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Scientifictionist, v. 1, issue 4, April 1946
Page 5
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POINT OF VIEW One fan's opinion..............by Lynn Bridges [text is in two columns; first column] I READ THE PULPS In the Number Two SCIENTIFICTIONIST several months ago, Francis T. Laney had a quite interesting article entitled, "Don't Be A Pulpist", with which I heartily disagreed. I've been hoping that someone would write a counter-argument, but so far have seen none, so it looks as tho I'll have to say a few words in answer myself. It's my opinion that Laney was speaking not so much as a science-fiction fan, but rather as a fantasy fan. In that case his position is understandable, for it's to be admitted that, with one exception, there has never been a worth-while fantasy magazine published in pulp form. For the best fantasy it is necessary to read books, and since the demise of UNKNOWN there has been no fantasy available whatsoever in pulp form with any merit, outside of an occasional FFM reprint. But most of the readers of this fanzine are science-fiction fans, and I'll always contend that science-fiction has long been almost entirely a type found almost nowhere save in the pulps and that the best pulp science-fiction stacks up [second column] above anything to be found in books. I can think of very few stories not published originally in pulp form which are really good science-fiction, altho there are many such fantasy stories. The [underlined] only pieces of science-fiction which I've read recently with enjoyment ans which were not originally from pulps, are two stories by William Sloane, "To Walk the Night" and "The Edge of Running Water". (That "recently" means a period of several years.) Even these two stories, altho Excellently written, had a native approach which would hardly appeal to the veteran science-fiction fan. About the [underlined] only really good science-fiction to be found other than in the pulps are the older stories written before the start of s-f magazines. And for interest and readability I'll stack an average ASTOUNDING story up against almost any of them. If Laney can name some actual examples of stories which surpass the better pulps and which are science-fiction, not fantasy, I'd like to hear about them. Until then, my science-fiction bible will continue to be ASTOUNDING. [line break] [text is in two columns; first column] SLOGANS OF THE PROZINES The efforts of various professional science-fiction magazines to identify themselves with slogans intended to be remembered by the reader, is as old as the history of the magazines themselves. Some of the results are humorous, some downright funny, and a few are even intelligent, sensible, and in rare cases, accurate. For want of something better to do, I'm going to consider a few of them. The first example was in the first issue of the first s-f magazine, AMAZING. In April 1926, this magazine called itself "The Magazine of Scientification", [second column] introducing that alphabetical monstrosity of a world long before Ackerman supposedly introduced the science of word combination. (With due respect to Elsner, I consider scientifictionist about the worst abomination ever used to denote a fan. Fan is the next worst.) This, of course, was under Gernsback. In later years, AMAZING editor T. O'Conor Sloane (who had been managing editor ever since the first issue) renounced any association with the word, and gave AMAZING the slogan "The Aristocrat of Science Fiction", evidently be- [centered] page 5
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POINT OF VIEW One fan's opinion..............by Lynn Bridges [text is in two columns; first column] I READ THE PULPS In the Number Two SCIENTIFICTIONIST several months ago, Francis T. Laney had a quite interesting article entitled, "Don't Be A Pulpist", with which I heartily disagreed. I've been hoping that someone would write a counter-argument, but so far have seen none, so it looks as tho I'll have to say a few words in answer myself. It's my opinion that Laney was speaking not so much as a science-fiction fan, but rather as a fantasy fan. In that case his position is understandable, for it's to be admitted that, with one exception, there has never been a worth-while fantasy magazine published in pulp form. For the best fantasy it is necessary to read books, and since the demise of UNKNOWN there has been no fantasy available whatsoever in pulp form with any merit, outside of an occasional FFM reprint. But most of the readers of this fanzine are science-fiction fans, and I'll always contend that science-fiction has long been almost entirely a type found almost nowhere save in the pulps and that the best pulp science-fiction stacks up [second column] above anything to be found in books. I can think of very few stories not published originally in pulp form which are really good science-fiction, altho there are many such fantasy stories. The [underlined] only pieces of science-fiction which I've read recently with enjoyment ans which were not originally from pulps, are two stories by William Sloane, "To Walk the Night" and "The Edge of Running Water". (That "recently" means a period of several years.) Even these two stories, altho Excellently written, had a native approach which would hardly appeal to the veteran science-fiction fan. About the [underlined] only really good science-fiction to be found other than in the pulps are the older stories written before the start of s-f magazines. And for interest and readability I'll stack an average ASTOUNDING story up against almost any of them. If Laney can name some actual examples of stories which surpass the better pulps and which are science-fiction, not fantasy, I'd like to hear about them. Until then, my science-fiction bible will continue to be ASTOUNDING. [line break] [text is in two columns; first column] SLOGANS OF THE PROZINES The efforts of various professional science-fiction magazines to identify themselves with slogans intended to be remembered by the reader, is as old as the history of the magazines themselves. Some of the results are humorous, some downright funny, and a few are even intelligent, sensible, and in rare cases, accurate. For want of something better to do, I'm going to consider a few of them. The first example was in the first issue of the first s-f magazine, AMAZING. In April 1926, this magazine called itself "The Magazine of Scientification", [second column] introducing that alphabetical monstrosity of a world long before Ackerman supposedly introduced the science of word combination. (With due respect to Elsner, I consider scientifictionist about the worst abomination ever used to denote a fan. Fan is the next worst.) This, of course, was under Gernsback. In later years, AMAZING editor T. O'Conor Sloane (who had been managing editor ever since the first issue) renounced any association with the word, and gave AMAZING the slogan "The Aristocrat of Science Fiction", evidently be- [centered] page 5
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