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Fantascience Digest, v. 2, issue 5, July-September, 1939

Page 24

FANTASCIENCE DIGEST  Page 24

Howard V. Brown, cover artist of present-day s-f magazines, was doing the covers and a swell job he made of them!
     To come back to the subject. H.G. Wells' reprints were running fairly regularly. Then Gernsback got a new idea. He created an imaginary article with faked photographs of a trip through space. It was represented on the cover of one of the issues and called "THE STELLAR MISSILE". April, 1923 found the appearance of George Allan England's "THE THING FROM OUTSIDE". Then Uncle Hugo pulled the greatest surprise of all. He published a special Scientifiction issue of SCIENCE AND INVENTION, dated August, 1923. The announcement of the special nature of this issue was printed on the cover in 1 1/2 inch type. The cover itself illustrated one of the stories. Here's how the scientific fiction section of the contents page was printed:

COVER ---- HOWARD V. BROWN
"THE MAN FROM THE ATOM" --cover story--  G. PEYTON WERTENBACKER
"DR. HACKENSAW'S SECRETS" --"Super Telescope" -- CLEMENT FEXANDIE
"AROUND THE UNIVERSE" --part two--  RAY CUMMINGS
"THE ELECTRIC DUEL" -- HUGO GERNSBACK
"ADVANCED CHEMISTRY" -- JACK HUEKELS
"VANISHING MOVIES" -- TED J. HOLMAN

     Notice the number of stories later reprinted in AMAZING STORIES. That issue was the peak of stf interest in S&I. After that the usual "DR. HACKENSAW'S SECRETS" and regular serials made up most of the stf contents. There was one other production along the line of "THE STELLAR MISSILE." It was a faked, humorous, group of photographs on the life and habits of the Martians. To mention all the other stories that appeared in S&I would consume too much space. Included among them were; "TARRANO THE CONQUERER", "INTO THE FOURTH DIMENSION", and of course, "THE METAL EMPEROR" by A. Merritt. "INTO THE FOURTH DIMENSION" was later reprinted in a Japanese magazine, illustrations and all, which by they way, were always by Paul.
     You will probably say, "What of "PRACTICAL ELECTRICS"? This magazine continued its wayward course and eventually changed its name to THE EXPERIMENTER. The stories published in THE EXPERIMENTER were not very important, with the exception of a new series of "DR. HACKENSAW'S SECRETS" and the marvelous "ARK OF THE COVENANT" by Victor MacClure, which was published in EIGHTEEN parts, and later reprinted in the first few issues of AIR WONDER STORIES. All this and more, believe it or not, was carried out b̲e̲f̲o̲r̲e̲ 1926, and by o̲n̲e̲ publishers.

N̲O̲T̲I̲C̲E̲

     The H.P. Lovecraft Memorial Volume is just about ready to go to press. However, the response thus far has been very discouraging and the publishers stand to lose quite a sum of money unless many, many more HPL fans respond with a subscription to the book. Surely this is a project worth supporting. Remember, this may be your only chance to help HPL go down in history, along with Poe, Verne, Wells, and one or two other masters of fantasy. The price of the book is $3.50 i̲f you order before publication, and $5 if you order after publication. Address all communications to August W. Derleth, Sauk City, Wisconsin.

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FANTASCIENCE DIGEST Page 24 Howard V. Brown, cover artist of present-day s-f magazines, was doing the covers and a swell job he made of them! To come back to the subject. H.G. Wells' reprints were running fairly regularly. Then Gernsback got a new idea. He created an imaginary article with faked photographs of a trip through space. It was represented on the cover of one of the issues and called "THE STELLAR MISSILE". April, 1923 found the appearance of George Allan England's "THE THING FROM OUTSIDE". Then Uncle Hugo pulled the greatest surprise of all. He published a special Scientifiction issue of SCIENCE AND INVENTION, dated August, 1923. The announcement of the special nature of this issue was printed on the cover in 1 1/2 inch type. The cover itself illustrated one of the stories. Here's how the scientific fiction section of the contents page was printed: COVER ---- HOWARD V. BROWN "THE MAN FROM THE ATOM" --cover story-- G. PEYTON WERTENBACKER "DR. HACKENSAW'S SECRETS" --"Super Telescope" -- CLEMENT FEXANDIE "AROUND THE UNIVERSE" --part two-- RAY CUMMINGS "THE ELECTRIC DUEL" -- HUGO GERNSBACK "ADVANCED CHEMISTRY" -- JACK HUEKELS "VANISHING MOVIES" -- TED J. HOLMAN Notice the number of stories later reprinted in AMAZING STORIES. That issue was the peak of stf interest in S&I. After that the usual "DR. HACKENSAW'S SECRETS" and regular serials made up most of the stf contents. There was one other production along the line of "THE STELLAR MISSILE." It was a faked, humorous, group of photographs on the life and habits of the Martians. To mention all the other stories that appeared in S&I would consume too much space. Included among them were; "TARRANO THE CONQUERER", "INTO THE FOURTH DIMENSION", and of course, "THE METAL EMPEROR" by A. Merritt. "INTO THE FOURTH DIMENSION" was later reprinted in a Japanese magazine, illustrations and all, which by they way, were always by Paul. You will probably say, "What of "PRACTICAL ELECTRICS"? This magazine continued its wayward course and eventually changed its name to THE EXPERIMENTER. The stories published in THE EXPERIMENTER were not very important, with the exception of a new series of "DR. HACKENSAW'S SECRETS" and the marvelous "ARK OF THE COVENANT" by Victor MacClure, which was published in EIGHTEEN parts, and later reprinted in the first few issues of AIR WONDER STORIES. All this and more, believe it or not, was carried out b̲e̲f̲o̲r̲e̲ 1926, and by o̲n̲e̲ publishers. N̲O̲T̲I̲C̲E̲ The H.P. Lovecraft Memorial Volume is just about ready to go to press. However, the response thus far has been very discouraging and the publishers stand to lose quite a sum of money unless many, many more HPL fans respond with a subscription to the book. Surely this is a project worth supporting. Remember, this may be your only chance to help HPL go down in history, along with Poe, Verne, Wells, and one or two other masters of fantasy. The price of the book is $3.50 i̲f you order before publication, and $5 if you order after publication. Address all communications to August W. Derleth, Sauk City, Wisconsin.