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Spacewarp, v. 5, issue 2, whole no. 26, May 1949

Page 16

seen. Fan sentiment seems to be on your side, so we'll not quarrel over this title.

Away and Beyond, the van Vogt collection, is another story -- or more accurately, several of them, very few of them outstanding. Definitely there is a need for a book comprising van Vogt's shorter works, but I'll be damned if at least three of the titles you announce for inclusion deserve anything but the passed-over-in-silence treatment whenever Mr. van Vogt's works are discussed. "The Harmonizer" and "Film Library" received the peculiar distinction of rating 5th out of six stories in the Astounding issues in which they appeared. Deprecate the Analytical Laboratory ratings if you choose, but remember that Van's better tales rated much higher than that, usually hitting the top. For the life of me, I cannot imagine any reason whatsoever for the inclusion of "Secret Unattainable". This was a potboiler van Vogt wrote about Pearl Harbor time, and describes Hitler's defeat by means of a mad scientist's super-scientific time machine. I feel it an effrontery to the U.S. Army and its allies -- who really did defeat Hitler -- to publish this fictional account of how it didn't happen.

I admire your description of A Hornbook for Witches, Mr. D. Your use of the word "verse" instead of "poetry" in both places where you mention possible admirers of this collection of Leah Bodine Drake's verse, suggests that you do not lack a sense of values in this particular instance. I incline to doubt if there are any discriminating lovers of fantastic poetry who would recognize A Hornbook for Witches as anything less than a ludicrous example of the lowbrow taste of fantasy aficionados.

The collections from the works of E. Hoffman Price, Arthur J. Burks and Robert Bloch strike me as ill-considered. Except for Bloch, these authors rate very low indeed among fantasy writers, and while there's some good stuff there, particularly in Bloch's book, most of these stories do not rate hard cover presentation.

Clark Ashton Smith is an author I fail to dig: his stories seem to me pointless and boring. Since The Abomination of Yondo is his fourth Arkham House collection, I rather imagine you're scraping the barrel merely to placate Smith fans. Even though "The Voyage of King Euvoran" is my favorite CA Smith yarn (or more strictly, the story I disliked least), I hold no illusions about the other stories. Most of them are obscure, from obscure sources -- and deserve their obscurity. It'll have to be a mighty rabid Smith fan who can find anything deserving of book presentation in "The Devotee of Evil".

You know, Auggie, I laugh every time I see a new collection of your stories announced. You see, I remember what you wrote in the foreword to Someone in the Dark: "...I have never taken the time to write a really first-rate ghost story; indeed, out of some 200, less than a score stand up under a second reading...These 16 stories are all, out of those 200 and more I have written, which can possibly be read twice..." Lonesome Places if your fourth

[Illustation of a scantily clad woman holding a sword.]

16

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seen. Fan sentiment seems to be on your side, so we'll not quarrel over this title. Away and Beyond, the van Vogt collection, is another story -- or more accurately, several of them, very few of them outstanding. Definitely there is a need for a book comprising van Vogt's shorter works, but I'll be damned if at least three of the titles you announce for inclusion deserve anything but the passed-over-in-silence treatment whenever Mr. van Vogt's works are discussed. "The Harmonizer" and "Film Library" received the peculiar distinction of rating 5th out of six stories in the Astounding issues in which they appeared. Deprecate the Analytical Laboratory ratings if you choose, but remember that Van's better tales rated much higher than that, usually hitting the top. For the life of me, I cannot imagine any reason whatsoever for the inclusion of "Secret Unattainable". This was a potboiler van Vogt wrote about Pearl Harbor time, and describes Hitler's defeat by means of a mad scientist's super-scientific time machine. I feel it an effrontery to the U.S. Army and its allies -- who really did defeat Hitler -- to publish this fictional account of how it didn't happen. I admire your description of A Hornbook for Witches, Mr. D. Your use of the word "verse" instead of "poetry" in both places where you mention possible admirers of this collection of Leah Bodine Drake's verse, suggests that you do not lack a sense of values in this particular instance. I incline to doubt if there are any discriminating lovers of fantastic poetry who would recognize A Hornbook for Witches as anything less than a ludicrous example of the lowbrow taste of fantasy aficionados. The collections from the works of E. Hoffman Price, Arthur J. Burks and Robert Bloch strike me as ill-considered. Except for Bloch, these authors rate very low indeed among fantasy writers, and while there's some good stuff there, particularly in Bloch's book, most of these stories do not rate hard cover presentation. Clark Ashton Smith is an author I fail to dig: his stories seem to me pointless and boring. Since The Abomination of Yondo is his fourth Arkham House collection, I rather imagine you're scraping the barrel merely to placate Smith fans. Even though "The Voyage of King Euvoran" is my favorite CA Smith yarn (or more strictly, the story I disliked least), I hold no illusions about the other stories. Most of them are obscure, from obscure sources -- and deserve their obscurity. It'll have to be a mighty rabid Smith fan who can find anything deserving of book presentation in "The Devotee of Evil". You know, Auggie, I laugh every time I see a new collection of your stories announced. You see, I remember what you wrote in the foreword to Someone in the Dark: "...I have never taken the time to write a really first-rate ghost story; indeed, out of some 200, less than a score stand up under a second reading...These 16 stories are all, out of those 200 and more I have written, which can possibly be read twice..." Lonesome Places if your fourth [Illustation of a scantily clad woman holding a sword.] 16