DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 11, Summer 1946

Transcribe
Translate

Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 11, Summer 1946

Page 287

FANTASY COMMENTATOR     287

Tips on Tales

by
John C. Nitka

Max Ehrmann's A Fearsome Riddle (1901): Professor Whitmore, the central character of this novel, received his doctor's degree from the University of Berlin, and thereafter spent some time searching through libraries in European seats of learning before returning to his native America. Back in the United States, he accepts a professorship in mathematics---his specialty---at a southern college. The professor is engrossed by the theory that life itself is governed by a mathematical principle, a definite time-rhythm accounting for animal habits. He experiments on birds, lower animals, and finally upon himself, attempting to adjust his sleeping period so that he will awaken ten minutes later each day. By using morphia injections and then chloroform, he eventually reaches the point at which he sleeps just ten minutes short of twenty-four hours a day. If his reasoning is correct, he is at that point when the body should awake and fall asleep again at the same instant---which would mean, of course, that sleep would continue until the organism died of natural causes. He sleeps---but when twenty-four hours have elapsed the professor stirs, and sighs deeply. There was no pulse in his arm--- he would indeed sleep forever.... Both the age and obscurity of Ehrmann's book make a little attention to it timely, but once definitely classed in the fantasy kingdom my advice is to let A Fearsome Riddle rest in peace.

Anne Douglas Sedgwick's Third Window (1920): A veteran of World War I returnsto his home, picking up the threads of his former life as best he can. During the war his best friend has been killed, and he courts the man's widow, with whom he had always secretly been in love. But the courtship is hindered by the ghost of the dead husband, whose spirit still lingers about. A seance, conducted by the cousin of the dead man, unnerves the widow considerably, and her nerves start to disintegrate. One night, by accident or design, she takes an overdose of sedative and passes away.... This overlong short story, though though mildly interesting as a dilute psychological counterpart of Wuthering Heights, drags very sadly in spots, and never reaches a high pitch of excitement.

Stanton A. Coblentz' When the Birds Fly South (1945): A group of explorers is passing through a lonely section of the Afganistan Mountains, when one of their number has a sudden impulse to climb a nearby peak. Enlisting the company of a companion, he trudges wearily toward their goal. In a fog which arises suddenly the two men become separated, and the first explorer's companion manages to reach the main party after fruitless searching. The first, however, breaks his ankle and after spending a painful night alone on the mountainside is found by a group of natives. They take him to their settlement, and nurse him back to health. He stays with this unknown people, and eventually falls in love with one of the girls there. Only through ruses does he finally achieve his goal of marrying her. He arrived in Spring, and by now Fall has come. Mysteriously, now, all of the people disappear into thin air, one by one. The explorer manages to survive the winter, and with Spring the people reappear again as suddenly as they left. He remains happily with his wife and them, but determines that his wife shall stay with him when the next Winter arrives. His pleadings prevail, and she remains behind despite her natural instinct to be with her people. But after all have gone, she pines unhappily, and falls ill. Before Spring she dies. She has disobeyed the gods of her calling, and failed to fly south with the birds... A dreamy, relaxing fantasy, Coblentz' brief novel is one of the brighter spots in the collector's life. When the Birds Fly South has that same atmosphere that
(continued on page 304)

Saving...

FANTASY COMMENTATOR 287 Tips on Tales by John C. Nitka Max Ehrmann's A Fearsome Riddle (1901): Professor Whitmore, the central character of this novel, received his doctor's degree from the University of Berlin, and thereafter spent some time searching through libraries in European seats of learning before returning to his native America. Back in the United States, he accepts a professorship in mathematics---his specialty---at a southern college. The professor is engrossed by the theory that life itself is governed by a mathematical principle, a definite time-rhythm accounting for animal habits. He experiments on birds, lower animals, and finally upon himself, attempting to adjust his sleeping period so that he will awaken ten minutes later each day. By using morphia injections and then chloroform, he eventually reaches the point at which he sleeps just ten minutes short of twenty-four hours a day. If his reasoning is correct, he is at that point when the body should awake and fall asleep again at the same instant---which would mean, of course, that sleep would continue until the organism died of natural causes. He sleeps---but when twenty-four hours have elapsed the professor stirs, and sighs deeply. There was no pulse in his arm--- he would indeed sleep forever.... Both the age and obscurity of Ehrmann's book make a little attention to it timely, but once definitely classed in the fantasy kingdom my advice is to let A Fearsome Riddle rest in peace. Anne Douglas Sedgwick's Third Window (1920): A veteran of World War I returnsto his home, picking up the threads of his former life as best he can. During the war his best friend has been killed, and he courts the man's widow, with whom he had always secretly been in love. But the courtship is hindered by the ghost of the dead husband, whose spirit still lingers about. A seance, conducted by the cousin of the dead man, unnerves the widow considerably, and her nerves start to disintegrate. One night, by accident or design, she takes an overdose of sedative and passes away.... This overlong short story, though though mildly interesting as a dilute psychological counterpart of Wuthering Heights, drags very sadly in spots, and never reaches a high pitch of excitement. Stanton A. Coblentz' When the Birds Fly South (1945): A group of explorers is passing through a lonely section of the Afganistan Mountains, when one of their number has a sudden impulse to climb a nearby peak. Enlisting the company of a companion, he trudges wearily toward their goal. In a fog which arises suddenly the two men become separated, and the first explorer's companion manages to reach the main party after fruitless searching. The first, however, breaks his ankle and after spending a painful night alone on the mountainside is found by a group of natives. They take him to their settlement, and nurse him back to health. He stays with this unknown people, and eventually falls in love with one of the girls there. Only through ruses does he finally achieve his goal of marrying her. He arrived in Spring, and by now Fall has come. Mysteriously, now, all of the people disappear into thin air, one by one. The explorer manages to survive the winter, and with Spring the people reappear again as suddenly as they left. He remains happily with his wife and them, but determines that his wife shall stay with him when the next Winter arrives. His pleadings prevail, and she remains behind despite her natural instinct to be with her people. But after all have gone, she pines unhappily, and falls ill. Before Spring she dies. She has disobeyed the gods of her calling, and failed to fly south with the birds... A dreamy, relaxing fantasy, Coblentz' brief novel is one of the brighter spots in the collector's life. When the Birds Fly South has that same atmosphere that (continued on page 304)