DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Imagination, v. 1, issue 7, whole no. 7, April 1938

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Imagination, v. 1, issue 7, whole no. 7, April 1938

Page 12

ADVICE TO AMATEUR MAGICIANS (Concluded) By Ryner the Great.

Finally the amateur magician will want to test his power by calling up a demon. Inscribe a pentagram on the flr with chalk (this can be washt off the carpet). Place 7 lamps at the points of the figure. Low, hot swing music helps create the necessary atmosfear. If the incantation be said in Esperante this helps also. On the other hand if the student didn't study Tomoro's Tung yesterday so he could talk to today, he can merely gabble hoarsely in a harryd voice & the demon won't know the dif. When your demon appears you have achieved your ends--if not your end!

Some people may complain they can't get their demon to materialize. That's the trouble I have but I'm not kicking about it. Just in case you do manage to make your demon manifest itself how are you about getting rid of it? Firm crys of "Sabbath! Sabbath! Scram!" sometimes are effective. If the demon still persists in its attempts to destroy--& somehow they always try to do that--you might give it the adress of that blond & tall if she's in that nite. On 2s that you might send me the adress of that blonde c/o Madge. In re-turn for witch I shall promptly forward you a goldplated combination wizard's wand & bottle opener, which can also be used as a cigaret holder.

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BK REVIEWS BY KUTTNER

From time to time apear offtrail bks which may be broadly classed as phantasy if not strictly pseudoscience. Such were Bierstadt's "Satan Was A Man", a study of insane obses-sions; Cora Jarrett's "Srtange Houses", dealing with migration of minds; Walford's "Twisted Clay", a gruesome tale of abnormal psychol-ogy.

Lately I've read 2 unusual volumes which are phantasy: Will-iam Sloane's "To Walk the Nite" & "The Hollow Skin" by Virginia Swain. It is interesting to compare the 2 tales as both deal with an inhuman being which wears the guise of a human, & the effects on those in contact with the alient. Of the 2 Sloane's bk is perhaps subtler; the grotesque shock of "The Hollow Skin" 's climax is purely objective while in the other tale the final confirmation of the pro-tagonist's suspicions is almost entirely subjective. In both yarns the character work is notable: The former deals with a murder in a college town, the disapearance of an imbecile girl & the simultaneous apearance of a woman who is not human. At first there are only vague hints but gradually the reader comes to understand the shocking orig-in of this creature whose powers are superhuman. "To Walk the Nite" is in fact a story about time-traveling & manages to secure that rarely-captured sense of alienage, which an unearthly being must pos-sess. Almost imperceptibly the evidence is put before the reader; but more than one tragedy occurs before the victim guesses the truth--because he has used all the matches in the house! It would be un-fair to reveal the plot & the explanation of the tale but I enjoyd it thoroly.

The Hollow Skin, just publisht, tells of the arrival of a young Dr to a small island in the Bahamas & his introduction to a group of bizarre people--the girl Valentine, whose secret, when he learns it, almost drives him to madness; the rather horrible Lady Mary; a little negro boy who is an accomplisht blackmailer; & the en-igmatic Percy Isher, who is closely related to a certain type crea-ture familar to everybody. Again I shall not spoil the story by gi-ving away the solution; but the final scene, in which Isher undergoes a necessary but thoroly ghastly metamorfosis, is genuinely horrify-ing.

Title's significance will be readily understandable at the end.

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ADVICE TO AMATEUR MAGICIANS (Concluded) By Ryner the Great. Finally the amateur magician will want to test his power by calling up a demon. Inscribe a pentagram on the flr with chalk (this can be washt off the carpet). Place 7 lamps at the points of the figure. Low, hot swing music helps create the necessary atmosfear. If the incantation be said in Esperante this helps also. On the other hand if the student didn't study Tomoro's Tung yesterday so he could talk to today, he can merely gabble hoarsely in a harryd voice & the demon won't know the dif. When your demon appears you have achieved your ends--if not your end! Some people may complain they can't get their demon to materialize. That's the trouble I have but I'm not kicking about it. Just in case you do manage to make your demon manifest itself how are you about getting rid of it? Firm crys of "Sabbath! Sabbath! Scram!" sometimes are effective. If the demon still persists in its attempts to destroy--& somehow they always try to do that--you might give it the adress of that blond & tall if she's in that nite. On 2s that you might send me the adress of that blonde c/o Madge. In re-turn for witch I shall promptly forward you a goldplated combination wizard's wand & bottle opener, which can also be used as a cigaret holder. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BK REVIEWS BY KUTTNER From time to time apear offtrail bks which may be broadly classed as phantasy if not strictly pseudoscience. Such were Bierstadt's "Satan Was A Man", a study of insane obses-sions; Cora Jarrett's "Srtange Houses", dealing with migration of minds; Walford's "Twisted Clay", a gruesome tale of abnormal psychol-ogy. Lately I've read 2 unusual volumes which are phantasy: Will-iam Sloane's "To Walk the Nite" & "The Hollow Skin" by Virginia Swain. It is interesting to compare the 2 tales as both deal with an inhuman being which wears the guise of a human, & the effects on those in contact with the alient. Of the 2 Sloane's bk is perhaps subtler; the grotesque shock of "The Hollow Skin" 's climax is purely objective while in the other tale the final confirmation of the pro-tagonist's suspicions is almost entirely subjective. In both yarns the character work is notable: The former deals with a murder in a college town, the disapearance of an imbecile girl & the simultaneous apearance of a woman who is not human. At first there are only vague hints but gradually the reader comes to understand the shocking orig-in of this creature whose powers are superhuman. "To Walk the Nite" is in fact a story about time-traveling & manages to secure that rarely-captured sense of alienage, which an unearthly being must pos-sess. Almost imperceptibly the evidence is put before the reader; but more than one tragedy occurs before the victim guesses the truth--because he has used all the matches in the house! It would be un-fair to reveal the plot & the explanation of the tale but I enjoyd it thoroly. The Hollow Skin, just publisht, tells of the arrival of a young Dr to a small island in the Bahamas & his introduction to a group of bizarre people--the girl Valentine, whose secret, when he learns it, almost drives him to madness; the rather horrible Lady Mary; a little negro boy who is an accomplisht blackmailer; & the en-igmatic Percy Isher, who is closely related to a certain type crea-ture familar to everybody. Again I shall not spoil the story by gi-ving away the solution; but the final scene, in which Isher undergoes a necessary but thoroly ghastly metamorfosis, is genuinely horrify-ing. Title's significance will be readily understandable at the end.