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Fantascience Digest, v. 2, issue 3, March-April 1939
Page 9
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FANTASCIENCE DIGEST Page 9 "AN ARISTOCRAT ABDICATES" By Harry Warner, Jr. There have been in the past, and are at present, something like a dozen magazines, here and abroad, devoted to science fiction and fantasy in its various shapes and forms. Only a few of these, at the present writing, can be said to have any history or tradition or past at all, as most are relatively new publications. In fact, of all the magazines of a fantastic nature today, only THRILLING WONDER STORIES, AMAZING STORIES? and ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION (nee STORIES) can be said to possess any kind of pedigree. (I am purposely not counting weird fiction magazines in this article.) Of the history of these three magazines, that of AMAZING STORIES is by far the most interesting---and in ways, the most woeful. AMAZING STORIES was the first magazine to appear, devoted entirely to science fiction. under the guiding hand of Hugo Gernsback, it was not long before it became one of the finest---[[underline]]the[[end underline]] finest?--- magazines ever published. But in two or three years trouble developed: AMAZING was sold, and, after a few months' reign of some obscure gentleman as editor, whose name is now almost forgotten, the magazine came under the wing of T. O'Conor Sloane. Mr. Sloane was, in many ways, the most interesting editor to ever be on the staff of a stf. magazine. To begin with, he was ver very old when he took over the post---in his late seventies---and as he held the job for almost ten years, he was a very old man when he finally lost control. Stf. is generally recognized to be a field for very young men; no editor today is even middle-aged. Therefore, it is all the more remarkable that Sloane could edit the magazine with the success he did. He had his critics---and plenty of them-- but despite this, he was editor longer than any other editor in stf.'s history. Not a bad record. But the years told on Mr. Sloane. Especially during 1936, '37, and the first months of '38. AMAZING began a slow and steady degradation. Not that there was anything utterly wrong with the magazine. No, not that. To all appearances it was almost precisely the same as years back, with the exception of its size and rate of appearance. But one thing was lacking: progress. The magazine stood still. During these 2 1/2 years not one single change of any kind was made in the magazine. Morey had absolute control over the art (or what passed for art). The price, format, and departments remained the same. Even the letters in "Discussions" began to take on a uniform appearance! There was only one change at all noticeable; and that only to the experienced fan: the stories published were becoming out of date. We know why this was, to a great extent: Editor Sloane would delay acceptance of a story for months, often as long as a year, and then again delay publication of the stories for years longer. Remember: [[underline]]200[[end underline]] accepted stories were int he files of AMAZING when Ziff-Davis took over. Unfortunately for the writers, not paid for. Details of the sale of the magazine are well enough known to all fans; there is no need of repetition. But there is one angle [[underline]]not[[end underline]] well-known--if at all. Namely, that there was another issue un-
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FANTASCIENCE DIGEST Page 9 "AN ARISTOCRAT ABDICATES" By Harry Warner, Jr. There have been in the past, and are at present, something like a dozen magazines, here and abroad, devoted to science fiction and fantasy in its various shapes and forms. Only a few of these, at the present writing, can be said to have any history or tradition or past at all, as most are relatively new publications. In fact, of all the magazines of a fantastic nature today, only THRILLING WONDER STORIES, AMAZING STORIES? and ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION (nee STORIES) can be said to possess any kind of pedigree. (I am purposely not counting weird fiction magazines in this article.) Of the history of these three magazines, that of AMAZING STORIES is by far the most interesting---and in ways, the most woeful. AMAZING STORIES was the first magazine to appear, devoted entirely to science fiction. under the guiding hand of Hugo Gernsback, it was not long before it became one of the finest---[[underline]]the[[end underline]] finest?--- magazines ever published. But in two or three years trouble developed: AMAZING was sold, and, after a few months' reign of some obscure gentleman as editor, whose name is now almost forgotten, the magazine came under the wing of T. O'Conor Sloane. Mr. Sloane was, in many ways, the most interesting editor to ever be on the staff of a stf. magazine. To begin with, he was ver very old when he took over the post---in his late seventies---and as he held the job for almost ten years, he was a very old man when he finally lost control. Stf. is generally recognized to be a field for very young men; no editor today is even middle-aged. Therefore, it is all the more remarkable that Sloane could edit the magazine with the success he did. He had his critics---and plenty of them-- but despite this, he was editor longer than any other editor in stf.'s history. Not a bad record. But the years told on Mr. Sloane. Especially during 1936, '37, and the first months of '38. AMAZING began a slow and steady degradation. Not that there was anything utterly wrong with the magazine. No, not that. To all appearances it was almost precisely the same as years back, with the exception of its size and rate of appearance. But one thing was lacking: progress. The magazine stood still. During these 2 1/2 years not one single change of any kind was made in the magazine. Morey had absolute control over the art (or what passed for art). The price, format, and departments remained the same. Even the letters in "Discussions" began to take on a uniform appearance! There was only one change at all noticeable; and that only to the experienced fan: the stories published were becoming out of date. We know why this was, to a great extent: Editor Sloane would delay acceptance of a story for months, often as long as a year, and then again delay publication of the stories for years longer. Remember: [[underline]]200[[end underline]] accepted stories were int he files of AMAZING when Ziff-Davis took over. Unfortunately for the writers, not paid for. Details of the sale of the magazine are well enough known to all fans; there is no need of repetition. But there is one angle [[underline]]not[[end underline]] well-known--if at all. Namely, that there was another issue un-
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