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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 9, Winter 1945-1946
Page 218
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218 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Thumbing the Munsey Files with William H. Evans Argosy for March, 1906 offered another of Howard R. Garris' biological fancies in "Professor Jonkin and his Busier Bees"; here the professor succeeds in cross-breeding bees with fireflies, producing hybrid insects that can gather honey at night as well as during the day. Humorous mishaps follow, and are described in amusing fashion. In the same issue of the magazine was "41 Nights of Mystery" by Guy Chase Hazzard. A comet, passing close to the earth, draws off all its electric power, leaving civilization very much crippled---although not as badly as it would have today. In spite of all attempts to find remedies, nothing can be done until the comet leaves forty-one days later. The tale is quite good, considering its period. The February, 1906 issue of All-Story magazine carried an amusing fantasy by W. B. Finney, "The Buyer of Time." It concerns a man who sells a day of his time and discovers himself living a day behind everybody else. The conclusion leaves the reader up in the air. Allstory-Cavalier Weekly started off 1916 by offering two "different" stories in the January 1st number. One was E. A. Morphy's short tale "The Astrogen Waistcoat," which describes the trial flight of "a life-preserver for use in planes which uses the new, very buoyant gas 'astrogen'." More important and interesting, however, is Victor Rosseau's "Sea Demons," a four-part serial novel. Strange creatures from beneath the sea attack humanity, guided by the traditional mad scientist bent on revenge. A British submarine finds the home of the "queen" of these beings---who are, incidentally, much like bees in their social system---and by finally controlling her succeed in thwarting the invasion. Although the novel as a whole is good, its scientific background is inadequate. The cover of the January 9, 1926 Argosy bears an illustration for Fred MacIssac's four-part serial "The Vanishing Professor." Dr. Frank Leonard, professor of chemistry and physics at Omega College, invents a device that renders him invisible, and, since academic workers are notoriously underpaid, he decides on using it to "borrow" funds from a local bank and thus set himself up in the stock market. The plot is complicated by a former student who steals the invention and a gang of thieves which is also after it; the ensuing cops-and-robbers chase makes exciting reading, the story finally ending on a happy note with Professor Leonard marrying a rich heiress. The next week Argosy presented one of Paul L. Anderson's cave-man stories, "The Trampling Horde." This describes the first taming of wolves, and a meeting between the cave-men and the last of the Neanderthals; it is excellently done. Readers may be interested in other tales in the series which preceeded it: the names and dates of publication are as follows--- "Son of the Red God" Jan. 31, 1920 "Lord of the Winged Death" Mar. 6, 1920 "Cave that Swims on the Water" May 8, 1920 "Master of Magic" July 17, 1920 "Wings of the Snow" Aug. 28, 1920 "Up from the Abyss" Mar. 22, 1924 On February 6, 1926 MacIssac started yet another serial, this time a five-part novel published anonymously. "The Seal of Satan" tells of millionaire Hudson Grant's selling his soul to Satan in exchange for being rescued from death by thirst on a raft in mid-Atlantic. Transported to Brazil, he becomes involved in a struggle for control of a vast plantation, falling in love with the owner's daughter. She became his bride after casting out the devil. Two issues later Richard Barry's five-part serial novel of fantasy, "Sea Lure," began. Three survivors of shipwreck find in the Sargasso Sea a colony of castaways and their descendants who calls themselves the Society of Con- (concluded on page 233)
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218 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Thumbing the Munsey Files with William H. Evans Argosy for March, 1906 offered another of Howard R. Garris' biological fancies in "Professor Jonkin and his Busier Bees"; here the professor succeeds in cross-breeding bees with fireflies, producing hybrid insects that can gather honey at night as well as during the day. Humorous mishaps follow, and are described in amusing fashion. In the same issue of the magazine was "41 Nights of Mystery" by Guy Chase Hazzard. A comet, passing close to the earth, draws off all its electric power, leaving civilization very much crippled---although not as badly as it would have today. In spite of all attempts to find remedies, nothing can be done until the comet leaves forty-one days later. The tale is quite good, considering its period. The February, 1906 issue of All-Story magazine carried an amusing fantasy by W. B. Finney, "The Buyer of Time." It concerns a man who sells a day of his time and discovers himself living a day behind everybody else. The conclusion leaves the reader up in the air. Allstory-Cavalier Weekly started off 1916 by offering two "different" stories in the January 1st number. One was E. A. Morphy's short tale "The Astrogen Waistcoat," which describes the trial flight of "a life-preserver for use in planes which uses the new, very buoyant gas 'astrogen'." More important and interesting, however, is Victor Rosseau's "Sea Demons," a four-part serial novel. Strange creatures from beneath the sea attack humanity, guided by the traditional mad scientist bent on revenge. A British submarine finds the home of the "queen" of these beings---who are, incidentally, much like bees in their social system---and by finally controlling her succeed in thwarting the invasion. Although the novel as a whole is good, its scientific background is inadequate. The cover of the January 9, 1926 Argosy bears an illustration for Fred MacIssac's four-part serial "The Vanishing Professor." Dr. Frank Leonard, professor of chemistry and physics at Omega College, invents a device that renders him invisible, and, since academic workers are notoriously underpaid, he decides on using it to "borrow" funds from a local bank and thus set himself up in the stock market. The plot is complicated by a former student who steals the invention and a gang of thieves which is also after it; the ensuing cops-and-robbers chase makes exciting reading, the story finally ending on a happy note with Professor Leonard marrying a rich heiress. The next week Argosy presented one of Paul L. Anderson's cave-man stories, "The Trampling Horde." This describes the first taming of wolves, and a meeting between the cave-men and the last of the Neanderthals; it is excellently done. Readers may be interested in other tales in the series which preceeded it: the names and dates of publication are as follows--- "Son of the Red God" Jan. 31, 1920 "Lord of the Winged Death" Mar. 6, 1920 "Cave that Swims on the Water" May 8, 1920 "Master of Magic" July 17, 1920 "Wings of the Snow" Aug. 28, 1920 "Up from the Abyss" Mar. 22, 1924 On February 6, 1926 MacIssac started yet another serial, this time a five-part novel published anonymously. "The Seal of Satan" tells of millionaire Hudson Grant's selling his soul to Satan in exchange for being rescued from death by thirst on a raft in mid-Atlantic. Transported to Brazil, he becomes involved in a struggle for control of a vast plantation, falling in love with the owner's daughter. She became his bride after casting out the devil. Two issues later Richard Barry's five-part serial novel of fantasy, "Sea Lure," began. Three survivors of shipwreck find in the Sargasso Sea a colony of castaways and their descendants who calls themselves the Society of Con- (concluded on page 233)
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