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Spaceways, v. 4, issue 6, whole no. 29, 1942
Page 19
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SPACEWAYS 19 FROM THE CONTROL ROOM space-travel stories. One method might be to assign certain numerals to stories whose action takes place on certain planets, or certain sectors of space-- each little moon, asteroid, and planet would have its own number. Or, they might be arranged chronologically--from 600 through 625 for stories dealing with first attempts at space-travel, 626 through 675 for those in which it's well developed, and the rest of the 600's for the yarns in which it's an old hohum fact merely incidental to the action. Another method would be a classification by the primary motivation of the story--interplanetary war, exploration, space racing, meteor mining, and so forth. Of course, the only way to make up such an index system is to go to work, fix up some very rough skeleton plan, start indexing stories, and make changes as trouble comes up. Most stories would certainly need more than one index number--a basic one, and one or more others for sub-plots. Just try to decide how to classify "Beyond This Horizon--", for instance! Does anyone have any more bright ideas on the subject? Idle notes: President Roosevelt's assertion that the airplanes which bombed Tokio were based at Shangri-La brought James Hilton's story even more publicity than it got from the movie--which, incidentally, was immediately revived, newly titled "Lost Horizon of Shangri-La". Newspapers published maps, showing how Shangri-La is bordered by Utopia, Lilliputia, and Erewhon. Best of all, the original source of the name was revealed by Hilton himself. It seems not to be a corruption of San Greal--Holy Grail--as had been suspected. "La" is "mountain", in Indian dialects, and "Shangri" means nothing--it just sounded properly exotic to the author when hunting for a nice name. Incidentally, Paul Freehafer reveals that fandom's Shangri-LA--Los Angeles fandom--is falling apart. Two Finns (mother and daughter, not taxpeyers' dough!), Hasse, and Crawford, and possibly Joquel and Yerke, are headed for Washington. George Hahn is going to Dayton, Ohio; the Henry Kuttners to New York again. And with the new draft regulations, I presume some of the rest of the LA fans will be wearing khaki shortly. " Edgar Allan Poe's works were discussed on "Invitation to Learning" CBS broadcast the other Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the fantasies were hardly touched, the critics devoting their efforts to such things as a contradiction in the plot of "The Murders in the rue Morgue." " Bill Evans, who may be publishing Snide and the Yearbook soon, has his B. A. degree. Syl Brown, Jr., is working for his Sc. B. Sherman Schultz now recoving from a hospital internment. It wasn't caused from shock at seeing what happened to his cover last issue, I understand. " And hasn't fandom a right to be proud of how its drafted members are doing? Lynn Bridges went form private to corporal in three months. Chris Mulrain didn't need much longer for the same jump, and Donn Brazier is now a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. " Fanzine of the month: second Nova. A dime from 88 Upton Place, Battle Creek, Mich. Forty-odd pages, swell material--and you ought to see the beautiful covers! Don't miss it. HW A NEW BOOK BY STAPLEDON (concluded from page 16) behind the universe and after struggles, humanity fails to solve the problem presented by this new knowledge. Humanity therefore evolves a new and greater second race which takes over the planet. And there Stapledon's vision of the light ends. After thought his allegory becomes dear. He is trying to portray what the significance would be of a world-wide Axis victory and the meaning of an Axis defeat. It is true that his allegory is probably ineffective due to his placing of these events so far away. For that reason we fear that the value of this book as propaganda will be lost to most of its readers who will see it merely as a fascinating study; and to a certain extent a depressing one for humanity seems to lose in both versions. But we feel that science-fictionists will understand the intents and will be able to appreciate it in its true Stapledonian grandeur. This is the least of his five novels, yet it still is head and shoulders above other fantasies. Perhaps it is not up to us to criticize; we should be glad to have anything by Stapledon, perhaps the greatest fantaist of this age.
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SPACEWAYS 19 FROM THE CONTROL ROOM space-travel stories. One method might be to assign certain numerals to stories whose action takes place on certain planets, or certain sectors of space-- each little moon, asteroid, and planet would have its own number. Or, they might be arranged chronologically--from 600 through 625 for stories dealing with first attempts at space-travel, 626 through 675 for those in which it's well developed, and the rest of the 600's for the yarns in which it's an old hohum fact merely incidental to the action. Another method would be a classification by the primary motivation of the story--interplanetary war, exploration, space racing, meteor mining, and so forth. Of course, the only way to make up such an index system is to go to work, fix up some very rough skeleton plan, start indexing stories, and make changes as trouble comes up. Most stories would certainly need more than one index number--a basic one, and one or more others for sub-plots. Just try to decide how to classify "Beyond This Horizon--", for instance! Does anyone have any more bright ideas on the subject? Idle notes: President Roosevelt's assertion that the airplanes which bombed Tokio were based at Shangri-La brought James Hilton's story even more publicity than it got from the movie--which, incidentally, was immediately revived, newly titled "Lost Horizon of Shangri-La". Newspapers published maps, showing how Shangri-La is bordered by Utopia, Lilliputia, and Erewhon. Best of all, the original source of the name was revealed by Hilton himself. It seems not to be a corruption of San Greal--Holy Grail--as had been suspected. "La" is "mountain", in Indian dialects, and "Shangri" means nothing--it just sounded properly exotic to the author when hunting for a nice name. Incidentally, Paul Freehafer reveals that fandom's Shangri-LA--Los Angeles fandom--is falling apart. Two Finns (mother and daughter, not taxpeyers' dough!), Hasse, and Crawford, and possibly Joquel and Yerke, are headed for Washington. George Hahn is going to Dayton, Ohio; the Henry Kuttners to New York again. And with the new draft regulations, I presume some of the rest of the LA fans will be wearing khaki shortly. " Edgar Allan Poe's works were discussed on "Invitation to Learning" CBS broadcast the other Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the fantasies were hardly touched, the critics devoting their efforts to such things as a contradiction in the plot of "The Murders in the rue Morgue." " Bill Evans, who may be publishing Snide and the Yearbook soon, has his B. A. degree. Syl Brown, Jr., is working for his Sc. B. Sherman Schultz now recoving from a hospital internment. It wasn't caused from shock at seeing what happened to his cover last issue, I understand. " And hasn't fandom a right to be proud of how its drafted members are doing? Lynn Bridges went form private to corporal in three months. Chris Mulrain didn't need much longer for the same jump, and Donn Brazier is now a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. " Fanzine of the month: second Nova. A dime from 88 Upton Place, Battle Creek, Mich. Forty-odd pages, swell material--and you ought to see the beautiful covers! Don't miss it. HW A NEW BOOK BY STAPLEDON (concluded from page 16) behind the universe and after struggles, humanity fails to solve the problem presented by this new knowledge. Humanity therefore evolves a new and greater second race which takes over the planet. And there Stapledon's vision of the light ends. After thought his allegory becomes dear. He is trying to portray what the significance would be of a world-wide Axis victory and the meaning of an Axis defeat. It is true that his allegory is probably ineffective due to his placing of these events so far away. For that reason we fear that the value of this book as propaganda will be lost to most of its readers who will see it merely as a fascinating study; and to a certain extent a depressing one for humanity seems to lose in both versions. But we feel that science-fictionists will understand the intents and will be able to appreciate it in its true Stapledonian grandeur. This is the least of his five novels, yet it still is head and shoulders above other fantasies. Perhaps it is not up to us to criticize; we should be glad to have anything by Stapledon, perhaps the greatest fantaist of this age.
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