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Fantascience Digest, v. 2, issue 4, May-June 1939

Page 14

Page 14                    FANTASCIENCE DIGEST

should have been eliminated. I've got reasons to support my choices.

   I'm omniverous, if the term might be applied to reading. I lap up anything and everything in print, if you will excuse me mixing a metaphor. If you'll have patience I'll mix you one, too, and we'll all get cock-eyed. Out of my twenty favorite stories, ten were those listed above. A couple or three of the others on my "20" list were THE SAPPHIRE DEATH, by Loring Brent (who is, of course, George F. Worts), THE SHIP OF ISHTAR, and GREY-FACE,  a story by Sax Rhomer.

   INTO THE INFINITE is my favorite of favorites because of the weird atmosphere which gives the reader such a sense of unreality (as in the BLIND SPOT), and because of the careful character delineation employed in making of the hero a dual personality -- a man you both admire and despise at the same time. The plot is involves yet concise, and leads up to one of the smashing denouements ever written.

   THE BLIND SPOT is astraddle the border line between weird and science fiction, being unrivaled in either field. The uncertainty of the reader is increased by the knowledge he possesses of not knowing what it's all about. The whole book tantalizes one into finishing it, and then a person still can't summarize it. The sequel THE SPOT OF LIFE didn't explain much either, but with the death of Homer Eon Flint the rambling style disappeared. (Flint died, by the way, in a mysterious fashion. He was found in a wrecked automobile at the bottom of a declevity. His last words to Hall had been "So long. I'll see you in the Blind Spot." At least, such is the story).

   I class THE PHANTOM IN THE RAINBOW as scientifiction because abnormal psychology is as scientific as atom-splitting, and the villain of LaMaster's tale is nothing if not abnormal. His telepathic powers, his hypnotic influence over the hero, his insane indulgences and sadistic plottings, keep the reader in an agony of suspense up until the last page. Even then, you expect to turn the blank leaf and have Sigmund Von Mortimer jump out and smack you in the puss with a loud "Boo!"

   WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE and its sequel I consider to be just about the best written of any scientifiction novels. The style is grammatical and literate, and while the plot may be regarded as hackneyed and drawn-out by all the fanswho've read stories just like it a thousand times before and since, it yet approaches more of a literary standard of excellence. Character delineation and natural human emotions are given due consideration -- as much so as the description of the spaceship and its mechanical aspects. This pair of books deserves recognition primarily because normal, natural reactions are present. WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE describes accurately what the public reaction would be to an imminent catastrophe -- the hops, the fears, the dread of disaster are all presented with almost photographic exactitude. AFTER WORLDS COLLIDE, while more necessarily imaginative, is almost as vital and real as the book to which it is the sequel.

   I've never understood how the world can be menaced with annihilation, how a scientist can dish up a space-ship and flee with the flower of the human race, and how sanctuary and civilization can be established on another planet -- all in ten or fifteen short pages. It takes eight hundred or more to make it seem like actual history.

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Page 14 FANTASCIENCE DIGEST should have been eliminated. I've got reasons to support my choices. I'm omniverous, if the term might be applied to reading. I lap up anything and everything in print, if you will excuse me mixing a metaphor. If you'll have patience I'll mix you one, too, and we'll all get cock-eyed. Out of my twenty favorite stories, ten were those listed above. A couple or three of the others on my "20" list were THE SAPPHIRE DEATH, by Loring Brent (who is, of course, George F. Worts), THE SHIP OF ISHTAR, and GREY-FACE, a story by Sax Rhomer. INTO THE INFINITE is my favorite of favorites because of the weird atmosphere which gives the reader such a sense of unreality (as in the BLIND SPOT), and because of the careful character delineation employed in making of the hero a dual personality -- a man you both admire and despise at the same time. The plot is involves yet concise, and leads up to one of the smashing denouements ever written. THE BLIND SPOT is astraddle the border line between weird and science fiction, being unrivaled in either field. The uncertainty of the reader is increased by the knowledge he possesses of not knowing what it's all about. The whole book tantalizes one into finishing it, and then a person still can't summarize it. The sequel THE SPOT OF LIFE didn't explain much either, but with the death of Homer Eon Flint the rambling style disappeared. (Flint died, by the way, in a mysterious fashion. He was found in a wrecked automobile at the bottom of a declevity. His last words to Hall had been "So long. I'll see you in the Blind Spot." At least, such is the story). I class THE PHANTOM IN THE RAINBOW as scientifiction because abnormal psychology is as scientific as atom-splitting, and the villain of LaMaster's tale is nothing if not abnormal. His telepathic powers, his hypnotic influence over the hero, his insane indulgences and sadistic plottings, keep the reader in an agony of suspense up until the last page. Even then, you expect to turn the blank leaf and have Sigmund Von Mortimer jump out and smack you in the puss with a loud "Boo!" WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE and its sequel I consider to be just about the best written of any scientifiction novels. The style is grammatical and literate, and while the plot may be regarded as hackneyed and drawn-out by all the fanswho've read stories just like it a thousand times before and since, it yet approaches more of a literary standard of excellence. Character delineation and natural human emotions are given due consideration -- as much so as the description of the spaceship and its mechanical aspects. This pair of books deserves recognition primarily because normal, natural reactions are present. WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE describes accurately what the public reaction would be to an imminent catastrophe -- the hops, the fears, the dread of disaster are all presented with almost photographic exactitude. AFTER WORLDS COLLIDE, while more necessarily imaginative, is almost as vital and real as the book to which it is the sequel. I've never understood how the world can be menaced with annihilation, how a scientist can dish up a space-ship and flee with the flower of the human race, and how sanctuary and civilization can be established on another planet -- all in ten or fifteen short pages. It takes eight hundred or more to make it seem like actual history.