DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Le Zombie, whole no. 44, November-December 1941

Transcribe
Translate

Le Zombie, whole no. 44, November-December 1941

Page 8

8

DEPT'S OF THE INTERIOR
by the sec'y

WAR DEPT: When we were over in Canada a few weeks ago we found ourselves in what we believed was "the real thing" --- a first-hand touch with the war. It didn't impress us much. Uniforms, posters, rationing, things like that. It seemed too far away and un-personal.
We had never really got worked up about our fellow fans in Britain, either. Oh, we knew, or thought we knew, what they were going thru; admired the way they took it. looked with wonder at the continuance of their fanzines   --and that promag, Tales of Wonder. (See LeZ for Sept. 1941, page 6); why, some of us even organized a "Science fiction bundles for Britain" for those fans who were weathering some unpleasantness. One or two of we editors mailed them our fanzines. Just a few.
And then on Sunday, Dec. 7th, it came home. To us. It was all quite shocking until we happened to remember that British fans have lived with it since Sept. 1939. But how different it seemed to read about ... let us say Ted Carnell's house in London ... being beneath the wheels of an enemy bomber, only to find that San Francisco fans shared a similar experience. It jolted home, then. Hard.
Fandom and war are about as far apart as the poles; so vastly unrelated to each other that one is almost apt to laugh when he reads someone in fandom "worrying about what is going to happen to fandom." But such is the case, altho our interest isn't so much "worry" as it is speculation on the state of things to be.
Consider our fanzines. Take a good look at those about you for it is certain you won't be seeing many of them, ere long. That is a flat statement we will stick to. Fans will fold up their mimeographs for a score of reasons. We expect the coming acute shortage of stencils will be the foremost reason. Conscription will be the second reason. Lack of heretofore-free time (taken up by various kinds of defense work), will be the third. And the fourth may surprise you, but: some fans,  we expect, will use the war as an excuse to fold up fanzines they no longer cared to publish anyway. It will be a very neat excuse, you know. 
Which brings us to those fanzines that will continue as long as possible. Expect reductions (some drastic, perhaps) in their size and publication schedule. Fifty page gala issues will probably become a thing of the past. About LeZ? Frankly, we don't know. This is too early to state. Five photos of the Michigan conference which were to appear on this page have been scrapped; we're putting the money into stencils instead. We believe our three-section anniversary issue will appear as planned, altho there won't be as many pages nor photographs as we had originally planned. So that is that.
Remaining concern of the moment is the welfare of Dan Wade, only fan (to our knowledge) in Hawaii. Military censorship forbids newspapers from publishing locations of individuals in service; so why should we stick our neck out? Previous to being drafted Dan lived in Washington state. 
So it came home. Now we can understand a bit more fully what the Britishers mean when they say "the enemy."

COMIC STRIP DEPT: The Chicago Sun, that city's new newspaper, began its first Sunday edition (Dec. 7) "John Carter of Mars", drawn in color of course, by John Coleman Burroughs. This first chapter deals with his transition to Mars, after the Indian fight. United Features handles it.

Saving...

8 DEPT'S OF THE INTERIOR by the sec'y WAR DEPT: When we were over in Canada a few weeks ago we found ourselves in what we believed was "the real thing" --- a first-hand touch with the war. It didn't impress us much. Uniforms, posters, rationing, things like that. It seemed too far away and un-personal. We had never really got worked up about our fellow fans in Britain, either. Oh, we knew, or thought we knew, what they were going thru; admired the way they took it. looked with wonder at the continuance of their fanzines --and that promag, Tales of Wonder. (See LeZ for Sept. 1941, page 6); why, some of us even organized a "Science fiction bundles for Britain" for those fans who were weathering some unpleasantness. One or two of we editors mailed them our fanzines. Just a few. And then on Sunday, Dec. 7th, it came home. To us. It was all quite shocking until we happened to remember that British fans have lived with it since Sept. 1939. But how different it seemed to read about ... let us say Ted Carnell's house in London ... being beneath the wheels of an enemy bomber, only to find that San Francisco fans shared a similar experience. It jolted home, then. Hard. Fandom and war are about as far apart as the poles; so vastly unrelated to each other that one is almost apt to laugh when he reads someone in fandom "worrying about what is going to happen to fandom." But such is the case, altho our interest isn't so much "worry" as it is speculation on the state of things to be. Consider our fanzines. Take a good look at those about you for it is certain you won't be seeing many of them, ere long. That is a flat statement we will stick to. Fans will fold up their mimeographs for a score of reasons. We expect the coming acute shortage of stencils will be the foremost reason. Conscription will be the second reason. Lack of heretofore-free time (taken up by various kinds of defense work), will be the third. And the fourth may surprise you, but: some fans, we expect, will use the war as an excuse to fold up fanzines they no longer cared to publish anyway. It will be a very neat excuse, you know. Which brings us to those fanzines that will continue as long as possible. Expect reductions (some drastic, perhaps) in their size and publication schedule. Fifty page gala issues will probably become a thing of the past. About LeZ? Frankly, we don't know. This is too early to state. Five photos of the Michigan conference which were to appear on this page have been scrapped; we're putting the money into stencils instead. We believe our three-section anniversary issue will appear as planned, altho there won't be as many pages nor photographs as we had originally planned. So that is that. Remaining concern of the moment is the welfare of Dan Wade, only fan (to our knowledge) in Hawaii. Military censorship forbids newspapers from publishing locations of individuals in service; so why should we stick our neck out? Previous to being drafted Dan lived in Washington state. So it came home. Now we can understand a bit more fully what the Britishers mean when they say "the enemy." COMIC STRIP DEPT: The Chicago Sun, that city's new newspaper, began its first Sunday edition (Dec. 7) "John Carter of Mars", drawn in color of course, by John Coleman Burroughs. This first chapter deals with his transition to Mars, after the Indian fight. United Features handles it.