DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Fantascience Digest, v. 3, issue 1, whole no. 12, January-February 1940

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Fantascience Digest, v. 3, issue 1, whole no. 12, January-February 1940

Page 20

Page 20                 FANTASCIENCE DIGEST
worlds, their loves, their hates, their twisted psychology. I still read over these yarns and admire their nice writing. But sell them? Never in a million years. The editors were delighted at them...but afraid to run them. Their large groups of juvenile readers...and we have to face the fact that a large proportion of our readers are in the ten and twelve year old brackets...would not stand for it. Thus you might write a story, say, of the slums of some great city of Mars, with an earthman gone native, drink-sodden, a derelict,....and in the story he might see an earthgril in danger, his earthblood would assert itself, he might rise to great heights, spurred on by the realization that he was a terrestrial, and save the girl at the cost of his life. Such a yarn might pack great power, be a literary gem...but it wouldn't sell. No great machines, no titanic forces,  no bizarre phenonmena...no sale.

   But don't think from the above that an s-f author's life is all gall and wormwood. Many good stories do sell, even though there are fifty standard ones for each outstanding one. And don't think we hate fan mail. We love it, even if we do get out share of brickbats. If it swells a fan's ego to pick flaws in our yarns, it swells our ego equally to prove we're right. My idea in this article is to show an author as a human being, with likes, dislikes, bills to pay, a job to be done. So the next time you decide to write to a name under a story, remember that the name is a very human being who is, as Kipling wrote, "most remarkable like you." And if you're ever in Baltimore, stop by...you'll find I'm more of a fan than a writer at all times. 
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 [underlined] A CRITIQUE OF FANTASCIENCE DIGEST
 By Alexander M. Phillips
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
   Until my recent introduction to FANTASCIENCE DIGEST, two issues of which I had the opportunity to examine, I had never seen a fan criticism of this type of magazine. On the other hand, my opinions may possibly have some value, inasmuch as my viewpoint should be a fresh one.

   The first point I inquired about was the purpose of the fan magazine---its reasons for existence. An examination of FANTASCIENCE DIGEST immediately suggests several such purposes. To list a few: The fan magazine can report news of editors, writers, fans and fan activities, and magazines in the field it covers: it can give interesting histories of those magazines; histories of fans and authors; analyses of authors' styles, and of their methods of work; discussions of the editorial policies of the magazines in which it is interested; and criticisms of both authors and magazines. It can present timely articles on subjects within its field, as the report of the moon-trip exhibit of the Fels Planetarium, by Milton A. Rothman; it can give quizzes; and it can offer considerable space for discussions of these subjects. 

   FANTASCIENCE DIGEST, in my opinion, deals excellently with this list almost in entirety. "Science Fiction Spotlight" splendidly illustrates what I think should be the core of a fan magazine---the

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Page 20 FANTASCIENCE DIGEST worlds, their loves, their hates, their twisted psychology. I still read over these yarns and admire their nice writing. But sell them? Never in a million years. The editors were delighted at them...but afraid to run them. Their large groups of juvenile readers...and we have to face the fact that a large proportion of our readers are in the ten and twelve year old brackets...would not stand for it. Thus you might write a story, say, of the slums of some great city of Mars, with an earthman gone native, drink-sodden, a derelict,....and in the story he might see an earthgril in danger, his earthblood would assert itself, he might rise to great heights, spurred on by the realization that he was a terrestrial, and save the girl at the cost of his life. Such a yarn might pack great power, be a literary gem...but it wouldn't sell. No great machines, no titanic forces, no bizarre phenonmena...no sale. But don't think from the above that an s-f author's life is all gall and wormwood. Many good stories do sell, even though there are fifty standard ones for each outstanding one. And don't think we hate fan mail. We love it, even if we do get out share of brickbats. If it swells a fan's ego to pick flaws in our yarns, it swells our ego equally to prove we're right. My idea in this article is to show an author as a human being, with likes, dislikes, bills to pay, a job to be done. So the next time you decide to write to a name under a story, remember that the name is a very human being who is, as Kipling wrote, "most remarkable like you." And if you're ever in Baltimore, stop by...you'll find I'm more of a fan than a writer at all times. *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* [underlined] A CRITIQUE OF FANTASCIENCE DIGEST By Alexander M. Phillips *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* Until my recent introduction to FANTASCIENCE DIGEST, two issues of which I had the opportunity to examine, I had never seen a fan criticism of this type of magazine. On the other hand, my opinions may possibly have some value, inasmuch as my viewpoint should be a fresh one. The first point I inquired about was the purpose of the fan magazine---its reasons for existence. An examination of FANTASCIENCE DIGEST immediately suggests several such purposes. To list a few: The fan magazine can report news of editors, writers, fans and fan activities, and magazines in the field it covers: it can give interesting histories of those magazines; histories of fans and authors; analyses of authors' styles, and of their methods of work; discussions of the editorial policies of the magazines in which it is interested; and criticisms of both authors and magazines. It can present timely articles on subjects within its field, as the report of the moon-trip exhibit of the Fels Planetarium, by Milton A. Rothman; it can give quizzes; and it can offer considerable space for discussions of these subjects. FANTASCIENCE DIGEST, in my opinion, deals excellently with this list almost in entirety. "Science Fiction Spotlight" splendidly illustrates what I think should be the core of a fan magazine---the