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Fantasite, v. 1, issue 5, September 1941

Page 24

and pulling a Conan Doyle by killing off his infamous hero. "The Man Who Lived" is an unusually well-written little story with a trite ending. Good Brundage cover.

Unknown: October. Ha! The new large size is the stuff. Format not as neat as Blue Book, perhaps, but definitely on the plus side. I started the lead story, determined not to like it, because of an overabundance of DeCamp lately, which is rather like an overabundance of peppermint candy -- it cloys your taste eventually. However, this had its serious moments, and on the whole it rather appealed to me. But it's hardly worth your while if you have something better to do. The climax was rather puzzling, tho not as much so as Hubbard's story, leaving several points unexplained. This seems to be open season on sloppy endings. Bobby Bloch is thoroly delightful; don't miss his lovely little novelette of a knight in modern times who got tangled up with a truck farmer, who in turn was tangled up with the protection racket -- the wrong end. Beautiful. Cartmill and Hubbard are best in the shorts, and "Smoke Ghost" is good. We're astonished that Campbell would print a story as melodramatically and poorly written as "Prescience". "The Dolphin's Doubloons" is chiefly remarkable for a villain that sneers. the first I've ever seen in Unknown. Good ending, tho. Can't understand why all the fuss over Nostradamus, whose ambiguous and remarkably unspecific prophesies are just beautifully vague enuf to be fitted to any situation. Oh, well, if it enables article writers to live...Kuttner gets away from demons long enough to tell an amusing story of a labor organizer among gnomes. Bests: ties -- "A Good Knight's Work". by Bloch, and "Borrowed Glory" by Hubbard. Worst: "Finger! Finger!", which wasn't really stinky; just too average for comment.

FANZINES

Musts ---

STARLIGHT: Spring. This thing inspired a "Gluckle!" of breathless surprise when it was first brought out of the envelope. Which, I thot, was a very clever comment under the circumstances. Seriously, STARLIGHT is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. A splendid piece of work that deserves the heartiest commendation of fandom. The paper is 24 lb bond, and the cover stock is 36 lb which is exactly, plug, the weight of that used every issue on the covers of the SOUTHERN STAR, unplug. The cover is fairly good, especially considering that it was done directly on the stencil, and the interior Hunt is not only a beautiful pic, but a masterly stenciling job, by the olde master stencilere himself, Tom Wrighte. The format is quite unexcelled, the mimeoing is perfect and the interior art work is lovely -- with the exception of the gloriously lousy Bush horror -- and the entire magazine a really remarkable job. Unfortunately, there are no extra copies left, and if you missed out on it, you've also missed one of the best fanzines every issued. Pardon me, the best looking fanzine ever issued. Congratulations, Tom and Joe, on a truly fine fine fanzine!

Saving...

and pulling a Conan Doyle by killing off his infamous hero. "The Man Who Lived" is an unusually well-written little story with a trite ending. Good Brundage cover. Unknown: October. Ha! The new large size is the stuff. Format not as neat as Blue Book, perhaps, but definitely on the plus side. I started the lead story, determined not to like it, because of an overabundance of DeCamp lately, which is rather like an overabundance of peppermint candy -- it cloys your taste eventually. However, this had its serious moments, and on the whole it rather appealed to me. But it's hardly worth your while if you have something better to do. The climax was rather puzzling, tho not as much so as Hubbard's story, leaving several points unexplained. This seems to be open season on sloppy endings. Bobby Bloch is thoroly delightful; don't miss his lovely little novelette of a knight in modern times who got tangled up with a truck farmer, who in turn was tangled up with the protection racket -- the wrong end. Beautiful. Cartmill and Hubbard are best in the shorts, and "Smoke Ghost" is good. We're astonished that Campbell would print a story as melodramatically and poorly written as "Prescience". "The Dolphin's Doubloons" is chiefly remarkable for a villain that sneers. the first I've ever seen in Unknown. Good ending, tho. Can't understand why all the fuss over Nostradamus, whose ambiguous and remarkably unspecific prophesies are just beautifully vague enuf to be fitted to any situation. Oh, well, if it enables article writers to live...Kuttner gets away from demons long enough to tell an amusing story of a labor organizer among gnomes. Bests: ties -- "A Good Knight's Work". by Bloch, and "Borrowed Glory" by Hubbard. Worst: "Finger! Finger!", which wasn't really stinky; just too average for comment. FANZINES Musts --- STARLIGHT: Spring. This thing inspired a "Gluckle!" of breathless surprise when it was first brought out of the envelope. Which, I thot, was a very clever comment under the circumstances. Seriously, STARLIGHT is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. A splendid piece of work that deserves the heartiest commendation of fandom. The paper is 24 lb bond, and the cover stock is 36 lb which is exactly, plug, the weight of that used every issue on the covers of the SOUTHERN STAR, unplug. The cover is fairly good, especially considering that it was done directly on the stencil, and the interior Hunt is not only a beautiful pic, but a masterly stenciling job, by the olde master stencilere himself, Tom Wrighte. The format is quite unexcelled, the mimeoing is perfect and the interior art work is lovely -- with the exception of the gloriously lousy Bush horror -- and the entire magazine a really remarkable job. Unfortunately, there are no extra copies left, and if you missed out on it, you've also missed one of the best fanzines every issued. Pardon me, the best looking fanzine ever issued. Congratulations, Tom and Joe, on a truly fine fine fanzine!