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Fantascience Digest, v. 2, issue 4, May-June 1939
Page 16
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Page 16 FANTASCIENCE DIGEST him. In fact, "Henry Kuttner" is merely the pen-name of robots H to K. The secret of Bloch's success lies in his innate laziness -- he makes others do the work. Thus, for example, in the Bloch-Kuttner collaboration, "The Body and the Brain," Kuttner did the body of the work and Bloch merely furnished the brains. The foregoing is strictly secret and confidential -- that's why I'm offering it for publication. If I knew half what I've told, I'd be sued for libel. _______________________________________ -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o ________________________________________ THRILLING ---AWK!! By Harry Warner, Jr. That was the wail which went up on that horrific day a few short years ago when THRILLING WONDER STORIES was born, and WONDER STORIES became a fond memory. Fans far and wide became horrified at the mere mention of the name--defiling a great stf. magazine which such a title! Yet, that was what had happened, and there was nothing that could be done about it. WONDER always had been something of a problem child, though. True, it had printed great stories; a capable editor had been present, and its policies, on the whole, had been approved of by the fans. But our good friend, Hugo Gernsback, was continually experimenting. I've lost track of the number of times the magazine changed format in the half-dozen odd years he had it under his wing, even after it had become WONDER from the original SCIENCE WONDER and AIR WONDER. Charles D. Hornig was, in fact, just about the first fan to become connected with an stf. magazine. That alone was something, and there's no denying that he was a fine "managing editor". My own humble notion is that the WONDER of 1934 and 1935 vintage was about the greatest set of issues (over an extended period) of any stf. magazine before or since. But then that fatal little phrase crept into the proceedings. Not so bad appearing on the surface; there have been worse ones (such as "Fantastic Adventures") but this one was certainly the beginning of the end. That phrase? "NOW 15 CENTS!" The magazine began to degenerate a little. Not so badly, but at the same time it lacked something that it had a year or so previous. Finally came the day when the noticed appeared in a 1936 issue that there would be no more newsstand distribution of WONDER STORIES. Instead, fans would be able to obtain it via subscription only---but bighearted Gernsback would even trust you for the money for it. When you received each issue, you send him the dough. (No dough---no more magazines. Simple, eh?)
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Page 16 FANTASCIENCE DIGEST him. In fact, "Henry Kuttner" is merely the pen-name of robots H to K. The secret of Bloch's success lies in his innate laziness -- he makes others do the work. Thus, for example, in the Bloch-Kuttner collaboration, "The Body and the Brain," Kuttner did the body of the work and Bloch merely furnished the brains. The foregoing is strictly secret and confidential -- that's why I'm offering it for publication. If I knew half what I've told, I'd be sued for libel. _______________________________________ -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o ________________________________________ THRILLING ---AWK!! By Harry Warner, Jr. That was the wail which went up on that horrific day a few short years ago when THRILLING WONDER STORIES was born, and WONDER STORIES became a fond memory. Fans far and wide became horrified at the mere mention of the name--defiling a great stf. magazine which such a title! Yet, that was what had happened, and there was nothing that could be done about it. WONDER always had been something of a problem child, though. True, it had printed great stories; a capable editor had been present, and its policies, on the whole, had been approved of by the fans. But our good friend, Hugo Gernsback, was continually experimenting. I've lost track of the number of times the magazine changed format in the half-dozen odd years he had it under his wing, even after it had become WONDER from the original SCIENCE WONDER and AIR WONDER. Charles D. Hornig was, in fact, just about the first fan to become connected with an stf. magazine. That alone was something, and there's no denying that he was a fine "managing editor". My own humble notion is that the WONDER of 1934 and 1935 vintage was about the greatest set of issues (over an extended period) of any stf. magazine before or since. But then that fatal little phrase crept into the proceedings. Not so bad appearing on the surface; there have been worse ones (such as "Fantastic Adventures") but this one was certainly the beginning of the end. That phrase? "NOW 15 CENTS!" The magazine began to degenerate a little. Not so badly, but at the same time it lacked something that it had a year or so previous. Finally came the day when the noticed appeared in a 1936 issue that there would be no more newsstand distribution of WONDER STORIES. Instead, fans would be able to obtain it via subscription only---but bighearted Gernsback would even trust you for the money for it. When you received each issue, you send him the dough. (No dough---no more magazines. Simple, eh?)
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