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FMS Digest, v. 1, issues 1-5, February - July 1941
v.1:no.5: Page 4
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Page 4 F M Z DIGEST SCIENCE FICTION IS THE BUNK By Julian Jarvis From CENSORED June, 1941 In recent years, there has grown up a despicable form of literature known as "Science-Fiction." it consists of stories having as their background the marvels of science in years to come. This in itself is a degenerate; science-fiction is escapist literature, in which the problems of today are shelved to make way for a dreamland of wishful thinking. Thus it is a drug; it has the same mental effects as morphia has physical. But the uses to which it has been perverted are yet more degrading. it has become a vehicle for cheap sentiment. Its adventures, under their thin veneer of science, in the form of rocket ships, ray-guns, etc., are seen to be nothing but disguised "Western Stories." Sex appears in profusion; on every cover appears a woman in a striking posture; the few clothes that she wears can only aptly be described as revealing. Demented fans, with their tongues hanging out, see these on newsstands, snatch them up, pay without waiting for the change, rush home to peruse the story depicted, and, to their great disappointment, find that the incident so vividly portrayed on the cover does not take place within. What stage these poor creatures have attained is shown by the appearance of advertisements by the Rosicrucians telling of the hidden power within you, only to be brought to the fore by paying the Rosicrusians five dollars. These advertisements appear regularly in all science fiction magazines, and the fans fill in the coupons with trembling haste. But, you will say, I am forgetting the real fans. Ah, yes. Those high, mighty, and most puissant fans, whose very name causes Ziff-Davis, and all his fellows to tremble. They form theselves into powerful cliques, able to make or break any professional magazine. They issue fan mags of their own, full of profoundly significant stories and articles. They print neat stickers to be stuck. They correspond with each other so that they can stick stickers on their letters wherever the address and stamp isn't. if they haven't enough letters to stick them upon, they stick them on their books, or even the walls. I know of one fan who decided to be different, and stick stickers on the ceiling. he can't stand up in his room now. And how much better to be a science-fiction fan than a poor scientist working in a dull laboratory! He, poor fellow, spends his life doing work of the most elementary description, whereas, if one is a fan, one can start right away by refuting Einstein. One lives centuries ahead of one's time. We poor mortals can only gaze with wonder at these Supermen supplanting us. We can never hope to attain their colossal mental poer. All we can hope for is that one day we may have the glory, the ecstacy, of sticking to a letter just one sticker. oh to be a science-fiction fan! WE DENY IT TOO! Condensed from FUTURIAN OBSERVER May 4, 1941 Fandom is all adither again. Why? Someone with a queer sense of humor circulated a pamphlet--said pamphlet being a report of the Sydney convention--the one which didn't take place. So far, most of Sydney seems to have copies. its title, by the way, was "Australian Science Fiction News Service Ltd." or something like that. 'Twas printed on both sides of a foolscap sheet and was in the words of Warwick Hockley "un undisguised satire." Naturally on receiving the pamphlet many fans went berserk, 'cos there was no such convention. The postmark made people think that maybe some guys in Melbourne were trying to put one over. We are inclined to believe Hockley and Co. had nothing to do with the affair--in other words: frame-up!
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Page 4 F M Z DIGEST SCIENCE FICTION IS THE BUNK By Julian Jarvis From CENSORED June, 1941 In recent years, there has grown up a despicable form of literature known as "Science-Fiction." it consists of stories having as their background the marvels of science in years to come. This in itself is a degenerate; science-fiction is escapist literature, in which the problems of today are shelved to make way for a dreamland of wishful thinking. Thus it is a drug; it has the same mental effects as morphia has physical. But the uses to which it has been perverted are yet more degrading. it has become a vehicle for cheap sentiment. Its adventures, under their thin veneer of science, in the form of rocket ships, ray-guns, etc., are seen to be nothing but disguised "Western Stories." Sex appears in profusion; on every cover appears a woman in a striking posture; the few clothes that she wears can only aptly be described as revealing. Demented fans, with their tongues hanging out, see these on newsstands, snatch them up, pay without waiting for the change, rush home to peruse the story depicted, and, to their great disappointment, find that the incident so vividly portrayed on the cover does not take place within. What stage these poor creatures have attained is shown by the appearance of advertisements by the Rosicrucians telling of the hidden power within you, only to be brought to the fore by paying the Rosicrusians five dollars. These advertisements appear regularly in all science fiction magazines, and the fans fill in the coupons with trembling haste. But, you will say, I am forgetting the real fans. Ah, yes. Those high, mighty, and most puissant fans, whose very name causes Ziff-Davis, and all his fellows to tremble. They form theselves into powerful cliques, able to make or break any professional magazine. They issue fan mags of their own, full of profoundly significant stories and articles. They print neat stickers to be stuck. They correspond with each other so that they can stick stickers on their letters wherever the address and stamp isn't. if they haven't enough letters to stick them upon, they stick them on their books, or even the walls. I know of one fan who decided to be different, and stick stickers on the ceiling. he can't stand up in his room now. And how much better to be a science-fiction fan than a poor scientist working in a dull laboratory! He, poor fellow, spends his life doing work of the most elementary description, whereas, if one is a fan, one can start right away by refuting Einstein. One lives centuries ahead of one's time. We poor mortals can only gaze with wonder at these Supermen supplanting us. We can never hope to attain their colossal mental poer. All we can hope for is that one day we may have the glory, the ecstacy, of sticking to a letter just one sticker. oh to be a science-fiction fan! WE DENY IT TOO! Condensed from FUTURIAN OBSERVER May 4, 1941 Fandom is all adither again. Why? Someone with a queer sense of humor circulated a pamphlet--said pamphlet being a report of the Sydney convention--the one which didn't take place. So far, most of Sydney seems to have copies. its title, by the way, was "Australian Science Fiction News Service Ltd." or something like that. 'Twas printed on both sides of a foolscap sheet and was in the words of Warwick Hockley "un undisguised satire." Naturally on receiving the pamphlet many fans went berserk, 'cos there was no such convention. The postmark made people think that maybe some guys in Melbourne were trying to put one over. We are inclined to believe Hockley and Co. had nothing to do with the affair--in other words: frame-up!
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