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Shangri-La, issue 5, March-April 1948
Page 15
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I spoke of the paper shortage. You should see the odds and ends of paper that FIDO was printed on. All brands and types from the crummiest pulp to very slick paper. Every four or five issues you will see sheets of paper that the American philanthropist, Forrest J Ackerman, donated to the cause of English fandom. You can tell these sheets because they are the odds and ends of paper that Forrie had left from lithographic orders. (it's just as cheap to get a thousand copies lithoed as it is to get a few hundred.) There are covers and inserts from VOM; there are pix from that set of extra-terrestrials that Forrie published; and There was a sheeet of Denvention photographs. The sizes of sheets were often different. The American one would publish on legal length paper or even send in half-size pages. It is surprising to me, as an American, that it wasn't published on wrapping paper, but then Englishmen didn't have any wrapping paper --- you took your hunk of fish home in a section of newspaper. Another phase of the publishing of FIDO that often depresses me is the knowledge that it was published on a flat-bed duplicator. You boys who've published magazines on a flatbed hectograph know what you have to go through to get the job done. Still, a hecto is pretty limited and Michael often turned out over 250 copies that sometimes ran over 20 pages. It's a job, I know. I helped turn out a few copies of a zine with the boys once. First, the pad is inked, then the stencil is laid down on the pad and secured. Each sheet of paper must be individually laid down on the stencil and rolled by a rubber covered roller and lifted off. Little wonder that occasionally you will see a sheet that is a little blurred. Every once in a while the stencil must be lifted and the pad pre-inked. But, for some ungodly reason, some of the best cover picture work ever turned out on a mimeograph stencil came out on the covers of the FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST. The English artist Harry Turner turned out some excellent work. Art Williams did some very nice things. Cover art on FIDO had a pretty good standard. The content of FIDO ranged from news and personalities to excellent articles on a myriad number of subjects. Almost anything of fannish nature was news to Britishers. The publication of a prozine and its contents were big news to the guys who never saw them. American fan news, British fan news, and even some Australian fan news found its way into the pages of FIDO. Fan personalities, book talk - heavy on book talk - serious articles, raging discussions, a thousand things filled the pages. I guess you can see by now that I liked the FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST, and when Michael told me in 1945 that he was going to suspend publication, it was a bitter blow. But he was no longer able to carry on, and there was no one else to take his place, and so died another science fiction tradition, FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST. the end "FILLER UP!" (Gasly, What?) FEUD: E. Everett Evans, E. Elmer Smith Acolyte #1, doesn't know it yet, but--he's feuding to the death with Edward "Ted Carnell of England. Carnell's thumb(down)nail review of CHILDREN OF THE LENS: "Unendurable space opera, indefinitely prolonged." ACRY GETS A GIRL AT LAST: They say talent seeks its own level. Here's a news item, and it is on the level: FJA has recently been employed as part time baby sitter! The baby in question is Krista, small daughter of stf author Bryce Walton. .15.
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I spoke of the paper shortage. You should see the odds and ends of paper that FIDO was printed on. All brands and types from the crummiest pulp to very slick paper. Every four or five issues you will see sheets of paper that the American philanthropist, Forrest J Ackerman, donated to the cause of English fandom. You can tell these sheets because they are the odds and ends of paper that Forrie had left from lithographic orders. (it's just as cheap to get a thousand copies lithoed as it is to get a few hundred.) There are covers and inserts from VOM; there are pix from that set of extra-terrestrials that Forrie published; and There was a sheeet of Denvention photographs. The sizes of sheets were often different. The American one would publish on legal length paper or even send in half-size pages. It is surprising to me, as an American, that it wasn't published on wrapping paper, but then Englishmen didn't have any wrapping paper --- you took your hunk of fish home in a section of newspaper. Another phase of the publishing of FIDO that often depresses me is the knowledge that it was published on a flat-bed duplicator. You boys who've published magazines on a flatbed hectograph know what you have to go through to get the job done. Still, a hecto is pretty limited and Michael often turned out over 250 copies that sometimes ran over 20 pages. It's a job, I know. I helped turn out a few copies of a zine with the boys once. First, the pad is inked, then the stencil is laid down on the pad and secured. Each sheet of paper must be individually laid down on the stencil and rolled by a rubber covered roller and lifted off. Little wonder that occasionally you will see a sheet that is a little blurred. Every once in a while the stencil must be lifted and the pad pre-inked. But, for some ungodly reason, some of the best cover picture work ever turned out on a mimeograph stencil came out on the covers of the FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST. The English artist Harry Turner turned out some excellent work. Art Williams did some very nice things. Cover art on FIDO had a pretty good standard. The content of FIDO ranged from news and personalities to excellent articles on a myriad number of subjects. Almost anything of fannish nature was news to Britishers. The publication of a prozine and its contents were big news to the guys who never saw them. American fan news, British fan news, and even some Australian fan news found its way into the pages of FIDO. Fan personalities, book talk - heavy on book talk - serious articles, raging discussions, a thousand things filled the pages. I guess you can see by now that I liked the FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST, and when Michael told me in 1945 that he was going to suspend publication, it was a bitter blow. But he was no longer able to carry on, and there was no one else to take his place, and so died another science fiction tradition, FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST. the end "FILLER UP!" (Gasly, What?) FEUD: E. Everett Evans, E. Elmer Smith Acolyte #1, doesn't know it yet, but--he's feuding to the death with Edward "Ted Carnell of England. Carnell's thumb(down)nail review of CHILDREN OF THE LENS: "Unendurable space opera, indefinitely prolonged." ACRY GETS A GIRL AT LAST: They say talent seeks its own level. Here's a news item, and it is on the level: FJA has recently been employed as part time baby sitter! The baby in question is Krista, small daughter of stf author Bryce Walton. .15.
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