spoiled by'the a shaft of Menace" ('30). Four other novels with suniight. Much as laboured "Radio" in the title, aiso published by illqstrations spoil this otherwise accept- Argosy, have no connection with the abie volume: we have seen better in series. the cr.udest fan magazine. 26 FANTASY The Werewolf in Us DARI$R THAN YOU THINK, by Jack attentions on the daughters of true Williamson. Fantasy Press, Beading. men, to such a degree than genes of Pa. $3.00. the witchly attributes are fairly evenly Reviewed by D. Il,. SMITTI distributed among modern men and women. And, inevitably, by Mefldelian One of the dificulties of a fantasy law, chance at times brings suficient writer is to convince his readers that of these genes together in one person he is not being fantastic at all but is to produce a sort of hemi-demi-semi recording actual facts, or things which witch-and -werewolf. might reasonably happen; and this objective The story is concerned with the is the more difficult to attain discovery of these signif,cant facts by a iJ he has the time-honoured intention scientist who also flnds that the of scaring them into flts. There was a pure Homo Iycanthropus through a time, not very long ago, when he proportion whom to reinherit the Earth. With could count on a fair of his his assistants, he digs secret readers believing in the reality, or at up the possibility, Weapon used many ages ago to defeat least the of witches and the witch-folk, and they bring it back supernatural forces. But in these to civilisation with the idea of using enlightened days the vast majority of witches have been studying the stud- us are flrm beiievers in the infallibility book and working out a way of breeding of science, and if science says that it to scotch the new menace. The witches and werewolves cannot exist, witches arrange to scrag the would-be their impossibility becomes so firmly saviours of humanity before can embedded in our minds that the author they who bring the weapon to bear; and the tries to frighten us with such novel is an account of the scragging ideas is beaten before he starts. as performed by a lovely young witch This objection would seem, at any and a more-or-less unwilling, unwitting rate, to be accepted by most fantasy Iycanthrope whom she ensnares by writers today, particularly among those methods purely biological, and about who travel weirdward from the straieht whom there is a mystery which is not road of science flction on which th.ev cleared up before the last chapter- started. Its correctness must depend, though by that time it is a pretty thin in each case, on the capabilities of the mystery. author, but as a general rule it is right All the ingredients for a real spine- enough for the run-of-the-miu writer. chiller are here, and Mr. Williamson In this instance, Mr. Williamson has is by no means less than a competent gone to considerabie pains to advance writer. Unhappily, then, do we have an hypothesis which will account for to report that his effort to be frighten- witches, werewolves, and quite a few ing falls flat. Instead, an inescapable ancient myths, in the light of scientif,c monotony seems to set in as the tale tesearch, and to develop the interesting proceeds possibilities to unfoid, rather too slowly thus presented. Like Mr. for its length. This dullness I ascribe Russell's "Sinister Barrier," the storv to the complete lack of resistance to was made to measure for Unknowir their enemies by the scientists vrho (Dec. '40), and has been considerablv have unearthed their secrets. They extended for book publication. sit around in rooms on top floors wait- The suggestion is that there was once ing for witch-beasts to come and a race of supermen, called by the throw them out of windows, or they author "Homq lycanthropus,', contem- drive along dangerous mountain roads porary with pre-historic humanity. in faulty cars so that they can be made They_ possessed truly remarkabie to crash into ravines; and all the time powers, being able to assume the shape they keep their deadly weapon nailed of_a_ny animal at will, to pass throudh Clown inside its packing-case, so that solid obstacles, and to foresee and they cannot use it either for defence or manipulate the probable future. The attack. fact_ that they dined upon human flesh Th9 only real opposition is ofiered by made them most obnoxiorx to other an elderly widow who is blind and forms of mankind. and our earlv otherwise incapable, and it ends when ancestors finally rebelled and exter- her guardian dog-who is only too minated them; but not before tlrev had eager to get at 'em but is mosily re- succeefed in forcing their unweicome strained by his leash-is lured to des- REVIEW 27

truction. There is a valiant ettempt girl, April Bell; and it is pleasant to to maintain some sort of tension in discover in the end that, for all her the study of the reporter-lycanthrope. unseemly conduct in riding about the with his conscience struggling futilely countryside in the nude on the back against his werewolf instincts, but he of a sabre-toothed tiger, she is a Pure seems such a hopeless dimwit that it Woman when she is not a wolf. is difficult to feel any concern, much The book is attractively produced, less interest, in what he is enduring. with a frontispiece by Cartier that is In fact, most of the characters seem hardly as effective as his end-papers. short of the normal ration of common- and a dust-jac\et by Donnelt of which sense, apart from the charming witch- I doubt if he is very proud. Sophisticated Woodcutter TIIE CAENELIAN CUBE, by L. Sprague tional basis or, if the teller be a de Camp & Fletcher Pratt. Gnome modern, a unifying philosophic convic- Press, New York. $3.00. tion on his part. Such stabilising in- Reviewed by KEMP McDONALD fluences are lacking in " The Carnelian Cube." Instead there are unassimllated Once upon a time there was a wood- and inconsequent chunks of satire, cutter who heiped a good fairy and historical reconstruction and pure was rewarded with three wishes. We dream-fantasy. Characters and scenes, aII know what happened to him. In individuaily well-drawn, pass and do his more fortunate incarnations his nob return, collectively insignlncant. net gain, after a good deal of mental Loose ends and unexplained anomalies anguish and physical uncertainty, was abound, it having apparently been one sansage; in others he was lucky much easier to push ahead with fresh to get away with a whole skin and no creations than to tidy up those aiready sausage at all. Messrs. de camp and achieved. Pratt have expended a good deal of penmanship varied Sthe ending ikelf, in comparison with and displayed a that of a good specimen of the original stock of historical, archelogical and (e.9., particuiarly philological information in modernis- story 'The Nose") is and expanding the arbitrary and unsatisfactory, even if it ing, sophisticating is granted that the formal rounding- old story. In spite of all this, it ofi of an episodic narrative is impossible cannot be said that the result is an save by the death of the hero. From improvement on the original, a critical point oI view, it is interesting For one thing, the authors are the to remark that Rose Macaulay, whose possessors of a mutual sense of humour fantasies are characterised by a way- of that irresponsible kind tvhicb gives ward humour rather similar to de rise to the shaggy-dog story and other Camp's, also suffers, though less such engaging extrapolations from the markedly, from an inability to round possible to the impossible. A little of the thilrg ofi: perhaps the two qualities this quaiity is well enough as a season- are psychologically incompatible. ing to a well-constructed fantasy sucll And the plot? Have I not yet made as Mr. de Camp knows hort to write, it cleal that there is no plot? However with or without the assistance of Mr. . . . the Carneiian Cube, flIched instead Pratt: "Lest Darkness Fall" or "The of bestowed, is a device for transportr Roaring Trumpet," for example. In ing one in sleep into a fancied utopia; the present case, too much of this and it is one of the two stable elements condiment has been used; in conse- in the story, part of the very thin glue quence the reader is soon satiated and whereby the episodes are united. The left unconvinced, even oi that shadow transportee, a (luckily for him) imper- of realism which the whackiest (or turbable individual named Finch, is its most satirical) fantasy should have. $ole stable ccmpanion. It presents to Nor is the theme, with its two com- him in succession worlds completely plete changes of scene, character and rational, completeiy indivldualistic, and action, reaily adapted to expansion. completely academic, The witty and The product is not truly a novel but a quasi-logical way in which the strue- fragment of an episodic narrative tures of these worlds are worked out which is, formally speaking, primitive; is the most enjoyable feature of the in fact, of a saga, for which the only book, and may commend it to the more satisfactory survival factors in a highly- ardent devotees of whacky fantasy. For developed literature are a deep tradi- myself, I recommend the authors to 28 FA NTASY re-develop their sense of flctional form (there is every evidence that at one time they possessed such a thing) at Look out for the expense of their imaginative invent- iveness, to curb their sense of humour. Arthur F. Hillman on and incidentally to brush up their THE FANTASY OF proof-reading-there are far too many typographical errors. MERRITT The An Interview with Story JAGK WILLIAMSON of Clous in FANTASY REVIEW ROADS, by Seabury Quinn. Arkhan House, Sauk City, Wis. $2.00. quack, seeking to overthrow the Powers Il,eviewed by ARTHUII, F. Hrr,r.MAIil of Darkness by such devices as "the The followers of Seabury Quinn, toe-nail of a saint." In their view larvyer, trade paper editor and short those Quinn tales in which de Grandin story writer, who has been one of the is not present are much better value most stalwart of Weird Tales' contri- for their money. buiol's since its early days, have always What€ver the merits of either view- been divided into two opposing camps. point, none can gainsay that "Floads', Since his fi.rst appearance with " The is a distinctive achievement which Phantom Farmhouse," as long ago as lends weight to the arguments of the October '23, the exploits of Jules de anti-de Grandin school. Of all his Grandin, psychic investigator, and his slories, there have been few which Watsonian satellite, Dr. Trowbridge*, made such an impression as this have been considered by one faction whimsical, tender chronicle of how the the best of Mr. Quinn's large output. legend of Santa Claus may have arisen; The other contingent has condemned for it is at once enchanting and the littie Frenchman as a psychic reverent. The tale of a gladiator caught up in the momentous events of the trial of Christ and its aftermath needed careful handling, but it was not beyond OPERAT'ON FANIAST tlre skill of the author to avoid striking takes this opportunity of ffishing a wrong note. There is nothing in it every success to the LONCON. At at which devout Christians could cavil; the same time, we would remind and yet, in spite of deliberately playing you of the many services we ofier, down the aspects of religious awe and THE LIBRARY: Latest additions mysticism, he managed to imbue his include W-iUy Ley's The Lungtrsh story with a profound respect for its and the Unicorn John Taine's The subject. Cosmic Geoids, Wiliiamson's Darker Than You Think. and Arkham House is to be commended many others. for bringing back this m€morable piece MAGAZINES: We buy and sell old in a slightly lengthened version than fantasy ma,gs., and most curent appeared in Welral Tales eleven years issues are available at 2/- per copy. ago, and for enlisting the aid of Virgil BR,IC-A-BRAC: We can supplv the Finlay in illustrating and jacketing BOK PORTFOLIO at 7/5. the what is to be the first of a series of FANTASTICALENDAR, al 5l-. a especially choice limited editions. His set of ten FANTASY POSTCARDS exquisite art adds the flnishing touch at 3/6. Orders are now being to small but neat volume taken for The Biblion of Merritt a which, had at l0l- and the memorial issue of we received it in time, would havd The Ship of Ishtar, the price of made an ideal Christmas present. For which has been increased to L715. to enjoy Mr. Quinn's little classic to I'anzines such as Fanscient and the full, it should be read when the Scientifantasy mal' be ordered Star of Bethlehem is in the ascendant. through us. That may sound like sentiment, but ALL further lnformation from such is very necessary if one is to I(ENNETH F. SLATER,, discern the story's hidden message. RIVER,SIDE, SOUTH BR,INK, xT'he best of .,vhich will be assembled WTSBECH. CAMBS. in a volume forthcoming from Mycroft & Moran. REVIEW n Rcaderd letters on aoy aspect of fantasy-Octlon arc X'anta,sy wolcomed fon ttrls feoture. Arlilrees: The Editor, FANTASY Xtorum REVIEW, 115, Ii9anstad Park Road, Iford, Ess€x. THE IRON CORSET Arthur C. Clarke's defence of ttre alien" lf such ideals were in harmony "Leckeys of Wall Street" against ttre wibh dollar imperialism, attacks of the two Soviet critics who pre- But we need hardly pursue ihe crystal sumed to categorise American science clear reasons why no Can'ers or Booker nction as thinly-disgulsed caplteUst T.. Washingtons enliven the pages of prop&ganda tinged with Fa,scist tenden- science fiction; why the heroes,-space cies is far too furadequate to justify a dts- captains and saviours of systems ar-e so missal of this charge. He bases his case seldom black, red or yellow-skinned, and mainly on the "good" storles which, by while white aiways American. Wh! the his inference, even the Comrades should Eet-up always, if Terran, shos's Anierica find aceeptable; but he only weakens his as the geometric and moral centre of an argument, since one perforce reeallg efiete and sadly-far-beNnd rest of the automatlcally the vast flow of trash world; and if cosmic, shows Man ex- which has swamped the science fiction pandlng to other planets ar.rned with pulp6. every timehonoured trick of American May I bring to ttre notice of Mr. Clarke monopofy-capitalj"t cnlture i:rcluding a few basis facts which may have naturally, the A-bomb. - escap€d his omniscience? Firslly, all It won'u do at all, Mr. Clarke. your writt€n works are, to some degree, attitude--and this is whcre the true fan propaganda for a generalised cause \phich is entitled- to complain bitterly-is quite may even oppose their particular thesis. non-sclentfic, way oul of line with con- IIe himself admits that everv writer ls qemporq,ry ttrought. Or maybe it is the conditioned by his environment; and it Comrades who, in lheir alien way, hedged must obviously be difncult for a writer rn by tnelr fon curtain to their restricted brought up on Winchell and Al Capp, territory (no more than a quarter of the ]vrought upon by Metro4oldwyn and globe now), and mistakenlv resardins Mae West, saturated with sex. dazzled the Western way of life as iireomfrehen-- by the almighty douar, and bombarded sible. are in the wrong? One shorild give with boloney from the cradle to the credil wh-ere it is due, especially to the glav.q to_ achieve a detachment very far lr_eroes _ of Hiroshima, the pioireers of outside the iron corset of Americ&n'con- Nagasaki. This was sureiy Science, pro- ventionality which so neatly constricts gressive and desirable, perhaps even his movements. He is by nature a fall necessary '/ guy for the lean-featured American hero But it was not scientiflc of Mr. Clarke of fiction and the American wav of life to drag into the argument and condemn from Pittsburg to the pleiade-s, from as a charlatan poor biologist Lysenko. Manhattan to Mars and beyond.-he And .tsre Knows. none bett€r, that the Lvsenko whether he likes it or not, has to controversy is still sub judice; that his confom. He couldn't possibly be un- tneones are not yet proven, and may be American, ever. T'he League o1 Women qo more mendacious than Mendel, wouldn't like it; neither would the horrific thaD Huxley or depraved Lhan advertisers- Darwin. Let us admib the very evident ._ Mr. Clarke's second misconception ls fact that science flction does contain a that it would take a genius tb write $'ealth _of c?pitalist, propaganda oI aI1 himself oul of his env-ironment. The KInOS (Wnrcn doesn't really hurt the scrolls.which honour ]iterary ende&vour stories), and that from the standnoint are thlck with the names oi those who of the materialist Soviet observer.'who have done so already-and few of them is conditioned by an environment we are wdters of American science flction. cton't quite understand, Lhe result must Why, after all, should it be necessary for be comprehensible only as the exudations the s-f author to ignore social selups oI a bourgeois and decadant bunch of based upon the Soviet experiment? U lacks well and truly whippecl on by Wail mere size is the criterion, swelv it is big titreeL. And I do mean you, Mr. Clarke! enough; almosb o]d enough,- too, bt A.- Cooper, 2b Stoke Newington American standards? N-ot' effi'cienl =FT?nbRoad, London, N.16. enough,? It was at Stalingrad. Too foreign? Too alien? The weavine oi UNHAPPY AGREEMENT fiction.which gave true objectivity 6 the Unhappily, I find I s_oclal ldeal of ..one world and within tt _ agree wlth the tlte soylet view of American science fction 5ac_e of mankind," with peace and in many. details. Wirh certain exceptions prenty tor every- creed and colour, would ttre authors - not be ..a do lat€ly seem to have construed as culture conipletely oegenerat€d to the level of propagandirsts 30 FANTASY often going to ridiculous extremes tx omit many of the chapters which I depicting retrogressive future systems should have Iiked to have written. and representing them as utopias. I hate Please convey my thanks to Geofirey to say it, but some of the more recenL politically Giles, and my promise that if ever I stories are so flavoured as to write another book on the Martian scene rob them completely oi the fascination I will remember his advice.-A. J. Pet- science flction usualiy holds for me. ham-Groom. Chelsea. S.W.3. Here's hoping you print a fcw more con- troversial articles.-L. H. Cobbett, Dun- fWhile apprcciating author Groom's stable, Beds. point, and his thanks, reviewer Giles re- mains of the opinion that if he had given ARCHIE'S IDEA as much attention to the Martians and Atlanteans as he did to the technical I feel very guilty for not having $rit- aspects of space-flight, his book would ten before now to thank you for the re- have satisfied the larger audience as port you made on m\. bock, "Furple much as it did astronautics students. Twilight," in Fantasy Review (Oct.-i\ov. But the theme he could not, develop '48). May I say how heipful is cons'rruc- properly still demands a second book.- tive criticism of that kind; I cntirely Ed.l agree with every point you made. It may interest you to know that the WEIR,D BEAUTY 'Archie' to whom the book is dedicated is not a member of the C.B.A.S., lrut is my Most unpleasant, even hideous pictures publisher who, having a mass of material plague science flction and its fans. (on astronautics), handed it to me with Throughout the fleld, this stupid vogue the suggestion that I should write a prevails. Do you realise that the three flctional book about it. The material was top panels in your front-page illustra- by no means sufficient and considerable tions are crazy trash, while the lower research work had to be done. picture of witch, bat and trees is the pic Like you, I should have liked to havb most beautiful, sane science fiction wriiten more about Mars itself, and of I have ever seen? Atlantis; but I am toid that the market Why is everything increasing in size? for this type of work is very limited, and The magazines, your Review, etc, in consequence I had to conflne myseu Preposterous! Who can possibly read it to the experiences of Lance Gunner and all? And whv is the word civilization

IDoes That Booh Elude You ? Here are some of the titles we have recently searched for successfully, and supplied to our clients: SOME WOMEN OF THE UNMRSITY (Blayre) TIIE SECRETS OF. DR,, TAVER.NER (FoTtune) MEN OF TIIE DEEP WATER,S (Hodgson) MELI{OTH, THE WANDERER, (Maturin) LAST MEN IN LONDON (Stapledon) THE GODS OF PEGANA (Dunsany) TIIE SPACE RAIDERS (Bever]ey) TIIE ISLE OF LIES (ShieL. Can we help you ? We supply aU kinds of books: flctlon and non-flction, British and foreign. While we specialise in fantasy, we are at your service in any department. We have lately acquired the stock and koodwill of the business conducted by Mr. E. Williams, and shall be pleased to extend to his customers the 6ame faci-lities to which they have been accustomed. Your Want List will receive our prompt attention. Inquiries welcomed from all parts of the wor]d. Ask for our latest catalogue lirsting many raJe items at very reasonable prices. G. KEN CHAPMAN 23 FARNLEY ROAD, SOUTH NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.25 (Phone: LlVingstone 4469) REV I EW 31

spelt with an 's' instead of a'2,' not only plete list is as foUows: Amazing Stories: in your "Fantasy Fonlm" but in many May '43 (h'ocyon), Jun. '43 (Orion), other books and magazines? It is not tlre Jan. '44 (Death of the I\{oon), Sep. ,44 only word which suffers. Just where ls (Betelgeuse), Mar. '45 (Spica), Aug. :46 this mis-spelling leading us? George (Altair); Fantastic Atlventures: Jul. '45 Andrews, Cleveland. Ohio. - (Gemini), Oct. '45 (Andromeda),' Dec. (Aldebaran). Feb.'46 (Aiphecca), [We asked artist Turner to draw us s, Mav-45 '46 (Mizar), Jul. '46 (Antares)-- panel illustrative of both science and Ed.l weird flction. The part you admire as typical of s-f is intended to represent the DEAD FLIES weird story element-which it does quite . I am trying to tt'ace a story published adequately to most peopl€. The increase since '39, presumably in Astounding or in size, as far as rve are concerned, was Unknown, which concerns a man wi-th a essential to our proper coverage of the n1emol'y fixation of the smell of dead enlarging fleld, and has been generally flies and cobwebs on a rvindow ',vhich approved: some avid readers now want constantly recurs for an instant. The monthly publication. The 'z' has long theme is either time-travel or personality since been replaced by the 's' in most English dictionaries, Lhough the older spelling is stili used by some magazines lmportant to Subscribers outside of America.-Ed,l If a zubscription blank is enclosed, you should_ renew yonr subscription . THE QUERY BOX rmme(lrafely. ..STORIES OF TIIE STAR,S" Could you give me the dates of issues transfclence, and the title may be some- of Arnazing Stories and Fantastic thing like "The Fties on the- Windorv.,' Adventures featuring, on the back covers, Can you help me, please?-F. V. A. FYank R,. Paul's senes of "Stories of tlre Scales, Portsmouth. Stars"? I have collected seven oJ them, g slory is " The but I believe there are more. J. B. _ tTt Cure,,' by Lewis - PadgetL (Astounding, May '46). currenllv Coltfrerd, Jedburgh, Scotland. reprinted in rhe Derleth-edited antholoeri. [As far as we can check up, the com- "The other side oI the Moon.'._Ed. l""'

,,Dark EXCHANGE Bradbury's..And Carni- SMAtt ADYERTS val" Ior del Rey's Some Were Special Rate to Collectors: 2d. per Human.'-Box 123, Fantasy Review. word (5c. Canada, and U.S.A.); minimum WE WANT TO BUy fantastic and 12 words. TO Traders and others: 3d. per weird-books and magazines. prompt cash word (?c. in Canada and U.S.A.) All pald IoI whole collections or your.surplus advertisements in this section must be books. list your items slatirig condi';ion prepaid. Box numbers 6d, (15c.) extra. ANd SET YOUR OWN PRICE. AITCr- E. WILLIAMS wishes to inform his natively. send us your books and let us clients that his business has b e e n make a cash oflor. II not acceptable. we acquired by Mr. G. Ken Chapman, whose will rclurn the books intact af our own announcement appears on another page g.xpe-15e.-Dett's, 209/11 Kirkgate Market, and to whom aII inquiries should now be Bradford, Yorks. sent. Br..G ]IIARI{ET and good monev for un- IilANTED: American llorror Stories. usual plays. you Terror Tales, or weird need exnert-Mv Silk Stocking, High Heel.- theatre knowledge as well as abilitv. BM/FRVV, London, W.C.l. qualificarions are 20 years f\OR, SALE: Plucks, Boy's F?iend, of actin!, pre ducjng. a_nd writing plays. Coufse of lgoops, Union Jacks, Nelson Lees, Boy's rwerve . Maga"zines, Monsfers, lndlvrdual and personal lessons (no Thrillers. Detective duplrcatrons) is FOURTEEN GUINEAS Weeklies, llarvels, True Blues, BuII's- plus your promise work Young Britains, Modern Boys, to hard. Write fes, now, before my availa,ble time is booked. Modern Wonders of the World, Buffato Bate, I Lilac Avenue, Bills, Magnets, Gems; numerous Victor- -Sam Coventry. ian penny bloods, World of Wonders. . THE SCIENCE FICTION BOOKMAN: Dlodern Wonders, Armchair Science. A reg-ular- checklist for fantasy collectors, S.a.e. for list, Would consider exchanses issued with lhe compliments of SooXmanid for American scienc€ flction.-Martin,-99 1746 Columbia Road N.W., Washington, Hillside, Stonebridge Park, London, I, D.C, .Send for your free copy oi ttrd N.W.10; Wiilesden 4474. currenl lssue. WEIRD, FANTASTIC and Scientific WANTED: "Strange to TeU" (Mess- Fiction. Are you on our free monthlv ner), "Man into Beast" (Doubledav). Mailing List for catalogues of books and Brand-new copy, "The Best in Scierice nqpgazines?-S-F Service (Dept. FR,), 68 Fiction," offered for ellher.-Box l?l Vicboria Street, Liverpool, 1, England.' Fantasy Review. ADVERTS BOCK'ET PR,OPULSION ELEMENTS, SMALL by George P. Subton. The basic facts of (Gontinued from page 31) rocket propulsion for those who want to learn all about this fascinating subject, WANTED: "The Imaginary Voyage fur practical B. (Columbia, and a reference book for those Prose Fiction," by P, Gove who are working with rockets now. $4.50 Univ. Press); also "The Extraordins,ry from Flockel Associates Inc., Box 29, Glen Voyage in French Literature," by G. EUyn, IU., U.S.A. Atkinson.-Box 124, Fantasy Review. COr.r.FCTOI| wants "The lfale of TOMORR,OW-The Magazine of the (Constable); Future. A lew copies of the rare, prin[ed Terror," by Edith Birkhead (16pp.1 fan magazine issued by the "The Haunted Castle," by Efuro Railo British Science Fiction Association, now (Routledge); "Horace Walpole and the English Novel," by K. K. Mehrota available to coUectors: VoI. 2, Nos. 1, 2 (Blackwell).-Box and 3, ab l/- <25c.) post free. Also 125, Fantasy Review. Scientiflction The British Fantasy IVANTED: Clark Ashton Smlth's "Out Il,evlew, Nos. 3-7- only, at 1/- (25c.) post of Space and Time" (Arkham House).- free.-Fantasy Review (Service Dept.), Box 126, Fantasy R€view. 115 Wanstead Park Road, Ilford, Essex. WANTED: Copies of Fa,mous Fantac- BACK NUMBERS of Fantasy Revrew tlc Mysteries from No. 1 to current issue. still available: Vol. I, Nos. 1, 3-6; Vol. 2, Will pay top prices cash or ofier Nos. 7-11, at ?d. (15c.) post free; VoI. 2, American crime or West magazines ln No. 12, at l/- (25c.) post free. Complete exchange. Alrmail your ofiers!-Roger your flIe while they last.- Fantasy Re- Dard, 232 James Street, Perth, Western view (Service Dept), 115 Wanstead Park Australia. Road. Ilford, Essex.

SPRING 1949 UITKNOWN WONLDS (BRITISH EDIfiON) IS NOW ON SALE Contents include TIIE GOLDEN BR,IDLE Jane Rice NO GREATER LOVE . ...., Ilenry Kuttner A GOOD KNIGHT'S WORK ...... Robert Bloch and other stories

ASTOUNDING APRIL 1949 SOIBITOD FIOTION (BR,ITISH EDITION) IS NOW ON SALE Contents include The Rull .. . E. A. van Vogt We KilI people ,. Lewis padgett The Obsolete Weapon L, Ron Hubbard Depth . c. N. trIoward and other stories |'l- ea,ch l-l. If you have any difrculty ln obtaining your copies please courmunlcate with: lJ?tifi"sK#."-11!T""1'il: f3ffi#,""183 aTLAS CENtral 972?

FAI{TASY REVIE\ry, 115 Wanstead Park Road, Ilford, Essex. Published by Walter Giuings. hinted by Ripley Printing Society Ltd., Ripley, Derbys. This version of the rnagazine was assembled by Farrago & Farrago using a copy from the collection of the late Harry Turner, who created the cover artwork for the early issues of Fantasy Review.

All copyrights acknowledged, all articles and artwork remain the intellectual property of their creators.