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Voice of the Imagination (VOM), whole no 17, August 1941

Page 18

18
[Picture of three planes ascending with a descending bomb in the foreground.]

J. MICHAEL ROSENBLUM, publisher Futurian War Digest, 4 Grange Terce, Chapeltown, Leeds 7, England says "Wish I felt brilliant enough to write a letter to VOM, but am afraid that after a nights 'firewatching' (i.e. for incendiary bombs) I'm half-asleep. Two nights firewatching a week, one learning first-aid, digging all day -- its all I can do to find time to put out FIDO." Oh, and I'm making a serious attempt at last to learn Esperanto -- now on lesson 6 in my textbook.

News here (16 May) mainly consists of who has been bombed, & who has been called up. If we have a fairly peaceful summer there may be a certain amount of coming & going amongst fans in the north of England, we all seem to be cyclists & that's about the only way of getting round the country. But there will be no proper gatherings -- oh, how I'm looking forward to the end of this war & getting together again -- if we ever have the chance. Just saw in tonights paper that the hospital ship on which Harold Gottliffe (Director of Leeds SFL) is serving, has been bombed off Crete. Hope he's all right; he's already had one ship sunk under him -- off Norway last year." Total circulation "Fido" last report: 110.

33-yr-old author John Craig ("Age of the Cephalods") whose profession (peace time) is surveyor, war time -- defence worker; marryd, child aged 2 1/2 (boy, Philip); likes -- beer, science fiction, music; dislikes -- Germans, Gardens, Ilford, Essex, England: "Your parcel was a week later in reaching me than it should have been, due to the postman, and us, being unable to reach the house because of an unexploded bomb. (Just one of these little things we have to put up with these days.) However, the dug it out, the bomb I mean, so all was well. I was most interested in your pamphlet on the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, and was rather taken by the type. Is this some special typewriter? (Uh-huh. It rites French, Deutsch, Spanish, English, Esperanto, Ceskoslovenskan & Ackermanese. The unusual type-face to which U refer is called Vogue.) I note the diversity of interests of the members of your society. Just before the war I started to take an interest in semantics. Since the war, however, I am afraid that I have had little time to indulge in the more intellectual pursuits. However there are a number of things to interest and stimulate one even in a war. ("Yes, war can be a highly stimulating thing; but you can overdo a stimulant. If we don't end war, war will end us!" -- John Cabel, THINGS TO COME.) For instance I never thought I should take such an interest in the respective lengths of day and night -- the rising and setting of the moon -- and the phases of the moon. It also never occurred to me previously that I should be able to throw myself flat on my face on a hard road without hurting myself. Yet I have done this -- and with considerable haste too. I can never rid myself though, of a feeling of complete nakedness, when firewatching on the roof of a London building during a raid.

I note that you meet regularly at a café in Los Angeles. I should like to be there. Our pub where we used to hold our S.F.A. meetings regularly and drink quarts of beer accompanied by sausages, has been demolished in a recent raid. How many happy evening had I spent there with Ted Carnell, Bill Temple, Arthur Clarke, Ken Chapman, Wally Gillings and many others. All these people are now scattered over different parts of the country and separated from their women folk and children. 

I notice that your librarian is named Morojo and, coupling this with Mr. Ackerman's interest in Esperanto, am wondering how the name is made up. I gather that Morojo is a lady. The name intrigues me so you might be good enough to convey the greetings of one from the 'front line'." (Dankon, Johano Krejg, kaj saluton al vi! U get David Mellwain or Doug Webster or Mike Rosenblum to translate that for U, if U can't make it out. My Esperanto name is composed of my first two initials as pronounced in the Universalanguage, plus the final "j" indicating my affinity with Forry J. -- MoRoJo)

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18 [Picture of three planes ascending with a descending bomb in the foreground.] J. MICHAEL ROSENBLUM, publisher Futurian War Digest, 4 Grange Terce, Chapeltown, Leeds 7, England says "Wish I felt brilliant enough to write a letter to VOM, but am afraid that after a nights 'firewatching' (i.e. for incendiary bombs) I'm half-asleep. Two nights firewatching a week, one learning first-aid, digging all day -- its all I can do to find time to put out FIDO." Oh, and I'm making a serious attempt at last to learn Esperanto -- now on lesson 6 in my textbook. News here (16 May) mainly consists of who has been bombed, & who has been called up. If we have a fairly peaceful summer there may be a certain amount of coming & going amongst fans in the north of England, we all seem to be cyclists & that's about the only way of getting round the country. But there will be no proper gatherings -- oh, how I'm looking forward to the end of this war & getting together again -- if we ever have the chance. Just saw in tonights paper that the hospital ship on which Harold Gottliffe (Director of Leeds SFL) is serving, has been bombed off Crete. Hope he's all right; he's already had one ship sunk under him -- off Norway last year." Total circulation "Fido" last report: 110. 33-yr-old author John Craig ("Age of the Cephalods") whose profession (peace time) is surveyor, war time -- defence worker; marryd, child aged 2 1/2 (boy, Philip); likes -- beer, science fiction, music; dislikes -- Germans, Gardens, Ilford, Essex, England: "Your parcel was a week later in reaching me than it should have been, due to the postman, and us, being unable to reach the house because of an unexploded bomb. (Just one of these little things we have to put up with these days.) However, the dug it out, the bomb I mean, so all was well. I was most interested in your pamphlet on the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, and was rather taken by the type. Is this some special typewriter? (Uh-huh. It rites French, Deutsch, Spanish, English, Esperanto, Ceskoslovenskan & Ackermanese. The unusual type-face to which U refer is called Vogue.) I note the diversity of interests of the members of your society. Just before the war I started to take an interest in semantics. Since the war, however, I am afraid that I have had little time to indulge in the more intellectual pursuits. However there are a number of things to interest and stimulate one even in a war. ("Yes, war can be a highly stimulating thing; but you can overdo a stimulant. If we don't end war, war will end us!" -- John Cabel, THINGS TO COME.) For instance I never thought I should take such an interest in the respective lengths of day and night -- the rising and setting of the moon -- and the phases of the moon. It also never occurred to me previously that I should be able to throw myself flat on my face on a hard road without hurting myself. Yet I have done this -- and with considerable haste too. I can never rid myself though, of a feeling of complete nakedness, when firewatching on the roof of a London building during a raid. I note that you meet regularly at a café in Los Angeles. I should like to be there. Our pub where we used to hold our S.F.A. meetings regularly and drink quarts of beer accompanied by sausages, has been demolished in a recent raid. How many happy evening had I spent there with Ted Carnell, Bill Temple, Arthur Clarke, Ken Chapman, Wally Gillings and many others. All these people are now scattered over different parts of the country and separated from their women folk and children. I notice that your librarian is named Morojo and, coupling this with Mr. Ackerman's interest in Esperanto, am wondering how the name is made up. I gather that Morojo is a lady. The name intrigues me so you might be good enough to convey the greetings of one from the 'front line'." (Dankon, Johano Krejg, kaj saluton al vi! U get David Mellwain or Doug Webster or Mike Rosenblum to translate that for U, if U can't make it out. My Esperanto name is composed of my first two initials as pronounced in the Universalanguage, plus the final "j" indicating my affinity with Forry J. -- MoRoJo)