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Mutant, v. 2, issue 2, May 1948

Page 19

JUNE: June found van Vogt returning with a "Universe" variant titled "Centaurus II." This story, which rated a B-, concerned the difficulties of the first spaceship sent to the nearest star, and reminded one of (a) "Universe"; (b) "Methuselah's Children"; and (c) "Far Centaurus" -- the latter being van Vogt's short of some years ago which employed the same idea to better advantage. "Errand Boy" (C-) is another Tenn yarn, which could have been funny, but wasn't. You might like the R.F.Jones tale, "The Model Shop" (C-), if you can stand the time-travel device used as a deux ex machina once again. "Errand Boy" also used the gimmick, so you may be sick of it. Chan Davis' "Letter to Ellen" (D-) starts out interestingly, but the climax is fatal. Anyone with an IQ of 26 should be able to guess the payoff several pages too soon.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE

THE GREAT STF HOAX

by Ben Singer

"What," asked Havelock Wallace, "are you trying to hand me?" Havelock Wallace, as every educated person knows, is a big wheel in fandom. at the moment he was soliloquizing upon a subject dear to all stfen. "You, Luther Happ, can stand there and claim there is no atom bomb -- and try to convince me you're sane? Gahhh. Explain yourself!"

"Well, in the first place, 'way back in the spring of 1942 the US Government realized that the Commies were preparing a supreme attempt to take over the world. This they learned from one of their agents in a high post in the Russian government. Naturally, they had to figure out a way to avert a war -- after the Second World War ended. They created a vast project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, telling no one what the purpose of the installation was. The government employees didn't give the matter a second thought -- merely reclined in their swivel chairs among the Tennessee hills, firing off interoffice memos and buckslips right and left.

"Meanwhile, a Congressman, acting under direct order of the President, made a blistering speech in Congress, demanding that all employees at Oak Ridge be screened for loyalty to democratic ideals. That was all that was needed to convince the Commies that something really deadly was being cooked up for possible use against Russia. The stage was set, no one doubted the 'report' of the invention of the atomic bomb when it was finally made."

"Just a minute!" screamed Havelock. "You haven't explained how there could be films showing in movie theaters throughout the country, showing the dropping of the bomb upon Japan, and later, the Bikini tests!"
"Fakes, pure fakes," said Luther Happ, calmly. "Personally, I thought King Kong was a much better job of trick photography. The magazine and newspaper publishers had to be threatened or bribed into running 'eyewitness accounts' and that sort of thing, you understand."

"But how about the damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How about the terrible burns on the bodies of the survivors?"

"Those places were wiped out by single bombs, that is true. But

-13[[?]]-

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JUNE: June found van Vogt returning with a "Universe" variant titled "Centaurus II." This story, which rated a B-, concerned the difficulties of the first spaceship sent to the nearest star, and reminded one of (a) "Universe"; (b) "Methuselah's Children"; and (c) "Far Centaurus" -- the latter being van Vogt's short of some years ago which employed the same idea to better advantage. "Errand Boy" (C-) is another Tenn yarn, which could have been funny, but wasn't. You might like the R.F.Jones tale, "The Model Shop" (C-), if you can stand the time-travel device used as a deux ex machina once again. "Errand Boy" also used the gimmick, so you may be sick of it. Chan Davis' "Letter to Ellen" (D-) starts out interestingly, but the climax is fatal. Anyone with an IQ of 26 should be able to guess the payoff several pages too soon. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE THE GREAT STF HOAX by Ben Singer "What," asked Havelock Wallace, "are you trying to hand me?" Havelock Wallace, as every educated person knows, is a big wheel in fandom. at the moment he was soliloquizing upon a subject dear to all stfen. "You, Luther Happ, can stand there and claim there is no atom bomb -- and try to convince me you're sane? Gahhh. Explain yourself!" "Well, in the first place, 'way back in the spring of 1942 the US Government realized that the Commies were preparing a supreme attempt to take over the world. This they learned from one of their agents in a high post in the Russian government. Naturally, they had to figure out a way to avert a war -- after the Second World War ended. They created a vast project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, telling no one what the purpose of the installation was. The government employees didn't give the matter a second thought -- merely reclined in their swivel chairs among the Tennessee hills, firing off interoffice memos and buckslips right and left. "Meanwhile, a Congressman, acting under direct order of the President, made a blistering speech in Congress, demanding that all employees at Oak Ridge be screened for loyalty to democratic ideals. That was all that was needed to convince the Commies that something really deadly was being cooked up for possible use against Russia. The stage was set, no one doubted the 'report' of the invention of the atomic bomb when it was finally made." "Just a minute!" screamed Havelock. "You haven't explained how there could be films showing in movie theaters throughout the country, showing the dropping of the bomb upon Japan, and later, the Bikini tests!" "Fakes, pure fakes," said Luther Happ, calmly. "Personally, I thought King Kong was a much better job of trick photography. The magazine and newspaper publishers had to be threatened or bribed into running 'eyewitness accounts' and that sort of thing, you understand." "But how about the damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How about the terrible burns on the bodies of the survivors?" "Those places were wiped out by single bombs, that is true. But -13[[?]]-