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Fanfare, v. 1, issue 4, October 1940

Page 10

10                                                          FANFARE
                THIS ONE'S ON THE HOUSE
they? About as common as another Weinbaum, another de Camp, or another Keller.
   If editors are prepared to wait; wait a long, long while---they may stumble upon another Weinbaum, de Camp, or a Keller. They gamble with the success of their magazines in doing it.
   Weinbaum wasn't good enough to keep WONDER STORIES from tripping. E.E. Smith wasn't good enough to bolster AMAZING STORIES' failing circulation. Yet Howard kept WEIRD TALES going for years... Just as Adam Link and Lancelot Biggs are supporting AMAZING and FANTASTIC ADVENTURES now.
   Editors: you've got to creat your own manna. Take raw material and shape it to fit your needs. Guide it through its infant stumblings, and past the draining vicissitudes. An author who has never appeared in another magazine, no matter how good he is, will never draw. From where will he pluck his audience? No one else ever heard of him.
   Blazing novas may be lured from the fold by more lucrative offers. But nobody is going to lure the author you have built from nothing into greatness. He's too damn grateful--the dope.
   To sit by and hope for a genius to drop into your lap is wishful thinking. Lovecraft---a genius---couldn't bolster the circulation of WT even a thousand when he appeared. Yet Binder, "the self-made author", who does not pretend to be in Lovecraft's class, will sell AMAZING time and again with Adam Link. Almost everyone will concede that HPL was a genius--yet they all invariably prefer to read Binder. (Not us!...awjrandes)
   Luke, the mediocre, ploddingworker, may--through sheer stick-to-it-iveness--succeed; where Percival, the brilliant, flops--through a sense of exaggerated importance, and an unwillingness to descend to earthly things. Mark Twain is great because he wrote Tom Sawyer--not because the critics say so--but because of the great number of people who can enjoy him.
   When a genius can persistently produce material like The Blue Barbarians, The Skylark of Space, The Conquerors, and I, Robot, then he is worthwhile. But when he turns out At the Mountains of Madness, and Shadow Over Innsmouth, all will concede him great, but no one will desire to read him.
   Pulp magazines cannot afford to wait for a genius.
                   FINIS
*******************************************************
THE LAST MINUTE (cont. from p. 5); Notice the increase in content this issue. We hope before long to hit a happy medium as to the number of pages we present per issue, and to settle down to a consistent policy in that respect. So we'd appreciate comment on quantity as well as on quality...thanks...No DOTS this time, but THE STRANGER CLUB hasn't done much since last issue except go to the Chicon--Oops! We promised everybody we wouldn't mention it at all this number, and yet that's the second time it's slipped out. The reason for that is because we wanted to be unique; every other fanmag will be carrying [reams?] about "that affair in Chicago", so when you're stuffed up to the care with --ah--" certain propaganda, turn to FANFARE, and relax. It's the fan's fanmag. Everybody that reads it, likes it.... You'll have DOTS before your eyes next time....C U N DENVER!

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10 FANFARE THIS ONE'S ON THE HOUSE they? About as common as another Weinbaum, another de Camp, or another Keller. If editors are prepared to wait; wait a long, long while---they may stumble upon another Weinbaum, de Camp, or a Keller. They gamble with the success of their magazines in doing it. Weinbaum wasn't good enough to keep WONDER STORIES from tripping. E.E. Smith wasn't good enough to bolster AMAZING STORIES' failing circulation. Yet Howard kept WEIRD TALES going for years... Just as Adam Link and Lancelot Biggs are supporting AMAZING and FANTASTIC ADVENTURES now. Editors: you've got to creat your own manna. Take raw material and shape it to fit your needs. Guide it through its infant stumblings, and past the draining vicissitudes. An author who has never appeared in another magazine, no matter how good he is, will never draw. From where will he pluck his audience? No one else ever heard of him. Blazing novas may be lured from the fold by more lucrative offers. But nobody is going to lure the author you have built from nothing into greatness. He's too damn grateful--the dope. To sit by and hope for a genius to drop into your lap is wishful thinking. Lovecraft---a genius---couldn't bolster the circulation of WT even a thousand when he appeared. Yet Binder, "the self-made author", who does not pretend to be in Lovecraft's class, will sell AMAZING time and again with Adam Link. Almost everyone will concede that HPL was a genius--yet they all invariably prefer to read Binder. (Not us!...awjrandes) Luke, the mediocre, ploddingworker, may--through sheer stick-to-it-iveness--succeed; where Percival, the brilliant, flops--through a sense of exaggerated importance, and an unwillingness to descend to earthly things. Mark Twain is great because he wrote Tom Sawyer--not because the critics say so--but because of the great number of people who can enjoy him. When a genius can persistently produce material like The Blue Barbarians, The Skylark of Space, The Conquerors, and I, Robot, then he is worthwhile. But when he turns out At the Mountains of Madness, and Shadow Over Innsmouth, all will concede him great, but no one will desire to read him. Pulp magazines cannot afford to wait for a genius. FINIS ******************************************************* THE LAST MINUTE (cont. from p. 5); Notice the increase in content this issue. We hope before long to hit a happy medium as to the number of pages we present per issue, and to settle down to a consistent policy in that respect. So we'd appreciate comment on quantity as well as on quality...thanks...No DOTS this time, but THE STRANGER CLUB hasn't done much since last issue except go to the Chicon--Oops! We promised everybody we wouldn't mention it at all this number, and yet that's the second time it's slipped out. The reason for that is because we wanted to be unique; every other fanmag will be carrying [reams?] about "that affair in Chicago", so when you're stuffed up to the care with --ah--" certain propaganda, turn to FANFARE, and relax. It's the fan's fanmag. Everybody that reads it, likes it.... You'll have DOTS before your eyes next time....C U N DENVER!