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Fanfare, issue 9, 1942
Page 23
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detours 23 these forms, including man; they are not permanent, but close and disappear at an early stage, normally.) As we think back over many of Heinlein's other tales, we can remember distinctly and by name only one of his characters (Joe-Jim of "Universe"), whereas a great many of his ideas impressed us, interested us, and have been retained in our memory. This suggests that Heinlein could write a marvelous text book, and that he would be great as an historian if he wished to be. But as an author, that is, one who aims at creating enduring literature, I am afraid that Heinlein would have trouble making the grade. No man has ever been acclaimed as a literary "great" who has not shown himself able to create living and memorable characters. * The cover on the April Astounding was beautiful and rejoiced our heart; it is the best of the year thus far. Gentlemen disagreeing with us may write our secretary for an appointment to duel to the death, hours between 4 and 6 on alternate Fridays. Corpses ensuing will be smelted for their chemicals, and any proceeds donated to the National War Effort. Come one, come all. * We regret to say that our lethargic editor has seen fit to waste his time earning a living, holding conventions, etc; thus he has neglected to forward comments, if any, on last issue's column. Our correspondents have by and large, tactfully avoided mention of the same; perhaps it was an error to bring the matter up at all. But if you wonder why we appear again, in spite of your six page letter of protest to the editor - so do we. * Apocryphal tale: Said Joe Fann to John W. Campbell Jr., "Is there any chance that my story may appear in Astounding?" Said Editor Campbell to Joe Fann, "Well, maybe. I'm not going to live forever." Speaking of Campbell, that new department he has in Astounding, "Probability Zero", starts out on a shockingly low level. A pity, since the idea for it was wonderful. But de Camp's piece is dull, and we don't think it's original. As for Malcolm Jameson's pig trap, that item regarding shadows freezing to the ground appeared in Chamisso's P"Peter Schlemiehl", published more than 125 years ago. George Dale's item on "Time Pussies" has for its gagline the idea of the cats freezing so fast they are still warm; this joke was published in "1,000 Jokes" (a quarterly magazine) four years ago - an explorer tells that it was so cold in Greenland, that when he put a bucket of boiling water outside to cool, in five minutes it had frozen - so fast, that the ice was still warm. Well, that fives you the idea. We don't like corny jokes dressed up in fancy clothes and peddled to us anew. We'd be delighted to see some truly original and effective ideas (all the more so because we seem unable to supply the same ourselves. * In a recent issue of "Censored", Fred Hurter's amusing Canadian fanzine, there is a little item on spaceships and rockets which is interesting but unsound. It attacks the customary stf rocketship on the grounds that the center of gravity would be above the point of thrust and that the ship would therefore be top heavy and plunge into the ground. The statement is made that sky rockets with their sticks removed illustrate this principle. Now, it so happens that we have on several occasions bought a variety of stickless skyrocket, equipped with cardboard vanes along the
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detours 23 these forms, including man; they are not permanent, but close and disappear at an early stage, normally.) As we think back over many of Heinlein's other tales, we can remember distinctly and by name only one of his characters (Joe-Jim of "Universe"), whereas a great many of his ideas impressed us, interested us, and have been retained in our memory. This suggests that Heinlein could write a marvelous text book, and that he would be great as an historian if he wished to be. But as an author, that is, one who aims at creating enduring literature, I am afraid that Heinlein would have trouble making the grade. No man has ever been acclaimed as a literary "great" who has not shown himself able to create living and memorable characters. * The cover on the April Astounding was beautiful and rejoiced our heart; it is the best of the year thus far. Gentlemen disagreeing with us may write our secretary for an appointment to duel to the death, hours between 4 and 6 on alternate Fridays. Corpses ensuing will be smelted for their chemicals, and any proceeds donated to the National War Effort. Come one, come all. * We regret to say that our lethargic editor has seen fit to waste his time earning a living, holding conventions, etc; thus he has neglected to forward comments, if any, on last issue's column. Our correspondents have by and large, tactfully avoided mention of the same; perhaps it was an error to bring the matter up at all. But if you wonder why we appear again, in spite of your six page letter of protest to the editor - so do we. * Apocryphal tale: Said Joe Fann to John W. Campbell Jr., "Is there any chance that my story may appear in Astounding?" Said Editor Campbell to Joe Fann, "Well, maybe. I'm not going to live forever." Speaking of Campbell, that new department he has in Astounding, "Probability Zero", starts out on a shockingly low level. A pity, since the idea for it was wonderful. But de Camp's piece is dull, and we don't think it's original. As for Malcolm Jameson's pig trap, that item regarding shadows freezing to the ground appeared in Chamisso's P"Peter Schlemiehl", published more than 125 years ago. George Dale's item on "Time Pussies" has for its gagline the idea of the cats freezing so fast they are still warm; this joke was published in "1,000 Jokes" (a quarterly magazine) four years ago - an explorer tells that it was so cold in Greenland, that when he put a bucket of boiling water outside to cool, in five minutes it had frozen - so fast, that the ice was still warm. Well, that fives you the idea. We don't like corny jokes dressed up in fancy clothes and peddled to us anew. We'd be delighted to see some truly original and effective ideas (all the more so because we seem unable to supply the same ourselves. * In a recent issue of "Censored", Fred Hurter's amusing Canadian fanzine, there is a little item on spaceships and rockets which is interesting but unsound. It attacks the customary stf rocketship on the grounds that the center of gravity would be above the point of thrust and that the ship would therefore be top heavy and plunge into the ground. The statement is made that sky rockets with their sticks removed illustrate this principle. Now, it so happens that we have on several occasions bought a variety of stickless skyrocket, equipped with cardboard vanes along the
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