DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Spacewarp, v. 5, issue 2, whole no. 26, May 1949

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

Page 17

collection, isn't it? And it makes your third book (not including the Grendon volume) of stories that could not possibly be read twice! 

I am not familiar enough with The Horror From The Hills, Invaders from the Dark or the early Grandin yarns in The Phantom Fighter to judge their worth, but from what I've heard, you've got one stinker, one fair-to-middling, and one gem, there -- and in the order named above.

Worse Things Waiting is a happy choice, I think, judging from the yarns I've read in it. Wellman is one boy who can write, and write well. Orson is Here is another cause for rejoicing; Every story in there with which I'm familiar is a gem. Thanks for bringing "The Missing Ocean," "The Hand of the O'Mecca," "The Black Farm," "The Hexer" and those other topnotchers into book print. Talea from Underwood would be a third collection to be unconditionally recommended -- if it did not duplicate at least four stories already available in hard covers. Why, why, must you do this?

I regret slamming Portraits in Moonlight, the second Jacobi collection, for soft-spoken Carl, with the little mustache, is a gentleman of the old school, an older edition of Samuel D. Russell. But this does not alter the fact that "Gentlemen, the Scavengers!" is a space opera which is completely undistinguished, and that "Lodana" and "Tepondican" are certainly nothing to drag forth and hand albatross-like around the neck of a very nice guy. I do like "The La Prello Papers" and "The Corbie Door" but re-reading these yarns in a book isn't worth $3.00/

However, Mr. D., you hit the nadir of semi-pro publishing when you schedule Rim of the Unknown, the second collection of stories by Frank Belknap Long. I have perused many catalogs and leaflets from fantasy publishers, but the only book that beats Rim of the Unknown for downright lack of quality is FPCI's Planets of Adventure. I have read most of F.B. Long's stories, and have yet to discover a high-grade story from his typer. "The World of Wulkins" and "And We Sailed the Might Dark" are mildly interesting, but by no stretch of critical judgment do they rate hard cover preservation. Such out-and-out potboilers as "The Trap," "Cones," "The Critters," "Filch," and "A Guest in the House" absolutely do not quality as readable stories, and I would challenge Mr. Long to sell crud of equal quality to any fan magazine today. I have just tried to re-read "Cones" from Astounding for Feb. 1939, and found myself skipping sentences, then paragraphs and pages. It is unbelievably bad. To find such an impossible yarn in a scheduled collection reflects not only on the "sucker" proclivities of the average fantasite, but on the literary acumen of you, Mr. Derleth.

I respect you and Arkham House for the fine books you have given us in the past, and for the excellent material you have listed for future publication -- the S. Fowler Wright book, and Xelucha and Others, and Conjure Wife, for example -- but I cannot condone the unutterable brass you display in foisting such crap on us as the Long book and the others discussed above.

I trust you will see fit to reply to this Open Letter, but in any event I sincerely hope you will think twice before actually publishing that crud you've listed in your new catalog. We, the stfans, have been at odds with you many times in the past, Mr. Derleth, but whatever we've gone -- by Shuggoth, we don't deserve being insulted by such sucker-bait as you propose to offer us. Reconsider, Auggie, in the name of Cthulu.

-- File Clerk #13

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collection, isn't it? And it makes your third book (not including the Grendon volume) of stories that could not possibly be read twice! I am not familiar enough with The Horror From The Hills, Invaders from the Dark or the early Grandin yarns in The Phantom Fighter to judge their worth, but from what I've heard, you've got one stinker, one fair-to-middling, and one gem, there -- and in the order named above. Worse Things Waiting is a happy choice, I think, judging from the yarns I've read in it. Wellman is one boy who can write, and write well. Orson is Here is another cause for rejoicing; Every story in there with which I'm familiar is a gem. Thanks for bringing "The Missing Ocean," "The Hand of the O'Mecca," "The Black Farm," "The Hexer" and those other topnotchers into book print. Talea from Underwood would be a third collection to be unconditionally recommended -- if it did not duplicate at least four stories already available in hard covers. Why, why, must you do this? I regret slamming Portraits in Moonlight, the second Jacobi collection, for soft-spoken Carl, with the little mustache, is a gentleman of the old school, an older edition of Samuel D. Russell. But this does not alter the fact that "Gentlemen, the Scavengers!" is a space opera which is completely undistinguished, and that "Lodana" and "Tepondican" are certainly nothing to drag forth and hand albatross-like around the neck of a very nice guy. I do like "The La Prello Papers" and "The Corbie Door" but re-reading these yarns in a book isn't worth $3.00/ However, Mr. D., you hit the nadir of semi-pro publishing when you schedule Rim of the Unknown, the second collection of stories by Frank Belknap Long. I have perused many catalogs and leaflets from fantasy publishers, but the only book that beats Rim of the Unknown for downright lack of quality is FPCI's Planets of Adventure. I have read most of F.B. Long's stories, and have yet to discover a high-grade story from his typer. "The World of Wulkins" and "And We Sailed the Might Dark" are mildly interesting, but by no stretch of critical judgment do they rate hard cover preservation. Such out-and-out potboilers as "The Trap," "Cones," "The Critters," "Filch," and "A Guest in the House" absolutely do not quality as readable stories, and I would challenge Mr. Long to sell crud of equal quality to any fan magazine today. I have just tried to re-read "Cones" from Astounding for Feb. 1939, and found myself skipping sentences, then paragraphs and pages. It is unbelievably bad. To find such an impossible yarn in a scheduled collection reflects not only on the "sucker" proclivities of the average fantasite, but on the literary acumen of you, Mr. Derleth. I respect you and Arkham House for the fine books you have given us in the past, and for the excellent material you have listed for future publication -- the S. Fowler Wright book, and Xelucha and Others, and Conjure Wife, for example -- but I cannot condone the unutterable brass you display in foisting such crap on us as the Long book and the others discussed above. I trust you will see fit to reply to this Open Letter, but in any event I sincerely hope you will think twice before actually publishing that crud you've listed in your new catalog. We, the stfans, have been at odds with you many times in the past, Mr. Derleth, but whatever we've gone -- by Shuggoth, we don't deserve being insulted by such sucker-bait as you propose to offer us. Reconsider, Auggie, in the name of Cthulu. -- File Clerk #13 17