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Scientifictionist, issue 2, after 1945

Page 18

//A Tirade Pro Laney//

So you disagree with Laney. Personally I think fans make too much distinction between stf and fantasy or weird. Merritt's MOON POOL, SHIP OF ISHTAR, DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE and FACE IN THE ABYSS should not be neglected by fans merely because someone says "Oh, they're fantasy and I'm a pure stfist." My reply to him is, "Pardon me bud, but you're crazy."

With most weird stories I can see and understand the distinction. A weird tale tampers with supernatural forces and ancient hoodoos (witness any current issue of Weird Tales) but a fantasy is essentially the same as a scientifiction yarn. Merely because the story doesn't get mixed up with a lot of extraterrestrial beings and the leading man doesn't vacation on Mars, it isn't logical to relegate it to the junk heap. The Merrittales that I mentioned are as fine a combination of scientifantasy writing as you'll ever see. So, "outside of Wells and Stapledon there are no books wothwhile." You are wrong. ERBurroughs has turned out some fine books. Many fen ignore these books because so many people that haven't given Burroughs a chance condemn him. His LAND THAT TIME FORGOT is a book more than worthwhile reading. Others? SURE! At book dealers today there are available anthologies of fantasy and scientifiction. What's wrong with Stong's THE OTHER WORLDS, or PAUSE TO WONDER, or even THE MOONLIGHT TRAVELER? [Plenty -- see DAW's comments on anent anthologies & Stong's in particular in the fourth ish of STIRRING SCIENCE -- ed.]

Wright's DELUGE, DONOVAN'S BRAIN by Sidomak, and Cabell's JURGEN and THE SILVER STALLION aren't too hard to find. One of the greatest classics of our time is a Utopian story, James Hilton's famed LOST HORIZON. So what if you saw the picture; read the book. It's much better than the movie, believe me.

Those books I've mentioned are only a few; there are many others if fans will just give a few of "those fantasy stories" a chance. C'mon fen, rally around FTL (and me too). What's your side in this argument? I do agree prozines have their place in our reading world; it's fun to stop and read a few between books, but a steady diet! Naw. Take a look around, invest in a book here and there...if you've never read Merritt DO SO! His books are available in cheap 25c editions -- what more could you wish? Leave the mags alone for a month or two. You'll never return to solid magazine reading again. -- Sandy Kadet, 7100 South Shore Drive, Chicago 49, Ill.

//Some all-inclusive comments//

FIRST IMPRESSION OF STF didn't impress yours truly overmuch. As for ASTOUNDING pulling away from the action school of stf writing -- will, I dunno. If you'll look thru any recent issue of ASF, methinks you'll find a good deal of action-adventure material represented. Of course, ASF caters to a specialized field -- mainly consisting of scientists taking a sort of busman's holiday, and lots of other people who have an interest in the technical side of things. Many newsdealers classify Campbell's mag among such periodicals as POPULAR SCIENCE and MECHANICS and such stuff...And it's been proven quite conclusively (by the old Gernsback mags and others) that any editor who can convince his readers that stf if "the forerunner of scientific actuality" is bound to make money, or at the very least show a reasonably good profit. Even RAP seems to be taking note of this fact of late -- though he is, admittedly, going about it in a very different way!

Laney is a blamed good fanzine article writer, and DON'T BE A PULPIST proved interesting. This article should inspire some good controversy. 

SCIENTIFICTION COMMENTARY inspired a mild bit of wonder. How the blue blazes does this thing earn itself the title of SCIENTIFICTION?? The views on the whole, and the manner of presentation, seem reminiscent of Michel's babblings -- Michel, however, is at least a forceful writer, and though nine times out of ten he may not understand his own theories, he can at least make them reasonable readable. This can hardly be said of Mr. Bertram. Enough to say that this sort of thing has no place in a stf fanzine, and least of all in one

(Continued bottom of page 20)

page 18

Saving...

//A Tirade Pro Laney// So you disagree with Laney. Personally I think fans make too much distinction between stf and fantasy or weird. Merritt's MOON POOL, SHIP OF ISHTAR, DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE and FACE IN THE ABYSS should not be neglected by fans merely because someone says "Oh, they're fantasy and I'm a pure stfist." My reply to him is, "Pardon me bud, but you're crazy." With most weird stories I can see and understand the distinction. A weird tale tampers with supernatural forces and ancient hoodoos (witness any current issue of Weird Tales) but a fantasy is essentially the same as a scientifiction yarn. Merely because the story doesn't get mixed up with a lot of extraterrestrial beings and the leading man doesn't vacation on Mars, it isn't logical to relegate it to the junk heap. The Merrittales that I mentioned are as fine a combination of scientifantasy writing as you'll ever see. So, "outside of Wells and Stapledon there are no books wothwhile." You are wrong. ERBurroughs has turned out some fine books. Many fen ignore these books because so many people that haven't given Burroughs a chance condemn him. His LAND THAT TIME FORGOT is a book more than worthwhile reading. Others? SURE! At book dealers today there are available anthologies of fantasy and scientifiction. What's wrong with Stong's THE OTHER WORLDS, or PAUSE TO WONDER, or even THE MOONLIGHT TRAVELER? [Plenty -- see DAW's comments on anent anthologies & Stong's in particular in the fourth ish of STIRRING SCIENCE -- ed.] Wright's DELUGE, DONOVAN'S BRAIN by Sidomak, and Cabell's JURGEN and THE SILVER STALLION aren't too hard to find. One of the greatest classics of our time is a Utopian story, James Hilton's famed LOST HORIZON. So what if you saw the picture; read the book. It's much better than the movie, believe me. Those books I've mentioned are only a few; there are many others if fans will just give a few of "those fantasy stories" a chance. C'mon fen, rally around FTL (and me too). What's your side in this argument? I do agree prozines have their place in our reading world; it's fun to stop and read a few between books, but a steady diet! Naw. Take a look around, invest in a book here and there...if you've never read Merritt DO SO! His books are available in cheap 25c editions -- what more could you wish? Leave the mags alone for a month or two. You'll never return to solid magazine reading again. -- Sandy Kadet, 7100 South Shore Drive, Chicago 49, Ill. //Some all-inclusive comments// FIRST IMPRESSION OF STF didn't impress yours truly overmuch. As for ASTOUNDING pulling away from the action school of stf writing -- will, I dunno. If you'll look thru any recent issue of ASF, methinks you'll find a good deal of action-adventure material represented. Of course, ASF caters to a specialized field -- mainly consisting of scientists taking a sort of busman's holiday, and lots of other people who have an interest in the technical side of things. Many newsdealers classify Campbell's mag among such periodicals as POPULAR SCIENCE and MECHANICS and such stuff...And it's been proven quite conclusively (by the old Gernsback mags and others) that any editor who can convince his readers that stf if "the forerunner of scientific actuality" is bound to make money, or at the very least show a reasonably good profit. Even RAP seems to be taking note of this fact of late -- though he is, admittedly, going about it in a very different way! Laney is a blamed good fanzine article writer, and DON'T BE A PULPIST proved interesting. This article should inspire some good controversy. SCIENTIFICTION COMMENTARY inspired a mild bit of wonder. How the blue blazes does this thing earn itself the title of SCIENTIFICTION?? The views on the whole, and the manner of presentation, seem reminiscent of Michel's babblings -- Michel, however, is at least a forceful writer, and though nine times out of ten he may not understand his own theories, he can at least make them reasonable readable. This can hardly be said of Mr. Bertram. Enough to say that this sort of thing has no place in a stf fanzine, and least of all in one (Continued bottom of page 20) page 18