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Vanguard Variorum, May 1946
9
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VANGUARD VARIORUM 9 damon knight: On the 6th Mailing FELLOW HEDONISTS: Agenbite/ A for neatness. The reviews make good reading, but they're hardly meaty enough to fill the bulk of a magazine. "Jurgenlied", however, would make up for almost anything. This, for my money, is the best poem Lowndes has ever written. Tumbrils/ "Stammpunct's Revolution", I think, is Lyons' best effort to date. The mechanical construction of his earlier two stories in Renascence is reflected here, but it's subdued to a degree that spells "competence" rather than "copybook". I also like Blish's reply to Laney, though it's marred in places by the venom which he seems unable to repress. Science*Fiction/ Blish carries off most of the honors with "Zombie", and "Knell" is a close second. I have been saying that the latter is a good story for a couple of years now, and I still say so. Index/ A commendable job -- and a huge one, as anyone knows who has tackled an index. Vote of thanks to Blownden. Stefantasy/ Great improvement. I like pretty damn near everything in this issue; special mention for "An Amedieval Romance", "Penseroso", the cover and the new size. Only one bitch: the dingbatted contents page. Vanguard Amateur/ Good job, as usual. Have no objection whatever to subscribers' letters being included, providing that Kubilius writes them all. If the poll were revised as he suggests, by the way, I think it would make sense. Vanguard Variorum/ Like the name and the idea. In fact, if Shaw would be willing to keep on publishing the thing, I'd be happy to see everybody's reviews out of the way under one cover. FELLOW VULTURES: Tumbrils/ Speaking of semantics, "I shall oppose . . . any attempt to foist upon the public the notion that the USSR is anything but what the most reliable evidence shows it to be" is nonsense. Since "most reliable" implies a purely subjective judgment, the sentence can be meaningfully construed only as "I shall oppose any attempt to promulgate any opinion of the USSR which differs from mine." . . . Hey Doc, remember the old days? . . . Other comments on Tumbrils will be found strewn around. Science*Fiction/ Afraid I think this is an anomaly. The bulk of the material, the policy being what it is, is inevitably made up of two classes: amateur work trying to look professional, and professional work not good enough to sell. Neither is good of its kind, and the overall effect is that of the platypus. Local No. 449/ Leave us, for God's sake, not try to be cute any more.
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VANGUARD VARIORUM 9 damon knight: On the 6th Mailing FELLOW HEDONISTS: Agenbite/ A for neatness. The reviews make good reading, but they're hardly meaty enough to fill the bulk of a magazine. "Jurgenlied", however, would make up for almost anything. This, for my money, is the best poem Lowndes has ever written. Tumbrils/ "Stammpunct's Revolution", I think, is Lyons' best effort to date. The mechanical construction of his earlier two stories in Renascence is reflected here, but it's subdued to a degree that spells "competence" rather than "copybook". I also like Blish's reply to Laney, though it's marred in places by the venom which he seems unable to repress. Science*Fiction/ Blish carries off most of the honors with "Zombie", and "Knell" is a close second. I have been saying that the latter is a good story for a couple of years now, and I still say so. Index/ A commendable job -- and a huge one, as anyone knows who has tackled an index. Vote of thanks to Blownden. Stefantasy/ Great improvement. I like pretty damn near everything in this issue; special mention for "An Amedieval Romance", "Penseroso", the cover and the new size. Only one bitch: the dingbatted contents page. Vanguard Amateur/ Good job, as usual. Have no objection whatever to subscribers' letters being included, providing that Kubilius writes them all. If the poll were revised as he suggests, by the way, I think it would make sense. Vanguard Variorum/ Like the name and the idea. In fact, if Shaw would be willing to keep on publishing the thing, I'd be happy to see everybody's reviews out of the way under one cover. FELLOW VULTURES: Tumbrils/ Speaking of semantics, "I shall oppose . . . any attempt to foist upon the public the notion that the USSR is anything but what the most reliable evidence shows it to be" is nonsense. Since "most reliable" implies a purely subjective judgment, the sentence can be meaningfully construed only as "I shall oppose any attempt to promulgate any opinion of the USSR which differs from mine." . . . Hey Doc, remember the old days? . . . Other comments on Tumbrils will be found strewn around. Science*Fiction/ Afraid I think this is an anomaly. The bulk of the material, the policy being what it is, is inevitably made up of two classes: amateur work trying to look professional, and professional work not good enough to sell. Neither is good of its kind, and the overall effect is that of the platypus. Local No. 449/ Leave us, for God's sake, not try to be cute any more.
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