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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 7, Summer 1945
Page 161
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 161 Thumbing the Munsey Files with William H. Evans Argosy magazine for August of 1905 began an important serial which ran for five numbers, William Wallace Cook's "Marooned in 1492." Professor Percival Tapscott develops a planet whose seeds have the peculiar property of projecting backwards in time anyone who eats them. He and two friends try them, going back to 1492, where they meet Columbus; at the end of the September installment the three are captives of the Moors. Although somewhat melodramatic, the story is quite interesting. In the September issue is also a tale of average quality but of historical importance---"Professor Jenkin's Cannibal Plant"---this being one of the first botanical stories. It descrives how an enormous animal-eating pitcher plant is grown by artificial means, and its author is Howard R. Garis. The July, 1905 Allstory had a minor short by C. Whittier Tate; in "The Thread of Chance" a penniless young playboy is about to commit suicide when a burglar stops him and stakes him to a chance at roulette. He wins, and returns to discover that the burglar was a ghost. In the same magazine for August was an interesting "Isle of the Blessed" type of story but J. Aubrey Tyson. In "Harbor of Living Dead" he tells of a strange island in mid-Atlantic visited by all ships that come within its sphere of influence, but forgotten by everyone after leaving it. Here are the passengers and crews of ships that has disappeared at sea, now eternally youthful---but never able to leave the island. Frank Vantyse, however, retains memory of the place, due to a seasickness remedy he has taken, and returns to rescue successfully the girl with whom he has fallen in love. The tale is quite well told and makes enjoyable reading. Blue Book magazine offered George Allan England's "Time Reflector" in its September, 1905 issue. Here, Adolph Baum builds a super-telescope to catch the light reflected back from the heavenly bodies so that he can see the past. His friend kills him and destroys the apparatus, however, when it reveals that Baum had murdered his friend's fiancée. Ten years later Argosy, still a monthly, offered one of Edgar Franklin's Hawkins stories---a revival of an old friend. In "Hawkins-Heat" (which appeared in the August number) the eccentric inventor is trying to sell his invention that uses Trihawkinsdinitrocarbopyrogen as a heating device when the process gets out of control and events culminate in an amusing mess. In the same number is James Francis Dwyer's "Froth of Dreams," a semi-mystical tale about a pair of ancient anklets, originally made for an Egyptian temple-dancer, which have the power of making the wearer---if she is only a good dancer---into a great one. John Hemingway, an archeologist, discovers an Arab dancer wearing them. He follows her about, enchanted by the anklets and by her dancing. When her jealous lover kills her and then himself Hemingway gets the anklets, only to go insane; finally this unusual tale ends as he returns them to the girl's ghost. In September readers met with Ralph T. Yates' "Peculiar Cruise of the Tortoise," which is all about a mysterious ship that crosses the Atlantic in 24 hours; in the end it turns out to have been a hoax, however. Allstory had a very good---and historically important---tale in its July 3, 1915 issue: "Terror Island" by Alex Shell Briscoe. This is one of the earliest uses of the size-changing theme. A mysterious ray enables an inventor to reduce his secretary and a big-game hunter to the size of insects so that they can secure details of insect life. He plans to put them on a small island in a lake with everything they need and keep watch on them. However, just as they are landing he has a heart-attack and dies; all the supplies are lost, too, when the boat capsizes. The two midget-sized humans survive and are eventually restored to natural size.
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 161 Thumbing the Munsey Files with William H. Evans Argosy magazine for August of 1905 began an important serial which ran for five numbers, William Wallace Cook's "Marooned in 1492." Professor Percival Tapscott develops a planet whose seeds have the peculiar property of projecting backwards in time anyone who eats them. He and two friends try them, going back to 1492, where they meet Columbus; at the end of the September installment the three are captives of the Moors. Although somewhat melodramatic, the story is quite interesting. In the September issue is also a tale of average quality but of historical importance---"Professor Jenkin's Cannibal Plant"---this being one of the first botanical stories. It descrives how an enormous animal-eating pitcher plant is grown by artificial means, and its author is Howard R. Garis. The July, 1905 Allstory had a minor short by C. Whittier Tate; in "The Thread of Chance" a penniless young playboy is about to commit suicide when a burglar stops him and stakes him to a chance at roulette. He wins, and returns to discover that the burglar was a ghost. In the same magazine for August was an interesting "Isle of the Blessed" type of story but J. Aubrey Tyson. In "Harbor of Living Dead" he tells of a strange island in mid-Atlantic visited by all ships that come within its sphere of influence, but forgotten by everyone after leaving it. Here are the passengers and crews of ships that has disappeared at sea, now eternally youthful---but never able to leave the island. Frank Vantyse, however, retains memory of the place, due to a seasickness remedy he has taken, and returns to rescue successfully the girl with whom he has fallen in love. The tale is quite well told and makes enjoyable reading. Blue Book magazine offered George Allan England's "Time Reflector" in its September, 1905 issue. Here, Adolph Baum builds a super-telescope to catch the light reflected back from the heavenly bodies so that he can see the past. His friend kills him and destroys the apparatus, however, when it reveals that Baum had murdered his friend's fiancée. Ten years later Argosy, still a monthly, offered one of Edgar Franklin's Hawkins stories---a revival of an old friend. In "Hawkins-Heat" (which appeared in the August number) the eccentric inventor is trying to sell his invention that uses Trihawkinsdinitrocarbopyrogen as a heating device when the process gets out of control and events culminate in an amusing mess. In the same number is James Francis Dwyer's "Froth of Dreams," a semi-mystical tale about a pair of ancient anklets, originally made for an Egyptian temple-dancer, which have the power of making the wearer---if she is only a good dancer---into a great one. John Hemingway, an archeologist, discovers an Arab dancer wearing them. He follows her about, enchanted by the anklets and by her dancing. When her jealous lover kills her and then himself Hemingway gets the anklets, only to go insane; finally this unusual tale ends as he returns them to the girl's ghost. In September readers met with Ralph T. Yates' "Peculiar Cruise of the Tortoise," which is all about a mysterious ship that crosses the Atlantic in 24 hours; in the end it turns out to have been a hoax, however. Allstory had a very good---and historically important---tale in its July 3, 1915 issue: "Terror Island" by Alex Shell Briscoe. This is one of the earliest uses of the size-changing theme. A mysterious ray enables an inventor to reduce his secretary and a big-game hunter to the size of insects so that they can secure details of insect life. He plans to put them on a small island in a lake with everything they need and keep watch on them. However, just as they are landing he has a heart-attack and dies; all the supplies are lost, too, when the boat capsizes. The two midget-sized humans survive and are eventually restored to natural size.
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