Transcribe
Translate
Horizons, v. 2, issue 4, June 1941
Page 10
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
10 HORIZONS and have gone through some others, like Creep, Shadow, and People of the Pit, but once. If a story is good, we usually like it better on its second reading. All which was said about Merritt's stereotyped means of work a few pages back applies here. Nevertheless, it's a fine yarn, and a few parts of it -- the scenes in the Cavern of the Lost Wisdom, in particular -- are great. Too, we think the Snake Mother's scene on pages 70 and thereabouts is Merritt's very best piece of writing, not even surpassed in Ship of Ishtar or Three Lines of Old French. WHO WANTS A GREEN BOTTLE: 4. We still dislike dialect stories, but it wasn't too overdone here. We think it's the best more or less standardized weird story which Miss Gnaedinger has published. However, Bok's drawing was hardly what you would expect, in a story like this. Pace, Bradbury! To A. Merritt: Song of Nimir: 4. This is Doc's best published work, and seems very close to getting a 5. If we were rating between 1 and 10, we'd hesitate a long while between giving it a 6 and 9. We think good writing in a strong rhythm like this is far better than bad writing in some subtle style of free verse. The editorial is dreadfully apologetic-sounding, and the letters are just about the same as they usually are. Imagine, someone pleading for Furley's Radio Gun-Runners! Stories in order: Snake Mother and Who Wants a Green Bottle? Famous Fantastic Mysteries: Dec., 1940. Cover; 3. Sudden thought: do pro editors ever reject submitted covers? We sometimes wonder, when some poor one is presented after a long succession of fine ones. THE SUN-MAKERS: 3. There seemed to be a dreadfully big amount of fuss made over this story, and a lot of ballyhooing, for something so ordinary. Probably it was an attempt to appeal to readers who like nice expected things to happen and characters even more naïve than themselves. We never remember anyone mentioning this as a classic. If it were of older date, some of the primitiveness might be excusable. But it's so comparatively recent that there's little to do but call it the w. k. dud. THE OTHER MAN'S BLOOD: 4. Yes, we admit we liked one by Cummings, for a change. It seemed a bit over-elaborated, true, and all that sort of stuff, and the idea of calling characters The Alienist, the Banker and so on seems like a pretty sophomoric type of effectively writing. THE SLEEP OF AGES: 3. We remember absolutely nothing of it, and possibly we didn't read it. The rating must be considered as tentative, but the illustration can't be denied as some of Virgil's most beautiful work. The Woman of Ioe: 3. It isn't up to the level of RWL's To A. Merritt series. The Devil's Bodyguard: 3. Not so. It was written especially for FFM, but that hardly meant Miss Gnaedinger had to buy it. The autobiography of Will McMerrow (no, we don't know why we capitalized his name) can not be complained about. The letter section was all right too, we suppose. The stories in order would be The Other Man's Blood, The Sea-Makers, and The Sleep of Ages, pending another reading of Sleep of Ages. …………………………………………………… So, summing everything up, we feel quite sure that Miss Gnaedinger has done satisfactory work. But we feel just as certain that they could be improved, not a little. There is absolutely no excuse for the constant changes of format. True, consistency may be a deadly sin and all that. But such eternal shifting about is just as bad as the way fan magazines seldom come out with two similar consecutive issues. Famous Fantastic Mysteries published eight issues during the year. The cover design was dropped after two; the first four were monthly and the last four bi-monthly; the price of the last two was a nickel less; there was no stability in type face; two issues had fewer pages than the others; editorial was sometimes there and sometimes not. The changes with Fantastic Novels were about the same: it was originally announced to sell for a quarter, then 20c and later dropped to a dime. Some issues have even margins, some haven't. In 1941 so far, it's been about as bad. In short, there ought to be some stabilizing present. Change must be bad, but eventually not in such great quantity. With no expense for stories, it would seem that slight rises and falls in circulation should not force changes each issue. And above all, no more sequels two years after the original story!
Saving...
prev
next
10 HORIZONS and have gone through some others, like Creep, Shadow, and People of the Pit, but once. If a story is good, we usually like it better on its second reading. All which was said about Merritt's stereotyped means of work a few pages back applies here. Nevertheless, it's a fine yarn, and a few parts of it -- the scenes in the Cavern of the Lost Wisdom, in particular -- are great. Too, we think the Snake Mother's scene on pages 70 and thereabouts is Merritt's very best piece of writing, not even surpassed in Ship of Ishtar or Three Lines of Old French. WHO WANTS A GREEN BOTTLE: 4. We still dislike dialect stories, but it wasn't too overdone here. We think it's the best more or less standardized weird story which Miss Gnaedinger has published. However, Bok's drawing was hardly what you would expect, in a story like this. Pace, Bradbury! To A. Merritt: Song of Nimir: 4. This is Doc's best published work, and seems very close to getting a 5. If we were rating between 1 and 10, we'd hesitate a long while between giving it a 6 and 9. We think good writing in a strong rhythm like this is far better than bad writing in some subtle style of free verse. The editorial is dreadfully apologetic-sounding, and the letters are just about the same as they usually are. Imagine, someone pleading for Furley's Radio Gun-Runners! Stories in order: Snake Mother and Who Wants a Green Bottle? Famous Fantastic Mysteries: Dec., 1940. Cover; 3. Sudden thought: do pro editors ever reject submitted covers? We sometimes wonder, when some poor one is presented after a long succession of fine ones. THE SUN-MAKERS: 3. There seemed to be a dreadfully big amount of fuss made over this story, and a lot of ballyhooing, for something so ordinary. Probably it was an attempt to appeal to readers who like nice expected things to happen and characters even more naïve than themselves. We never remember anyone mentioning this as a classic. If it were of older date, some of the primitiveness might be excusable. But it's so comparatively recent that there's little to do but call it the w. k. dud. THE OTHER MAN'S BLOOD: 4. Yes, we admit we liked one by Cummings, for a change. It seemed a bit over-elaborated, true, and all that sort of stuff, and the idea of calling characters The Alienist, the Banker and so on seems like a pretty sophomoric type of effectively writing. THE SLEEP OF AGES: 3. We remember absolutely nothing of it, and possibly we didn't read it. The rating must be considered as tentative, but the illustration can't be denied as some of Virgil's most beautiful work. The Woman of Ioe: 3. It isn't up to the level of RWL's To A. Merritt series. The Devil's Bodyguard: 3. Not so. It was written especially for FFM, but that hardly meant Miss Gnaedinger had to buy it. The autobiography of Will McMerrow (no, we don't know why we capitalized his name) can not be complained about. The letter section was all right too, we suppose. The stories in order would be The Other Man's Blood, The Sea-Makers, and The Sleep of Ages, pending another reading of Sleep of Ages. …………………………………………………… So, summing everything up, we feel quite sure that Miss Gnaedinger has done satisfactory work. But we feel just as certain that they could be improved, not a little. There is absolutely no excuse for the constant changes of format. True, consistency may be a deadly sin and all that. But such eternal shifting about is just as bad as the way fan magazines seldom come out with two similar consecutive issues. Famous Fantastic Mysteries published eight issues during the year. The cover design was dropped after two; the first four were monthly and the last four bi-monthly; the price of the last two was a nickel less; there was no stability in type face; two issues had fewer pages than the others; editorial was sometimes there and sometimes not. The changes with Fantastic Novels were about the same: it was originally announced to sell for a quarter, then 20c and later dropped to a dime. Some issues have even margins, some haven't. In 1941 so far, it's been about as bad. In short, there ought to be some stabilizing present. Change must be bad, but eventually not in such great quantity. With no expense for stories, it would seem that slight rises and falls in circulation should not force changes each issue. And above all, no more sequels two years after the original story!
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
