October 2010

–e*I*52– (Vol. 9 No. 5) October 2010, is published and © 2010 by Earl Kemp. All rights reserved.
It is produced and distributed bi-monthly through http://efanzines.com by Bill Burns in an e-edition only.

Contents – eI52 – October 2010

Cover: “Krazy Fucha,” by Steve Stiles

…Return to sender, address unknown….42 [eI letter column], by Earl Kemp

The Anthem Series, Part VIII, by Earl Terry Kemp

Back cover: “Homage to Clark Ashton Smith,” by Ditmar [Martin James Ditmar Jenssen]

How on earth can religious people believe in so much arbitrary, clearly invented balderdash?....The acceptance of a creed, any creed, entitles the acceptor to membership in the sort of artificial extended family we call a congregation. It is a way to fight loneliness. Any time I see a person fleeing from reason and into religion, I think to myself, There goes a person who simply cannot stand being so goddamned lonely anymore.
                    —Kurt Vonnegut

THIS ISSUE OF eI is in memory of Ted Tubb.

#

As always, everything in this issue of eI beneath my byline is part of my in-progress rough-draft memoirs. As such, I would appreciate any corrections, revisions, extensions, anecdotes, photographs, jpegs, or what have you sent to me at earl@earlkemp.com and thank you in advance for all your help.

Bill Burns is jefe around here. If it wasn’t for him, nothing would get done. He inspires activity. He deserves some really great rewards. It is a privilege and a pleasure to have him working with me to make eI whatever it is.

Other than Bill Burns, Dave Locke, and Robert Lichtman, these are the people who made this issue of eI possible: Jacques Hamon and Earl Terry Kemp.

ARTWORK: This issue of eI features original artwork by Steve Stiles and Ditmar.

IMPORTANT NOTE...SNAIL MAIL: Please change your snail mail address for Earl Kemp to: P.O. Box 369, PMB 205, Tecate, CA 91980 .

I am an atheist (or at best a Unitarian who winds up in church quite a lot).
                    —Kurt Vonnegut

By Earl Kemp

We get letters. Some parts of some of them are printable. Your letter of comment is most wanted via email to earl@earlkemp.com or by snail mail to P.O. Box 6642, Kingman, AZ 86402-6642 and thank you.

Also, please note, I observe DNQs and make arbitrary and capricious deletions from these letters in order to remain on topic.

This is the official Letter Column of eI, and following are a few quotes from a few of those letters concerning the last issue of eI. All this in an effort to get you to write letters of comment to eI so you can look for them when they appear here.

Tuesday August 24, 2010:

Dennis Lien:  Always happy to see a new issue of eI out -- when the word hits the streets, we all become honorary farmers for the day and you can hear the happy cries of "eI, eI, OH!"

If I ever find any of the famed Copious Free Time I'll have to re-read all the Anthem Series sections to date with my fine-tooth comb in hand to see if I can add anything or pick the rare tiny nit, but on basis of my quick readings over the last couple of years this seems to be exceedingly well-done and accurate.  Instead I'm going to spend way too many words commenting on one sentence in one letter in this issue:

In your letter column, sometime Minn-STFer John Purcell notes that:

"Will Murray’s article was enjoyed, albeit brief. He is right in that the history of SF pulps is “reasonably well documented,” but there is a need for pre-Gernsback science fiction magazine publishing history, such as Argosy, Munsey’s Weekly, and others."

Certainly more study is always useful, but there is actually quite a bit out there in this area.  The first major cut at the data was Brad Day's self-published 1953 checklist An Index on the Weird & Fantastica in Magazines; Day reprinted and somewhat erratically updated this in 1995.

The late E.F. Bleiler's Science Fiction: The Early Years (Kent State U Press, 1990) devotes almost a thousand pages to description and commentary on all pre-1930 sf stories in the non-genre magazines he could find (and pre-1930 sf books), and a number of such stories in the fantasy and horror field had already received shorter treatment in his 1983 Kent State Guide to Supernatural Fiction.

Sam Moskowitz's anthologies Science Fiction by Gaslight; A History and Anthology of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, of Science Fiction by Gaslight; 1891-1911 (1968) and Under the Moons of Mars; A History and Anthology of the “Scientific Romance” in the Munsey Magazines, 1912-1920 (1970) include substantial introductory material on magazines of the period and their authors.
Some recent anthologies of sf/f stories from such sources include Steampunk Prime, edited by Mike Ashley for Prime Books, and two anthologies edited by Gene Christie for Black Dog Books: The Space Annihilator and Other Early Science Fiction from The Argosy and The People of the Pit: Early Horror Stories from the Munsey Pulps.

All issues of Munsey’s and virtually all issues of Golden Argosy and of its successor just-plain Argosy up to around 1920 (and a large majority of later issues as well) have been indexed in the free online Fictionmags Index: http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm though the stories with sf/f content are not singled out there. So are thousands of issues of other popular magazines.

Having done most of that site's indexing for Golden Argosy myself, I can report that sf or fantasy was very thin on the ground in that version, but that one of the serials that began in the initial issue and ran through the first 20 issues was a fantasy: Argosy Yarns—The First Ship, by D.O.S. Lowell, a somewhat snarky version of the Jason and the Argonauts tale, later published in book form as Jason’s Quest and free online to the curious at: http://www.archive.org/details/jasonsquest00lowegoog

If lost race fiction counts as fantasy, even if the races aren't very lost or very fantastic, a couple of early borderline-relevant serials are George Manville Fenn's (reprinted from a UK magazine) The Golden Magnet; or; The Treasure Cave of the Incas, and David Ker's The Lost Race and the Unknown River (later published in book form as Lost Among White Africans), both appearing in Golden Argosy during 1888.

The first clear-cut sf (as opposed to fantasy and/or lost race) novel in Argosy was The Conquest of the Moon, by Andre Laurie, a 17-part serial beginning in the November 16, 1889 issue (and reprinted in Argosy in 1890 as A Month in the Moon). This was a translation of a French original, though Argosy did not cop to that fact (they did quite a lot of uncredited reprints in their early years; in fact the short story often credited -- incorrectly -- as the "first sf/f story" published in Argosy, "The Man With the Brown Beard" by Nathaniel Babcock, in the February 1896 issue, was itself a reprint from the January 1892 issue of Munsey’s.)

My notes to hand on a couple of 1887 fantasy stories, both brief ones:

January 1, 1887: "A Country Romance" by Anonymous (page 79) is a standard-plot ghost story: house haunted by ghost of murdered peddler until his bones are found and given proper treatment

January 15, 1887: "The Enchanted City" by Hubert Murray (page 100): young Indian (South Asian) boy does favor for a fairy/goddess whom he meets in snake form; she repays him by sending him to the City of Gold; when he is forced to leave he spends his life pining and trying to return, succeeding only on his death bed. (Moskowitz reprinted this one in his anthology Ghostly by Gaslight.) 

And a later "story" of sorts (more nearly a "nonfact article") from the August 5, 1893 Argosy, which might count as the first straight-up science fiction short story in Argosy if (a) it were more of a story and less of a spoof, and (b) if it were not yet another reprint (this time from a newspaper):

i · “A Bold Peep Ahead” · Anon. · ex Pittsburgh Press  Jul 5, 1893; allegedly a description of the Independence Day celebration in Pittsburg in 1993 (sic) and thus sf of a sort — weather control, tourists from Jupiter, a million airships, wonderment at viewing almost-extinct horses, inflation (a million dollar prize was complained of as small), flight with artificial aids, etc.).

I transcribed this last item and could send a copy to John or anyone who might be interested (assuming I can still find it in my files), but this letter has now gone on long enough, so --

cheers and best wishes.

Thursday August 26, 2010:

Lloyd Penney:  I’ve decided that when a new issue of eI arrives, I will download it, whether or not it’s a long webpage or a .pdf. That way, I won’t fall behind; I have plenty of fanzines to respond to. So, here are comments on issue 51.

I have seen some great artwork from Brad Foster, but this has to be one of the best I’ve seen. No wonder Brad has a small fleet of silver rockets on his mantel. I must also marvel at Ditmar’s work on the back.

Kurt Vonnegut’s opinion mirrors what happens in Canadian politics, too. Generally, liberals look at the benefit to the individual, and conservatives look at the benefit to the society, and they are not always the same. I daresay that when 9/11 happened, Bush and the Republican elite saw their golden opportunity. Those eight years are seen as heady by the right wing, and among the worst days in American history by the centre and left.

My loc... So many used bookstores have dried up and gone, and I am certain the books within have been recycled or worse. For many years, I’d pass by a used bookstore not far from my home, and it always looked closed. I needed more to read, just about out, so I called the store, and got their hours, and eventually headed down for a visit. The store is called the Batta Book Store, and I met Mr. Batta. A day of nostalgia…shelves upon shelves, rack upon rack of paperbacks and hard covers, and Mr. Batta said he had ready access to another 20,000 books, some of which he purchased wholesale more than 20 years ago. The hunt was on, the place smelled of musty books. A day well spent, and I will return for more. He sells most of his books for one-quarter of the list price…Mr. Batta is running a retirement sale. When all the books are sold, the store closes, but I think that won’t be for some time. Nonetheless, I will be helping Mr. Batta get a little closer to that retirement and store closing, but not too fast….

And even more from Terry, more wonderful books, and a true tribute to Ken Krueger. Why is it we usually find out so much about a person after they die? I was on a fanzine panel with Ken several Eeriecons ago, and chairman Joe Fillinger let me know when Ken passed away. I am sure Joe tried his best to honour Ken and his memory, but attendance at Eeriecon is usually small. I honestly didn’t know the extent of Ken’s legacy. I wonder if Ken’s efforts inspired the creation of the Buffalo Fantasy League more than 60 years ago…Eeriecon was started as a 50th anniversary project of the BFL.

(A small coincidence…I see listed The Mightiest Machine by John W. Campbell, Jr. I didn’t know about that title, but I did purchase a paperback copy of that book at the above-mentioned Batta Book Store. It’s Ace’s second printing, December 1972.)

Just made it onto the second page, and I must end this. Once again, my thanks to both Kemps for another look at the earliest roots of science fiction, and more tribute and information about Ken Krueger. A single volume about Ken would suffice, perhaps an induction into the SF Hall of Fame, if they have a builder’s category. Thank you again, and there must be more to marvel at in the next issue…bring it on!

To me, wanting every habitable planet to be inhabited is like wanting everybody to have athlete’s foot.
                    —Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus

Anthem Series: Part VIII

by Earl Terry Kemp

This is the eighth installment in the Anthem Series project, including: Hyman Kaner, Trover Hall, The New Collector’s Group, New Era Publishing Company, The NFFF (National Fantasy Fan Federation),  Merlin Press, Macabre House,  The Council of Four, Squires & Beck, Perri Press, Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications, ASFO Press (Atlantic Science Fiction Organization), and Walter R. Cole, MITSFS (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Science Fiction Society). The first part, Fantasy Press, appeared in eI27 (August 2006) and eI28 (October 2006). The second part, including: Visionary Publishing Company , Fantasy Publishing Company, Incorporated, Griffin Publishing Company, Carcosa House, and Fantasy Book, appeared in eI49 (April 2010). The third part, including: Prime Press, Avalon Company, and Chamberlain Press, appeared in eI42 (February 2009). The fourth part, including: Shasta Publishers, and Gorgon Press, appeared in eI33 (August 2007). The fifth part, Gnome Press, appeared in eI47 (December 2009). The sixth part, including: Arkham House, and Mycroft & Moran, appeared in eI44 (June 2009) and eI45 (August 2009). The seventh part, including: Grant-Hadley Enterprises, Buffalo Book Company, Hadley Publishing Company, Grandon: Publishers, Fantasy Fiction Field (FFF), Shroud: Publishers, Kenneth J. Krueger, Donald M. Grant, and The Phantagraph Press, appeared in eI51 (August 2010).

By Way of a Foreword:

Experience the complete range of speculative fiction and fan enterprise. You will find here not only the beginning chapter of enduring publishers, but also those one-shot and also-rans, without whom there would be no such industry.

Some of these titles are a must for any collector, or researcher, into those bygone times when it all began. Whether it’s the history of these times, or the actual works produced, these titles reflect the best and most lasting part, the hopes and dreams of the founding members.

No collection can be considered complete without these titles. No collector can consider his quest finished without these. How can you pass up the history of early fandom? Or the fabulous artwork of Hannes Bok?

Here are the checklists, and the indexes. Here are some of the rarest and hardest to find items in the entire Anthem Series.

Read all about them here….     

ODDS AND ENDS:
Publishers of Note…

Hyman Kaner
1946—1947   

Hyman Kaner, the publisher, came and went during 1946, producing a profit, immortality of a sort for Hyman Kaner the author, and two of the weirdest books you will ever run across. The only specialty house outside of North America, located in Llandudno, Wales

1. 
Kaner, Hyman
The Sun Queen
The Kaner Publishing Co., Ltd.; Llandudno, Wales  1946  204 8/-d.
1,000 copies printed.
Jacket by H.W. Perl.
Story, typesetting, and printing by Hyman Kaner.

Science fantasy novel. ***A weird-science thriller. ***Roger Marshall demonstrates to his sweetheart, Jean Lorrimer, his Instantaneous Flight Machine which allows him to travel via magnetic fields anywhere, at the speed of light. He works as a clerk in a stock firm, where he is ridiculed and belittled as being of no worth. He ceases the opportunity to show off his invention and become an asset to his boss and company by cashing bonds half way around the world, in Johannesburg, and returning almost instantaneously to England. But then he is suspected by his employer, Mr. Lorrimer, of being a thief and stealing the bonds, and somehow cashing them. Lorrimer and Chief Inspector Endersbee arrive at Roger’s laboratory to apprehend him. He spots his daughter with Roger, putting two and two together, and realizes this is the man she has been telling him about, her special boyfriend. Fearing for his arrest before she can clear things up, the two are accidentally transmitted by the instantaneous action of the Flight Machine to a meteor-like planet within a sunspot of the sun. There they start auspiciously when Roger wins a duel with a mental being who is identified as a “rock god.” This sedentary creature holds an uncanny power over the various inhabitants of this world, taking sacrifices from them to feed its insatiable hunger. Roger is able to fend off the power, and comes close to overpowering the creature. But the two Earthlings flee. On the run into the interior of this world, they encounter their first Sunman, an apparent human just like them. After becoming adept at the mental communication of these people, they become involved in the dispute between the people of the Sun Queen (good) and the Black Knights (bad), and aid the Sun Queen. A long time ago, the Sunpeople were much more advanced, but they worshipped the various rock gods. Some were good and some were evil, but the rock gods had a great war, and only one emerged, only one was left, the most evil. The Sun Queen then led her people away from worshipping, and sacrificing to the rock god. But a small faction stayed with the old ways of worship and sacrifice. Now they are lead by the warrior, Teefah. Roger begins to succumb to the charms of the Sun Queen as the war between the two factions intensifies. This leaves Joan miserable. She becomes a bit frightened after Logan, the leader of the White Knights, asks to marry her. She runs away. After many a melee, Joan is captured, and the wicked high priest, Oomolin, of the Black Knights almost works his will upon her. Both Teefah and Oomolin want to possess Joan, as she is the most beautiful female they have ever seen. Oomolin comes close as Roger and the forces of good overcome the Black Knights by means of gunpowder, although the Black Knights have many more advanced weapons. Teefah kills Oomolin, and takes Joan to sacrifice her to the rock god. The battle over, the Sunpeople are victorious, but Joan is in the hands of her thwarted lover. Roger knows where he has taken her. It is the place his machine first landed. Roger defeats Teefah, rescues Joan, and nearly destroys the rock god. The rock god makes peace with the Earthlings by sending them home. The Sun Queen is angry and tries to stop him at the last moment, but Joan shuts the door on her. Back home, on Earth, the two marry. Mr. Lorrimer, her father, is delighted and relieved that she has returned alive, and in better shape than when she left. It seems that the two have carried back a large chunk of pure radium, common on the sunspot, worth a fortune on Earth. ***Thin, melodramatic, hair-raising, and juvenescent. ***Not recommended. ***No paperback edition.

2. 
Kaner, Hyman
People of the Twilight
The Kaner Publishing Co., Ltd.; Llandudno, Wales  1946  186 8/6d.
1000 copies printed.
Jacket by H.W. Perl.
Story, typesetting and printing by Hyman Kaner.

Science fantasy novel. ***Life in another dimension where time is speeded up. ***Science fiction novel in which protagonists are reduced in size to atomic dimensions. ***Professor Hayton discovers a drug which enables him and his friend, Gerald Holt, to enter an amazing new world, the people which lead a wonderful idyllic existence. When Hayton wants to demonstrate his discovery to his three friends, Holt insists on going on the adventure. When they shrink down in size to find a complete world on a molecule, they also find that time moves at a different rate. Instead of the minute they planned on the experiment, they might spend years instead. In this improbable world of man-eating trees, constant twilight, and an environment that otherwise matches that of Earth, the two find an abandoned flying machine. They take it aloft and begin to explore. They come across a man-like inhabitant, except for his wings. The Moleculean takes the Professor and Holt to his city. They are introduced to the two ruling Queens, Milakna, the dark haired one, and Phelissa, the fair haired. Holt instantly falls in love with Phelissa, and it is mutual. But there is trouble brewing, Milakna has fallen for Holt and wants him. They quickly learn the language and become involved in the life of these people. The Queens rule the Work City where all work for their civilization is done, and then redistributed throughout the land. The Professor, with his flair for experimentation, shatters the peace and happiness of this new world. The first invention the Professor brings to them is time, in the way of a watch and calendar. This helps them regulate their work and they are suitably impressed. The Professor becomes close to Foo Hoo, who is jealous of Holt. Foo Hoo has been waiting for Queen Milakna to select him as a mate, instead she has selected Holt. But Foo Hoo watched as Holt rejected her, which is just not done in their civilization. He confides in the Professor who begins to teach him about his world. Together they plot to overthrow the current government and society, and make Foo Hoo the ruler, so that he can have Queen Milakna. Although his friend, perhaps because of his love for the Queen Phelissa, strives to undo the Professor’s harm and to restore peace and security to the People of the Twilight. Foo Hoo manages to send Holt away, and he gets lost. He is captured by the Giant Ants, and enslaved to become a beast of burden. While Holt tries to escape, Foo Hoo and the Professor stage a work strike and take over the Work City. Holt returns just in time to turn the tables on them. Instead of punishing the Professor and Foo Hoo, they are just stripped of their rank and left alone. The Queen Phelissa and Holt become lovers, and the Queen Milakna becomes jealous. She throws in her lot with the Professor and Foo Hoo. They plot to use the Giant Ants to take over the planet. They come very close. The Professor arms them with explosive devices, but the Moleculeans rediscover a disintegrating ray and plan to use it. Holt manages to turn the tide before that happens, and stop the Giant Ants by organizing the weak and timid men into a working army. Holt goes alone, in advance of his armies, and meets with Queen Milakna. She offers to surrender if he will be hers. Foo Hoo arrives, with some Giant Ants, and becomes furious at the thought of loosing her and being betrayed. He orders the Giant Ants to rip her to shreds as Holt watches in horror. The Professor saves Holt from Foo Hoo and the Giant Ants. The war over, the ruler of the Moleculeans wants both Foo Hoo and the Professor killed. Holt contrives to rescue his friend and flee with him into the wilderness. He returns later for Queen Phelissa but Foo Hoo overhears their plans and betrays them. They are all hunted down and found in the wilderness. The great King pardons Holt and Queen Phelissa, but still insists on killing the Professor. Foo Hoo is incensed and tries to take his revenge by driving a spear into Holt, who falls, wounded, in Queen Phelissa’s arms. The Professor throttles Foo Hoo. He is just about to be killed by a flurry of arrows, but he begins to enlarge. He has a last glimpse of Holt, alive. Returned to his two friends, he tells the tale. They insist that he make more of the enlarging chemical to enlarge Holt, who has eaten a special food of the Moleculeans and may be immune to its effects permanently. But the Professor thinks that Holt has found his place at long last, in the arms of his Queen.***This is a stirring story which intrigues the imagination and contains many unusual ideas and novel conceptions. ***Better then The Sun Queen. ***No paperback edition.

Chalker and Owings also listed the following science fiction and fantasy pamphlets done under this imprint, almost all written by Hyman Kaner. (This reader has never seen any of them, except Slaves of Ijax, by John Russell Fearn.) *** [a] Firewatcher’s Night. (1946) [b] Ordeal by Moonlight. (1946) [c] Ape-man’s Offering. (1946) [d] The Naked Foot. (1947) [e] Squaring the Triangle. (1947) [f] Hot Swag. (1947) [g] The Cynic’s Desperate Mission. (1947) [h] Slaves of Ijax. (1947), by John Russell Fearn. ***Also done by Kaner, but not listed by Chalker and Owings: An Alibi Too Much (1946) and A Lady Screams(1947)

H. 
Fearn, John Russell
Slaves of Ijax
A Complete Mystery Romance
The Kaner Publishing Co., Ltd.; Llandudno, Wales  1947  80  1/-d.
1,000 copies printed.
Jacket by H.W. Perl.

Science fantasy novel. ***Peter Curzon, a bank manager, is trapped inside a time stasis field by his best friend, Michael Blane. Blane, a physicist, a scientific genius, has discovered how to stop time for someone in the field. He is also jealous of Peter, who spends all his time with his wife, while he has been building his device. Blowing up the entrance to the cave, and accidentally killing himself in the process, he has at least trapped his friend. Eight hundred years go by, and the stasis field becomes known as the Ebon Sphere of Surrey. The world has changed, filled with remarkable scientific advances, as well as peculiar reverses. Peter is released from the field by the First Scientist, Mark Lanning. He finds that due to the changes in society, that he, Peter Curzon, is now the First Citizen of the world, provisionally the ruler of the entire planet. Peter is eager to explore this brave new world, but he is cautioned by Mark Lanning that he is really only a figurehead. Still, Curzon senses that something is not right with either Mark Lanning or this new world. Oddly, they all speak the same English of his era, so there are no communication problems. They rely on super-robots who carry them everywhere, even feeding them when they recline on couches. The next day he encounters Alza Holmes, his First Secretary. She shows him around the new capitol city, their robots turning into helicopters. Alza also tells him about the religion of the day, adopted less than four years ago, the worship of Ijax. Every four weeks the entire population of the world goes into various temples to receive orders, telepathically, from Ijax. They are building an immense tower in the main city, with strange canals spreading from the sides that will eventually wrap around the world, all to be filled with moondust. With Alza’s help, Peter learns even more about this new world, about the evil scientist, Anton Shaw, who was exiled into death aboard a spaceship shot into deep space. How Anton operated on Mark Lanning’s brain just before he left. Slowly, Peter places all the pieces of the puzzle together. He finds that he is immune to the mind control of Ijax. Even more, he finds that there is no Ijax, that in every temple is a sophisticated radio-type device that is the key to the mind control of the world’s population. Peter frees Mark Lanning from the device inserted in his brain. Once free Mark throws in his lot with Peter and Alza, and together they plot to stop Ijax. They attempt to cover the top of the Great Tower, preventing the moondust from being activated by some evil entity on the moon. They are caught and sentenced into exile and certain death as they are shot into deep space. In this era there is no space travel, all fear the over 300 different types of radiation that are known to be certain death. But the three land successfully on the moon, and are imprisoned by Anton Shaw and his henchmen. Shaw reveals that he is Ijax, and that he has been plotting to destroy the Earth with his moondust explosive. The three manage to put a monkey wrench into Shaw’s plan, but Mark Lanning is killed. Alza and Peter escape back to Earth. Now that all are free of the mental control of Ijax, they can work together to prevent the super-explosion. After saving Earth, Peter is offered a real role ruling the planet. He is game, but after his honeymoon with Alza. ***Not at all consistent, and a very slim read, but somewhat entertaining. It is not recommended as it is outdated and plotless.

Trover Hall
1946—1947   

This San Francisco publishing company was founded by George Lohneis and Edwin M. Clinton, Jr.  They did only the one book. Clinton was a contributor to Amazing Stories in the late forties and early fifties. Trover Hall  came partially out of frustration at rejections, the dedication is bitter, and when he suddenly started selling, it lost any reason to exist.

1. 
More, Anthony [Pseudo. of Clinton, Edwin M.]
Puzzle Box
Trover Hall; [San Francisco, CA] 1946 [1947]  111     $1.75
1,000 copies printed.
Jacket and illustrations by St. Crain.

Fantastic short stories. ***[a] “Puzzle Box.” Wally Dickenson is annoyed by a super-physical puzzle box—similar to those used on animals-that is clapped around him under varying circumstances. It makes his life miserable until he discovers how to open it. It seems that each time Wally tries to leave where he is staying to go on a date with Sue, an invisible barrier prevents him from leaving. With the help of his best friend, Art Winchester, he discovers how to remove the barrier, all he has to do is fall asleep. After he wakes up, he can leave. Relieved, he falls asleep, but that next morning he calls Art in terror, he is trapped again. The rules of the puzzle box have changed. So it begins all over again. [b] “Footsteps.” Sheer supernatural terror from stalking footsteps. At their club, Davis tells Harvey about the sinister use of footsteps as a plot twist in a book. Overheard by Frank Hall, the man begins to tell his story of horror. George Norton, a writer of macabre and fantastic stories for the pulps, died under mysterious circumstances. One night walking home in a San Francisco fog, he began to hear footsteps coming from no one and nowhere. They follow him home. Soon it is every time he goes out, and they tap and walk outside his window, but there is no one there. He begs his friend, Frank, to accompany him home. Frank witnesses the disembodied footsteps first hand. They both hear the footsteps enter the rooming house and come up the steps. Frank goes to investigate but hears the door crunching open behind him. He races back but George is dead. The coroner says heart attack. No one can explain the broken door. And as for the tapping footsteps, Frank asks Davis and Harvey how was the sound made on the carpets in the building. [c] “Seven Sapphires.” Merritt derivative. Lost-race in Canada, an evil monster that rules the race, seven sapphires that are the focal point of world-threatening evil. ***Tom, a writer, and his best friend, Jed, the photographer for his works, go on yet another trip into the wilderness of Canada. They find a place to camp, a strange amphitheater carved out of a valley. Tom wakes with a feeling of foreboding and wants to leave. Jed insists. He tells of waking in the night with a strange Indian crouched over him with an axe in his hand. He shot at the man. At first Tom does not believe him, but then they find the axe, and next the body. The axe is new, but strange carvings cover it. Tom believes they have found a long-last civilization and wants to find out more about them. They find the ruins of a lost city, covered with the same type of cryptic symbols. In the night, they both witness a strange ritual as the Indians appear carrying seven large glowing sapphires, and the creature that appears in their midst. While the Indians are out of the caverns, the two men go into them to explore. They get lost. One of the mad Indians finds them and with a mixed look of horror and relief, takes them to the chamber of the monster. The monster devours the Indian, and with its tremendous mental powers, summons Jed. Jed is taken into the monster, but Tom manages to retreat. Waking, he finds that Jed has survived the encounter. Not only that, as his friend dies, Jed tells him how he bested this monster from beyond, stopping its plans to conqueror the world.  [d] “The Last Message.” In a coldly indifferent narration we find a  religious fanatic warned by God to stop sinning-adultery. A good construction camp background. ***Jack Newton must investigate the death of Fred Snyder. Snyder was a common laborer who carried his bible, preached at the other men, but did not try to convert them. Newton already has made some conclusions about the accident, that it was not one, but a murder. But as he questions all the men involved, he comes to a nightmare conclusion about the agent of the murder. Finally, he goes to Newton’s house to question his wife. He finds out that the woman is not his wife, but that he has been living in sin, he is an adulterer. The night before his death he had a premonition and received a sign. Newton looks up the reference in the bible, which foretells the punishment for his sin. Newton carefully writes up the accident report as an act of god. [e] “Five Strands of Yellow Hair.” Murder and a shadow-girl motif. ***James Randolph is a poet of some note. He has been arrested for murdering his wife, Caroline. He hated his wife but was forced to marry her. He then relates the reason why he murdered her to his questioner. As a young boy he had his first encounter with a mysterious, yet perfect girl appeared to him out of thin air. He was left with only one strand of her hair. The next time he met with his dream girl, she was a perfect woman, and it was the night of his marriage. She disappears, leaving another strand of hair. But after seeing, and falling in love with a perfect woman, he now hates his wife. The dream woman appears again, asking him to join her. He tries, but he does not believe enough, so he remains. She leaves another strand behind. Now he has come to hate his wife. The next time he sees the dream woman, he is ready, and begins to disappear. His wife interrupts them, the dream girl disappears. His wife asks him who it was. He kills her in a rage. That night the questioner is summoned to the jail to see Randolph. Randolph is dead. He has killed himself. In his hand is another strand of hair. The questioner finds that the guards heard a woman in his cell, and opened it, interrupting his departure, and found him dead, his head smashed against the wall. [f]“Nightmare.” Not properly fantastic. Murder, remorse, psychological doubts whether the murder was ever committed. ***Sam and Jerry are two fraternity brothers. Sneaking a drink in a cellar at a dance, they accidentally killed a man who stumbled upon them. They bury him in the dirt. The next day, Jerry shakes it all off as a drunken dream. But as the day progresses, he becomes more uncertain. His friend, Sam, on the way over to talk with him about something urgent, is killed. Jerry goes to the building where the body is buried, but on the way nearly kills himself accidentally in a near car wreck. He is becoming haunted by his memories. He tries once more, breaking into the building, but is shot at by the night watchman. He is not sure if he is mistaken, drunk when he overheard about the disappearance of a man that night and made the wrong connection. He is not sure if he is being haunted or is mad. So he goes to the police. He is gibbering and moaning and laughing hysterically as they begin to dig in the cellar. ***A rather weak collection which is more a collector’s item rather than recommended reading. ***The back cover announces Voyage in the Dark, by Edwin M. Clinton, Jr., the author of this title. It was never published. ***No paperback edition.

New Collector’s Group
1946—1949

New Collector’s Group was masterminded by Paul Dennis O’Connor , with Hannes Bok as equal partner. It should be noted that the first, third, and fourth publications were done in Denver, Colorado, but The Black Wheel was printed in New York City. O’Connor had his hand in other presses when in New York City; after moving west NCG was his last fling.

The first two publications were produced by O’Connor and Hannes Bok as equal partners. Hannes Bok went into debt to finance his share of the partnership, mostly because he wanted to see both his writing and his artwork in print.

Shortly before O’Connor moved to Denver, where Stanley Mullen lived, Martin Greenberg entered the picture and more elaborate publishing plans were discussed. But when O’Connor moved to Denver, he announced the publication of The Sphinx Child, by Stanley Mullen, without consulting his partners. The wonderful illustrations were the best, and possibly the rarest Hannes Bok artwork ever printed during his lifetime. Mullen also wanted them to publish Moonfoam and Sorceries, which he later published himself as Gorgon Press.

By the time of the move, things had fallen apart; royalties weren’t paid to the estate of Merritt. Bok was struggling to stay afloat. Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp had sold Greenberg the rights to The Carnelian Cube, which was announced as a forthcoming book by NCG. It was later published by Greenberg as the first title by Gnome Press.

O’Connor and Mullen produced one more book, Some Chinese Ghosts, by Lafcadio Hearn, a poorly chosen item since a Modern Library reprint was readily available. This was closely followed by another pamphlet, The Goblin Tower, by Frank Belknap Long, illustrated by Roy Hunt who did the illustrations for Mullen’s Moonfoam and Sorceries. With these feeble attempts to continue, the imprint folded. They also announced Presages of Nostradamus, by Paul Dennis O’Connor. It never appeared.

Hannes Bok, whose idea had started the whole thing, never received a penny.

However, as the ultimate tribute to his undying fame, during the press run of The Fox Woman and The Blue Pagoda, the Bok plate for page 19 was broken. Hannes drew a different illustration to replace it, so variant copies exist, a female figure appearing in one drawing and a male in the other. How many of each were really printed is anybody’s guess.

1. 
Merritt, A[braham] and Bok, Hannes [Pseudo. of Woodard, Wayne]
The Fox Woman and The Blue Pagoda
New Collector’s Group; Denver, CO  1946  ix/109 $5.00
3,000 copies, 1,000 first binding (man); 1,000 second (woman)
Illustrated by Hannes Bok.
Only Unger FFF variant issued with plain yellow jacket.

Fantastic novel. ***A fragment of a novel by Merritt, finished and illustrated by Hannes Bok. The Merritt part was originally written as part of a collaboration with “Max Brand” (Frederick Faust). ***Archeologist Martin Meredith and his wife are traveling in the Chinese interior when they are beset by bandits directed against them by Meredith’s brother, Charles. The archeologist is killed but his wife, in an advanced state of pregnancy, gains refuge in the curious Temple of the Fox Woman. She dies in giving birth to a daughter, called Jean, into whose body the spirit of the Fox Woman enters. Grown to young womanhood, Jean goes to America to find that her uncle has assumed her rightful inheritance. Jean’s body is inhabited by two separate mentalities—that of the rightful Jean Meredith, and that of the Fox Woman. The Fox Woman employs her supernatural powers to kill Charles Meredith for his evil deeds. But Jean dies in a fire started as the last act of her uncle. The Fox Woman restores her to life and quits her body. ***Merritt’s portion tells of a pregnant woman who was pursued by assassins in Central China. When she comes near the Temple of the Foxes, she madly asks a fox who is watching her for help, and is protected by the fox spirits from the assassins. She dies in childbirth, but her child is born with the spirit of revenge in her, and will be reared in China. ***Bok’s portion, “The Blue Pagoda,” describes the form which the revenge takes when the girl leaves China, armed with fox magic, and comes to her murderous uncle. ***Bok’s conclusion is capable, but the original fragment seems to us hardly worth a continuation. The illustrations are very good. ***The Fox Woman, without Bok’s contribution, appears in the Avon paperback collection (No. 214, 1949, 157 pp., pa 25¢).

2. 
Merritt, A[braham] and Bok, Hannes [Pseudo. of Woodard, Wayne]
The Black Wheel,
completed and illustrated by Hannes Bok
New Collector’s Group; New York, NY  1947  115  $3.00
3,000 copies printed.
Illustrated by Hannes Bok.
Unger FFF variant has jacket by Hannes Bok.

Fantastic novel. ***A fragment of a novel, presumably to be supernatural, finished by Hannes Bok. The novel is very long, and Merritt’s work merely sets up a situation in the first quarter of the book. Bok added 65,000 words to Merritt’s 20,000-word fragment. ***The tale is the narrative of Dr. Ross Fenimore, who has signed on the luxury vessel, Susan Ann. The ship has been modeled by an eccentric millionaire, Jim Benson, as a replica of a clipper ship constructed by his grandfather. The Susan Ann, on a Caribbean cruise, is severely damaged by a tropical hurricane, and forced to seek the shelter of a desert island. Here Benson’s party finds the hulk of an old ship, and on its deck a great wheel, seemingly decorated with carved hands. Fenimore is struck by the similarity of the hands on the wheel with the hands of the crew. Strange occurrences take place aboard the Susan Ann, and her guests seem to become possessed by spirits from the dead ship. Discord and mutiny destroy the Susan Ann and her party. ***Merritt’s portion tells about a young doctor who joins the yachting party of James Benson as ship’s physician. Benson, who is a capable financier, is almost a monomaniac on one subject: his grandfather and his grandfather’s ship, the old Susan Ann. Benson had a duplicate ship built according to the old specifications and staffed it with descendants of the old crew. And now there is a slight suspicion that Benson is going mad, and identifying himself with the old Yankee skipper. The cruise proceeds uneventfully, apart from bickering among assorted ship guests, until a storm drives the ship to a strange island, where there is found a black ship, upon which there is a black steering wheel made up of carved interlocked hands, and a cabin filled with mummies, spiked shut. ***From this background Bok continues the story, explaining the past mystery as the workings of Negro African magic, and the present mystery as identifications with the ancient Negro mummies, especially Irzuilie the priestess. A treasure, degenerate bestial guardians, and release of the souls of the mummies finish off the story. ***It is generally agreed that Merritt’s fragment could have been finished only with difficulty, and that in any case it was not worth finishing, for it is by far the dullest piece of fiction that Merritt ever wrote. Bok’s continuation is smooth, and is a very possible interpretation of Merritt’s intentions, but we might wonder why it was done. The excellent fantastic illustrations by Bok are far more interesting than the story itself. ***First paperback edition: Avon, 55822, 1981, 246 pp., pa

3. 
Mullen, Stanley
The Sphinx-Child
New Collector’s Group; Denver, CO  1948  23           .35¢
1,000 (7” x 8.5”) paperbound copies printed.
Cover and interior illustrations by Hannes Bok (uncredited).

Fantastic short story. ***Oriental fantasy. ***An archeologist at an Egyptian dig finds a small orphaned baby sphinx. ***In Cairo, the narrator consults with an old friend, Solomon. Reading his future in the sands, he recommends that he not do it. But he does, and has Solomon smuggle the creature he has found back to Long Island. On an archeological dig, the baby sphinx wandered into their camp. The natives, knowing it from legend as a child of the Lord of Terror, desert the camp in the night. But, by now, the narrator has developed a fondness for the baby-faced creature. His servants in Long Island leave as well, but he carries on, raising the creature, named Neph. It develops human speech and displays an incredible intelligence. As it quickly grows, and gets out of hand, the narrator asks his old, now widowed childhood sweetheart, Madge, to help. She does, but never grows fond of the creature. As Neph gets older, it becomes curious about the outside world, which he has been sheltered from. Finally, the narrator takes Neph to his College Club, and instead of delivering a speech on archeology, he displays Neph. Neph becomes an overnight sensation, hounded by newspapers. Now with wings, fully grown, Neph decides to leave like a good son, and make his own way. Disappointed, the narrator swears to never see him again. But years later, after returning from Yucatan, he sees an advertisement for a circus sideshow, featuring “The Only Living Sphinx in Captivity.” Neph’s brief marriage to a cheap coochie dancer is now long over. The once vain sphinx is now a bitter ruin. The narrator wants Neph to return to his house and care. Neph agrees to discuss it after the last show, but a mysterious fire prevents that discussion. Neph is horribly, almost fatally burned and injured. The narrator knows where the creature has gone to die, and follows. As he comes upon the nearly dead Neph, his real father, the Lord of Terror, descends and announces that he has come for his dying son. Together they carry Neph into a clearing and as he dies, his real father flies away with him. ***A strangely evocative short story that has brief moments of haunting clarity, marred by a poorly worked out plot line. Still, it is recommended.  

4. 
Hearn, Lafcadio
Some Chinese Ghosts
New Collector’s Group; Denver, CO  1948  53     $1.95
2,000 copies.
No jacket.
Roberts Brothers; Boston, MA  1887  185

Fantastic short stories, based upon Chinese legendary material. ***In his Preface, Hearn apologizes for the small size of this volume. He goes on to mention that these legends were selected for their weird beauty. [a] “The Soul of the Great Bell.” A Chinese bell-maker, Kouan-Yu, learned that his great masterpiece could not be founded unless the body of a virgin was mingled with the molten metal. Each time it has been cast, the various metals have refused to merge together in harmony. The Celestial Emperor has told Kouan-Yu that the next casting will be his last, and failure to succeed means his death. His dutiful daughter, Ko-Ngai, leaps into the metal. The final casting is a success. Forever after her spirit murmurs from the great bell. [b] “The Story of Ming-Y.” A young Chinese scholar, Ming-Y, is a dutiful son. Gaining a position as tutor far from home, he stays in that household. On one of his rare visits home he finds a strange woman beckoning to him. Returning from his visit home, he sees the dwelling of the strange lady. He is asked to enter by a servant. In short order he falls madly in love with Sie-Thao. Now he finds various excuses to leave the house of his master, lying to him, saying that he must return home regularly. But instead he goes to Sie, and together they spend many enchanted nights, playing, singing, and composing poetry together. His master, along with his father, uncover his deception and confront him. But Sie-Thao has had a premonition and before this happens tells Ming-Y that this night will be their last together. Heartbroken, the young scholar returns home to face his father and master. He tells his story, without lying. They insist he take them to this woman. He goes to the peach grove where her residence was, only to find an ancient tomb. The master knows the legend of Sie and relates it. All three grow afraid and leave that spot. [c] “The Legend of Tchi-Niu.” Tong-yong, a dutiful son, sells himself into slavery to acquire funds to bury his father properly. As a slave, he becomes sick and is nursed by a strange woman whom he marries. Tchi, his new wife, has a fabulous skill. She weaves the most amazing silk tapestries. Due to her great skill, they become rich and Tong regains his freedom. Tchi bears him a son and tells him it is a gift from the Master of Heaven. Now he will have a dutiful son to take care of him in his old age. Soon, though Tchi-Niu must part and he learns that he was married to the Goddess Tchi-Niu. [d] “The Return of Yen-Tchin-King.” Yen-Tchin-King, Supreme Judge, was sent by the Emperor as an ambassador to Hi-lié, a rebellious chieftain. His plain speaking impresses the warlord, who demands that he give him fealty and become one of his most honored servants. He refuses and he is put to death, but his spirit returns to the Emperor to report. The armies of the Son of Heaven are victories and defeat Hi-lié. By order, the coffin of Yen-Tchin-King is uncovered. They are all amazed that his body has not decayed, but is in perfect condition, proving that the judge has been blessed for his loyal character and is now numbered among the Immortals. [e] “The Tradition of the Tea-Plant.” A legend about the origin of tea. ***A Buddhist monk finds his mind wandering in his devotions. Constantly, his thoughts keep straying to the contemplation of women. As a punishment to himself he cuts off his eyelids. Once more he strives to attain perfect enlightenment, and does. When he looks again, he discovers that his eyes are normal, and that on the ground where the eyelids had been are tea-plants. [f] “The Tale of the Porcelain-God.” Pu, the greatest potter in China, is commissioned by the Emperor to make a vessel whose surface shall have the color and life of human skin. Not only that, it must react to words and thoughts, just as something living would. He keeps trying and nearly succeeding, but fails each time. So he prays to his gods and then Pu learns that there is but one way by which such a vessel may be made: sacrificing himself. For the sake of his emperor, he throws himself into the next casting. This time the result is a success. ***Excellent stories, simple yet sensuous in style, occasionally slightly saccharine, but far beyond ordinary sentimental Orientals in accuracy and feeling. ***Recommended. ***No paperback edition.

5. 
Long, Frank Belknap
The Goblin Tower
New Collector’s Group; Denver, CO  1949  30           .50¢
500 paperbound copies printed.
Cover and illustrations by Roy Hunt.

Poetry collection. ***Not reviewed. ***Contents: [a] “In Mayan Splendor.” [b] “The White People.” [c] “An Old Wife Speaketh It.” [d] “Stallions of the Moon.” [e] “Advice.” [f] “The Goblin Tower.” [g] “The Inland Sea.” [h] “On Icy Kanarth.” [i] “Great Ashtoreth.” [j] “Night-Trees.” [k] “The Horror on Dagoth Wold.” [l] “The Abominable Snow Men.” [m] “Pirate-Men.” [n] “Subway.” [o] “Sonnet.” [p] “The Hashish-Eater.” [q] “The Ballad of Mary Magdalene.” [r] “Ballad of St. Anthony.” [s] “From the Catullian Fount.” [t] “The Prophet.” [u] “Prediction.” [v] “Walt Whitman.” ***About half appeared in Weird Tales 1925-34. The original edition was compiled by Barlow and Lovecraft and intended as a surprise for Long. It contains poems Long wrote between the ages 16-30. The first edition is very rare. This reprint edition is marred by numerous bad typographical errors which affect about a third of the poems.

Their next book was announced as Presages of Nostradamus,by Paul Dennis O’Connor, which may explain why they folded. All NCG books were published without jackets.

New Era Publishing Company
1948
 
The New Era Publishing Company was formed in 1948 by Robert A. Madle, Albert Pepper, and Jack Agnew in Philadelphia. They were all members of the Philadelphia Science Fantasy Society. Keller sold them the rights to the short novel he had just written for $100.

Sales on this book were so bad, however, that they could not afford to publish another one. Madle’s wife, who ate beans with him for six months afterward, got cold shudders whenever specialty publishing was mentioned.

Madle (who secretly has subsidized earlier Anthem Series titles although not this one) told Chalker and Owings that a great number of copies of The Solitary Hunters were packed in a warehouse in Philadelphia and, as far as anyone knows, they are still there. Nobody remembers the name or whereabouts of the warehouse. Some were lost in a fire, so about 150 copies total were lost in fire and in transit. Roughly half the edition ever really went into circulation.

Once again, an early imprint, lacking the necessary funds, and making a poor choice for their first title, failed.

1. 
Keller, David H[enry] M.D. 
The Solitary Hunters and The Abyss;
Two fantastic novels
New Era Pub. Co.; Philadelphia, PA  1948  265   $3.00
1,000 copies printed. 500 destroyed.
Jacket and illustrations by John V. Baltadonis.

Two short science-fiction novels, one reprinted from Weird Tales, the other new. ***[a] “The Solitary Hunters.” (Weird Tales, Vol. 23, No. 1, No. 2 & No. 3, Issue 121, 122 & 123, January 1934, February 1934, & March 1934).A fast-moving story concerning the horrible fate which was met by the condemned men sent to a living death inside the crater of an extinct volcano. Rose Crater is the seat of secret experiments upon criminals. The hero, a private detective, discovers that gigantic insects are being bred and are fed with convicts. After many narrow escapes, he eludes the insects, overcomes the barrier that surrounds the laboratories, and seizes control. [b] “The Abyss.” (Magazine of Horror, September & October 1968) A psychological story about eight million people living as they would have a thousand years ago—the entire population of New York City living and acting uninhibited—with no thought of convention. Jeremy discovers a drug that releases the unconscious. With the support of a callous millionaire, he feeds it to the people of New York, who all run berserk, since inhibitions have been removed. Opportunists seize control and New York secedes from the United States. The drug finally wears off. ***In “The Abyss” a chewing-gum distributed in New York City contains a psychedelic drug which brings neo-barbarism and a dark pseudo-religion (this influenced Brian Aldiss’ Barefoot in the Head, various New Wave fictions, and the poem “Time Gum.”) ***The first novel is only a thriller with a bit of fantasy included, and is not outstanding. The second novel is inferior, for the motivation and characterizations are completely incredible and the writing could have been improved.

The next book was to be a Robert Arthur collection. It never appeared anywhere; which is a pity. New Era had good books done or planned, but ran afoul of a weirdly fickle public.

The NFFF
1948

The National Fantasy Fan Federation  is the one exception to our rule of listing everything in paper done by a publisher with a hardback. It was founded by Damon Knight who went on to found the Science Fiction Writers of America about thirty years later. We couldn’t handle the giant mass of fanzines, booklets, etc. they have done since their founding almost thirty years ago. It’s an unusual group of fans who join the club, then form their own independent subgroups (publishing, games, bibliographic, etc.) with their own publications. The group at large does nothing but list what all the little groups are doing, but it’s a formula which has promoted a great deal of activity in the “bureaus” or subgroups—they’ve survived the years despite jokes far better than any other non-local SF group. This one book is their total hardback production, although movements throughout the years to do more are always popping up.

1. 
Keller, David H[enry] M.D.
The Sign of the Burning Hart
A Tale of Arcadia
NFFF; Ann Arbor, MI [Edward Brothers, Inc. printer]   1948  183  $2.50
250 copies printed, all signed by Keller. Boards are green cloth.
(1st edition, Manche C. Barbaroux, St. Lô; France1938  164 wrpps. 100 copies)
Jacket is a sketch from Keller’s personal stationery.

Fantastic novel. ***Foreword by Professor Régis Messac. ***Frontispiece by Guillaume Desgranges. ***Composed of four connected stories, which the author had submitted to a Harper’s Magazine prize contest and withdrew from publication rather than change. ***A pleasant tale of Arcadia, Cabellian in style, which is considered Keller’s finest single work of fantasy. ***A collection of four connected short stories about Louisiana. ***This is a second edition from new plates; the first edition was produced in St. Lô, France, in 1938 in the English language, but few of that 100-copy-edition survived the war any more than St. Lô did. ***Keller initially practiced general medicine in Russell, PA, but turned to psychiatry, treating victims of “shell shock” during World War I. After that he worked in various state hospitals for the mentally ill and in his private neuropsychiatric practice. He was a life-time member of the NFFF. ***This book was first done July 19, 1924, and then rewritten September 1936 by Ruth and David Keller. ***The NFFF edition contains a new afterword by the author. ***Keller paid for both editions. ***No paperback edition.

Merlin Press
1949—1955

Merlin Press  was the work of Leo Margulies and Oscar J(erome) Friend. The imprint was based in New York. Mark Owings didn’t think them worth mentioning, I do.

Leo Margulies edited Thrilling Wonder Stories from its first issue in 1936. After WWII, he and H.L. Herbert formed King-Size Publications and issued The Saint and Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, the later starting with the June/July 1953 issue. Margulies was editorial director of Fantastic Universe from May 1954 to August 1956, but in May 1956 he sold his share in the firm to his partner.

Oscar Friend worked as the science fiction editor for Thrilling Wonder Stories from August 1941 until the fall of 1944, Startling Stories from July 1941 to mid 1944, and Captain Future from 1940-1944. It was during their time shared at Thrilling Wonder Stories that the two men first met and from their work together an interest developed in creating a more enduring legacy for their favorite pulp stories. Together they formed Merlin Press and published some of the very best short stories of the Golden Era of Pulps.

1. 
Margulies, Leo and Friend, Oscar J[erome] (editors)
From Off This World
Merlin Press; New York, NY 1949       352         $2.95
5,000 copies printed.
Jacket by Virgil Finlay.

Science fiction short stories. ***[a] “Introduction,” by Leo Margulies & Oscar J. Friend. In which he explains the idea behind these Hall of Fame reprint selections. [I] BOOK I: [b] “The Last Woman” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 3, No. 11, Issue 35, April 1932) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 10, No. 2, Issue 29, Winter 1943-1944), by T.S. Gardner. Living twenty thousand years in the future, the Last Woman is an anachronism. She spends her days on display at the Natural Science Laboratories where her keeper, Historian Z11, conducts tours showing her to the various types of derivative men that now inhabit the solar system. During the tours he recounts how Henry Zeeman, now Biochemist G4, discovered the way to make men, not women, practically immortal, although emotionless and hyper-masculine. A cabal of Scientists was formed, and with their super-science, they take over the known worlds. After 700 years, artificial methods of creating more men were discovered and it was decided to eliminate all women, who were feminizing the race. Thus, with the creation of metal men, the Scientists take over and the Science Empire was born. By pure accident, The Last Woman, was created and it was decided to display her for awhile. Even so, The Last Woman, true to her type, keeps trying to take a hand in world events. Coincidentally, Explorer X12 has had an accident and while wrecked on the asteroid Ceres has reverted to the most primitive type. He finds he can no longer take the Elixir, and is discovering the stirring of primitive emotions, especially when he comes into contact with The Last Woman. The two fall in love, naturally, and decide to steal the most advanced spaceship available and escape from the Science Empire. Every effort to escape fails and the two are captured and condemned to death. Only in their final moment, while being incinerated, are they united as one. ***Now very dated, but it has some interesting points about the battle of the sexes as view when written. [c] “The Man Who Evolved” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 2, No. 11, Issue 23, April 1931) & (Starling Stories, Vol. 4, No. 3, Issue 12, November 1940), by Edmund Hamilton. Cosmic radiation accelerates evolution of an experimenter, through various stages of future man. After an acme of a four-foot brain with tremendous mental power, the last evolutionary stage is merely senseless protoplasm. Life will start anew from it. ***Dr. John Pollard, the scientist, has invited Hugh Dutton and Arthur Wright, old college friends, to witness and help perform a revolutionary science experiment. Pollard has harnessed the beneficial part of cosmic rays and is going to use them on himself to accelerate evolution. With grave misgivings both men agree to help. After the initial fifteen-minute bombardment, Pollard emerges from the chamber transformed into an almost godlike man, capable of benefiting all of mankind with his intellect. But Pollard’s basic character intrudes and he is greedy for more evolution and demands that his friends help once again. Fifty million years of evolution are not enough, he wants to try for another fifty million. Pollard emerges this time not godlike, but gnome-like, with a huge brain. Now his intellectual arrogance comes into play and he demands yet another increase. The two men try to resist, but Pollard is now capable of controlling them mentally. When he emerges the next time, he is a huge, hairless head, supported by miniscule arms and legs. This time he has changed his mind and wants to become the absolute ruler of the world with his superior intellect. But now his two friends urge him to continue with the metamorphosis. This change is the most frightening, he emerges a giant brain, supported by two tentacles. The brain insists on another increase, now Dutton is almost mad from the stress of helping in this diabolical experiment. This time Pollard emerges as entirely a brain, no longer human in any aspect. The two men are now entirely under the mental control of this new Pollard and are forced to assist in yet another increase. This time Pollard is changed into a pile of primordial protoplasm. Dutton ends up mad, in an institution, and Wright, the narrator, becomes philosophical about the true path of evolution when it is not forced. [d] “The World Without” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 2, No. 9, Issue 21, February 1931) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 4, No. 2, Issue 11, September 1940), by Benson Herbert. At a gathering of all the white people in Cairo, Parling, the mathematician, and Klington, the philosopher and amateur archeologist, accidentally meet. The two men have been locked in a battle of words over every issue, each taking the opposite view, for decades. At this dinner, Parling espouses the view of parallel worlds existing side-by-side. Klington refutes this as utter nonsense. But Parling offers to demonstrate to Klington that his theory is true, and much more than that, real. Parling has come across an ancient Egyptian artifact with strange properties. He demonstrates to Klington what he has discovered, the doorway to an alternate dimension. After a series of initial experiments, the two men are prepared to make the journey into this new dimension. It is a surreal place, with an ever shifting landscape. Slowly, after a series of journeys back to this place, the two men become trapped and lost in the alien landscape. Parling taunts Klington because he has figured out the secret of this new dimension and Klington has not. Just as Parling reveals and proves his guess, he topples to his death, into the stomach of the giant man-like creature that they have been roaming around inside. Klington is able to return to the real world of men without further mishap. ***Stylistic problems plague the telling of this tale. [e] “The Green Torture” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 2, No. 10, Issue 22, March 1931) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 9, No. 1, Issue 25, January 1943), by A. Rowley Hilliard. Dr. Thorne has been captured by his former friend and associate, Bjornsen. During this great war, both men are on opposite sides. Thorne has just discovered the ultimate weapon that will end the war, but has fallen into the hands of the enemy. Bjornsen subjects him to a hideous torture of his devising. Trapped in a dark room with an insect-like robot with glowing green spots on its poisonous legs, Thorne must ceaselessly be on his vigil to escape certain death. Going mad from exhaustion and sleeplessness, Thorne decides he would rather die attacking the robot than reveal his secret. Just as he passes out during his attack on the robot, he is rescued by his countrymen using the great weapon he devised, a broadcast wave that renders all the enemy unconscious. They sue for peace, and Thorne discovers there was no poison, only an illusion of psychological proportions creating fear and doubt in his resilience. ***Cleverly told, and succinctly. [f] “The Literary Corkscrew” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 5, No. 8, March 1934) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 5, No. 3, Issue 15, May 1941), by David H. Keller. A borderline fantasy of an author who needed pain to give him the necessary hormones for effective literary work, and had his wife twist a corkscrew into his back. ***The wife of Henry Cecil goes to see psychiatrist Doctor Newberry. She tells him that Henry Cecil is not her husband’s real name, that she has used a phony name because he is a well-known writer. She wants Newberry to diagnose the problem, solve it, before she reveals his true identity. Next she relates his peculiar problem, he has always been a writer, but a bad one until they both discovered a secret. Under intense pain, he can write marvelous bestsellers. First his appendix goes, then all of his teeth, various arms, limbs are broken until they hit upon a fool proof method to ensure his success. When they are both ready, she takes a real corkscrew and twists it painfully into his back. He has written many of his recent works under this duress. But the emotional toil on her is mounting and she has sought a better solution. Instantly, Newberry solves the problem, offering her a prescription for a drug to enhance his glands. He asks for the corkscrew as payment. The solution works. Soon the husband and wife notice that Newberry has reached new heights of intellectual prowess in his field, undoubtedly as a result of using the corkscrew solution. ***With obvious tedious moments of pedantry, this is beyond a doubt the best short story written by Keller. [g] “The Man From Mars” (Startling Stories, Vol. 1, No. 2, March 1939), by P. Schuyler Miller. Hank finds an old acquaintance running a cheap sideshow at Professor Von Tempski’s circus. Harvey Henderson, B.S., is working as the front man for “The Man From Mars.” But Hank recognizes that it is the real deal, a real man from Mars. Henderson tells how he found hiding in Leland’s silo six months ago. The Martian, named Lakjzt, is basically a floating head with tentacles that can interact with humans via a type of telepathy. Henderson has built a fake body to hide the Martian, and the crystal chamber that works as an environmental suit, from prying eyes. The two men have figured out how to save the Martian, by returning the alien to its buried spaceship, but first they must escape from Von Tempski. Henderson acts as decoy and Hank escapes with the alien, who can control matter, specifically electricity by mental processes. The alien builds up an uncontrollable electrical charge which is nearly fatal to both. After an accidental discharge, their car is destroyed and both are hurt. The alien is out of its crystal case, and Hank has a painfully broken arm. But the alien mounts Hank, by his consent and with its mental powers, uses Hank as a puppet. Finally, the two beings reached the spaceship. Still under neural control, Hank manages to return it to another crystal case. The alien can then return home. Hank is damaged, under great pain, but Henderson shows up just in time to help him. At the end, Hank is able to understand how the Martian was able to survive outside its crystal case, it was driven to return to its child in the spaceship, because it was not a man at all, but a woman. ***The writing is good, the plot is so thin it is invisible. [h] “The Ancient Brain” (Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1929) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 8, No. 3, Issue 24, November 1942), by A.G. Stangland. William Allen Golend awakes ten thousand years in the future. He was accidentally electrocuted, and by some freak his brain remained in a state of unique preservation for all those years. Now, Dr. Sine and Dr. Volor have transferred his mind into a new body and Golend is ready to begin a new life. He is mentored by Jak 158MNC802 who shows him around. Golend is oriented and tested for employment, among other things he finds that this future city is a floating disk. With his background in electrical engineering, Golend is assigned to work in the great engines that keep the disk floating. While undergoing training at the University he meets Shirley. They dance, but he is flustered, not understanding what to say or to do. The next day he saves the city by decisive action while working on the engines. Shirley is waiting for him, ready and willing. Golend concludes that the world of the future is not much different from his. [i] “The City of the Singing Flame” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 3, No. 2, Issue 26, July 1931) & (Tales of Wonder, No. 10, Spring 1940) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 5, No. 1, Issue 13, January 1941) & (Famous Science Fiction, Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 1966-1967), by Clark Ashton Smith. Dimensional doors lead to another world where there is a gigantic singing flame which is the entrance to a paradisiacal state of being. ***Giles Angarth, writer of weird fantastic fiction, and Felix Ebbonly, painter of imaginative and fantastic drawings, have both disappeared. A type of journal, or diary, has been left for their friend, Philip Hastane, to read. The journal of Angarth tells how he found a remarkable doorway to another dimension in the remote wilderness of Crater Ridge. After figuring out how to come and go, Ebbonly arrives and the two make further journeys into the strange world on the other side. Angarth has already discovered the center of the giant city, where a strange singing flame beckons aliens from other dimensions to enter the flame. They disappear. Angarth has been wearing earplugs, but Ebbonly wants to hear the music of the flame. In the press of bodies seeking the flame, Angarth is unable to stop Ebbonly from jumping into the flame. The journal concludes with a note that tomorrow Angarth will return and step into the flame. [j] “Beyond the Singing Flame” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 3, No. 6, Issue 30, November 1931 & Startling Stories, Vol. 11, No. 1, Issue 31, Winter 1944 & Famous Science Fiction, Vol. 1, No. 3, Summer 1967 as “Beyond the Singing Flame”), by Clark Ashton Smith. In this sequel, Philip Hastane tells about his journey to Ydmos, the city of Singing Inner Dimension. Following after Angarth, he finds the way into the other dimension. He finds the city under attack, being destroyed. Almost killed, he is rescued by a butterfly-winged alien who flies them both directly into the flame. On the other side, Hastane is in yet another higher dimension, a paradise. He finds both Angarth and Ebbonly, who tell him all about the marvels of this dimension. While enjoying the marvels, and his new powers, the three friends worry that the destruction of the flame might mean the end of this higher dimension. Barely in the nick of time, the three find their way back through the last flickering of the dying flame to a destroyed Ydmos. Ebbonly is killed by the falling temple. Angarth is depressed and lost without his powers and the beauty of the higher dimension, but Hastane manages to bring both of them back to the real world. ***An interesting tale, told somewhat like a dream-quest. [I] BOOK II: [k] “The Eternal Man” (Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 3, August 1929) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1939) & (Wonder Story Annual, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1950) & (Famous Science Fiction, Vol. 2, No. 2, Issue 8, Autumn 1968), by D[rury] D. Sharp. One of the best stories from early American science fiction. **Eternal life and irony of fate. ***Herbert Zulerich is a chemist, and a genius. He has become obsessed with solving the problem of immortality. His experiments start out wrong, creating monsters of odd dimensions. But then he finds a partial solution. He is able to make a rat immortal, but it is frozen in a type of paralysis. By accident he is able to release the rat from the paralysis, but he takes his own discovery, becomes frozen in immortality, unable to tell anyway how to reverse the process. He ends up as a museum exhibit, unchanging, with the immortal rat for company. With all eternity to contemplate his great mistake, he realizes that he is glad that he was unable to give mankind immortality, because it is much more important to improve the quality of life first. [l] “Hornets of Space” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 2, No. 6, Issue 18, November 1930) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 7, No. 2, Issue 20, March 1942), by R.F. Starzl. The rookie, Larry Strickland, aboard the spaceship Medusa, has a lot of growing up to do. Among the colorful characters onboard are the coward Henderson and the lovely Miss Marcel Quentin. Of course, Strickland falls in love with Quentin, but is confused when he sees her kissing Henderson. Strickland mans one of the hornets when they encounter buccaneers near Eros. In a desperate battle, the men in the hornets are asked to risk suicide by placing a bomb close to the pirate. Many volunteer, but fail, when things seem most hopeless, the pirate spirals out of control, the battle over. However, not before reports of Henderson hightailing it out of the battle. The crew covers up Henderson’s apparent act of cowardice, Strickland lies about it to Quentin, only to discover that Henderson was her half-brother, thus the kiss. One year later, the two have married and returned to that same part of space. A chance discovery finds the pirate ship, hulled by a lone hornet, Henderson, in an act of selfless bravery, in the true spirit of the service. [m] “The Cubic City” (Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 4, September 1929) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 8, No. 2, Issue 23, September 1942), by Louis Tucker. The explorer is shown to his room in the two-mile-cubic city of eighty million inhabitants. In the course of his tour, he is also introduced into the modern marvels of the city, from the graph, which acts as a handheld computer/phone/newspaper/television, etc., to the synthetic foods that are available. Trying to give his guide, Cartex, a tip, he runs afoul of the law. In the course of straightening out his confusion it is unfolded that the explorer has somehow jumped forward in time from the distant past. It appears that Griswold Lee, the explorer, has always had the facility to transport himself to odd locations on the earth, and now into time. Carfex becomes his friend, helping him to cope with the odd society of the future, where everything is always being monitored and watched by others as entertainment, and right now, Lee is prime time entertainment. Dr. Gray is the psychiatrist assigned to teach him, correct him, and prevent him from committing any further inurbanities, which are breaches in customs. Things become tense between the three of them as there appears to be some unexplained discussion going on between Carfex and Dr. Gray that Lee does not understand. He tried to help his friend in the spirit of true friendship, but only runs further afoul of Dr. Gray. When Carfex reveals that she is a woman, and in love with Lee, Dr. Gray threatens to have Lee punished for inurbanity if she does not marry him. Carfex and Lee flee after Lee knocks out Dr. Gray. The threat of punishment hangs over Lee, but using the media Lee tells his story. But he is interrupted by Dr. Gray and the police, and a great fight breaks out. Just as things are at their worst, Lee holding Carfex materializes back in his Brooklyn apartment, with his landlady in his arms. He persuades the transformed Carfex into marrying him, and all ends well as Lee stops communicating with his friends in Tibet who taught him the method of transportation. ***Oddly modern, with several correct predictions about the future. The plot is slow to start, and weak, but works in the end. [n] “A Martian Odyssey” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 6, No. 2, Issue 60, July 1934) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 2, No. 3, Issue 6, November 1939) & (Expanse, No. 2, Winter 1994) & (Jim Baen’s Universe, Vol. 3, No. 2, Issue 14, August 2008), by Stanley G. Weinbaum. This is the public’s first meeting with the amazing Martin, “T’we’er’r’rl.” The first expedition to Mars, and Martian life: a strange animal with a silica chemistry that secretes silica bricks, and builds hollow pyramids with them; the dream-beast, which attracts its prey by pretending to be whatever its prey most desires-Earthmen see women; barrel-beasts, who strangely run back and forth with wheelbarrows, building mounds; and Tweel, an intelligent Martian that looks like a freak ostrich, and communicates with the Earthmen by the simplest yet most complex logic. ***Dick Jarvis is one of the famous crewmembers of the Ares, the first human to set foot on Mars. He tells of his adventures. Jarvis crashes during a solo expedition south of Mare Cimmerium, over the orange desert Thyle I. Taking all the supplies he can carry in the weaker gravity, Jarvis hikes toward the rendezvous point. He saves Tweel from being eaten by a giant plant-tree. The two become friends and Tweel guides Jarvis through the maze of Martian life. The two are unable to find a common language, but do make some inroads into mutual, understandable, communication. They encounter an endless chain of pyramids slowly growing in size, which easily date back thousands of years, all secreted by a rock-like animal with a silica chemistry. Next, the dream beast, where Jarvis sees the beautiful entertainer, Fancy Long, and Tweel saves him from being eaten by the tree plant. Finally, they encounter the barrel beasts, half plant, half animal, doing a seemingly meaningless array of tasks. But at the heart of their strange mud brick city, Jarvis finds the key to a cure for cancer, and steals it. Tweel and Jarvis must fight their way out of the city, and narrowly escape, only to be rescued by the rest of the crew of the Ares in the nick of time. Jarvis returns to his crew, but Tweel disappears in all the confusion. [o] “Valley of Dreams” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 6, No. 6, Issue 64, November 1934) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 3, No. 3, Issue 9, May 1940). A sequel to “A Martian Odyssey,” by Stanley G. Weinbaum. It explains many of the mysteries in the first story and also relates an encounter with dream-beasts. It is learned that the Martians in their greater period—they are now decadent—had visited Earth, and were remembered by the Egyptians as Thoth. ***Jarvis and Leroy use the last auxiliary rocket to recover the film taken by Javis in the previous story. Four days later they return to the ship, tattered and the worse for wear, with a tale to tell. The first thing the two found was the undecayed remains of the dream-tree Jarvis destroyed to save Tweel. Next, the cross paths with the barrel beasts. In each encounter, Leroy, the biologist, figures out what they are and how they work and why they are doing what they are doing. Finally, they come across the ruins of a great city, possibly fifteen thousand years old, and next to it is a village full of Tweel’s people. They are the descendants of the ancient civilization, living in the shadow of the ruins. As energy was depleted, water disappeared, and life ceased for most of their kind. Tweel shows them around the city, to a library, and to a mosaic showing Thoth. Jarvis and Leroy put all the pieces together about Tweel and his people. Still exploring, against Tweel’s express desires, they wander into a valley filled with dream-trees. The three narrowly escape, only Tweel help saves them. As a special favor to their friend, Tweel, Jarvis and Leroy take him to the first wrecked rocket, show him how the atomic motor works. At the end, Jarvis is pleased that he has helped to set Tweel, and his people, back on the path toward a great civilization. [p] “Through the Purple Cloud” (Wonder Stories, Vol. 2, No. 12, Issue 24, May 1931) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 16, No. 2, Issue 47, November 1947), by Jack Williamson. While on a flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco, the airplane George Cleland is on passes through a strange purple cloud and into another surreal dimension. Only George, the beautiful Juanita Harvel and an odd brute of a man, survive. There is no food, or water, but the atmosphere and gravity are the same. After Cann, another passenger is killed by the brute, who returns to drink his blood and eat his flesh, George and Juanita flee into the unknown. While being pursued by the brute, they discover odd things about the strange dimension, and watch as purple clouds are formed by the contact of scarlet spheroids with purple droplets, and figure that they can create a gateway back home. Just as the brute is about to kill both of them, a purple cloud forms, they escape back to earth, to the green fields of San Joaquin Valley. ***Well written, but practically no plot, or reason for reading. [q] “The Microscopic Giants” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 8, No. 2, Issue 2, October 1936) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 17, No. 2, Issue 50, May 1948), by Paul Ernst. During the Great War, mining thirty thousand feet deep, near Lake Superior, for copper, Jim Belmont, mining engineer, discovers footprints, miniature footprints. Frank Frayter, his boss, must puzzle out the meaning behind these strange booted footprints. Soon the mining crew is reporting eighteen-inch-high men sinking into the rock. Too late, Frank guesses the truth, that these are explorers from deeper inside the earth. Some freak of nature split mankind into two, and one race mutated into a dense, compacted atomic structure that allowed it to move through rock like water. And now they are exploring. The manikins kill Belmont and retrieve his body to take back with them. They are unable to take the body back. Later the other miners find Frank raving mad next to Belmont’s body. He is tried for murder and sabotage, but only after he explodes the lower levels of the mine. He is tried, found insane, but released, files a report that it buried and forgotten. Frank is left to ponder the dread possibility of this superior race of men returning to take over the surface. [r] “When the Earth Lived” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 10, No. 2, Issue 8, October 1937) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 17, No. 3, Issue 51, July 1948), by Henry Kuttner. Jim Marden is already on his way to visit his only relative, his uncle, Dr. Leon Kent. Following the instructions in a cryptic message, Marden drops everything and races toward his uncle’s home and laboratory. On the way, the world goes mad. It starts at a diner, when metal comes alive. Marden takes Lorna, and her boyfriend along in his car as they escape. But the epidemic of odd accidents is more than coincidental. Heading to stop a bus for the couple, the bus comes alive and devours the inhabitants, one escapes. The man, Stan Burford, barely manages to get into Marden’s car as the bus sinks into the asphalt. The four make it to Uncle Leon’s just as the world goes completely mad. Leon’s house seems to be an isolated island of safety, unaffected by the madness. Leon explains that it is surrounded by a death ray that is stopping the living matter of the changed world from entering. Leon explains what is happening. Super scientists from a dimension outside ours are conducting an experiment, and the result has been catastrophic. But Leon has a solution, and with Marden’s help launches a ball filled with the super explosive, thernolyn, at the super dimension. Now all they have to do is to wait, and survive. As they wait, the outside world slowly intrudes, coming closer. Burford takes out a gun, wanting to have one last fling with Lorna before the end. Marden fights with him as the house comes alive, crashing down on all of them. Just as the entire world goes insane with a mad rush of life, everything returns to normal. Leon has succeeded in destroying the super dimension science project. Now, the entire world must recover, but Marden has won Lorna, so he is happy. [s] “Conquest of Life” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 10, No. 1, Issue 7, August 1937) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 19, No. 2, Issue 56, May 1949), by Eando Binder. Matthew York, a genius, spends his life searching for the secret of immortality. He dies. Anton York, his son, is an even greater genius. At 45, he has not aged much at all, and marries Vera, a beautiful 25 year old. Ten years later, still unaged, the reason occurs to him. His father gave him a special Elixir, which obviously made him immortal. He bends to the effort to recover the formula and give it to Vera. He hires Dr. Charles Vinson to help. Vinson does discover the formula. York gives it to Vera. But Vinson has developed plans of his own. At first it appears that the Elixir has killed Vera, and York takes cyanide, not wanting to live without her. Vinson considers that it is better this way, because York would not have approved of his plans. But both York and the now immortal Vera are alive. Vinson is the only one who knows the secret, and he uses it over time to create an army of immortals to take over the world. One hundred years later, York has discovered the secret of interstellar travel, and Vinson launches his revolution. York uses his greatest, most deadly weapon and defeats Vinson and his minions. After being the cause for the near destruction of the world, by enabling Vinson, York and his wife leave the earth forever, after saving it one last time. ***[m] is best. ***Although some are in cut form, this is the “Hall of Fame” series from Startling Stories. ***No paperback edition.

2. 
Margulies, Leo and Friend, Oscar J[erome] (editors)
My Best Science Fiction Story
As Selected by 25 Outstanding Authors
Merlin Press; New York, NY 1949       xix/556           $3.95
5,000 copies printed.
Jacket by uncredited.

Science fiction short stories. ***[a] “Introduction,” by Leo Margulies and Oscar J. Friend. Brief essay recounting the world historical changes since World War II, and how events have caught up with those predicted in science fiction. The suggestion is made that these stories will contain predictions about the future that will turn out to be true. [b] “Robot AL 76 Goes Astray” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 16, No. 2, Issue 171, February 1942) & (Amazing Stories, Vol. 30, No. 4, Issue 305, April 1956), by Isaac Asimov. ***Asimov classifies this as a light-hearted self satire. ***A robot designed to build an atomic power plant on the Moon goes astray, and what with a different environment than he has been constructed for, builds a supremely efficient atomic plant. The plant is blown up, and the robot had received orders to forget what he had done, so nothing comes of the chance. Sam Tobe is worried, one of six robots designed for work on the Moon has gone missing from the Corporation. AL 76 struggles not to run amok. It is difficult, he is both confused at all the unprogrammed input and the natives attack him at every turn. The huge, lumbering robot has a bit of luck and runs into Randolph Payne. Payne is an idle tinkerer who hides from his wife in a shack in the middle of a junk yard where he tries to fix appliances for pocket money. At first he is terrified by AL 76, but remembering that its positronic brain prevents it from harming any human, Payne soon puts the robot to work. AL 76 wants nothing more than to begin his programmed task, using a disintro ray to level the lunar surface. Payne wants to cash in on the robot and get a reward. So while Payne tries to get through the unbelieving bureaucracy, eventually resorting to photographic evidence, AL 76 begins to construct a novel new disintro from the bits and pieces of junk. Meanwhile, Sam Tobe is soon on the trail to Payne’s junkyard and the local citizens are on a witch hunt, ready to blow the unsuspecting robot apart. Things come to a head as AL 76 finishes his ray, powers it with two flashlight batteries and levels the nearest mountaintop. The local citizens run off in fear. Tobe turns up just in time to pick up the robot, but Payne, out of fear of the destructive power has just ordered AL 76 to dismantle the invention and forget what how he built it. Payne does not wait around for his reward and Tobe and the Corporation are out a new invention. [c] “Grief of Bagdad” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 24, No. 2, Issue 50, June 1943), by Arthur K. Barnes. Originally published under the pseudonym, Kelvin Kent. ***Barnes offers up this little humorous gem to add balance to this anthology. ***Pete Manx, ingenious grifter, goes to Islamic Bagdad to find the magic carpet. He makes it himself: a primitive balloon. ***Pete Manx has been the reluctant assistant of Dr. Horatio Mayhem in various journeys into the past. Manx is tired of his adventures but Colonel Henry Crowell convinces him to go on one more journey, to retrieve a magic carpet for military uses. Manx agrees to go and is given six weeks to complete his mission in ancient Bagdad. He appears there, clothed appropriately, and meets a local, Ahmedalhazred, who is lamenting a fraud that has been perpetrated on him. Quickly renamed Sabu by Manx, the local explains that his bottle, complete with authentic Seal of Solomon, will not summon a genii. But Manx convinces Sabu to throw in with him and Manx will make him rich. All this is a plan conceived by Manx to give him time, money and opportunity to locate the elusive magic carpet. In short order Manx, called Bo now, has introduced Bagdad to Vaudeville. It is a tremendous success, Sabu is becoming rich beyond his wildest dreams. But Ali Ben Mahmoud, the evil caliph of Bagdad, wants in on the money. Bo, now Major Bo, tells the caliph about his search for the flying carpet, but the caliph does not know anything about it. Instead, he now wants it, gives Major Bo a deadline, and raises an unpayable tax on the show. Major Bo is undaunted, expands the show, puts several on the road, to help in his search, but still no carpet. Things reach a head as the increasing taxes can not be paid. Major Bo tells Sabu to take his money and run, but before he can make sure, Sabu is taken to the caliph and Bo returns to the present. Manx insists on returning to the past, just far enough back in time to walk into the palace as a nomad, and offer a magic carpet to the caliph. He insists that his two friends, Major Bo and Sabu, must be freed. The evil caliph agrees and both know he will betray his promise. With a bit of help from Sabu, in the form of using his genii bottle, Major Bo (Manx) builds an air balloon. The caliph seizes it, but can not control it and floats away. Manx makes Sabu the new ruler before he disappears. [d] “The Teacher from Mars” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 19, No. 2, Issue 35, February 1941), by Eando Binder [Otto Binder]. ***Binder presents a first person story about discrimination and intolerance. ***A Martian pedagogue is hazed by a group of brutal anti-Martian boys. They come to love one another. ***Mun Zeerohs, a Martian teacher, is determined to be a success in Elkhart, Indiana, at the Caslon Preparatory School for Boys. But he has not figured on the hatred marshaled and led by Tom Blaine, one of his new students. Blaine is proud of his father, Captain Henry Blaine, of the Space Patrol. Blaine is equally passionate in his hatred toward Zeerohs. He comes very close to breaking Zeerohs, thinking him a coward, and leveling every imaginable schoolboy prank on the teacher. But Zeerohs remains stalwart and does not rat on young Blaine. Still unbroken, the entire school is ordered out to attend a special ceremony, the presentation of the Cross of Space because of the actions of Captain Henry Blaine. Tom Blaine is proud, and ready to accept the award, when it is given to Zeerohs. It seems his son saved the Captain’s life at the cost of his own. Tom Blaine has an instant change of heart, demanding the Zeerohs now stay, because all the boys will be his son. The Martian Mr. Chips has found a place at long last. [e]“Almost Human” (Fantastic Adventures, Vol. 5, No. 6, Issue 40, June 1943 & Fantastic Stories, Vol. 15, No. 6, Issue 134, July 1966, as by Tarleton Fiske), by Robert Bloch. ***Bloch reviews the basic classifications of robot story, insisting his is new and falls into the same class as the very best cited in his essay. ***Professor Blasserman invents a robot, but the robot’s training is taken over by a gangster, whose “ideals” the robot imitates faithfully. ***Duke, a gangster, knows all about Junior, Blasserman’s new invention, because Lola, his girlfriend, has been hired to be its nursemaid. He takes over the experiment at gunpoint, and Blasserman becomes an unwilling assistant to the subversion of his great dream. Duke begins to train the highly intelligent robot into a life of crime. Junior’s first crime is killing Blasserman. Duke, Lola and Junior go to hide out at Fat Charlie’s place where Duke has Junior commit more crimes and robberies, still teaching him. But Junior is also learning from Lola. After Junior kills Fat Charlie, and Duke goes out, Junior has his final lesson from Lola. He wants to know all about love, human love and what it takes. Lola tells him. When Duke comes back, much to Lola’s terror, Junior kills him, and then comes for Lola, the object of its love. [f] “Zero Hour” (Planet Stories, Vol. 3, No. 8, Issue 32, Autumn 1947) & (Avon Fantasy Reader, No. 8, December 1948), by Ray Bradbury. ***Bradbury is proud, and rightfully so, that he wrote this short story in one pass. ***Drill organizes an invasion of Earth through the children. ***Young Mink is preoccupied with a new game, Invasion, and her mother, Mrs. Morris, is bemused. Mother helps daughter gather props for the game and learns bits and pieces about it in passing. She becomes alarmed when comparing notes with friends, that the game is being played by young children everywhere. The same unknown person, Drill, seems to be the leader. Finally, when questioned, Mink laughingly tells her mother that they are going to help Drill and his people take over and kill everyone, and Mink will probably become a queen or something. At this time, Mrs. Morris is becoming chilled as she begins to see something more sinister in the game. As Zero Hour comes, and explosions occur, she hides with her husband in the attic, shushing him into silence as he complains, still not understanding what Mrs. Morris has figured out. His noises bring Mink to their hiding place, she burns down the door, strange, unidentified creatures with her. It is the end, “Peek-a-boo.” [g] “Nothing Sirius” (Captain Future, Vol. 6, No. 2, Issue 17, Spring, 1944) & (Wonder Story Annual, Vol. 2, No. 1, Issue 4, 1953), by Fredric Brown. ***As Brown explains, it is a funny story, written around the title. ***Pop Wherry and his family find romance and past memories on a new planet. But it is all thought-projection by intelligent “cockroaches.” A hitherto undiscovered planet around Sirius is inhabited by beings with great hypnotic powers. Their appearance, however, will bar them from association with humans. ***Pop Wherry, his wife and daughter, Ellen, own and operate a floating gambling parlor. Their hired space pilot, Johnny, straight out of the academy, is a stuff-shirt and Pop laments that all he needs is a little loosening and he will be okay. Traveling from planet to planet in the Sirius system, they encounter an unidentified planet and land to investigate. At first it seems weird, but normal in many ways as they bump into a modern town and an old friend, Sam Heideman. They know Sam from the same carney circuit that they travel in space. Sam tells them that this planet is the best kept secret, it is being used by Planetary Cinema as an isolated set. Sam is the technical adviser. Johnny becomes smitten by the beautiful female star, much to Ellen’s obvious anger. Pop Wherry begins to put strange facts together, like the fact that Sam is long dead. As he does, all the illusion disappears, and the foursome flees back to their spaceship. But as they do, the cockroaches that they have been seeing everywhere communicate with them. They learn that the insects are highly advanced, so much that they have the ability to bar all humans from their planet, and explain that they do it because the humans are so repulsive. They leave. Johnny gets dead drunk, trying to get over his embarrassment after falling in love with a cockroach illusion. Pop is delighted, before they return home, he knows that Johnny and Ellen will be getting married. [h] “Blindness” (Astounding Stories, Vol. 15, No. 1, Issue 52, March 1935, as by Don A. Stuart), by John W. Campbell, Jr.***Offered by Campbell as a pure science story, relying heavily on science, with facts and figures, but with characters. ***Atomic power and a metal that changes heat to electricity. The title refers to the Promethean irony of the chief character who is, in mild fashion, a scientific monomaniac. ***Dr. Malcolm Mackay is a genius, dedicated to one idea, bringing free, cheap, atomic energy to mankind. He spends his entire life and all his money driven with this task. Finally, with the help of his able assistant, John Burns, he is ready for the great task. Mackay needs to fly the Prometheus, a ship specially built and designed by him, to the sun. Only in orbit can he be close enough to experiment and find the illusive solution. It is a one-way trip, if the two do not succeed they will die. Many minor and major inventions are created in order to make this attempt. The two men leave, Mackay goes blind, but after three long years, they are successful. The two men return, expecting a hero’s welcome, only to find a minor invention has done the trick while they were away, giving all mankind cheap, plentiful energy, and there is practically no need for his great discovery. [i] “Visiting Yokel” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 24, No. 3, Issue 51, August 1943) & (Fantastic Story, Vol. 6, No. 1, Issue 16, July 1953), by Cleve Cartmill. ***After reviewing the torment and agony his usual story writing takes, Cartmill tells us that this story was written in one pass. ***A Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt sequence set in the future. The antics of such a pair divert an invasion. ***Sergeant Rion McBriar is on parade duty in his flying car. He makes a traffic stop just as the parade is passing. He tells the pilot to wait for his return. The pilot does not, and almost runs into the lead ship, filled with all the dignitaries and government leaders. Thus Norg, advance guard of an invasion escapes near detection. But McBriar is not so lucky. After Captain Kennedy gives him an off-the-record beating, he is set to the sticks as punishment. But Sergeant McBriar is not going to let Kennedy break him and make him quit. The work is boring and tedious, but McBriar makes Kennedy rue the day he sent him there, calling at all hours for “guidance” and to keep Kennedy up to date with all his activities and decisions. As luck would have it a series of meaningless crimes leads to a murder in Rayville, and Captain Kennedy becomes alarmed, ordering McBriar to go out of his jurisdiction to track down the culprit, but McBriar knows the regulations and refuses. So Captain Kennedy must come in person, and when he does he is very upset. He is so angry that when they flush out Norg, just as he is readying to return to his people and lead them to take over the planet, he takes a shot at the fleeing spaceship. Unexpectedly, it blows up, killing the pilot, Norg, and disintegrating into fragments. McBriar is the only witness of Captain Kennedy’s action, all in violation of regulations, and uses his knowledge to get his old job back, and to take a punch at Kennedy. The two end up best friends, never the wiser that they have stopped the invasion. [j] “The Hibited Man” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 35, No. 1, Issue 82, October 1949), by L. Sprague de Camp. ***Sturgeon eschews the gadget driven story in favor of the character driven one. ***“Hibited” is a coined word to mean without inhibitions, perhaps a little stronger than “uninhibited.” An inhibited researcher has his inhibitions removed by a force field which is intended to repel weapons. ***Very meek, mild-mannered Thomas Otterburn is almost afraid of his own shadow. He is too timid to speak to the girl he likes, or to stand up for himself. But he has helped with some aspects of Project Styx and volunteered to help with the first human tests. Eduard Dubrowsky, from the Psychoelectronic Section, fetches the reluctant guinea pig and his partner, de Castro, explains the device. The two have created a miniature device that can generate a field that will deflect any force directed at it. Essentially a force field, it has one drawback, it has an effect on the wearer, making them loose all inhibitions. It works as a force field, almost too well, and the field has an instant effect on Otterburn. He insists on taking it home for the weekend, and no one can stop him, or touch him. He bumps into the girl of his dreams, Lucy, and asks her out for dinner and dancing. As every minute passes, he becomes bolder, taking more risks. At first Lucy is delighted, dinner is great, and so is dancing, but when the bill comes Otterburn picks a fight with the entire restaurant. Lucy flees. Otterburn escapes, and captivates the first girl he sees, taking her to a play. But Otterburn is like a child, becomes bored, throws tomatoes at the actors, and disrupts everything. At one point he is running amok, painting half-naked chorus girls with green paint, chased by irate and angry police, escaping on horseback into the night. The next day he is arrested at home. Lucy has told on him, guessing by descriptions in the news that it was Otterburn running around. They take off his force field, most things return to normal. But Otterburn does not. He has become an extrovert, and a salesman for a paint company. He has made amends for all his crimes, by glibly talking his way out of them, and is making more money, and having more women then he can count. All is well... [k] “The Thing in the Pond” (Astounding Stories, Vol. 13, No. 4, Issue 43, June 1934), by Paul Ernst. ***Ernst suggests that his story is an attempt to create an alien, or monster, in other than human form. ***A bit of chickenheart, thrown away, assumes amoeboid life and raises Cain. ***Gordon Sharpe, international big-game hunter, comes to help his friend, Professor Weidbold. They have not seen each other in nearly ten years. At that time, Weidbold had a falling out with his butler, who threw some of his scientific experiments and chemicals and devices into the nearby pond. Now something unexplained has surfaced. Just three days before, his pet dog, Spot, has gone missing, with footprints leading into the water. Next a neighbor’s cow, right into the pond. The two men toss some meat into the pond, and a pink, amoeboid like creature gobbles it up. Taking a shot at it, it goes for them. They run away, very afraid, and return with dynamite and acid to finish it off. It is a near thing. After blowing it into small pieces, all still living and returning to gather in the water, Sharpe guesses what it really is, a small piece of a chicken-heart that the Professor has been keeping artificially alive for years. ***A good treatment of a hackneyed theme. [l] “Wanderer of Time” (Startling Stories, Vol. 11, No. 1, Issue 31, Winter 1944 & Treasury of Great Science Fiction Stories, No. 2, 1965, as by Polton Cross), by John Russell Fearn. ***Fearn tells us that this is a time travel story with a twist, it is also a murder mystery. ***Time, crime, reincarnation all mixed up with intelligent termites. ***Blake Carson has figured out how to see into the future. Two of his friends assist him in his experiments, Dick Glenbury and Hart Cranshaw. With the process perfected, Carson comes to Glenbury with grim news. He has seen the minute of his death, electrocution for killing Glenbury, a crime he will be innocent of because it will be Cranshaw who will do the deed. It all comes to pass. Cranshaw has developed the same technique as Carson, only taken it further, and has better control over the possibilities of mental time travel. He wants sole control, and the opportunity to be reborn forever, always conscious of his prior incarnations. But Carson is not going to pass on to the next dimension in spiritual evolution, he wants a reckoning with his enemy and is determined to have one. It comes about, but not as planned. Carson appears in the far future, at the end of all life on Earth. Nearly dead, he finds the last civilization, an empire of termites, led by the reincarnated Cranshaw. As he dies, he crushes Cranshaw. But both know that they are now linked to forever go through the circle of time, fleeing and finding each other, locked in the same death struggle. ***This story ends better than it begins. [m]“The Inn Outside the World” (Weird Tales, Vol. 38, No. 6, Issue 224, July 1945), by Edmond Hamilton. ***Hamilton explains his story as an attempt to use science in place of fantasy, to the same end. ***A strange place outside the world where the great minds meet, as members of a super-secret organization. The last man, Su Suum from the 14,000th century, is present. A man from the present asks for help, but receives only courage. ***Lieutenant Merrill is bodyguard to Carlus Guinard. Guinard is a world-renowned statesman, only he can keep civilization from falling into darkness throughout Europe. But Guinard is lost, he sees that it is hopeless without help. He goes to seek that help. Merrill is pulled along with him into another dimension. Guinard explains to him that he is one of a select few from every generation. Rodemos of Atlantis was the first to discover the way into the world in the other timeless dimension. He provided the key to the others. Great men from every generation travel to this timeless place to meet and discuss and become enlightened by their fellowship. But they have strict rules, and can not supply material help or alter the flow of time when they return to their places. Guinard begs for help. Su Suum, the last man, puts everything into perspective. He points out that it is inevitable that all things end, no matter how great they become, and it is how we face these events that matters even more. Guinard returns, without any material help. But both Guinard and Merrill are galvanized with a new hope and inner strength to face all odds. ***Rather good. [n] “The Professor was a Thief” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 24, No. 6, Issue 111, February 1940), by L[afayette] Ron[ald] Hubbard. ***Hubbard suggests that his story is great literature because his mad-scientist is different. ***A rather good humorous treatment of the mad-scientist motif. A device that reduces things to very small size, so that the professor can carry them away. ***Pop has been a newspaperman all of his life, he helped to make his newspaper a great success. But times change, the owner’s son-in-law was made city editor, now Leonard Caulborn has given Pop two more days. Pop intends to go out with a bang and bring in a great news story, and maybe hang onto his job a while longer. He gets his chance. Just as he is following up on a minor article, ordered to write something about a lame speech given by a Professor Hannibal Pertiwee, major buildings, such as the Empire State building, have begun to disappear. Pop interviews the absent-minded Pertiwee. He discovers that Pertiwee has the most amazing collection of exact miniatures of trains, forests, buildings, and cars. Also, that the professor is a thief, and steals his cigarette case. More buildings disappear and Pop is starting to put two and two together when he returns to Pertiwee to retrieve his cigarette case. But he finds it has been altered, and now Pop is making things disappear. He finds he is actually making them miniature, such as the local bar, and a cab. He confronts Pertiwee and gets the truth out of him. Pertiwee wanted to use his discovery to make train freight hauling cheap, but he was ignored as a crackpot. Pop uses Pertiwee and his discovery as a way to keep his job. He does such a good job of bringing in the news, creating extra editions, and solving the problem, that when everything is returned to normal, he gets a bonus. He becomes the new managing editor of the paper, the boss hopes that maybe he can make a newspaperman out of Caulborn. [o] “Don’t Look Now” (Startling Stories, Vol. 17, No. 1, Issue 49, March 1948), by Henry Kuttner. ***Kuttner states that his submission is his best because his wife wrote it. ***Martians control the Earth as beings who may wear a human skin and pose as humans. They can be distinguished by their third eye. ***Over drinks, Lyman has been chatting up the man in the brown suit sitting next to him. After a short while, the brown man is hooked by Lyman and begins to listen closely. Lyman tells him that there are Martians everywhere, and that he can see them. As a result of a high-frequency accident, while fooling around with a gadget designed to make supersonic detergents, Lyman has been able to see the Martians. As his story progresses, he has made quite a study of them. They are our keepers and keep us in a state of backwardness. They appear just like us, but when they open their third eyes, they become invisible, but Lyman can still see them. He has been very careful never to reveal his ability. But he thinks that in the brown man he has found a kindred spirit. The brown man grows to trust Lyman, barely, and as he is some kind of reporter as well, wants to share his own discovery with Lyman. When he is somewhat sure that no Martians are watching, he takes off his wristwatch and pulls out two small photographs. By a new technique, the brown man has been able to take photographs of Martians, complete with their third eyes. The two men become excited, they are on the right track, the photographs could blow the whole Martian conspiracy out into the open. They agree to meet again, carefully, the next day. Lyman asks for one of the photographs, just in case something happens to the reporter. As the reporter walks away, Lyman opens his third eye, watching him speculatively. ***A skilful job of fooling the reader. [p] “The Green Hills of Earth” (The Saturday Evening Post, February 8, 1947) & (Nebula Science Fiction, No. 15, January 1956), by Robert A. Heinlein.***This is Heinlein’s favorite story because it is concerned with some of his own strongly personal emotional feelings about space travel. He also gives credit to C.L. Moore for the phrase “The Green Hills of Earth,” although he does not cite which story it came from. ***The experience of Rhysling, the so-called Blind Singer of the Spaceways. No one will ever forget his songs. And no one will ever forget his heroism on the flight from Venus. He sacrifices himself to save a ship. ***Rhysling is a space bum, but uniquely Terran in his poetry. From his drunken, womanizing character has come some of the greatest poetry of his age. His image has been cleaned up for posterity but “Noisy” Rhysling was a notorious raconteur. Busy writing his racy, lewd songs, Rhysling becomes blacklisted from interplanetary travel, but gets back into it long enough to bounce from planet to planet, always helping to give the places he stops at their original ripe reputations. He signs on board the Goshawk as a jetman for a trip from Venus to Mars. A capable jetman when he puts his mind to it, he tells the master that the cadmium dampers are warped, and with the new design, dangerous. Rhysling is given the option of staying behind, but steps on board. He is right, the dampers blow. Saving the ship, he is blinded by the radiation, while simultaneously singing one of his most famous pieces. Blind, he still bounces from spaceport to spaceport, but now his poetry has become better, haunting, filled with genius. While on Venus, Rhysling over twenty years of coming and going, has written and worked on “The Green Hills of Earth.” A song about going back home to Earth, it has gotten under his skin and he decides that it is time to take a ship back to Terra, to “see” his native Ozarks one more time. He slips on board the Falcon, but the Captain wants to put the bum off. Rhysling quotes space law to him and forces him to accept him for the ride home. It turns out to be a lucky decision. Trouble comes during the first watch, while Rhysling is fiddling with a new version of Green Hills. Macdougal, one of his old jetman friends, shows him the new controls. Rhysling cautions him, telling him he should keep the old hand dampers closed with the links. Just as he does, they blow up, killing everyone in the engine room, except Rhysling. Over the intercom, Rhysling informs the Captain that the room is radioactive. As Rhysling stays at the task, saving the ship, he finishes his last, great song, Green Hills, recorded by the Captain. It is the last thing he does. ***Liberally garnished with Rhysling's “poetry.” ***Heinlein got the idea for this story from the C.L. Moore short story “Shambleau” (Weird Tales, Vol. 22, No. 5, Issue 119, November 1933) in which the hero, Northwest Smith, is walking along the banks of a canal on Mars humming “’The Green Hills of Earth’ to himself in a surprisingly good baritone.” [q] “The Lost Race” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 34, No. 1, Issue 79, April 1949), by Murray Leinster [Pseudo. of Jenkins, Will F.]. ***It is Leinster’s favorite because he was able to use all his pet theories in it. ***Ruins on another world in another solar system, and a super-television set that seems to show Earth, but really shows thought. The final “gimmick” comes when it is revealed that the lost race was ancestral to man. ***Jimmy Riggs knows that the journey on the Carilya will be long and tedious. This is compounded by being thrown in with two men he knows well, Danton and Ken Howell. Danton is jealous and obsessive about his wife, Sally, thinking that both men, old rivals for her hand, are always sneaking about, trying to get with her behind his back. Danton is convinced that whenever he is away, Sally is always with some other man. It creates an unbearable tension among the three. Howell has overcome his boredom by becoming an expert on the Lost Race. Relics of their mysterious civilization are found on nearly every habitable world, but in total ruin. Howell has a theory. He thinks that they committed mass suicide and destroyed every possible trace of themselves for some unknown reason. The Carilya maps a new system and they discovered yet another ruined city of the Lost Ones. But nearby is a mound, Riggs and Howell go and explore, finding the first alien device intact. Howell is the right person for this discovery. With his knowledge, the two men are able to use the device. At first it appears to be a super-television, enabling the viewer to see anything he wants, anywhere. But as the entire crew is informed about the amazing find, Howell develops a new theory. This alien device was used by the Lost Ones who had precognitive ability, and those with that were the most powerful and were able to show the rest their visions of the future. The device does not show what is, but what can be, what is part of the subconscious. Danton does not know this and has used the device to spy on his wife, Sally, confirming his worst suspicions about her. He destroys their ship, stranding the men. He is going to sneak back to Earth aboard one of the small lifeboats, and kill Sally. Danton thinks he will get away with it because everyone will think he has been lost with the rest of the crew. But Riggs and Howell thwart him. With Danton dead, the crew is resigned to wait for Riggs and Howell to take the two-man lifeboat home and get them rescued. The two men will have plenty of time to talk and work out the details of their theory about the Lost Race. Howell tells Riggs that he found an intact skeleton, the first ever, showing its tail. But he has a theory in which all the pieces fit. The projection device, and others, generate so much radiation that the Lost Race was slowly mutating. Using the device they saw what they would become, and committed mass suicide in order to prevent the existence of their monstrous descendants. But they were unsuccessful, mankind are those ghastly descendants. [r] “The House of Rising Winds” (Startling Stories, Vol. 17, No. 2, Issue 50, May 1948), by Frank Belknap Long, Jr. ***Long tells us that this is the result of “the white heat of a compulsive creative drive,” and thus, his best. ***A being from another existence, Lacula, a sort of cosmic Frank Buck, comes to the help of a little boy who is badly treated by an aunt and uncle. ***Young Jimmy Marlowe is afraid. Both his Aunt Catherine and Uncle Jack want to kill him and keep his inheritance to themselves. They have tried many times, and only luck and fear have kept Jimmy alive. While hiding out in the woods, Jimmy encounters an alien from another dimension. Jimmy is less afraid of the green man than of his own relatives. The green man, Lacula, tells Jimmy many things, showing him his cages filled with alien terrors. Lacula runs an inter-dimensional zoo, and right now is on a collecting expedition. He befriends Jimmy and gives him a pipe, the pipes of Pan. Jimmy is reluctant to return to certain death, but Lacula insists that everything will turn out all right. Jimmy is right, his crafty Aunt Catherine has figured out a foolproof way to kill the little boy, electrocute him while he is taking his bath. She has planted a curling iron near the tub and plans to toss it into the water when the boy steps into it. When Jimmy sees his aunt reaching toward the iron, he begins to play the pipes just as Lacula showed him. A tremendous wind rips through the house, a supernatural wind, pulling and pressing both aunt and uncle toward the waiting Lacula. They are caged and become his latest exhibit of fearsome, loathsome terrors. Jimmy is free of them and now can fill the house with goodness. [s] “The Carriers” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 33, No. 3, Issue 78, February 1949), by Sam Merwin, Jr. ***Merwin is able to combine two ideas in this one. The first is that our species might not be of any benefit to others, and the other is that those who go to explore space might not be heroic, physically perfect specimens, but rather strong women and weak men. ***Everywhere that an Earth expedition goes, it finds immediate destruction on inhabited planets. It seems that in some way the Earthmen themselves are responsible. ***Dr. Lydia Gray, physicist, is becoming excited. Her expedition has come across recent ruins of another alien civilization. From the ruins they find and are able to adapt an overdrive to their ship. This will enable them to travel so fast that at their next stop they might be in time to see, or prevent, the destruction of the alien race they find. Dr. Navarro, the biologist, presses the button and the Achilles crosses space to the next planet, just in time to find life. But life in the process of self-annihilation. Gray is concerned about her friend, who for the first time will be facing his fears of some kind of space plague, but she is already developing a different theory about these mass destructions. In the recent, still smoking ruins, Gray finds a device, an image projector that confirms her fears. The two watch in horror as it displays images of Earth, and their exploration of space, and the death of each planet they stop at. Gray and Navarro learn that they are the very space plague they have theorized about. They still do not know how it works, but they are certain they are the carriers.  [t] “Dr. Grimshaw’s Sanitarium” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 9, No. 1, Issue 97, May 1934) & (Amazing Stories, Vol. 40, No. 9, Issue 424, December 1966), by Fletcher Pratt. ***Pratt cites his originality and logical interweaving of parts as to why this one is his favorite. ***A lunatic asylum where a mad German doctor turns people into midgets. ***Dr. Adelbert Grimshaw runs the State Hospital for the Insane. Due to his fantastic success rate in curing sick people, his high death rate has been ignored. That is until Harlan Ward, scion of a wealthy automobile manufacturer, an alcoholic and drug addict, is committed. Shortly after he is reported dead. At his funeral, his casket is accidentally opened, revealing a dummy and sand bags. During the subsequent investigation, other graves are opened, revealing the same fraud. When the investigators went to talk with Grimshaw, he had already disappeared without any trace. His assistant, Dr. Benjamin Voyna is apprehended and refuses to cooperate. It turns out that the two men had been involved in a drug ring, and purposely addicted many of their patients, among them Harlan Ward. One other strange fact was noted, they had been supplying feeble-minded midgets to a circus sideshow. Parts of a manuscript were found inside three small gelatin capsules, each in smaller handwriting then the previous. In the manuscript, John Doherty tells how he worked as a detective for the Pinkertons. After an accident and injury, he was having cognitive problems, and they sent him to the sanitarium. Doherty gets curious about a special wing in the hospital and spies on the two doctors. He confides his suspicions with his three friends, Kaye, Kraicki and the intern Sherman. He tells them about the strange midget he saw and the drugs they forcibly administered to the reluctant patient. Sherman adds another piece of information, he has seen them delivering midgets to the Great Neiderlinger Shows. Grimshaw gets wind of their suspicions and confines the men to his special ward. Shortly, Doherty is becoming a midget after being administered those special drugs by Grimshaw. When the four men have been made into midgets, Grimshaw informs them that they are all part of the next stage in his experiment, they will become super-midgets. This is where the final manuscript picks up the story. Now all four men have become so small they are wandering around outside, looking for insects, which are giant, for meat to eat. Small weeds are taller then giant trees, now that they are miniature. Just as they manage to find pieces of paper and ink to leave behind this record, Kraicki is killed. It seems that Grimshaw has a new cat. [u] “The Uncharted Isle” (Weird Tales, Vol. 16, No. 5, Issue 86, November 1930), by Clark Ashton Smith. ***Smith considers this story an example, never appearing elsewhere, of one of his science fiction stories. ***Mark Irwin has been shipwrecked. First mate on the freighter Auckland, he barely manages to survive a catastrophic fire. Alone on a lifeboat, hundreds of miles southwest of Easter Island, he finds an uncharted island. It is possible that what he finds is really part of a delirium, rather than real. He finds archaic plants that might have existed eons ago on Mu. Exploring the island, he finds a land-locked harbor and a town on the other side. Instead of primitive savages, he has found a high civilization. But when he encounters the inhabitants they appear not to notice him, he is invisible to them, existing in a separate, out-of-phase dimension. But he watches what they have been doing, studies their maps and devices. He determines that they have become, somehow, lost in time and space, and are trying to puzzle out why. He lives around them for some undetermined amount of time, watching them in their obsession to determine where and how they got to this place. It seems like ages have passed the natives as they have been locked in their timeless obsession. Irwin witnesses the sacrifice of a small child to one of the native gods. At first he thinks it is just stone and wood, but the god is alive, and takes the sacrifice. Irwin runs away in terror, taking one of the rotting, ancient, native boats and leaves. At first he tries to navigate by strange stars, until they finally become familiar one night. He is found, but not believed, even with the evidence of the strange boat. ***Written as a fantasy, and a dream-quest. Thin and unconvincing, and poorly written at that. Not recommended. [v] “Thunder and Roses” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 40, No. 3, Issue 204, November 1947), by Theodore Sturgeon [Pseudo. of E.H. Waldo]. ***A short but interesting anecdotal essay accompanies this story. Sturgeon tracks the genesis of his story from his adolescence, when at the age of seventeen, he wrote an unpublished book One World or None, about the inevitable end of nuclear war, to the song contained in this story, sung by Mary Mair at Philcon in 1947. ***Sergeant Pete Mawser is not who you think he is. At first he is just another disgruntled soldier, sitting out the war in a bunker. The enemy has leveled the country with over 530 atom bombs. Everyone is dying, all the cities are in ruins, even the people in the bunker are dying, from suicide, from radiation. No one in this country will survive. Mawser thinks he is the only sane one left, he is not ready for suicide but he is contemplating some kind of final action. Starr Anthim, famous singer, patriot, and beauty, is coming to the base to perform. The survivors are all excited by this, it gives them hope. Chatting with his friend, Sonny, he tells him all about the secret base, which is practically empty of any living people now. They decide to use a furnace to melt a razor, and remove the temptation of murder and suicide. While they are doing it, a hidden door opens and the two investigate. They find a red lever, with instruction not to use except under orders, and strangely, the door will only open when the outside radiation reaches a deadly stage. The two quietly shut the door and go to watch Starr. After she sings a new song about humanity, she tells them something they do not want to hear. They are all going to die, they know that, but she cautions them not to use our arsenal of atomic bombs. If we use them the whole planet will die, but maybe, if we do not, some people somewhere will survive. While watching the show, one of his friends commits suicide. Mawser wanders around, contemplating Starr’s message, that now they can not do anything, not even hate anymore. He bumps into Starr. She gives him a recording of her new song, and they talk. She tells him what she has really been trying to do. She has been going from base to secret base, looking for the last of the master firing keys for the launch sites. It turns out that the camouflaged lever is the last one they know about. Starr convinces him not to use the lever, and collapses. She is the victim of horrendous radiation poisoning and has been slowly dying for some time, while still searching for the missing master keys. Most of her beauty is makeup. She dies. Mawser goes back to his cot, falls asleep listening to her last song. Sonny wakes him up. Sonny has figured out the purpose behind the lever and wants to pull it. Mawser kills Sonny and destroys the controls. He has promised to give Starr’s dream a chance. After he settles down to wait for his inevitable end. [w] “The Ultimate Catalyst” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 13, No. 3, Issue 18, June 1939) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 20, No. 2, Issue 59, November 1949), by John Taine [Pseudo. of Bell, Eric Temple]. ***Submitted by Taine as his only science fiction story ever written. ***The Dictator, Emperor Kadir, now rules only a small isolated pocket of land deep in the Amazon jungle. Cut off from the rest of the world in exile, he lives with his most devoted followers on fruit and vegetables. Doctor Beedle and his daughter, Consuelo, are the only original inhabitants of this isolated oasis that have remained after Kadir arrived. Beedle has been conducting experiments on plants and animals, specifically the highly poisonous snakes that infest the area. In order to satisfy the ever complaining Dictator, Beedle has created greenbeefo, a vegetable that tastes like beef. The Dictator demands more, for himself and his ardent followers. Beedle complies. Beedle explains that he has substituted iron from blood for the copper in chlorophyll. It is all a scam, a ploy to fool the dictator. Beedle has injected the plants with snake blood, giving them the beef taste. Juan, one of the workers, has become suspicious of Beedle, steals some of the tampered vegetables and takes them to the Dictator. Kadir confronts Consuelo and Beedle. Beedle barely manages to convince Kadir that Juan is a drunk and a liar. Kadir has made the man eat almost two dozen of the greenbeefos. Beedle says that they will make him sick, because they are unripe, and since he lied about them to begin, that he will disappear. The two men go looking for him. They do not find him, but they do find some strange snake-like fungus growing in the jungle. Beedle explains the fungus away as a natural growth. Consuelo is not so convinced, but says nothing. For some odd reason, Beedle tells his daughter that if anything happens to him that she should go to the trusted Felipe who will take her down the river to safety and civilization. Things begin to come to a head, Felipe brings Consuelo a snake in a bag that he has watched turn into the strange moving fungus. Consuelo convinces him that it is part of Beedle’s experiments, but she knows better. She remembers the catalyst that she helped her father apply to his experiments, and how delighted he had been thinking out loud that now it could be done in hours instead of months. In horror she goes to stop the festival feast going on, but it is too late. Kadir, all of his followers, and Beedle have eaten the changed greenbeefos. Beedle had to eat them to make Kadir think there was nothing wrong with them. Beedle reveals how he has defeated the Dictator, that his plants will turn him into one as well, one of those rolling snake-like fungus they have seen earlier. Consuelo runs away in horror, Felipe takes her up the river to safety after they burn down the entire compound and all its secrets. [x]“Project Spaceship” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 34, No. 3, Issue 81, August 1949), by A.E. van Vogt. ***Van Vogt offers up a story written to show contemporary events, the advent of space travel and the challenges that the people involved face. ***An attempt to show the human (and political) side of building the first spaceship. ***Robert Merritt has a daunting task and a small budget, to put the first man into orbit. Using a modified German V-2 bomb, the VA-2 to begin with, he encounters failure. His wife, Ilsa, complains that he is an unrealistic dreamer, and nags at him to get into a better paying, more realistic field of work. Merritt keeps going forward, finding Professor Hillier, a genius in atomic energy, with an advanced compound of buildings in a fortified valley, just right for Merritt’s project. He meets his daughter, the beautiful Drusilla Julia Hillier, and falls in love with her at first sight. Merritt manages to dismiss Hillier’s objections one-by-one and bring him over. Merritt still faces setbacks. A famous movie star offers big money, but reneges even after seeing the prototype jet rocket fly. Merritt works the circuit, industrialists, more movie stars, politicians, generals, etc., winning them over one-by-one. The capstone of his endeavors comes when he is going to demonstrate the working version of the VB-2, but the pilot can not fly it. It is up to Merritt to save the day, and fly the rocket. Enduring fantastic acceleration, Merritt takes the rocket higher than man has ever gone before. After he recovers, he finds that the President was suitably impressed and has authorized $6,000 a year for the project. Ilsa is disappointed, thinking that all Merritt has done has been in vain, until he points out to her what it really means. The Manhattan Atom Bomb project was voted the same amount, which means that his project has been given unlimited funds, enough to succeed with. [y] “Space Station No. 1” (Argosy, October 10, 1936) & (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Vol. 1, No. 1, September-October 1939), by Manly Wade Wellman. ***Selected because the Martian is the real central character.  ***Outlaws try to seize a space station and conquer the solar system. ***Lane Everitt has been exiled to duty on Space Station No. 1 because he is in love with Fortuna Sidney, daughter of the corporation’s director-general. If that was not bad enough, he is locked in perpetual boredom and his only company is the human-like Martian, Zeoui. Zeoui has been modified so that his jelly-like body approximates that of a human. But all is not entirely hopeless, Fortuna arrives in a stolen spaceship. She has escaped her own confinement, arranged for the escape of Ropakihn, a giant of a man, who had been confined after “pretending” to go mad aboard that same space station. Along with five hand-picked brutal and imbecilic minions, they have stolen the most advanced spaceship in the world, and the MS-ray, a powerful weapon that can melt any metal. Fortuna wants Lane to return with her so that they can disappear and live happily ever after. Ropakihn is along to replace him at the station, as it requires two people to run it. Lane has a turn of honor and duty, and refuses to leave or be a part of her plans. This is all right with Ropakihn who has already decided that he has a better plan. After forcing Lane and Zeoui to refuel his spaceship, he is going to kidnap Fortuna and take her to the colonies at Jupiter. Using the MS-ray, he will easily conquer them, become ruler, and by the time the rest of the solar system is able to do anything about it, it will be too late. Lane refuses to help and is taken prisoner. Just then, Zeoui enters the room and agrees to become a willing member of Ropakihn’s pirate crew. He offers to help two of his men refuel the warcraft. Shortly, he returns and suggests that a couple of other men could help him speed up the fuel delivery. In order to show he is on their side, he takes Fortuna and ties her up next to Lane. But after they all leave, Ropakihn becomes a bit suspicious, he can not see any of his men at work, so he goes out to investigate. Fortuna gets loose from her poorly tied ropes, frees Lane, and they take out the remaining guard. Lane puts on a spacesuit and is just leaving as Ropakihn returns. Ropakihn chases him, they become free of the station, floating in space as they fight. Finally, Lane kills Ropakihn, takes his weapon, an explosive gun, and uses it to rocket himself back to the station. Zeoui is waiting to help him back. The Martian reveals how he duped all of Ropakihn’s men, freezing the first three with liquid oxygen, and while helping the other two put on their helmets, he failed to link their oxygen, and they suffocated. Zeoui is the real hero but has given Lane all the credit. A message from Earth, from Fortuna’s father, arrives. The two are forgiven, Lane will be relieved, promoted, and they can marry. As for the Martian, he loves working on the space station. [z]“Star Bright” (Argosy, November 25, 1939), by Jack Williamson. ***Williamson likes this one because the hero is a weak-willed, mild-mannered, nobody. ***A story of a human worm who is suddenly given a miracle-working power. ***Jason Peabody is put upon by everyone in his world. His boss makes him do double duty for half pay. His wife, Ella, can not seem to understand that he does not make enough money to support her extravagant lifestyle, but she insists on living it anyway. His son, William, shows him no respect, and buys a car, glibly pointed out that Jason is responsible for all the payments. Only his daughter, Beth, seems to understand, and even she asks for money. In anger, Jason runs outside for one of his usual cooling down walks. He sees a shooting star, makes a wish, but a fragment of the meteor goes through his brain, lodging in the back. When he wakes up, he is able to make things materialize. He needs to visualize the objects completely, and it takes practice. Jason is really not very good at it, and most things he makes are incomplete or frauds of what he is attempting. Creating life seems to be beyond him at first. Jason returns home only to find that his son has gotten into a traffic accident, the car has been towed, and Jason is on the hook for the bill. Jason has a brainstorm and uses his new powers to create enough money to pay all his new bills. But it is not very good money, and his son returns telling him it is counterfeit. Meanwhile, he has tried to show his wife his powers and created a diamond and platinum necklace. When this fails to please her, and son and wife pester him, he demonstrates once more, trying to make a gold brick. All these things are failures and the police have come to his door. They are convinced he is a counterfeiter and jewel thief. Beth helps him escape to her fiancée’s house, Dr. Rex Brant. At first Brant is skeptical, but Jason convinces him. Brant wants to perform experiments and tests. Soon Jason is able to make body parts, and is making real money, but once again the police come to his door. They spot the body parts and think that they have a master criminal on their hands, but Jason makes them disappear. Exhausted by the effort, he faints. Brant treats him and tells everyone that he has amnesia. He is absolved of any crime. But the meteor fragment is gone now, and Jason tells Brant that he can no longer perform any miracles. Jason goes back to his hum-drum life, but is a little bolder and more assertive. He gets a promotion at work, his son shows him respect, and his wife becomes more loving and obedient. He dotes on his new grandchildren as time goes by, using his power to create special toys for them that he cautions them not to tell their parents about. ***There are also introductory portions by each author; in many cases these fragments are more interesting than the story itself. On the whole this reader feels that most of the authors concerned have most certainly not selected their best story, although [c], [f], [j], [p], and [v] are good. ***25 authors picked their own favorite stories and wrote one-page explanations of why they picked them. ***First paperback edition: Pocket Books, 1007, 1954, 263 pp., pa .25¢.

3. 
Margulies, Leo and Friend, Oscar J[erome] (editors)
The Giant Anthology of Science Fiction
Merlin Press; New York, NY 1954       580         $3.95
5,000 copies printed.
Jacket by uncredited.

Science fiction short stories. ***Contents: [a] “Enchantress of Venus” (Planet Stories, Vol. 4, No. 4, Issue 40, Autumn 1949), by Leigh Brackett. Stark crosses the Red Sea that lies behind the Mountains of White Cloud into the vast mystery of Inner Venus. The Red Sea is not made of water, but of fiery, although breathable, gases. Stark is headed to the pirate city of Shuruum to try to find an old friend. Malthor, the captain of the ship, has other plans. Stark is attacked by Malthor and his men, who seek to make him a slave, but his alter-ego, N’Chaka, savage from Mercury’s Twilight Belt, surfaces, and Stark escapes into the Red Sea. Driven to find his friend, Helvi, Stark manages to make his way into the town of Shuruum. He finds the town strange, with an odd fear permeating everything. All hands are against him until he finds another Earthman, the crippled Mike Larrabee. Larrabee was once a dynamic criminal, but living in Shuruum has sucked the life out of him. Larrabee tells Stark about the Lhari, the rulers of Shuruum who live in the high castle. He begins to suspect that he will find his friend, Helvi, among the Lost Ones, slaves of the Lhari. Outside of Larrabee’s rundown bar, he encounters Zareth, the daughter of Malthor, who has been sent to seduce him into a trap, but instead she warns him about her father and his sinister plans. Stark decides to go boldly to the Lhari, striking the gong outside their citadel. He is taken captive by the half human-half Lhari soldiers and brought to the remaining Lhari, a small family of six, all that is left of that decadent race. Stark becomes involved in the conspiracies of the beautiful but evil Varra, who seeks to destroy her ruling grandmother, breed with Stark and revitalize her race. But her fiancée, the cruel Egil has other plans. Stark is made into a slave, laboring deep below the Red Sea to uncover the secret pathway into a forgotten city. He finds his friend, Helvi, almost mad from the desperate labor, also Zareth and Malthor, who have both been imprisoned for failing to subdue Stark and make him a slave. Varra comes to Stark with a plan, she wants him to kill Egil and become her mate. He agrees, but only if Zareth and Helvi are freed. But it is Malthor who has been armed by Egil that Stark must kill first, and then Egil. It is a near thing, but Zareth sacrifices herself to save Stark, and Stark kills Egil out of anger. The crippled Treon plays his card next, showing Stark into the buried secret laboratories of the ancients. He has uncovered the great secret of genetic mutation that they played with to the detriment of their entire race. But he uses it to become nearly a god, for awhile at least, before the endless mutation makes him into a monster. He wishes to be whole long enough to destroy the rest of his family, with Stark’s help. Stark turns off the barrier of pain that keeps all in captivity and raises a revolt among the slaves. They gain weapons to defeat the half-human soldier and take the castle. Meanwhile, Larrabee and the townspeople have seen their opportunity to be free from the evil Lhari and join the battle. But it is Stark and Treon who fight the remaining Lhari, Treon takes a fatal blow saving Stark from the treacherous Varra, killing her instead. Stark is sickened from watching the family murder each other. The people free, Shuruum will remain a pirate port, but a human one. Larrabee and Stark depart. Larrabee to return to Earth one more time, and Stark to seek further adventures.   [b] “Gateway to Darkness” (Super Science Stories, Vol. 6, No. 1, Issue 21, November 1949), by Fredric Brown. Crag had been a spaceman, and only had a metal hand to show for it. Now he was a thief and a smuggler. In prison on trumped up charges, he faces a mind-wipe, a trip to the psycher, or life in the penal colony of Callisto. The judge, Jon Olliver, failed candidate for Coordinator of North America, sentences him to life on Callisto, and then offers him a secret deal. If Crag will perform an unspecified task for him, highly illegal, he will free Crag, wipe all the charges, and give him a million dollars. Crag agrees. Crag escapes with the help of the beautiful Evadne, Olliver’s wife. Olliver tells him part of the plan. Olliver has formed a new political party and they want to take power, but need Crag’s help for that still unspecified task. Evadne performs a fake mind-wipe on Crag, so that he will be free to return to society, now thought to be innocent, and go to work for Olliver. The next step in the plan is revealed to Crag, a man on Mars has invented a device that will turn anything into neutronium, and since this is extremely valuable, the new political party will have enough money to take over. Crag steals the device and the plans, but already has some misgivings, and gives Olliver fake plans, but the real device. The three go to the asteroid belt to test the device. There, Olliver reveals his true plans. There is no new political party. Olliver wants supreme power over the entire solar system. With this new invention that slowly turns the asteroid into a microscopic, but dense pebble of neutronium, Olliver plans to plant this device on all the planets and force them to accept his rule or be destroyed. Evadne reveals herself as a spy for the opposition, and in love with Crag. Crag fights and defeats Olliver on the dwindling asteroid. Trapped without any hope of return, Evadne uses the invention to commit suicide, but Crag, floating in space, destroys the weapon, rendering it useless for all time, and waits to die a slow death. [c] “The Girl in the Golden Atom” (All-Story Weekly, Vol. 95, No. 1, March 15, 1919) & (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Vol. 1, No. 1, September-October 1939) & (Fantastic Novels, Vol. 1, No. 2, September 1940) & (Fantastic Novels, Vol. 5, No. 1, Issue 25, June 1951) & (Famous Science Fiction, Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 1966-1967), by Ray Cummings. The Chemist tells his friends, the Very Young Man, the Banker and the Big Business Man, about his new invention. He has proven that there are worlds inside atoms, and inside his old, gold ring, there is a world he wants to visit because he has seen the most beautiful girl, and fallen in love with her on first sight. His friends are asked to take turns watching through the great microscope for his return, to render any help he might need. He takes his formula, which also reduces his clothing, and the return formula, as he shrinks into the atom. After some time, he returns, covered in blood, dazed. As he recovers, he tells his waiting friends the story of his adventures. The first person he encountered upon waking up in this strange new world was Lylda, the girl of his dreams. Not only is the entire environment human-like, they speak a form of English, enabling the Chemist to communicate without any problems. He finds that the Oroid nation is a peaceful one, but they have been attacked by the Malites. With Lylda as his interpreter and companion, the two fall deeply in love and the Chemist throws in his lot with her people. He can use his formula to grow a bit larger, and like a modern Gulliver, crush their enemies. He does this. Now he is free to return and take Lylda with him, but he is afraid that the strange journey back might crush her. He decides to experiment, taking the journey to find out how dangerous it is, he realizes, as he tells his friends, that he was right, it was too dangerous for Lylda, he barely made it back. He returns to the world of the atom, and Lylda, never to be seen again, taking his secret formula with him. [d] “Forgotten World” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 28, No. 1, Issue 61, Winter 1946) & (Fantastic Story Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 3, Issue 21, Autumn 1954), by Edmond Hamilton. Laird Carlin, an engineer, has become star-sick. Descendants of mankind who inhabit the nearby worlds sometimes suffer from this disease if they spend too much time in space. The only cure is to return to their ancestral home, Earth, and spend time there, relaxing. Reluctantly Carlin goes to Earth, which is now a backwater planet, all the energy sources on Earth have been used up opening up the other planets. It is too expensive to bring energy to Earth, so its people are encouraged to leave and become spacemen. Carlin meets the lame, Jonny Land, who offers to house him long enough for his cure. The rest of his family fear that Carlin is a spy for Control. Slowly, Carlin becomes a part of their family, falling in love with his sister, Marn. Carlin uncovers the family secret. Jonny is also an engineer. Together with his brother, Harb, they are secretly outfitting a spaceship to mine copper from the sun. This is very dangerous, no one has ever succeeded without making the sun unstable, but Jonny has solved that problem. With Carlin’s help, the two manage to perfect his new invention, but it is a near thing, Ross Floring, the local Control Operations commander, wants to stop them. As Floring is about to stop them, the not quite ready spaceship is launched. They succeed in mining copper from the sun, but the problems in the shaky ship kill Jonny. Next time, it will be safer, and there will be a next time, Carlin has fallen in love with Marn, and with Earth, and all its problems, and will stay to guarantee its new, glorious future as the revitalized planet returns to its proper place in the universe. [e] “By His Bootstraps” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 28, No. 2, Issue 131, October 1941 as by Anson MacDonald), by Robert A. Heinlein. A man steps thirty thousand years into time and is trapped in the fourth dimension with three strange, yet oddly familiar, people. The three people are all future versions of the same man, convincing him to participate in a series of quests until he becomes each of them in turn. ***Bob Wilson is interrupted while working on his thesis. A man appears in his room and demonstrates the method, a circle of energy opening up into another dimension. The first “Joe” tries to convince Bob to go through the Gate and together the three of them can help an old man run the country. But another “Joe” appears, enough different so that Bob does not recognize him, but the first “Joe” does. The phone rings, and another “Joe” speaks, making sure that Bob is still there. It is getting very confusing for Bob, who is slightly drunk. A fight between the three ensues when Bob decides to go through the time-gate. He wakes up on the other side and meets Diktor in the Hall of the Gate in the High Palace of Norkaal. Diktor explains to him that he has gone a little more than 30,000 years into the future. Diktor sends him back to tell the man he meets to come through the gate. He meets himself, and so it begins. Bob “Number Three” tries to stop Bob “Number Two” from returning through the gate, but Bob “Two” is angry and steps through to confront Diktor. A very confusing explanation ensues, again, and Diktor does not quite succeed in convincing Bob to help obtain a list of books, much needed in this future world, before sending Bob back through the gate. Now Bob has become Bob “Number Three” and works to prevent the other two previous versions from stepping through the time-gate, but fails. While contemplating what to do next, he has a confrontation with his girlfriend, Genevieve. He breaks with her, after all, he has seen the beautiful girls available in the future, and already his thoughts are leaning that way. This version of Bob returns through the time-gate, but has decided to use it to his advantage. He finds a notebook, written by Diktor, which shows how to communicate with the people of the future. He takes it and fiddles with the controls on the time-gate, changing its location, and returns through it. This Bob, who has gone a few minutes into the past, makes a stop at Genevieve’s and calls himself to make sure that he is still in his room, having the first encounter. This Bob has bought all the items on Diktor’s list, and returns through the gate in his own room, narrowly timing it as it closes. Thinking he can outfox Diktor, this Bob uses the time-gate to go back ten years in time, and use the books, and the translation notebook to gain control of the natives. The natives lack all will-power, and Bob becomes both godhead and leader in short order. He lives in fear of encountering Diktor, but after ten years, he realizes that he is Diktor. As he realizes this, the cycle starts, what will happen after this point is left unstated. [f] “Sword of Tomorrow” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 27, No. 3, Issue 60, Autumn 1945), by Henry Kuttner. Ethan Court is a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War II. They torture him, beat him, and finally addict him to opium, all while trying to force secrets from him. But he uses the opium to alter his consciousness and float away into a pure blue sea. Court falls into a state of suspended animation, buried in his cell during a bombing raid. Countless millennia pass before he slowly regains consciousness. At first he spends years leaving in a peasant village as his mind returns to a semblance of normality, still not coping with the strange new world he is in. He is found and becomes a patient of Tor Kassel, a doctor in the future, who awakens him further, until he can remember his name and his past life. There is a sense of urgency and Court is whisked away aboard a strange flying machine to the “Throne.” It is so far in the future that the past has been entirely forgotten, there is no point of contact, and Court realizes it. Den Barlen appears to take him to the Throne and the three proceed away. But they are attacked by enemies of Lyra, the Deccans. Kassel disappears during the melee and is presumed dead or captured. The whole city-state of Valyra is in fear and trying to get ready for the impending war. Barlen is commander of the army, and Hardony commands the spy system. Court meets Irelle, the beautiful and ambitious ruler, the Throne. He falls in love with her, but with reservations. She tells him all that she knows about the passage of time since his. The world experienced a catastrophic war that changed continents, the survivors spent countless ages recovering, and because of the trauma, can no longer create weapons. They need Court, the soldier, to design weapons that they can use against the Deccans. As Irelle, Barlen and Hardony strive to convince Court, and show him the world of the future, he is kidnapped by the fat Farr. Farr has used the advanced inventions of the future to create a dream world so real that he spends all of his time in it. He imprisons Court in it, because he does not want Court to make weapons for Irelle. Finally, after many ordeals, Court gains mental control over the dream world, and escapes. He then finds out that Farr is really a friend, and with the help of Kassel, Court finds out that everything he has been told is a lie. The Deccans only want peace, no one wants war. It is all a phony setup. Court returns to Lyra to find out why. He trust Den Barlen, and the two are convinced that the fraud has been perpetrated by Hardony so that he can gain absolute power. They go to warn Irelle. Barlen can supply no convincing proof of Hardony’s guilt, but while trying, Irelle kills him. She has known all along about Hardony’s plan, and is a part of it. Her blood, her genes, all call on her to become ruler of the world, her heritage is that powerful. As Irelle and Hardony are about to turn the tables on Court, Farr saves him from Hardony, but sacrificing himself. The truth comes out, a new tomorrow will dawn for Lyra, with Court’s help. But he loves Irelle so much he can not kill her, so he locks her in Farr’s secret dungeon, plugged into his dream machine, to live out her life in her dreams. [g] “Things Pass By” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 27, No. 2, Issue 59, Summer 1945) & (Fantastic Story, Vol. 8, No. 1, Issue 22, Winter 1955), by Murray Leinster. It is up to Dirk Braddick to save the Earth. He is a scientist of unprecedented brilliance. After the first devastating worldwide cosmoquake, he is the only to understand its cause. He tries to convince the rest of the scientific community, but his theory is thought to weird to be believed, he has stated that the Earth, and the sun will soon cease to exist. Working tirelessly in his isolated laboratory, he is almost ready to take action. That night, a strange girl parachutes into his compound, circumventing the tight security. He names the girl Jane, when she pretends to have amnesia. Dirk does not think she is a spy for Atomic Power, the worldwide monopoly on such power, but he is not sure. He does need to make a deal with Atomic Power for help in the form of power sources and a competent technician. In order to get what he needs to save mankind, he must give away all rights to his latest discoveries. He does so willingly. Dirk gets more than a he bargained for. Thorn, the technician, arrives with the power sources. With him is Hamlin, a trigger man, sent to eliminate Dirk once the latest invention is ready. But with Jane’s help, he manages to perfect his spaceship, capable of traveling at near light speeds. As Hamlin tries to stop them, he must take Hamlin with in order to save his life, as they go to intercept the menace threatening the Earth. Dirk has determined that a fleet of alien spaceships are traveling toward the Earth at near light speeds. They have become so massive that they are disrupting the Earth and the sun. So far, just three advance scouts have passed near the Earth, and they have caused catastrophic damage. If the fleet passes by, the Earth is doomed. Dirk tries everything he can to contact one of the advance ships, and fails. He must fight Hamlin’s menace and Thorn’s stupidity. Finally, he manages to accelerate the scout ship into a different course. This has the unexpected effect on the rest of the fleet. Thinking that the Earth is highly sophisticated and has a weapon of unknown power capable of destroying its ships, the alien fleet alters its course. Earth is saved. Dirk has invented a starship. Jane turns out to be the real owner of Atomic Power, escaped from a prison where they were keeping her. The two lovers now control all the most powerful devices and companies on Earth. [h] “Rogue Ship” (Super Science Stories, Vol. 6, No. 3, Issue 23, March 1950), by A.E. Van Vogt. Averill Hewitt has gambled everything he has on the success of a spaceship to the Centauri system. Hewitt is convinced that the sun may go nova. He creates, and then enlists a crew to make the ten year journey. They do not believe his theory about the sun, but take the journey. Averill is unable to convince his wife, or send his children, but does the best that he can. Six years into the journey, the Hope of Man appears heading back to crash land on Earth. All attempts by Averill to communicate with the crew fails. Slowly, Averill guesses what has happened, but not before the ship crashes into the Earth, through a mountain like butter and out the other side. The ship is traveling at such great relative speed that it is in two places at the same time. One is nearing the Centauri system, the other is near Earth. Averill, by guessing the truth, is able to board the spaceship. But now the crew is having a mutiny and some want to return with their goal in sight. Averill takes charge, but tricks he is able to overcome the mutineers and take them to the Centauri systems. He returns back to Earth, and ten years have passed. The sun did experience a nova-like event, but everything is all right now, and Averill has brought news of several new planets to colonize. ***Unnecessarily convoluted and confusing, which works against the thin plot. [i] “Island in the Sky” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 21, No. 1, Issue 40, October 1941) & (Fantastic Story Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 2, Issue 17, September 1953), by Manly Wade Wellman. Convict Pierce Peyton, alias Blackie, has spent all his adult life in prison, in the pit, working on the atom-smashing machinery that runs the city. So deep inside the Earth that he must decompress to go to the surface. Blackie has saved a guard from death, and gets a pardon. The parole office wants him to work in another mine, yet another type of prison, but Blackie baulks and runs away. He meets up with old Joe Hooker, Gramps, who tells him what has happened in the twenty years that Blackie has been in prison. A great war devastated the entire world, and the airmen of all the nations banded together to take over. Air Marshal Torridge rules the planet from his island in the sky, a floating city. He has just made General D.D. Argyle administrator of New York. In this future, all the remaining people are forced to live and work in a few great cities. They are kept in line by Roman gladiator-type games, and the threat of atomic death from the floating city. Gramps takes him to a flophouse for the night. They are woken and taken prisoner by a press gang of Airmen, fodder for the games. Blackie meets up with General Argyle who wants him to fight his pet gladiator Archbold. Willie, another gladiator, is assigned to help him get ready. Blackie easily defeats Archbold. Argyle decides to make a star gladiator out of him. Willie Burgoyne becomes his newest friend. Both Gramps and Willie enlighten Blackie about his new role, and how brief his life will probably be. The beautiful Thora is assigned to him by Argyle. She is to take him around to all the spots in the city, and show off the new star, build up his following, make him popular with the masses. At his first gladiatorial games, Blackie is dressed to kill, but gets to watch. He also learns more about his two friends. Gramps was an ace flier during both world wars, but too old to become one of the ruling Airmen. Willie refuses to fight other men, so they make him fight dangerous beasts. So far, he has survived. Blackie also meets Bengali, the poet, the media wizard who is there to popularize Blackie. The more Blackie learns about the world above ground, the more disgusted he has become with the ruling Airmen. Gramps takes him to a dive of a bar, deep under the city. There he finds out that Bengali is the chief of the revolutionary forces, the Committee against the Airmen. Gramps and Bengali enlist Blackie. Blackie is not sure he wants to join up, but does. He is still trying to make the best deal he can. But Blackie has been betrayed, someone in the bar saw him there and has told Argyle. After Blackie fights in the arena, he will be tortured or worse. He fights, defeats his opponent, only to find it was Willie. Thora comes to Blackie, their love is growing, she wants to convince him that she only means the best for him. She reveals that she also has glowing white skin, a result of being a prisoner and working in the female counterpart of the Pit. Argyle tries to break Blackie, but is unable to, so he sends him to the Hole under the Pit, the worse part of the prison. But all this has been part of Blackie’s growing ad hoc plan. He has managed to get a miniature atomic motor, and working in the Hole, he has access to the fuel. In his spare time he has made an atomic engine to escape with. He asks the other prisoners to join him, but they are too afraid. Blackie makes his way out of the prison, taking enough power sources and miniature motors to help with his plan. All they have are two old aircraft from a museum, but its enough. One is used to bring the floating city down, the other takes Gramps and Blackie to Torridge. Thora has joined the revolution and taken a message of warning to Torridge. She tells him that Argyle is taking all his flying ships and men to attack him, and take over. A big battle ensues between Torridge and Argyle’s men, when Blackie arrives. The collapse of the city changes the balance of the battle. Torridge is a tired old man, ready to give control to the masses. Argyle makes one last play for power, Blackie kills him. The city crashes, as planned, into the hands of the revolutionaries. Torridge gives up. Blackie has won. Bengali, with his organization, starts the daunting task of governing, and freeing the people from the city, into the world at large. Thora and Blackie decide to brave the wilderness, start the first such colony, together, all with Gramps blessings. [j] “The Sun-Maker” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 16, No. 3, Issue 27, June 1940), by Jack Williamson. Jeremy Cord is on a mission, he wants to save what is left of the people of Earth. Over thirty years ago, a mysterious Blot crossed the orbit of Earth, cutting off all sunlight, dropping temperatures worldwide to a new low, beyond any ice-age known. A few survive, deep in the bowels of the Earth. Paul Ferrand was the scientist who detected the Blot and discovered a power source that enabled the survivors to live. Leland Drake was First Regent, dictator, and his son, Mark, Power Regent, next in line. Leland Drake invented the power source, with the help of Morley Cord, who had discovered the rare element required. Now Mark Drake is reluctant to let Jeremy go to the surface and check for the sun. But it is a way to get his rival for the beautiful Gay Ferrand, out of the way. Jeremy makes the journey, and discovers that the sun is still not visible. The reason drove Paul Ferrard out beyond the Outside Station to attempt to solve it and prove his theory. His notes, all that he left behind, have puzzled all the remaining scientists, but Jeremy is beginning to understand the truth. Jeremy takes one of the earth digging moles into space, and discovers the sad truth. While the Blot was passing, the gravitational attraction between the Earth and Sun was severed. The Earth is now floating alone, the sun far away. Without a new, renewable sun, or power source, they are all doomed. Jeremy tells the rest his discovery. Now they know that Paul Ferrard died trying to prove what Jeremy barely survived. Mark Drake has a simple solution, gas all the survivors, except for one or two hundred of the elite, and that will leave enough power resources for maybe a thousand years. The elite agree. But Jeremy makes a desperate attempt to find more of the rate element that his father discovered. Jeremy has invented a new type of mole, and uses it to drill in places that no one has ever dared to go before. Jeremy discovers an entire race of advanced reptile men who have been living under the Earth for millions of years, since the death of the dinosaurs. They have developed the same technology that the human survivors are using, only they have perfected it. But over the millennia, the reptile people have forgotten how to use it, and their sun is failing as well. Morley Cord, on the same quest for the rare element, has already encountered the reptile people, and lived among them long enough to discover their secret. Just as they are about to put Jeremy to death for attempting to steal their secrets, Mark invades with an army. He wants their remaining sun for the humans. Jeremy pleads with Mark, but Mark throws him into a dark prison, with his father. Gay rescues him and the two go to the Outside Station. Cannibalizing the equipment, Jeremy makes a new sun, launches it to ignite the moon. The Earth is saved. It is a near thing, Jeremy uses the last of the power in his mole to launch it, but he is saved. Mark and his troops have failed in their war on the reptiles. The reptiles have been mining all the remaining strongholds, and soon their will be gone. But Jeremy tells them that the new sun is already working, and they can return to the surface. He sends his father to the reptile people to tell them the good news. Jeremy can rekindle their underground suns as well. Now Jeremy is good enough for Gay to marry. ***All short novels. ***[f] is best. The rest are also recommended. This is a far better selection than From Off This World, which suffers from being much more dated. ***First paperback edition: Crest, 1958, 224 pp., pa .35¢.

4. 
Roberts, Terrence [Pseudo. of Sanderson, Ivan T(erence)]
Report on the Status Quo
Merlin Press; New York, NY 1955       63          $2.50
3,000 copies printed.
Illustrated with jacket.

Science fiction novel. ***Simply a disaster report on the giant rains which flooded a good part of the world the week after World War Three began. ***A report filed on 16 April 1961 by one Oswald F. Bristowe, explaining the hell which burst upon the world in 1958-59 when rain created vast floods after the start of World War III. ***Obscure and rare. ***No paperback edition.

Macabre House
1955—

Macabre House is the work of the author of its books, Joseph Payne Brennan. His little magazine, Macabre, offers most of the material and gave the house its title. All Brennan’s are jacketless. They are not Brennan’s best work, but they are the ones he evidently considered worth saving. The printer was Don Grant, who publishes his own line of books. Brennan also published biblio-biographical pamphlets, two on H.P. Lovecraft, but they were under his own name, not Macabre House, and had no hardcovers or public distribution and so are not included. Brennan’s base is New Haven, Connecticut.

Chalker thought them worth mentioning, I don’t.

1. 
Brennan, Joseph Payne
H.P.L.: An Evaluation
Macabre House; New Haven, CT 1955       8           not sold
80-85 numbered copies printed. Red pasteboard binding.
Jacketless.

Privately circulated. ***Short analytical essay. Brennan respected Lovecraft, but was divided over whether HPL’s influence on others was for good or not. ***Reviewed (Lovecraft Bibliography) in Destiny #8 (fan magazine), Spring 1953.

2. 
Brennan, Joseph Payne
The Dark Returners
Macabre House; New Haven, CT 1959       70          $3.00
150 signed copies printed, bound in red boards.
Jacketless.

A collection of stories, mostly from the “little” magazines. Weird Tales. ***Contents: [a] “Disappearance” [b] “Goodbye Mr. Bliss” [c] “The Corpse of Charlie Rull” [d] “The Impulse to Kill” [e] “The Pool” [f] “Daisy Murdock” [g] “The Fete in the Forest” [h] “Curb Service” [i] “The Pavilion” ***Lesser uncollected stories, printed by Don Grant. ***Not recommended.

3. 
Brennan, Joseph Payne
Scream at Midnight
Macabre House; New Haven, CT 1963       124         $3.50
150 copies printed. Black cloth binding.
Jacketless.

Contents: [a] “The Horror at Chilton Castle” [b] “The Midnight Bus” [c] “The Vampire Bats” [d] “The Seventh Incantation” [e] “Killer Cat” [f] “The Dump” [g] “The Tenants” [h] “The Man Who Feared Masks” [i] “The Visitor in the Vault” [j] “In the Very Stones” ***The last story is not listed on the contents page. ***Another Don Grant collection.

4. 
Brennan, Joseph Payne
The Casebook of Lucius Leffing
Macabre House; New Haven, CT 1972       191         $5.00
750 copies printed.
Jacket and illustrations by Neal MacDonald.

Contents: [a] “The Haunted Housewife” [b] “Apparition in the Sun” [c] “In Death as in Life” [d] “The Strange Case of Peddlar Phelps” [e] “The Mantzen Diamond Mystery” [f] “Death Mask” [g] “The Mystery of Myrrh Line” [h] “Whirlwind of Blood” [i] “The Intangible Threat” [j] “The Ransacked Room” [k] “Death at Draleman’s Pond” [l] “Death of a Derelict” [m] “The Walford Case” [n] “The Enemy Unknown” [o] “The Dismal Flats Murder” [p] “Fingers of Steel” [q] “The Case of the Uncut Corpse” ***Psychic detective tales from Alfred Hitchcock’s and Mike Shayne’s Mystery Magazine. ***Mostly good ones.

5. 
Brennan, Joseph Payne
Webs of Time
Macabre House; New Haven, CT 1979       x/54        $10.00
100 hand-numbered copies printed, with a signed photo of Brennan laid in.
400 additional copies printed, no photo and no number.      $7.50
Cover embossed in silver on black text, by Vandy Vandervort.
Trade paperbound only.

Fantasy poems. ***Contents: [a] “Introduction,” by Frederick J. Mayer. [b] “The Midges’ Dance” [c] “Poets Now” [d] “Absence” [e] “In Failing Light” [f] “Unreconciled” [g] “The Lunatic Inside” [h] “Illusion in Blue” [i] “The Doomed” [j] “The Great Secret” [k] “Albatross” [l] “Twenty Five Years Beyond My Youth” [m] “Contagion” [n] “Night Freights” [o] “Haunted” [p] “Shaker” [q] “Winter Night” [r] “Arkham Episode” [s] “Night Gaunts” [t] “New England Testament” [u] “Better Oblivion’s Leaf” [v] “My Owl” [w] “Remorseless Rain” [x] “I Seek a Land” [y] “A Trio on Time” (“Searching,” “In Winter Woods,” “The Ravaged Wood”). [z] “The Cold Ploughman” [aa] “We Remember Vincent” [bb] “The Mules at Passchendaele” [cc] “Christmas Eve: Ardennes” [dd] “Ira” [ee] “Vision” [ff] “Winter Hours” [gg] “Episode” [hh] “The Autumn Sign” [ii] “Nogoodnick” [jj] “Medicine Man” [kk] “False Coming” [ll] “It’s There” [mm] “Snowing” [nn] “Snow Song for Insomniacs” [oo] “The Promise” [pp] “Darkness” [qq] “The Vanished Woods”

Brennan has also had a collection of stories from Arkham House, Nine Horrors and a Dream (which see), and an Arkham poetry collection, Nightmare Need (which see). He was a frequent contributor to Weird Tales in its later years.

The Council of Four
1960—1960   

The Council of Four was the Denver local of the Baker Street Irregulars. This book was produced by Norman Metcalf, noted SF fan and bibliographer.

1. 
Peterson, Robert C. (editor)
The Science-Fictional Sherlock Holmes
The Council of Four; Denver, CO1960  137   $3.00
1st edition, 1,500 copies printed, only 300 bound and sold.
2nd edition, 500 copies, 1965 ($5.00); yellow binding with new jacket.
Jacket by Tom Walker.

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “Sherlock Holmes and Science Fiction,” by Anthony Boucher (William Anthony Parker White) An essay attempting to explain and bridge the gap between fans of Sherlock Holmes and science fiction. First by citing the fantastic background of his nemesis, Professor Moriarty. However, next Boucher makes a transition from just the facts to taking a position that Professor George Edward Challenger, another character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is real, and that Doyle was acting as merely his press agent. Then Sherlock Holmes is included as being real, and as the Master. The Agent (Doyle) actually did a tame job of underplaying the more fantastic elements. Finally, Boucher concludes with the belief he has successfully bridged the gap, and gives a nod to Solar Pons, his cousin Dr. Verner, and his Martian counterpart, Syaloch of the Street of Those Who Prepare Nourishment in Ovens.  ***Overall, Boucher writes an amusing article, this reader could only wish that it was longer, the point might have been made to better effect. [b] “The Martian Crown Jewels” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, February 1958) & (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 16, No. 4, Issue 95, April 1959), by Poul Anderson. Inspector Gregg is at his wits end. The famous, and priceless, Martian Jewels have gone missing at the transfer point on Phobos during a heavily guarded return trip from Earth. Gregg goes to Syaloch, a seven-foot biped of vaguely storklike appearance, for help. The Inspector has worked with the native Martian detective before, and both are friends. Syaloch lives on the Street of Those Who Prepare Nourishment in Ovens (Baker Street). Syaloch readily agrees to take on the case. Accompanying Gregg, the two return to the Jane Brackney, the sequestered vessel, and inspect it carefully. As the investigation continues, two suspects enter the story, the technicians Hollyday and Steinman. Both have motive and opportunity. Syaloch, doing the usual obscure type of detective work, asks both about their hobbies, Hollyday likes to go out prospecting on Phobos, Steinman likes to play chess. The Martian Jewels were placed on the Jane by Carter, another technician who abruptly quit his job and went missing back on Earth. Both Hollyday and Steinman know Carter. But with all these clues, Syaloch has solved the case. The Martian Jewels are slightly radioactive. Placed in just such a position onboard the Jane, they came loose in orbit around Phobos, falling harmlessly to the surface of that moon. It was Hollyday’s task as accomplice to retrieve them while prospecting. Case solved, villains apprehended, and the Martian Jewels returned safely. Syaloch is on to another case, someone in Sabaeus is farniking the krats. [c] “Half a Hoka—Poul Anderson: An Appreciation” (17th World Science Fiction Program Booklet, 1959), by Gordon R. Dickson. Dickson, with tongue-in-cheek, uses the Sherlock Holmes method of detection to profile Poul Anderson, his collaborator on the following story. With one glance, this super-Holmes is able to determine everything about Anderson, from his birth, to his education, to the first story he sold, and to which magazine. This Holmes repeatedly warns his Watson to be careful around the Anderson, it crackles with energy, and industry. For a demonstration, the super-Holmes releases the Anderson, and Watson exclaims, “Already it has bought itself a sailing craft and is learning small boat navigation in Pacific waters.” [d] “The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound” (Universe, Vol. 1, No. 3, December 1953), by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson. Whitcomb Geoffrey, operative of the security service, the IBI, thinks that he is on a routine mission. He has tracked a Ppussjan criminal overlord and mastermind, Number Ten, to Toka. On Toka, Number Ten is engaged in the drug traffic, growing nixl weed on Toka and exporting it secretly. Jones, along with Geoffrey, takes a journey to a part of Toka which has taken on the trappings of the fictional England of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s time, and of Sherlock Holmes and Scotland Yard specifically. They enlist the help of the Hoka version of Sherlock Holmes, and Jones becomes Watson, and Geoffrey becomes Gregson. Following the broad outlines of the Hound of the Baskervilles, Jones, Holmes and Geoffrey find both clues and irrelevant actions in pursuit of Number Ten. Finally, Holmes and Watson stumble over Number Ten, who has taken the guise of both the Hound and Sir Henry Baskerville. Solving the crime, and catching the criminal, is “Elementary, my dear Watson.”  [e] “The Anomaly of the Empty Man” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 3, No. 2, Issue 13, April 1952), by Anthony Boucher. Inspector Abrahams gives the narrator, Lamb, another mystery to solve. James Stambaugh, noted collector of early operatic recordings, has been found dead. However, it is his clothes, laying on the floor, as though he disappeared from them that has brought the sleuth Lamb into the picture. Immediately Lamb takes his case to Dr. Verner. Verner is a genius, and an expert at all things, and the Sherlock Holmes to his Watson in this story. Without further ado, Verner plays an old opera recording, on an antique device, for Lamb. When asked about the case again, Verner declares that he has just solved it and given Lamb the key. Lamb, of course, needs a more detailed understanding, so Verner tells him about the singer, Carina, and the mysterious disappearances that began in 1901. All those early disappearances had the same similarities, the men disappeared leaving all their clothes behind, and all were noted devotees of the opera. In the earlier cases, Verner tracked down the cause to a recording of Pater Noster, as sung by Carina, who had recently died. She was also a practicing witch. When played backwards, usually by accident on the older, antique recording devices of that day, a demonic spell was heard which transported the listeners to hell. Verner listened and barely escaped the same fate, only escaping by saying the Lord’s Prayer in reverse phonetics. Lamb is not entirely convinced by this explanation, even though it turns out that Stambaugh did have an older recording device that was still on. It seems that all such recording disappear once listened to in reverse fashion, so there was no real evidence. Lamb concludes that Stambaugh faked his disappearance, using a balloon stuffed inside his clothes. However, Verner offers to let Lamb listened to the very last recording of Pater Noster, and discover the truth for himself. Lamb is tempted, but his friend, Verner stops him before he can find out the truth. They are still looking for Stambaugh who never turned up. [f] “The Greatest Tertian” (Vanguard, 1952, first appeared as “Invaders of Earth”), by Anthony Boucher. An essay written by an alien academic trying to link Sherk Sper with Sherk Oms. A detailed account of what little is known about these noted individuals is painstakingly gone over. The alien concludes that if the Master, Sherk Oms, the greatest Tertian, had still been living, the conquest of the third planet by the fourth might have failed. ***Amusing, but alas, too short. [g] “The Adventure of the Snitch in Time” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 5, No. 1, Issue 26, July 1953), by August Derleth and Mack Reynolds. An account by Dr. Lyndon Parker, of 7B Praed Street, London, regarding his friend, Solar Pons. Pons hears some noises and announces that the two men are about to have a visitor. Parker looks out the door, but Pons tells him he is looking in the wrong direction, the sounds are coming from the roof. A visitor does come into their abode. Agent Tobias Athelney of the Terra Bureau of Investigation, from the year 2565 A.D., has come looking specifically for Solar Pons. The Agent needs help and has tracked down the greatest detective ever for help. The Agent explains that he has not gone back in time, but across to another serial universe. By careful planning, he was able to find one such universe where the fictional detective really existed. He explains that villains are using this technology to plunder unsuspecting universes of their treasures, and his Bureau does not know what to do to stop them. Pons suggests taxing them. Problem solved. [h] “The Adventure of the Ball of Nostradamus” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 8, No. 6, Issue 49, June 1955), by August Derleth and Mack Reynolds. Solar Pons is disturbed by the news of another child murdered. Inspector Jamison arrives with news of yet another murder, and the death of their chief suspect, Captain Martin Verne. Hit over the head while being apprehended, Verne babbled incoherently shortly before he died. The Inspector took down everything he said, and mystified by the rantings, has taken them to Solar Pons for an explanation. Pons has his own ideas about the meaning of the rant. After a discussion with the Inspector, it is revealed that Pons has been tracking a series of child-murders that could not have all been committed by Verne. A tantalizing clue in the rants points a finger at a fortune-teller, who Pons believes is the Napoleon of crime behind these murders. Tracking down the fortune-teller, Abraham Weddigan is child’s play. Weddigan explains that he has been using the crystal ball of Nostradamus to track down these children, and kill them. All of them would have turned out to be great villains, mass-murderers, if allowed to live. Weddigan even shows Pons a glimpse at the next tyrant he has tracked down as a child, a Hitler in the making. Weddigan escapes, rushing to kill this next child on his list. Pons, and his friends, stop him from doing so. But with Weddigan dead, and the crystal ball destroyed, it is still no puzzle to see that Weddigan was right, and that this child is another tyrant in the making. “Only the future will tell, Parker.” [i] “The Return” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 52, No. 5, Issue 278, January 1954), by H. Beam Piper & John J. McGuire. Loudons and Altamont are two explorers. They are exploring the ruins of the United States, centuries after a devastating attack that killed almost everyone except a few strongholds. Flying out of Fort Ridgeway in Texas, the small community has preserved much of the old technology and science. Now they are rebuilding the country and men like Loudons and Altamont are contacting small settlements, connecting the remaining people. Among the ruins live the devolved descendants of man, cannibals now. The two men hope to find a microfilmed library concealed at the Carnegie Library in the ruins of Pittsburgh. Near those ruins they run into a small settlement, descendants of an army platoon. The small settlement has created a new religion, much like Christianity, based on the Book. The inhabitants help the two explorers in their quest, fighting the Scowrers, and finding the microfilm. Various clues about the inhabitants and the Book are laced throughout their adventure together. The people have been waiting for the promised Return. As Loudons and Altamont leave, friends now with the community, Loudons is concerned about their new friends. Loudons managed to sneak a peak at their Book, one volume containing the early adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The people had been convinced that the two men were Holmes and Watson returned. Loudons is worried about what they will do when they find out that the two are not fictional characters. ***A seminal work of the best. ***Among these jewels, [d] is best. ***No paperback edition.

Spuires & Beck
1962

Roy Squires and Clyde Beck offered to help Clark Ashton Smith, who often printed his own works by farming out to printers, and publish the book listed below. Smith used to use the Auburn Journal, which is why the others are not included here. Moving from Auburn, he sought a new printer and found his old friends for many years eager volunteers. Smith, however, died before the project was completed, and Squires & Beck  completed the job In Memoriam. They have no imprint whatsoever. The book itself has no spine credit (indeed, the spine says “CLARK: ASHTON SMITH” and not the title), and the title page simply gives place of publication, Pacific Grove, California. The book was issued without a dust jacket.

1. 
Smith, Clark Ashton
The Hill of Dionysus
Squires & Beck; Pacific Grove, CA   1962  vii/48
175 paper copies printed, $3.75.
175 copies casebound in half-cloth, $6.50.
40 copies casebound in full cloth.
15 copies bound in full cloth with a manuscript for one of the poems, signed by Clark Ashton Smith, inlaid in a special folder, 1961, $25.00.
No jacket.

Poetry collection. ***Including: Dedication. [a] “Bacciante” (Weird Tales, Vol. 34, No. 6, Issue 190, December 1939). A tribute to the ancient Greek gods, who are not gone, but remembered with each jug of wine drunk by the poet. [b] “Wizard’s Love” (First appearance) The wizard is amazed that he has found a perfect love after years of evil sorcery. [c] “Resurrection” (Weird Tales, Vol. 39, No. 11, Issue 236, July 1947). Sorceress and sorcerer, reincarnated and always finding each other, loving for all eternity and beyond. [d] “Witch Dance” (Weird Tales, Vol. 36, No. 1, Issue 201, September 1941). The lover, falling for a dancing wench, considers she must be some witch who has cast a spell over his heart. [e] “Paean” (First appearance) The poets love shall be legendary, and only the good parts remembered. [f] “The Knoll” (First appearance) Love found beneath an ancient oak is hoped to last and still be as sweet in old age. [g] “Interim” (Auburn Journal, November 13, 1941) & (Auburn Journal, December 13, 1941). Physical love lasts only a moment. Spiritual love lasts beyond death. [h] “Reverie in August” (First appearance) Physical love remembered, until it returns again. [i] “Ode” (O). (Auburn Journal, Vol. 26, No. 8, December 3, 1925). Once knowing love from the young sorceress, enchanted, the poet would never want to leave it behind. [j] “For an Antique Lyre” (First appearance) The poet laments never finding love, which remains hidden, just out of sight. [k] “Silent Hour” (First appearance) The lover waiting, and dreaming, of being with the beloved again. [l] “To One Absent” (First appearance) The poet calls for a return of the ancient muse, rather than the lover at hand, and a return to all those treasured places of dream and myth. [m] “Bond” (First appearance) Two lovers who always find each other, timeless. [n] “Fragment” (Unseen Wings, The Beechhurst Press, 1949). The lover remembers only one encounter with the beloved, yet déjà vu, it recurs in his mind constantly. [o] “Humors of Love” (First appearance) This love is the very best ever, outdistancing all others, surpassing eternity. [p] “Yerba Buena” (First appearance) A fragile moment of physical love remembered by an even more fragile laurel. [q] “Sonnet (Green)” (First appearance) All the magnificent, imagined adventures and journeys are as nothing compared to the beloved. [r] “Amor” (First appearance) The love of two compared to an unquenchable, eternal, flame. [s] “The Sorcerer to His Love” (Weird Tales, Vol. 39, No. 1, Issue 225, September 1945). Within the arms of the beloved, the wizard is free from all sinister calls and temptations. [t] “Twilight Song” (First appearance) The beloved is gone, and the lover prays to be together. [u] “Before Dawn” (First appearance) Time is a barrier keeping the lover from his beloved. [v] “Amor Hesternalis” (First appearance) The specters of past years wait to come again, and to love again. [w] “Supplication” (First appearance) Having found the perfect lover, the poet wishes to die, content and full of bliss. [x] “The Hill of Dionysus” (First appearance) Lovers in revels, timeless, and eternal, always finding each other. [y] ‘Nocturne: Grant Avenue” (First appearance) Two lovers part and yet their love is timeless, remembered eternally. [z] “Future Pastoral” (First appearance) The poet finds a place that reminds him of the place where he last held his beloved, and dreams of this being the final spot of repose for her as well. [aa] “Postlude” (First appearance) All things are meaningless, without the beloved and without physical love. [bb] “Midnight Beach” (Wings, Vol. 6, No. 7, May 1944). Two lovers find a timeless moment, remembered love, eternal, in their physical love. [cc] “Illumination” (First appearance) The lover waxing lyrical about the physical attributes of the beloved. [dd] “Omniety” (Raven, Vol. 1, No. 4, Winter 1944). The poet as a spirit of true love, always with the beloved in endless forms. [ee] “Sea Cycle” (First appearance) A plea to bring back at least one more hour with the beloved, and barring that, to return endlessly and meet again. [ff] “Hesperian Fall” (The Dark Chateau and Other Poems, Arkham House, 1951). The poet tells about his finest love, the mysterious beauty of darkness and oblivion. [gg] “Not Altogether Sleep” (The Dark Chateau and Other Poems, Arkham House, 1951). Not clear, but it seems that the poet is taunting its lover by stating that nothing can separate them. ***[j] is best. ***Mostly adolescent love poems, regarding physical love. The Dark Chateau is a much better collection of Smith’s poetry. But this is not a recommendation, only a comparison. ***No paperback edition. ***The collected works of poetry: The Last Oblivion, Hippocampus Press, 2002, 200 pp., pa $15.00. [Including: [a], [c], [d], [s], [x], [bb] & [dd]].

THE REFERENCE MATERIAL:

Perri Press
1949—1952

Donald B. Day, a Portland, Oregon, fan is perhaps most noted for his very high-class amateur magazine The Fanscient. His Perri Press which published the Index, became noted for its specialty letter-press printing.

1. 
Keller, David H[enry] M.D.
The Final War
Perri Press; Portland, OR 1949       xx          $1.00
Wraps only, mimeographed.
Jacket by uncredited.

Science fiction short story. ***A story written to accompany ten otherwise unrelated science fiction images, each by a different artist. Original ribbon copy typescript, 20 pages, approximately 4-1/2” x 6-1/2”, with a number of holograph changes in the author’s hand and with an introduction by Keller. Stringbound and laid into a cardstock wrapper inscribed by the author in 1952. Lloyd Currey’s bibliography of science fiction writers identifies a mimeographed version of this story done in 1949 that does not contain the ten images. The images, he says, had been earlier issued as a portfolio and “are generally not found with, nor are they part of, this booklet.” Since the illustrations are tipped into the sheets of this manuscript pamphlet, it suggests that Keller’s introduction—which thanks the artists for the use of their pictures and hopes “that they will be pleased with the combination”—was written for this particular, hand-assembled volume, the text of which later became the basis for the mimeographed edition. ***By all appearances, unique.

2. 
Day, Donald B[ryne] (compiled and arranged)
Index to the Science-Fiction Magazines 1926-1950
Perri Press, Portland, OR 1952       xv/184      $6.50
2,000 copies printed, bound in lots of 500. 8½x11
Later bindings priced from $8.00 to $10.00
Jacket by Donald B. Day.

Reference. ***Indexes the contents of fifty-eight science fiction magazines from their first issues through December 1950. Only English-language magazines are included and, with the exception of three British titles (Fantasy, New Worlds, and Tales of Wonder), all are US publications. Indexed alphabetically by author (with pseudonyms) and by title, with separate checklist of magazines arranged chronologically by issue. “The pioneering SF magazine index.” ***[a] “Introduction” (Pp. ix-x). Day traces the genesis of this work from his attendance at the 4th World Science Fiction Convention in 1946 to his involvement in the fan field. His work producing the amateur fanzine, The Fanscient, directly led to this work. Day noticed a lack of source information for the growing reprints of magazine stories in various anthologies and in book form. He goes on to describe the method he used to compile this information, citing how he dealt with various publishing errors. Finally, he concludes with why he did not include Weird Tales in this index. [b] “Magazines Indexed in This Volume” (Pp. xi).  A list of the fifty-eight titles covered. Beginning with AIR WONDER STORIES through WORLDS BEYOND. ***All magazines complete from first issue though 1950. [c] “How to Use the Index…” (Pp. xii-xiii). Once again, the all important key to the coding used. Day stresses the importance of familiarizing oneself with this before attempting to use the Index. It is broken down into the various segments covered, with the different formats explained. [d] “Abbreviations used in the Index to the Science Fiction Magazines” (Pp. xiv-xv). Most are obvious. It is important to note that if Day did not create these, they have become standard due to this work. [e] “Alphabetical Index by Authors” (Pp. 1-76). Beginning with ABERNATHY, ROBERT through ZORBAS, ERNEST. Given as author, title, length, magazine, date, and page number. By length, Day means type of story, i.e. short story, novelette, etc. [f] “Alphabetical Index by Titles” (Pp. 77-163). Beginning with “Abdication” through “!!!” Given as title, author, length, magazine, date, and page number. [g] “Checklist of Magazines Indexed” (Pp. 164-177). Beginning with Amazing Stories through Wonder Story Annual. Given as title, date, number, page size, number of pages, and cover artist. ***This last, cover artist, is a priceless bit of information. [h] “Back Cover Pictures” (Pp. 178-179). Including the artwork from Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. ***This section alone is worth the price of purchase. This reader has not found this information carried in any other work. [i] “Errata and Addenda” (Pp. 181). As stated, corrections found during the printing stage. [j] “Abbreviations Used in the Index to the Science Fiction Magazines” (Pp. 182-183). An exact duplicate of section [d]. [k] “Magazines Indexed in this Volume” An exact duplicate of section [b]. ***[h] is the best section. The overall work is flawed by a tiny typesize, fading ink, and a dense packing of information. Nonetheless, this work is a seminal index in the canon, a true labor of love. The entries in this index were transcribed from approximately 20,000 index cards, which had been prepared over a period of fifteen years. ***A basic reference tool. ***The continuation of this work (1951-1965) was edited by Norman Metcalf. ***No paperback edition.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications
1952—1965

Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications was Bradford M. Day, New York book dealer, fan, and bibliographer. He produced a number of issue listings of magazines in the field, culminating in The Complete Checklist (covered below).

1. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
A Checklist of Fantastic Magazines
SF&F; New York, NY  1952      33          .50¢
300 paper copies printed.
300 updated in 1958 for $1.00.
300 updated in 1962 for $1.00

Reference. ***Literally a checklist for the collector, as opposed to a bibliography.

2. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
An Index to the Weird and Fantastica in Magazines
SF&F; New York, NY  1953      162         $2.00
400 numbered paper copies printed. 50 bound in boards, no jacket, sold for $3.00.

Reference. ***The major part of this index, pages 1-86, consists of a listing of the contents, issue by issue, of Weird Tales (through November 1953), Golden Fleece, Strange Tales, Oriental Stories, Magic Carpet, Tales of Magic and Mystery, The Thrill Book, and Strange Stories. ***With the exception of the entries for Golden Fleece and for Weird Tales 1939-1953, which were compiled by Bradford M. Day, the lists are reprinted from the Weird Tales Index compiled by William H. Evans and published by Julius Unger in 1942. ***Next, pages 87-117, is a listing of only the fantasy stories in Complete Stories, Romance Magazine, Popular Magazine, The Idler, Blue Book Magazine, and eight of the Frank A. Munsey periodicals such as: All-Story Magazine, All-American Fiction, The Cavalier, Live Wire, Munsey’s Magazine, Ocean, Scrap Book, and The Argosy. These lists were compiled by William H. Evans, and originally appeared in the amateur magazine Fantasy Commentator, 1944-1952. ***With a further fragmentary listing of fantasy stories from others including: Cosmopolitan, Thrilling Adventures, Adventure, Everybody’s Magazine, Top-Notch, and others. ***Pages 121-160 conclude with a “Checklist of Fantastic Magazines” which was brought up to date in The Complete Checklist of S-F Magazines. ***Still a good item despite the Cockcroft Weird Tales Index because Day listed the marginal magazines—not 100% fantasy—as well. Both Cockcroft and Day are necessities, but both are very, very rare.

3. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (editor)
Past and Future & The Last Generation
SF&F; New York, NY  1954      51          .50¢
300 paper copies printed.

Science fiction anthology. *** [a] “Henry Fitzowen,” by Nathan Drake (1798). [b] “The Last Generation,” by James Elroy Flecker (1908). [c] “Past and Future,” by Bradford M. Day.

4. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
A Talbot Mundy Bibliography
SF&F; New York, NY  1955      28          .50¢
200 paper copies printed.

Reference. ***Biographical sketch (2 pp.) and bibliography. Includes article and checklist (5 pp.) on Mundy’s various “sagas” and series, by Dr. J. Lloyd Eaton. A revised edition is included in Bibliography of Adventure.

5. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
An Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Bibliography
SF&F; New York, NY  1956      29          .50¢
200 paper copies printed.
2nd edition
SF&F; New York, NY  1962      47          $1.10

Reference. ***2nd edition. ***[a] “Introduction” (Pp. 6). Day explains his format, which contains the initial first few words from each book. [b] “Books and Editions” (Pp. 7-24). Beginning with “Apache Devil” through “The Warlord of Mars.” Given as title, type, locale, publisher, date, pages, various reprints, magazine appearance, paperback appearance, points of the actual hardbound edition, and whether it is scarce or good. [c] “Magazine Stories” (Pp. 25-34). Beginning with “Under the Moons of Mars” through “Skeleton Men of Jupiter.” Given as title, magazine, date, month, serial, and book appearance. [d] “Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Short Biography,” by Bradford M. Day. (Pp. 35-36). Succinct, not overly flattering, however it contains second-hand source errors. For accuracy see A Golden Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs, by Henry Heins (Grant, 1962). [e] “Book Review and Opinion,” by Bradford M. Day. (Pp. 37-40). A synopsis of the first two Tarzan titles, with a brief comment. Less on the Mars series, more on the Pellucidar series, as a synopsis is given. Followed by paragraphs on the Carson Napier series, and the westerns. [f] “In the New York Evening World” (Pp. 41). Short list of appearances in that periodical. [g] “Big Little Books & Better Little Books” (Pp. 42-43). Beginning with Tarzan of the Apes through John Carter of Mars. Given as title, publisher, and year. Followed by a short list of scarce collectible items, and a short list of original comic book appearances. [h] “Other Editions” (pp. 44). A short list of 30 titles published in Latin America, not written or authorized by Burroughs. All are in Spanish. [i] “Added Notes” (Pp. 45). A mention of movie appearance, the illustrators by name not by appearance, and a list of magazine stories that had not yet been published in hardcover. [j] Advertising (Pp. 46-47). A one-page ad for The Complete Checklist of Science-Fiction Magazines. And a one-page ad for Beyond Thirty and The Man-Eater. ***It is difficult to recommend this bibliography. See the Heins volume instead. ***This is merely a collector’s item for completists.

6. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
A Sax Rohmer Bibliography
SF&F; New York, NY  1956      29          .50¢
200 paper copies printed.

Reference. ***Bibliography, biographical sketch, and brief article on film adaptations of Rohmer’s work. ***The bibliographical data is often incomplete; there are several errors (typographical and otherwise) and omissions. A revised edition is included in Bibliography of Adventure.

7. 
Burroughs, Edgar Rice
Beyond Thirty & The Man-Eater
SF&F; New York, NY  1957      xi/229            $3.00
500 copies printed.
Jacket by Gil Kane.

One short science fiction novelette and one short fantasy novelette. ***SF&F’s only hardbound; two little known Burroughs novelettes. See also their entry as chapbooks under Fantasy Press. In the first an American rediscovers Europe after two centuries of silence; the second is a typical jungle tale. ***[a] “Beyond Thirty” Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote “Beyond Thirty” as an imaginative, though false, prediction of the future. It was written in the late summer of 1915 and first appeared in a New York newspaper and several months later it appeared in All Around Magazine, February 1916. ***Lieutenant Jefferson Turck, Commander of the Coldwater, a Pan-American Navy “aerosubmarine,” establishes the events of the last 200 years concerning the escalation of hostilities in Europe to the present (2137). All travel and communication beyond 30 and 175 has been outlawed by the Federation. While patrolling the borders the Coldwater is damaged by a storm and forced toward Europe. While repairs are made, Turck takes out a fishing boat with three other men. The repaired Coldwater maroons the men, leaving them to their fate. Turck and his crew of Snider, Taylor and Delcarte land on the southern coast of England and uncover signs of an ancient German occupation, as they head for London through uninhabited territory. They land on the Isle of Wright and see the first “natives,” who speak a bastard form of English, calling England “Grubitten.” The natives don’t know who won the First World War and have degenerated into barbarians. Landing near the deserted site of London, Turck rescues a captive Grabritin girl who is relieved that he is not one of the “men from over there.” Buckingham has slain her father, the king, and wants her because family descent is through the female. Mary and Turck are captured by Buckingham who kills the queen and takes her sister, Victory to be his. Arriving at the Camp of Lions, Turck is left as a sacrifice. Victory returns his firearms to him, just in time, and they flee into an overgrown London. Turck reads the final writing found behind the throne, indicating the people left England in pursuit of the enemies and from fear of both “the Death” and the animals which had escaped the zoos around the end of 1937. They flee from London, chased by a lioness, finally meeting up with Delcarte and Snider. Turck introduces Victory, Queen of England, and they return to the launch guarded by Taylor and their new guide, Thirty-Six, a captured warrior. They take the launch and explore the coast up the Rhine, finding all the cities razed by war and the land reclaimed by nature. While hunting game, Snider fatally wounds Thirty-Six, takes the launch and Victoria. The three stranded men chase after the launch, finding it with Snider dead from a knife to the heart, and Victoria missing. Turck is captured by uniformed black soldiers who take him to Colonel Belik. During the next month he learns their language and becomes the personal servant of Belik from whom he learns that 50 years earlier Emperor Menelek began expanding the Abyssinian empire north. They travel to New Gondar, a city built on the ruins of Berlin, Menelek’s temporary headquarters in fighting the advancing “yellow” army, which besieges the city. During a banquet Turck sees that one of the slave girls is Victory. He strangles Menelek and rescues Victory from an attempted rape during a bombardment. Turck declares his love and they kiss as the bombs drop. They are captured by yellow soldiers and marched to a Chinese city at the site of ancient Moscow. Their stories are believed and they are sent by rail to the emperor at Peking through a prosperous countryside. All of Asia, Japan, and the Philippines are ruled by China. The emperor plans to take Europe from the Abyssinians. Meanwhile, Alvarez, the officer who stranded them, has been convicted upon his return to Pan-America. The ban on crossing beyond 30 is removed. A fleet is sent and finds Turck on his wedding day. Turck returns home a hero with Victory, planning to return to England to reclaim her throne. [b] “The Man-Eater” It was first published in a six-part series in the New York Evening World newspaper beginning in 15 November through 20 November 1915. ***The Reverend Sangamon Morton is an American Methodist missionary to the Belgian Congo. He meets Jefferson Scott, Jr., an American big-game hunter and his companion, Robert Gordon. Scott becomes the husband of his daughter, Ruth. Morton entrusts Gordon with stock certificates to take back to America to be held by Jefferson’s father. A year later Morton, Mary, his wife, and Jefferson are killed during a Wakandas attack. Ruth takes her daughter, Virginia, back to Virginia. The elder Scott takes care of them for the next 19 years. The “stocks” prove to be a single sheet of paper which he hides in a wall cupboard. Old Scott dies and Virginia meets Scott Taylor, his nephew, a dissipated collegian looking for money. Taylor stands to inherit half of the estate and through Virginia means to have it all. Drunk he proposes to the reluctant Virginia, demanding the whole estate and claiming Virginia’s birth is illegitimate. Mrs. Scott writes to Robert Gordon for help as he witnessed the marriage. Dick Gordon is the son of the recently deceased Robert and get Ruth’s letter. Thinking the marriage certificate might be in the ruins of the mission, he books passage to Mombassa with his man servant, Murphy. Taylor intercepts Dick’s reply to Ruth and follows him to Africa, intent on murdering him. Ruth and Virginia discover Taylor’s perfidy and Virginia follows them to Africa. Arriving in Mombassa she is a month behind Gordon’s safari and a week behind Taylor’s. When her safari attempts to mutiny she shoots the leader and becomes her own headman. Dick finds an envelope at the old mission. Three American crooks plan to stop him at a native village where a woman has just been taken by a man-eating lion. The white men kill a lioness and the natives capture her mate in a pit. Virginia arrives at the village and is tied up by the villains, who get drunk. Dick Gordon frees the lion in the pit, but is attacked by the lion who does not harm him, because the lion knows which white men are guilty of killing his mate. Taylor makes a drunken pass at Virginia who attempts to flee, but is stopped by Taylor’s henchmen. They decide to rape her, but just as they pin her to the ground the lion arrives for revenge. One of the men is killed, but Virginia and the other two escape. Dick rescues Virginia from a wild hyena. She warns him about Taylor who comes upon them, Virginia grabs Dick’s pistol and wounds him in the forearm. Taylor gets away but plans to have his revenge in America. Dick and Virginia sail to America with the friendly lion who has been caught and caged. The lion becomes “Ben, King of Beasts, the Man-Eating Lion” in a traveling circus. After a brief interlude Dick arrives at Virginia’s home, The Oaks. Taylor plans to murder him in his sleep as he waits for Virginia to return. She has been delayed by a train wreck. Ben, King of Beasts, is aboard the wrecked train. Free, he picks up the scent of his friend Gordon. The lion enters the house and chases Taylor to Gordon’s room. Taylor knocks Gordon unconscious during a struggle and finds the envelope and escapes. Gordon revives and follows. Ben catches up with Taylor and kills him in the headlights of the stalled car containing Virginia. Gordon rescues Ben from hunters, buying him in order to send him to the N.Y. zoo. The envelope reveals valuable stock certificates but no marriage certificate. But the will and certificate are finally discovered. Virginia and Gordon kiss above the loyal head of Ben, King of Beasts. ***”Beyond Thirty” is by far the better of the two short stories. “The Man-Eater” is not one of Burroughs’ better works. ***First paperback edition: ACE, F-235, 1963, 123 pp., pa .40¢, as The Lost Continent [first title only], and Fantasy Reader, 5, 1974, 94 pp., pa $1.00 as The Man Eater [second title only].

8. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
The Complete Checklist of Science Fiction Magazines
SF&F; New York, NY  1961      63          $1.10
300 paper copies printed.

Reference. ***This book is actually a checklist of periodicals that published fiction of super-imaginative types. Included are science fiction, fantasy, fantastic adventure, and weird tales. Information on some of the mystery-weird magazines is not complete. A very large number of fantasy periodicals are not listed, such as comic books. The checklist concerns itself with magazines presenting stories in lines of printed words and only incidental illustrations. ***[a] “Introduction” (Pp. 3). An explanation for the exclusion of various magazines due to their lack of overall fantastic or science fiction content. [b] “The Key” (Pp. 4). A brief explanation of the coding system employed in the grid checklist. [c] “The Checklist” (Pp. 5-63). Just that, a checklist. Clearly meant to be used by the collector. A box grid system is employed, with space to check off copies. Beginning with A. Merrit’s Fantasy Magazine through Wu Fang. Given as title, year and month. Volume number and issue number appear in the appropriate grid box. On the side of the grid type of magazine stories is given as well as if it is a reprint. ***In its time this checklist must have been a useful tool. ***Again, it is now a collector’s item only. The Tuck Encyclopedia (Advent, which see) is a much better tool carrying almost the same type of grid system, only more accurate and complete. ***Completist’s note: A six-page supplement was issued in 1964.

9. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
Bibliography of Adventure
SF&F; New York, NY  1964      126         $2.50
300 paper copies printed.

Reference. ***Updates the previous Mundy, Burroughs, and Rohmer bibliographies, with the addition of one on H. Rider Haggard. A binding of the four individual bibliographies, presenting biographical sketches and extensive but incomplete listings of the authors’ published books and magazine fiction.

10. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
The Supplemental Checklist of Fantastic Literature
SF&F; New York, NY  1963      ii/155            $5.50
403 paper copies printed.

Reference. ***Valuable supplement to the Bleiler Checklist of Fantastic Literature (see Shasta Publishers) although it, too, has a great many omissions and errors; superseded by the Don Tuck Encyclopedia (see Advent:Publishers, Inc.). ***A collector’s essential.

11. 
Day, Bradford M[arshall] (compiled by)
The Checklist of Fantastic Literature in Paperbound Books
SF&F; New York, NY  1965      ii/128            $6.00
500 paper copies printed.

Reference. ***Superseded by the Don Tuck Encyclopedia (see Advent:Publishers). ***According to the compiler, this checklist represents “a listing of paper-covered books with sufficient tinge of the supernatural, or, the super-scientific as to warrant placement in the science-fantasy field.” Nominally, the coverage extends to all English-language paperbound publications, including Canadian, British, and Australian, and ranges in date from the 19th century to early 1965. In actuality, only one paperbound edition is listed for each title, but not invariably so. Publishers’ stock numbers are not given, and the dates listed are not always accurate, so it is often not possible to determine which edition is being listed. In identifying publishers, the compiler makes no distinction between Gold Medal and Crest books (recording Fawcett in both cases); similarly, Pocket Books, Cardinal Editions, and Permabooks are all listed as Pocket Books; and no distinction is made between early U.S. Penguin editions (later Signet) and the British Penguin editions. In addition to a variety of minor errors, a few nonexistent editions are recorded. (For example, there was no paperback called Slaves of Sumuru by Sax Rohmer in 1952.) On the other hand, some authors of importance are omitted altogether: Edward Bellamy, Anthony Burgess, Daphne de Maurier, Robert Graves, Eric Hatch, and J.B. Priestley.

ASFO Press
1954

The Atlanta Science Fiction Organization (prime mover, Henry Burwell) published one book, in 1954, and collapsed as a publisher and a club shortly thereafter. There was some move to revive it in 1965 under Jerry Page, but he pulled out the effort it fell through.

1. 
Moskowitz, Sam[uel] Martin
The Immortal Storm:
A History of Science Fiction Fandom
ASFO; Atlanta, GA 1954             269         $5.00
500 copies printed.
Illustrated with photos.
Jacket by Frank R. Paul.

1st edition, 1952, np, $2.00, mimeographed and side-stapled.
No statement of edition, unpaginated, mimeographed text bound in red wrappers with two gold brads, cream covers not bound in brads, 8.5” x 10.75”. 150 copies printed. Published by Henry Burwell.

Reference. ***Originally serialized in the amateur magazine Fantasy Commentator, edited by A. Langley Searles. Searles produced 26 issues beginning in December 1943 through Spring-Summer 1952. The Immortal Storm was published in 18 chapters, or parts, beginning in issue number 8, which appeared in October (Fall) 1945 through each subsequent issue until the last issue, number 26, Spring-Summer 1952. ***A lively history of the science fiction movement and fandom from the birth of Adam to the 1939 First World Science Fiction Convention. A movement which started with a small group of devotees who shared a common enthusiasm but whose differences kept them in almost continuous conflict. The treatment is fast, fun, and pretty complete, although, since Moskowitz himself was in the middle of his events it is by definition one-sided. Many of those early fans subsequently became outstanding writers of science fiction—Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, among others. The now-famous names as they appear—usually none too complimentarily—in this book have made it a legend. Here we see the beginnings of their careers—their points of view, opinions, battles, some of which seem as violent as the interplanetary wars they later wrote about. This is a valuable history, and along with Harry Warner’s All Our Yesterdays (Advent:Publishers which see) gives a thorough picture of the origins of this peculiar and unique subculture. Rarely has so careful and loving a record been written of so imaginative, contumacious and individualistic a group; rarely has a group (in moments of cooperation) produced so enviable a record of achievement. ***[a] “Preface,” by A. Langley Searles. Reprint of the one-paragraph preface from the first installment as it appeared in Fantasy Commentator. Searles expresses his view that this is an outstanding work in the annals of fantasy fandom. [b] “Acknowledgements” A short list of the handful of individuals who aided and helped make this work possible. [c] “Contents” (Pp. xi) One of the major weaknesses of this work, even though an attempt to write in a chronological order has been made, Moskowitz bounces back and forth, sometimes years, relating his story. The table of contents is only a board outline, fascinating details on some of the topics mentioned can be found peppered throughout the work. [d]“List of Photographs” (Pp. xiii) Reads like a who’s who. Here they are in their late teens and early twenties, the men and women who began it all. [e] “Chapter I: Introduction” First, modern and contemporary science fiction and fantasy is connected to the Old Testament, The Iliad and The Odyssey, and finally to Beowulf. The only difference now is that the modern fan knows that someday his science fiction may well come true. Moskowitz dismisses any thought that there is nothing new in science fiction, that it has all been said and done. It is also an international literature. He begins to focus on his main theme, that fans have shaped the policies of the publishers. In the beginning there was Weird Tales, and merely reading it made one a fantasy fan. [f] “Chapter II: Gernsback and the First All-Science Fiction Publication” The rise of Gernsback, from Modern Electric through the creation of the first “scientifiction” magazine, Amazing Stories. The appearance of readers’ letters in the “Discussion” column marked the beginning of fandom. The main topic of discussion was science, not fiction, and not fandom. Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster met in this column, later known as the originators of “Superman.” They produced the earliest known amateur fan magazines, Cosmic Stories and Cosmic Stories Quarterly. Through mismanagement, Gernsback lost his control of Amazing Stories, but he rebounded with Science Wonder Stories and Air Wonder Stories. Clayton Publications came out with Astounding Stories at the same time. The boom was on, the science fiction fan was born. They had their magazines, and found a way to come together. [g] “Chapter III: The Beginning of Organized Fandom” Raymond A. Palmer, P. Schuyler Miller, Frank B. Eason, among others, struck up a correspondence through contact in these magazines. Palmer suggested the formation of the Science Correspondence Club to encourage communication among fans on a larger scale. In May 1930, they issued The Comet, later Cosmology. It went on strong for the first dozen issues, then becoming infrequent. During its three-year life it claimed a membership of 150. With the first appearance of The Time Traveller and Science Fiction Digest, a gradual shift had occurred, from discussions about science to science fiction. New York was becoming a locus of activity with the formation of the first science fiction fan club, the Scienceers, the above fanzines produced by various members. The club published its own organ, The Planet. Fandom had begun, and with the first convention, a meeting in New York of 35 members, the first split had occurred over billing for the meeting hall. Thus began fandom, and the politics had reared its ugly head. [h] “Chapter IV: The Emergence of the True Fan Magazine” Three members of the Scienceers met and created The Time Traveller, Julius Schwartz, Mortimer Weisinger, and Allen Glassner. Forrest J Ackerman contributed the first column ever on scientifilms. After the first two issues, Conrad H. Ruppert joined the team, and they became printed journals. After nine issues a rift between the four caused its demise. From the ashes came Science Fiction Digest. As 1934 came and went, the rise of fandom had begun worldwide. Clubs were forming, alliances being made, competitive fanzines were being produced, but many were floundering. The base group of fandom was still too small to support a wide number of publications, especially in the midst of the worldwide economic depression. [i] “Chapter V: The Fantasy Fan” As the Great Depression made itself felt, both Amazing Stories and Wonder Stories decreased their size. Sales flagged. Charles Derwin Hornig, the 17-year-old editor of The Fantasy Fan was hired to be the new editor for Wonder Stories. The Fantasy Fan first appeared in September 1933. Ruppert printed it. Bob Tucker did the scientifilm column. It was the first fanzine that included science fiction, fantasy and science, containing works by Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft. It folded in February 1935 after 18 issues. [j] “Chapter VI: William H. Crawford and his Contemporaries” Dissatisfied with the contemporary fare of fiction offered in professional magazines, in late 1933, Crawford issued a one-page advertisement for his first issue of Unusual Stories, featuring “The Titan” by P. Schuyler Miller. Months passed, an “Advance Issue” was mailed March 1934, containing most of Cyril G. Wates’ story “When the Waker Sleeps.” Shortly another advance issue was mailed, containing the rest of the story (completists, please note). Crawford never did complete this initial issue of Unusual Stories, instead he began work on Marvel Tales, first issue May 1934. In the fourth issue, he announced the formation of Fantasy Publications, and issued “The White Sybil,” by Clark Ashton Smith, bound with David H. Keller’s “Men of Avalon.” Crawford finally managed to issue “Mars Mountain,” by Eugene George Key. This was followed by H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, perhaps the most important publication of this era. Crawford had opened the door to hardbound publishing. [k] “Chapter VII: Secondary Fan Publications: The TFG and its Followers” From the ranks of readers appeared a third group, those previously excluded from either the amateur or semi-pro fanzines decided to have a go at publishing. The International Science Fiction Guild’s Bulletin appeared in May-June 1934. Early in 1935 the name was changed to the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Donald Wollheim made his first major appearance in fandom here. Through the Amazing “Discussion” column he got into contact with William Shepard, the only member listed by name in the publication. Wollheim suggested an anti-dealer campaign, which was rather successful, forcing many to toe the line and keep prices low. With the name change in the organization, Wollheim stepped on board in a bigger way. In the April 1935 issue, Wollheim had begun and set out the major topics in his next campaign, the late or lack of payment for stories by Wonder Stories. By the summer of 1935, Wollheim had taken over the entire publication and organization, renaming it The Phantagraph, which became a noted journal of high quality. It led Wollheim to the establishment of FAPA, the Fantasy Amateur Press Association by April 1937. [l] “Chapter VIII: The Science Fiction League” Created by Hugo Gernsback in May 1934, promoted by his editor, Charles D. Hornig, of Wonder Stories, perhaps in response to the campaign waged by Wollheim, the first science fiction membership organization was formed. Under the umbrella of Wonder who issued charters, certificates and membership cards, and most importantly authorized the formation of clubs in various areas, this league became the mainstay for all subsequent fan activity thereafter. It is the single most important step in the evolution of science fiction. Local chapters started around the country, supported by the SFL columns which appeared in every issue. The Chicago chapter rose to prominence, even issuing their own organ, The Fourteen Leaflet from November 1935 to the spring of 1937. The Chicago chapter announced plans to send delegates to the national SFL headquarters. There were late, but the planned meeting in the Wonder Stories offices on June 28, 1935, became one of the first major meetings of its kind, bringing together fans, writers and editors. It was during these initial meetings that First and Second Fandom came together. Fans such as Wollheim, William S. Sykora, meeting with Hornig and Ruppert in the same SFL chapter in New York. Many of these chapters withered away soon after formation, others fought among themselves over limited resources, most only had a handful of members to begin with. [m] “Chapter IX: The New ISA and the International Observer” As far back as 1932, as a result of letters exchanged in Amazing, the Edison Science Club was formed, with like named journal. Soon it withered away, transforming into the International Cosmos Science Club under the suggestion of John B. Michel. Sykora joined after the collapse of the Scienceers. Together, with Michel, Sykora began publishing The International Observer, the journal for this predominantly science based club. Hornig rebuffed any endorsement by the SFL, even though the ICSC was successfully accomplishing such things as rocketry experiments and promoting home-based science experimentation. With the February 13, 1935, election, new officers transformed the ICSC into a more militant group, joining forces with Wollheim and the TFG, supporting the Wollheim-anti-Wonder campaign. Increasing the pressure on Hornig and Wonder via the two organization journals, Hornig finally overreacted when in September 1935, he announced the expulsion of Wollheim, Michel and Sykora from the New York chapter of SFL. [n] “Chapter X: Other Happenings of 1935” Bob Tucker began the anti-staple war, with Wollheim taking the other side. Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger began the Solar Sales Agency, becoming agents for writers such as Stanley Weinbaum. In November 1935, Claire P. Beck began The Science-Fiction Review, with the second issue The Science Fiction Critic. In October 1935, 15-year-old ICSC member, James Blish, issued The Planeteer. Beck and Blish were prime examples of Third Fandom rearing its head. [o] “Chapter XI: The SFL-ISA Showdown” At the end of 1935, Sykora, leading the ICSC, approached Ray Palmer, leader of the defunct ISA, and they consolidated. Sykora first move was to resurrect The Planet, organ of the Scienceers, change its name to The Scienceer, and use it to politicize the expulsion of Wollheim, Michel and himself, from the New York SFL chapter. At the second meeting of the reorganized New York chapter, Wollheim and Sykora, and friends, took over the meeting by storm, forcing Hornig and Schwartz, the Fantasy Magazine group, from the podium and announced themselves as in control, as the ISA New York chapter. They won the day, receiving reinstatement by Hornig, in an effort to keep control and the SFL alive as the main organization for fandom. [p] “Chapter XII: The Decline of the SFL and the ISA’s Bid for Power” In February 1936, the Eastern New York SFL chapter, in its organ, Arcturus, announced its dissolution and reformation as the Independent League for Science Fiction. Its main members were Wollheim, Sykora, and Fred Pohl. Even as SFL continued to open new chapters elsewhere, the fate of the organization was up in the air as Gernsback sold Wonder Stories to Leo Margulies. For the rest of the year the ISA tried to takeover SFL chapters, offering itself as the paramount organization. By November, they staged a coup with the ILSF, the reformed Brooklyn-Eastern New York SFL chapter. The ISA affiliated members resigned, reorganized, rewrote the constitution and thus disbanded the ILSF. What they could not absorb, they destroyed. Pohl refused to go along with the constitutional coup. A rift was formed between Pohl, Wollheim and Michel with Sykora, who wanted to emphasize a return to science, instead of fiction in all their policies. Michel resigned from the ISA, Wollheim tried, a reconciliation occurred, with Pohl taking Michel’s place. An obvious power shift had occurred, the forces of science-fiction were winning. [q] “Chapter XIII: The Science Fiction Advancement Association” The first West Coast fan activity of national scope came via Claire Beck’s The Science Fiction Critic promoting The Science Fiction Advancement Association as organized by C. Hamilton Bloomer. A dictatorship from the beginning, without democratic constitution, they even charged for the official organ, Tesseract. Still, both organization and journal were a success, underscoring the fact that until the bitter feud and invective surrounding the 1939 Worldcon, such types of loose knit clubs were the paradigm. In June 1936, it was announced that Beck was giving up The Science Fiction Critic, and it would be consolidated with Tesseract. This would have made Third Fandom a major force. However, in July, Beck withdrew his offer, leaving Bloomer without a Multilith. He turned to James Blish and William Miller, Jr. The two failed to produce the desired issue. Bloomer expelled Blish from the SFAA. Later Miller would introduce Moskowitz to fandom. Wollheim rose to the defense of Blish, and began a campaign against Bloomer which lasted until the SFAA folded. In 1937, Bloomer gave up, and Roy Squires took over the organization, but for all practical purposes it was now defunct. [r] “Chapter XIV: Local Groups of the Time” In the early months of 1936 the Oklahoma Scientifiction Association was formed by McPhail. The Science Fiction News became its official organ. Among its members was Jack Speer, who would rise to prominence in fandom. It became a printed journal and mirrored the activities of Third Fandom. In January 1935, the 11th SFL chapter was formed in Philadelphia. After a rocky beginning, it consolidated with another local club, The Boys’ Science Fiction Club, bringing John V. Baltadonis and Robert A. Madle into the fold. At the October reorganized meeting, Oswald Train became a member. In February 1936, they produced their first issue of Imaginative Fiction. Due to problems with the copying, they got into contact with Morris Scott Dollens and his hectographed Science Fiction Collector. The 16-year-old Dollens had taught himself the process. Using Dollens as an example, Baltadonis, Madle and the rest produced The Fantasy Fiction Telegram in October 1936. Forrest J Ackerman was becoming notorious during this time, he was submitting articles on Esperanto to several fanzines and charging for them. This led to much lasting bad blood. It was becoming evident that the group (Wollheim) that was producing Fantasy Magazine, was the foremost journal at that time. [s] “Chapter XV: The Last Days of Fantasy Magazine” After the September 1936 third anniversary issue, Ruppert could no long afford to print the journal at below cost. Editor Julius Schwartz turned to Crawford. The next issue appeared in January 1936, with the announced of Weinbaum’s death. The next issue, March, announced the death of Wonder Stories. Weisinger left to become editor of Thrilling Wonder Stories, leaving Schwartz for all practical purposes, alone. Schwartz went all out for the September 1936, Fourth Anniversary Issue. The 50-page, typeset issue was sent to all 2,000 members of the SFL. But this major production did not produce the expected increase in subscriptions. Instead, a full-page advertisement announced the forthcoming Science-Fantasy Correspondent, published by Willis Conover, Jr., and Corwin F. Stickney. Stickney managed to print this journal and it immediately became not only a competitor to Fantasy Magazine, but the pre-eminent journal for Third Fandom, as those in First Fandom, as represented by Fantasy Magazine, segued into professionals.  Schwartz threw in the towel, gave everything to Conover, and combined the two journals. [t] “Chapter XVI: Further Clubs and Projects of 1936” In February 1936, David A. Kyle published a small fantasy cartoon magazine, The Fantasy World, making his first appearance in the world of fandom. In late 1936, he proposed the formation of the Phantasy Legion, side-by-side with the Phantasy Legion Guild, which published The Phantasy World and the Legion Parade. Kyle found immediate support from those who had been unable to rally around the SFAA or the more politically minded ISA. When the first elections were held, Kyle was passed over for president. As he held all the printing in his control, the organized marked time, unable to take advantage of the power vacuum that was occurring. At this time, First Fandom’s last, great project was published, the posthumous Dawn of Flame, by Weinbaum. [u] “Chapter XVII: The First Convention and the Death of the ISA” On October 22, 1936, an ISA delegation made a field trip to meet with Philadelphia fandom, and the first such meeting was held. Among those attending were Pohl, Wollheim, Michel, Sykora, Train, and Madle. They all had such a great time, arrangements were made to have a second convention in February in New York. The ISA produced a special all-convention issue in January of their organ, The International Observer. As representatives of Second Fandom, Wollheim and Pohl sought to outdo the fourth anniversary issue of Fantasy Magazine, which Wollheim had criticized harshly. The ISA effort succeeded and began to draw members of Third Fandom. The convention was a major success, with fans, writers and editors, almost all the major names of the day, coming together for the event. Some talk began of holding another major New York convention in 1939 to coincide with the World’s Fair. During the convention, Julius Schwartz effectively passed the torch from First Fandom to Second Fandom, as represented by Wollheim. Sykora found himself going in a direction he did not like and in mid-1937 resigned from the ISA. Wollheim affected a coup and took over the organization and attempted to disband the entire organization, explaining his reasons in the June 1937, issue of The International Observer. [v] “Chapter XVIII: The Dark Ages of Fandom” With the next issue of Science-Fantasy Correspondent, Stickney made an announcement that effectively finished off First Fandom, giving over the contents of forthcoming issues to Third Fandom. Beck’s The Science Fiction Critic came up with a new policy, barring most science fiction for scientific fiction.  At this point, Moskowitz sums up all the journals and clubs as either defunct, terminated, or moribund. Even Wollheim had made the same conclusion, suggesting that British science fiction fandom was now the most progressive force. [w] “Chapter XIX: The Rise of British Fandom” Beginning in 1935, with one organization, the British Science Fiction Association, growing rapidly with the publication of the professional magazine, Tales of Wonder. It was the advent of the SFL that galvanized Britain to organize. In March 1936, Maurice K. Hanson and Dennis A. Jacques, of the Nuneaton SFL founded Novae Terrae. On January 3, 1937, the first British Science Fiction conference was held. At the conference, Novae Terrae became the official organ of the first British non-commercial organization, The Science Fiction Association. [x] “Chapter XX: Renaissance” In April 1937, Olon F. Wiggins revived a hectographed Science Fiction Fan. Alex Osheroff and Sam Moskowitz began to publish Helios. James V. Taurasi began to help Richard Wilson publish The Atom. Due to the quality of his work, Morris Scott Dollens and his Science Fiction Collector became an outlet for fan articles. This was turned over to Baltadonis. The rise of New Fandom had begun, with Moskowitz contributing to all the journals done by these people. [y] “Chapter XXI: The New Order Progresses” In the October 1937, issue of Helios, Moskowitz announced the formation of his Unofficial Society for the Aid of Fan Magazines, later known as Moskowitz’s Manuscript Bureau, wherein he offered to write for any and all fanzines, and help them bulk up their contents. The Amateur Correspondent, by Corwin Stickney, and The Science Fiction Critic, by Beck, where the leading printed periodicals of the day.  With Lovecraft’s recent death, Stickney issued H.P.L., a brochure under The Amateur Correspondent umbrella. August Derleth threatened to sue Stickney, nothing came of it. Several initial semi-professional publications of a high literary nature were done, such as by Beck and his Futile Press. [z] “Chapter XXII: The Fantasy Amateur Press Association” During the first six months of 1937, Wollheim, as leading fan, published a number of mijimags. For his next project, Wollheim organized and issued The FAPA Fan, explaining the new association. At the time, the average circulation of a fan magazine was between 20 and 35 copies, Wollheim was trying to build a select organization of 50 who would simultaneously mail all their work to each other through a mailing secretary, making their club rather exclusive. [aa] “Chapter XXIII: The Third Convention and Michelism” From Philadelphia came news of a planned conference set for October 1937. Sykora had just joined the new Queens SFL, and went to the conference. Baltadonis hectographed a special convention booklet. Madle produced his first issue of Fantascience Digest. Moskowitz and nearly every fan of note from the New York area attended. Sykora and Moskowitz met for the first time there and became fast friends, with Sykora pressing and supporting Moskowitz’s bid to throw the next convention in Newark. Among the guest speakers was Wollheim, who read a prepared speech, “Mutation or Death,” by John B. Michel, his friend, it was pre-dominantly a communist track designed to bend the rest of fandom into that political organization. Wollheim asked for a resolution supporting his proposal and it was adopted. [bb] “Chapter XXIV: The Aftermath” Richard Wilson began publishing the weekly The Science Fiction News-Letter. Sykora agreed to finance the Newark convention, and Moskowitz agreed to organize it. Forrest J Ackerman and T. Bruce Yerkes began publishing Imagination!, which would become Voice of the Imagi-Nation, the organ for the Los Angeles SFL. Jack Speer began conducting polls and publishing the results in Wiggins’ The Science Fiction Fan. Roy A. Squires turned the SFAA over to Raymond Van Houten who in turn approached Moskowitz with the notion of taking it over and reforming it. [cc] “Chapter XXV: The Wollheim-Moskowitz Feud” Moskowitz published his account of the Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention, Convention Happenings, on January 14, 1938. Moskowitz took a stand against introducing politics into fandom. Wollheim responded on January 21, 1938, in the next issue of The Science Fiction Fan. Moskowitz responded in the February 1938, issue, and thus was born the feud. Both sides had been identified, and opposite positions taken. Wollheim was unrelenting, using all of his resources to continue, and Moskowitz had enough energy to maintain his side. Other major fans joined in, Speer for Moskowitz, Robert A.W. Lowndes for Wollheim. [dd] “Chapter XXVI: The Background in Early 1938” Corwin Stickney’s The Amateur Correspondent collapsed with the Nov-Dec. 1937 issue. This was followed by the collapse of Beck’s The Science Fiction Critic. With the disappearance of the major printed periodicals, it left the field cluttered with amateur hectograph productions. [ee] “Chapter XXVII: The Factions Align Themselves” Richard Wilson gives an account, “Newark Pilgrimage,” of an early morning visit to the house of Sam Moskowitz on March 12, 1938, as published in The Science Fiction Dividend. During this visit they told him that Sykora had just died, which was untrue. Before Moskowitz could dismantle his convention preparations, Sykora revealed the hoax. Sykora was trying to resurrect the old ISA under the Scientific Cinema Club of New York. But in a concerted, and stage-managed attack by Wollheim, and friends, as the Committee for Political Advancement of Science Fiction, CPASF, he was stopped. [ff] “Chapter XXVIII: The First National Science Fiction Convention” One of the most significant factors in the organization and success of this event was the requirement that all interested fans would publish 50 copies of a newsletter, not less than twelve pages. Each would receive a copy of all the others, as would sponsors and professional publishers. During the time, fans avidly sought other fan periodicals, so this had the added appeal to fans to distant to attend, yet could therefore acquire copies of these publications. The first auction was arranged, which would become a prime attraction in all subsequent conventions. A problem occurred with arrangements for Ackerman, who was unclear about what he should receive and how. This led to a lasting feud between Ackerman and Moskowitz. The one-day event was a success with over 125 fans attending, an unheard of number. The CPASF arrived, and distributed leaflets of a communist nature. A committee was formed by Sykora, with Moskowitz on it, to organize the 1939 New York convention. [gg] “Chapter XXIX: The FAPA Elections of 1938” An interesting account of a crooked election, and vote rigging by Wollheim, which resulted in the successful coup of his faction. One main aspect was the bitter in-fighting between Jack Speer and the Wollheim faction, both on opposite sides of the political spectrum. The only upshot was that for the first time, Wollheim received more negative feedback then he could handle. The tide was turning against him, and his tactics. [hh] “Chapter XXX: The Development of Michelism” In the December 1937 issue of Novae Terrae, a Wollheim article, “What Purpose, Science Fiction?” was published. It was a more literate version of Mutation or Death, but specified the aims and outlined what was labeled as Michelism. It found fertile ground in the already left-leaning British fandom. Jack Speer published an opposing view, “A Fairly Complete Case Against Michelism” in the May 1938 Science Fiction Collector. Ackerman gave tacit support to Wollheim’s Michelism. A form of guerilla warfare sprouted in the other journals with the Wollheim faction ambushing the less politically adept. Moskowitz rose to the occasion, becoming a rallying point, labeling the Wollheim faction the Communist Party’s Agitators in Science Fiction, in the August 1938 Science Fiction Fan. [ii] “Chapter XXXI: The Greater New York Science Fiction League” Frederik Pohl received a charter for the Great New York Science Fiction League, the total membership was only himself and several pseudonyms. He managed to keep the ruse alive for several years, sending out irregular reports. In July 1937, James V. Taurasi did the same thing, for Flushing, NY. This led to the formation of a real chapter, Queens, with Sykora, Wilson and Mario Racic, Jr. Moskowitz joined the chapter in January 1938. During the March meeting, when Sykora was not present, Wollheim, Pohl and Michel joined. The May meeting saw thirteen active fans, and they changed the name to the Greater New York Chapter of the Science Fiction League, seeking more members. Then Pohl suggested sending a member as a delegate to the leftist American Youth Congress. Taurasi spoke out against this, Pohl instituted impeachment proceedings against him. Seeking moral support, Taurasi turned to Moskowitz, who while from Newark still applied to join at the July meeting. By the August meeting Pohl had staged a coup, voting against Moskowitz’s membership, forcing Taurasi to resign and expelling Sykora. An appeal was made to Leo Margulies at Thrilling Wonder Stories, headquarters of the SFL, and he made the decision that both Sykora and Wollheim could form their own chapters, with ten members minimum each. As the Greater New York Chapter of the Science Fiction League perished, Moskowitz, Sykora and Taurasi joined forces, eventually outlasting the Michelists. [jj] “Chapter XXXII: Fantasy News and New Fandom” On June 26, 1938, Taurasi brought out the first issue of Fantasy News, which became a competitor for the slot held by Wilson’s Science Fiction News-Letter. In a July meeting, in order to gain control of and put on the New York World Convention, Taurasi, Sykora and Moskowitz joined forces, forming New Fandom as an organization large enough to offset any apparent group or influence put forth by Wollheim and his faction. That April, Van Houten had turned over SFAA to Moskowitz, which became the basis for the new organization. All previous organs were merged into New Fandom, which was launched in August. Moskowitz and New Fandom as a movement became an instant success, drawing on news and events about science fiction, instead of politics or fiction. [kk] “Chapter XXXIII: New Fandom’s Rise to Power” On October 2, 1938, Sykora and Taurasi formed a new Queens SFL, and New Fandom appointed the group the official sponsoring committee for the New York convention. On September 18, the Michelist faction formed the Futurian Science Literary Society, later known as the Futurians, which supplanted the term Michelist. The Science Fiction News-Letter became their propaganda organ, just as Fantasy News was for New Fandom. The Futurians tried another gambit, announcing the Fifth Eastern Science Fiction Convention to be held in New York on the same date as a prearranged Philadelphia convention. The Futurians backed down when given guarantees to speak to the group in Philadelphia, and make their bid to sponsor the New York World Convention. They said their gambit was just a big joke by member David Kyle. But it was the lure of a special Philadelphia convention booklet nowhere else available that clinched the deal, fans were attracted to the lure of such items. The Philadelphia convention was held in October and went off without a hitch. The Futurians had been feuding so much and with so many people, that their enemies lined up against them. Jack Speer suggested that New Fandom host the New York Convention, it passed to them. Speer wanted to continue and crush the Futurians, but New Fandom stated that they would not become involved in any more feuds, taking the high ground. [ll] “Chapter XXXIV: The Opposition Crumbles” The field was left to Moskowitz and Robert Lowndes, as the most able spokespersons for their factions, to resolve. In August, Moskowitz published an article stating that the CPASF was a communist front. In the next issue, Wiggins, editor of The Science Fiction Fan, said he would no longer print any articles by Moskowitz. Wiggins was expelled from New Fandom. However, Lowndes resigned his office in FAPA, and through a series of maneuvers, Wiggins attained the office of President. Paul Searles became editor of The Science Fiction Fan until its demise in February 1941. Through the end of 1938 and into 1939, the feud between Moskowitz and Wollheim continued unabated. [mm] “Chapter XXXV: The New Fantasy Magazines and Their Influence on Fandom” After years of primarily science fiction magazines in the field, Startling Stories and Fantastic Adventures appeared. And competing with Weird Tales was Strange Stories and Unknown. On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles presented his memorable radio presentation of Wells’ War of the Worlds, which panicked the nation. More readers were noticing the medium and after Orson Welles, the nation had noticed. [nn] “Chapter XXXVI: The Role of the Queens SFL” The Queens SFL chapter meets for the second time in December 1938. In attendance were Mortimer Weisinger, editor of Thrilling Wonder Stories, and Julius Schwartz, veteran fan and literary agent. The Queens SFL chapter was becoming the place to be on the first Sunday of every month. Twenty-five fans attended the first meeting of 1939. Delegations from New England and Philadelphia were in attendance. The Queens chapter was earning the reputation as the place to be. With the attendance of both major fans and the leading professionals of the era, the Queens chapter was moving forward with its political agenda, the advent of New Fandom, wooing fandom with the use of timely articles in the club organ, Fantasy News, recapping the incredible meetings. Moskowitz would repeat the account of the latest meetings in a more pointed manner in New Fandom. With this trinity of organizations, Sykora, Taurasi, and Moskowitz, were moving forward with their convention plans. [oo] “Chapter XXXVII: Amateur Magazines of the Period” New Fandom as a movement, with its emphasis on cooperation rather than divisive action, formed a hub with the use of both Fantasy News and New Fandom. As a result other amateur magazines of the period, such as Spaceways, published by Harry Warner, Jr., saw a marked improvement in quality in order to compete with the Queens SFL club organs. The first 20-page, mimeographed issue appeared in November 1938, and successive issues included a wealth of known and notable fans and professionals. Warner managed to steer a neutral course with his magazine. Robert A. Madle’s Fantascience Digest adopted a mimeographed format in January 1939. Like Warner’s magazine, both had a paid circulation of over 100, which steadily increased along with the improved quality of copy and content. Cosmic Tales, published by Gertrude and Louis Kuslan, had a major edge over the others with a regular column by Jack Speer. His column, “Thots from Exile,” was devoted to political commentary on fan feuds and similar controversial topics. Walter Marconette was another who made the move from hektography to a mimeographed edition as he combined his two journals, Scienti-Snaps and Fantasy Movie Review, by April 1939. Thaddeus E(ugene) Dikty, who published Fantasy Digest, was one of the few who resisted this move from hectograph. The field had been cleared, the remaining fan publications had improved to an almost professional appearance as the big convention approached. [pp] “Chapter XXXVIII: Minor Dissensions” In August 1939, after his infamous death hoax, Bob Tucker reappeared on the fan scene with a letter in Astounding, defending the newly revamped letter column with his usual wit and humor. Tucker reestablished his long defunct D’Journal and created a new title, Le Zombie. Tucker sank his barbs into both fan and foe, sometimes using his cognomen “Hoy Ping Pong.” Moskowitz became a victim of Tucker’s wit after an article of his, “The World Changes,” was published in the February 1939, issue of Spaceways. The article was another in his series of polemics defining the eras of fandom, and defending his view, and his creation, of New Fandom. Tucker wrote a scathing retort, “The Moon Changes Too,” which appeared in the next issue, wherein he pointed out that there was really nothing new, and no new fans either on the horizon. Moskowitz made the mistake of taking umbrage at the joke, taking himself and his position seriously. In the very next issue, he responded, attacking Tucker, and his absence from the fan field, as evidence that he was seriously out of touch, and thus not qualified to comment. Next, Jack Speer stepped into the fray, attacking Moskowitz because Speer had been working on his own history of fandom, and had a much different sense of its history. Moskowitz insists that he privately tried to obtain a rapprochement with Tucker. But Tucker published what appeared to be a serious piece, “A Little Lesson in Tuckerology,” in the August 1939 issue of Spaceways. In his article, he made a point of emphasizing, and illustrating the need for humor, and the lack among some of the new fans of the times, specifically Moskowitz. The die was cast, the two would not be aligned. Tucker further divorced himself from the Moskowitz-Taurasi focus group by founding a new publishing chain, Vulcan Publications, thereby becoming a serious power broker, representing midwestern fandom, in the amateur publishing world on the eve of the big convention. At this same time, a new group of fans had arisen in Chicago, including Mark Reinsberg, Melvin Korshak, Richard Meyer, and William L. Hamling. Ably assisted by Ray Palmer and the rejuvenated Amazing Stories, also headquartered in Chicago, the four produced Ad Astra in May 1939. Almost immediately a schism occurred in the foursome, when Hamling was accused of being a petty dictator. However, news of this was kept from the public as the group continued to make a bid for a 1940 Chicago science fiction convention. [qq] “Chapter XXXIX: The Great Drive Toward the Convention” At the end of 1938, Sykora, Taurasi, and Moskowitz felt confident with their organization for the upcoming convention. They had two periodicals of major importance, and the Queens SFL as a hub. The political astute group had arranged regional representatives to boost membership from around the country. Moskowitz was appointed chairman based almost solely on the legendary volume of his voice. Caravan Hall in mid-Manhattan was arranged to hold the event, which was timed for the Fourth of July weekend, and would occur just as the New York World’s Fair was in full swing. Arrangements were made for amateur publishers to produce a special issue for the big event. A copy of Metropolis was obtained for viewing. A softball game was planed between the Queens SFL and the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society for bragging rights of fan supremacy. Frank R. Paul was chosen as guest of honor. Both Fantasy News and New Fandom were used as advertising vehicles for regular press releases hyping the event. As the year progressed, the convention committee held weekly meetings, described in detail at the monthly Queens SFL meetings. Tremendous fanac by all! [rr] “Chapter XL: The Character of the Opposition” As Moskowitz recounts, the goodwill and positive organizing energy, and efforts, of the New Fandom group were offset by the Futurians. Wollheim, with Science Fiction Fan and Science Fiction News-Letter behind him, kept up his campaign of vituperation. Olon F. Wiggins, editor of the Fan and, by devious politics, president of FAPA, launched the opening broadside in the ongoing war when he wrote and published “What’s New about New Fandom?” in the February 1939 issue of the Fan. Wiggins argued that New Fandom had not really brought any new fans, or anything new to science fiction, and insisted that the convention be placed in Wollheim’s hands. Wiggins went even further, writing to all the professional magazines, insisting that they withdraw support for the New Fandom group. The essence of his argument was that the convention was for fans, and that professionals were outsiders and not welcome. The rest of the Futurians, beginning with Lowndes, chimed in with further emphasis on the same points. Lowndes accused the convention committee of being a group of incompetents, and Margulies of welching by not including the Michelists on the committee. Beginning in December 1938, Lowndes produced Le Vombiteur as a focal point for the Futurian campaign. In April 1939, Frederik Pohl announced the formation of the Futurian Federation of the World. The purpose of the new organization would be to correct mistakes made by New Fandom. Among other attempts to undermine the New Fandom group, the Futurians circulated an open letter demanding to know whether any money had been paid to Nazi Germany for the acquisition of the film Metropolis. In April 1939, Richard Wilson and Cyril Kornbluth, admitted communists and communist-sympathizers, attempted to undermine the Queens SFL meeting and were ejected. As a result, Moskowitz asked Wilson to print a statement in the Fan approving the New Fandom leadership of the convention. He did so, but his tone was far from convincing and revealed a depth of animosity, even while trying to take the high road. Yet, in May, Wollheim returned to the attack, repeating all the old arguments. The stage had been set for the big event, with two major factions at odds, and a new one, from Chicago, standing in the wings to pick up all the pieces. [ss] “Chapter XLI: The First World Science Fiction Convention” The convention began at 10:00 on July 2, 1939, bringing together delegations from as far away as California, with the arrival of Forrest Ackerman, Morojo, and Ray Bradbury. Korshak and Reinsberg from Chicago. A delegation from Canada added an international flavor. Jack Williamson came from New Mexico. The list of name fans, and professionals, included all the great ones of the day. The convention was an instant and obvious success. Fifteen special convention publications had been issued. Among them Jack Speer’s famous account of fan history, Up To Now. Only Taurasi was present to stop the main body of the Futurian group, including Wollheim, Lowndes, Pohl, Kornbluth and Gillespie, when they tried to enter the convention hall. Moskowitz arrived, and the two were about to admit the Futurians, when a fan handed them a pamphlet he had received from John Michel, who had just arrived. The pamphlet was a virulent and scurrilous attack on the convention committee and on the Queens SFL group specifically. Moskowitz reprints the pamphlet in full. A stack containing five different titles containing more Futurian propaganda was found nearby that group, making a lie to Wollheim’s statements that the group was there to have fun in attendance. At that juncture, Moskowitz allowed any member to enter after giving him their word of honor not to disrupt the convention. Significantly, Wollheim would not give his word. Until Moskowitz called the convention to order at 2:00, the Futurians, and their friends, attempts to pressure the committee and disrupt the convention. But when called to order, their attempt had failed, and the convention proceeded. Leo Margulies announced the formation of a new character fantasy magazine, Captain Future. The forthcoming publication of The Outsider and Others was announced, and a special advanced price of $3.50 was offered. Frank R. Paul prophesized a great future for the field of science fiction. Ray Cummings was introduced from the floor to a resounding round of applause. Metropolis was shown. John Campbell spoke on “The Changing Science Fiction.” Notables present were introduced, some speaking at length. The convention adjourned to the auction. David Kyle made one more attempt to disrupt the proceedings from the floor by requesting the remaining Futurians be allowed to enter. He was not recognized. The next day saw nearly 100 people in attendance. More discussions and another auction followed. The third day was devoted to the softball game. The Queens Cometeers won. The sixth issue of New Fandom was devoted to the convention, reprinting most of the speeches. The convention broke even, but its success ensured that there would be another. [tt] “Chapter XLII: Opinion Rallies” On July 4, while the softball game was being played, the Futurian Society held an open meeting attended by two dozen people, including the California delegation. They all decided to back the bid of Chicago for the 1940 convention. Almost immediately several offensive publications appeared, holding the New Fandom convention committee in a bad light for excluding several of the Futurians. Moskowitz recaps all the bad press they received, in some detail. But the convention was over, and the committee should have felt good about their great success. Instead, Moskowitz picks away at all the mentions, including one liners. Three months later, Moskowitz felt that the trio was being forced out of fandom. [uu] “Chapter XLIII: Breasting the Undertow” Burned out from all the fanac, the trio turned to silence and other, outside, interests during the three months following the convention. Moskowitz goes on at great length, reiterating all the arguments and history that had occurred up to this point. He seems mostly puzzled at the vituperative reaction by many who had attended the Nycon. Almost in passing, Moskowitz admits that most of the charges against the trio were true, and suggests that a constitution would keep New Fandom a viable group. But the handwriting was on the wall, New Fandom was destined to disappear. Fantasy News was being replaced by Tucker’s Le Zombie as the new focal point for fandom turned to Chicago and the midwest. [vv] “Chapter XLIV: The Second Philadelphia Conference” Politics and powerbroking. First up, should the last FAPA election be supported or repudiated. The conference voted to let it stand, but was again outmaneuvered by Wollheim who, as a part of the group and its founder, internally settled the matter. Next, New Fandom was repudiated and the organization of a new national fan group was suggested. Moskowitz tried to defend his position by announcing the formation of a constitution for New Fandom. Sykora read the new constitution. At one point of discussion, Wollheim shouted out that Sykora had lied. Sykora advanced on Wollheim, ready to fight. John V. Baltadonis, chairing the meeting, calmed everyone down. The constitution was put to a vote, and after much heckling by the Futurians, was approved. Moskowitz had prepared an article which was distributed at the conference, defending the New Fandom position at the Nycon. Many at the conference seemed persuaded to his point of view. Or so it seemed. But Moskowitz and Taurasi went overboard overstating their position in the next issue of Fantasy News. This upset many in attendance who repudiated both. The two had managed to sink themselves overnight. [ww] “Chapter XLV: The Illini Fantasy Fictioneers” Having spent too much time discussing his never-ending battle with the Futurians, Moskowitz now turns to what really happened next. Mark Reinsberg, then sixteen, had obtained the bid for the next world convention. Reinsberg was backed by his two friends, Meyer and Korshak. In seeming opposition was William Hamling, who was noted for his great temper, and superiority complex. The 18-year-old Hamling had reorganized the Chicago chapter of the SFL, and been elected director. Under his leadership, he had created a large organization, and felt he, and his group, were much better qualified to host the convention than just Reinsberg and his two friends. However, along with Tucker, the three formed the Illini Fantasy Fictioneers to sponsor the convention. After Hamling blew up, sending letters to Tucker and Wollheim stating his position, Reinsberg attended the next meeting of the Chicago SFL in October 1939, and offered choice positions in his organization to members if they supported the Illini bid. The Illini group was prepared for the Philadelphia conference, coming with the first issue of The Fantasy Fictioneer, containing their constitution. Tucker spoke before the group, stating categorically that they would not align with any national organization, or become involved in any fan feuds, but would go it alone. After the New Fandom constitution was approved, Moskowitz threw his support behind the group at the conference, but that was unnecessary, the group had made it clear they were going to do it by themselves. [xx] “Chapter XLVI: The Futurian Comeback” Moskowitz can not let it go, he returns to recap (again!) the events at the Nycon between the convention committee and the Futurians. In this chapter Moskowitz recounts in a derogatory manner the lifestyle of the Futurians in New York. After the convention, the group continued its sly campaign against New Fandom, with a positive support of the Chicago group. Moskowitz ends with the battle still waging between the two groups being eclipsed by the larger world war which had just begun in September 1939. [yy] “Epilogue” Moskowitz summarizes his attempt at history with a wish that it someday be completed. He mentions those areas where research is needed, specifically with British fandom. Moskowitz tries to end on the high ground, mentioning one last attempt to reconcile with Wollheim, an attempt that failed. ***Harry Warner, Jr. says that, “If read directly after a history of World War II, it does not seem like an anti-climax.” An unnamed fan is quoted in All Our Yesterdays as calling it, “Badly translated from the Slobbovian,” a problem SaM would have again and again with his prose over the years. Damon Knight devoted a short chapter of his book of criticism, In Search of Wonder, to The Immortal Storm. The title of the chapter was “Microscopic Moskowitz.” ***There’s a companion piece of sorts. It’s Jack Speer’s Up To Now, available in A Sense of FAPA, or as a stand-alone chapbook published by Arcturus Press in 1994. It’s Speer’s version of fannish history in the 1930s, and actually pre-dates Moskowitz’s book. However, read The Immortal Storm first for context and detail, otherwise the reader will become lost. Speer lacks those two main ingredients, but adds color where it is missing from this title. ***By far the most unobtainable fan history has been the first, Jack Speer’s 1939 Up To Now, published as the second in his six-issue “Full Length Articles” series that started in 1938 with Samuel Clemens’ “Scientifictionist” and concluded in 1965 (after a 17-year gap) with “The Breenigan After One Year.” As Speer notes in his introduction, this series was normally distributed only to FAPA but some extras were made of Up To Now to pass out at the first Worldcon in 1939. This would imply a total circulation of around 100 copies. ***The original publication was mimeographed (somewhat spottily) with cardstock front and rear covers, and was brad-bound rather than stapled. (I don’t know if this was because of the Staple Wars or the limitations of Jack’s stapler.) It has been reprinted twice in similarly limited quantities: as part of Dick Eney’s mammoth A Sense of FAPA in 1962 and as an attractive booklet by Richard Newsome in 1994. The latter’s colophon states that 100 copies were produced; no information is available on Eney’s print run.

***A must for any serious reader of the genre. ***First paperback edition: Hyperion, 1974, 269 pp., pa $3.50.

Walter R. Cole
1964—1964   

Walter R. Cole was a well-known New York City fan who was also a professional printer, and so published his own checklist.

1. 
Cole, Walter R[andall]
A Checklist of Science Fiction Anthologies
Walter R. Cole; New York, NY1964  xvi/374     8½ x 11     $7.50
1,000 copies printed, only 630 bound and sold.
Jacket by Tim Dumont.

Reference. ***Contents: [a] “Contents” (Pp. iv) As stated. [b] “Preface,” by Walter R. Cole. (Pp. v-vi). Lots of nice statistics. Cole mentions that the first science fiction anthology was published less than half a century before. 80% of the collections listed in this checklist were published in the last decade. 227 anthologies listed in this checklist, containing almost 2,700 stories. In this group Isaac Asimov leads with 56 stories anthologized, and Theodore Sturgeon is second, with 52 stories. Cole goes on to mention that the idea for this checklist was conceived when he started a series of articles for Gnome Press’ Science Fiction World (which see), but only one such article was printed. He includes a disclaimer regarding mistakes, and acknowledgement for all the help received. [c] “How to Hatch a Hassel” by Theodore Sturgeon. (Pp. vii-x). Sturgeon documents the struggle and search by Fletcher Pratt to define what science fiction and fantasy really are. Due to the myriad of definitions, all incomplete, Sturgeon hazards that Cole will soon reap the whirlwind of complaints and criticism because of this checklist. He goes on to identify some of the more extreme choices for inclusion and exclusion that Cole has made, and partially in answer, why he made these choices. [d] “How to Use the Checklist” (Pp. xi-xii). Cole reviews the four main subdivisions of this work, the format used, and special cases. The special cases include how he lists the original name the story was published under, or title of the story. [e]“Abbreviations Used in the Checklist” (Pp. xiii-xvi). The all important, and in this case, rather extensive, key. [f] “Anthology Listing by Title” (Pp. 1-8). A list of the 227 anthologies indexed. It is a long list, and perhaps the key to using this index. ***Alas, single author collections were excluded, a major flaw. [g] “Supplement: 1962-1963 Anthology Listing by Title” (Pp. 9-10). Contains a listing of just that, supplemental anthologies compiled after the main work was completed. [h] “The Index by Editors: Alphabetical Listing by Editor” (Pp. 11-90). Beginning with Aldiss, Brian through Zacherly. Given by editor, book, publisher, number of stories, pages, price, serial number, and date of publication. This is followed by a listing of those stories, given by title, author, first magazine appearance, month and year. [i] “The Index by Story Titles: Alphabetical Listing by Story” (Pp. 91-187). Beginning with “A. Botts and the Moebius Strip” through “∞”. Given by story title, author, magazine abbreviation, month/day/year, and magazine, with editor and year of publication. ***Of note: All new stories are so designated: ORIGINAL STORY. [j] “The Index by Authors: Alphabetical Author Listing” (Pp. 188-297). Beginning with Aandahl, Vance through Zirul, Arthur. Given by author (with cross-reference), story title, magazine abbreviation, month, year, followed by book title, editor, and publication date. [k] “The Index by Editors: Listing by Editors” (Pp. 298-315). Beginning with Aldiss, Brian through Wollheim, Donald A. Given by editor, book title, number of stories, pages, serial number, price, date of publication, and publisher. This is followed by the stories, listed in order, author, first magazine appearance, month and year. [l] “The Index by Story Titles: Listing by Story Titles: (Pp. 316-341). Beginning with “‘A’ as in Android” through “π and the Actuary.” Given as story title, author, magazine appearance, month and year. Followed by book title, editor and publication date. [m] “The Index by Authors: Alphabetical Author Listing” (Pp. 342-374). Beginning with Aandahl, Vance through Zhuravlyova, Valentina. Given as author, story title, magazine, month/day/year, followed by book title, editor and date of publication. ***Lists 227 anthologies, 2,700 stories and sources. Does not go beyond 1963, and does not list single author collections or weird fiction anthologies. ***Not merely a listing of the science fiction anthologies that have been published since 1927, it also lists the contents of these anthologies and details that cannot be found anywhere else. Every story in the anthologies was traced to its original source of publication and this data was transmitted in the Checklist. A total listing of over 200 science fiction anthologies together with the almost 2,700 stories that have appeared in these collections. Hundreds of authors, as well as their pseudonyms are represented. The Checklist was presented as a tool that should be used and not merely to be placed on the bookshelf to gather dust. ***This reference is highly recommended. It remains one of the single most useful such tools from this early era. The overall importance of the Checklist can not be overstated. ***Beyond a doubt, this often glossed over volume is a fundamental building block for any collector.

MITSFS
1965

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Science Fiction Society, while a college-oriented fan group, has non-collegians as well and is a pretty general group for nine months. Bibliographer Erwin Strauss began getting very impatient as Don Day’s long-awaited Index to SF Magazines Since 1950 failed to appear. Finally Strauss decided he’d have to do it himself. He and associates in the MITSFS and its year-round off-shoot, the BoSFS, got together and compiled the whole works with the aid of bibliographers around the world. They then put their results on individual IBM cards, sorted the cards three different ways, and the friendly 1401 of MIT printed an Index. The pages were then photocopied onto lithograph plates, and ran off. The print run was probably 1,500. Their previous publishing effort was The Blackdex and The Bluedex, which covered only six magazines but was actually computer printed. 200 of those were sold at $2.00. They also published a fanzine, The Twilight Zine.

1. 
Strauss, Erwin S. (compiled by and with Wisowaty, Marilyn Joyce)
The Blackdex and The Bluedex
MITSFS; Boston, MA 1965       232         $2.00
500 copies printed. 8½x11 in loose leaf.
Cover is text only.

Reference. ***Index to English language SF magazines 1951-64; Blackdex by title, and Bluedex by author. ***[a] “The Blackdex. Works Alphabetized by Title” [1] “Key” The key to the abbreviations used is given as well as the format. Given as author, story (serial number), page number, type (now universal symbols), month and year, and magazine. [2] “Preface” (One page, continued on the inside back cover.) An explanation of the need to carry on the work done by Donald Day in his Index (see above). An anecdotal explanation of how this index came about. This is followed by an apology for the limitation of the typography allowed by the IBM keypunch. [3] “Index by Title” Beginning with “A as in Android” through “Zookeeper, The”  ***Done in all caps, on one side of each page. To get to the Bluedex, you must flip it over. [b] “The Bluedex. Works Alphabetized by Author” [1] “Key” The key to the abbreviations used is given as well as the format. Given as author, story (serial number), page number, type (now universal symbols), month and year, and magazine. [2] “Preface” (One page, continued from the inside front cover.) [3] “Index by Author” Beginning with Aandahl, Vance through Zirul, Arthur. ***Done in all caps, on one side of each page. To get to the Blackdex, you must flip it over. ***A tremendous effort for its day. However, it is now much eclipsed by better computers, better software, and more complete indexes. ***A serious flaw is the use of all capitals throughout. ***Now only a collector’s item.   

2. 
Strauss, Erwin S. (compiled by)
The MIT Science Fiction Society’s Index to the S-F Magazines 1951-1965
MITSFS; Boston, MA 1966       iii/207           $8.00
500 copies printed. 8½x11
Cover is text only.

Reference. ***Contents: [a] “How to Use the Index” (Pp. i). An intricate coding scheme is explanation which relies on the keypunch used. This gives a number to each space in order to align the contents. Apologies are made for the limitations of the IBM 026 keypunch used. [b] “Author’s Introduction,” by Erwin S. Strauss. (Pp. ii). More explanations, this time for only indexing English language science fiction published in the United States. No foreign or weird magazines were indexed. The intent was to continue with the work begun in 1964 by this same group. [c] “Table of Contents” (Pp. iii). One major typo, for the sections on abbreviations, one way of reading could make the reader think that 1,207 abbreviations were used. [d] “Acknowledgements” (Pp. iii). Those people whose contributions were more significant, such as Walter Cole, are mentioned. [e] “Abbreviations Used in the Index” (Pp. 1). Beginning with Article through Weird World. Given as one to three characters due to the space limitations. The type is less than four points. It is practically unreadable. One must wonder why such a small type size was used. [f] “Listing by Magazines: Checklist of Magazines Indexed,” compiled by A.R. Lewis. (Pp. 1-11). Beginning with Amazing Stories through Worlds of Tomorrow. Given as magazine, month, year, volume, number, size, number of pages, front cover, artist, and back cover artist. ***The most valuable part of this checklist are the names of the artists. [g] “Listing by Magazines”(Pp. 12-77). Beginning with Carter, Ace through Moskowitz, Sam. Given as author, story title, page number, story type, month, year and magazine abbreviation. ***The use of all caps throughout diminishes the overall usefulness. [h] “Listing by Title” (Pp. 77-142). Beginning with “A as in Android” through “Zoological Specimen.” Given as author, story title, page number, story type, month, year and magazine abbreviation. ***Handy, but a magnifying glass is a must. [i] “Listing by Author” (Pp. 142-207). Beginning with Aandahl, Vance through Zuroy, Michael. Given as author, story title, page number, story type, month, year and magazine appearance. [j] “Abbreviations Used in the Index” (Pp. 207). Beginning with Article through Weird World. Given as one to three characters due to the space limitations. The type is less than four points. It is practically unreadable. One must wonder why such a small type size was used.  ***Essential for all SF/fantasy fans despite the weirdest listings system you’ve ever seen. ***A follow-up to Donald Day’s 1926-1950 index, this includes weird-fantasy magazines. It contains a chronological checklist of magazines, listing of contents by issue, and listing of stories by title and by author. This hard-cover volume succeeds the preliminary paper-covered Bluedex/Blackdex from the same compiler. Both versions are reproduced from computer printouts. A similar index for the same years was also compiled by Norman Metcalf.

3. 
Strauss, Erwin S. (compiled by)
The Index to the S-F Magazines 1966
MITSFS; Boston, MA 1967       56                $1.00
200 copies printed. 8½x11 offset and saddle-stitched.
Cover design by Strauss.

Reference. ***Contents: [a] “Table of Contents” (Pp. 2). Contains a paragraph of acknowledgements. [b] “Preface” (Pp. 2). Strauss indicates that this is a supplement to the Index to the SF Magazines: 1951-1965, and used the same coding. The reader is referred by Strauss to that volume for the key. [c] “Checklist of Magazines Indexed,” compiled by Dr. A.R. Lewis. (Pp. 3-6). Beginning with Amazing Stories through Worlds of Tomorrow. Given by magazine (with abbreviation), month, year, volume, number, size, page, and cover artist. [e] “Listing by Magazine” (Pp. 6-22). It takes a bit to get used to using. The format has the magazine on the far right. The story listing is not given in alphabetical order, or in page number order, but in a random order by issue. [f] “Listing by Title” (Pp. 22-39). Beginning with “Abnormals, The” through “Your Soul Comes C.O.D.” ***A much more useful section as it is alphabetical. [g] “Listing by Author” (Pp. 39-56). Beginning with Aldiss, Brian W. through Zelazny, Roger. Again, alphabetical and of some use. ***Overall the use of capitalization throughout is a serious flaw. The entire index has been done, better and more complete, since. Making this only a...collector’s item.

Odds and Ends: Checklist

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Promag cover scans courtesy Jacques Hamon Collection http://www.collectorshowcase.fr

Vonnegut is a case in point. In a year when his Sirens of Titan, an unbelievably adroit and inventive book, vastly superior to anything else even attempted that year, was published, the Hugo went to a second-class, inept, paucive, adolescent, hysterical piece of nonsense, strictly on the reputation of the author, who has done infinitely better work in the past.
                    —Harlan Ellison, The Double Bill Symposium, 1963-64