DIGITISING FANZINES FOR FUN AND PROFIT
It has been twenty years since the first issue of Mumblings, but I will refrain from reminiscing on previous issues. Those of you who haven’t seen them already will have your chance soon enough, as I am progressively scanning back issues for posting on Bill Burns’ efanzines.com. My goal is to have them all up before Aussiecon 4. More than half of them are up already, so feel free to have a peek. Comments and award nominations are always welcome.
Digitising fanzines, particularly those from an earlier era, can be great fun. I scanned a set of Nick Solntseff’s Woomera for his website last year as well the first issue of Arthur Haddon’s Telepath for Bill’s site. Both titles provide insights into their era. Earlier fanzines are even rarer and the potential for rediscovering information during the conversion process is very real. A terrific instance was provided by Kim Huett last year. He has been retyping issues of the first Aussie newszine, Futurian Observer, and alerted me to a short but very significant paragraph from its fifth issue (opposite).
The process does raise some interesting questions, though, like: Is this a good idea? Faneds generally write with a particular audience in mind and we have a reasonable idea of who will see our work when we produce zines in print. We can control distribution (at least initially) to like-minded individuals who understand fannish culture. The web ensures a greater audience, but a broader and anonymous one, too, that can seek information for different purposes. Some firms now routinely Google job applicants -- how might they interpret fannish writings? And what about phenomena of our glorious Internet Age such as identity theft and cyberbullying? Is it really prudent to post zines with personal information online? Or am I just showing my age? Many younger people seem to blog, twitter and text all manner of personal data without concern. Attitudes about privacy seem to be changing. I’ve decided to post past Mumblings but will also think twice about what I do include in future issues.
Another question that arises is: Should one correct errors in the original print fanzines? This one is vexed, too. My initial answer would have been no, the online version should be a complete and accurate facsimile of the original, warts and all. But that can mean preserving errors of fact and even compounding them by disseminating them to a wider audience. I’m not thinking of simple typos here, but -- well, let me give you a concrete example.
In Mumblings 24 I ran an obituary titled “Vale, Eric Frank Russell”. It is one of the enduring myths of Australian fanhistory that Eric Russell (the fan) shared the same full name as famed British author Eric Frank Russell. Confusion between the two overseas was common in the 1940s when Eric was publishing Ultra. I knew better. Graham Stone had informed me years ago that Eric’s middle name was Fred, not Frank. And yet, for whatever reason, I gave his middle name as Frank in that issue, twice -- perpetuating the myth even after Eric’s death. The temptation to correct this before posting the issue online was strong, but I didn’t want to hide my error either. Perhaps I should add an errata sheet to each online issue...
Finally: Should one amend past issues to match original concepts? Limitations of fanzine production (i.e. lack of money) have prevented me from creating exactly what I had in mind on occasion. In a few cases, I have restored full colour to elements of covers which appeared originally in black and white only. Had I had the resources I would have used full colour at the time, so why not? I confess that in each case pride has been another motivating factor, for the colour “elements” have been baby photos. What father could resist?
- 2 - THE INVISIBLE FUTURIAN
In Mumblings 26 we took a look at how women featured in the history of Aussie fandom penned by Vol Molesworth. Or didn’t, in a few cases. The young lady at right is a perfect example. The omission of her name from Vol’s work is arguably the most revealing error in it.
Say g’day to Roma Castellari. Her name has been mentioned here before; most of you will recall that she was one of Bert’s sisters. We knew she had attended a few meetings of the Futurian Society and had drawn one or two covers for Zeus, but no more. In fact, Roma has a unique place in Australian fandom.
Futurian Observer was the early news- zine produced by Bert with Bill Veney and (later) Ron Levy from 1940 to 1942. The 5th issue of Obs reported on a 1940 meeting of the Futurian Society, noting that six members were present and “two guests, Miss Roma Castellari and Ken Jefferys were in attendance”. Nothing striking yet, but the report continued:
“Eventually it [a round robin story] was dropped and the main item of the meeting was brought to notice. This was the election of Miss Roma Castellari and Ken Jefferys to membership. The former was elected unanimously despite the fact that at first there were several slight objections raised. Jefferys was elected without any trouble.”
So a decade before the controversy over Rosemary Simmons’ applications to join the Society the first female member had been admitted, with only “slight objections”. Vol was present at this meeting and must have voted to admit Roma since her election was unanimous. Minutes of the FSS meetings now held by Graham Stone confirm these events and Molesworth often cites the minutes in his history, so it is hard not to see Roma’s omission as a deliberate act.
Futurian Observer 7 reported that at the following meeting of the FSS Roma and Ralph Smith “held a serious discussion on various aspects on illustrating”. Roma had talent as an artist but never any real opportunity to develop it. In issue 14, she is noted among voters in a poll of the best sf stories of 1939. Her artwork for Zeus followed, but after this she appears to have drifted away from fan circles, just as Bert did soon after.
Short though her involvement was, Roma Castellari deserves recognition as the first female to have joined organised fandom in Australia and contributed to fan activities.
- 3 - ONE HUNDRED SMALL WONDERS: An annotated index to Australian and New Zealand fan content in the Wonder magazines
The letter columns of the professional sf magazines are the primary source of information about who read sf in the early days and what they thought of it. Contacts made in this way played an important role in the development of organised fandom. Surprisingly, relatively few of the pulp magazines’ letter columns have been indexed (see p.15).
The Wonder titles are of particular interest since they were among the earliest sf magazines and because Wonder Stories hosted the Science Fiction League, which promoted the creation of sf clubs. In addition to letters, the magazines also ran lists of SFL chapters and members, fanzine reviews and occasional odd references to the Australasian region (like Bob Tucker’s joke in 1934). All of these have been included here. The index covers all issues of the Wonder titles from 1929 to 1955, including: Air Wonder, Science Wonder and Wonder Stories and their quarterlies, Thrilling Wonder Stories and its sf companions: Startling Stories, Captain Future, Space Stories, Fantastic Stories Quarterly and Wonder Stories Annual. Not all of these included material from Antipodean readers so the title abbreviations below should be easy to interpret. By coincidence, the total number of items from these sources was 100.
Year Issue Mag Page Type: Author. Notes on content with quotes of interest. Location
1930 Jul WS 182 Loc: Starling, Sidney J. Suggests "hunches" of future events could [Vic] be evidence of time travel. (See full letter on page 10.)
Sep 373 Loc: Roberts, Cecil. Comments on stories over past year. [Vic] WS 1932 May WS 1386 Loc: Elwood, Desmond. "a great reader of your famous [NZ] magazine...14 years old".
Nov WS 542 Loc: Hayman, Gilbert. "Is this depression planet-wide? If so the [NSW] discovery of ways to reach other planets would materially help..."
1934 Mar WS 927 Loc: Waterhouse, Les. "New Zealand Speaks". "I have been a [NZ] regular reader of Wonder Stories for over two years now..." Jun WS 120 Loc: Millington, Robert W. Approves of smaller size and stories. [NSW] Names favourite story and comments on artists. (The response included: "This letter from distant Australia is more proof that our magazine is appreciated in all parts of the world.") Sep WS 503 Loc: Mallett, Thomas. "About nine months ago I came across one [Qld] of your magazines in a book-shop in Brisbane...
Nov WS 754 Joke: Tucker, Wilson. "Report of the 196th Convention" as by [US] Hoy Ping Pong includes: "First up was Delegate Foozle from Australia. The Australian gentleman complained that he had talked 345 people into joining his chapter, but each of the 345 wanted to be Director... To pacify the whole mob, the President formed 346 different chapters, allowed each [member] to join one chapter and be the Director of it."
Dec 877 List: T. Alan Ross, Melbourne, listed as new SFL member #497. [Vic] WS 1935 Jan WS 1001 Loc: Tokeno, Mr. Announces intention to form a NZ Science [NZ] Fiction Association and requests readers in NZ and Australia to contact him. (Hornig proposes he be Director of a SFL Chapter instead; see full letter on page 10.)
- 4 - Mar 1262 List: T. Alan Ross again listed under "Correspondents". [Vic] WS May WS 1516 List: "Proposed Chapters": Sydney Science Fiction League [NSW] proposed by William E. Hewitt, Box 284, Haymarket PO.
Jun WS 113 List: Wallace J.J. Osland, Paddington, listed as SFL member [NSW] #782. 113 List: Douglas Gordon, Coburg N., Member No.793. "Wants to [Vic] hear from anyone seventeen or eighteen years of age interested in the possibilities of interplanetary flight and the existence of life on other worlds." Jul WS 238 List: "Correspondence". George F. Stephens, Christchurch, will [NZ] write to others aged "between 16 and 20, both sexes, on general science topics."
238 List: Christchurch, NZ, added to list of proposed chapters of SFL. [NZ]
Aug WS 371 News: "General Activities" notes Thomas M. Mallett of Sydney [NSW submitted his sf test too late, so the deadline for overseas readers Qld] has been extended by two months. Also, letters from Sydney and Brisbane both suggest the number of SFL members per continent be published.
Sep WS 497 News: "Chapter News" notes "The next foreign Chapter of the [NSW] League will most likely be in Sydney, Australia. W. Osland has already held a meeting, but it cannot be called official because one of those present has not yet been enrolled as a member of the League..."
Dec WS 751 News: "The Sydney Chapter. This is to announce that on August [NSW] 15, 1935, the Sydney Science Fiction League...was formed...(see full letter on page 10.)
1936 Feb 881 News: Wellington, NZ, added to list of proposed chapters of SFL. [NZ] WS 883 News: "Chapter News" notes Sydney Chapter "now has six regular [NSW] members" and fortnightly meetings are held. One member “owns a printing press and the Chapter is now circulating science-fiction and League propaganda in conspicuous places..."
892 Loc: Rasche, Varow. "Aussie Speaks." Discusses editorial policy, [Qld] irregular supply of sf magazines in Brisbane, desire to hear from SFL members in Queensland and hope to form a Chapter at a later date.
Apr WS 1015 Loc: Connell, Alan. "Another Author Speaks". Congratulates [NSW] editor Hornig on New Policy, comments on Paul's artwork and several stories. Aug TWS 126 Loc: McLeod, John S. "I think Stanley G. Weinbaum puts he-man [NZ] punch into all his stories". Invites letters from anyone.
1937 Aug 126 List: M.B. Bennett, Ballarat, included in list of new SFL members. [Vic] TWS 126 List: Eric Clifford Michen, North Perth, and R.H. Harding, [WA] Maylands, included in list of new SFL members.
126 List: Fred Steven, Launceston, listed as new SFL member. [Tas] Dec TWS 117 List: W. Baker, New Zealand, listed as new SFL member. [NZ]
1938 Feb 118 List: Robert Cudden, Newcastle, listed as new SFL member. [NSW] TWS 118 List: Alan P. Roberts, Brisbane, listed as new SFL member. [Qld] Apr TWS 127 List: Brian Bolger, Brisbane, included in list of new SFL [Qld] members.
- 5 -
Aug 129 List: Ernest J.Morris, Auckland, listed as new SFL member. [NZ] TWS Oct TWS 115 List: R.H. Harding, Maylands, listed as a new SFL member. [WA] (Again.) 115 List: Bruce Horrison, Lakemba, listed as new SFL member. [NSW]
115 List: E.G. Bienman, Newcastle, listed as new SFL member. [NSW]
1939 Feb TWS 128 News: "South Australia Chapter. John Devern of 125 Gilbert St., [SA] Adelaide, South Australia, is eager to start a Chapter of the SFL in his city. He also announces that the first Australian fan magazine, the Science Fiction Review, will soon be ready for distribution."
Apr TWS 116 List: Max Armstrong, NZ, included in list of new SFL members. [NZ] 116 List: David G. Boadle, Willoughby, listed as a new SFL member. [NSW]
Dec 124 List: Donald H. Tuck, Hobart, listed as new SFL member. [Tas] TWS 1940 Feb TWS 121 List: Ronald M. Weston, Sydney, listed as new SFL member. [NSW] Mar 13 Fanzine review: Luna (ed. Vol Molesworth) [NSW] SS Sep 127 Fanzine review: Cosmos (ed. Molesworth, Veney & Castellari) [NSW] SS Nov SS 13 Fanzine review: Ultra (ed. Eric Russell) [NSW] 1941 Spr CF 127- Loc: Molesworth, Vol. Compliments Hamilton's stories and [NSW] 128 suggests some plot ideas for others. "And until Otho and Grag kiss each other good night and Eek attacks a charging space dog, I will read your mags."
Jul SS 124 Fanzine review: Zeus (names Ron Levy, Bert and Roma [NSW] Castellari)
Sep SS 117 News: A "Special Note" announces the first sf convention in [NSW] Australia. (Taken in by a hoax flyer produced by Bert Castellari. See full notice on page 10.)
118 Loc: Statham, R.D. An SOS from Australia. "All Australia's [Qld] dollar exchange has to be used to purchase war materials...
128 Fanzine review: Ultra (ed. Eric Russell) [NSW]
Nov SS 128 Fanzine review: Ultra (ed. Eric Russell) [NSW] 1942 Mar 126 Fanzine review: Ultra (ed. Eric Russell) [NSW] SS Nov 126 Fanzine review: Ultra (2nd anniversary issue, ed. Eric Russell) [NSW] SS 1943 Jun SS 8, 10 Loc: Cockcroft, T.G. (Surname misspelt as Bockcroft.) [NZ] 129 Fanzine review: Ultra (ed. Eric Russell) [NSW]
1945 Sum TWS 85 Loc: Murtagh, Jack. Notes rarity of US magazines in NZ despite [NZ] US forces there during the war; would like to receive recent issues.
Fal TWS 8, 88 Loc: Murtagh, Jack. "Howl from Down Under". Seeks missing [NZ] issues and asks why the editor calls his readers Kiwis.
1947 Aug TWS 9, 97 Loc: Chandler, A. Bertram. Approves of the "clean-up" (ending [At sea] Sgt. Saturn editorials). Written aboard the RMS Tamaroa.
1948 May SS 139 Fanzine review: The Sydney Futurian (ed. Vol Molesworth). [NSW] "Most interesting newcomer...bright and alive and indicative of an expanding interest in stf on the island continent..."
Jun TWS 126 Loc: Stapleton, H.L. Advises that firm in Liverpool, England, can [NZ] place subscriptions to TWS and SS and suggests their address be published.
- 6 - × The Sydney Chapter of the Science Fiction League is announced (Dec. 1935).
× An example of the confusion over Eric Russells (Startling Stories, March 1940).
× The first letter from an Australasian Bert Castellari’s Easter convention hoax is reader to Wonder Stories (July 1930). run in Startling Stories, September 1941. Ø
Early interest in organising sf fans in New Zealand (Wonder, Jan. 1935) Ø
Jul SS 7 List: "The Sydney Futurean Society" (sic), included in list of [NSW] British fan organizations, "at Captain Slater's suggestion".
144 Fanzine review: The Sydney Futurian (ed. Molesworth). "We [NSW] hate to list this newsy little 'zine as a B...but it has not yet acquired A stature..."
Oct 156 Loc: Reece, B. 15 years old, seeks correspondents. [NSW] TWS Nov SS 174 Fanzine review: The Sydney Futurian (no.8, ed. Graham Stone). [NSW] "A slim but thoughtfully constructed little fanzine from Down Under..."
1949 Jan SS 174 Fanzine review: The Sydney Futurian (ed. Graham Stone). [NSW] "...chiefly concerned with reports of the Society it represents..."
Mar SS 148 Loc: Dard, Roger. Discusses postwar sf magazines and [WA] distribution of SS in Australia.
151 Loc: Stapleton, H.L. Was thrilled with wonder at the August 1948 [NZ] TWS and startled by the September SS.
May SS 144 Loc: Molesworth, Vol. "Words from Australia". Notes ban on US [NSW] magazines, provides a brief history of the Sydney Futurians and names some members.
162 Fanzine review: Sydney Futurian (no.12-13-14, ed. Vol [NSW] Molesworth). "A good bet for any US fan."
Jul SS 158 Fanzine review: Koolinda (Australian Library Amateur [NSW] Journalism, ed. Leon Stone). "An able little booklet which stresses amateur journalism in general more than stf -- but a brief article on Lovecraftiana makes up for it. A swell piece of printing." 159 Fanzine review: The Sydney Futurian (ed. Vol Molesworth). [NSW] Final issue.
Oct TWS 148 Loc: Harding, Ralph H. "As an old member of the SFL (no. 3346) [WA] may I request that you revive this excellent department."
1950 Feb TWS 140 Loc: Dard, Roger. Offers advice to editor on various matters. On [WA] cover art: "Could we have a really horrific bug-eyed monster gracing the next cover? I'm all for gory gaudy covers."
Jul SS 150 Loc: Dard, Roger. "We Had it First" - comments on the quarterly [WA] and annual magazines, suggests illustrated back covers and praises a Kuttner story.
1951 Win FSQ 157- Loc: Dard, Roger. "I've just received No. 1 of your new [WA] 158 publication, FSQ, and although I have not had time to read it, I would like to congratulate you for [giving] us a magazine of fantasy classics."
Jan 153 Fanzine review: Woomera (ed. Nicholas Solntseff) [NSW] SS Mar 156 List: Star Rover (ed. Roger Dard) listed among "Other Fan Mags". [WA] SS May SS 150 Loc: Solntseff, Nick. "Note from Down Under" mentions [NSW] Woomera and comments on SS and TWS.
157 Review: "A Checklist of Australian Fantasy" (Stan Larnach). [NSW] Aug 138 Loc: McDonald, D.C. Offers a story for publication. [NZ] TWS Sep SS 144 Fanzine review: Woomera (Feb 1951 issue, ed. Nicholas [NSW] Solntseff)
Dec TWS 141 Review: Blinded They Fly (Vol Molesworth). [NSW]
- 8 -
1952 Mar SS 132, Loc: Stone, Graham B. Notes launch of Australian SF Society in [NSW] 134 1951, mentions fans in W.A., Sydney, visitors from abroad and the first Australian convention planned for March 1952. 143 Mention: Graham Stone mentioned in review of Lawrence [US] Campbell's fanzine "Science Fiction Newscope" (to be a columnist). Jul SS 145 Mention: In "Views in SF" (Baltimore SF Forum Bulletin no.4): [NSW] "Allen Newton [reports] that a deluxe edition of weird art by an Australian weird artist will be published shortly...bound in bat's skin!" (More on this in the next Mumblings.)
Aug SS 143 Mention: Review of Silverberg's "Spaceship" notes that it includes [US] news from Down Under by Roger Dard.
Sep 143 Fanzine review: Woomera (Jan 1952 issue, ed. Nick Solntseff) [NSW] SS Oct SS 142 Review: "Science Fiction Fandom: an introduction" (G. Stone). [NSW] 142 Fanzine review: Stopgap (ed. Graham Stone) [NSW]
Nov 144 Fanzine review: Stopgap (ed. Graham Stone) [NSW] SS 1953 Feb SS 141- Loc: Nicholson, R.D. Requests publicity for the second national [NSW] 142 convention. "Last year we got the news to you a bit late, the Startling [arriving here] about a month after the con was over..."
Mar 146 Fanzine review: Forerunner (ed. R.D. Nicholson) [NSW] SS Apr SS 144 Loc: Stone, Graham B. Among WAHFs. Editor’s summary: "He [NSW] "compliments us on trimmed edges but doubts anything much can be done with a magazine named Startling Stories".
May FSQ 141 Loc: Earls, John. Comments on several issues, requests reprinting [NSW] of 'The Green Man of Graypec' by Festus Pragnell, "one of the greatest stf stories ever written".
Jun TWS 137 Loc: Mathews, Race. Mentions "Perhaps" and "Bacchanalia" and [Vic] possibility of 3rd Australian sf con being in Melbourne. Aug TWS 141- Loc: Potts, Ken. "American stf is nonexistent...so we are starved [Vic] 142 for the best things in life (stf)...” Asks for donations from US fans. "I'm 19."
144 Loc: Jenssen, Dick. Among WAHFs. Mentions "Perhaps". [Vic]
1954 Spr SS 126 Loc: Molesworth, Vol. "It is a long time since I last wrote to [NSW] America." Vol makes up for it in a long letter (almost a full page) complimenting SS and TWS, praising Philip Jose Farmer and providing information on fandom in Australia -- clubs, fanzines, Futurian Press publications and the planned 1954 convention. Also requests US fans donate magazines for the FSS library. On recent issues supplied by Maurice Powell of Oakland, Cal.: "I was even more surprised (and delighted) by the letters. In fact, I found myself reading all the letters before I read the stories".
129 News: Mention of 3rd Australian SF Convention. [NSW]
Fal 114 Loc: Potts, Ken. Among WAHFs. Seeking artwork. [Vic] TWS 1955 Win SS 113- Loc: Jefferson, Peter. "It happened today! For the first time SS [NSW] 114 became real!" (On discovering an American Startling Stories after years of only seeing the anemic UK reprints, with a request for US fans to exchange more for British magazines.)
Sum SS 112 Loc: Smith, Pat. "From Down-Under". [NSW]
(end)
- 9 - Summary and observations on the 100 items found:
39 are readers’ letters, 25 are “reviews” (of fanzines or other publications), 24 are names (of readers or fanzines) included in lists, 8 are news items and the rest are brief mentions.
The items are distributed relatively evenly in time: 39 appeared in magazines in the 1930s, 31 in the 1940s and 30 in the 1950s. (The higher number in the 1930s is entirely due to the lists of new SFL members which appeared in Wonder Stories. If letters alone are considered, the pattern is the reverse -- 11 in the 1930s, 12 in the 1940s and 16 in the 1950s.)
Geographically, the origin of items was 55 from New South Wales, 16 from New Zealand, 10 from Victoria, 8 from Western Australia, 5 from Queensland and the remainder from the other states, overseas or on the seas (Bert Chandler’s address in the August 1947 Thrilling Wonder is given only as RMS Tamaroa). These ratios are not surprising given the known distribution of fans across this time period.
The letter writers were almost all male. Pat Smith (the last entry in the list) is the sole female that can be positively identified. (Two letter writers’ first names are given only as initials, but both appear likely to be males.) Roma Castellari is the only other female appearing in the entire list, named with her brother and Ron Levy in a review of Zeus in a 1941 Startling. The most frequent names in the list -- individuals Roger Dard, Vol Molesworth and Graham Stone (and fanzines Ultra and The Sydney Futurian) are all well known in fanhistory.
======
MAGAZINE LETTER INDEXES
For those interested, these are the letter indexes and related sources of information on writers to the professional sf and fantasy magazines that I am aware of.
Ashley, Mike, 1981, The Complete Index to Astounding/Analog, Robert P. Weinberg. Bleiler, Everett, 1998, Science-Fiction: the Gernsback Years, Kent State University Press. (Notes letters in sf magazines published 1926-1936 of people who later became famous.) Boston, John, n.d., Index to Letters in British SF Magazines Cockcroft, T.G. 1995, “An Index to ‘The Eyrie’ and other Readers’ Departments”, Fantasy Commentator no.47/48. Lists names (only) of writers to Golden Fleece, Magic Carpet, Oriental Stories, Strange Stories, Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror and Weird Tales. Cockcroft, T.G., 2003, “An Index to Readers’ Letters in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Fantastic Novels and A. Merrit’s Fantasy Magazine”, Fantasy Commentator no.55/56. Dziemianowicz, Stefan, 1991, The Annotated Guide to Unknown and Unknown Worlds, Starmont House. Stone, Graham, 2001, Notes on Australian Science Fiction, Graham Stone. (Discusses letters by some Australian readers in early issues of Amazing Stories (to ca.1934).
Cockcroft also indexed letters in Captain Future for another Fantasy Commentator article, but Langley Searles died before publishing the issue. All of Cockcroft’s and Boston’s data has been added to The FictionMags Index online. As has Jim Linwood’s Nebula SF index, thankfully, for his website vanished when AOL’s Hometown was shut down in October 2008.
- 10 - RESEARCHING The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction
Sitting in a small enclosed room reading letters to old pulp magazines for hours on end is not everyone’s cup of tea, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover the transcript of a talk given to the Friends of the University of Sydney Library by Justine Larbalestier in 2002 which describes the tedium and joy of such research perfectly. With her kind permission I reprint about half of her talk here. The full transcript is available at http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2002/08/
I’m here to talk about the genesis of my new book, The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction. The book literally would not exist without Rare Books’s Science Fiction collection. And neither would the book I’m currently working on. In fact, neither would my career. Or at least my career would certainly have gone along a very different path.
The science fiction collection is built around Ronald Graham’s 1978 bequest of his extraordinary sf collection. He was an obsessive spending a vast deal of his fortune attempting to acquire a copy of every sf magazine or book ever printed. He came pretty close. Knowing that his family had zero interest in sf he bequeathed his collection to Rare Books. The existence of that collection is why I’ve been working on early sf for the last ten years. It’s a science fiction scholar’s dream. It’s all down there: the fiction; the criticism; the discussions; both amateur and professional. Reading through the pages of magazines and fanzines in the early days of sf I saw the sf community emerging.
I was first shown around Rare Books in, I think, 1991. I was in the final year of my honours degree and I had been toying with the idea of doing my Ph.D. thesis on fantasy or science fiction. What my Ph.D. was going to be about occupied my mind a lot as I procrastinated about writing the essays that would get me the marks that would allow me to actually do said Ph.D. Depending on the time of day or what I had just read my thesis was going to be about the reception of Elvis Presley amongst indigenous communities in Australia; the short stories of Isak Dinesen or Angela Carter or Tanith Lee or Kate Chopin or maybe Flannery O’Conner; or possibly on the use of nightmares in horror films.
Somehow, I really can’t remember how this happened, who it was that told me the collection existed, or who to see about it, but I went and saw Pauline Dickinson (the creator and then manager of the collection). I must have been really incoherent describing why I wanted to look at the collection because somehow she assumed that I wanted to look at the fanzine collection. I had no idea what a fanzine was. For those of you who don’t know a fanzine is an amateur magazines produced by science fiction fans which covered many topics, sometimes even science fiction.
Pauline pulled various fanzines out, talking about the Futurians and the Moonrakers, as though I should know who they were, mentioning names like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke (at least I’d heard of them) as well as lots of many names that were completely new to me. She mentioned something called a staple war and other puzzling things.
Pauline than showed me the science fiction magazines. I had only the vaguest notions about the history of science fiction. For me it was a genre made up of books. I had no idea that short story magazines had been crucial to its development. I had no idea that until the paperback boom of the 1950s, short story magazines had been crucial to almost all genres of writing, particularly in the USA. Here was Pauline, holding up the very first issue of the very a - 11 - first English-language science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories dated April 1926. I was, well, amazed. I knew then and there that my thesis was going to be about science fiction, and was going to be shaped by that collection.
In 1992 as soon as I enrolled, I went to work. I was absolutely thrilled to discover that it was deemed more practical to give me a desk down in the collection, than for me to sit in the reading room filling in request forms for particular volumes. The majority of the collection is not catalogued, making it pretty difficult to specify what volume I wanted.
So there I was alone in a huge room with no windows, full of row after row of the various special collections–Victorian triples; a complete run of Playboy magazine, rare eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scientific texts; detective fiction; and then right at the end the many, many shelves of the science fiction collection: books and magazines and fanzines and my little desk and chair. I felt like a child let loose in a lolly shop.
At first I had no system because beyond the general area of science fiction I had no idea what my thesis was going to be about. I read through early issues of Amazing and fanzines from the 1930s because they were what I had seen first. Then I read magazines with titles like Planet Stories, Weird Tales and Thrilling Wonder Stories because they had the best covers.
I realised fairly quickly that I was far more fascinated by the letters and editorials than I was by the stories. Many of which are pretty unreadable by contemporary standards. The letters by contrast were often lively and engaging. They range from short letters which merely rate the stories, to discussions of scientific problems in the stories, to debates about the state of science fiction and the world, or perhaps just the state of the particular magazine. This letter from a 1947 Astounding Science Fiction is a good example:
the whole magazine is really something that science fiction can be proud of, something that you can show to the scoffers and say, "Since when is science-fiction tripe!" The recent atom-bomb stories are wonderful, frightening things, really not "astounding" at all, since they very likely could happen in another war….
BUT, Brass Tacks is the worst letter column published. It’s too short and doesn’t have half enough editorial comment on individual letters. Either you leave out Brass Tacks entirely, or you publish three or four long, highly technical letters from people who write in and dispute the accuracy of the meteorology, astronomical mathematics, electronics, or gunnery trajectory computation of the articles. Not always, of course, but more and more Brass Tacks is inclining towards the old Science Discussions. There’s nothing wrong with Science Discussions but it gives fans like me, who are majoring in history and English literature, a rather futile, behind- the-times feeling, as if our humble opinion is not wanted, aside from maybe a card rating the stories.
Reading the letters becomes addictive because there were often sequels. A controversial letter in one month would be followed up by many replies in later issues. Or sometimes a seemingly innocuous letter would set the letter writers off. Certain names would turn up over and over again. I found myself beginning to skip letters from some writers because they annoyed me (I know bad historian, bad) and impatiently looking for the letters of other regulars (known in the fan community as letterhacks).
It all began in Amazing Stories. The first science fiction magazine, with the first editorials and letter columns. This is where science fiction fandom was born. Those letterhacks started a - 12 - to write letters directly to one another. Easy to do as their full address was printed in the magazine. From writing each other letters they went on to forming clubs and printing fanzines and by 1936 putting on the first science fiction conventions.
Reading through the early issues of Amazing I saw the first appearance, in the editorials and the letters, of the notion that science fiction is not like other popular genres, that it is a literature of ideas. A literature about science, technology, progress. A literature that is good for you rather than being merely escapist.
Gernsback frequently points to the magazine’s educational mission declaring in the first issue that his magazine is not "the love story" or "the sex-appeal type of magazine [or] the adventure type”. The emphasis was strongly on the ‘science’ in science fiction: "[W]e live in an entirely new world. Two hundred years ago, stories of this kind were not possible.” Gernsback writes:
Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are also always instructive. They supply knowledge that we might not otherwise obtain—and they supply it in a very palatable form. For the best of these modern writers of scientifiction have the knack of imparting knowledge, and even inspiration, without once making us aware that we are being taught. (First editorial, April 1926, p.3).
Gernsback particularly loved to publish letters from readers who were led to study science by reading science fiction: One of his readers writes that the "science in most of the stories is an inspiration to me in my studies in electrical engineering” (Science Wonder Stories, October 1929, p.467).
I was utterly fascinated by this wealth of primary material. I was also out of my depth. I realised I was going to have to read some secondary material to help make sense of it all. In the midst of doing that I came across Joanna Russ’ 1980 article "Amor Vincit Foeminam: The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction” and suddenly my thesis, now book, was born.
In the article, Russ uses the term "the battle of the sexes" to refer to sf texts which are explicitly about the ‘Sex War’ between men and women. She discusses ten stories published in the USA between 1926 and 1973. Stories in which women have turned on men—literally battled against them—and taken over the world. Worlds in which women have been eliminated because they are no longer necessary in a male scientific utopia. In most of the worlds where women have taken there will be one brave man left who will find the one feminine woman left and together they will lead the world back to how it should be. The stories sounded bizarre.
Before I read the Russ article I had no idea there were such stories in science fiction. Yet because I was sitting reading this article down in Rare Books surrounded by the majority of the science fiction published in English between those dates 1926 and 1973, I was able to get up and find the original of each story on the shelves. The majority of the stories Russ refers to come from Sam Moskowitz’s anthology When Women Rule (1972) I was able to read the stories in their original context, with the editorial descriptions of them, blurbs about their authors, and readers’ responses.
It was clear that the sf community recognised it as a subgenre of science fiction and could name many other examples. Often berating a particular story for merely copying an earlier xxx - 13 - and not doing it nearly so well. Having read the stories in situ it was easy to find those other examples and I could read debates about the relationship of men and women taking place not just in the stories but in the letter columns and editorials of the science fiction magazines and in the fanzines. All of which gives a very different picture, a more complex one, than that set forth by Russ in her article. As I said, access to this kind of material is historian heaven.
In one day I had read Joanna Russ’ article, most of the stories she refers to, as well as some letters in response to those stories. Because of my earlier random reading through other science fiction magazines I had already come across letters to the editor that dealt with the Sex War. I knew I had a wonderful topic.
One of the letters I had already seen was by the 18 year old Isaac Asimov supporting the idea that women and love (interchangeable items) have no place in science fiction. They’re interchangeable terms because according to Asimov and others, the only place for a woman in a science fiction story is as the love interest not as, God forbid, a scientist. In one letter, in support of another correspondent he writes:
Three rousing cheers for Donald G. Turnbull of Toronto for his valiant attack on those favoring mush. When we want science-fiction, we don’t want swooning dames, and that goes double. You needn’t worry about Miss Evans, Donald, us he-men are for you and if she tries to slap you down, you’ve got an able (I hope) confederate and tried auxiliary right here in the person of yours truly. Come on, men, make yourself heard in favor of less love mixed with our science! (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1938, p.161).
I read with interest the many replies of female—and male fans—who disagreed. That particular debate comes up in science fiction again and again. I had no shortage of material. Sitting in Rare Books surrounded by thousands of sf fanzines, magazines and books I was able to follow the emergence of science fiction fandom and the science fiction community. The majority of academic work on science fiction either ignores or says very little about the importance of the science fiction magazines and of science fiction fandom. I believe the major reason for that is simply lack of access. If Rare Books did not have this collection, I doubt that I would understand science fiction in the same way that I do now. (Even if I had actually done a PhD on science fiction and not one on the reception of Elvis Presley amongst indigenous communities of Australia.) The majority of my information would have come from secondary not primary sources.
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Justine Larbalestier is also the editor of Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century
and author of award winning books including:
• Magic or Madness • Magic Lessons • Magic’s Child • Liar and • How to Ditch Your Fairy
For more information, visit her online.
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Bert Castellari, Curtin, ACT 5 April 2009
[Re: the excerpt from Futurian Observer #53 which accompanied Kim Huett’s letter in MfM 27]
I’ve read through Futurian Observer of 13 January, 1942, several times which helped to prompt my memory. I had been drifting away from science fiction and fandom throughout 1941 and was starting to grow up. My reading was more general and mostly non-fiction. I was getting some reporting experience (e.g. sheep and cattle sales at Homebush) apart from being head copy boy at the Daily Mirror, a new afternoon tabloid engaged in a newspaper war with The Sun, a stodgy old broadsheet. A lot of journos didn’t take themselves too seriously in those times and I felt very much at home with this. No doubt this was the mood when Ron Levy and I put out that edition of the Observer. I had copped the job of minute taker at the convention because I was a shorthand writer and was able to keep a detailed record. That’s why we have those quotes which enabled such sparkling -- no, let’s say lighthearted – reporting.
And that’s how I know that the quote at the top of the left hand column on page four in which I refer to my sister, Roma, is an accurate report. A smart alec response in which I didn’t really intend to demean Roma. She would just have laughed. We were the young end of the family and very close.
The other thing which affected that production was that I was going into the army the following week. It was my goodbye to science fiction fandom.
[Good to have you back, Bert. And nice to give Roma her rightful place in fannish history, too.]
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Eric Lindsay, Condon, Qld. 8 May 2009
A very nice recursive cover from Brad Foster. A good match to your continued series of magazine timelines. Interesting ploy to skip through from greatest detective to seeking an equivalent SF character. The choice of Dr Who is not bad at all. However as you conclude, SF does not need any single champion. Besides, in many respects, we already live in a SF world.
I guess Tim may just as well travel in search of Penelope Cruz as anyone else. Naturally I had to Google to find who she was.
[Really? You need to get out more, Eric!]
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Brad Foster, Irving, Tx. 8 May 2009
The cover looks SHARP on the orange paper. You're right, it does give a bronze-ness to the whole thing, very cool. With the other small touches of color, it gives the overall impression of a much richer tone that just running it as a black on white illo.
- 15 - Eric Mayer, Pennsylvania 9 May 2009
What a sensational cover by Brad Foster. Cool idea. There's something fascinating about recursive pictures like that. I also like the background color. Reminds me of how fanzine covers were often printed on a different color of stock than the interior pages so it takes me back!
Who is science fiction's Sherlock Holmes is an interesting question. I'm not sure science fiction could ever have depended on a character to popularize it since it is more a literature of ideas than character.
Of course, the detective genre revolves around the intellectual task of solving a mystery puzzle, but this task is embodied by the character of the detective (whether professional or amateur or somewhere in between) and Holmes is practically the perfect detective. So he could, in a way, represent the whole genre. Mysteries pretty much all have someone trying to figure out whodunnit. Detectives vary widely, from Miss Marple to Mike Hammer, and their methods may be quite different, but they are all in some manner trying to track down the killer.
Science fiction, on the other hand, has more plots and more kinds of protagonists, from space adventurers to scientists to aliens. So it's hard for me to imagine one character popularizing the whole genre. Certainly there are characters who have helped popularize types of science fiction, as you point out. Buck Rogers with Space Opera (or perhaps Captain Kirk) and Doctor Who is a sort of mad scientist, in a good way. Then there is Godzilla!
Again, though, I think of science fiction as being about ideas. But when did science fiction start to become popular? Maybe when Star Trek went on television, or when Star Wars hit the theaters. Today it seems like every other movie is sf. So does this mean that the public didn't, or couldn't, get interested in the literature of ideas until special effects became good enough to draw for them the pictures they couldn't or wouldn't visualize for themselves while reading?
I very much enjoyed Tim's search for Penelope Cruz. Clever ending! At least he got his wish that the Prado be free.
Lloyd Penney mentions Hurricane Hazel which not only hit Canada during the fifties but also slammed far inland in the United States. I was too young to recall much but there are photos in the family album of the downed trees in my grandparents' yard in northeast Pennsylvania.
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Arthur Haddon, Coffs Harbour, NSW 12 May 2009
The cover [of Mumblings 27] is quite outstanding (nearly punned and said astounding). What printing process do you use? When I was using a printing press I was hand setting loose type and I think Vol was doing the same, we both had a No. 2 Adana. Graham has always had his slugs professionally done and it always showed. Still, when I was doing the limited printing for fandom there would not have been the time to go chasing around for slugs.
What the hell is DUFF? I have never heard of it. Never seen a reference to it. Is that because of my being in Coffs Harbour and no longer involved with fan activities or is DUFF not well known?
From the correspondence in No. 27 it would appear that your expose was considered highly amusing overseas as it exposed our juvenile attitudes and a misplaced sense of our importance. Locally, comments appeared subdued with perhaps more juice to follow from the few who are left.
[Mumblings has always been photocopied, Arthur. DUFF is the Down Under Fan Fund, founded in 1972 to assist fans in North America and Australasia travel to conventions in the other region annually. (See the fan funds page of the fanac.org site.) A pity it wasn’t around in your day!]
- 16 - Graham Stone, Burwood, NSW 15 May 2009
SF’s Sherlock Holmes? Good points here. I have a soft spot for Buck Rogers but the other comic candidates, no. Comics were a pernicious field but didn’t really influence SF much, they came along a few years too late to be formative -- thankfully. Film and TV -- forget it.
Good to see the timeline continued, a very useful idea.
Comment on Rex Meyer’s letter: The great basic problem for the SF group back then wasn’t that SF was unknown and unrecognised, but that the world situation and currency restrictions made it hard to get in Australia. We all wanted to find something to read, that was what brought us to meetings, to exchange magazines. Some were collectors at least to the extent of holding on to what they found as far as possible. Molesworth conspicuously bought masses of stuff and periodically decided he had too much and culled it. Eric Russell remarked that Vol skimmed the cream till there was no milk left. Dave Cohen was the first to have the idea of dealing, he was quite aggressive and annoyed some of us, yes. He seriously tried to run it as a business and must have lost his shirt.
Comment on Merv Binns’ letter: Yes, he was at the third convention, as was McCubbin, Crozier and someone else: Keating? The grave expressions in the group pic have an explanation that may surprise some now. Photography had such a long history and was part of the culture in the fifties, but flash was still something for special occasions and in such a group photo there was an unconscious feeling of posing and holding still.
Australians in letters prewar. Possibly in the 40s one or other member of the FSS – mostly Colin Roden I think – went through the mags systematically and wrote to a few. Originally that was how Molesworth, Evans, Castellari, the Russells, Sawyer, Roden and maybe others found each other. I think that was how Noel Archer joined the group in 1942 and one or two others responded but didn’t stick. But there still could be more there somewhere.
[Thanks, Graham, for your compliments and background to the con photograph. Yes, Buck at least has a connection to Amazing Stories. Your comments on letters in the sf magazines are timely, as the contents of this issue will show. I have managed to check a number of titles besides the Wonder Group mags and will run more in the next issue. There are more yet to be checked, though, including Amazing (after the period you have looked at) and its companions. ]
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Lloyd Penney, Etobicoke, Ont. 16 May 2009
Many thanks for the newest Mumblings, issue 27. Even the background has that yellowed paper look to it. The Foster illo reminds me of a special programme I saw recently on the works of M.C. Escher. I’d like to get fonts that would allow me to recreate those titles.
Science fiction has become broader in scope, but so much of it has been rejected not only those who claim to be SF’s top consumers, but also by the general public. For some of the public, they may never have known about some of its earliest creators. We do not honour our past, but live for the moment. We all want something new and fresh, but can we honestly ask for that at this point? Those of us who do enjoy the SF genre want something to stimulate the little grey cells, but do we really want an SFnal Hercule Poirot? Can we successfully blend SF and detective fiction? By attempting to satisfy both kinds of readers, are we alienating both? I know that when SF fades for some readers, they go to detective/suspense fiction, for both present a mental challenge to the reader. I have quite enjoyed the superior shows starring Jeremy Brett as (for me) the definitive Sherlock Holmes and David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. (Robert J. Sawyer’s first novel, Golden Fleece, was a fairly successful SF/crime novel.) We are jaded now, and may further accept a crime drama with a SFnal background, whether in novels or on television.
- 17 - I remember my mother was at one time a member of the ladies’ auxiliary of the local Steelworkers’ union chapter. Would any organization have a ladies’ auxiliary today? Not likely. Auxiliary implies not a full member, with probably lower membership rates, too. Can’t pass up not charging for a full membership.
Ethel the Aardvark reports on Melbourne fandom, and there are other clubs across Australia, possibly with their own publications, not sure…is it time to revive Thyme, or widen the coverage of the Bullsheet? Australian fandom needs a national newszine, perhaps? I know Canadian fandom does, but there’s actually been some hostility to the idea. The presentation of memoirs as history is an indication of how subjective history can be, and how some egos are a little inflated. I would like to read more about the history of Canadian fandom, but not all fanhistorians are as objective as I’d like them to be.
[I wasn’t suggesting a melding of sf and detective fiction, just asking whether or not a popular sf character has ever boosted its popularity. I think the answer was yes, but mainly by dumbing down the scientific content we enjoy in the best sf literature. Newszines seem to have been largely supplanted by email lists, which can deliver news faster and generate immediate discussion.]
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David Medlen, Perth, W.A. 19 May 2009
I was very interested to read your article in Mumblings from Munchkinland 26 on Rosemary Simmons and the Femme Fan Group. I have recommended the article to a number of people. I am still maintaining an interest in Norma K. Hemming and was interested to read in your article that she was published in Scansion. Local holdings of Scansion at Murdoch University are very limited and none had articles by Norma Hemming. Do you by any chance have any details of which issues she was in? I am aware that Scansion had a rotating editorial system and she may have been in the editing roster. At UWA we are trying to make a complete collection of Norma Hemming material.
One other note on the article is that Miss Norma Williams was also a published science fiction author under the pseudonym Veronica Welwood, eg. ‘Last Journey’ (1954) and ‘The Wilder Talents’ (1956), both in Authentic Science Fiction (nos. 48 and 70 respectively).
[Thanks for this, David. I’m afraid mention of Hemming in Scansion was probably a goof on my part -- I think I meant to write Forerunner. But I haven’t seen a full run of Scansion either...]
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Sheryl Birkhead, Gaithersburg, Md. 19 August, 2009
There is no mistaking a Brad Foster cover...reminds me of a t-shirt illo I did once upon a time. That guy does some nice stuff. And who would not give an awe-filled nod to Edd Cartier’s work?
This year is the first year I missed out on voting for both TAFF and DUFF. It feels as if I have been remiss in my fannish duties...I continue to cough up the money for site selection of the Worldcon, thus insuring I have a supporting Worldcon membership. I emailed (a while back) someone on the Aussiecon committee to see if there is anything I can do to help out. It has become rather common to never hear at all. But...at least I tried!
[I had the same experience when I emailed the DUFF administrator to get details of the vote last year -- no reply. The official page at SSFANZ still doesn’t even list the results, despite various pages pointing to it. I eventually discovered the tally on Joe Siclari’s fanac site above.
Thanks, too, for your comments on earlier issues of Mumblings, Sheryl. Alas, our space is full.]
- 18 - LAURA MOLESWORTH
Laura Molesworth passed away on Saturday 6th June, 2009. For those who didn’t already know or haven’t been reading Mumblings lately, Laura was the widow of Vol Molesworth, who wrote A History of Australian Science Fiction Fandom, 1935-1963, but she played a role in fandom in her own right.
Vol and Laura married in 1946 and she became active in the Futurian Society of Sydney soon after, serving as the club Librarian (which was her profession) for a period despite not being recognized as a full member of the Society. She assisted in the organisation of several of the earliest natcons in Sydney and was a member of "the femme fan group" that produced five issues of Vertical Horizons in the early 1950s. By the time Vol died in 1964 neither of them was very active in fandom any longer, though when Heinlein visited Australia for a second time in the late 1960s (the first having been in 1954), he met no local figures except Laura. She also attended the first Syncon in 1970, when she was interviewed about the activities of the post-war Futurian Society. When Ron Clarke reprinted Vol’s history in The Mentor in 1980, Laura wrote the preface.
Laura Molesworth was not an invisible Futurian and may not have been a fan at heart, but her contributions to fandom deserve more recognition than they have received. Though she never responded to my letters, I had hoped that one day she might, until Graham Stone rang with the news of her death. Alas! Farewell, Laura.
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Fantastic Story Quarterly (later Magazine), the model for this issue, was one of the stable- mates of Thrilling Wonder Stories in the 1950s. It was essentially a reprint magazine, using stories from the early Wonder titles with new illustrations, but it did run a few original shorts, including Gordon Dickson’s first published story. Decades after its demise, Fantastic Story was itself recycled when the Fall 1954 issue (below) featured in the film Back to the Future. (Marty McFly referred to the cover figure as Darth Vader, remember?)
Fantastic Story later reprinted material from other magazines, such as van Vogt’s ‘Slan’ from Astounding. I have, too, by borrowing the Isip illustration on the cover from a Hannes Bok story in Unknown, ‘Letter to an Invisible Woman’ -- a perfect fit for this issue. On the back cover, a ‘50s ad reminds us that all social ‘norms’ are cyclic.
Bert Castellari kindly provided Roma’s photo on p.3 and Justine, of course, permitted me to reprint her talk. Like her, I also have to thank the Special Collections staff at Fisher Library (U. Sydney) for hauling all of those pulp mags up from the basement. Gwido Zlatkes (UC at Riverside) and Hal Hall (Texas A&M University) kindly checked issues not held in the Ron Graham Collection.
Please note our change of street address before sending your loc:
Chris Nelson, 25 Fuhrman St., Evatt, ACT 2617 Australia, or [email protected]
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