DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Sci-Fic Variety, issue 4 and issue 5, December 1941 and March 1942

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Sci-Fic Variety, issue 4 and issue 5, December 1941 and March 1942

Page 2

(2)
CROW AND CURRY     Robert W. Lowndes

It's been just about a year now. Just about twelvemonths since, somewhat starry-eyed and very hopeful, I started to work on Future and the Quarterly. I'm still starry-eyed, in a way, but not quite as naive about it. And a little better than just hopeful.

You see, I've been checking over all the letters, rechecking my rating sheets thru a systematic calculation of comments favorable, unfavorable, and indifferent, and a final check with circulation figures. These last are the most behind times; as I write this, I have the final ratings on the December book, but the circulation figues on the October issue are not all in yet. But these last seem to agree with the general tone of the letters and the ratings, which is definitely a hopeful sign. It means that I can depend pretty well upon the readers' letters as an adequate guide to action.

The system I use is quite simple, but rather effective. Items are rated as: 1st place, like very much, liked, indifferent, disliked, or phew! I have marks for each classification: 1, v, a plus sign, /, -, 0 respectively, and, when I ad up the scores, they rate 10, 10, 5, 0 , -5 and -10 respectively. For simplification I give the final product A, B, C, D, or X respectively with plus signs for those which almost make the next bracket. 10 is A; 8-9 is B; 4-7 is C; 1-3 is D; and 0 or below is X. That A rating is very rare. It means that everyone who commented upon the story thought it excellent... and there haven't been very many of those tales. More frequent, i'm happy to say is the B, which is what happens when a yarn gets a nice long list of 1 or v signs, but few readers just say good. The grade C story is a good tale, and high C means it was definitely an asset. The D rating is no real disgrace, because it means that more readers liked than disliked the yarn, but it's a black mark against me nontheless. While the X rating means bust and no fooling. I am happy to see there have not been many of these.

Three items go to make up an issue in my final rating of the issue as a whole. The stories; the departments, and the cover and artwork . Each individual artist is listed on my rating-sheet (the cover seperately, of course) so I can tell at a glance whether he's improving steadily, standing still, slipping or what not. And I have filing cards for each author: every story is listed, with the issue in which it appeared and the order in which it came out noted, as well as it's individual final score. That last is important, because just 2/7 dosn't necessarily mean much, for example, unless we know how it stood absolutely. A 2/7 (7.2) for example means that the tale came out 2nd place and rated a C plus. If it were 6/7 and still received that (7.1) then it wouldn't be held against the author; twould mean that while his yarn was quite good, the others in the same book were much better. On the other hand, if the tale were 2/7 with a rating of (3), then I'd know that I had slipped badly that time.

So far, the best liked cover has been the one Forte drew for "The Barbarians" on the August issue, with Bok's "Pogo Planet" for October a close second. Running third is Paul's cover for "30th Century Duel". On the interiors, Dolgov is in the lead with Bok close behind. But that's mainly because Hannes had more drawings, some of which had to be done in a hurry and which did not come out well. As far as the general tone of letters go, it's the other way around:Dolgy is the close second. Forte is very close behind, almost tied for second place. (And my personal opinion is that his cover on the April issue will be liked better than his first one. I'll have to eat[[?]] more crow later if I"m wrong. )

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(2) CROW AND CURRY Robert W. Lowndes It's been just about a year now. Just about twelvemonths since, somewhat starry-eyed and very hopeful, I started to work on Future and the Quarterly. I'm still starry-eyed, in a way, but not quite as naive about it. And a little better than just hopeful. You see, I've been checking over all the letters, rechecking my rating sheets thru a systematic calculation of comments favorable, unfavorable, and indifferent, and a final check with circulation figures. These last are the most behind times; as I write this, I have the final ratings on the December book, but the circulation figues on the October issue are not all in yet. But these last seem to agree with the general tone of the letters and the ratings, which is definitely a hopeful sign. It means that I can depend pretty well upon the readers' letters as an adequate guide to action. The system I use is quite simple, but rather effective. Items are rated as: 1st place, like very much, liked, indifferent, disliked, or phew! I have marks for each classification: 1, v, a plus sign, /, -, 0 respectively, and, when I ad up the scores, they rate 10, 10, 5, 0 , -5 and -10 respectively. For simplification I give the final product A, B, C, D, or X respectively with plus signs for those which almost make the next bracket. 10 is A; 8-9 is B; 4-7 is C; 1-3 is D; and 0 or below is X. That A rating is very rare. It means that everyone who commented upon the story thought it excellent... and there haven't been very many of those tales. More frequent, i'm happy to say is the B, which is what happens when a yarn gets a nice long list of 1 or v signs, but few readers just say good. The grade C story is a good tale, and high C means it was definitely an asset. The D rating is no real disgrace, because it means that more readers liked than disliked the yarn, but it's a black mark against me nontheless. While the X rating means bust and no fooling. I am happy to see there have not been many of these. Three items go to make up an issue in my final rating of the issue as a whole. The stories; the departments, and the cover and artwork . Each individual artist is listed on my rating-sheet (the cover seperately, of course) so I can tell at a glance whether he's improving steadily, standing still, slipping or what not. And I have filing cards for each author: every story is listed, with the issue in which it appeared and the order in which it came out noted, as well as it's individual final score. That last is important, because just 2/7 dosn't necessarily mean much, for example, unless we know how it stood absolutely. A 2/7 (7.2) for example means that the tale came out 2nd place and rated a C plus. If it were 6/7 and still received that (7.1) then it wouldn't be held against the author; twould mean that while his yarn was quite good, the others in the same book were much better. On the other hand, if the tale were 2/7 with a rating of (3), then I'd know that I had slipped badly that time. So far, the best liked cover has been the one Forte drew for "The Barbarians" on the August issue, with Bok's "Pogo Planet" for October a close second. Running third is Paul's cover for "30th Century Duel". On the interiors, Dolgov is in the lead with Bok close behind. But that's mainly because Hannes had more drawings, some of which had to be done in a hurry and which did not come out well. As far as the general tone of letters go, it's the other way around:Dolgy is the close second. Forte is very close behind, almost tied for second place. (And my personal opinion is that his cover on the April issue will be liked better than his first one. I'll have to eat[[?]] more crow later if I"m wrong. )