DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Vampire, whole no. 8, December 1946

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Vampire, whole no. 8, December 1946

Page 8

brings us right back to the question of food. Quote: "'I took him ((the Centaur)) his breakfast -- a big bowl o'milk and a loaf o'new bread. for he lets me know what he wants plain enough...'" Well, that puts us back where we started from. There just doesn't seem to be an explanation. It may be true that horses can eat the same things that humans do, and exist on it, but they would have to eat a prodigious amount of food to do it. And as the man in the story says, the centaur evidently knew what he wanted. ((Can a horse live on human food? Are there any farmers in the audience? How about it, Alpaugh? -- ed.))

Let's consider another aspect of it. The boozing angle. They all seemed to like the stuff, but none of them could hold his liquor very well. Again from The Centaur Passes we have "'Will you permit me to finish my beer, Sir John?' said the Centaur, visibly under its cheerful influence." And Dick, Murray Sheehan's centaur, was not against the stuff. As a matter of fact, he hurt his leg in one part of the story when he was stinking drunk. The centaurs of James Branch Cabell (with the one in Jurgen a noteworthy example) were generally under the weather while the one in The Wife of the Centaur, by Cyril Hume, went out on a roaring toot. All in all, the best behaved centaur was Algernon Blackwood's (The Centaur). That poor thing led a very dull life, however. As far as that goes, he shouldn't even be mentioned in connection with our other red-blooded stumblebums. 

Of all these, Murray Sheehan's Dick was the only one to come to a happy ending. And he did it only by forgetting his Godly creation and becoming one of the town loafers. This all was supposed to happen in Missouri, in case you are interested. I guess it all depends on your subject, the authors seemed to have a nasty habit of killing off their centaurs, just as they do their supermen (Odd John, Thus Far, The New Adam), their intelligent dogs (Sirius), their alien races (The War of the Worlds, Last and First Men), and their villains (you can name your own on this one). Yep, it's a sad state of affairs that the poor centaurs couldn't do better than they did.

All in all the lot of the mythical characters was not a happy one. The centaurs always get killed off, although they do seem to have a hell of a good time while they are alive. 

In conclusion -- I, for one, would like to see many more stories of this creature. He seems to be neglected when you consider his half-brothers, the werewolves, vampires, unicorns, etc. And to finish on a note of damn foolishness, in the public library in Nashville they have under the heading of CENTAUR: The Stray Lamb, by Thorne Smith. Evidently the librarian's idea of a centaur is the episode in which Mr. Lamb turned into a horse. Huuuumm -- that might explain the beginning of the modern centaur legend. Now lemme check on that one ---

VAMPIRE DEPARTMENT OF WITHHELD EVIDENCE

Many a fan, probably, got a chuckle out of The Observatory in the January Amazing wherein Rap -- or whoever wrote the editorial -- refers to some pot-boiler as "an example of the new type of fiction that is sweeping the country, even attracting the attention of literature magazines like Harper's..." The fact that Harper's handed the Shaver saga a terrific panning just doesn't rate.

Saving...

brings us right back to the question of food. Quote: "'I took him ((the Centaur)) his breakfast -- a big bowl o'milk and a loaf o'new bread. for he lets me know what he wants plain enough...'" Well, that puts us back where we started from. There just doesn't seem to be an explanation. It may be true that horses can eat the same things that humans do, and exist on it, but they would have to eat a prodigious amount of food to do it. And as the man in the story says, the centaur evidently knew what he wanted. ((Can a horse live on human food? Are there any farmers in the audience? How about it, Alpaugh? -- ed.)) Let's consider another aspect of it. The boozing angle. They all seemed to like the stuff, but none of them could hold his liquor very well. Again from The Centaur Passes we have "'Will you permit me to finish my beer, Sir John?' said the Centaur, visibly under its cheerful influence." And Dick, Murray Sheehan's centaur, was not against the stuff. As a matter of fact, he hurt his leg in one part of the story when he was stinking drunk. The centaurs of James Branch Cabell (with the one in Jurgen a noteworthy example) were generally under the weather while the one in The Wife of the Centaur, by Cyril Hume, went out on a roaring toot. All in all, the best behaved centaur was Algernon Blackwood's (The Centaur). That poor thing led a very dull life, however. As far as that goes, he shouldn't even be mentioned in connection with our other red-blooded stumblebums. Of all these, Murray Sheehan's Dick was the only one to come to a happy ending. And he did it only by forgetting his Godly creation and becoming one of the town loafers. This all was supposed to happen in Missouri, in case you are interested. I guess it all depends on your subject, the authors seemed to have a nasty habit of killing off their centaurs, just as they do their supermen (Odd John, Thus Far, The New Adam), their intelligent dogs (Sirius), their alien races (The War of the Worlds, Last and First Men), and their villains (you can name your own on this one). Yep, it's a sad state of affairs that the poor centaurs couldn't do better than they did. All in all the lot of the mythical characters was not a happy one. The centaurs always get killed off, although they do seem to have a hell of a good time while they are alive. In conclusion -- I, for one, would like to see many more stories of this creature. He seems to be neglected when you consider his half-brothers, the werewolves, vampires, unicorns, etc. And to finish on a note of damn foolishness, in the public library in Nashville they have under the heading of CENTAUR: The Stray Lamb, by Thorne Smith. Evidently the librarian's idea of a centaur is the episode in which Mr. Lamb turned into a horse. Huuuumm -- that might explain the beginning of the modern centaur legend. Now lemme check on that one --- VAMPIRE DEPARTMENT OF WITHHELD EVIDENCE Many a fan, probably, got a chuckle out of The Observatory in the January Amazing wherein Rap -- or whoever wrote the editorial -- refers to some pot-boiler as "an example of the new type of fiction that is sweeping the country, even attracting the attention of literature magazines like Harper's..." The fact that Harper's handed the Shaver saga a terrific panning just doesn't rate.