DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Fanfare, v. 2, issue 2, whole no.8, February 1942

Transcribe
Translate

Fanfare, v. 2, issue 2, whole no.8, February 1942

Page 8

8  slan!der

can be written without atmosphere stuff, and once you've had fifty to a hundred stories of that type, you toss UNKNOWN in the coal bin and go back to WEIRD TALES for lack of something better. Campbell's criminal negligence of such writers as Keller and C.A.Smith has been his loss and Wollheim's advantage. The same goes for a policy that excludes such grand stories as "Thirteen O'Clock", "Key to Cornwall", "Words of Guru, and "The Silence."

UNKNOWN needs new writers and a new policy worse than badly. All the stories like "He Shuttles", "It", "None But Lucifer", "Lest Darkness Fall", "Fear", etc, have been written, and the staff authors, having sucked dry the orange of possibilities in the Campbell fruit-bin, are rewriting what has gone before, and submitting non-fantasy stories, like "Not According to Dante", and stock weird stuff like "The Crest of the Wave."

The new size has aggravated rather than improved the situation. The repeated use of even such an excellent use of small circle of authors. The format of UNKNOWN remains the same, and the whole thing is merely an enlarged version of the old magazine; no definite improvement such as BLUE BOOK underwent in its change of size, has become evident.  And in the meanwhile, the market has grown, and the need for new blood has become almost pitiful.  The same old format, the same old policy, the same old authors, the same old blurbs, the same old everything; UNKNOWN can now easily be defined as simply one gigantic repetition.

And both of these points, unfortunately -- and if this be treason, make the most of it! -- can be extended to ASTOUNDING.

The following figures are ASTOUNDING from January 1941 to October 1941:  JAN - MacDonald, Hugi, Walton, Bond, Rachen, Wellman, Grosser, McCann.  FEB - Bond, Miller, Williams, Heinlein, de Camp, Sturgeon, McCan, MacDonald.  MAR - MacDonald, Simak, Thompson, Heinlein, Sturgeon.  APR - Sturgeon, de camp, Asimov, Rachen, Jameson, Miller. MAY - Heinlein, MacDonald, Russell, Phillips and Roberts, Walton.  JUNE - Rocklynne, Sturgeon, Schachner, Jameson, WIlliams, Hunter. JULY - Heinlein, Bester, Bond, Van Vogt, Long, MacDonald, Richardson.  AUG - Schachner, Sturgeon, Gallun, Corson, Heinlein, Ley, Williamson.  SEPT - Asimov, Saunders, Bester, Krulfield, Knight, Jones, de Camp, Heinlein.  OT - MacDonald, Asimov, Heinlein, Narks, Sturgeon.

Heinlein - under his own and the MacDonald name -- had two serials, two short stories, and five novelettes since the beginning of the year. An estimated total of 237,000 words in ten months! Considering the penames, ASTOUNDING was virtually written by twelve people.  Add up all those names underscored and see for yourself.  (Underscores indicate authors who have repeated in the magazine during that time, and their pseudonyms.)

Completely ignoring the staleness that comes from reading one author's stuff, month in and month out, let's consider a more important threat to the existence of ASF and UNKNOWN - the loss of

Saving...

8 slan!der can be written without atmosphere stuff, and once you've had fifty to a hundred stories of that type, you toss UNKNOWN in the coal bin and go back to WEIRD TALES for lack of something better. Campbell's criminal negligence of such writers as Keller and C.A.Smith has been his loss and Wollheim's advantage. The same goes for a policy that excludes such grand stories as "Thirteen O'Clock", "Key to Cornwall", "Words of Guru, and "The Silence." UNKNOWN needs new writers and a new policy worse than badly. All the stories like "He Shuttles", "It", "None But Lucifer", "Lest Darkness Fall", "Fear", etc, have been written, and the staff authors, having sucked dry the orange of possibilities in the Campbell fruit-bin, are rewriting what has gone before, and submitting non-fantasy stories, like "Not According to Dante", and stock weird stuff like "The Crest of the Wave." The new size has aggravated rather than improved the situation. The repeated use of even such an excellent use of small circle of authors. The format of UNKNOWN remains the same, and the whole thing is merely an enlarged version of the old magazine; no definite improvement such as BLUE BOOK underwent in its change of size, has become evident. And in the meanwhile, the market has grown, and the need for new blood has become almost pitiful. The same old format, the same old policy, the same old authors, the same old blurbs, the same old everything; UNKNOWN can now easily be defined as simply one gigantic repetition. And both of these points, unfortunately -- and if this be treason, make the most of it! -- can be extended to ASTOUNDING. The following figures are ASTOUNDING from January 1941 to October 1941: JAN - MacDonald, Hugi, Walton, Bond, Rachen, Wellman, Grosser, McCann. FEB - Bond, Miller, Williams, Heinlein, de Camp, Sturgeon, McCan, MacDonald. MAR - MacDonald, Simak, Thompson, Heinlein, Sturgeon. APR - Sturgeon, de camp, Asimov, Rachen, Jameson, Miller. MAY - Heinlein, MacDonald, Russell, Phillips and Roberts, Walton. JUNE - Rocklynne, Sturgeon, Schachner, Jameson, WIlliams, Hunter. JULY - Heinlein, Bester, Bond, Van Vogt, Long, MacDonald, Richardson. AUG - Schachner, Sturgeon, Gallun, Corson, Heinlein, Ley, Williamson. SEPT - Asimov, Saunders, Bester, Krulfield, Knight, Jones, de Camp, Heinlein. OT - MacDonald, Asimov, Heinlein, Narks, Sturgeon. Heinlein - under his own and the MacDonald name -- had two serials, two short stories, and five novelettes since the beginning of the year. An estimated total of 237,000 words in ten months! Considering the penames, ASTOUNDING was virtually written by twelve people. Add up all those names underscored and see for yourself. (Underscores indicate authors who have repeated in the magazine during that time, and their pseudonyms.) Completely ignoring the staleness that comes from reading one author's stuff, month in and month out, let's consider a more important threat to the existence of ASF and UNKNOWN - the loss of