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Horizons, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 6, December 1940
Page 10
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8 HORIZONS A YEAR OF UNKNOWN To help fill the remaining pages of this issue, we've determined to give a long and doubtless rather rambling review of the twelve issues of Unknown dated from January to December of 1940. It so happens we've read every story in every issue of these, something we can't say of most of this yea'r crop, and all twelve issues have appeared in time for such a review. Next issue of Horizons we may do a similar resume of Astounding for this year if this one's at all liked. Or even if it isn't and we're short of material to fill the issue. Advance regress for awkwardnesses and so forthin this, but as with the rest of this issue it's being done ad lib. One odd thing about this year's Unknown is this: despite the face that it's regarded as one of the two or three best magazines of today by fans, there has been remarkably little published about the stories. This is partly due to the fact that some fans still insist they dislike fantasy and don't read Unknown. Another fault is that fantasy reviews of all sorts have been fewer than usual in this year's fan magazines. And adding to the trouble is the shortness of the letter section in the magazine itself most of the time, and its exclusion in three of the twelve issues. But enough. Lying before us is a stack of magazines a bit over five inches tall, containing almost two thousand pages, and about 1500 of them reading matter, doubtless. (Here's where we should have had a dummy: means to say "fiction" instead of "reading matter".) Let us begin. January. Cover: best of the six covers before the standardizes ones came into vogue. We like particularly the strong contrast, something more pulp magazine cover artists might strive for. Some light yellow, gray, or just plain white makes a magazine stand out far more than the usual blob of every dark stage in stock. SOLDIERS OF THE BLACK GOAT: One of the few yarns we did not read thoroughly: we read them all, understand, and most of them at normal speed, but a number were merely skimmed through after the first ten or more pages. This yarn left a rather curious effect on us: mostly a deep regret that a better write hadn't done it and utilized the almost unlimited chances for characterizing superbly Hester Gurney. THE SEA THING: Although of course a logical outgrowth from Discord in Scarlet and Purple Destroyer, van Vogt seems equally at home in Unknown. There really doesn't seem to be a great difference in style required from Astounding's, though, for any writer, it would appear. The illusion of the different writing seems to be mostly conveyed by the widely different subjects. SWAMP TRAIN: worst yarn of the year, in our opinion. No more may be said: it isn't worth saying. DOUBLED IN BRASS: Sequel. as usual, not up to the level of the original yarn. But "The Coppersmith" was so excellent that this one could have been much, much worse and still been readable. We'll not comment on serials until final installment. Yarns in order of preference: The Sea Thing; Doubled in Brass; On the Knees of Gods; Soldiers of the Black Goat; Swamp Train. The poem in this issue, Look About You!, we thoroughly disliked. As for It Happens Twice at Lease, it wasn't too impressive. With so many many many many many things happening all the time, it's inevitable that things should duplicate once in a while, triplicate more rarely, and so on. Ley's instance of dreaming a concert and then hearing it on the radio seem more in the classification of clairvoyance through time as well as space than a "series" Editorial doesn't say much; letters are fair. February: Cover: Not quite as appealing. What was said about the other applies here: as art it's not too hot, it's too drab to stand out prominently in a newsstand, and as a trick it's no mere important than Ravel's Bolere or most of Heminway's "modernistic" writing. DEATH'S DEPUTY: As Miske has pointed out, the fantasy here isn't too prevalent, and what there is of it isn't soo good, Hubbard is remarkable for being an author who turn out tons of stuff, rarely do anything particularly bad, very often write excellent stuff, but never a real classic. At least, not yet. He comes so close so often that you wonder how he misses. This year isn't one of his best, either, and we aren't so impressed by the central theme of "accident prone" as Campbell and a lot of the readers seemed to be. THE WISDOM OF AN ASS: The illustration-- the first one-- for this yarn we like best of all the work Vinlay has ever done, notwithstanding his superb
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8 HORIZONS A YEAR OF UNKNOWN To help fill the remaining pages of this issue, we've determined to give a long and doubtless rather rambling review of the twelve issues of Unknown dated from January to December of 1940. It so happens we've read every story in every issue of these, something we can't say of most of this yea'r crop, and all twelve issues have appeared in time for such a review. Next issue of Horizons we may do a similar resume of Astounding for this year if this one's at all liked. Or even if it isn't and we're short of material to fill the issue. Advance regress for awkwardnesses and so forthin this, but as with the rest of this issue it's being done ad lib. One odd thing about this year's Unknown is this: despite the face that it's regarded as one of the two or three best magazines of today by fans, there has been remarkably little published about the stories. This is partly due to the fact that some fans still insist they dislike fantasy and don't read Unknown. Another fault is that fantasy reviews of all sorts have been fewer than usual in this year's fan magazines. And adding to the trouble is the shortness of the letter section in the magazine itself most of the time, and its exclusion in three of the twelve issues. But enough. Lying before us is a stack of magazines a bit over five inches tall, containing almost two thousand pages, and about 1500 of them reading matter, doubtless. (Here's where we should have had a dummy: means to say "fiction" instead of "reading matter".) Let us begin. January. Cover: best of the six covers before the standardizes ones came into vogue. We like particularly the strong contrast, something more pulp magazine cover artists might strive for. Some light yellow, gray, or just plain white makes a magazine stand out far more than the usual blob of every dark stage in stock. SOLDIERS OF THE BLACK GOAT: One of the few yarns we did not read thoroughly: we read them all, understand, and most of them at normal speed, but a number were merely skimmed through after the first ten or more pages. This yarn left a rather curious effect on us: mostly a deep regret that a better write hadn't done it and utilized the almost unlimited chances for characterizing superbly Hester Gurney. THE SEA THING: Although of course a logical outgrowth from Discord in Scarlet and Purple Destroyer, van Vogt seems equally at home in Unknown. There really doesn't seem to be a great difference in style required from Astounding's, though, for any writer, it would appear. The illusion of the different writing seems to be mostly conveyed by the widely different subjects. SWAMP TRAIN: worst yarn of the year, in our opinion. No more may be said: it isn't worth saying. DOUBLED IN BRASS: Sequel. as usual, not up to the level of the original yarn. But "The Coppersmith" was so excellent that this one could have been much, much worse and still been readable. We'll not comment on serials until final installment. Yarns in order of preference: The Sea Thing; Doubled in Brass; On the Knees of Gods; Soldiers of the Black Goat; Swamp Train. The poem in this issue, Look About You!, we thoroughly disliked. As for It Happens Twice at Lease, it wasn't too impressive. With so many many many many many things happening all the time, it's inevitable that things should duplicate once in a while, triplicate more rarely, and so on. Ley's instance of dreaming a concert and then hearing it on the radio seem more in the classification of clairvoyance through time as well as space than a "series" Editorial doesn't say much; letters are fair. February: Cover: Not quite as appealing. What was said about the other applies here: as art it's not too hot, it's too drab to stand out prominently in a newsstand, and as a trick it's no mere important than Ravel's Bolere or most of Heminway's "modernistic" writing. DEATH'S DEPUTY: As Miske has pointed out, the fantasy here isn't too prevalent, and what there is of it isn't soo good, Hubbard is remarkable for being an author who turn out tons of stuff, rarely do anything particularly bad, very often write excellent stuff, but never a real classic. At least, not yet. He comes so close so often that you wonder how he misses. This year isn't one of his best, either, and we aren't so impressed by the central theme of "accident prone" as Campbell and a lot of the readers seemed to be. THE WISDOM OF AN ASS: The illustration-- the first one-- for this yarn we like best of all the work Vinlay has ever done, notwithstanding his superb
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