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Phanteur, whole no. 1, January 1946
Page 14
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14 PHANTEUR But, because of the great disparity of population, relatively little Canadian money reaches the USA; so little in fact, that it isn’t worth the trouble of handling exchange, except at a few border points. Most American merchants don’t know the exchange rate. I’ve never even seen any Canadian currency, alho I've often received and spent Canadian coins having a value of 25 cents or less. Such coins circulate quite freely in Nebraska, for example, and no one pays any attention to the discount. But such carelessness would be very costly if the same system were applied to currency. Another contributing cause, no doubt, is the fact that "city slickers” have often made a business of buying Canadian currency at the regular exchange rate, and then passing it off on unsuspecting suckers at face value in American money. I like the comments on "The Picture of Dorian Gray." I had a rather misty idea along the same line, and you brought it into focus. MILTY’S MAG (July and October issues): Milty’s accounts of his World Tour, courtesy U. S. Army, are always lively and interesting. I don't know just what it is, but these personalized accounts of four-months-old news are remarkably entertaining. Paris, Naples, Pompeii — we’ve read about them all our lives, in books and magazines and newspapers. The atom-bomb and its significance for the future have been featured in periodicals for months. But Milty's hastily recorded thoughts are almost as fresh as if the subjects were brand new. PHANTASPHERE: This time I like it. The cover pic is very clever indeed, and Moulton’s satirical verses on the stupid suggestions for handling the atom bomb problem could hardly be improved upon. LIGHT: Certainly makes the best impression of any issue I've seen to date. The new typer undoubtedly has a lot to do with this apparent improvement; the awful mess the old one made caused even the best material to look bad. Putting part of the ’zine on each typer serves to emphasize the handicap you were working under previously. Best item is "Poker Game,” with "Light Flashes" also showing up very well. WALT’S WRAMBLINGS; I saw the Review of "Novels of Science' reprinted here some time ago. I haven’t read "Before the Dawn", but on the basis of the remaining three, I must say that I’ll have to agree with the Reviewer in one thing at least; that is, DAW certainly failed to make out a good case for science fiction with this selection. Well’s "First Men in the Moon," while good, is far from HGW’s best, and is badly dated. A modern interplanetary, even one of less literary value, would probably have been better, especially if it were one in which the general reader could see evidences of its relation to stuff he has been reading in the paper lately. "Odd John" I don’t like, although I agree with the opinion that from a literary standpoint it is well ahead of regular fan fare. But the book makes too sharp a break with the taboos of the current social setup to be at all palatable to the newcomer to the field, even though the indifferent superman traits of Odd John himself might be accepted without too much question. As for "The Shadow Out of Time," whatever its other qualities may be, it is a very poor choice for a story to show the truth or reality to be found in science fiction. As Warner said in a recent letter to me, "It just isn’t science fiction." Instead, it is a rather better-than-average horror story, embellished with modern, pseudo-scientific trappings. However, the reviewer goes much farther into the matter than this, he condemns the whole spirit of science fiction; moreover, he has an extremely narrow concept of the meaning of the term science fiction. He makes it painfully clear that, had he read a story involving atomic energy at some time previous to the destruction of Hiroshima, he would have considered the story to be simply the wild imaginings of a screwball with no conception of the true meaning and dignity of science. In conclusion, I should say that DAW's selection, while acceptable to the fan, probably tends to strengthen, rather than weaken the popular notion that our favorite type of reading matter is "an insult to the intellect." FANTASTS' FOLLY: This hilarious account indicates that British fans in the mass are likely to behave much like the American variety — except for one thing;
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14 PHANTEUR But, because of the great disparity of population, relatively little Canadian money reaches the USA; so little in fact, that it isn’t worth the trouble of handling exchange, except at a few border points. Most American merchants don’t know the exchange rate. I’ve never even seen any Canadian currency, alho I've often received and spent Canadian coins having a value of 25 cents or less. Such coins circulate quite freely in Nebraska, for example, and no one pays any attention to the discount. But such carelessness would be very costly if the same system were applied to currency. Another contributing cause, no doubt, is the fact that "city slickers” have often made a business of buying Canadian currency at the regular exchange rate, and then passing it off on unsuspecting suckers at face value in American money. I like the comments on "The Picture of Dorian Gray." I had a rather misty idea along the same line, and you brought it into focus. MILTY’S MAG (July and October issues): Milty’s accounts of his World Tour, courtesy U. S. Army, are always lively and interesting. I don't know just what it is, but these personalized accounts of four-months-old news are remarkably entertaining. Paris, Naples, Pompeii — we’ve read about them all our lives, in books and magazines and newspapers. The atom-bomb and its significance for the future have been featured in periodicals for months. But Milty's hastily recorded thoughts are almost as fresh as if the subjects were brand new. PHANTASPHERE: This time I like it. The cover pic is very clever indeed, and Moulton’s satirical verses on the stupid suggestions for handling the atom bomb problem could hardly be improved upon. LIGHT: Certainly makes the best impression of any issue I've seen to date. The new typer undoubtedly has a lot to do with this apparent improvement; the awful mess the old one made caused even the best material to look bad. Putting part of the ’zine on each typer serves to emphasize the handicap you were working under previously. Best item is "Poker Game,” with "Light Flashes" also showing up very well. WALT’S WRAMBLINGS; I saw the Review of "Novels of Science' reprinted here some time ago. I haven’t read "Before the Dawn", but on the basis of the remaining three, I must say that I’ll have to agree with the Reviewer in one thing at least; that is, DAW certainly failed to make out a good case for science fiction with this selection. Well’s "First Men in the Moon," while good, is far from HGW’s best, and is badly dated. A modern interplanetary, even one of less literary value, would probably have been better, especially if it were one in which the general reader could see evidences of its relation to stuff he has been reading in the paper lately. "Odd John" I don’t like, although I agree with the opinion that from a literary standpoint it is well ahead of regular fan fare. But the book makes too sharp a break with the taboos of the current social setup to be at all palatable to the newcomer to the field, even though the indifferent superman traits of Odd John himself might be accepted without too much question. As for "The Shadow Out of Time," whatever its other qualities may be, it is a very poor choice for a story to show the truth or reality to be found in science fiction. As Warner said in a recent letter to me, "It just isn’t science fiction." Instead, it is a rather better-than-average horror story, embellished with modern, pseudo-scientific trappings. However, the reviewer goes much farther into the matter than this, he condemns the whole spirit of science fiction; moreover, he has an extremely narrow concept of the meaning of the term science fiction. He makes it painfully clear that, had he read a story involving atomic energy at some time previous to the destruction of Hiroshima, he would have considered the story to be simply the wild imaginings of a screwball with no conception of the true meaning and dignity of science. In conclusion, I should say that DAW's selection, while acceptable to the fan, probably tends to strengthen, rather than weaken the popular notion that our favorite type of reading matter is "an insult to the intellect." FANTASTS' FOLLY: This hilarious account indicates that British fans in the mass are likely to behave much like the American variety — except for one thing;
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