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Vampire, whole no. 7, September 1946
31858063101335_013
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Well, maybe damon was right. Maybe I should have left The Denventioneer alone. Here it is, the cream of the crop of 1941, and, taking it by and large, it stinks. Fandom should take a strong collective pride in having come as far in five years as a comparative reading of The Denventioneer and The Pacificon Combozine would indicate. Nothing like an anti-climax to end up a review, is there? Do you know that The Denventioneer does not contain one single page which is run in black ink? * * * One of the most difficult, and most worthwhile, fanzine sets to complete is Jack Speer's Full Length Articles, the vehicle which he uses to carry material too lengthly for an ordinary fanzine. The first issue is a palely hektoed 12-page essay entitled "Samuel Clemens, Scientifictionist", which appeared in the December 1936 FAPA mailing. It was a pretty young Speer that wrote this one, but it is eminently readable, and today can be criticised only for containing too many direct quotations and not enough analysis and criticism. The second issue is a necessity for the fan of stefnistic leanings: "Up to Now: A History of Fandom as Jack Speer Sees It". It was published in the early summer of 1939 for distribution at the Nycon, and exists in two variant editions. The complete one carries orange covers and is bound with brass staples. This history suffers somewhat from lack of perspective, but even so impresses the csual reader as being far less biased and definitely more accurate in details than the epic by Moskowitz currently being serialized. It is to be hoped that Speer might be induced to bring this history up to date, and arrange for its publication as a companion volume to the Fancyclopedia. Number three dates from the FAPA mailing of December 1943, and is a 38-page account of Speer's travels during that fall, entitled: "In Memoriam: Spirit of FooFoo". At the time it was published I reviewed it unfavorably in FAPA, but subsequent rereadings have shown me that it is easily the best travelogue ever written by a fan. Of particular interest are a visit to the LASFS during the height of the Degler infestation, a weekend with the Battle Creek Slan Shackers, and a visit to Harry Warner. The fourth issue is probably familiar to most of us, being "The Speer-Dunkleberger Feud", dating from the spring of 1946. This, I suspect will either be forgotten, or (more likely) become the start of a legend . . . a legend telling how a fan wellnigh shattered the prestige of another simply by publishing sans comment all the pertinent data from their quarrel. This tussle might well be likened to David and Goliath, except that in the biblical version Dunkleberger did not go to great pains to give Speer the stones for his slingshot. ----- -13-
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Well, maybe damon was right. Maybe I should have left The Denventioneer alone. Here it is, the cream of the crop of 1941, and, taking it by and large, it stinks. Fandom should take a strong collective pride in having come as far in five years as a comparative reading of The Denventioneer and The Pacificon Combozine would indicate. Nothing like an anti-climax to end up a review, is there? Do you know that The Denventioneer does not contain one single page which is run in black ink? * * * One of the most difficult, and most worthwhile, fanzine sets to complete is Jack Speer's Full Length Articles, the vehicle which he uses to carry material too lengthly for an ordinary fanzine. The first issue is a palely hektoed 12-page essay entitled "Samuel Clemens, Scientifictionist", which appeared in the December 1936 FAPA mailing. It was a pretty young Speer that wrote this one, but it is eminently readable, and today can be criticised only for containing too many direct quotations and not enough analysis and criticism. The second issue is a necessity for the fan of stefnistic leanings: "Up to Now: A History of Fandom as Jack Speer Sees It". It was published in the early summer of 1939 for distribution at the Nycon, and exists in two variant editions. The complete one carries orange covers and is bound with brass staples. This history suffers somewhat from lack of perspective, but even so impresses the csual reader as being far less biased and definitely more accurate in details than the epic by Moskowitz currently being serialized. It is to be hoped that Speer might be induced to bring this history up to date, and arrange for its publication as a companion volume to the Fancyclopedia. Number three dates from the FAPA mailing of December 1943, and is a 38-page account of Speer's travels during that fall, entitled: "In Memoriam: Spirit of FooFoo". At the time it was published I reviewed it unfavorably in FAPA, but subsequent rereadings have shown me that it is easily the best travelogue ever written by a fan. Of particular interest are a visit to the LASFS during the height of the Degler infestation, a weekend with the Battle Creek Slan Shackers, and a visit to Harry Warner. The fourth issue is probably familiar to most of us, being "The Speer-Dunkleberger Feud", dating from the spring of 1946. This, I suspect will either be forgotten, or (more likely) become the start of a legend . . . a legend telling how a fan wellnigh shattered the prestige of another simply by publishing sans comment all the pertinent data from their quarrel. This tussle might well be likened to David and Goliath, except that in the biblical version Dunkleberger did not go to great pains to give Speer the stones for his slingshot. ----- -13-
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