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Fantasite, v. 1, issue 5, September 1941

Page 21

Recommended (?) Reading by Bob Tucker

Take particular note of the question mark in the brackets -- (I say brackets because the word is so much easier to spell than parentheses) -- in the Heading of this stanza. The book about to be discussed is questionable. To be or not to be fantasy, the authors said to themselves, and they had a hard time deciding. As it finally turns out, it is in the sense that three characters have everlasting life (well, almost), and it is not in that the sexual element was deliberately played up to boost sales, for which I blame the authors not one whit. They were working on the royalty basis undoubtedly, and every trick means a dime.

There are really three books in the series, each book is the life story of each of the three characters mentioned. The first book, "My First Two Thousand Years" is the tale of the Wandering Jew, the same lad who pops up every now and then in the promags. "Karpen, the Jew" in Gnaedinger's very first Famous Fantastic is the latest instance I've read. ((Ed's Note: there was also another Wandering Jew story in a fairly recent Planet, we believe)) "My First Two Thousand Years" is by George Viereck & Paul Eldridge. It sells pretty well, too, my copy is of the eighth printing (November 1929) from the Macaulay Co., New York.

Described as the autobiography of the Wandering Jew, the authors tie no reins to Mr. Isaac Laquedem nor to their imaginations, and poor Isaac is responsible for everything from philandering with Pilate's wife to organizing and financing Mussolini's blackshirt march on Rome, not to mention giving tacit support to a chap named Lenin, a Russian gentleman who seeks to displace the government there for some reason.

You are probably familiar with the legendary beginning of the Jew. From there, our Isaac begins his upward climb, progressing from palace to palace, from ancient city to ancient city, and it must be mentioned that seldom (if every) did he sleep in his own bed, or if he did, certainly not alone. Which is why I included the question mark in the heading. I am thinking of Joe Fann, aged thirteen, who might be led astray by the volume. Isaac wanders on, in time meeting two other characters somewhat superior to himself in that they cannot die, while he of course is limited to an unnamed life span. The first is Salome who has been on the scene a long time before him; the second is a not-too-intelligent chap from Africa. According to the somewhat befuddled intelligence, I deduce that this third party originated in a white African tribe and because of a secret potion he once swiped and swigged from a local priest, cannot die.

The African believes Isaac is God, or what passes for God in his mental world and forthwith becomes his slave. Together they set off to roam the world and the ages, ever on the trail of Salome, whom Isaac hopes to marry. They meet most of the big shots of history, Nero, Faustina,

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Recommended (?) Reading by Bob Tucker Take particular note of the question mark in the brackets -- (I say brackets because the word is so much easier to spell than parentheses) -- in the Heading of this stanza. The book about to be discussed is questionable. To be or not to be fantasy, the authors said to themselves, and they had a hard time deciding. As it finally turns out, it is in the sense that three characters have everlasting life (well, almost), and it is not in that the sexual element was deliberately played up to boost sales, for which I blame the authors not one whit. They were working on the royalty basis undoubtedly, and every trick means a dime. There are really three books in the series, each book is the life story of each of the three characters mentioned. The first book, "My First Two Thousand Years" is the tale of the Wandering Jew, the same lad who pops up every now and then in the promags. "Karpen, the Jew" in Gnaedinger's very first Famous Fantastic is the latest instance I've read. ((Ed's Note: there was also another Wandering Jew story in a fairly recent Planet, we believe)) "My First Two Thousand Years" is by George Viereck & Paul Eldridge. It sells pretty well, too, my copy is of the eighth printing (November 1929) from the Macaulay Co., New York. Described as the autobiography of the Wandering Jew, the authors tie no reins to Mr. Isaac Laquedem nor to their imaginations, and poor Isaac is responsible for everything from philandering with Pilate's wife to organizing and financing Mussolini's blackshirt march on Rome, not to mention giving tacit support to a chap named Lenin, a Russian gentleman who seeks to displace the government there for some reason. You are probably familiar with the legendary beginning of the Jew. From there, our Isaac begins his upward climb, progressing from palace to palace, from ancient city to ancient city, and it must be mentioned that seldom (if every) did he sleep in his own bed, or if he did, certainly not alone. Which is why I included the question mark in the heading. I am thinking of Joe Fann, aged thirteen, who might be led astray by the volume. Isaac wanders on, in time meeting two other characters somewhat superior to himself in that they cannot die, while he of course is limited to an unnamed life span. The first is Salome who has been on the scene a long time before him; the second is a not-too-intelligent chap from Africa. According to the somewhat befuddled intelligence, I deduce that this third party originated in a white African tribe and because of a secret potion he once swiped and swigged from a local priest, cannot die. The African believes Isaac is God, or what passes for God in his mental world and forthwith becomes his slave. Together they set off to roam the world and the ages, ever on the trail of Salome, whom Isaac hopes to marry. They meet most of the big shots of history, Nero, Faustina,