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Cosmic Tales, v. 2, issue 1, Summer 1939

Page 41

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COSMIC TALES 41 CONGRATS, LOU! By JAMES V. TAURASI (FORMER EDITOR OF COSMIC TALES) My congratulations on your 2nd anniversary of [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]], I'm glad to see the old mag still alive and doing well. This is a double anniversary, Lou, the 2nd anniversary issue of [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]] and your first, as editor and publisher. You've done a great job with the magazine, better than I did with the first year. You've had a swell batch of stories and articles, yes sir. Sam Moskowitz with his serial takes 1st place this year. I leave my own Magician of Space Yarns out for others to rate. Those yarns are not over by any chance, Lou. This convention has me working, but after that's over, I'll be back again with further adventures of that little Miss, and of her chief worry, Frank Wells. I suspect that you have plenty of readers who never heard of the old, hectographed [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]] that I edited, so--I guess a review of the first year is in order. Grab your hats, boys and girls, and here we go: The idea for [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]] hit me shortly after I read my first science-fiction magazine in early 1935. It started out (the idea) as a small size hectographed magazine. I obtained stories from a close friend of mine, Edward Schmidt, and together with one of my own, I started work on the first issue. Not having a typer at the time, Anna santerella, my cousin, took over the typingof the magazine. Not knowing a thing about hectoin, we typed out a good part with ordinary carbon paper which would not work at all with a hecto. So, getting the right carbon paper, we again started the magazine. This was in the Fall of 1935. We typed and hectographed about 10 pages of the magazine, then called [[underline]]Junior Science Fiction[[end underline]]. But bum hectoing and lack of money forced us to drop the project and there the matter lay till early 1937. At this time, I met Robert Madle, the first fan I ever met, and together we talked over the plans of [[underline]]Junior S-F[[end underline]]. The name no longer suited me, and I thought the size was bad. So we decided on the name, [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]]. When Bob left for home that week end, [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]] was all planned and started. By June 1, I had the first issue out. 24 pages it was, fairly well hecto'd, and with good fiction. I carried four stories and no articles, plus the regular editorial department. The magazine then appeared quarterly and the complete name was [[underline]]Cosmic Tales Quarterly[[end underline]]. The second issue appeared early September that year. The summer weather had played water polo with my hecto and the result, in plain English, was a mess. We had good fiction in this issue and a beautiful cover by Dollens who left s-fandom at the time. We announced, in this issue, that the magazine would appear bi-monthly in the future and that the name would be changed to [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]]. The 3rd issue is the one that I place on top of the pile. 30 pages of excellent hectoing and good material. it was the biggest magazine of that time and has been beaten very few times since, that is, as far as hecto magazines go. Then came the blow that almost killed [[underline]]Cosmic Tales[[end underline]] for good. I got together with two other, then active fans, and pooling all our money together, decided to put out the fan mag of fan mags. 40 pages, hecto'd and mimeo'd, for 10[[cent symbol]] was our aim. We did it, too. We put out a super fourth issue containing 40 pages of fiction, articles, and whatnot. But, b eing with fellows
 
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