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Horizons, v. 2, issue 4, June 1941

Page 8

3
HORIZONS

A YEAR OF REPRINTS

Fantastic Novels: July, 1940. Cover: 4. It was a beautiful bit of shading and fine lay-out. However, the art-work just misses making it worthy of a 5, and besides the whole lay-out is a little spoiled by the flare effect of the title of the magazine. THE BLIND SPOT: 5. We have read about half of it three times and the whole thing twice -- that is, we read it up to its breaking-off in FFM, and then read the whole thing twice in Fantastic Novels. Like so many other stories which are more or less great up to a certain point and then suddenly collapse, the final pages of this are a bit less than inspired. You almost have to wish that the story had ended somewhere around page 100 of the Fantastic Novels version; the air of strangeness and mystery lags around that point. It is one of the few "classics" we weren't at all disappointed in, at any rate, and one of the finest pieces of writing -- especially the first half -- ever to appear in pulp magazines. MONSIEUR DE GUISE: 2. Pitiful, after the Hall-Flint story. No need to list the stories in order, this time! And yes, the editorial was sufficient. Incidentally, isn't it unquestionably true that this issue of FN cost less to get out than any issue of any pro stfantasy magazine so far? There was not a single word of paid-for material included; the cover was merely adapted from an illustration that had already appeared in FFM, and without checking, we don't think there are any illustrations inside that hadn't already been used in FFM. Considering that the magazine sold for 20c, and there were three full pages of advertising, there must have been terrific profit.

Famous Fantastic Mysteries: August: 1940. Cover: 3. It's pretty poor work for Virgil. However, the unusual technique, and the emphasis on nice blues and greens make it stand out from most covers. DARKNESS AND DAWN: 4. This is a famous one we were grievously disappointed in, though. As we said to D. B. Thompson the other day, we somehow got the impression that the England trilogy was another Last & First Men, or something very nearly approaching that scope. To find the first section of it a rather short novel of the kind that had been told before and has been often repeated since, made us almost sob. However, we have it tagged for re-reading, on the hope that it can't be merely good as it appears and that another reading will give much more enjoyment. We haven't even read Beyond the Great Oblivion yet, although we've had the latest FFM for a month. If Miss Gnaedinger would give assurances that The Afterglow would be published within a year, we might save it, and read the three consecutively. Little hope of that, unfortunately. THE REBEL SOUL: 4. Another that didn't click completely, but if this were the general run of fantasy, it would be far too good to be true. The same kick about sequels; it's naturally better not to publish connected stories one after another, but to wait a year or more is entirely too long. We'd much prefer to see sequels to stories published at six month intervals, and if this made for too many sequels, omission of so many stories with codas would nicely solve the problem. Incidentally, we've always meant to tell Art Widner that one of our mutual correspondents thinks Art is the spittin' image of this guy in the lead illustration, and vice versa. HALF PAST TWELVE IN ETERNITY: 4. As we recall, reception to this was hardly enthusiastic. We liked it a lot, but most people have a grudge against all stories about fellows who are dead and don't know it. In order: The Rebel Soul, Darkness and Dawn, and 12:30 in Eternity. The autobiography reminds that this is perhaps the only instance to date of a fantasy author dying without fans somehow finding out about it. And the editorial makes us wonder why all prozines don't list all stories in order of preference; the authors have been paid for them, and shouldn't mind much if their efforts end up last.  The editor, who buys the stories, knows whose work is liked least, and the readers might as well be made aware of the truth. One of the letters in the letter section, no one has pointed out, is from Willie Conover's brother.

Fantastic Novels: Sept. 1940. THE PEOPLE OF THE GOLDEN ATOM: 3. That too is heresy, but we can't help it. The whole series of stories by Cummings just hasn't held up over the years, not even so well as Burroughs', and the repetitions of the same theme over and over again have nothing to do with the dislike. They stand out a bit for the names of the characters -- Very Young Man, and so on --

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3 HORIZONS A YEAR OF REPRINTS Fantastic Novels: July, 1940. Cover: 4. It was a beautiful bit of shading and fine lay-out. However, the art-work just misses making it worthy of a 5, and besides the whole lay-out is a little spoiled by the flare effect of the title of the magazine. THE BLIND SPOT: 5. We have read about half of it three times and the whole thing twice -- that is, we read it up to its breaking-off in FFM, and then read the whole thing twice in Fantastic Novels. Like so many other stories which are more or less great up to a certain point and then suddenly collapse, the final pages of this are a bit less than inspired. You almost have to wish that the story had ended somewhere around page 100 of the Fantastic Novels version; the air of strangeness and mystery lags around that point. It is one of the few "classics" we weren't at all disappointed in, at any rate, and one of the finest pieces of writing -- especially the first half -- ever to appear in pulp magazines. MONSIEUR DE GUISE: 2. Pitiful, after the Hall-Flint story. No need to list the stories in order, this time! And yes, the editorial was sufficient. Incidentally, isn't it unquestionably true that this issue of FN cost less to get out than any issue of any pro stfantasy magazine so far? There was not a single word of paid-for material included; the cover was merely adapted from an illustration that had already appeared in FFM, and without checking, we don't think there are any illustrations inside that hadn't already been used in FFM. Considering that the magazine sold for 20c, and there were three full pages of advertising, there must have been terrific profit. Famous Fantastic Mysteries: August: 1940. Cover: 3. It's pretty poor work for Virgil. However, the unusual technique, and the emphasis on nice blues and greens make it stand out from most covers. DARKNESS AND DAWN: 4. This is a famous one we were grievously disappointed in, though. As we said to D. B. Thompson the other day, we somehow got the impression that the England trilogy was another Last & First Men, or something very nearly approaching that scope. To find the first section of it a rather short novel of the kind that had been told before and has been often repeated since, made us almost sob. However, we have it tagged for re-reading, on the hope that it can't be merely good as it appears and that another reading will give much more enjoyment. We haven't even read Beyond the Great Oblivion yet, although we've had the latest FFM for a month. If Miss Gnaedinger would give assurances that The Afterglow would be published within a year, we might save it, and read the three consecutively. Little hope of that, unfortunately. THE REBEL SOUL: 4. Another that didn't click completely, but if this were the general run of fantasy, it would be far too good to be true. The same kick about sequels; it's naturally better not to publish connected stories one after another, but to wait a year or more is entirely too long. We'd much prefer to see sequels to stories published at six month intervals, and if this made for too many sequels, omission of so many stories with codas would nicely solve the problem. Incidentally, we've always meant to tell Art Widner that one of our mutual correspondents thinks Art is the spittin' image of this guy in the lead illustration, and vice versa. HALF PAST TWELVE IN ETERNITY: 4. As we recall, reception to this was hardly enthusiastic. We liked it a lot, but most people have a grudge against all stories about fellows who are dead and don't know it. In order: The Rebel Soul, Darkness and Dawn, and 12:30 in Eternity. The autobiography reminds that this is perhaps the only instance to date of a fantasy author dying without fans somehow finding out about it. And the editorial makes us wonder why all prozines don't list all stories in order of preference; the authors have been paid for them, and shouldn't mind much if their efforts end up last. The editor, who buys the stories, knows whose work is liked least, and the readers might as well be made aware of the truth. One of the letters in the letter section, no one has pointed out, is from Willie Conover's brother. Fantastic Novels: Sept. 1940. THE PEOPLE OF THE GOLDEN ATOM: 3. That too is heresy, but we can't help it. The whole series of stories by Cummings just hasn't held up over the years, not even so well as Burroughs', and the repetitions of the same theme over and over again have nothing to do with the dislike. They stand out a bit for the names of the characters -- Very Young Man, and so on --