tINI

V

NI CE.AFF-,

o

FORREST J.

ACKERMAN oN

.DESTI NATION

MOON'Hollywood Puts

Space-Flight

on the Screen

o

THOMAS SHERIDAN

on

HUGO

ARTHUR C.

CLARKE on

Spoceships

of Fiction

GERNSBACKPioneer of

Scientifiction

aONB SHILLING fn Canada, & U.S,A.: 25 CENTS

F0RREST J. ACKERMAN reports on

. DESTINATION MOON 'Hollywood.

The cinemagicians of Celluloid Cityhave completed a 240,000-mile trip on aHohman orbit to the crater Harpalus,a pock-mark on the forehead of theman in the Moon- In semi-documen-tary style, and in Technicolor, thisspace-flight of 1960 has been filmed foraudiences of 1950-and the greatestmiracle of all is that Hollywood seemsto have done the job right. There isno girl stowaway, no sabotaging villain,no bug-eyed monsters on the Moon-and no atmosphere there either!

The picture is "Destination Moon,"adapted by the author and Fl,ip vanR,cnkel from the boy's book, "RocketSlip Galileo," by Robert A. Heinlein(Scribner's: '48). The juvenile elementhas been completely eliminated fromthe film, for which Heinlein himselfwas engaged as technical adviser. Hekept cigarette smoke out of emptyspace and candy wrappers ofi the sur-face of the Moon; tre also designed therocket-ship, one beautiful l5-foot modelof which took ten days to construct aba cost close to $600. For more thannine hours a day, six days a week forsix weeks, he kept a watchful eye onthe scientific accuracy of the enterprise.

When the white stars in the back-cloth of space (miniatu-re bulbswrapped in cellophane and strung onnet) photographed with a red halation,they were covered with green so as toshine white. To simulate the magnetic

soles of spacemen's boots, suction cupswere employed. The spacs.suits theywore'! weighed about 100 lbs. And toshow the effect on the passengers of arocket in free fall, a giant gimbal rep-resenting the vessel's interior. was builtfor' $25,000 and so operated that wallsand ceiling could become floor'. Hein-lein took particulal care with theweightless sequences; he wants nowlong-moment laughs from the audi-ence when they see them. "If, in spiteof all our precautions to keep the pic-ture serlous and sober, they stillsnicker," he said, "I'm leavinE for theMoon-on foot !"

Another clever trick tvas worked outto give an illusion of the spacemenlabouring under six gravibies. Trans-parent gauze was placed across theactors' mouths, then pulled taut withinvisible thread, thus distorting theirfeatures to give the efiect of strain. Butthe best illusion of all, to my mind, isthe use of midgets for perspective pur-pos€s; in duplicate, smaller-sized space-suits, and carrying equipment to scale,they subsritute at times for the normal-size actors to give the appearance ofthe Moon explorers at great distances.Eventually the figures were reduced topuppets on table-tops; but if GeorgePaI, the producer, famous for hisPuppetoons, has nsed his skill suffi-ciently, the transition from live actionto animation will never be noticed.

MOONSCAPE BY BONESTELLChesley Bonestell, the astronomical

artist whose painted products antici-pate the effects of the camera's lens,rvas secured to create the Lunar. land-scape. He first made a lemarkablemodel, thirteen feet long, aftel whichstndio technicians reproduced his workon a grand scale-l?3 feet long, 120 feelacross and 25 feeb high. Bonestell is akindly, modest, grey-haired man who

* To make them more easilv dis-tinguishable againsL the Lunar landscape,the suits are of different colours. Thecowr photo shows Tom Powers as Gen-eral f[pyer (lefl,) and Warner Andersonas Dr: Charles Cargraves, leading atomicphysicist of 1960, inside the Moon rocket.

SCIENCE.FANTASY

REVIEWQUARTERLY: ONE SHILLING

Editorial, Advertising and Pub-lishing Ofrce: 115 Wanstead ParkRoad. Ilford, Essex.

EDITOR: WALTER, GILLINGS

Vol. 4, No, lE SPRING '50

was olten to be foirnd on the setsduling the trlming of the live action;and he gave me some interesting side-lights on his part of the book, "TheConquest of Space," which has causedsuch a stir both within and withoutastronautical circles in two countriesi.'"I began my work as a hobby, to amuse^children. Now a netv encyclopedia.'wants to buy some of it. My wife helpsme by making models, which arephotographed and then painted,"

Naturally, all the science f,ctionistsin the vicinity ',vanted to take a look atthe film in the making, and Heinlein-was able to arrange for many visitorsto the nominally closed sets. Henry'Kuttner, his wife Catherine Moore, A.E. van Vogt, and several members of'both the Los Angeles Fantasy Society'and local rocketry organisations wereadmitted. Photographers came fromLife and Mechanix lllustrated, and onone occasion William Cameron Menzies,'director of "Things to Come," was thereto watch tlle rescue-in-space takes.

The television feature, "The City atNight," also visited the sets to make aplogramme which was broaclcast overEILA and lasted the whole of an hour.ft opened with a view of the Earth fail-'ing away beneath the spaceship,followed by a shot of the Moon as thevessel nears the satellite preparatory to,landing. In this case, the visitors werethe man-and-wife interviewing team ofthe programme, who on arrival (with-'out spacesuits) m€t the four explorers

i See Walter Gillings' "Fantasia," thisi$sue.

3

of the fllm. Viewers were also intrro-duced to producer Pal, director IrvingPichel, Heinlein and Bonestell, whosebook was well in sight; while Heinleinhad something to say, in authoritativetones, about the imminence of space-flight.

Veteran director Pichel, too. takes thefilm and its subject quite seriously,though he expressed to me Lris privateopinion that "aU of us will get to theMoon-simultaneousiy and in a millionpieces, propelled by an atomic explosionof the Earth-befor€ a rccket-ship getsthere."

Producer PaI, who years ago made"The Ship of the Ether" in Holland, hassaid that he intends to make a wholeseries of scientifilms, and has indicatedthat he will consider the perenniallypopular Gernsback novel, "Ralph-l24O4l+":i. His attention has alsobeen called to other stories which mayprove suitable for fllming, includingHeinlein's "Space Cadet" (FR, Feb-Mar.'49). Meanwhile, the release of "Des-tination Moon" will be rushed, "to keepahead of reality," and its successfulreception will result in the early fllm-ing of the Balmer-Wylie classic "WhenWorlds Collide." Thele is a possibilitythat this wiII be given a four:dimensional climax, thanks to a pro-cess being perfected by a Los Ang€lesinventor well-known to iocal s-f fans:and, again, it will be in Technicolour.At last, science fiction will beCln tofulfiI its destiny on the screen.

i See page L

-And GE0FFREY GILES sees

Although Hollywood has risen to the,occasion at last, to expect the stage to'utilise the dramatic possibiiities ofspace-flight rvould seem like crying forthe Moon. So far, no established'dramatist has dared to exploit theidea, probably because no producer intfs right mind would take kindly to atheme which not only bristles withdificulties of presentation but de-rnands very careful treatment if it isto be taken seriously bv an audiencewhich naturally associates it with''Flash Goldon" and "Super.rnan"movie ser'ials.

But to F" Fh'ank Pal.ker, a member

SPACE.FLIGHT ON THE STAGEof the former Teddington Cosmos Clubwho has written science fiction and afew one-act plays, it was not tooformidable a task to write a three-actdrama which would put the idea of ajourney into space on the stage for theflrst time. Thr€e years ago, while onthe way over to America on a businesstrip, he settled down to "Goodbye To-morrow," which he finally completedafter eighteen months of sparetimeindustry. Nor did he trave to look farfor a compeLent group of playerswiUing and able to present it, once theywere sold on the idea. Although notone of them had evel encountered the

4

subject outside of the comic strips' hisfellows of the Teddington TheaLre CIubwere prepared to take a chance.

In facb, their Producer, Edward Sin-clair. became quite enthusiastic; sooncomrirunicated his enthusiasm to thecast, and got them rehearsing fhe "in-triguing new play" with as much gustoas they had shown over "Alice inWonderland," their fufthest previousdeparture from tradition. With theresult that the three perforrnancesthey gave at RonaYne Hall, HamptonWick, marked one of their biggest suc-cesses in twentY-three seasons, ofwhich their supporters, no less thanthemselves, will be talking for manymore seasons to come.

The drama, of course, was nocgr€atly concemed with bhe technicalniceties of rocket-flight, nor evenwith a particular destination for thespaceship in whose control-room allthe action took place. Yet it presenteda novel angle on ttre as yet incalculablecontingencies of astronautics withenough conviction to make the climaxefiective rather than merely baffiing.As it turns out, the eight voyagers,trapped in the "tiny metal cocoon"over which tJley have no control (dueto a bit of deviltry by a dischargedmanservant). flnd on returning safelyto Earth that they have completed acircuit of the System which, though itseems only to trave lasted days, hasactually taken "more than a lifetime."Without going into the mathematics ofthe subject, Parker contrives toaccount for this denouement by someclever dialogue between a man of thefuture who greets them in the lastscene and the expiring scientist-abductor, who realises dimly that thespeed at which the vessel has beentravelling for most of its hectic flight,having exceeded that of light, musthave played sorne devastating tricks.

The shocks and sensations of thejourney were more than adequatelyconveyed by the players, in spite oftheir never leaving the safety of theboards upon which they wele requiredto throw themse.lves violentlv severaltimes during each evening. The plausi-bility of the setiing had, too, beenensured by careful labour on the partof the scenic arbist, even if there werepoints which no BIS technician wouldpass and the dialogue indicated a sur-prising laxness in the ticklish operationof landing a rocket-ship on Earth. Hisassistant in the observation room

SKYTARKS OF SPACEThe world's flrst interplanetary

travel bureau has been started bya New York business man, accord-ing to facetious accounts whichappeared in London newspapers.Said the Evening Standard: "AI-ready more than 200 atom-ageflight pioneers have rushed to bookpassages (on) spacs'cruisers whenthey go to the Moon. The bureauhas time-tables worked out for therocket ships Lunarian, Martian,Saturnia and Solar Queen (which)will leave every day, except Sun-days and holidays, from the NewYork'space port' in central Park,starting in March 1975,"

Prices, said another report, wiIIbe announced 'later.' The time-tables include a provision that thespaceline 'cannot be responsiblefor delays caused by meteor show-ers.' But, said an "ofrcial": "Fly-ing to the Moon wiII be as safe asa transcontinental flight - someday."

shouts down to the Professor. at thecontrol levers, to "give her a sideblast." The Professor, anxious enoughalready, seeks elucidation: "Confoundyou! Which side?" Comes ttre answer,pa,t: "The side away from the doors!"

But the principal business of"Goodbye Tomorrow" is to depict thegfiects on a mixed bunch of humans(most unlikely candidates for such aventure, under any other circum-stances) of an unexpected trip into thevoid; and rn this it succeeds only toowell, with many emotional outburstsas violent as rocket explosions. Con-ducting his "social experiment" with-out asking anybody's permission, theelderly scientist takes ofi with a motleycrew: his cantankerous sister, a joblessex-Army major, a couple on the vergeof separation, a simple soul withreligious mania, a young scientist onthe flddle, and a selfish minx. Butafter their terror and indignation havepassed, they pass the time playingparlour games, their personal problemssolved bv the remoteness of theirposition; -and wlren they find them-selves returning to Earth they scarcelyrelish the prospect. How they even-tualiy adapt themselves to the world of2030 A.D. or- thereabouts, dramatistParker leaves to the imagination. Or,perhaps, for due consideration on a"future trip to America.

wa,tter Gilrings' FAITTASIADaily Express ran three-day feature based on "The Conquest of Space," by

Chesley Bonestell and Willy Ley (reviewed last issue), due to see British publicationby Chapman ,& HalI. BIS Journal reviewer Arthur C. Clarke decided: "No betterintroduction to astronautics could possibly be imagined" . Boys' Own Paper tookup the subject in articles by BIS Councillor II. E. Ross; while, in Tit-Bits, AtlantisResearcher Egerton Sykes predicted "Flockets to Moon in Seven Years" . . Coronetfeatured axtist Bonestell's latest notions on "tr{r. Smith Goes to venus" . . . RoberbA. Ileinlein turned up in American Legion Magazine with new tale of "Rebellionon the Moon" Ray Bradbury sent "Ttre ve]dt" to Satevepost; seven days latergot cheque for $1,000 . . . Doubleday will issue volume of "Lancelot Biggs, Spaceman"stories by Nelson Bond, whose "Conqueror's IsIe" was on Radio City's Playhouse . .ceorge O. Smith wrote of flctional villains, or "Flends in Huma,n Form" in Writer'sDig:est, which reported: "Science and fantasy continue to be popular reading trends,with open markets in the pulps . . . Give them some real science background. It isnot enough to take an old detective or Western plot and stick it up in the stars" . . .

Latest pocket-book collection of s-f, "Shot in the Dark" (Bantam, New York:25c.), including ta.les by Sturgeon, Heinlein, Padgett, Leinster, Asimov. etc., editedby Judith Menil . Collection of S. Fowler wright "phantasies" published duringpast thirty years reasseslbled in "The Throne of Saturn," now available from ArkhamIlouse, whence $'ill come volume of M.P. Shiel reprints titled "Xelucha and Others".. . Pellegrini to publish "conjure Wife," by FYitz Leiber, Jr., tale of modern witch-"craft from Unknown Worlds . Avon Fantasy Reader's Donald A. Wollheim iseditor of "Flight into Space," new Fe]l anthology of gYeat interplanetary stories .Another unpublished novelette by John w. Campbell, Jr., "Ftozen HeIl," to appearfrom Fantasy Press in volume lncluding some of his Thrilling wonder stories . , .Former AstoundinE editor F. Orlin Tremaine's "Short Story writing" adopted byUniversity of Vermont as official textbook . . . University of California, Los Angeles,formed flrst campus s-f club, heaxd agent Forrest J. Ackerrnan talk of bearding"Editors in Their Lairs."

New Yorker went to annual party of New York Hydra Club, "outflt composedof writers of the Buck Rogers school," found "crowd consisted largely of menin need of haircuts and ladies in dresses no more strearnlined than the frocks tlatwere in fashion long before the invention of the gas mantle. Sprinkled among themwere a couple of dozen autograph hunters . . . Two s-f writers beside us were agxeeingheartily that cosrnic ra,ys, crystalline mutations and space warps have been done todeath" . Also mourned: 116-year-old New York Sun, originator of ll,ichard AdamLocke's "Moon Hoax," and London's Strand Magazine, promoter of Wells and ConanDoyle . In John o' Irondon's, Fluddick \{illar recalled "The Crack of Doom," byRobertCromie,whichinlS95"foretold...theatomicbomb,...indicated...thabwith it the whole Earth might be destroyed, and that the explosion might evenwreck the entire Solar System" Astronomer Royal H. Spencer Jones reassuredStar readers concerni.ng an "Explosion on Mars," coinciding with scary headlines onthe H-bomb . In spite of declaration by Tru€ magauine that "for past 175years . Earth has been under systematic close-range observation by living, intelligentobserveis from another planet," U.S. Army Air Force abandoned Lwo-year ProjectSaucer, concluding that flying discs are no more than "(1) a misinterpretation ofvarious conventior-ral objects, (2) a mild form of mass hysteria, or (3) hoaxes', . . .

Murray Leinster"s Astounding story, "I'irst Contact," being adapted for U.S.A.radio . . "The Angry Planet," by John Keir Cross, presented by BBC as children'sserial George Ornvell, author "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (S-FR, Autumn '49), diedat 46 after iong illness . "Progress," Evening News short story by Lord Dunsany,told of atomic catastrophe in far universe . Daily Mirror's "Man of To-morrow,"Ronald Bedford, predicting life "I'ifty Years On," foresaw "Interstellar Problem . . .much like Cold rJi/ar of '48," ending when discovery of life on Mars forces .,squabblingEarth Powers (to) co-operate against the threaL of possible invasion,' . BeverleyNichols, interviewing Professor A. M. Low for Sunday Chronicle ,'Diary of a Nobodyin A.D. 2000," reported: "Low talks at top speed; ideas seethe and bubble in hisbrain; his conversation is lit with strange volcanic flashes" . . . Roalbook also featured"What the World Will be Like in the Year 2000," according to Aldous Huxley, philipwylie and others

please turrr to page 25

THOMAS SHERIDAN

teintroduGes

HUGO GERNSBACK

who som€ may remember as the

Pioneer ofScientifiction

Ttre latest, Campbell-worshippinggeneration of science flcLion fans willhardly have heard of Hugo Gernsback,rmless they happen also to be radio-television hams who read Radio-Electronics. The story goes that adevoted reader of that highly technicaljournal, in which Editor-PublisherGernsback still indulges the flair forfantastic prophecy which has been hisspeciality for 40 years, once wrote insuggesting that the Pr€sident of Rad-craft Publications had missed hisvocation. "Why," he asked, "do youwaste yotr time editing a radio trademagazine when you could make a for-tune writing science fiction for Amaz'ing Stories, Astounding Science Fictionor Fentastic Adventures?"

The query brought a smile oi fondreminiscence to Gernsback's saturrlinecountenance. He had been through allttr.at long ago-between 1908 and '36, tobe exact. Alihough he hadn't made afortune, and had spent most of his timeencouraging others to write (and read)s-f, he had had a lot of fun. It was hewho, in '26, actually started the flrstmagazine to develop "scientifi.ction"(his own word for it) as a specialisedform of popular literature-AmazlngStories. Three years later, when heseceded from that pioneering publica-tion, he launched the rival ScienceWonde'r Stories and its companionmagazines, and continu€d through thevicissitudes of the times to build up anenthusiastic following for such stories,sufficient to persuade other publishinghouses to stake their claims in the newterritory ("The Story of Wonder"!Fantasy Review Dec. '48-Autumn '49).

Amazing was not the first American

magazine to feabure s-f, nor even todevote itself entirely to the fantasticstory: Street & Srnith's Thrill Bookhad starbed to work the vein in eamestin '19, but gave up after 16 issues.Weird Tales, too, had commenced in '23to cultivate the interest of lovers offantasy-fiction to the point of life-longaddiction. However, having playedqrith it since ihe days of his earliesbtechnical publications, Gernsback wasthe flrst to realise the possibilitieswhich the science story ofiered forfurther high-pressure developmento,During the early '20's, his Science andlnvention carried almost as muchscience-fantasy of the fictional sort asit did of the factual kind, in a specialrotagravure section which went downso well that a "Scientifiction Issue"eventnally presented half-a-dozen suchtales.

Soon afterwards, Gernsback circu-lalised his science-and-radio hobbyistreaders concerning a proposed storymagazine to be called ScientifiGtion;but the response was hardly encourag-ing enough to justify the venture,

,* In his "History of Science FictionFandom" (Fantasy Commentator, FaIl,'45), Sa,m Moskowitz recorded thatGernsback also "did something for thes-f fans that had never been attemptedbefore: he gave them self-respect. Hepreached that those who followed thissort of reading matter avidly were notpossessed of a queer taste, but actuallyrepresented a higher tJpe of intellect.And he tried to lay down rules for s-f.Primary among these was plausibility:nothing was to appear in the stories. . . that could not be given a logical,scientiflc explanation,'r

which he abandoned-until a lessfrightening title suggested itseH. Ama&ing Stories-why not? "With the ever-increasing demands on us for this sortof story," he wrote in his nrst editorial,"there was only one thing to do--pub-lish a magazine in'which . . . scientiflcflction (would) hold forth exclusively.Towards the end we laid elaborateplans, sparing neither time normoney . . ."

Since it could not go on indeflnitelyreprinting Wells, Verne, Ga.rrett P.Servlss and others of the old Americanschool, some of the money he spentsubsequently went in prizes to theauthors tre persuaded to write for thenew magazine thlough hls now-famouscover contests. By constantly solicit-ing the efforts of untried writers, hegave many of the leading exponents ofmodern science fiction their fi::st oppor-tunity; among them Edward E. Smith,Dr. David H. Keller, Jack Williamson.But although Amazing caughL on ("Weare printing 150,000 copies," Gernsbackleported within a year) and gave birthto a bigger Quarterly edition, it did notdo well enough to keep its enterprisingpublisher out of trouble. After threeyears, at the same time that he relin-quished his older magazines and theladio station from which he had broad-cast regular talks on science, his namedisappeared flom "The Magazine ofScientifi.ction," which for the nextnine yeals was conducted by hisformer h€lpmate, the late Dr. T.O'Conor Sloane.

Nfagazine publishing is a precariousbusiness; and new.ideas, as Dr. Sloanesagely observed on taking over Gerns-back's chair, are "very dangerous." Everblessed with mole imagination thancautiousness, trowever, the Pioneermiraculously recovered himself, formedthe Stellar Publishing Corpot'ation tolaunch Science Wonder, and proceededto pull it through by much the samemethods he had used to build upAmazing, while at the same time re-placing his lost technical mags. withnew ones and adding to them withothers. Substituting for Radio News,which had run for 20 years, cameRadio-Craft and Television News; in-stead of Science & Invention it wasEveryday Mechanlcs (later Science andMechanics), while Aviation Mechanicsmade a flying start. In the flctiondepartment, Air Wonder Storieg Scien.tifio Detective Monthly and Wonderouartorly were not far behind; not to

?

mention a Sclence Fiction Series.This recovery, it would app€ar, was

the direct result of some more of therenowned Gernsback circulals to pros-pective readers, 20,000 of whom weresaid to have rallied to the cause ofEveryday Mechanics with enough ad-vance subscriptions to get him back inbusiness. Similarly with Wonder, whosetitle his well-wishers selected while theyplaced their dough on the line. SaidGernsback, overwhelmed: "I never ex-perienced the like in my 25 years ofpublishing experienen." Of such wasthe faith and enthusiasm of the armvof followers he had amassed, and out oiwhich the fanatic conLigent known asscience flction fandom was to coaleseeand flourish through such movementsas the Science Fiction League. It wasunderstandable that when, in '36, hesurrendered the fading Wonder andretired into obscurity as far as theywere concerned, the thousands to whoms-f had become something inseparablefrom the name of Hugo Gernsbackshould feel a twinge of genuine regret,

.THE OLD BUZZARD'But "Gernsback the Anazing" (as

Time called him in devoting a page tohis triumphs in '44) has no cause toregret his decision to abandon sciencefi.ction for the science-fantasy whichflrst made him famous and in which heis stiU adept. Among the readel's of hisprosperous Radio-Electronics, whichgrew out of Radio-Craft and TelevisionNews, are many who learned their radioamong his magazines of earlier daysand who stiU pay careful heed io hisprophecies in this field-because theyhave seen so many of his bold predic-tions come true. As Time related:

One of the most fertile of U.S. inventors. . . , Hugo Gernsback is widely and afiec-tionately known among (them) as abottomiess well of incredible notions. Fbrmore than 30 years fantasies have comein such profusion from his brain tlratthere is hardly a modern invention hecannot claim to have anticipated. Thefather of pseudo-scientific flction, . . . hehas given laboratory workers some sug-gestive ideas . . . Alurnni of (his) numer-ous pubiisations today hold many impor-tant positions in the U.S. radio industry.They fondl-y call Gernsback "the oldbuzzard"

Of some 80 inventions of his own hehas patented, Time slightingly obserredthat "none of them, his admirers areproud to say, has ever proved of theslightest practical use." At least, his

8

Gernsback's 1911 version of television,as drawn by artist Paul.

first invention---{f a new-type electricbattery-seemed practical enough tobring him, at the age of 20, from hisnative Luxembour"g to seek fame andfortune in the U.SA. A year after hisarrival. in 1905. he found himself apartner, formed the Electro-ImportingCo. to bring from Europe the soft ofgadgets which appealed to the newAmerican hobbyist, the amateur elec-trician. The next year he was ofieringfor sale at $?.50 what he claims was thefirst commercial radio set, capable ofsending dot-and-dash signals or ringinga bell a quarter-mile arvay.

A few years later he had founded theWireless Association of America, andthe "Te1imco" catalogue had evolvedinto the flrst radio magazine, ModernElectrics, which pr.oved so successfulthat Gernsback turned frorn sellingto editing and publishing. So followedThe Electrical Experimenter ('13),Radio News ('19) and Science andInvention ('20), in ail of which he con-tinued to experiment with sciencefi.ction, much of it his own work. Fors-f had fascinated him since he waseight years old, and was obviously themost convenient vehicle for the half-humorous, half-serious prognostications

he was always making, with particularreference to radio-and something hecalled "television," back in'09. In thatyear, a decade before the U.S. had aiinele commercial ladio station, hepuulished a map envisaging a networkof them spreading right across thecontinent; in '20, he Printed all thedope on how to build a walkie-talkie.And in '46, when the U.S. Signal Corpsestabiished radar contact with theMoon, he reprinted a Radio Newsarticle of '27 in which he had predictedthe achievement, even to the wave-length used.

Though his remarkably accurate con-ception of radar was by then 16 yearsold. In 19U, in Modern Electrics' hehad considered the use of a "pulsatingpolarised ether wave to locate amachine thousands of miles distantfrom tLre Earth, speeding in an un-known direction," by means of a "para-bolic wave reflector (and an) actino-scope . . which records the reflectedrrr'aves." The speeding machine was, ofcourse, a space-flyer; and this flrstauthentic record of radar, as he claimsit, was but one of many fantasticnotions he crammed into his memorableserial story+, "Ralph 124C41+ i LFlomance of the Year 2660." One of themost ambitions science flction piecesever attempted up to that time; it was afull-blooded interplanetary adventure,futl of anti-gravity flyers, disintegrator-rays, televisors, a solar power plant, agadget to produce invisibility, and apigeon-chested Martian villain (namedLiysanorh'CK 1618) to boot.

The title was a Pun on the name andserial number of the scientist hero. whowoced his Swiss sweetheafi by "tele-phot." When her life was threatenedbv an avalanche because the "meteoro-tower" operators were on strike, leavingthe weather to its own devices, he sentout electronic waves from his NewYork laboratory and melted the menac-ing snow, saving the situation. He alsoperformed the miraculous feat of re-viving a dog, three years after it hadbeen placed in suspended animation,by replacing its blood with "R.adium-I(bromide," thus anticipating Russianbiologists' experiments of later years;and ttre "menograph" rvhich trans-cribed his thoughts as he sat meditat-ing was not far short of the electro-enceplralograph which records brain-* Later published in volume form (Strat-

ford, Boston: '25), and reprinted inAmazing Stories Quarterly, Winter '29.

impulses today. The .,hypnobioscope,"too, which enabled students to learnwhile they slept, had materialised inexperimental forrn by ,23.

The use of rockets in warfare, andtheir development for extra-terrestrialflight, were other Ger-nsback visionswhich have corne true. The A-bomb?During the second year of World War Ihe wrote a piece in The ElectricalExperimenter in which he visualisedrvhat might happen ,.when the scien-tists of 100 years hence begin makinglyar on each other. Suppose that bythat time our scientisti have solvedthe puzzle of the atom and have suc_ceeded in liberating its prodigiouslolces The results will be over_whelmingly astounding .,' And hepainted a gruesome picture of an ,,AtomGun" in the hands of a would-beEmperor of the World, of a fleet of''I,adium Destloyers" which, by ,,settingoff .spontaneously the dormant energ!of

-th-e, atom," might dissipate a city -oi

300,000 souls (population of Hiroshimawhen the Bomb fe[: 320,000) in ,,atitanic vapour cloud, 0eaving) only avast crater in the ground . Aiterthis demonstration the enemy sues forpeace; resistance would be folly." In'15, he agreed that all this might seem"very fantastical," but thought it .,notgnly very possible but hightyprobable."Thirty years later the lvorld was dulvastounded-and overwhelmed.

PROFITLESS PROPHETOf this unerring facility for scientific

crystal-gazing, Dr. Lee de Forest, inven_tor of the vacuum-tube, told Gerns_back; "You may take justifiablepride in the farSightedness of manv ofJ'our startling suggestions." In anoiherwrrte-up, Coronet referred to ,,themodern Leonardo de Vinci,', and fur_nished an answer- to the questionwhich always occurs to people in res_pect of his inventive capacities, andt-hich -he-actually keeps hanging onthe wall of his offce: If you,re so smartwhy aren't you rich? Gernsback him-self supplied the answer: ,,I haveneither the time nor the patience totranslate my ideas into money. peopleof my type at'e never good business_men."

- Now aged 66, Uncle Hugo (as s_f fanshave dubbed himr presides over an old_fashioned office in Manhattan, on an_other wall of which hangs a death_mask of his friend Nikola Tesla, v/ho

9

unfil he died was constanily claimingto be on the verge of intetplanetarf.-communication. In 4g years of pub_lishing, Gernsback has-experimentedlvith a score of publications, some ofwhich have departed from his cus_tomary ield of science-fantasv andgadgetry to embrace such subjects asbeautycraft and sexology. In 'B? heproduced .Neu, ldeas as ,,the firstscented magazine": as thev riffiedthrough it, a pleasant odour wafted intoreaders' nostrils from the perfumedqlinter's ink of its pages. The smelldidn't last longer than four issues_bnt the idea was taken up, years later,in newspaper adverts. for jcent. Hdhad pioneered again . . .

Perhaps his fecundity in respect ofideas_ which eventually surpris-e evenhrm by proving practical is due to thelich sense of fun which gives rise tothe more fanciful of them. -A pet'sistentimpishness has pervaded his writinEssince the days when Electricat Exper-i-menter readers gufiawed over .,BaronMunchh^ausen's New Scientific Adven_tures"

- (reprinted in Amazing, Feb._Jul.

'28), rvhich nevertheless contained someinteresting notions regarding the Mar_trans. Now, he takes time off from theserious business of producing Radio-Electronics to indulge in a bfu of leg_P-u_iling in the shape of an article, blr"Mohammed Ulysses Fips" (he waialways fond of preposterous pen_names), describing a ,,new invention"which exists only in his own imagina-tion-but is almost certain to solidiflvas sober fact before many years havLpassed. Thus it was with the radiothat could be held in the palm of onehand, and the ,,fountain-pen radio" tolre clipped inside the pocket, ',vhich the

. "rice-grain" tube made possible almostbefore the_laughter induced by the gaghad subsided.

And. as Christmas approaches everyyear, Gernsback really has fun-produi_lng a unrque greeting card to send tohis subscribers. This takes the form ofa. miniature magazine which guys, intitle, make-up and contents-includingadvertisements-a. well-known Ameri--gan publication. Hence ,,Harpy'sBizarre,', "Joilier's-The N o t i o ri a IWeakly," "Like" (Look),,,popular Neck_anics" ,'wlitten so you can,t under-stand it'), "Radiocracy,' (which bur-Iesqued his own journal for a changer,and others that have appeared througlilecent years. Sometimes they have

lplease turn to page l?

10

ARTHUR C. CLARKE examines the

SPACESHIPS OF FICTIONYears before he became one of

Britain's leading protagonists of astro.nautics, Arthur C. Clarke (FR' APr-May '47) was an assiduous student ofscience flction, and particularly ofinterplanetary stories. Smith's "Sky-lark" series, John W. Campbell'sAmazing guarterly novels, Wonder'sInterplanetary Issues, aU helped toquicken his vast enthusiasm for theidea of space-travel. Now, in betweenhis voluntary work as a Councillor andlectwer for the British InterplanetarySociety, his duties as an assistanteditor of Soience Abstracts, and hiscontributions to various technicalmagazines, he writes an occasionalscience f,ction story, and tells hisfriends all about it long before itappears in print. (Not so manY ofthem know about the astronauticaltext-book he recently completed, whichwill be published shortlY.)

On April lst-he was the flrst to seethe joke-he made a handsome con-cession to those BIS members who mixtheir study of astronautics with scienceflction reading (most of them do, butnot all rviU admit it), by lecturing inhis usual light-hearted style on the factand fiction of space-travel. Havingfirst made acknowledgments to Pro'fessor J. O. Bailey, author of "PilgrimsThrough Space and Time" (FR, Ocl.-Nov. '47), and to Miss Marjorie Nicol-son, studious coilector of "Voyages tothe Moon" (S'FR, Autumn '49), as wellas to various friends whose libraries hehad invaded, he proceeded to trace theorigins of the spaceship in its variousliterary forms back to the daYs ofLucian (A.D. 160). while he illustratedthem with a colourful ar-ray of slideshe had prepared, largelY from atreasured collection of fantasy maga-zines.

Avoiding any attempt at h.istoricalsequence, isiince he was mainly con-cerned with techniques, Clarke dividedhis specimens into two main groups:mechanistic and non-mectranistic. Inthe first group he placed stories inwhich some engine or other technicaldevice was used to bridge space; in the

second, those in which dreams, super-normal intervention, psychic forces andthe like were invoked. Although mostof the very earliesL works (e.9., Kepler's"Somnium") fell into the second cats'gory, he found that some of the beststories of our age did likewise. Ttlenotion that a mind or even a bodymight travel to other worlds fasterthan the speed of light is fo befound, for instance in Stapledon's"Star Maker" ('3?), C. S. Lewis' "Pere-landra" &D, David Lindsay's "AVoyage to Arcturus" ('20), and the ex-ploits of John Carter as related byEdgar Rice Burroughs.

Before the age of science, suchparaphysical means of conveyanceseemed as plausible as any ottrer: anair-borne broomstick would have beenless surprising to onlookers than a,

Tiger Moth chugging across the sky.When a modern writer uses suchmeans, he is not being lazy; he mayhave good reason for his choice,especially in a story of cosmic scopein which the speed of light must stillhold good. Some of the most thought-ful of recent authors have suggestedthat in the long run the mechanicalmethods will be superseded by theparaphysical, as in Jack Williamson's"The Humanoids" (S-FR, Winter '49-50). If Dr. Rhine's latest work is anyindication of possible developments inthe field of astronautics, Kepler and hisdemon carriers may have the lastlaugh.CYRANO'S RAM.JET

Among natural, as distinct fromsupernatural, forces usd bY otherspace-voyagers were: wind (Lucian's"True History"), birds (Godwin's "Manin the Moone"), evaporation (Cyranode Bergerac's vials of dew), and anEarth-grazing comet (Verne's "HectorServadac"). With the development ofthe scientiflc method, trowever, writerswent to greater Pains to introduceplausibility and the flrst primitivespaceships began to appear in Utera-ture. To Cyrano goes the credit forflrst applying the rocket to space-traveland for inventing the ram-jet. Having

got no further than Canada on hlsbottles of dew. he took off for the Moonin a flying chariot festooned with fire-crackers, withoub regard for mass-ratios and exha,usb velocities. But hislast attempt at inLerplanetary flight, ina box propelled by air heated with theaid of burning glasses, in spite of hismisunderstanding the principles ln-volved showed that he at least realisedthe thrust would fall off with altitude

With the discovery of the non-mechanical forces of electricitv andmagnetism, new possibilities wereopened up, but few wrlters took advan-tage of them-apart from Cyrano, rvhotried everything once, including alodestone which attracted an ironchariot. Swift's flying island ofLaputa, four and a haU miles in dia-meter, was also propelled by an enor-mouse lodesbone, although foreverEa*h-bound. And if "The Conquest ofthe Moon," by Andre Laurie (1894), inwhich an iron mountain was turnedinto a vast electro-magnet for the pur-pose of puUing the Moon down toEarth, hardly ranks as an interrplanetary voyage, it is certainly aspectacular case of the mountaincoming to Mahomet.

Towa.rds the end of the 18th century,writers became more cautious in des-cribing their subtle devices for space-flight, partly because the public waseducated enough to see through theirproposals, and partly because the in-vention of the balloon had turnedabtention towards navigation of theatmosphere rather than remoterregions. The 19th century was wellunder way before the interplanetarl'story got into its stride again; but ithas steadily proliferated until, now,few corners of the cosmos remain un-explored. In the last century, too, thetypes of propulsion still used in fictionbegan to establish themselves. Thesefall into three main classes: the pro.jectile, anti-gravity, and the rocket.

The idea of the space-gun did not,as so many believe, originate withJules Verne in his famous story of theBaltimore Gun Club's lunar project.T'he conception first appeared in printas early as 1728 in "A T?ip to theMoon," by Murtagh McDermot, whotravelled outwalds bv rocket after thestyle of Cyrano but iame back in trueVerne fashion after inducing theSelenites to dig a gr.eat hole contain-ing seven thousand barrels of gun-powder. In this he designed ',to place

11

myself in the Middle of ten wodenVessels, placed one within another.with the Outer-most strongly hoopedwith fron, to prevent its breaking . . ,which I know will raise me to the Topof the Atmosphere But before iblgw myself up, I'U provide myselfwith a-large pair of Wings . . . Ui tnehelp of which I will fly down t6 theEarth."

So much of Verne's .,From Earthto the Moon" (186b) is facetiouslvwritLen that it is difficutt to judge ho#seriously he took the idea of his mam-moth cannon; though he went to muchtrouble to check his facts and the bal-listics of the projectile were worked outby his brother-in-law, a professor ofmathematics. probably he believedthat if such a gun coirld be built, itmight be capable of getting the pro-jectile to its destinalion, but, it isdoubtful that he seriously imaginedthe occupants surviving the shock oftake-off. Willy Ley, in his ,.R.ocketsand Space-Trave1," shows that not onlvwould the initial acceleration of 40,00bgravities have converted the occupantsto a nasty smear in a few microseconds.but the plojectile itself would havebeen destroyed before leavinE thebarrel owing to the air in its path.None the less, Verne,s ranks as thefirst space-vessel to be scientiflcallvconceived; it had hydraulic shocti-absorbers, air-conditioning pla n t,padded walls with deep-set windows,and similar arrangements nowcommonplace in any well-orderedspaceship._ Scarcely less famous is the space-gundevised by Wells for his film, ,'Thingsto Come"; but a much more plausibleuse of the device, in conjunction withrockeb propulsion, was made in thebook, "Zero to Eighty" ('B?), writtenby electrical engineer- E. F. Northrup.under the improbable name of AkkadPseudoman. Although disguised asflction, this was a serious attemnt todemonstrate the possibility of sbace-flight-and the only interplanetaryromance ever to include a 4O-pagemathematical appendix. A practicalscientist, the author realised thathuman beings could only survive theordeal of being shot from a gun if thebarrel was immensely long and theacceleration sustained foi a muctrlonger period. His gun, therefore, wasan electro-magnetic one, stretching for200 kilometres along Mt. Popocatepeil.Even this didn't give the full escape

L2

velocity lequired, so the final impulsewas provided by rockets.

Actually, travelling at flve gra,vitiesacceleration, one would tlave to cover adisLance of over 1,000 kilometres toreach escape velocity, and since anyreasonable launching device couldnever measure more than a fraction ofthis length, the space-gun is recognisedas impracticable in these enlighteneddays. But it does not follow that it wiUnever be used. under ideal conditions. Itmay come into its own for the projec-tion of fuel frorn a lunar base to space-ships orbiting the Moon or the Earth,where the required initial velocity isrelatively small and no restrictionswould be set by ail Iesistance or accel-eration.

DEFIERS OF GRAVITYAnti-gravity has long been a popular

method of propulsion, dating back atleast as far as 182? and the publicationof "A Voyage to the Moon," by JosephAtterley-tlle pen-name of ProfessorGeorge Tucker, under whom EdgarAllen Poe. creator of "Hans Pfaal"(1835), studied at Virginia University.Atterley's hero was fortunate enougtr todiscover a metal with a tendancY tofly away from Earth (how it managedto stay here, no-one ever explained),and by coating a vessel with it wasable to make his voyage without fur-ther effort. In much the same way'the hero of Wells' "The First Men inthe Moon" (1901) emp oyed "cavorite"'a substance impenetrable to gxavify asa sheet of metal is to light*.

Of course, anti-gravitY won't workeither-at least, in the waY that thefiction writers make it. There is nofundamental objection to a substancewhich is repelled by gravity, and sucha boon could be emPloYed to lift aspaceship-but ib would take work topull it down again, to the same extent

* If he never encountered ProfessorTucker's book, it is po-ssible that Wellsknew of l{urb Lasswitz's "Auf ZweiPlaneten," which has been popular inGernany since 1897 and was recentlyreprinted in an illustrated edition. Oneof- the most important of all inter-planetary romtlnces, it includes' in-addition-to anti-gravity, the idea of ex-Dlosive propulsion systems ("repuisors"'-as the Verein ftir Raumschiffahrt calledits own early rockets), and-more sur-orisinslv---of space-stations. all theiechnical details being worked out withgreat care bY tlee author, who was airotessor of mathematics at Jena.

as would be required to lift an equiva-lent mass of normal matter to the samealtitude. Thus, the only way thetravellers could return to Earth or landon another planet wottld be to iettisontheir anti-gravity matcrial. An anli-gravity screen can also be ruled out ofcourt on the ground that, if it couldexist and was employed in the mannerdescribed by so many fictionists, oneneed only place it under a heavy object,let it rise to a considerable height, re-move bhe screen and let the object fall

-and obtain a source of Perpetualenergy. Or, as Willy Ley has put it, tostep on to a sheet of such materialfastened to the floor would require iustas much effort as jumping clean offthe Earth!

But an anti-gravity device which isdriven by some appropriate source ofenergy, and does not therefore producesomething fof nothing, is not beyondthe bounds of practicality. Thosestories in which the releas€ of atomieenergy provides propulsion through anunspecified "space-drive" are not, con-sequently, implausible: the cfrancesare that, one day, it will. For themornen|, however, the rocket-drivehotds sway, having gained in favoul'since Verne used the PrinciPle in"Fuound the Moon" (1870) to alter theorbit of his projectile. He clearlyunderstood that the rocket was theonly means of propulsion that wouldopeiate in space, but it never occurredto him to use it for the whole voyage-

As the work of Oberth and other Ger-man rocket experimenters becameknown, a new class of stories of pains-taking accuracy evolved, some beinglittle more than fictionised text-books.The German writers themselves (MaxValier, Otto -wilIi GaiI, etc.) wereadept at this; and although theirworks, some of which appeared intranslation in Wonder Stories, were ofslight Iiterary merit, they are still tfs-tortcally valuable. An instance of a'storv which had both entertainmentvalue and convincing technical back-ground: Laurence Manning's ' Thefureck of the Asleroid" (Wonder' Dec.'32-Feb. '33). Manning, an early mem-ber of the American InterPlanetarySociety, once introduced the rocketexhaust equation, complete with rootsiEns and awkward exPonents, into astory-doubtless to the great annoy-ance of the comPositor.

The almost universal acceptance ofthe rocket traving left writers little

room for ingenuity, one spaceship isnow very much like another; but vervlew of them bear much resemblance tbthe vessels which will have to G 6uiltfor-the first space-voyage. Mass_raLioslnq similar inconveniences do notbother the science fiction writer, muctless the-fantasy_ artist, wtro gaiiy iunia. row- of porrholes the whole-len-gth ofthe hull and depicts tfrousifra_tonrockets racing iow over exotic land_scapes without visible means of sun_port. More probably, Clarke ilrink!,lne space-ships of the next century lvillbe so.unlike our popular conCeitionioI to-day that we ,vouldn.t recogniseone if we saw iL. If orbital refue-llinEt-echniqucs are developed us eipuctualtne vessels designed for true- interjplanetaly flight rvill never land on anyworld or even entel an atmosptreid,and so will have no streamlini?rg oicontTol surJaces. Their naturat sfrap-1oul4 be.sphcricai; but if thc necesiiiyLor ?tgqlc shielding rutes rhis ouu, ;oumb-rlcll

_ shape might be adopted,

enaotmg the radio_active plant tb beplacgd well away from tne irew.s iivingquarrcrsl.

THE MAN.MADE MOONThe idea of the space-station has

attr€cted.. very Jew writers, probablybecause it is still comparativeiy novei.t:tut we may expect increasing attentionto be paid to this theme in the nearfuture; and when the first orbitalrockets-are set up it may well become,ror a wnlle, one of the main preoccupa_!i91s of contemporary science flctibn.AlLnough the idea was flrst advanced,as a

-s,erioys ploposition, by von pirquet

and Noordung in the '20's, at least bnestory i^roached !!e subject as long agoas l8?0. In Edward Everett ltai6's'lqe- !r!ck Moon," some young mendecided that it would be of greafassis_tance to navigation if the Earth had asecond moon, and so they set about toconstruct onel:. The artiflcial satellitewas !9 be projected upwards by theexpedient of releasing it at the requiredspeed from the rim of an enofmonsrotating wheel. Ttre tale derived itsexcitement from the unfortunate event

tSee,"The_Shape.of Ships to Come." blrA_rchur C. Clarke, B.Sc. New Worldi,No. 4.

;This also is a surprisingly modem idea.rt was put forward quite recenUy by Dr.Sadler, Superintend6nt of ttre ltJriticaiAlmanac Ofice, in an address to tt;Iioyal 6*l"otromical Association.

13

that the brick moon, in which theworkmen constructing it had th;irlodgings. broke loose too soon and wascast into space w.ith them as unwillirspassengers complete with their owiatmosphere!.Whar will happen to the inter_pranet_ary- story when space_travel

ac[uauy hegins? Will it become ex_linct?. A test.case, Clarke points oui,nas alt'eady risen in connection withatomic power. Five years ago, thefirst release of nuclear energy was stillbeing ,anticipated in flction, where it-isyet a familiar subject. Similarly, whenspace-travel is achieved, the irontierwill merely shift outwards, and we ca;tely on the ingenuity of the sciencefictron writer to keep ahvays a fewJunrps ahead of hisrory, especialty withso mucn more material on which tobase his forecasts. Without some foun_dation of reaUty science nction wouiAbe impossible: therefore, exact know_ledge. is the friend, not the urru*y, oflmagrnatron. It was only possible towrite stories about the Mb,rtians whenscience had discovered that a certainmoving point of iight was a world. Bythe time science has proved or diiproved the existence of the Martians, itwill have provided l_rrrndreds ttl oilierinteresting and less accessible world.sfor authors to base their speculationsupon.

Even if a time should come at lastwhen all the cosmos has been exploredand there are no more univeries tobeckon men across inflnity, our remotedescendants may still enjoy the inter-planetary theme-by looking. back wist_fully to_ the splendid, dan[erous ageswhen the frontiers were driven oi:.t-wards across space. when no-one knewwtrat marvel or tenor the returningship_,might bring, and when, for goodor ill, the barriers set between thepeoples of the Universe lvere irrevoc-ably breached. With all thinesacNeved. aiI knoivledge safely ha-r-vested, rvhat more will there be forthem to do than to go back into historyand iive again the great adventures ofttreir remote and legendary past?

Yet we have the better bargain--allthese things lie ahead of us. Some ofthem, at least, rve shall live to see.

Corning in SCIEME-FANTASYOLAF STAPLEDON,

Master of Fantasy

The Spell of MerrittBy ARTHUR F. HlttMAN

Cast over the years like the thr dsof a glittering web, the exotic fantasiesof Abraham Merritt now span a wholegeneration of readers. ft was in 191?that the appearance of his short story,"Through the Dragon Glass," in All'Story We€kly opened his career as afantasv writer: yet time has notlessen6d his spell. Rather, it wouldseem to have strengthened it; for thecontinued demand among new devoteesfor his noted "classics," all of whichhave been reprinted several timesalready*, has resulted in the launchingof a bi-monthly publication bearing hisname to cater specially for those whohave not yet enjoyed fhe whole of hisoutputf. A coUection of his survivingIiterary fragments, recently publishedin a popular pocket-book seriesi, anda Memorial Edition of "The ShiP ofIshtar," are other indications of hishaving acquired an increasing post-humous following, much as Lovecrafthas done of recent years.

And, just as the name of Lovecraft isassociated with Welrd Tales, so is thatof Merritt inseparably linked withArgosy of the early '20's, and theMunsev magazines. Among the circleof notible fantasy writers of that era(including such as Edgar R'ice Bur-roughs, Ilay Cummings, J. U. Giesy,Homer Eon Flint), A. Meritt was notonly the most popular at the time buthas continued to find favour long afterothers have been forgo'tten. All throughthe '30's, fresh converts to science-fantasy who sampled tris tales con-stantly clamottred for more; and when'in '39-40, the Munsey organisation gavea new lease of life to the time-honoured+Notablv in bound book form (see sub-seouenl footnotes). ln Famous FantasticMvsterles and Fanta^stic Novels, and inth-e Avon Murder Mystery and PocketBook Sexies.

iA. Merritt's Fantasy lvlagazine (see

"Among the Magazines."*"Ttre Fox Womar and Other Stories"

(Avon, New York).

14

MASTERS OF FANTASY

classics through Famous FantasticMysteries and Fantastic Noyels, it wasMerritt's work on wNch they drewmost generously to lure and hold ttreseeker after such treasures as "TtreMoon PooI" and "The Metal Monster."And, the advance of story techniquenotwithslanding, his work still provedas enthralling as it had done twentyyears before.

The flrst short tales that precededhis most successful novels gave evi-dence of an exceptional ability to weavethe eerie atmosptrere which has capti-vated so many lovers of fantastic f.c-tion. Following "Through the DragonGlass" (AlFstoty 24/llll7), which in-fused all the legendary colour ofancient China in an account of amagical mirror, came "The People of,the Pit" (5/1/18), q/hich in spite of itsbrevity achieved a tremendous effect.The picture of a man padding on bleed-ing hands and feet up a gigantic stair-way, winding mile after mile, relent-lessly pursued by the nightmarishremnants of an ancient race. is onethat has remained indelible in thememory of Merritt fans. Conveyed ina style of writing that wasted not asingle word, its impact on the un-initiated reader is breathtaking.

It was in his next and most famous,work that he reached the height of hisimaginative power. "'Ih€ Moon Pool"Q2/6/18), which ranks as one of theflnest weird tales ever written. tells ofa strange Dweller in the depth of anisland pool which rises to the surfacewhen the moon's rays pour down uponit; and the somnolent splendour andbrooding mystery of the ancient SouthSeas locale are skilfully transmltted toa story which, artistically, is perfect.It is hardly surprising that the sequelwhich succeeded it, "The Conquest ofthe Moon Pool," a six-part sedal (com-mencing l5l2ll9), was received withconflicbing feelings by his most ardentreaders; for although he had continuedthe theme of "The Moon Pool," the ex-

15

tended narrative passed beyondboundari€s of rveird fiction intorealrn of strict fantasy.

One of the canons of a good weirdstory is tha,t tbe atmosphere-whichincludes any alien enbities it features-should dominate the situation, rattrerthan the human characters it involves.Merritt violated this principle in hissequel by etching his human charac-ters, Larry O'Keefe, the slightly sac-charine Lakla, and the evilly fascinat-ing Yolara, with as much force as their'almost incredible surroundings; andthe mysterious character of the Dwellerreceded somewhat into the background.This caused the weird-tale coterieamong his foliowers to rate the sequelas inferior to the original: for example,H. P. Lovecraft, in a list of his favouriteweird stories in The Fantasy Fan (Oct.'34), stipu.lated the original noveletteversion of "The Moon Pool" as one ofthem+.

Yet "The Conquest of the Moon Pool"represented a great step forward forMerritt. The longer form allowed roomfor sustained splendour of settings andswift clash of action, while still retain-ing the imaginative conception andconvincing treatment which had beenevident in his shorter pieces, resultingin a fantasy novel whose characters andbtzarre creations lived. Since theirfirst printing "The Moon Pool" and itssequel have seen frequent publicationthrough the years, with no diminutionof popularity, their combined qualitiesof utter strangeness and plausibility,plus human interest, flnding favouralike with the general reader and theinveterate fantasv fan.

The last Merribt piece to appear inAlFStory before it merged with Argosywas "Three Lines of Old French"(9,'8119), a delicate tale of an idyllicromance that spurned the barriers oftime, The welding of the magazinewith Argosy brought fresh impetus tohis pen, and the opening of an eight-part serial entitled "The Metal Mon-ster" g/8/20). The author himselfconfessed that this story contained"some of my best and some of my worstwriting." Certainly, concerned as itis with an isolated race of metallicintelligences governed by a Metal Em-

*Ttre book version of "The Moon PooI"(Putnam, New York, '19) comprises thetwo stories made lnto one. Like otherMenltt novels, lt is a slightly abbre-viated re-write of the original serialsLory.

A. MERRITT-from a sketch by NeilAustin for Famous Fantastic Mysteries.A descendant of Fenimore Cooper, Mer-ritt was born at Beverly, New Jersey, inJanuary 1884, his parents being Quaker'folk who later moved to Philadelphia.After studying law he became, at 18, anewspaper reporter; then he spent a yearin Central America, where he huntedtreasure in Yucatan and penetrated theancient Mayan city of Tuluum. Ileturn-ing home, he resumed his newspapercareer on the Phila.delphia, Inquirer, run-ning the gamut of murders, executionsand politics until he became Night CityEditor. At 28 he moved to New Yorkto become Assistant Editor of TheAmerican Weekly, and in '37 he succe€dedMorriil Goddard as Editor, It was duringthat period he wrote the short stories andnovels which made him famous, weavinginto them much of what he had learnedon periodical jaunts into Central Americaof archeology and folklore, and drawingon his store of reference books on demon-ology and magic, astronomy and botany.He kept a strange garden of rare plants,and a key of twenty acres on the WestCoast of Florida, where tre died of a heartattack ip August '43, leaving a n'ife anddanghter.

peror, its appeal is more limited thanhis earlier work; it is fantasy reducedto its rarest, most potent ingredients,too heady a draught for some. Again,Merrift splashes his colour with alavish hand, and as the reader turnsthe pages he plunges from one gorgeouspanorama to another.

thethe

16

Merritt was never a proliflc or con-sistent writer, and it was three yearsbefore his next story appeared. "fireFace in the Abyss" (819123)i wasactually the prelude to a later novel""The Snake Mother"; but the noveletteitself, with its account of a lost civilisa-tion and strange alien gods, proved afascinating story. Here, too, were signsof a fresh trend in Merritt's writing,Where before his styie had an easy,flowing rhythm, it began now totighten up, become concentrated. Thebeautiful descriptive remained, but hisimagery became clear-cut; instead offollowing the old, relaxed school, hedrew his pictures with a knife-edgedsharpness. And with "The Ship offshtar" (comm. Slll/zDi he reachedthe culminating point of his talents asa writer.

Succeeding novels, such as "TheSnake Mother" and "Dwellers in theMirage," seliously challenge it for prideof place; but to me ttris six-part serialremains the flnest example of Meritt'sartistry. Its plot is not as complex asin other cases, but its strands arewoven with superb delicacy; the storyof the strange ship sailing on a timelesssea, a tiny craft whose web of enchant-ment enmeshes a present-day adven-turer, ls alive with vivid action. Thectraracters of Kenton, the lovelYSharane and the menacing black priest,I{laneth, are among the best ttrat Mer-ritt has created; while the setfing ofthe Ship, manned by slaves and over-seer, priests and maids, forever on itsvoyage to an unknown destination,forms a perfect background. Thebriefer style is used rvith telllng efiect:each scene is a polished cameo, a word-picture photoglaphed with Technicolorprecision. The result is an adventwenovel transmuted by Merritt's un-rivatled gift of imagination into fan-tasv of the highest order.

"The Woman of the Wood," his onlYconbribution to Weird Tales (Aug. '26),was a short story whlch caused a minorsensation even among the case -hardened initiates of this magazine;after which, in Argosy-All'Story' came"Seven Footprints to Satan" (comm.217127)8. A rneiodramatic tale of amaster criminal, this does not properlyrank as fantasy, yet Merritt's flair for

tliveright, New York, '31.

iPutnam, New York, '26'rBoni and Liveright, New York, '28;Richards, London.

descriptive and eerie atmosphere liftedif into the category of a best-seltrerwhich Hollywood later transferred tothe screen. With "Tlre Snake Mother,"a seven-part serial, (Argosy, comm.25110130), he returned to the fleld ofpure fantasy, and to the strangelegends he had only hinted at in "TheFace in the Abyss." Packed into theseeffulgent pages are facets of imageryperhaps more amazing than anythinghe had attempted before. Kon theSpider-Man; the Dream Makers, withtheir webs of unearthly beauty; theLord of Focls and the Lord of Evil;the all-wise, inhuman Snahe Motherherself-all are rare tools from whichMerritt fashioned a novel of startlingdepth and uncanny lustre.

"Dwellers in the Mirage," anothersix-part serial (comm. 23/1/32)1, is re-garded by his admirers as the last ofthe tmly colourful canvases which havemade him great as a fanlasy writer. Itis, truly, not one of the leasi. In hispicturesque descriptions of the Lake ofGhosts, the Little People and the octo-pus-like Khalk'ru the same fertileimagination is evident; in the unfold-ing of the tale of another lost race, thewriting has not lessened in efiect. Thecharacterisations are unusualy strong,particularly thal of Lur the Wibch-Woman; and with its fast, adventuroussweep, the story is one which appealseven to the non-fanlasy leader. For itsflrst appearance, a happy ending 'Ir'assubstituted for his own against theautho,r's rvishes, but later printings hadthe original tragic conclusion wtrichgives it an added porver of melancholy.

Two more Merritt novels had theiroriginal, serial presentation in Argosybefore the demand for his work startedthis magazine on the reprinting processconiinued by FFM and FN. "Burn,Witch, Burn!" (comm. 22170/32)t, anintriguing tale of modern witchcraft inwhich the souls of the gross MadameMandilip's victims are imprisoned intiny, lifelike dolls, was also turned intoa film, "The Devil DoIl," starring LionelBarrymore. "Creep, Shadow!" @19/341**, another story of present-day sorcery.is hardly as successful, but both con-tain some of the most powerful ele-

.iliveright, New York, '32; Skefflngton,London, '33.

*Liveright, New York, '33; Methuen,London. '34.

.'+Published in book form as "Creep.Shadow, Creep!" (DoubledaY, NewYork, '34; Methuen, '35.

ments of Merritt's writing, althoughnot invested with the soaring fantasyof his earlier novels.

His original touch was also evidentin two other short stories which,appearing originally in Fantasy Maga.zine, were presented by Thrilling Y\lon-der Stories: "The Drone Man" (Aug.'36), and "Rhythm of the Spheres"(Oct. '36), otherwise "T'he Last Poetand the Robots." Apart from a few un-flnished pieces, two of which-"The FoxWoman" and "The Black Wheel"-havebeen extended and completed by hisdisciple, Hannes Bok (FB Oct.-Nov. '4?;Aug.-Sep. '48), nothing more of fantasycame from his pen; nor could we ex-pect more. Nevel a hasty wliter, hisworkaday duties encroached increas-ingly upon his lime, and no economicnecessities drove the spur to his imagi-nation. So it is ttrat practically thervhole of his wolk shows the care andtl".ought of a true literary craftsm"n.

However, while admiiting his supre-

t7

macy as a master of fantasy, it is as',r'ell to exarnine his faults as a writer:for it must be conceded that manyreaders are repelled by his stories. TlxeIichness oi his colourful style is morethan some can stomach, and the free-dom of his vision has been held as dis-tracting to those who are more con-cerned with plot. IIis plots are, in fact,noticeably repetitious in their funda-mentals: the battle bet'treen good andevil, personifled by gods or goddesses,rs a constant theme; and the idea ofdual identity, especially in the personof the hero, is present more than once.His style, too, is often curt to the pointof brusqueness, contrasting uneasilywith adja,cent passeges of vivid descrip-tive. Yet these defects fail to dim theglory of his genius as a narrator ofmarvellous tales of alien places andpeoples; and so long as ttrere are read-els who revel in such stories there willbe no end bo the adulation of A. Mer-ritt, Lord of Fantasy.

HUGO GERNSBACK-continued from poge 9been full of his prophecies; forexample, "Tame-The Weekly News-gabazine" presented "a feeble previewof the next 100 years-the first atom!cent"ury." Dated 2045, it put the firstatom-powered rocket to the Moon in1972, World War IIf in '?5, to befollowed by world government. (The$'ar, waged by Asia against the Westernworld, 'i,i'as won in six weeks by theAmericans turning their giant Lunarmirrors on Hyderabad and vaporisingihe city.) By 2040, man had reachedVenus.

Most of his forecasts, in this instance,Gernsback asked to be taken seriously.since "many of them are certain ofrealisation. If," he added, "in hun-dreds of (past) predictions I have re-corded a . . . fair score of hits, I do nottake any special deglee of pride in theachievement. As a scientist, I shouldknow how to evaluate the future . . .

T'he only difference between (otherscientists) and me is that I have neverbesitated to stick out my neck."

Last Chdstmas, he was able to con-gratulate himself on having pioneeredonce more-this time, in the format hehas adopted for his little 'gagazines.'On the strength of Quick, the new vest-pocket-size news magazine, he produced"Quip," in the sbyle of a "Special Mars

Number" which revived memories ofhalcyon Amazing Stories days and thecreations of the "world-famous" Paul(FR Feb.-Mar'. '49). It ga,ve a 48-pageaccount of the exploration of the planetMars by "Grego Banshuck" and hiscrew, and of the life of the Martians, asdepicted by Gernsback's long-serviceartist once beloved of s-f fans. One ofthe peculiar featu,res of life on Mars:"There is, of course, no money, no suchvicious, cancel'ous outgrowth as intereston money, no taxes. Consequently thereis no such thing as business, as weknow the term, because on Mars no onecan make a proflf WhateDer isprod,uced belongs to the raceJ'

In this flight of fancy, as in others inthe past, Hugo Gernsback revealedsome of tris og'n idealistic philosophy.Nor is it tco fantastic a dream for himto make it work himself, when the spiritof gaodwill is abroad. "QUIP," he re-minded Lhe reader elsewtrere, "is anannual Christmas card of Hugo Gems-back's. Over 5,000 copies have beenprinted for the publisher's friends inand out of the radio, electronic and tele-vision industry. Please do not sendmoney for extra copies-the booklet isNOT for sale. Requests for singlecopies . . . will be flIled as long as thesupply lasts."

18

Among the Mogozines with GEOFFREY GILES

AND ST'LI THEY COI4EOId Toles for New Reoders

Latest news to hearten British fansis that in consequence of the increasingsuccess of New Worlds Nova Publica-tions is to launch a second magazine,to be edited by Walter Gillings (seespecial announcement on pp. 20-21).This publication will presenb thematerial which would have appearedin Fantasy, as edited by Gillings, if ithad been abie to continue beyond thethree issues which sel a new standardfor British science fiction, and whichfor the past two years has been lyingidle awaiting a possible revival of themagazine. This includes stories byArthur C. Clarke, J, M. Walsh, P. E'Cleator, John Russell Fearn, F. G.Rayer, Norman Lazenby, E. R. James,and several other authors whose inter-est in fhe field is certain to quicken inthe light of this development, even ifit has languished of late,

Science-Fantasy, which will also de-rive much interest from the bestfeatures of this Review, will thereforebe tantamount to the revival of Fan'tasy for which fans have been hopingsince its enforced suspension. It wasjust such a resumption that thesponsors of Nova Publications had inmind, when the project was flrst con-ceived, as a possible follow-up to therevival of New Worlds (FR, Feb.-Mar.'49). With the t\Mo magazines beingedited separately and issued by thesame organisation, it should be inter-esting to ."vatch their progress. In fact,the publishers themselves anticipatesome lively cornpeiition between thern!

Ttre flrst issue of the new Novamagazine will appear following theseventh issue of New Worlds, due atthe end of May, which in addition tothe sequel to John Brody's "World inShadow" (No. 4), "The Dawn BreaksRed," will feature a new story by PeterPhillips, "Plagiarist"; "Quest," a tale ofa derelict spaceship by F. G. Rayer; ahighly original piece by J. W. Grovesentitled "Iiobots Don't Bleed." andsomething quite out of the ordinary-even for him-"Martian's Fancy," byWilliam F. Temple. Ttre cover will

again be by Clothier, illustratlngBrody's novelette.

Meanwhile, the issue of British re-plints of the American magazines con-tinues. Latest to appear here, at leastup to the time this column went topress, is Fantastic Novels: a completebut undated reprint of the originalU.S. edition of last November, featur-ing Charles B. Stilson's "Minos of Sar-danes," is on sale at 1/-. Published byThorpe & Porter, of Leicester, it comesfrom the same source as the Britisheditions of Super Science Stories andWeird Tales, of which the latter con-tinues to make its appearance at inter-vals. The Atlas reprint of ThrillingWonder has also reached its secondissue, dated May '50; and the publishersnow anticipaie regular publication forit. With prospects of Startling alsocontinuing, and rumours of Amazingand Fantastic Adventures being re-printed here again shortly, there seemsno cause for British s-f readers to com-plain-at least on the score of quantity.NO MORE NOSTALGIA

But we are still way behind Amedca,,where the continued glut of materialin the book field seems to have givenanother fi.llip to the production of mag-azines vying for the fantasy fan's afiec-iions. There are still more new publica-tions to report. First, Fantastio Story0uarterly, which plans to draw on theearly issues of Thrilling Wonder andthe earlier Gernsback prlblications, longsince acquired by Standard Magazines,to bring to the new generation of s-freaders the stories whose titles olderdevotees associate with "the good olddays"---or, at least, the latter part ofthai halcyon period. For instance, theflrst (Spring '50) issue features EdmondHamilton's "The Hidden World," fromthe flrst (FaU '29) issue of ScienceWonder ouarterly, along with two nervstories. The cover and illustrations arealso new, and there are 160 pages for25c.

T'Jre magazine, according to EditorSam Merwin, is an experiment, de-signed to ascertain if there are sufn-

cient readers to whom such materialwill prove as acceptable as it did in thedays of its fusb presentation. If the suc-cess of Famous Fantastic and FantasticNovels is an indicator, there seems nodoubt about it-until one considersthe iimits imposed by questions of copy-right, which will exclude many ofthe nnest of the time-honoured pieceswhich appeared, for example, in AmaPing, However, as an earnest of theirconfldence in the nostalgic power ofthe Gernsback products, the same pub-lishers have also produced WonderStory Annual, which appeared in Feb-ruary featuring more rePrints fromearly Wondelg-196 Pages of them, atthe same price. This, apparently' is tobe a regular publication: if so, it will bethe flrst Annual in the fleld ever to seemore than a single issue.

Early in March, from Columbia' Pub'lications came Future Fiction combinedwith Scienoe Fiction Stories, under theeditorship of Robert .w. Lowndes. Thisis a revival of two wartime magazineswhich, after starting separately in '39,were combined in '41, to revert to thetitle of Science Fiction before disap-Ilearing altogethef in '43. First (May-June) issue of the new magazinefeatures stories by George O. Smith,Murray Leinster, Frank B. Long,Lester del Rey, and others. With acover by Earle Bergey, it has 96 pagesand sells for only 15c.

And, having safely launchecl OtherWorlds, Editor'-Publisher Raymond A.Palmer (S-FR, Winter, '49-50) now pro-mlses to introduce, in June, a com-panion mag. called lmagination-forwhich tiUe he gives thanks to ForrestJ. Ackerman and his former fan-maE.Tentative contents of No. 1. at the timeof going to press, included ,.Auto-ma.ton," by A. E. van Vogt, ,,Forget-Me-Not," by William F. Temple, .,HomewardPilgrim," by ISis Neville, with otherpieces by E. E. Evans, Charles IU.Tanner, and Ackerman.

Finally comes news that the Dublish-ers of Avon Fantasy Reader (oi which.incidentally, the twelfth issue shouldhave appeared in January, but has notturned up as yet) will shortly issue aregular pulp magazine to feature sci-ence flction. Titled Out-of.This.WorldAdventures, according to Editor Woll-heim's preliminarv announcement, itwiU first appear as a quarterly af, 2bc.for 128 pages, but bi-monthly publica-tion is intended. Adventure and dis-covery on other worlds, and the impact

19

bf interplanetary travel on our own,will be the keynote. No. I will carry acover sbory specially writien by FtayCummings, "The Planet Smashers,"wiih other tales by van Vogt, del R€y,William Tenn, and our owr! A. BertramChandler. Avon are also launching acartoon magazine featuring s-f strips,vrith the title Out ot This World . . .

ON TFIE HIGHER PLANETo turn to finer tNngs, it's good to

see that The Magazine of Fantasy,announced in this column two issuesago, is to be a regular quarterly pupli-cation-one which has already digni-fled the field with contents that bearlittle lesemblance to the general runof fantasy pulps. Following the firsttrial (Auiumn '49) issue, whieh fullyjustifled pnblisher Lawrence Spivak'sclaim to presenting "a superb cross-section of fantasy rvriting" by old andnew masters, the second (Winter-Spring '50) number has appeared; andit continues to s€t an almost un-believably high standard with newpieces by Bradbury, de Camp andPratt, Margaret St. Clair and DamonKnight, as well as reprints by writersbetter known to Collier's, New Yorkerand Harper's than to the s-f field, notto mention such oldsters as AnthonyHope and W. L. Alden. The tiUe, too,has now been extended to The Maga-zine of Fantasy and Scienoe Fiction;and sub,scriptions are being taken, ai$4.00 for twelve issues. You should dosomebhing about ib . . .

Ray Palmer's Other Worlds also con-tinues to forge ahead, and to makeamusing reading. The fourttr (May'50)issue features a cover story by EricFrank Russell, "Dear Devil"; a novel-ette, "Colossus," by S. J. Byrne, andshort stories by van Vogt, Raymond F.Jones. Forrest J. Ackennan, and others,In the March issue, Editor Palmerfrankly admitted that some of hisauthors gave their stories without feeto help get the magazine started; andhe had further candid comments tomake on other mags. and their editors.Fleiterating his aim to make OW repre-sentative of the whole field, he promisedto strive for "a truly adult approach,"wrule knocking Amazing for denying itsreaders the ability to think. At thesame time, he offered a Henry llassetale as "an Astounding reject," anotheras "a direct steal out of Thrillint Won-der," and Malcolrn Smith's cover &s "a

Please turn tn yage 22

Out in Moy:

NEWWORLDS

Fiction of the Future

ll - , I tfNO. t ltOfeoturing

The Dawn Breal<s RedJOEN BRODY

Plagiarist PETER PHILLIPS

Martian's FancyWILLIAM F" TEMPLE

Bobots Don't Ble€dJ. W. GBOVNS

Quest F. c. nAYERCover by Clothier

Hove You Reod No. 6 ?

If you have not yet secured yourcopy of the current issue, do soNOW before it is completely soldout. Stories by John K. Aiken, A.Bertram Chandler, F. G. triayer,George Whitley, Don J. Doughty &Flancis Ashton.

Moke Sure of Your Copy

The demand for NEW WORLDSis ever-increasing. Make abso-lutely certain of reserving Yourcopies by sub'scribing directlyttrough the publishers. In GreafBritain: 6/6 for four issues, Ircstfree. In Canada & U.S.A.: $1.50for five issues, post free.

N OVAPUBLICATIONS

25 Stoke Newington Road,

London, N.16

m

NOW, ON IO_

Science-Since Fanta,sy Review began, just over

three years ago, its readers have con-stanUy testifled to the success with whichit has fulfllied its original object-toinform and advise the devotee of science-fantasy who takes an intelligent interestin its past, present and future develop-ment. In addition to reflecting the in-creasing growih of the medium whichhas taken place in America during thatperiod, it has also served to ettcouragethe progress of science fiction in thiscountry. In pariicular, the conception ofthe project which resulted in the re-birthof the British magazine New Worl<ls, afa time when conditions seemed to havestifled ali such enterprises, may be tracedto the influence of this journal.

It now becomes evident that the fur-ther success of the Nova Publicationsundertaking, in which I have been privi-leged to assist from the start, is inextric-ably involved with the futule of Science-Fantasy Review, and vice versa. It was,until recently, iltended that this journalshould continue as an independent entityto guide and inform fantasy's followerson both sides of the Atlantic, while ex-tending its scope to embrace ai] spheresof interest impinging on this field. Suchan extension has, indeed, proved vital toits maintenance thus far; for the fatewhich has overtaken its Atnerican con-temporary has proved once more thatthe number of aficionados whose interestis conflned within narrow limits is notsumcient to support a publication suchas this on a subscription basis,

In spite of the encouraging apprecia-tion which S-Fn, has received in allquarters to which it has had access, ibis clear that only wider distribution canenable it to continue to fulfll its purposeamong the larger circle of science-fantasyreaders which it is, at the moment, un-able io reach. At the same time, theincreasing success of New Worlds haspersuaded those who guide the destiniesof Nova Publications that there is scopefor a second British magazine of science-fantasy, to appear alternately with NewWorlds and make its own individualappeal; and for this new publication myservices as Editor are required. Ttrenext step in the development of S-Fn-and of Nova Publications-is, therefore,as inevitable as it is desimble.

In JuIy will emerge, under the Novaimprint. a new magazine with the titleSCIENCE-FANTASY. It will comprise96 pages, and will incorporate Science-Fantasy Review, partaking of aII the besL

2l

tantasyfeatures of this journal in addition topresenting science-fiction and articlesdesigned to appeal both to the generalreader and the inveterate fantasy fan.SCInNCE - FANTASY incorporatingScience-Fantasy R'eview will b€ on saleat 116 at, all newsagents' and bookstallswhere there is a demand for it, in thesame way as New Worlds, and will appearregularly every three monttrs.

If your suhscription to S-FE, has notyet expired, you wiU receive automaticallyas many issues of SCIENCE-FANTASYas the balance of your subscription allowsat the increased price, after which youwill be invited to renew your subscriptionthrough Nova Publications. Those whosesubscriptions expire with this i,ssue shouldsubscribe to SCIENCF-FANTASY withoutdelay, at the rates which appear in theannouncement of Nova Publications onthis page, or they should place a regularorder with their newsagent.

Ttlis, then, is the last issue of Science-Fantasy Review to appear in this form.If it were the end of a journal which hasbeen as pleasurable to edit as if has, byall accounts, proved acceptable to itsreaders, ihat fact would be regrettable,equally to me as to our subscribers. Butits incorporation in a magazine whosegreater circulation will ensure its con-tinuance, and wiII enable me all the betterto implement the policy of developmentI have always had in mind for thisjournal, is rather a matter for jubilationi:r which its supporters will share.

Ttrere may, we suspect, be some whovrill have doubts about the fusion ofS-FR'S more esoteric features with thoseof a magazine mainly devoted to publish-ing science fiction; especially thosereaders who have urged us to ignore therequests of other subscribers for fiction.Can such a magazine cater for both typ€sof reader and sti[ give satisfaction? Wethink it can-and that is the task towhich we shall set ourselves, without anyqualms. The stories we shall publish wiube of the highest standard (many of themvriU be those which would have appearedin Fantasy, had it continued), and weshall make a regular feature of articlesand reviews which vrill be speciflcallyattuned to the interests of our presentnucleus of followers as well as to thoserphich, we believe, are latent in theordinary reader of science-fantasy-whois generally only too ready to have themawakened.

So--on to SCInNCE-FANTASY !THE EDITOR.

And in luly-The First Issue of

sclENCE-FANTASY

ineorlorating

SGIENCE . FANTASYREVIEW

Editor : Walter Gillings

ONE & SIXPENGE

featuring

The BeltTime's .{Irrow

J. ItT. WALSII

.{R,TIIUR, C. CLARKEBlack-out

JOIIN R.USSELL F'EARNThe Cycle P, E. CLEA,TOR,Aalvent of the Entities

E. R. JAMESMonster CHRISTOPIIER YOUD

Articles by T'lromas Sheridan,Geofirey Giles, etc.

Fantasy Book l?eviews, WalterGiliings' 'Fbntasia,' & many other

unique features.

SCIENCE-FANTASY will appearquarterly as a Nova Publication,to present the best in Britishscience flction and to continue thedevelopment of Science-FantaeyReview. Order your copy fromyour newsagent, or place a directsubscription with the publishers:6i6 for four issues, post fre€, inGt. Britain; $1.50 for five issues,post free, to Canada & U.S.A.

NOVAPUBLICATIONS

25 Stoke Newington Road,

London, N.'16

AMONG THE MAGMTNES-continued from poge Igcombination of Astounding's astronomi-cal covers and Paul's Amazing covers."

He even departed from editorialtradition so far as to recommend hisreaders to stories appearing in othermagazines, and anticipated keen com-petition from Amazing on the strengthof his knovrledge of what was going onin its editorial sanctum. "HowafdBrowne," ran a footnote to a fan letter."is making many, many changes. Afteiall, Palmel aimed primarily at a topcirculation, and quality be hanged. InOW, we . . . do want quality." Toclinch the fan interest, he ran a reallyclever stunt: a story by Frank palton,"Mahaffey's Mystery," whose setling'v/as the recent World Science FictionConvention at Cincinnati. and whosecharacters were rvell-knowh s-f authorsand fans-inchrding visiting Britisheditor Ted (John) Carnell, who appar-ently addresses everybody as ,'old chap-pie." The title refers to the local lady-fan, Bea Mahafiey, who Palmerpromptly appointed to his staff and hassince promoted to be his Managing Edi-tor. He is also implernenting his policy

oi "giving amaterr afrists in the s-ffleld a break," without any disastrousresuits that can be observed so far.

Another recent starter, A. Merritt'sFantasy Magazine, looks likely to staythe course-and to give thaL excellentartist, Finlay, a good deal more work todo. A reader's column promptly rearedits ugly head in the second (Feb.) issue,which featured a comparatively recentArgosy novel, "The Smoking Land," byGeorge Chailis (otherwise Max Brand,Flederick Fanst. etc). with two shortsof older vintage: Victor Rousseau's"The Seal Maiden" and Merritt's"Three Lines of Old French"-enougtr,apparently, to justify the title of thenew mag. The April number features"The Ninth Life," by Jack Mann, anovel of ancient Egypt with a distinctHaggardish cast, and a tale of voodooby Theodore Roscoe, "The Little DolIDied." Oh, and a piece by A. Merritt,ofcourse...

It only remains for me to wishScienoe-Fantasy long life and manylhousands of contented reaCers.

AI3KIIAM HOUSDBOOKS for yourIlelightForthcoming :AWAY & BEYOND . A. E. van Vost - 261-A HORNBOOK FOR WITCHES . Leah Bodine Drake 1416BEYOND TIME & SPACE . August Derleth, editor 301.GATHER, DARKNESS I . Fritz Leiber, rfr. lgl-& volumes by M, P. Shiet, Clark Ashton Snlith, Robert Bloch, H. P. Lovecraft

Seaburt Qninn, nfiaryery Lawrence, etc.

Still Avoiloble :SOMETHING ABOUT GATS - H. P. Lovecraft . tg/6THE THRONE OF SATURN . S. Fowter Wright . 19/6

l& many other titlesExclusive Bdtish R€presentative i

G. KEN CHAPMAN23 FARNLEY ROAD, SOUTH NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.25

About Boohs23

By Herbert Hughes

MR. PRATT'S ANALYSISMr. Flelcher Pratt. who is known ln

his native U.S.A. as a naval historianand biographer of Napoleon as well asa newspaper wdter on military mat-ters, recently appeared in a new guise

-as a book critic who, according tothe New York Times Book Review, "ismaking an intensive study of fantasy-f,ction and its influence on PoPularIiterary patterns." He is, of course, nostranger to this subject. To a moreselect audience. he tras been known fortwenty years as an author of science-fantasy whc has also collaborai€d withseveral others (Irvin Lester. I. M.Stephens, Laurence Manning, Spraguede Camp). He is also a distinguishedmember of the Hydra CIub*, the NewYork organisation of professional sci-ence-fictionists to which such leadingwriters as Willy Ley, Theodore Stur-geon and Lester del Rey belong.

In shorb, Mr. Pratt is in a very goodposition to command a both respectfuland respectable audience whenever hehas anything to say about s-f's currentofferings. Which he had, to the extentof almost three full pages, in an articleon "science Fiction and Fantasy-1949"in a recent issue of 16t Safu1flay Re'view of Literature, in which he exanr-ined no less than twenty-f.ve titleswhich have been added to the field inthe last twelve months or more. In thesame issue. Il,obert A. Heinlein also re-viewed that "Baedeker of the SolarSystem," Bonestell & Ley's "The Con-quest of Space" (S'FR, Winter '49-50),from which the Bonestell view of Marsfrom Deimos was adapted as a two-colour cover. Further, the letter pagecarried references to s-f, following uponEditor Norman Cousins' leading articlein a previous issue suggesting a plotfor a novel: the deliberate hoodwink-ing of the world by scientists, in the

twhere he was encountered bY aNew Yorker guest at its annual party,last January, as "a small bearded mansmoking a huge cigar (and) address-ing himself in authoritative tones to aspellbound youngster in a black sweater. . . 'Who was that?' I asked the Youth.'Fletcher Pratt,' he said. 'He's wonder-ful. Kind of the dean of science flc-tion. He lives with marmosets' . . "

form of an impending "catastrophe,"in ordel to avert war on Earth. Ofcourse, it had been done already, andtwice only lately; in "The FlyingSaucer" (FR, Dec. '48-Jan. '49), nowpublished in America, and in "Ttre BigEye" (see Book Reviews, this issue).

Mr. Pratt introduced his subject innow fa.miliar fashion, by harking backto the end of the war wllen "some-thing nerv came over the literary hori-zon (in tJre shape of) a series of bookswhose jackets bore pictures of Adonis-like youths clad-in airtight coverallssurmounted by glass bubbles fromwhich stubby radio aerials projected.They were usually accompanied by . . .a damsel wearing an ornamented bra,a pair of sholts and boots halfway upthe calf. Both were commonly armedwith pistols of strange design, and notinfrequently accompanied by monsters.They are the people of space, refugeesfrom the pulps. . . " And the books,as he explained, were the productionsof the speciaiist fantasy publishers,which older houses were surprised todiscover sold to a public whose devotionto the fleld was unbounded, and which,far from ending up as remainders, in-creased in value the longer they tookto sell out.

ESCAPE FOR PSYCHIATRISTSNow. with at least seven of the big

publishing concerns paying attentionto the medium, Mr. Pratt thinks theoft-repeated prediction concerning itschallenge bo the detective story as thedominant form of escape literature"measurably nearer realisation." Thefact that the possibilities of variationin the whodunit have been exhausted,plus the prevailing interest in atom-smashers and jet-planes and "the fasci-nation of new frontiers for a worldwhere there are no more unknowns tobe explored," is sufficient to explain thetrend to his satisfaction; and in viewof the Ley-Bonestell volume, which initself is indicatirre of the lalanen'scuriositv about such matters. he is notsurprised thal "no less than eight ofthis year's crop of s-f novels are whatis known in the trade as 'space operas'

-books built round the theme of int€r-

planetary travel."

24

Comparing thess works, he nnds thaball but two of them advance the theory"that what lies beyond the heavens iswar-against races formidably armedand so utterly alien to our own thoughtpatterns that no compromise withthem is possible. (But) this no doubtrepresents iess a judgment than a con-vention; fi.ve of the eight books men-tioned are rewrites and extensions ofstories which have already appeared inthe pulps, whose readers respond onlyto shock treatment." More significant,he thinks, is the fact that all but oneof the eight stories have interstellar'rather than interplanetary settings. Inexplaining the common pulp device ofan "overdrive" or "spacewarp," whichconveniently ignores what the mathe-maticians have to say about the effectsof velocity on mass, he pointed outthat "the writers wtro use (it) are evi-dently producing pure fantasy, escapeliterature. It may also be signiflcantthat psychiatrists are among the lead-ing devotees of science flction, and al-most invariably they take theirs in theform of space opera."

Having mentioned other generallyaccepted conventions (e.g., telepathy,tractor and pressor beams, contrater-lene matter) rvhich occur in these andtwo time-rravel taies also currentlvavailable, he went on: "Lilie the ovei-drive and the ability of the treroes .

to invent on the spur of the momentwhatcver technical device is necessaryfor victory over the aiien monstrosities,these conventional appurtenancespatently lepresent wish-fulfllmentdreams. So does the whole story inthe straight fantasy, without any scien-tific element, of L. Ron Hublnrd's'Triton' (S-FR, Autumn '49), which is,by the ',vay, about as bad a pure fairytale as the year has produced. But oneof the most important featules of thewhole . . . iiterature is that i.t has nogeneral convention in favour of wish-fuifilment or of escape either. If thefantB,sy element be sufficient to enter-tain the reader, the authol is permittedto employ any thematic material he de-sires for the discussion of any subjecbthat falls upon his attention. Thuseven among the strict space operasthele is often some fairly serious con-sideration of ideas underlying the pulpapproach and the wild adventures . .

"But if the use of science-fi.ction-fantasy has enabled light writers occa-sionally to catch a heavy idea by thetail withoub damage either to the

reader's power of concentration or hisego, it has also placed in the frands ofthe serious writer an unsurpassedweapon for attacking in fictive formmatters hitherto reserved for more pon-derous treatment. It is impoltant, andnot alone because of wider readersilp;for fiction po,ssesses the capacity . . .of demonstrating the impact of ideason the living individual. It is no acci-dent that two of the novels ratedamong the most distinguished of theyear by general critical sfandards con-folm very strictly to the definition ofscience fiction, and another to the re-quirements of pure fantasy."

Ilere he referred to George Orwell's"Nineteen Eighty-Four" (S.FR, Autumn'49). the framework of which he findsof a type long familiar to s-f readers;and while it differs from the pulpstories in emotional intensity, charac-ierisaiion and sheer good wliiing, herecognises in it the same devices toachieve the suspension of disbelief.Similarly, the concept and basic deviceof George R. Stewart's "Eafth Abides"(Random House, New York: $3.00),which presents the problems of thecivilised lndividual in a world deci-mated by disease, are almost exactlyreproduced in Eando Binder's "Lordsof Creation" (Prime Press. Phila-delphia: $3.00), which originallyappeared in Argosy, as well as in twostories by Isaac Asimov and NelsonBond appearing in culrent anthologies.Although the purposes of the fourstories are far apart, "in all four theremote future is a new stone ageand . . . the decay has come aboutthrough war and epidemic." And thereis no question, says Mr. Pratt, but thatBond's "Pilgrimage" in "The Thirty-First of February" (S-FR, Autumn '49)is the best short story, and Stewart's"Earth Abides" probably the best book,of all last year's s-f crop.

POLITICAL POINTERAnalysing further, ne noted that S.

Fowler Wright's "T'lle World Below"(Shasta, Chicago: $3.50) tras the onlybook of the year "rvhich el hibits theslightest faith in democracy as anoperable svstem for the future. . .and the democracy is of a very peculiafsort, laid in a future so remote thatman has evolved into several difierent

. speeies, some of them extremely re.pulsive. The other authors do not flndMr. Orwell's horrible totalitarianismin the future, except among alien and

unpleasant ra es, but they have beenunable to conceive of a form of demo-cratic government that will functionfor some two billion people on Earth,to say nothing of the populations ofremoter planets. This may only meanthat the writers of fantasy are not poli-tical thinkers, or that the old aristo-cratic tradition of fiction still retainsa f,rm grasp on the collective imagina-tion. But it may also mean that thereis some political thinking to be done.The writers in this form are very quickto seize any new idea going around;there are hardly enough in circulationto serve as starting points for storiesas it is."

As evidence of this. he instancedtlu'ee fantasy novels of '49 which havethe same supernatural theme: NelsonBond's "Exiles of Time', (prime: $2.b0).Charles Williams' "Manv Dimensions"(Pellegrini, New york: $5.00), and Don-ald Wandrei's "Tlre Web of EasterIsland" (FR, Dec. '48-Jan. '49). Etn-phasising that Williams' novel is in adifferent category from Bond's pulp-type adventure story-"the third of tJ:ereaily distinguished novels of the vear"-and observing thet Wand.r'ei's ,,Web"is dedicated to its inspirator, Love-craft, he added: "Mr.. Wandrei mighthave spared himself the trouble: notonly is it a far lletter story as storythan anything Lovecraft ever produced,but it goes straight as a string frombeginning to destination, without anyof the long passages of undigesteddescription and piled adjectives inwhich Lovecmft . . . iaduleed."

To draw a comparison between theold school of s-f writing and the morerecenl products, Mr. pratt sinsled orlL

25

Olaf Stapledon's "Wor.lds of Wonder,'(Fantasy Pub[shing Co., Los Angeles:$3.00), and Dr. David H. r(eller's-,,TheHomunculus" (Prime: $2.b0) anat ,,LifeEverlasting" (FR, Jun.-Jul. '49). OfStapledon's stories he says that their"delicate mysticism is hard to extractbecause (they) are so wordy and com-plicated"; white Dr. Keiler's ,,will beeagerly read by aficionados becausethe5' a1s period pieces and as such neg-lected by non-specialists, to whom theexcellence of the scientiflc ideas willfail to compensate for the stitted dia-logue and the lacune in plotting.

"In fact," he summed up, ,.if any onething emerges from this year,s group,it . is that, the boys who began bywdting fantasy fiction are now writingfiction. The scientiflc or fantastic ele-ment is still present, but the problemshave become human problems causedbv the advance of physical science,which is fundamentally the majorproblem besetting the world to-day.Much science-f,ction-fantasy writing isIight, and sometimes the ideas involvedwill not bear a great deal of weight.But with the exception of the Staple-don volume, there is not one book inthe group which fails to have narrativedrive, people moving around, andthings happening to them. The special-ist s-f writers learned that in the pulps;they have been forced to learn theother things because people who knewthem already, like Orwell, Stewart andCharles Williams, have entered thecompetition. Norv they are reachingout beyond the specialist public tobrilg tc an increasing number of gen-era.l readers an appreciation of themost lively form of flction to-day."

Wolter Gillings' FANIAS,A-Continued from poge 5Edgar Rice Burroughs (FR, Dec. '48-Jan.'49) clied at Tarzana, agied ?4Robert L. Famsworth, u.s. R'ocket society king-pin, running ior "CorEI."." . . .'world citizen No. 1 carry II. Davis, writing in oouut, recalled t]hat ..Chartes Fort'sname was introduced to me many years ago ill the pages of (astountling Stories)which was a constant companion. . . . Olaf Stapledorfs judgment on science flction,in letter to operation Fantast: "r flnd myself in a hole about, (it). i ,r.u". *r. "fan of ,it, and read very litile of it. r recognise it as a legitimate means oilxpression,. think it has a future. But it is arso rather dJngerous, recause it-*ry *oeasily be indulged in as mere escapism,' rssuing invitation io'llNor*"."orr,,,Eichth wortd s-F convention, chairman John de couriy explained: .,Bioaclry, (its)purpose is to demonstrate that s-f is an integrar part of our civilisation; that withoutit, our progress would be materialy retarded"-. , .-wailed norer siocn,i; fioomingtonNews-r,etter: l'Every once in a while r make an extra efiort to du*out a yarnsuitable for adult readership,_and just as I indutge in a fitiie sdfr_con?ratiiafion . . .np popj a mental pictrt:e of an army of goons wearing beanies, rajie'tearos arraBuck riogers blasters. Trren r go inio the"waJhroom and have a good cr1,,'

26

Booh Rerdervs

The Mixture As BeforeFRoM OFF THIS WORLD, edited by

Leo Margulies & Oscar J. Friend.Merlin. New York. $2.95.

R,eviewed by Walter cillingsWhen I had ceased to ponder the

myst€ry of how the typographer hadcurved the letters on the title-page ofthis volume, I began to examine thecontents. Haying smiled a smile ofrecognition, as one does when one en-counters old friends across the street, Icould not help recalling that when, twoyears before the war came to stunt itsalready uncertain growth, I contrivedto launch the first Bdtish magazine de,voted to this medium, it was not with-out misgivings that I began to intro-duce into Talos ol Wonder reprints ofstories which had appeared muchearlier in Amazing and Wonder Stories,I had hoped that, few as they were, ourBritish writers vrculd suffice to regaleour readers with science fiction theyeould appreciate, rvhether or not theyt'ere accustomed to suctr unorthodoxlare. But although several new writersdid develop, I found it difficult to getenough good stories based on ideaswhich could be easily assimilated bythe ordinary reader yet which mightstill be acceptable to the jaded fantasyfan.

So I accepted only too readily theassistance of such favourites as Dr.David H. I{eller, Edmond lfamilton.Munay Leinster, Jack WiUiamson andothers, in my search for stories ofmellower vintage than those appearingin the U.S. magazines of the time.Hence the reappearance of such ,,class-j.cs" as "Stenographer's Hands', (inNo. 2), "The Comet Doom" (Autumn'39), "The Mad Planet" (Sprir€ '39),and several of the Wonder stories ofClark Ashton Smith and our own JohnBeynon Harris, which were admirablysuited to the larger audience we wet€trying to attmct to s-f in these isles.But by using such material (which,with the war distracting our own',rriters, became an absolute necessity),I brought down on my unsuspectinghead the wrath of tfre ptaeritnosestalwart fans v/ho had not onlv readthe U.S. magazines as religiousl':y as I

since the days of Gernsback's seed-sowing, but had kept and filed away thebest, if not all, of their contents to re-read and re.read again. They didn'twant these fusty reprints; they wereno downy initiates, these British grey-beards of fantasy. The only stories theyhadn't lead were those that had yet tobe written-unless it were the oldArgosy tales which Amazing hadn't re-printed, in spite of oft-repeated de-mands though the years.

This was before the advent of Famo{rsFantastic Mysteries and FantasticNovelg which brought those ancient,well-copyrighted classics back for anew generation of fans as well as fortheir elders; Iong before the AvonFantasy Reader, which now scours thewhole field for a still youngex genera-tion of readers-and, again, for thoseold devotees who have grown moretolerant of vintage tales whose flavouris ',volth reviving. It was before BritishReprint Editions of Astounding andUnknown: before "The Best in ScienceFiction," or any of the anthologies andcollections. Even before StartlingStories and its "Hall of Fame" classics,hele now assembled between hard cov-ers jacketed by Finlay.

It was with somewhat mixed feelings,therefore, that I browsed through the430 pages of this initial volume fromthe Merlin Press, which purports topresent "T'he Gems of Science Fiction"as leprinted from the GernsbackWonder Stories (for the greater part.anyway) bJ'trvo of its subsequent edi-tors. It was strange indeed to read intheir Introduction that they had beenassembled for re-reprinting largely tobenefit that "large proportion of newreaders (more recently) drawn to s-f(who have) found themselves caught ina bewildering world of space-lingo, ofyet-to-be-discovered sciences, of wordsno dictionary has included to date.They, of course,', Jve are told, ,,neededand (still) need indocrination-indocri-nation in the most fascinating study ofprophetic lealning ever made availableto public and expert alike." In fact, welearn ttlat "it rvas witb this need forreader indoctrination in mind that

Startling Stories, back in '39' inaugu-rated in its flrst publication tJre policyof reprinting in every issue one im'p-ortairt sto+hndmark from the s-fDast."- And this is in the land of science'fiction, in Ackerman's lmagFnation,where Junior is reared on supemanand Flash Gordon; where, in the Yearthat Tales of Wonder was born, thekids ptayed with rocket-ships propelledOv rrlnGr bands, belonged to "BuckRogers' Solar Scouts," and wore uni-torms to match, intelplanetary naviga-tion helmets, toy rocket-pistols and all. , . Can it be that there is a,ny neces-sity for indoctrination (fearsomewoid!) on ttre other side of the Pond?We had thought that there' if any-where, science-fantasy reading was oneof those things which just came natur-ally. American s-f editors, evidently,trave their problems too.

We can, of course, appreciate tJre de-sirability, if not the actual necessity,for every s-f reader to understand theevolutionary background of this fleldwhose hisbory is as fascinating as anyof the latest products it has to ofier.Once more, the editors of this an-thology give it a brief outline, whileoffering their volume as "a measuringstick ol s-f progress." A generation offans which tras embraced Heinlein'van Vogt and Bradbury may, however'find it dfficult to appreciaLe why someof its contents should have beenselected, either in the first place or forpresentation here, as "outstanding for

'27imaginative pioneerfurg as much as forliterary merit," which few of themdisplay when judged by present daystandards in a medium which is "in tnefull flower of its fiIst adult develop'ment."

None will dispute the inclusion ofClark Ashton Smith's "Singing Flame"stories (first reprinted with generalapproval, in Tale$ of Wonder), or the"tweel" tales of Stanley G. Wei'nbaum'except on the ground that they hav-ebeen- too much reprinted already, for alltheir undoubted merits. Some may ad-mit the originality of concept displayed'at the time, by Benson Herbert's '"IheWorld Without," Arthur G. Stangland's"The Ancient Brain" and Louis D.Tucker's "The Cubic City." But apartfrom P. Schuyler Miller's "The Manfrom Mars," Edmond Hamilton's "fireMan Who Evolved," and "The EternalMan" of D. D. Sha,rp-.three good menwho have worn well through the years

-the rest of the selection, judged apartfrom sentimental value, seems morelikety to have qualifled for the HaIl ofFam-e on the strengttr of convenientlength than anY intrinsic worth.

There are only three which I had notread before, as far as I could remember'and they are those which appearedoriginally in the early days of ThrillingWonder. I found them neither thrillingnor wonderful, and wished that theirfa^me had been shortlived. As for Mr.I(uttner, thank goodness he has im-proved out of all recognition since thedays of "When the Eafth Lived."

The Soge of ProvidenceSOMETHING ABOUT CATS ANd

Other Pieces bY H. P. Lovecraft'collected by August Derleth. ArkhamIlouse, Sauk CitY, Wis. $3.00.

Reviewed by Arthur F. Hlllman

The fantasy fan who does not belongto the coterie of Lovecraft worshippersmav be somewhat disconcerted to en-couhter still further books dedicated tothe Sage of Providence. Time andagain his ghost would seem to havebeen laid to rest with due solemnityand finality, yet always hls spi-rit wingsits way back into the orbit of currentproduction. Once it was thought that"Beyond the Wall of Sleep" (Arkham:'43), that magnificent companionvolume to the still more admirableinitial collection of his stories, "The

Outsicler and Others" (Arkham: '39),had completed his resuscitation; yetwith "Marginalia," in '44, the indus-trious August Derleth carried a stepfurther the literary presentation of allthat Lovecraft had conceived.

This melange of bits and pieces ofhis work, together wittr certain revi-sions he had made of the writings ofothers, seemed a tittle remote from themainstream of Lovecraftiana'. But thereception of the volume proved theinsatiable curiosity of his followersconcerning anything attaching to thelife's work of their idol, and em-boldened his Boswell to cast aroundfor more evidence of tris labours. Oneresult was "The Lurker at the Thres-hold" (FR, Dec. '48Jan. '49), a rathertop-heavy structure which Mr. Derleth

28

himself erected on two slight founda.tion stones left behind by the Master;and now we have another collection ofii'agments which, its compiler asserts,"is primarily a volume for the collectorwho insists upon comprehensiveness."

Despite the somewhat warnine notein this description, howeverl thevolume ccntains much that is worth-while. Those who remember theWeird Tales of the late '20's and early'30's will not lightly dismiss any oppor-tunity of encountering once more thestories of that period; and in "TheHorror in the Burying Ground," byHazel Heald, and "The Last Test" and"The Electric Executioner," by Adolphede Castro, are found distinct evidenceof Lovecraft's flair for revision. Inthese, as in "The Invisible Monster"and "Four O'Clock," by his former wife,Sonia II. Greene, are also weU-shapedfacets of the patfeln of his own super-natural themes, making them all themore acceptable to his fans.

The title essay, in which the Sagediscourses upon the superiority oi catsover dogs, is cast in derisive vein withwords of singular power, and willprobably prove the most enjoyabie itemin the whole collection. Among theappreciations, that of tr'j|itz Leiber,Jr. on "A Literary Copernicus" is out-standing: as he says, Lovecraft shiftedthe focus of dread from man and hisworld t,o the stars and the unplumbeddepths of intergalactic space, and heelaborates on this theme most inter-estingly. In general, though, thepoetry and articles are inferior to whathas been published alreedy under thesame heading. fn his efforts tounearth the whole of Lovecraft, Mr.Derleth has delved to the uttermoststrata, and the minerals have runpretty thin. And in one respect, atleast, it might have been best to leavecertain matters buried.

f refer to the piece on "Lovecraft asI Knew Him,"* by Mrs. Sonia Davis.Curious though many of the coteriemrist be concerning the circumsNancesof his marriage, I am sure that mostwould not want to pry into the details;and in her story of their life togethertl-re former Mrs. Lovecraft has leftvery little unrevealed. Her account ofthe way she provided for him and triedto "humanise" him, only to divorce him

,r Which originally appeared in TheProvidence Jou,rnal, Lovecraft's home-town paper.

Shasta Publishers5525 SOUTH BLACKSTONE

cHrcaco, 37, TLLINOIS, U.S.A.

Now Avoiloble

THE MAN WHOSOLD THE MOONby ROBERT A. HEINLEIN:lhe first of the famous "Future

History" series, presented in onevolume.

Contains the title story (30,000words of new flction). and:

"Life-Line,""Let There Be Light,""The Iloads Must Roll.""Biowups Happen,""Requiem."

The whole centred round thenot-too-distant future, and tellingof the conquest of the Moon andouter space.

Jacket by Hubert Rogers.Chronological chart on end-

papers.Introduction by John w.. Camp-

bell, Jr.Preface by Robert A. Heinlein.

, 288pp.; 3-piece binding, gold-s[amped.

This wili be rated one of theoutstanding books of the year.

$3.00 (19i 6)

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SIDEWISE IN TIMEby MURRAY LEINSTERSix magniflcent stories by one of

science fiction's favourite authors,$3.00 (r9l6)

Sole British Representative:E. d. GARNELL,

r? BURWASH RD., PLUMSTEADLONDON, S.8.18

when she iailed, casts a pitiless light onwhat should, I believe. have remaineddiscreetly veiled. One can imagine theblow to tris own sensitivities if he werealive to read such an exposd; and inspite of Mrs. Davis' efiorts to com-mand the sympathies of her audience,one is left feeling much more slrnpathyfor the man who is now so much less ofthe legendary, mysterious figure shepredicted he would become.

29

Still, even if this book is perhapsthe least of the links in the chain ofLovecraft's works. all his admirersshould have it on their shelves. Apartfrom the forthcoming "SelectedLettels," ib represents what may wellbe the last of such collections to appear,however many reprints of his moreambitious pieces have yet tomaterialise in respo.nse to continueddemands.

The Honourable BEMFIRST LENSMAN, by Edward E.

Smith, Ph.D. Fantasy Press,Rea.ding, Pa. $3.00

Reviewed by D. R. SmithEver since his first interplanetary

epic, "The Skylark of Space," set thepattern for such stories, the appearanceof a new work by Dr. Edward E. Smiih(FR, Apr.-May '48) has been considereda majol event in science flction. Thereare many writers who have surpassed,in actual quantity of words, this pains-taking authol of ten novels and a trand-ful of short stories which haveappeared over a period of twenty-twoyears; but few others can be said tohave had such a great influence onsuch a loyal band of admiring readers,For these two decades his name hasbeen a household word in this field, asmuch wibh that minority which con-demn his stories as shallow and super-ficial as among the thousands who havefallen completely to his spell.

The appearance of "First Lensman"is particularly notable because it is thenrst Smith novel to be published inbook form without having been pre-sented eariier as a magazine serial. Itis actually the second story in the"Lensrnen" series, rvhich started with"Triplanetary" (FR, Aug.-Sept. '48) andcontinues with "Galactic Patrol," "GreyLensman," "Second Stage Lensman"and "Children of the Lens," theAstounding Science Fiotion serialswhich are to see book presentation indue course. And it may well prove thebest of its bulch, I fancy: partly be-cause it is the most recently written-and Dr. Smith is always striving toimprove his technique as a writer.

As usual, he gives us ample doses ofhis two most exhilarating ingredients:the battles in space, with the tremen-dous scientif,c weapons he has wielded

from the start, and the tascinating pic-tures of the alien life-forms of strangeplanets which are a more recentdevelopment of his n'ork. He wasamong the first exponents of spaceopera to play with the idea that a Bug-Eyed Monster might really be a decentsort of creature at heart. Now he hasgone further, and suggests that theBEM might have an inner personalityand code of morals as monstrous to ourconceptions as its outward shape yetstill be a worthy citizen of the Galaxy.This, coupled with the fact that hispresent villains are mainly Earth politi-cians and financiers-and Americans.too!-surely removes him well awayfrom the ranks of the superflcialwriters.

The pattern of the story is similar tothe later Lensmen tales, trowever: it isa detective thriller of the future. Theplot is engagingly intricate, but fairlydeveloped; and although the goodscientists contrive to out-invent theevil ones as usual, they are not allowed.to overdo it and the Lens does notdegenerate into the magic wand itmight easily have become. Its intro,duction and gradual development as aweapon is, naturally, one of the prin-cipal features of the story, and Dr.Smith handles it with an adroitnesswhich leaves me satisfied that theLens deserves to rank vety high in thescantv list of really desirable inventionsof science flction.

The Lens being wleat it is, and doledoui by the Irisians so carefully, it isalmost inevitable ttrat the good charac-ters tend to appear so morally perfectthat they become much of a muchness;and the wicked types cannot be givenmore varied personalities lest they stealthe show. Dr. Smith has always beenfaced with this difflculty, and here hesolves it fairly satisfactorily by em-

30

phasis oD the minor facets of per_sonality and the use of suitable rion_human characters. That he has nothad, to write iniiiaUy for magazine pub-lrcauon nas evidently allowed him alrtile more freedom (there is one briefPassage which James Hadlev Chasemigh.t _consider quite acceptabier, andthis helps to add a few deeper, if moresombre, splashes of colour. The epi_sode in a uranium mine, which is oriiyone of a rich store of intriguing situa-

THE Blc EYE, by Max Ehrlich.Doubleday, New llork. $2.b0.

Reviewed by ,John BeynonThe Big Eye is, of course, the 200_inch

telescope at palomar-up to page fSo.Thereafter it is a runaway planet,which-in Lhe first stages of its apfroachtowards Earth shows a turn of speed.that makes light look Uke a loite;inghobo, but later seems to loiter considerlably- itseif. It is the second objectwtrich, it appears, is referred to ininCtitle of this science flction novel,'lnattempting which Mr. Ehrlich set him-relf a very dilficulu task.

There have been few successful s_fn?vgis. .In _-general, science nction,lvnether intellectual, exciting or merelyropey, is most easily handled as an ad-venLure story or a thriller; it is usuallvan action story where the conflict iitretween the protagonists and the cir_cumstances. In the novel proper, how-ever, conflict is the outcome of humancharacter. It follows, therefore, ttrai ina s-I-novel there must tre two conflictsrunnrng_ simultaneously and interlock_JnB, ano even the most expert handshave found thi.s difficult. fn-tnis case.-fsuspect. half the readers will tick be_carse characters tiddle along with theirpetty emotions and love afiairs whilelfe en$ of the world draws near, andthe other haH will complain ttiat--agood human story keeps- being sidJr-racKed Dy an event which, they mavfeel. no onc coujd tak; i;iioGl;,.any\{ay.

Mr. Ehrlich has obviously been tosome trouble to adjust his balances.rre nas weighed the proportions of in_terest, arranged for the domesticcvents to be caused by the cosmic, andglven a numan motivation to link thewhole. So one assumes that he did

Doomsday in Moronio

tions. in peculiar plaees, displays airandiness with technicat termJ un-com_mon in any grade of fi.ction.

The days when I used to read and re-read the tales that appealed to memost strnng)y were, I-lhought, longpast. But when I had reached the endof this book I straightway turned backto the flrst page and began to read itthrough again. And now that I haveset _down my feelings about it all, Islrall probably star[ on it a third time.

have in mind something of moregeneral appeal than the average s_fserial-but one doubts whether- thatcan be attained by flouting the rules ofprobability. Whatever the class ofmaterial, unless a certain standard oflogic is maintained it will inevitablvdamage the rest of the story, howevei.good. It becomes the more distressinswhen an author who is obviouslv iiea-rnesL in some parts of his tale allowsotners to run so wild as to ofiendlogical possibility and so detachrnler€st., For_ instance, nobody is greailytroubled if, in some dimension-ygTing space opera. every creature onAlpheratz Ms of exacily similarmind. But the picture of an America-and, by implication, a whole humanrace-wtrich will accept as gospel,instantly and without question, itu!statement of a few astronomers' thatthe world will end on a particular day,is more convenient for the author thanc_onvincing to the reader. One crazydoubter is mentioned, but that is a lowproportion of scepticism for the worldI. thought I lived in; and the presenta-tion of every kind of Arnericari-exceptastronomers and their rvives-as theunfailing exhibitor of panic andhysteria upon the least excuse is notonly unflattering but silly.

Mr'. Ehrlich's New york, in the lasttwo years of the wo.rld's lease, is abewildering place, mn upon curiouseconomic lines. Money, under thethreat, is not worth saving, so-guesswhat! Everyone draws out atf hisdeposits, cashes in on his insuranceand, the banks being able to stand thisdrail imperturbably, sets out to spendhis lot. Business stops, office biocksstand empty; but appalenily businesswas a phoney, for newspapers still

appear, lights blaze, radio persists, sodo theatres and movies, every womanhas a mink coat, crowds converge onNew York, nobody is producing buteverybody irs fed, and all this is presum-ably paid for and kept going by themoney that it's no longer worth any-body's while to hold on to.

Whereas under the threat of atomicbombing this New York is all panic andflight, under that of planetary oblitera-tion it whoops it up; and after it hasbad its fun on useless money withoutany inflationary unpleasantness, it isovercome by some variant of boozer's

THE HOUNDS OF TINDALOS, byFrank Belknap Long. MuseumPress, London. 8/6.

Reviewed by Arthur F. HillmanIn this collection of twenty-one fan-

tastic tales which appeared originallyfrom Alkham House four years ago,there is a remarkably similar parallelwith that of Robert Bloch ("TheOpener of the Way"), vrhich was pub-lished about the same time. Long,Iike Bloch, was a member of the Love-craft circle, that select group of WelrdTales contributors whose intimacv ex-t€nded cven to the scenes

- and

characters of many of their respectivestories. And, as in the case of Mr.Bloch's collection, a defi.nite schism instyle is evident in this assembly of taleswhich Mr. Long is supposed to havegathered himself. One section, com-prising his earlier work, exhibits theslow, methodical Lovecraftian style,with every word a corner-stone in thebuilding of an elaborate but sturdystructure; the other shows the curt.smart finish of the current Americanschool, patterned afier Hemingway.

Examining Mr. Long's work in detail,one realises that here is a writer with adcfl, mature touch and a brilliantimagination. Of those stodes whichshow the obvious influence of Love-craft, the title-tale, "The Space-Eaters"and "A Visitor from Egypt" are out-standing for plot-construction andeffective description. These, andolhers that app€arcd in the early daysof Welrd Tales, certainly deserve theirnelv lease of life in book form. Theyare better, in fact, than Mr. BlochlLovecraftian stories, vrhich bear tracesof his youthful naivete: at the time of

3lgloom, goes into a religious funk, andappears to think this is a moraltriumph. A good basic story and vividwriting can be ruined by such non-sense. I feel 5trongly that there mustbe some individuals left (kresidesastronomers), even at the fount ofmas+production. If the setting isAmerican, surely behaviour shouldapproximate to the American patternrather than the Moronian. In the faceof calamity, either money and organi-sation collapse or they don't-theycan't do both, and whichever they domust afiect the story.

writing them he was not yet twenty.Mr. Long is fourteen years his senior,and the accumulated wealth of hisexpericnce as a writer has gone toenrich the potency of his bre$r. Theseare not jus1, strs1lsss they are works ofart in their own tiny niche.

With thc other side of his work I adinot so content, though his imaginationhas ,soared to even greater heights."Bridgehead" is an ingenious piece ofscience flction that well merited itsfirst appearance in Astounding, andthere are several Unknown episodesthat amuse with their pixie atmos-phere; bub in some cases. such as ,,AStitch in Time" and ',Golden Child,"the whackiness seems overdone and ir-responsible. One wishes that he haddevoted his talents to something rathermore to the point.

However, that Mr. Long was the solearbiter of the contents of his volume is.I think. doubtful; and if he was, thefact remains that many of his admirersmight have made a better selection.including stories that are still languish-ing in dusty magazines-unless by nowthey have been rescued for a furthercollection. For. example, ,'The DarkBeasts," here present, came out of afan magazine, the old Marvel Tales,where it should have remained, to bereplaced by another of Mr. Long'sAstounding stories.

A word about the jacket, which isunusual, revealing a flair for themacabre seldom met with in Britishbook illustrators. It is, I am told, thework of Powell, who did most of theillustrations for Fantasy and all (underthe name of Frederic) for theephemeral British Strange Tales. Hisskeletal wench is horribly fascinating,

I4r. Long and Mr. Lovecroft

A Nice Drink of MoonjuiceWHAT MAD UNIVERSE, by Frederic

Brown. Dutton, New York. $2.50.Reviewed by Th.omas Sheridan

Many years ago I was completelytaken in by "A Voyage to Purilia," bJ'Elmer Rice*, which turned out to be afantasy depicting that impossible worldthat existed according to the earlysilent films-fuU of demure heroines,scoundlelly squires and dauntlessheroes with Right on their side.What Mr. Rice did for the movie melo-drama Mr. Brown has done for sciencefiction-or', at least, for s-f in its mostconventional form. With a flne appre-ciation of the principles he himself hasto observe in his writings for the pulpmagazines, he has produced a novelwhich every fan who can see the funnyside of its established extravagances-and which one cannot?-willthoroughly enjoy. Amid a constantflood of tales which we are not alwaysinclined to take as seriously as theirautlrors-or editors-expect, here is one

* Cosmopoiitan, New York: '30.

32

that is frankly burlesque; yet one that,if you will accept its basic premise, ismore believable than the rest-andmakes the rest just as believable.

You may, of course, aheady havesavoured, in the version which ap-peared in Startling Stories (Sept. '48),the delights of the situation in wNchI{eith Winton, editor of "SurprisingStories," finds himself on being whiskedinto another dimension where somethings are very much the same as in hisproper universe but others are verydifierent. Where, for instance, thereare still drugstores and Model T Fords,yet space-travel is taken as much forgranted as the seven-foot purpleLunarians who walk the streets, and a'28 25-cent piece is a rare coin worth2,000 of any coiiecLor's credits. WhereWells' "Oubline of History" has a chap-tel telling how the development of thespacewarp drive started with an acci-dental discovery involving the abruptdisappearance of a sewing machine;how the fu'st man landed on the Moonin 1910, and the first Earth colony was

Spring: TitlesMASTERS OF TIME

By A. E. va.rr VogtWith "T'tre Changeling," also

from Astounding 19/6

THE GOMETEERSBy Jack Williarnson

Also includes "One Against TheLegion"; the sequels to "Legion ofSpace" 19/6

You Witt lUa,ntDWELLERS IN THE

MIRAGEBy A. Melritt,

New book-length presentation of& classic 19/6

THE BRIDGE OF LIGHTBy A. Hyatt Verrill

A novel of x{ayan culture andsuper-science 19/6

The second yearly anthology from Fretlerick FellTHE BEST SCIENGE FIGTION STORIES: 1950

Contains 12 of the best stories of '49, by Kuttner, Bradbury, Jenkins, Simak,Sturgeon, Leinster, etc. Edited by Bleiier & Dikty. f6/6

OMNIBUS OF TIMEBy Ralph Milne Farrley

Fourteen stories and a discus-sion on Time.travel 2316

WALDOBy Robert A. Heinlein

Includes "Magic, Inc.": twotales by a popular writer f6/6

E. J. GARNELL17 BURWASH ROAD, PLUMSTEAD, LONDON, S.E.I8

founded on Mars in '39.Now, in 1954, in this mad universe,

General Eisenhower commands theVenus Sector of Earth's space fleet inits battles with the Arcturians. who des-troyed Chicago tlr'enty years before,"Surpdsing Stories," as might be ex-pected, is a magazine of ordinary ad-venture stories-and the ravishingeditor of "Perfect Love Stories" (alwavsa',tired, as beflts a "space girl,,' inscanty shorts, bra and topbooLs) isaffianced fo Dopetle, 23-year-old univer-sal super-genius who puts Buck Rogersto shame. And who, in the end. turnsout to be the Doppelganger of--

But in case you haven't yet visited it.let me say oniy that the explanation ofthe whole amazing set-up, as it even-tually dawns on poor. bewildered.Editor Winton, is convincing enough torender Mr. Brown's universe a ta,

33

Doppelberg, in which all BEMs are ashideous as any car?ing cover ct'iticcould desire, as plausible as it is enter-taining. And the corollary that allscience fiction, however incredible. mavbe actual fact in some other limbo is ;sobering thought which comes as afltting climax to this very divertingpiece of esoterica. I must say I amsomewhab nonplussed to find a bigpublisher, intent on developing science_fantasy, selecting for its initial sallv abook which secms to laugh it ouf ofcourt, and which can hardly be appre-ciated to the full by the uninitiated;but for those of us rvho have drunk longand deeply of moonjuice (,,It's funnvsluff, all right. The more of ,em vou'v-edrunk, the shorter a lime thev knockyou out, but the longef a lime you'regon-e'.'). ib is wonh every cent of 10,000creorLS.

Grand Spoce OperaTHE STAR KlNcS, by Edmond

Hamilton. Fell, New York. $2.b0.Reviewed by D. R. Smith

For the foulth book in their ScienceFiction Library, the publishers whohave seen flt to recognise the medium'scoming-of-age as a major literarydevelopment have chosen a novel whichappeared originally in Amazing Stories(Sept. '4?), from the rattling type-wdter of that old adept, EdmondHamilton. And in spite ol its conLain-ing a rare example of an untrissablehiss ("You traitor!" he hissed atGordon), which is fairly indicative ofits general style, I have to confess thatI found it much more engrossing thanits fellows in this series.

The situation which so engaged meconcerns an adventurous young man ofthe present centurv who exchanEesmind.s wilh a student of two hundredthousend years hence in a spirit ofpurely scientiflc curiosity. The bodyhe temporarily inhabits turns out tobeiong to the youngest son of the rulerof the biggest single empire in agalaxy; and to his dismay, he is sweptinto a maze of military and politicalintrigue quite unexpected by theprincely student with whom he haschanged minds. His private life is com-plicated by a political marriage withthe prilcess of a neighbouring empirewhom the previous occupant of his bodyconsidered no more than a chaxmine

friend but with whom the inteloDerfalls in love. and by a morganatic m'ar-liage to a most affectionate ladv whomhg prefers to regard quite platrjnically.Ttre intricacies are increased by tdenecessity of keeping secret thA ex-change of minds, in spite of the impo,r-tant part which Gordon-Zarth is dueto play in the approaching inter.planetary war.

The success of the stoty lies in thefact that throughout all this the heroremains an entirely credible character:a reasonably intelligent, reasonablydaring young man, buffeted hither andyon by the peculiar natnre of his fate,doing the best he can and no more.favoured by remarkable-but not out-rageous-luck. Because he is so be-lievable, the reader mav take a Eenuineinterest in his struigles and flndpleasure in following them to their con-clusion. The plot is neat and tidilvdesigned, advancing stcp by stefrtou'-ards the climax, smoothly and logi--cally. The subsidiary chafacters areadequate, particularly the villain, ShorrI(an, who in spite of his name is muchiess of a stock character and more of areal person than one expects to find inspace opera.

Space opera it is, of course, pure andsimple, and the wdting is litile morethan glib. But it is a seductive oieceof escapism: and I shatl be sorry if evelscience fiction ceases to produce suchfaies, so long as they are of this calibre

The Misadventures of CorstoirsJOHN CARSTAIRS: SPACE DETEC-' TIVE, by Frank Belknap Long.

Fell, New York. $2.50.

Reviewed by Donald WarwickHis ever'-loving secretary, Vera Dorn,

is of the opinion that John Carstairsfrorn one aspect is "shy, sober, scholarlyand curator of the flnest botanical ex-hibit in the Solar System"; fronianother, lre "stands six feet three in hisstockings, s built like a young tornado,and likes to pretend he is a detective."Study of his accomplish,::rents lcads meto a rather difierent alalysis. 1 can'tsee that he ever appears in the least bitbashful, while the description of hisphysical stlucture is a piece of mean-ingless literary extravagance and a fair'sample of the writing to be found inthese stories. I am, however, in agree-ment with Miss Dom as to her lrero'spretences, which he appears to enjoymore than I do; for his detection con-sists chiefly in selecting the right typeof extra-terrestrial super-plant to tell

Current Programme fromthe prirne press

Box 2019, Middle (Hty Station, Philailelphia, 3, P&, U.S.A,

THE INCOMPLETE ENCHANTERBy L. Sprogue de Camp & Fletcher Pratt

A second edition of this popular story from the pages of UnhnownWorlds has long been in demand. The Prime Press is proud to ofier it,

. now, to readers and collectors who missed the original Holt edition in l9U4B.

THE BLIND SPOT THE SPOT OF LIFEBy Austin Holl & Homer Eon Flint

We are happy to present, in two volumes, these famous and sought-after classics from tbe pages of Argosy ll{ag:azine. Price 19/6 each

NOW AYAILABI,E:Long delayed, but well worth waiting for:

GeorgeO.Smith,s NOMADA story of interplanetarl' adventure and high intrigue between ,Hrlyffn

I1)r further information wrlte for Poetal Preview to:SoIe Britisir R.elxesentative: E. J. G A R N E L L,17 BURWASH ROAD, PLUMSTEAD, LONDON, S.E.18

34

him what he needs to know withoutfurther cerebration on his part. Cheat-ing is what I call it; and I am surprisedthat the long-suffering InspectorMcGuire, who collaborates with him onthe omcial side, doesn't up and say so.

Undoubtedly, there are some wonder-ful specimens of exotic flora to befound in these pages; some of themunsuspecting aides of the "youngtornado," othels very active enemies,The first story introduces us to a plantcapable of containing within itself suchimmense temperatures and pressuresthat it can acfually make syntheticdiamonds-and that's not all it can do.There is not much scope for de|ectinghere. Even McGuire knows where thesl,olen Diamond Plant is manifestingits formidable self, and sleuth Car-stairs has only to give it a whiff ofether to overpower it. Even so, hemanages to get hirnself into consider-able danger-quite,unnecessarily, as faras I can see. At least, nobody couldaccuse him of excessive caution: the

fect that most of the dangerous situa-tions in which he flnds himself arernerely the result of rlis own incom-petence is, indeed, one of the majorflarrs in these accounts of his mis-adventures.

There are actually six seParatestories in this assembly'!: flve short,and one as long as the others Puttogether, the whole being presented asa "novel." Possibly the long story isslightly more satisfying than the rest,mainly because the villian assumes tlireappearance of a genuine character; butthere is little coherence to the various

+Which appeared as a series as follows,in Thrilling Wonder: "P]ants MustGrow" (oct. '41); "Snapdragon" (Dec.'41); "Ptants Must Slay" (Apr. '42);"satellite of Peril" (Aug. '42); "Wobb-Iies in the Moon" (June '43); and inStartling Stories: "The IIoUow World"(Summer'45).

THE LAST SPACE SHIP, by MurraYL€inster. FeIl, New York. $2.50.

Reviewed by D, R. SmithThe background to this tale-or,

rather, these ttree tales-is noL un-familiar: it is that of a galactic-widecivilisation which has gone off therails and is doing its best to imitate thedegeneracy of Neros Rome. The forcesof law and order have discovered aninvincible method of enforcing theircommands and, as if that were notobnoxious enough to most citizens,have fallen for the oft-quoted doctrinettlat "all power corrupts, absolutepow'er corrupts absolutely." A law isonly a good law when its enforcementis enabled by the acquiesence of themajority of those bound by it, In thiscase, all laws could be enforced bY aminority whether or not the majoribyapproved; and so, suggesLs the author,that worst law of all which holds thatthe king-e1 those in power--can dono wrong was enforced 4d lib.

Invincible method-to aIl, of course,saYe the hero, Kim Rendell, who suc-ceeds in breaking away from the"disciplinary circuits" in the last space-ship (interplanetary communicationnow being efiected by matter-trans-mitters), proceeds to make good hisescape and, ultimately, to set thewheels in motion to free his fellowslaves. A praiseworthy hero is Kim,

35

incidents end little more excuse for aconsiderable part of them. In all thetales, the preposterous plants play akey part. My favourite is the Mimasmould which, due to a tendency togather in masses to feast on the "infra-radiant auras" left behind by departinghumans, reconstructs soUd, detailedimages of persons who have left thevicinity hours before. It is my pet be-cause these highly respectable fungiproduce images that are fully clothed,and I cannot think of any belter indi-cation of the general level of intelli-gence of these stolies.

Nor can I think that this book qrillmake converts of the right sort to thegospel of science f,ction. Even in theU.S.A., its social standing must bepretty low; in England it has the addeddisadvantage that the name Carstairsis not one to be taken seriously byanybody who has read Beachcomber.

whose main object after escaping is toflnd somewhere to land so that aproper marriage ceremony will stopthe neighbours talking about the girlhe has taken with him; a man given,perhaps, rather too much to tight-lipped, grim little speeches to make areaUy jolly companion, but a mostuseful type in many ways. Particularlyin his ability to twist two or three wirestogether and so pertorm miracles doeshc appear almost super.

If I seem to sound sarcastic, let mesay thalj it hurts me to have to admitit-for Murray Leinster is a favouritewriter of mine-but I iound this storyfalling short of perfection on severalcounts. T'he author, in his Foreword,anticipates that many people ."vill f.ndii a very odd book, but insists that hehas had fun with it, even if lhey decidethat he is "more than a little bitcracked." His regular devotees willneed no justification for his "battingideas alound," but they may be con-cerned, as I $as, over the fact thatnothing has been done to blend intoone continuous novel what were, aspublished originally, three separatestories*. It is tedious to find in thelast one a recapitulation of the back-

+In Thrilling Woniler Stories: "The Dis''ciplinary Circuit" (Winter '46); "TheManless Worlds" (Feb. '4?); "TheBoomerang Circuit" (June '4?).

Fun For Mr. Leinster

36

ground material which had appeared inthe previous two, however briefly sum-marised. The efiect is of a magazineserial which incolporptes in the latestinstalment what has gone before, forthe benefit of the casual reader-which,indeed, makes a very odd book.

Mr. Leinster's style has always beendistinguished for its curt emphasis onbare statement and its lack of flowerydescriptive. At its best it can be mostrefreshing, but if insufficiently sup-plied with subject-matter it can easilybecome very duil. The inanimat€subject-matter is present here inalmost indigestible amounts; but weseenr tro rea-r'n little ol nothing about the

human characters. Kim Rendell 1are

know only by the way he says what hesays; his bride Dona we sense to bepretty and to taik in muclr the sarneway. The other characters-such asthere are-appear vaguely as a bunchof oafs. It all makes for dullness-much greater dullness than is found,fol example, in a normal history book;fol most historians at least mention themore outsLanding characteristics of thepeople of whom they write.

If, of lhe series to which it belongs,ihis book is the least likely to provokescorn from a newcomer to scienceflction, I fancy it is also least likely toarouse interest.

Magical PushoverSIXTH COLUMN, by Robelt, A. Hein-

lein. Gnome Press, New York. $2.50.Il,eviewed by John K. Aiken

Given: youl country overrun, yourarrny wiped out, your .government andits seat destloyed, your countrymen en-slaved. Given also a super-power, anda well-hidden handful of technicians'n'ho know it. Ploblem: to dispossessthe enemy. Solution: use the powertc found a new "religion."

This is neither Mr. Heinleln's firstnor last shot at the science-disguised-as-religion idea, which is clear'ly one ofhis favourites; it has pervaded or in-spired much of hls best work inAstounding, from "Universe" (May'41)and "Common Sense" (Oct. '41), wherethe religion is accepted as such, to"With Flaming Swords" (Sept. '42),where it is known by its exponents tobe a fake. "Sixth Column" is one of hismost successful attempt5 in the secondcategory, having at once made the re-putation of "new" author Anson Mac-Donald when it originally appeared inthe issues of Jan.-Mar. '41. Since thenit has been appreciably revised andtightened up, and is now a really first-class tale of the trundled percent wish-fulfilment type.

The trouble with a limitless power,from a literary point of view, is thatthere's nothing il cannob do-in fact,it's sheer magic. But to make their ulti-mate triumph over the PanAsiansplausible, ex-publicity ag€nt Ardmore

-now C.O. of the half-dozen-strongU.S. Army-and his stafi need such apower. Ttrey have it; and it is authorHeinlein's task to prevent the science

fiction enthusiast from realising ihatit is not so much scientific as super-natural. In this he is not wholly suc-cessful. T'he veneer of magnetic-gravitic spectra and so forth is a thinone, and beneath it we fi.nd tractorand pressor beams with which huge"tem.ples," shining with chromaticradiance, are built single-handed; ah€aling ray which kills disease germswithout affecting the essential sym-biotic bacteria of the intestines (apoint Mr. Heinlein overlooks); a trans-mutation ray which will convert un-known poison gases into nitrogen andunknown alloys into gold; and, leastcredible (not to say creditable) of all,a simple little gadget which kills Pan-Asians while leaving Americans un-scathed.

Mr. Heinlein tries to infuse realismby making an odd thing or two gorrr'rong: here a traitor, there a mad-man, somewhere else (a good longway ofi) a "congregation" actuallywiped out by the PanAsians. But theresult is at best a pseudo-realism: theconflict remains one between anirresistible force and a noLquite-immovabie object. In short, a pushover.Yet a pushover described with all ofMr. Itreinlein's humour, ingenuity andattention to backgxound detail is a veryenjoyabie spectacle, in which the bloodand squalor of a real war would beout of place. The best things about thestory are the truman things: thepsychological tricks used by Ardmoreto undermine the yellow men's moraleand cause their own methods to back-flre; the inter-relationships among the

tiny task force; the final touch of thechess probiem that breaks the Asianprince. Judged among its competitors,it-is a very,good, even an outsianding,tale. Bnt like so much of this autho/s

THE INCREDTBLE PLANET, by JohnW. _Campbell, Jr. Fantasy' press,Reading, Pa. $3.00.

Reviewed by Kempi McDonatdIt is an almost sufrcient d.escription

of this novel to say merely that i[ is asequel to "The Mightiest Machine',(FR, Feb.-Mar. '48). Any discoveriesand inventions in astronomic physicsthat Aarn Muffo, muscular -Jovianscientist, overlooked in the earlier tale.are taken care oI in this one. He andhis aides fit about space in super-shipscarving chunks out of dwarf stars andtangling in bitter stellar war. in thecourse of a desultorv search for theHome Planet which they have un_accountably lost. Military and cosmiccatacly_sms impend, super-weaponsabound, -and physics is exhaustivelydiscussed, with never a Ieavening trac"e

37

work, top of its class though it in-variably is, it leaves one with the tan_talising feeling that it could-andshould-have been better stiil, if only alittle better.

Mr. Compbell on a Limbof characterisation, emotion. nhiloso_phy, ethics or aesthetics; nothing bubaction and science._ Mr. Carnpbell is, we fear, hoist withhis own petard. Ir is due to ilis briUiani;editorship of Astounding over the pastdozen years. that this particular ;tyleor space epic is novr' as moribund asUNO and will soon, we suspect, be asdead as the dodo. Like the eagle whichfound itself transfixed by in arrowwinged by its own feathers, he himseif"nursed the pinion that impelled thesteel." Or, to complete a metaphorictrio, Editor CampbeU has ali bu[flnished sawing off the limb on whichanthor Campbell has taken refuge.,It's sad; for there is a nostalgia

about the story, at least for a ,eaderof twenty year's stand.ing. But there,sno doubt that progress in the fi.etd hasleft it far behind.

Fa,nta,syXtorrrn

When_ Once again, my compliments onFantasy Review; it is a pleasure to readso orderly and adult a compendium. OurU.S. _outpur has_ sadly degenerated thelas[ tew years: there is nothing present]ycomparable here._ It_ occurs to me that in your search forfresh -subjecl-matter you niight do well toconslder tne cinema. True, there havebeen articles on lantasv and science fic-tion nlms prinled on this sicle oI thePuddle in -the past, but none, to my know-ledge, either complete or' well-written.After_reading the penguin book, ..Film."and the oLher f,lm review tirles they putout, I am convinced that you cfraps tit<ea, much more_ objective Cnd anllyticalal,tilude towar.ds the cinema. and Jurelycould turn our., a delinitiac article on thifantasy nlm. It would be, oI course. ama;or project, necessitating a great dealof research and efiort. perliaps a team ofwriters wouid be necessary -to

completesuch a task, but it surety wbuld filI a-gap.

_ Reatlers' letters on any aspect of science_fantasy areO welcomed, Address: The dditor, SCfnUCn_neNfeSyREVIEW, 115, yganstead park Road, fford, Esserx.

is e Film Fantasy 3There are all kinds of criteria which

would have to be established preliminaryto this work. For instance, where is th"eline of demarcation between fantasy andpure horror-melodrama? peter Lorre, inMGM'S '35 fltm, .,Mad Love', (Freirchversion, "Les Mains de Orlac,,, with Con-rad. Veidtr, is a fantasy film by virtueof _its theme. BUL is Lorre's FI,KO nlm,"The Stranger on the Third Floor,,' awhodunit or a fantasy? It has a dreamsequence which is pure fantasy, but theplot is,"realistic" enough. Lujosi in theearly Universal talkie, ..Murders in theRue Morgue"-not fa,n[asy: jusb the tiile,tacked 9n to a prosaic yarn-with an aptiin it. What abou[ ,,Ttle Most Danc,eroirsG-ar4e," refllmed four years ago as .:Gameof Death"? Is the old German UFAsi]e4t, "Faust," with Jannings, a fantasy?. There are lots of problems ]ike this;but nraybe Ackerman, with his extensivecinema -background, could help. Maytresomebody like ltoger Manvell, who -did

38

the Penguin "Fi]m," could be enlisbed inthe enterprise. I'd ver5r much like to seesomebody do something along these lines.

-Robert Bloch, Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A.

[How about it, chaps?-Ed.l

GROUSEfn my opiuion, S-FR is dead righf in

size, content and composition. Any radi-cal attempt at change would not, I think,benefit the readers, and might well de-gfade the publication in a manner wellexemplifled by numerous past (andpresent) imitators. The booklet is,after all, a review, and a very good oneat that; fiction has no legitirnate place init, nor have scientiflc articles.

As far as its proper function is con-cerned, I have one grouse, and this isdirected towards the author of the articleon "lthe Porcelain [Iagician" (Autunn'49). It is a fine little book, but I verymuch reseni the reviewer's derogatory re-marks concerzring other authors; and tostate that a "scorn of education" is typl-cally Oriental is rubbish-the very re.verse is the case.

The nearest approach to Hearn (nobne will ever equal him in mJ' estimation)is Daniele vare. and to caII Bramah"puerile" is to do a great injustice to anamusing and enchanting writer.

Best wishes for continued and success-ful publication; you flll a real place inthe fleld of science fiction.-Dr. S. Wal-port, Ne$,lands, Glasgow.

TOO MUCH INTIMACY ?

S-FR, looks much nore like a magazinenow, thanks to its extra pages. But thereis one production fallit-the cover panel,which, with its space gangsters. etc.. de-picts the worst in science f,ction. Aboutthe contents, I'd like to make two ratherunorthodox requests:

(f) Why not stop publishing authors'photos and life stories? For myself itdetracts slightly from the €njoyment oftheir stories, and others (perhaps lesssensitive) surely cannot flnd them moreinteresting or valuable than your otherfeatures. There is too muclr of this inti-macy between author and reader in fan-tasy-just the literature where, I think,it should be kept to a minimum, since itdestroys the omniscient, esoteric qualitiesessential to its convincingness, Thus:,.:T'he _, oh, that bald-headed coot! I suppose he wrote that inthat tumbledown old shed of his ."Obviously, nothing in that story is goingito awe that reader! I don't know if thispoint has ever been raised before, but ifit has, it has evidently been ignored.

(2) Can't we have more news of sciencefiction actuaUy aiding or stimulatingiscientific discovery? If this news is rare,I suggest it should be made much moreof lvhen iN does appear. If s-f is to have

?!y signiflcant relation to contemporarl'life, this could be one of its main nointd.It could act as a kind of philosophy, in-dicating avenues of research and specu-lating on the implications of discoveries

-all in entertaining form. But beforetJtis happens, authors must pay far moreattention to the scientiflc content of theirtales; in this connection I am in sym-pathetic agreement with Mr. Gernsback.writing in "Fantasy Forum." The sciencecontent of a story can itseif provide ex-citement, if it is used properly.-John A.Wiseman, Sidcup, Kent.[Ttre space gangsters, etc., are duly

banished llenceforth. But (1) we aresoundly of the opinion that fantas)-fans, like fllm fans, are curious aboutthe people who cater for their enjoy-ment; and (2) we do not know of acase where a scientist has admitted hegot the idea of hls thingumajig froma science flction writer. We do, ho$'-ever, try to support the idea, which hasbeen current for many years, that s-fexerts a constant influence on theadvancement of science, and wheneverwe can put our fingef on speciflc casesrve shall do so. Perhaps the life storl.of Mr. Gernsback, in this issue, is ex-cusable on these grounds?-Ed.l

WHICH SHALL IT BE ?

Erik Fennel, like man.l' others, seernsafraid of Utopia. Perhaps this is becausehe, and they, imagine it wilt be eithera vegetative society wallowing in amechanical produced abundance-of crca-tule comforts, or an ant-like rigor of r.ulesand slogans. But why should tJrese alter-natives-leaving out fantastic dictator-ships-be the only ones to regard asUbopias?

Surely, in a true Utopia, mankind wouldbe released from the stultifying infl.uenceof heavy toil, semi-poverty, superstition.ignorance. He rvould be set free to domi-nate and subordinate, not his fellow men,but his environment, both terrestrial anduniversal. Such rvere some of the civilisa-tions in Olaf Stapledon's "Last and FirstMen." Much has been said on thissubject, and much more could be said!-Richard J. Hooton, Chesterfleld.

HOW GOOD CAN WE GET?HorM sorry I am that your wonderful

magazine had to change to quarterl]'publication. I was impa.tient at the de-lays of two months, before; now it is evenworse. I must say, however, that therehas been a distinct improvement in thequarterly issues. But as I look back overmy copies of your publication, I caJI seethere has been an improvement with eachissue. If this keeps up, how good can itget?

I enjoy your book reviews very much;they are the most intelligent and impar-tial that I have encountered. Here,

IMPORTANT TOSUBSCRIBERS

If a crossed subscripl,ion blankis enclosed, it means that Yoursubscription expires with thisissue. As from the next issue. thisjourrral will be incolporated inSCIENCE-FANTASY, which willbe al'ailable from Nova Publica-tions or from your newsagent, Ifyou wish to renew Your subscrip-tion, you should {Io this throughNova Publications, 25 Stoke New-ington Roatl, Lontlon, N.16, at therates given in the announcementon page 21, All oth€r subscrib€rswill receive SCIENCE-FANTASYfrom the new publishers and willbe notifietl when their subsctip-tions are due for renewal.

almost all the fanzines and prozines alikejoin in praising any fantasy publication,no matter what the contents. Being quitenew to the field myself, I find your re.views an invaluable guide in selecting thebooks I want to buy. And I especially en-joyed your articles on the history of pro-zines. Put me down as hoping that thehistories of other magazines are pub-lished, paxticularly lhose of the smallerones that lasled onl)' a few issues.

On the question of fiction in S-FR-please don't include it. If fiction iswanted, there are any number of publica-tions in the f,eld to supply the need. Yourarticles and book reviews have no peer.Please don't change.-Roy E. Young, SanAngelo, Texas,

[The number, according to correspondentForrest J. Ackerman, will have reached25 by the end of this year.-Ed.l

PRtrSENTING THE EDITOB"The Paimer lloax" is. I think. the

most interesting and informative articleyou have yet published-which inspiresme to ask a couple of questions:

(1) How about the life stodes of edi-tors as well as authors? e.9., John W.Campbell, Jr.

(2) In view of the increasing trend to-uards the production of films with afantasy background, would it be possiblefor S-FR, to review such pictures whenthey appear?-cyril A. Harper, Brook-nelds, Birmingham.[(1) See this issue. (2) It would, and we

shall.-Ed.l

AUSTR,ALIAISONYour publication, while it must be very

handy for British and American filns, isabsolutely invaluable to us fans iD Ar:s-

39

tralia. As you are probabiy awa-":e. \\'e"down under" feel isolated and lar a,vavfrom the centres of landom in lirglarriland U.S.; and S-FR breaks dowD thisisolation. keeping us upto-date on thelatest activities and publications in thefield.-Ralph H. Harding, Maylands, W.Australia.

THE oUERY BOX

IMMORTAL PROFESSOR,Please give & Iist of all the Professor

Jameson slories by NeiI R. Jones thathave appeared in Amazing Stories.-CyrilA. Harper, Birmingham.["The Jameson Satellite," Jut. '31;

"Planet of the Double Sun," Feb. '32i"The R,eturn of the Tripeds," ll'I:ay '32i"'Into the H)'drosphere," Oct.'33;"Time's Mausoleum," Dec. '33; "TheSunless World," Dec. '34; "Zora" of. t]:'eZoromes," Mar. '35; "Space War," Jul.'35; "Lab.vrinbh," Apr. '36; "TwinWorlds," Apr.'37; "On the PlanetFragment," Oct. '37; "The Music Mon-sters," Apr. '38. The following alsoappeared in Astonishing Stories: "TheCat-Men of Aemt," Aug. '40; "CosmicDerelict," Feb. '41; "Slaves of the Un-known," Mar. '42; "Doomsday onAjiat," Oct. '42. The series was re-surned recently in the revived SuperScience Stories, with: "The MetalMoon" (Sep. '49), "Parasite Planet"(Nov. '49), and "World Without Dark-ness" (Mar. '50).

CONAN'S EXPLOITSPlease list ali the "Conan" stories b-v

Iiobert E. Howard featured in WeirilTales, in their aebual sequence as distinctfrom their order of publication.-ThomasG. L. Cockcroft, Wellington, N.Z.fThe seouence is as follows: "The Tower' of ths Elephant," Mar. '33*; "FLogues

in the House," Jan. '34+; "Queen ofthe Black Coast," May '341"; "BlackColossus." Jun. '33: "Shadows in theMoonlight," Apr. '34; "A Witch Shallbe Born," Dec. '34i; "Shadows in Zam-boula," Nov. '35* ' "The Devil in Iron,"eug. '34; "The People of the BlackCircle," Sep.-Nov. '34; "The SlitheringShaiw." Sep. '33; "The Pool of theBtack one." oct. '33: "Red Nails," Ju].-Oct. '36; "Je\I7els of G$Ialhur," IIat. '35;"Beyond the Black River," MaY-Jun.'35: "The Phoenix on the Sword," Dec.32x' "The Scarlet Citadel," Jan. '33";"The House of the Dragon." Dec. '35-Apr. '36. The stories marked * \\'ererenrinted in "Skull-Face and Others"(Arkham. '46): those marked f havebeen repl'inted by Avon Fa.ntasYRearler. Others will be included in"conan the Conqueror," the flrst of fivevolumes of Conan stories to be pu-blished bJ' Gnome Press.-Ed.'l

SIIIALI ADYERTSSpecial Rate to Co!,lectors:2d. per

worcl (5c. Canada and U.S.A.); minimuml2 wortls. To Tratlers antl others: 3tl. perworrl (7c. in Canaila autl U.S.A.) Allsdvertisements in this section must beprepaial, Box numbers 6il. (15c.) extra.

WANTED: The Imagllndex, by Frank-lin Brad.r and A. Ross Kuntz, '41.-Box136, S-F lleview.

BACI( NUMBEIiS of Fantasy Revieware available as follows: Nos. 1, 7, 8,9, 10and 11 at 7d. post free; Nos. 12. 13, 14and 15 at 1/1 post free. Science-FantasyReview Nos. 16 and 17 may also be ob-tained at 1/1 post free. Secure 1'ourmissing numbers now, before copies areexhausted.-115 Wanstead Park R,oad,Ilforcl, Essex.

WANTED: "The Invasion from Mars"(Hadlev Cantrii: pub. Princeton Univ.,'40).-Box 131 Science-Fantasy lieview.

JOIN Britain's only Society for sclcnceflction readers - THE SCIENCE-,FANTASY SOCIETY, DEtAilS fTOTN F.R,. Feal's, 6 Ferme Park N{ansions, FermePark Road. Crouch End, N.8.

NEW WOITLDS Nos. 1, 2 & 3; now outof print. Limited stock; $'hile they last,.3i6 (50c.) each.-E. J. Cal'nell, 17 Bur-rvash Road. Plumstead, London, S.E.18.

WE WANT TO BUY fantastic and$'eird books and magazines, Prompt casl-rpaid for $hole collections or your surpluslrooks. List )'our items stating condilionand SET YOUR OWN PRICE. Alter-natively, send us your books and let usmake a cash offer. If not acceptable, we$rill return the books intact at otlr ownexpense.-De11's, 209/11 Kirkgate Market,Bradford, Yorks.

WANTED: Clark Ashton Smith's "Outof Space and Time" (Arkham House).-Box 126, Science-Fantasy Review.

ITXCHANGE Bradburl"s "Dark Carni-val" for de] Res's "Ar-rd Some WereHuman." - Box 723, Science-FantasyRevierv.

WEIRD. FANTASTIC and ScientiflcFiction. Are you on out fl'ce monthlyMailing List for catalogues of books andmagazines?-S-F service (Dcpt. FR,), 68Victoria Street, Liverpool, 1, England.

TOMORITOW-The Magazine of . the'Future. A few copies of the ral'e, printed(16pp.) fan magazine issued bY theBritish Science Fiction Association, nowavailable to collectors: Vol. 2, Nos' 1, 2and 3, at 1/- (25c.) post free. AlsoScientifiction - The British FantasyReview, Nos. 3-7 only, at 1./- (25c.) postfree.-Science-Fantasy Review (ServiceDept.), 115 Wanstead Park Road, Ilford,Essex.

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This version of the rnagazine was assembled by Farrago &Farrago using a copy from the collection of the late HarryTurner, who created the cover artwork for the early issues ofFantasy Review.

All copyrights acknowledged, all articles and artwork remainthe intellectual property of their creators.