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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 1, December 1943

Page 14

14
FANTASY COMMENTATOR

of that Sahara animal's decision to visit a respectable English vicarage in the dead of winter, and wend your way merrily along to Robert Cochran's "Foot of the Giant", wherein a fingernail the size of a tortoiseshell proves the existence of one of homo sapiens' oversized relatives. Then "No Dawn" relates certain happenings on one morning when the sun didn't rise, while "The Night Before" is of the fantasy-horror slant, and good, too.

Toward the middle of the volume we encounter "John Duffy's Brother", a fellow who imagines himself a railway train---complete with cars! Following this the adventures of the amphibious Luke Hawkins are told in "The Man-Fish of North Creek". The editor himself is represented by "The Night of the Gran Baile Mascara", whose dream-like pathology will give many readers a perceptible shudder. And if you'd care for another one of the latter, try the penultimate selection, "The Arbutus Collar".

Amid the refreshing variety offered in this collection each reader will doubtless find one or more personal favorites; I have picked Michael Fessier's "That's What Happened to Me" for mine; its wistful sincerity is certain, if only momentarily, to bring back those schoolday daydreams of your own that were somehow more real than many realities. In short, each of the seventeen selections offered is a memorable one. The authors' styles are at wide variance, yet never dull, and within the imaginative world of each tale you will find ample recompence for a "willing suspension of disbelief". And the anthology's other-worldly qualities are deftly pointed by the appropriate drawings of Carlotta Petrina.

Two Bottles of Relish is more than merely a good book for your library: it is an ideal prescription to counteract that hungry-for-more feeling you had when the last copy of Unknown Worlds, read from cover to cover, was sadly and reluctantly filed away. A better anthology of fantasy may appear in 1944, but unless John Collier has been exceedingly busy at his short story loom your reviewer was lay heavy odds against it.

---oOo---

This-'n'-That -- (continued from page two)

ald Saunders, 84-86 Wellington St., W., Toronto, Ontario, this company being the American outlet for Methuen of England. This title, incidentally, may still be available; Stapledon addicts are therefore urged to apply to their favorite local bookstore and request the latter to order it. Price is $2.50, and well worth every penny; it will probably be the rarest of all Stapledon titles in the future, as I hear it has never been reprinted because of paper shortages. When ordering books from Canada, it is usually better to leave the entire matter in the hands of your local book dealer, who usually absorbs postage, duty, etc., which you would have to pay yourself if you attempted to obtain the book direct. Saunders also had copies of a cheap edition of Last and First Men on hand at $1.25 a year ago, but I believe that this edition is now exhausted.

In commenting on Liebscher's contribution on page fifteen of this number I mentioned the radio program "Suspense"; since this writing the scheduled time of presentation has been changed, so, by way of erratum: beginning December second, "Suspense" will take the air Thursday evenings at eight---there is not a change in the network or station, however. Don't miss it!

While I intend to leave most news of new books to the able reporting of Liebscher, there is just room here to tell of a new anthology of weird tales to be published this coming Spring by Random House. It will contain approximately fifty stories, and will run to over a thousand pages. Its co-editors claim that twenty of its stories have never before been anthologized---but I would advise readers to take that statement with more than the usual few grains of salt.

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14 FANTASY COMMENTATOR of that Sahara animal's decision to visit a respectable English vicarage in the dead of winter, and wend your way merrily along to Robert Cochran's "Foot of the Giant", wherein a fingernail the size of a tortoiseshell proves the existence of one of homo sapiens' oversized relatives. Then "No Dawn" relates certain happenings on one morning when the sun didn't rise, while "The Night Before" is of the fantasy-horror slant, and good, too. Toward the middle of the volume we encounter "John Duffy's Brother", a fellow who imagines himself a railway train---complete with cars! Following this the adventures of the amphibious Luke Hawkins are told in "The Man-Fish of North Creek". The editor himself is represented by "The Night of the Gran Baile Mascara", whose dream-like pathology will give many readers a perceptible shudder. And if you'd care for another one of the latter, try the penultimate selection, "The Arbutus Collar". Amid the refreshing variety offered in this collection each reader will doubtless find one or more personal favorites; I have picked Michael Fessier's "That's What Happened to Me" for mine; its wistful sincerity is certain, if only momentarily, to bring back those schoolday daydreams of your own that were somehow more real than many realities. In short, each of the seventeen selections offered is a memorable one. The authors' styles are at wide variance, yet never dull, and within the imaginative world of each tale you will find ample recompence for a "willing suspension of disbelief". And the anthology's other-worldly qualities are deftly pointed by the appropriate drawings of Carlotta Petrina. Two Bottles of Relish is more than merely a good book for your library: it is an ideal prescription to counteract that hungry-for-more feeling you had when the last copy of Unknown Worlds, read from cover to cover, was sadly and reluctantly filed away. A better anthology of fantasy may appear in 1944, but unless John Collier has been exceedingly busy at his short story loom your reviewer was lay heavy odds against it. ---oOo--- This-'n'-That -- (continued from page two) ald Saunders, 84-86 Wellington St., W., Toronto, Ontario, this company being the American outlet for Methuen of England. This title, incidentally, may still be available; Stapledon addicts are therefore urged to apply to their favorite local bookstore and request the latter to order it. Price is $2.50, and well worth every penny; it will probably be the rarest of all Stapledon titles in the future, as I hear it has never been reprinted because of paper shortages. When ordering books from Canada, it is usually better to leave the entire matter in the hands of your local book dealer, who usually absorbs postage, duty, etc., which you would have to pay yourself if you attempted to obtain the book direct. Saunders also had copies of a cheap edition of Last and First Men on hand at $1.25 a year ago, but I believe that this edition is now exhausted. In commenting on Liebscher's contribution on page fifteen of this number I mentioned the radio program "Suspense"; since this writing the scheduled time of presentation has been changed, so, by way of erratum: beginning December second, "Suspense" will take the air Thursday evenings at eight---there is not a change in the network or station, however. Don't miss it! While I intend to leave most news of new books to the able reporting of Liebscher, there is just room here to tell of a new anthology of weird tales to be published this coming Spring by Random House. It will contain approximately fifty stories, and will run to over a thousand pages. Its co-editors claim that twenty of its stories have never before been anthologized---but I would advise readers to take that statement with more than the usual few grains of salt.