DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Fanfare, whole no. 10, December 1943

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Fanfare, whole no. 10, December 1943

Page 37

37
   Alicia turned to the jury. "Don't let him!" she pleaded. "You are editors. You can stop him! Oh, don't let him!"
   The Octopus laughed. It was the Shadow's laugh. "Too late!" that mad mind echoed in hers. "They are not what you think. They too are part of me! In 1929 I struck the blow that destroyed science fiction & dissolved it in the murky flood of hackwritten nitemare. There is no more genius. There are no more classics.
   "Gernsback is dead!"
   The silence grew terrible. All--all was lost. Gernsback, Sloane, Bates, Wright - robots reigned in their stead, creatures of the Octopus - of the Plot Genie!* The sobbing of the multitude sounded in her ears like the dinning drums of The Metal Doom. like the thunderous monotone of Tapajos - & above its sombre surge cackle the mocking laughter of the Fiend of Fiends.
   Like an echo of Poe came the grating of stone on stone. In the floor at her feet a ponderous slab of marble was tilting up. A head pushed from beneath it--white bearded--like a preincarnation of Sloane. After it crowded score on score of pressing bodies, wraithlike & vaporous, until the hall was filled with a swaying, coiling fog of them. Rank on rank they stood there, confronting the vampire host. 
   "Almost Immortal!" breathed Alicia. "Austin Hall has passed thru the Blind Spot & brot them to save fantasy. & Jules Verne leads them!"
   She tore the telepathic helmet from her heard. Standing in the witness chair, she cheered loud & long. She saw the phantasmal bodies thickening, materializing, & grappling with the automatons of Evil. Shrieking, she sprang at the Octopus. A burst of blinding flame hid his leering face. She felt herself falling - falling. Then came a stabbing pain & all dissolved in a blaze of lite. 
   Alicia opened her eyes gingerly. She was sprawled on the porch floor under an overturned hammock. A battered first edition of "Alicia in Blunderland" was digging into her Antipodes. 
   She climbed stiffly to her feet. So it was all a Freudian nitemare.
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* A cardboard wheel-&-slot device used by hack authors.

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37 Alicia turned to the jury. "Don't let him!" she pleaded. "You are editors. You can stop him! Oh, don't let him!" The Octopus laughed. It was the Shadow's laugh. "Too late!" that mad mind echoed in hers. "They are not what you think. They too are part of me! In 1929 I struck the blow that destroyed science fiction & dissolved it in the murky flood of hackwritten nitemare. There is no more genius. There are no more classics. "Gernsback is dead!" The silence grew terrible. All--all was lost. Gernsback, Sloane, Bates, Wright - robots reigned in their stead, creatures of the Octopus - of the Plot Genie!* The sobbing of the multitude sounded in her ears like the dinning drums of The Metal Doom. like the thunderous monotone of Tapajos - & above its sombre surge cackle the mocking laughter of the Fiend of Fiends. Like an echo of Poe came the grating of stone on stone. In the floor at her feet a ponderous slab of marble was tilting up. A head pushed from beneath it--white bearded--like a preincarnation of Sloane. After it crowded score on score of pressing bodies, wraithlike & vaporous, until the hall was filled with a swaying, coiling fog of them. Rank on rank they stood there, confronting the vampire host. "Almost Immortal!" breathed Alicia. "Austin Hall has passed thru the Blind Spot & brot them to save fantasy. & Jules Verne leads them!" She tore the telepathic helmet from her heard. Standing in the witness chair, she cheered loud & long. She saw the phantasmal bodies thickening, materializing, & grappling with the automatons of Evil. Shrieking, she sprang at the Octopus. A burst of blinding flame hid his leering face. She felt herself falling - falling. Then came a stabbing pain & all dissolved in a blaze of lite. Alicia opened her eyes gingerly. She was sprawled on the porch floor under an overturned hammock. A battered first edition of "Alicia in Blunderland" was digging into her Antipodes. She climbed stiffly to her feet. So it was all a Freudian nitemare. ____________________________________ * A cardboard wheel-&-slot device used by hack authors.