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Variant, v. 1, issue 2, whole no. 2, May 1947

Page 19

May 1947   VARIANT   Page 19

FANTAGLIMMERINGS
By
Robert A. Madle

Hard cover books seem to have replaced the magazines among many of the more mature groups of fans. in recent months quite a few new book companies have been organized, and most of them are doing exceptionally well in their efforts to permanently preserve the best of fantasy and science fiction. Of course, the original one was Arkham House, formed back in 1939 by August W. Derleth and Donald Wandrie. Although the road was rather rocky for the first few years, Arkham eventually developed into a major publishing concern.

Tom Hadley was the next to indulge in this rather risky business, but apparently has done rather well with his three offerings THE SKYLARK OF SPACE, THE TIME STREAM, and, the recently issued story of Van Vogt's, THE WEAPON MAKERS. Lloyd A. Eshbach, veteran fan and author teamed up with Hadley for awhile, but later formed his own organization, Fantasy Press. Eshbach's sole offering to date, SPACEHOUNDS OF IPC, was a commendable job. Eshbach states that his next book, THE LEGION OF SPACE will have something that has not been done before in s-f books. Another successfully operating group is our own Philly organization, Prime Press. Their initial publication, THE MISLAID CHARM, by Alexandar Phillips, is undoubtedly in your hands by this time. They seem to be sparing no expense in their efforts to provide fandom with well printed and bound books. Trover Hall is another one new; They published pages and pages of advertising, but their first book, PUZZLE BOX, does not compare favorably with those issued by other concerns, mainly because of its extremely small size. They will probably do better with their second publication, JOURNEY IN THE DARK, which is advertised as a novel. Then, of course, there is the New Collector's Group, which has published one of the A.J. Merritt's incompleted works, finished by Hannes Bok. They have another Merritt coming up in the near future, also a completed sequel to THE MOON POOL not to mention an unpublished novel by Olaf Stapledon.

Don Grant's Pegasus Publications is coming up with a batch Novels by Thomas P. Kelley mostly reprinted from Weird Tales. Then there is an unconfirmed rumor of a West Coast group bringing out Garrett P. Serviss's CONQUEST OF MARS. Three are rumors of other ones going around, so don't be surprised at anything.

I recently heard from Neil R. Jones, well-known for his famous Professor Jameson series in the old Amazing Stories. He now has his own organization known as Interplanetary Games, and is about to place something of real interest to science fiction fans on the market. You will hear more about this in the near future as Mr.

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May 1947 VARIANT Page 19 FANTAGLIMMERINGS By Robert A. Madle Hard cover books seem to have replaced the magazines among many of the more mature groups of fans. in recent months quite a few new book companies have been organized, and most of them are doing exceptionally well in their efforts to permanently preserve the best of fantasy and science fiction. Of course, the original one was Arkham House, formed back in 1939 by August W. Derleth and Donald Wandrie. Although the road was rather rocky for the first few years, Arkham eventually developed into a major publishing concern. Tom Hadley was the next to indulge in this rather risky business, but apparently has done rather well with his three offerings THE SKYLARK OF SPACE, THE TIME STREAM, and, the recently issued story of Van Vogt's, THE WEAPON MAKERS. Lloyd A. Eshbach, veteran fan and author teamed up with Hadley for awhile, but later formed his own organization, Fantasy Press. Eshbach's sole offering to date, SPACEHOUNDS OF IPC, was a commendable job. Eshbach states that his next book, THE LEGION OF SPACE will have something that has not been done before in s-f books. Another successfully operating group is our own Philly organization, Prime Press. Their initial publication, THE MISLAID CHARM, by Alexandar Phillips, is undoubtedly in your hands by this time. They seem to be sparing no expense in their efforts to provide fandom with well printed and bound books. Trover Hall is another one new; They published pages and pages of advertising, but their first book, PUZZLE BOX, does not compare favorably with those issued by other concerns, mainly because of its extremely small size. They will probably do better with their second publication, JOURNEY IN THE DARK, which is advertised as a novel. Then, of course, there is the New Collector's Group, which has published one of the A.J. Merritt's incompleted works, finished by Hannes Bok. They have another Merritt coming up in the near future, also a completed sequel to THE MOON POOL not to mention an unpublished novel by Olaf Stapledon. Don Grant's Pegasus Publications is coming up with a batch Novels by Thomas P. Kelley mostly reprinted from Weird Tales. Then there is an unconfirmed rumor of a West Coast group bringing out Garrett P. Serviss's CONQUEST OF MARS. Three are rumors of other ones going around, so don't be surprised at anything. I recently heard from Neil R. Jones, well-known for his famous Professor Jameson series in the old Amazing Stories. He now has his own organization known as Interplanetary Games, and is about to place something of real interest to science fiction fans on the market. You will hear more about this in the near future as Mr.