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Dream Quest, v. 1, issue 1, July 1947
Page 42
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DREAM QUEST 42 downright laughable. Here's hoping that Merwin either begins picking better stories or tosses this department to the dogs. I don't think it would be missed...DREAM'S END, by Harry Kuttner, is the next contribution, a short story which, like the lead novel, missed the boat when it didn't go into ASF. Concerns the efforts of a psychiatrist to cure one of his manic depressives; we got enmeshed in the psychological jargon and failed to find out how he accomplished it, except that it concerned giving up some of his own life energies. He cured the depressive, but gave himself a psychosis; he continued, every so often, to lapse into dreams with no apparent transfer from reality. Reality for him would merge right into a nightmare, with no gap in between. Obviously the continued doubt of whether or not he is awake is far from pleasant for the poor guy. This is a Lewis Padgett yarn under the author's real name. It's just one more proof that either Margulies has decided to subordinate the commercial interests for awhile, or that Merwin is good at sneaking things in under the boss's nose. We sincerely hope that Merwin keeps up his sneaking. It is paying dividends in the quality of his mags. DREAM'S END is one of the best shorts we've seen in a long time. Also included is "Proxy Planeteers" by Edmond Hamilton, which is a space opera with a neat twist, and "Super Whost," carrying on the adventures of Jick and Oona, married couple of the far future, of "Soma Racks" fame. Like Merwin, we enjoy the StClair stories. We really feel sorry for those who take themselves and stf so seriously that they can't enjoy this type of yarn. "Super Whost" is absolutely pointless, and in that lies its greatness. Margaret St. Clair is a find, if our word means anything: we look forward to more stories in the same vein by this author. Now to that sore spot of stf, the artwork. Bergey is back on the cover, after an absence of no issues. As usual, a nearly naked maiden is the subject. She is coming through a teleport machine in this painting, which is guaranteed not to increase the good reputation of stf in literary circles. Merwin has cleaned up the interior artwork; he has cleaned up the quality and age-level of the stories; he has fixed up the letter columns. We wonder if it would not be a darned good idea to fix up the covers while this reform campaign is in progress...the special article mentioned early in this review is about submarine warfare, and might be interesting -- we didn't read it...interior artwork is cleaned up, as we say. Lawrence/Stevens is on the lead novel; need we say more? H. W. Kiemle has been imported from PLANET for some of the shorts. He shows a tendency to copy the style of Marchioni; hope he wises up before he becomes bad, like that gentleman whom all stfans will willingly forget...the pic for "The Ring Bonanza" is very well done, but for some reason it lacks a signature. Wish we knew whom to praise for this one. It is definitely good. Marchioni is retained for some of the shorts, but as there are no girls in the pictures they are reasonably fair. All in all, a pretty well illustrated issue. Merwin plugs the Philcon in the first of THE ETHER VIBRATES, and the letters published in that worthy department are up to their usual standard, although we are not altogether in favor of Merwin's new letter policy of deleting the longer comments so ------------- SUBSCRIBE NOW
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DREAM QUEST 42 downright laughable. Here's hoping that Merwin either begins picking better stories or tosses this department to the dogs. I don't think it would be missed...DREAM'S END, by Harry Kuttner, is the next contribution, a short story which, like the lead novel, missed the boat when it didn't go into ASF. Concerns the efforts of a psychiatrist to cure one of his manic depressives; we got enmeshed in the psychological jargon and failed to find out how he accomplished it, except that it concerned giving up some of his own life energies. He cured the depressive, but gave himself a psychosis; he continued, every so often, to lapse into dreams with no apparent transfer from reality. Reality for him would merge right into a nightmare, with no gap in between. Obviously the continued doubt of whether or not he is awake is far from pleasant for the poor guy. This is a Lewis Padgett yarn under the author's real name. It's just one more proof that either Margulies has decided to subordinate the commercial interests for awhile, or that Merwin is good at sneaking things in under the boss's nose. We sincerely hope that Merwin keeps up his sneaking. It is paying dividends in the quality of his mags. DREAM'S END is one of the best shorts we've seen in a long time. Also included is "Proxy Planeteers" by Edmond Hamilton, which is a space opera with a neat twist, and "Super Whost," carrying on the adventures of Jick and Oona, married couple of the far future, of "Soma Racks" fame. Like Merwin, we enjoy the StClair stories. We really feel sorry for those who take themselves and stf so seriously that they can't enjoy this type of yarn. "Super Whost" is absolutely pointless, and in that lies its greatness. Margaret St. Clair is a find, if our word means anything: we look forward to more stories in the same vein by this author. Now to that sore spot of stf, the artwork. Bergey is back on the cover, after an absence of no issues. As usual, a nearly naked maiden is the subject. She is coming through a teleport machine in this painting, which is guaranteed not to increase the good reputation of stf in literary circles. Merwin has cleaned up the interior artwork; he has cleaned up the quality and age-level of the stories; he has fixed up the letter columns. We wonder if it would not be a darned good idea to fix up the covers while this reform campaign is in progress...the special article mentioned early in this review is about submarine warfare, and might be interesting -- we didn't read it...interior artwork is cleaned up, as we say. Lawrence/Stevens is on the lead novel; need we say more? H. W. Kiemle has been imported from PLANET for some of the shorts. He shows a tendency to copy the style of Marchioni; hope he wises up before he becomes bad, like that gentleman whom all stfans will willingly forget...the pic for "The Ring Bonanza" is very well done, but for some reason it lacks a signature. Wish we knew whom to praise for this one. It is definitely good. Marchioni is retained for some of the shorts, but as there are no girls in the pictures they are reasonably fair. All in all, a pretty well illustrated issue. Merwin plugs the Philcon in the first of THE ETHER VIBRATES, and the letters published in that worthy department are up to their usual standard, although we are not altogether in favor of Merwin's new letter policy of deleting the longer comments so ------------- SUBSCRIBE NOW
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