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Wavelength, v. 1, issue 2, Summer 1941
Page 4
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4 WAVELENGTH [large, cursive script] Birth of a Fan! THIS MONTH: RAYMOND VAN HOUTEN NEXT MONTH: FORRIE J. & MOROJO [line break] :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: by Raymond Van Houten [line break] -----:------:----- Read first science-fiction mag in 1930, and found out later that it was the first issue of "Astounding Stories." Received my first fan mag in 1936 as a result of a letter in the reader's department of "Astounding." It happened to be the "Planeteer", published by Jim Blish; the letter I sent him in return is one of the big laughs of fandom. Several months later came the first issue of "Tesseract" to which I immediately subscribed. I was by then hooked good and solid. Things went from bad to worse ( in more ways than one ) and when C. Hamilton Bloomer announced that he was giving up the SFAA, I jumped into the breech and took over. Published four hektoed issues of "Tesseract" and one of the "Annual" and then incorporated the SFAA into "New Fandom." Somewhere along the line began to put out a little one-page thing called "Van Houten Says" which is still limping along. If we must descend to personalities ( We must! Editor ), I was born August 26, 1919, of Holland parentage on both sides. Became interested in science at an early age. Received a high school education and was seriously considering working my way through teacher's school to become a teacher of mathematics, but for some asinine reason gave it up. Hobbies other than science fiction: roller-skating, ice-hockey and skating, chess, and I do a little baseball. Status quo: rather hard to evaluate. My ideas about science tales and, in fact, the rest of this most complicated world, are contained in the article published elsewhere in this issue of WAVELENGTH. Politics: hah! Wouldn't you like to know! Women: certainly! Have at least three on the hook at all times. Religion: an unabashed atheist, an infidel, and an unbeliever-extraordinary. The thing that bothers me most: why should people be under-fed, even starving, when we have millions of bushels of corn, wheat, rye, and other food-stuffs stored away or destroyed - "plowed under?" To my way of thinking, the conditions which make such a course necessary should be eliminated, and I [underlined] do mean [underlined] eliminated. Shhhh! Look out for the FBI! * * * * * BIRTH OF A PRO ( Continued From Page 3 ) ist of the One Best Pulpwood Editor ( Contemporary ), his wide experience had not included science fiction. Conditions were reversed, as it turned out. I was given carte blanche to do what I would with the magazines, but "Astonishing" and "Super Science" were not to be brought out by cent-a-word-minimum Popular Publications. Instead, they were put in a new group of pulps called, as you all know - [underlined] should know - "The Fictioneers, Inc." And the budget was pretty low... So I scurried around and got together a pretty good line-up of stories for the first time. Too good, maybe, because it pretty near- [centered] (Continued on P. 5)
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4 WAVELENGTH [large, cursive script] Birth of a Fan! THIS MONTH: RAYMOND VAN HOUTEN NEXT MONTH: FORRIE J. & MOROJO [line break] :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: by Raymond Van Houten [line break] -----:------:----- Read first science-fiction mag in 1930, and found out later that it was the first issue of "Astounding Stories." Received my first fan mag in 1936 as a result of a letter in the reader's department of "Astounding." It happened to be the "Planeteer", published by Jim Blish; the letter I sent him in return is one of the big laughs of fandom. Several months later came the first issue of "Tesseract" to which I immediately subscribed. I was by then hooked good and solid. Things went from bad to worse ( in more ways than one ) and when C. Hamilton Bloomer announced that he was giving up the SFAA, I jumped into the breech and took over. Published four hektoed issues of "Tesseract" and one of the "Annual" and then incorporated the SFAA into "New Fandom." Somewhere along the line began to put out a little one-page thing called "Van Houten Says" which is still limping along. If we must descend to personalities ( We must! Editor ), I was born August 26, 1919, of Holland parentage on both sides. Became interested in science at an early age. Received a high school education and was seriously considering working my way through teacher's school to become a teacher of mathematics, but for some asinine reason gave it up. Hobbies other than science fiction: roller-skating, ice-hockey and skating, chess, and I do a little baseball. Status quo: rather hard to evaluate. My ideas about science tales and, in fact, the rest of this most complicated world, are contained in the article published elsewhere in this issue of WAVELENGTH. Politics: hah! Wouldn't you like to know! Women: certainly! Have at least three on the hook at all times. Religion: an unabashed atheist, an infidel, and an unbeliever-extraordinary. The thing that bothers me most: why should people be under-fed, even starving, when we have millions of bushels of corn, wheat, rye, and other food-stuffs stored away or destroyed - "plowed under?" To my way of thinking, the conditions which make such a course necessary should be eliminated, and I [underlined] do mean [underlined] eliminated. Shhhh! Look out for the FBI! * * * * * BIRTH OF A PRO ( Continued From Page 3 ) ist of the One Best Pulpwood Editor ( Contemporary ), his wide experience had not included science fiction. Conditions were reversed, as it turned out. I was given carte blanche to do what I would with the magazines, but "Astonishing" and "Super Science" were not to be brought out by cent-a-word-minimum Popular Publications. Instead, they were put in a new group of pulps called, as you all know - [underlined] should know - "The Fictioneers, Inc." And the budget was pretty low... So I scurried around and got together a pretty good line-up of stories for the first time. Too good, maybe, because it pretty near- [centered] (Continued on P. 5)
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