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

Page 19

QUIEN SABE?

I have just finished reading your March issue. The editorial by Wilkie Conner was especially interesting to me since I am a Southerner too. Realizing that every person has, I sincerely hope, a right to the freedom of speech, I should like to take this opportunity to criticize that editorial. Mr. Conner states that we should "keep fandom on the American side". I know of several fans in Canada and have heard of others in England who would possibly feel offended by such a nationalistic outlook. Above all other lessons that I have learned from science fiction, I think that the most outstanding one can be written as "Nationalism does not pay." I admire people who attempt to keep their country free and democratic in form of government; but I admire far more the person who wishes for the world to be a free and democratic federation of all peoples.

Then, I would like to say, science fiction and fantasy have two aspects: the entertaining and the serious. The style of the "story for entertainment" does not particularly matter as long as the story itself entertains the reader. When the story or article is serious however, it seems that the style should be made proportionately serious in order to convey to the reader the full significance of the point. Unfortunately, fanzines as well as the regular publications in these fields, are seldom serious.

Science fiction and fantasy, in their present forms, have little to offer to the world other than light entertainment. Science fiction, used for the purpose of extending the trends of history into the probable future (such as could be accomplished with Toynbee's theories) would be highly informative, illustrative, and entertaining as well. Fantasy could well be used to express the psychological impressions of mankind in a concrete form. These psychological impressions are, at times, much more fantastic than any man-made plot. 

I soon hope to be publishing a fanzine that "views science fiction from the non-Aristotelian viewpoint".

Sincerely yours,
JAMES W. BELL
Hinman House
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
----------------------------------
Dear Art:

I am now at work (damned hard) on the first momentous issue of a masterful quarterly publication of, and, about, science-fiction and fantasy, entitled: ABBERTATION, containing 32 even-margin mimeographed letter-size pages with fiction by David H. Keller MD, E.E.Evans, Joe Kennedy and Jim Harmon, articles by Bob Farnham, Eve Firestone, and Richard S. Shaver, and other features by Hilary King, E.A. Thompson and many others; which will sell for 25c per copy or 5 issues for $1.00 from its editor and publisher, Jim Harmon, 427 E. 8th St., Mt. Carmel, Ill. (Could you include this one little sentence somewhere in SPACEWARP?) ((Sorry, couldn't find room for it.))

Well, I guess that's all my little heart has to cry forth. I hope to be able to read SPWP #500 if your mind can stand the strain. Come to think of it, I wonder if mine could?

Yours,
JIM HARMON

19

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QUIEN SABE? I have just finished reading your March issue. The editorial by Wilkie Conner was especially interesting to me since I am a Southerner too. Realizing that every person has, I sincerely hope, a right to the freedom of speech, I should like to take this opportunity to criticize that editorial. Mr. Conner states that we should "keep fandom on the American side". I know of several fans in Canada and have heard of others in England who would possibly feel offended by such a nationalistic outlook. Above all other lessons that I have learned from science fiction, I think that the most outstanding one can be written as "Nationalism does not pay." I admire people who attempt to keep their country free and democratic in form of government; but I admire far more the person who wishes for the world to be a free and democratic federation of all peoples. Then, I would like to say, science fiction and fantasy have two aspects: the entertaining and the serious. The style of the "story for entertainment" does not particularly matter as long as the story itself entertains the reader. When the story or article is serious however, it seems that the style should be made proportionately serious in order to convey to the reader the full significance of the point. Unfortunately, fanzines as well as the regular publications in these fields, are seldom serious. Science fiction and fantasy, in their present forms, have little to offer to the world other than light entertainment. Science fiction, used for the purpose of extending the trends of history into the probable future (such as could be accomplished with Toynbee's theories) would be highly informative, illustrative, and entertaining as well. Fantasy could well be used to express the psychological impressions of mankind in a concrete form. These psychological impressions are, at times, much more fantastic than any man-made plot. I soon hope to be publishing a fanzine that "views science fiction from the non-Aristotelian viewpoint". Sincerely yours, JAMES W. BELL Hinman House Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois ---------------------------------- Dear Art: I am now at work (damned hard) on the first momentous issue of a masterful quarterly publication of, and, about, science-fiction and fantasy, entitled: ABBERTATION, containing 32 even-margin mimeographed letter-size pages with fiction by David H. Keller MD, E.E.Evans, Joe Kennedy and Jim Harmon, articles by Bob Farnham, Eve Firestone, and Richard S. Shaver, and other features by Hilary King, E.A. Thompson and many others; which will sell for 25c per copy or 5 issues for $1.00 from its editor and publisher, Jim Harmon, 427 E. 8th St., Mt. Carmel, Ill. (Could you include this one little sentence somewhere in SPACEWARP?) ((Sorry, couldn't find room for it.)) Well, I guess that's all my little heart has to cry forth. I hope to be able to read SPWP #500 if your mind can stand the strain. Come to think of it, I wonder if mine could? Yours, JIM HARMON 19