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Le Zombie, v. 4, issue 10, whole no. 45, January 1942
Page 14
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14A Well, if the first ever happens, the second will probably follow, within certain limits; and when it does, it will be a sad day for fantasy and science fiction. ((8-ball is the word, chum. -- editor.)) Because, where now we find only the very best of fan-written fiction in the pros, we would then, necessarily, find some of the poorer fan fiction; and you all know how poor it can be. The alternative to that is that the number of prozines would quickly drop to one or two, publishing the cream of the fan-written stories. If the first alternative held for awhile, the sales of those magazines would certainly drop off so rapidly that the second alternative would soon follow, with one or two mags taking their pick of the best stories available. Because you know, and I know, that the average reader doesn't agree with the fan in the matter of stories. If he did, then it would follow that we fans would be the average reader -- and you know that we are not. We have some very screwy notions as to how a story should be written, from the average reader's standpoint. So, as I said above, we would soon be down to one or two mags -- rather good mags, I should say, containing such stories by fans as have appeared during the last two years in the Street & Smith, and the Fictioneers, chiefly. In other words, the fan-written stories of professional or near-professional grade. These stories, generally, are not exactly what the fans want; rather, they are the attempts of fans to write something close to what they want, and still be acceptable to editors -- which is just another way of saying stories acceptable to the average reader. Now, just how long would this condition continue if the two magazines were making money? Why, just as long as it would take ((sorry)) some publisher to contact a number of former aces in the field, and offer them the old cent-a-word rates. The professional writers would be back in the fold, in a hurray. Joe does make another point that is good, tho. He mentions the narrowness of the field. There aren't many markets for a science fiction story, so most of the pro-writers try other fields as well. But they continue in the s-f field too, because they already know how to write in that field, and because the number of authors to buck is compensatingly small. And, also, because they sell almost everything they write in the field, if they are fairly good. The matter of "slant" is important of course; but it is not true that a story slanted for one magazine can not be sold to another. To mention some extreme examples, Bond has had stories in the same style, and even involving the same characters, in Amazing and Astounding, and in Fantastic, Planet, and Weird Tales. How many fans, I wonder, noticed the connection between Williams' "The Planet of Doom" (January Amazing) and his "Dark Reality" in Comet; of the fact that the description of the ancient human in "Planet of Doom" fits exactly the cover illustration for "Dr. Destiny, Master of the Road"? There is a swell story connected with these three stories, but I'm not at liberty to spill it. Suffice to say that the cover was drawn to illustrate one of the stories, that one was written on order, in a hurry, and that the third was written after one of the other two had been rejected, only to be taken later by the rejecting mag. ((We hope you follow this, readers. We do so want to have Don's column in our future issues. Comments, please. -- editor)) So long; are your tires good? -- DBT
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14A Well, if the first ever happens, the second will probably follow, within certain limits; and when it does, it will be a sad day for fantasy and science fiction. ((8-ball is the word, chum. -- editor.)) Because, where now we find only the very best of fan-written fiction in the pros, we would then, necessarily, find some of the poorer fan fiction; and you all know how poor it can be. The alternative to that is that the number of prozines would quickly drop to one or two, publishing the cream of the fan-written stories. If the first alternative held for awhile, the sales of those magazines would certainly drop off so rapidly that the second alternative would soon follow, with one or two mags taking their pick of the best stories available. Because you know, and I know, that the average reader doesn't agree with the fan in the matter of stories. If he did, then it would follow that we fans would be the average reader -- and you know that we are not. We have some very screwy notions as to how a story should be written, from the average reader's standpoint. So, as I said above, we would soon be down to one or two mags -- rather good mags, I should say, containing such stories by fans as have appeared during the last two years in the Street & Smith, and the Fictioneers, chiefly. In other words, the fan-written stories of professional or near-professional grade. These stories, generally, are not exactly what the fans want; rather, they are the attempts of fans to write something close to what they want, and still be acceptable to editors -- which is just another way of saying stories acceptable to the average reader. Now, just how long would this condition continue if the two magazines were making money? Why, just as long as it would take ((sorry)) some publisher to contact a number of former aces in the field, and offer them the old cent-a-word rates. The professional writers would be back in the fold, in a hurray. Joe does make another point that is good, tho. He mentions the narrowness of the field. There aren't many markets for a science fiction story, so most of the pro-writers try other fields as well. But they continue in the s-f field too, because they already know how to write in that field, and because the number of authors to buck is compensatingly small. And, also, because they sell almost everything they write in the field, if they are fairly good. The matter of "slant" is important of course; but it is not true that a story slanted for one magazine can not be sold to another. To mention some extreme examples, Bond has had stories in the same style, and even involving the same characters, in Amazing and Astounding, and in Fantastic, Planet, and Weird Tales. How many fans, I wonder, noticed the connection between Williams' "The Planet of Doom" (January Amazing) and his "Dark Reality" in Comet; of the fact that the description of the ancient human in "Planet of Doom" fits exactly the cover illustration for "Dr. Destiny, Master of the Road"? There is a swell story connected with these three stories, but I'm not at liberty to spill it. Suffice to say that the cover was drawn to illustrate one of the stories, that one was written on order, in a hurry, and that the third was written after one of the other two had been rejected, only to be taken later by the rejecting mag. ((We hope you follow this, readers. We do so want to have Don's column in our future issues. Comments, please. -- editor)) So long; are your tires good? -- DBT
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