DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Voice of the Imagination (VOM), whole no 17, August 1941

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Voice of the Imagination (VOM), whole no 17, August 1941

Page 7

VOICE OF THE IMAGI-NATION     7

9am--the Denvention semiofficially gets under way. More & more fans apear in the Hall. All exchange handshakes, autografs, mill around the fanmag table, appraise the pix...s'no difrent from foregoing yrs. Except--the Recorder. Here, by the side of the speakers' platform, for the firstime at a fanvention a discutter is in evidence. And as Yours Sciencerely mc's, few fans excape with their voices unrecorded as all within distance of call are invited up to the mike to make comments: their reactions to recording conventions, what they think of certain fmz, etc. For a quarter anyone can get a copy of Cyclops, Shangri-LA, & have made a special Shangri-LARecord all his own with the voices of such fans as he shall select. Bob Madle has greetings made up for the Philly Fellows, Evans asks everyone to say hello to Doc Smith, Phil Bronson gets himself a disc grooved.
Adjournment for lunch, another luncheon with lots of fans. Then back to the Hall for the Official Opening. This was accomplisht very rapidly; so fast, in fact, the initial items on the agenda were reduced to past-history almost bfor I coud catch my breath, & I found myself called to the plat to introduce our Guest of Honor.
What I said in presenting Robert Anson Heinlein is a matter of record. U can order it from Doc Daugherty, if interested. I concluded by calling him the American W. Olaf Stapledon.
Mr Heinlein's "Discovery of the Future" is a matter of records. Seven of them, two-siders. He spoke for approximately one hour and a half. The topic of his talk was the trying times ahead & how in his opinion science fiction conditions the fan's mind to hang on to sanity as fantasy after fantasy becomes reality. Praps I've not put that completely properly or others obtaind a difrent interpretation of his adres; but I became sorta selfconscious & tonguetied when it occurs to me that Bob's going to be reading something I rite, he being such a semantician & all. I wonder if what I'm riting is making sense, or if it's just meaningless marks thatre coming out of the machine, meaningless noises. Guess I'll have to get a noiseless typryter!
Anyway, I was intensely imprest with "The Discovery of the Future". I felt like: Well, I've heard Wells, & now I've heard Heinlein...
Intermission about 1/2 hr for refreshments & then resumption for Q&A period conducted from the platform by Mr Heinlein. There were 4 questions, I bliev: by Bill Deutsch, Bruce Yerke, Morojo & Milty. I think the ansrs to them woud--& mayhap will. How's about it, MAR? --make an article on their own.
Something tells me we adjournd after that til the Costume Party. Boy, I must be getting old, 'cause I can't recall what hapnd tween about 5 & 8. Oh, I ate, ofcourse; but where or with whom or what fan-fun was had, I cannot remember. 'S'too bad. But I just was enjoying myself; no note-taking. I seem to grow progressively less particular about my convention reporting. Golly, after the Nycon I described everything in the minutest detail in a 1/2 doz articles. Studley & Tucker never saw fit to publish most all I rote re the Chicon (aproxly 5000 words). Guess I'm riting less this time. And ah! what a lugsury to have the contention at home next yr & read others' accounts!

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VOICE OF THE IMAGI-NATION 7 9am--the Denvention semiofficially gets under way. More & more fans apear in the Hall. All exchange handshakes, autografs, mill around the fanmag table, appraise the pix...s'no difrent from foregoing yrs. Except--the Recorder. Here, by the side of the speakers' platform, for the firstime at a fanvention a discutter is in evidence. And as Yours Sciencerely mc's, few fans excape with their voices unrecorded as all within distance of call are invited up to the mike to make comments: their reactions to recording conventions, what they think of certain fmz, etc. For a quarter anyone can get a copy of Cyclops, Shangri-LA, & have made a special Shangri-LARecord all his own with the voices of such fans as he shall select. Bob Madle has greetings made up for the Philly Fellows, Evans asks everyone to say hello to Doc Smith, Phil Bronson gets himself a disc grooved. Adjournment for lunch, another luncheon with lots of fans. Then back to the Hall for the Official Opening. This was accomplisht very rapidly; so fast, in fact, the initial items on the agenda were reduced to past-history almost bfor I coud catch my breath, & I found myself called to the plat to introduce our Guest of Honor. What I said in presenting Robert Anson Heinlein is a matter of record. U can order it from Doc Daugherty, if interested. I concluded by calling him the American W. Olaf Stapledon. Mr Heinlein's "Discovery of the Future" is a matter of records. Seven of them, two-siders. He spoke for approximately one hour and a half. The topic of his talk was the trying times ahead & how in his opinion science fiction conditions the fan's mind to hang on to sanity as fantasy after fantasy becomes reality. Praps I've not put that completely properly or others obtaind a difrent interpretation of his adres; but I became sorta selfconscious & tonguetied when it occurs to me that Bob's going to be reading something I rite, he being such a semantician & all. I wonder if what I'm riting is making sense, or if it's just meaningless marks thatre coming out of the machine, meaningless noises. Guess I'll have to get a noiseless typryter! Anyway, I was intensely imprest with "The Discovery of the Future". I felt like: Well, I've heard Wells, & now I've heard Heinlein... Intermission about 1/2 hr for refreshments & then resumption for Q&A period conducted from the platform by Mr Heinlein. There were 4 questions, I bliev: by Bill Deutsch, Bruce Yerke, Morojo & Milty. I think the ansrs to them woud--& mayhap will. How's about it, MAR? --make an article on their own. Something tells me we adjournd after that til the Costume Party. Boy, I must be getting old, 'cause I can't recall what hapnd tween about 5 & 8. Oh, I ate, ofcourse; but where or with whom or what fan-fun was had, I cannot remember. 'S'too bad. But I just was enjoying myself; no note-taking. I seem to grow progressively less particular about my convention reporting. Golly, after the Nycon I described everything in the minutest detail in a 1/2 doz articles. Studley & Tucker never saw fit to publish most all I rote re the Chicon (aproxly 5000 words). Guess I'm riting less this time. And ah! what a lugsury to have the contention at home next yr & read others' accounts!