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Vampire, whole no. 7, September 1946
31858063101335_024
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[Cartoon of a man throwing a garlic clove at a recoiling vampire.] ZIP! "An Ounce of Garlic" From Phoenix, Arizona, C. BURTON STEVENSEN discusses the present state of affairs in a lengthly letter which we consider worth printing in its entirety... -------------------------- Just finished Vamp #6, the first I've seen. Quite an impressive dime's worth. Somehow I'd expected something less serious and dignified, more in the vein of your brash effusions in the pros. A word on Speer's reference to selective pro-reading. Like him, I suspect, I've stuck pretty exclusively to the Campbellmags for several years. Of late, however, I've tried to watch the whole field closely enough not to miss any possible diamonds in the clay, though I can't bring myself to read the second and third-rate mags from cover to cover. I think what started me on this policy was my comparatively recent discovery of de Camp & Miller's "Genus Homo" in an old magazine shop. A couple of Leinster pieces in recent Merwinmags and the provocative Shaver series have confirmed me in it. I haven't found it necessary or worthwhile to watch Planet or Weird closely. Like you I believe in Shaver's sincerity (and even more so in Palmer's). I don't believe in the objective truth of any of their theories and claims, though as an old UNKNOWN follower I try to avoid any dogmatic disbelief arising from esthetic prejudices or prior hypotheses. Unfortunately, because of its manner of presentation, the whole business remains beyond the range of proof or disproof, or even of criticism on logical grounds. Not one iota of scientific evidence for any of the Shaverite statements has, to my knowledge, been offered; indeed, there is no indication that either Shaver or Palmer has any conception of the scientific method. And since the whole business has admittedly been ficitonalized and Shaver's stuff extensively rewritten by Palmer and his trained seals, and much of it Shaver admittedly received second-hand, the alleged "thought-records" could well have been fictional rather than mere crystallized historical day-dreams -- proof that any part of it was physically or otherwise impossible would not invalidate the whole nor evidence bad faith on Shaver's part. Therefore any criticism on any other than an esthetic basis is pointless. Perhaps you will be interested -24-
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[Cartoon of a man throwing a garlic clove at a recoiling vampire.] ZIP! "An Ounce of Garlic" From Phoenix, Arizona, C. BURTON STEVENSEN discusses the present state of affairs in a lengthly letter which we consider worth printing in its entirety... -------------------------- Just finished Vamp #6, the first I've seen. Quite an impressive dime's worth. Somehow I'd expected something less serious and dignified, more in the vein of your brash effusions in the pros. A word on Speer's reference to selective pro-reading. Like him, I suspect, I've stuck pretty exclusively to the Campbellmags for several years. Of late, however, I've tried to watch the whole field closely enough not to miss any possible diamonds in the clay, though I can't bring myself to read the second and third-rate mags from cover to cover. I think what started me on this policy was my comparatively recent discovery of de Camp & Miller's "Genus Homo" in an old magazine shop. A couple of Leinster pieces in recent Merwinmags and the provocative Shaver series have confirmed me in it. I haven't found it necessary or worthwhile to watch Planet or Weird closely. Like you I believe in Shaver's sincerity (and even more so in Palmer's). I don't believe in the objective truth of any of their theories and claims, though as an old UNKNOWN follower I try to avoid any dogmatic disbelief arising from esthetic prejudices or prior hypotheses. Unfortunately, because of its manner of presentation, the whole business remains beyond the range of proof or disproof, or even of criticism on logical grounds. Not one iota of scientific evidence for any of the Shaverite statements has, to my knowledge, been offered; indeed, there is no indication that either Shaver or Palmer has any conception of the scientific method. And since the whole business has admittedly been ficitonalized and Shaver's stuff extensively rewritten by Palmer and his trained seals, and much of it Shaver admittedly received second-hand, the alleged "thought-records" could well have been fictional rather than mere crystallized historical day-dreams -- proof that any part of it was physically or otherwise impossible would not invalidate the whole nor evidence bad faith on Shaver's part. Therefore any criticism on any other than an esthetic basis is pointless. Perhaps you will be interested -24-
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