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Acolyte, vol 1, issue 3, whole 3, Spring 1943
Page 18
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WITHIN THE CIRCLE by Franklin Lee Baldwin -oOo- On February 13, 1934 Howard Phillips Lovecraft wrote: "....but I think Hitler is a very inferior copy--led astray by romantic conceptions and pseudo-science....In general, I think any nation ought to keep close to its original dominant race-stock--remaining largely Nordic if it started that way; largely Latin if it started that way, and so on. Only in this manner can comfortable cultural homogeneity and continuity be secured. But Hitler's extremes of pure racialism are absurd and grotesque." -oOo- If you know of some "budding fourteen-year -old" who has been shooting his little fan mag at you and you've suddenly decided that time is too previous for kid stuff, just hark back to the time when you were a budding fan at that same age. How thrilled you were when you received the first letter from some out-of-the-world pulp writer and how delighted when your first subscriber bestowed on you his little bit of cash and kind words of encouragement. Well here's the thing: instead of panning their mags and ribbing these youngsters for their unfamiliarity with what's good and bad, why not offer what you can in the way of advice and encouragement? Don't forget that at some time in the future their new and then mature ideas may save you from a severe sickness, one that is almost incurable. It is called: CASE-HARDENING! -oOo- Lilith Lorraine, direction of the "Avalon Poetry Shrine" in San Antonio, Texas, says: "For the last several years I have quit the science-fiction field because ediotra have begun to demand such standardization and stereotyped stuff, so full of cheap plot and diversified dog-fights, that all ideas are crowded out. As a result they appeal to a different class of people to whose tastes I do not wish to cater." -oOo- If you, a reader of stf and fantasy, are bogged down and need something to give you that mental kick, I'd recommend "No Hiding Place" by William Seabrook. In his early fifties, Seabrook the voodooist, the Arabian outlaw, the African witch-docotr, the practioner of Black Arts, the drunkard, the amazing man of the newspaper game, rakes a look at himself and finds that all through life he has been running away from something. In seeking out a hiding place he has spent time in some of the most peculiar corners of the world and amongst the strangest of people. In West Coast Africa a headsman of a tribe there remarked that he was a black man with only a white man's face--hence, he was taught all about jungle magic which later saved his wife's life when used against sorcerors in Southern France...Another of his escapes was thru drink and led to a seven month sojourn into one of the world's leading mental hospitals. When he was released he wrote a book about his stay and the many friends he made there. "No Hiding Place" is written without wasting words on moralizing. It is full of his many physical adventures and tells enough to let the reader know that he was not wanting at any time in mental excursions either. While not strictly fantasy, it tells and hits strongly at a lot of things that could be squeezed into that category, but which probably would fit better in a place of their own. In his various delvings into the less commonplace, he had an amazing experience in connection with a Chinese book on divination and -- 18 --
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WITHIN THE CIRCLE by Franklin Lee Baldwin -oOo- On February 13, 1934 Howard Phillips Lovecraft wrote: "....but I think Hitler is a very inferior copy--led astray by romantic conceptions and pseudo-science....In general, I think any nation ought to keep close to its original dominant race-stock--remaining largely Nordic if it started that way; largely Latin if it started that way, and so on. Only in this manner can comfortable cultural homogeneity and continuity be secured. But Hitler's extremes of pure racialism are absurd and grotesque." -oOo- If you know of some "budding fourteen-year -old" who has been shooting his little fan mag at you and you've suddenly decided that time is too previous for kid stuff, just hark back to the time when you were a budding fan at that same age. How thrilled you were when you received the first letter from some out-of-the-world pulp writer and how delighted when your first subscriber bestowed on you his little bit of cash and kind words of encouragement. Well here's the thing: instead of panning their mags and ribbing these youngsters for their unfamiliarity with what's good and bad, why not offer what you can in the way of advice and encouragement? Don't forget that at some time in the future their new and then mature ideas may save you from a severe sickness, one that is almost incurable. It is called: CASE-HARDENING! -oOo- Lilith Lorraine, direction of the "Avalon Poetry Shrine" in San Antonio, Texas, says: "For the last several years I have quit the science-fiction field because ediotra have begun to demand such standardization and stereotyped stuff, so full of cheap plot and diversified dog-fights, that all ideas are crowded out. As a result they appeal to a different class of people to whose tastes I do not wish to cater." -oOo- If you, a reader of stf and fantasy, are bogged down and need something to give you that mental kick, I'd recommend "No Hiding Place" by William Seabrook. In his early fifties, Seabrook the voodooist, the Arabian outlaw, the African witch-docotr, the practioner of Black Arts, the drunkard, the amazing man of the newspaper game, rakes a look at himself and finds that all through life he has been running away from something. In seeking out a hiding place he has spent time in some of the most peculiar corners of the world and amongst the strangest of people. In West Coast Africa a headsman of a tribe there remarked that he was a black man with only a white man's face--hence, he was taught all about jungle magic which later saved his wife's life when used against sorcerors in Southern France...Another of his escapes was thru drink and led to a seven month sojourn into one of the world's leading mental hospitals. When he was released he wrote a book about his stay and the many friends he made there. "No Hiding Place" is written without wasting words on moralizing. It is full of his many physical adventures and tells enough to let the reader know that he was not wanting at any time in mental excursions either. While not strictly fantasy, it tells and hits strongly at a lot of things that could be squeezed into that category, but which probably would fit better in a place of their own. In his various delvings into the less commonplace, he had an amazing experience in connection with a Chinese book on divination and -- 18 --
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