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Scientifictionist, v. 2, issue 1, November 1946-January 1947

Page 17

book fantasies highlight only the emotional aspects of the story, not the scientific possibilities which must be comprehended by the intellect -- and these latter are the parts of the narrative which are dearest to the scientifictionist..Joe Kennedy's remarks on Schumann's "Of Many Things" as to style, and Sloan's elaboration on the same thing tally with my feeling about that column. Phil's a pretty intelligent guy and his ideas are good, but he should have been more concise in putting them on paper. This letter column reminds me of "The Readers Always Write", which same was perhaps the best feature of the 1.1. Space ways.

Your editorial was good enough, but I still wish you'd find more room for it..Glad to see Simak's "The Creator" is being reprinted in booklet form. There were a hundred copies of that particular issue of Marvel Tales around town once, so I've a copy of it. I surely recommend the thing..This Fantasy Press is a new one on me. Is the publisher reliable? [The answer is yes, as far as we have been able to determine. There is nothing to indicate otherwise. -- ed.] Redd Boggs, 2215 Benjamin Street NE, Minneapolis 13, Minnesota.

IDEA CORNER a Waste of Time

Cockroft does do awfully good work usually, and the cover for Stft #6 was no exception. The mag on the whole was not as good as some previous issues, but that may be chiefly due to taste.

The longest article in the mag was in my opinion a waste of time. I'm referring to Coslet's IDEA CORNER. I just can't see using up all those pages to list buildings of square, round, pyramidal, etc., etc., shapes. Perhaps if he had taken as his topic something like "On the Application of Dome Shaped Buildings in the City of Future" or "Multilevel Cities of the Future" or some other confining title he could have made some interesting comments or comparisons; but as it was, my interest waned very rapidly after the first few paragraphs.

I'm inclined to disagree slightly with Gerry on AGHARTI. It was a good story, but not to be put in the classic group. Perhaps Gerry was letting the background of AGHARTI influence his opinion. After all, compared to the usual Amazing junk, I guess it would seem to be a classic! If any Amazing story is to be called a classic, I nominate THE GREEN MAN, which appeared a few months ago. Believe it or not, Amazing published two stories of note within a one year period. THE GREEN MAN is the story of what happens when a "man" from another star lands on earth. His reception by earth scientists and the world in general makes a very interesting story and a quite plausible one at that! The author introduces well known people and gives their opinions of the Green Man in a way that sounds just like you would expect these world famous people to react under the conditions given. Perhaps if Gerry has time he could read THE GREEN MAN and give a comparison in his opinion of the two stories.

TELL IT TO RIPLEY -- it's funny but true, Truth is stranger than Fiction! However as Redd says, Fortean items are more thought provoking than Ripley's. Here's one for you fans: Perhaps you've read about the French Professor Vassy who has been getting a lot of publicity with his "Night into Day" project. Well, Nikola Tesla did quite a lot of work on that same idea back in 1914, and claimed he had a complete system which he was sure would work. He refused to disclose his secret however, and lack of funds prevented him from carrying out his plan. According to John J. O'Neill (who interviewed him) the vague description that is available sounds much like that of the Professor Vassy.

AMONG THE CLASSICS was interesting as usual, and Stanley makes one feel that since most fans are not rich and cannot afford to pay the high prices called for by early issues of stf mags, we can only regret not having been born soon enough to have become fans when those mags were on the stands! Norman also serves to answer R. EVANS' comment that he was robbed on the Skylark of Space book. Too many of the younger fans forget that when some of the early classics came out they were classics because they contained new and startling ideas; but by now the second rate writers

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book fantasies highlight only the emotional aspects of the story, not the scientific possibilities which must be comprehended by the intellect -- and these latter are the parts of the narrative which are dearest to the scientifictionist..Joe Kennedy's remarks on Schumann's "Of Many Things" as to style, and Sloan's elaboration on the same thing tally with my feeling about that column. Phil's a pretty intelligent guy and his ideas are good, but he should have been more concise in putting them on paper. This letter column reminds me of "The Readers Always Write", which same was perhaps the best feature of the 1.1. Space ways. Your editorial was good enough, but I still wish you'd find more room for it..Glad to see Simak's "The Creator" is being reprinted in booklet form. There were a hundred copies of that particular issue of Marvel Tales around town once, so I've a copy of it. I surely recommend the thing..This Fantasy Press is a new one on me. Is the publisher reliable? [The answer is yes, as far as we have been able to determine. There is nothing to indicate otherwise. -- ed.] Redd Boggs, 2215 Benjamin Street NE, Minneapolis 13, Minnesota. IDEA CORNER a Waste of Time Cockroft does do awfully good work usually, and the cover for Stft #6 was no exception. The mag on the whole was not as good as some previous issues, but that may be chiefly due to taste. The longest article in the mag was in my opinion a waste of time. I'm referring to Coslet's IDEA CORNER. I just can't see using up all those pages to list buildings of square, round, pyramidal, etc., etc., shapes. Perhaps if he had taken as his topic something like "On the Application of Dome Shaped Buildings in the City of Future" or "Multilevel Cities of the Future" or some other confining title he could have made some interesting comments or comparisons; but as it was, my interest waned very rapidly after the first few paragraphs. I'm inclined to disagree slightly with Gerry on AGHARTI. It was a good story, but not to be put in the classic group. Perhaps Gerry was letting the background of AGHARTI influence his opinion. After all, compared to the usual Amazing junk, I guess it would seem to be a classic! If any Amazing story is to be called a classic, I nominate THE GREEN MAN, which appeared a few months ago. Believe it or not, Amazing published two stories of note within a one year period. THE GREEN MAN is the story of what happens when a "man" from another star lands on earth. His reception by earth scientists and the world in general makes a very interesting story and a quite plausible one at that! The author introduces well known people and gives their opinions of the Green Man in a way that sounds just like you would expect these world famous people to react under the conditions given. Perhaps if Gerry has time he could read THE GREEN MAN and give a comparison in his opinion of the two stories. TELL IT TO RIPLEY -- it's funny but true, Truth is stranger than Fiction! However as Redd says, Fortean items are more thought provoking than Ripley's. Here's one for you fans: Perhaps you've read about the French Professor Vassy who has been getting a lot of publicity with his "Night into Day" project. Well, Nikola Tesla did quite a lot of work on that same idea back in 1914, and claimed he had a complete system which he was sure would work. He refused to disclose his secret however, and lack of funds prevented him from carrying out his plan. According to John J. O'Neill (who interviewed him) the vague description that is available sounds much like that of the Professor Vassy. AMONG THE CLASSICS was interesting as usual, and Stanley makes one feel that since most fans are not rich and cannot afford to pay the high prices called for by early issues of stf mags, we can only regret not having been born soon enough to have become fans when those mags were on the stands! Norman also serves to answer R. EVANS' comment that he was robbed on the Skylark of Space book. Too many of the younger fans forget that when some of the early classics came out they were classics because they contained new and startling ideas; but by now the second rate writers page 17