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Acolyte, v. 2, issue 4, whole no. 8, Fall 1944
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FANTASY FORUM THE READERS ---ooOoo--- RITA BARR, Texas poet, speaks of books and horses: Thanks loads for the plug on Three Prophets on Pegasus (Rita's forthcoming book) and me. I cannot for the life of me imagine myself as a prophet--and the last time I was on horseback (at a Dude Ranch at Bandera last summer) the horse was about nine feet tall, and he didn't run straight along in the usual fashion--just BOUNCED up and down, like this - - - - - - ! AND the MEMORY was most PAINFUL! I couldn't, hard as I tried, stand up high enough out of the saddle to avoid him, and he certainly was not a GENTLEMAN by any standard. ---ooOoo--- WINFIELD T. SCOTT, Literary Editor of The Providence Journal, adds to the HPL Bibliography: The following I feel quite sure, is a complete list of the Lovecraft poems first published in the Journal. At that time we had what was called a Wednesday Page: it was a page of verse, articles, odds and ends more or less literary and more or less from local or nearby talent; it paid for material - or, in other words, constituted genuine publication and not reprinting. "The Messenger" did not appear on the Wednesday Page, where all the others appeared. It was a contribution to B.K. Hart's "Sideshow" column, and was in answer to BKH's printed threat to send a local ha'nt to HPL's doorstep at 3 a.m. The Messenger Providence Journal December 3, 1929 Brick Row " " January 8, 1930 Nostalgia " " March 12, 1930 Night Gaunts " " March 26, 1930 Background " " April 16, 1930 The Dweller " " May 7, 1930 The Well " " May 14, 1930 ---ooOoo--- JOHN HOLLIS MASON, fan and beginning writer, holds forth from Toronto: Ron Conium (Toronto collector...ftl) and I were discussing The New Adam last night and in the course of the conversation he made the remark: "Your penchant is for stories heavy on the dramatic". That got me wondering about something that's been a source of puzzlement to me for years. I've found that stories I really go overboard on are in many cases stories that a lot of fans don't seem to be at all interested in. A story that I thought, and still do think, to be one of the greatest things the mags have produced in the horror line, "Hell Is Forever", got scarcely any commendation at all. People around here, and particularly people who like Lovecraft, don't think much of it. Whatever the reason for it, the lack of enthusiasm I found for this story was surprising. The only explanation, I suggest, is that a lot of stf and fantasy readers don't seem to care whether or not a story is dramatically powerful. It would be hard to determine just how big this proportion is; I'll never believe that it embraces most of the readers because it's well nigh impossible to tell just what most of them do think and I'm not willing to accept Wollheim's contention that the fans represent nearly all points of view. Another story of intense dramatic power is Asimov's "Nightfall"; tops with me but ignored by the fans, though it did receive a little bit more commendation that "Hell". "Asylum", also powerful, hit the spot with quite a few, it appears; but two of van Vogt's others, "Cooperate or Else" and "Repetition" (one of his favorites!) suffered the same fate, apparently, as "Hell". And both these stories are -- 27 --
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FANTASY FORUM THE READERS ---ooOoo--- RITA BARR, Texas poet, speaks of books and horses: Thanks loads for the plug on Three Prophets on Pegasus (Rita's forthcoming book) and me. I cannot for the life of me imagine myself as a prophet--and the last time I was on horseback (at a Dude Ranch at Bandera last summer) the horse was about nine feet tall, and he didn't run straight along in the usual fashion--just BOUNCED up and down, like this - - - - - - ! AND the MEMORY was most PAINFUL! I couldn't, hard as I tried, stand up high enough out of the saddle to avoid him, and he certainly was not a GENTLEMAN by any standard. ---ooOoo--- WINFIELD T. SCOTT, Literary Editor of The Providence Journal, adds to the HPL Bibliography: The following I feel quite sure, is a complete list of the Lovecraft poems first published in the Journal. At that time we had what was called a Wednesday Page: it was a page of verse, articles, odds and ends more or less literary and more or less from local or nearby talent; it paid for material - or, in other words, constituted genuine publication and not reprinting. "The Messenger" did not appear on the Wednesday Page, where all the others appeared. It was a contribution to B.K. Hart's "Sideshow" column, and was in answer to BKH's printed threat to send a local ha'nt to HPL's doorstep at 3 a.m. The Messenger Providence Journal December 3, 1929 Brick Row " " January 8, 1930 Nostalgia " " March 12, 1930 Night Gaunts " " March 26, 1930 Background " " April 16, 1930 The Dweller " " May 7, 1930 The Well " " May 14, 1930 ---ooOoo--- JOHN HOLLIS MASON, fan and beginning writer, holds forth from Toronto: Ron Conium (Toronto collector...ftl) and I were discussing The New Adam last night and in the course of the conversation he made the remark: "Your penchant is for stories heavy on the dramatic". That got me wondering about something that's been a source of puzzlement to me for years. I've found that stories I really go overboard on are in many cases stories that a lot of fans don't seem to be at all interested in. A story that I thought, and still do think, to be one of the greatest things the mags have produced in the horror line, "Hell Is Forever", got scarcely any commendation at all. People around here, and particularly people who like Lovecraft, don't think much of it. Whatever the reason for it, the lack of enthusiasm I found for this story was surprising. The only explanation, I suggest, is that a lot of stf and fantasy readers don't seem to care whether or not a story is dramatically powerful. It would be hard to determine just how big this proportion is; I'll never believe that it embraces most of the readers because it's well nigh impossible to tell just what most of them do think and I'm not willing to accept Wollheim's contention that the fans represent nearly all points of view. Another story of intense dramatic power is Asimov's "Nightfall"; tops with me but ignored by the fans, though it did receive a little bit more commendation that "Hell". "Asylum", also powerful, hit the spot with quite a few, it appears; but two of van Vogt's others, "Cooperate or Else" and "Repetition" (one of his favorites!) suffered the same fate, apparently, as "Hell". And both these stories are -- 27 --
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