Transcribe
Translate
Centauri, issue 4, Summer 1945
Page 7
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
"THE GHOST" BIBLIOS COLLECTING HARRY WARNER, JR -THE UNNAMED- Once every so often, Joe Fann comes out with an article in which he describes his ideal fanzine, the fanzine that he would produce if he had ten hours leisure time daily, the editorial ability of Whit Burnett, Hugo Gernsback, and Forrest J Ackerman combined, all the money in the world, and his choice of the cream of fan writing. Well, that ideal fanzine, or something very close to it, actually exists, and I have a copy! The strange part of it all is that it wasn't put out by a "fan". If you don't belong to the NAPA and other amateur journalism groups, you've probably never heard of W. Paul Cook, North Montpelier, Vermont, whose fanzine output has totaled three issues of two magazines in the last two or three decades. But it's doubtful whether, for sheer perfection of format and literary excellence of content, anything published by a fan has ever equalled the second issue of The Ghost, only recently distributed mostly to the general ayjays. It contains 42 8 1/2X11 pages, each of them superbly and faultlessly printed by a man who is an amateur in the French sense of that word ---- a lover of his hobby. Contents consist of just four items ---- but what items! Tops for fans, probably, would be E. Hoffman Price's article, which seems intended to be the first of a series of reminiscences, being entitled Chapter One of "The Book of the Dead". It is devoted to Farnsworth Wright and is, as far as I know, the only published article of any length or worth in existence about the man who for nearly 20 years kept the contemporary weird tale alive in this country. There are two poems, "Winter Night" by Vrest Orton, and the definitely fantastic, lengthy, "The Wehr Wolf" by John Edward Colburn. And occupying the remaining half of the magazine is a "Conversation" in the form of a play "The Sphinx", by the famous Weird Tales writer of the other days, Samuel Loveman, a wonder piece of word-witchery. Incidentally, part of the material for this issue of "The Ghost" was originally scheduled to appear in the second issue of Cook's "The Recluse", which is now almost 15 years late and may, I suspect ,never appear. Once in a while, a fan comes up with a brilliant idea for a fan-participation project, which would be a wonderful thing if it weren't so dreadfully complex, time-consuming, and dependent upon the participation of a vast number of fans. Here is, however, an idea that is already underway, suitable for the fan who has little spare time, yet not well publicized outside of the FAPA. It is simply an attempt to standardize the reviews of stf., weird, and fantasy books that appear so frequently in fanzines, and permit the gathering together of such reviews into a single
Saving...
prev
next
"THE GHOST" BIBLIOS COLLECTING HARRY WARNER, JR -THE UNNAMED- Once every so often, Joe Fann comes out with an article in which he describes his ideal fanzine, the fanzine that he would produce if he had ten hours leisure time daily, the editorial ability of Whit Burnett, Hugo Gernsback, and Forrest J Ackerman combined, all the money in the world, and his choice of the cream of fan writing. Well, that ideal fanzine, or something very close to it, actually exists, and I have a copy! The strange part of it all is that it wasn't put out by a "fan". If you don't belong to the NAPA and other amateur journalism groups, you've probably never heard of W. Paul Cook, North Montpelier, Vermont, whose fanzine output has totaled three issues of two magazines in the last two or three decades. But it's doubtful whether, for sheer perfection of format and literary excellence of content, anything published by a fan has ever equalled the second issue of The Ghost, only recently distributed mostly to the general ayjays. It contains 42 8 1/2X11 pages, each of them superbly and faultlessly printed by a man who is an amateur in the French sense of that word ---- a lover of his hobby. Contents consist of just four items ---- but what items! Tops for fans, probably, would be E. Hoffman Price's article, which seems intended to be the first of a series of reminiscences, being entitled Chapter One of "The Book of the Dead". It is devoted to Farnsworth Wright and is, as far as I know, the only published article of any length or worth in existence about the man who for nearly 20 years kept the contemporary weird tale alive in this country. There are two poems, "Winter Night" by Vrest Orton, and the definitely fantastic, lengthy, "The Wehr Wolf" by John Edward Colburn. And occupying the remaining half of the magazine is a "Conversation" in the form of a play "The Sphinx", by the famous Weird Tales writer of the other days, Samuel Loveman, a wonder piece of word-witchery. Incidentally, part of the material for this issue of "The Ghost" was originally scheduled to appear in the second issue of Cook's "The Recluse", which is now almost 15 years late and may, I suspect ,never appear. Once in a while, a fan comes up with a brilliant idea for a fan-participation project, which would be a wonderful thing if it weren't so dreadfully complex, time-consuming, and dependent upon the participation of a vast number of fans. Here is, however, an idea that is already underway, suitable for the fan who has little spare time, yet not well publicized outside of the FAPA. It is simply an attempt to standardize the reviews of stf., weird, and fantasy books that appear so frequently in fanzines, and permit the gathering together of such reviews into a single
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
