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Fan-Atic, v. 1, issue 2, March 1941
Page 3
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FAN-ATIC, Vol 1, No 2. March 1941. Page 3. THANKS, DEPRESH! by Forrest J. Ackerman. Forward, or The Story Behind The Story. The following article was written by me about yrs ago when I was 17, putting a period after the J and spelling "thanks" with a "ks" rather'n an "x". It was accepted by Charlie Hornig and skeded for his Fantasy Fan; but that worthy pub folder bfor the article was printed. Its untimely resurrection may possibly prove of some historical interest. It is publisht as originly ritten. Have you noticed how science fiction has boomed during these hard times? It is interesting to follow the course of events. That the depression started in 1929 i well known. Let's see what's happened to the STF world since: AMAZING smashes financially, so Gernsback starts up another publication: SCIENCE WONDER. A sister pub follows; AIR WONDER: and SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY soon appears. SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE is added. STF booklets and a reprint are released, and copies of Paul's drawings are offered for sale. Not bad, eh? Though AWS combines with SWS to be called WONDER STORIES, and SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE is changed to AMAZING DETECTIVE TALES and then folds up, other companies decide STF is what the readers want, so try their hand at publishing it. ASTOUNDING STORIES came first with the splendid, if ill-fated, MIRACLE following. The Boys' Scientifiction Club, Scienceers, ISA, and others issue club papers titled The Meteor, the Planet, and The Comet, respectively. The mail-order Cosmic Publications, sponsors of the Futuristic Themes, pops up and puts out the novelet "Guests of the Earth". Swanson Book Company reprints Hamilton's "Metal Giants". Things get worse, but STF advances. the Time Traveller, Science Fiction's Original Fan Magazine, starts up mimeod; then it is printed; later combines with the Science Fiction Digest. In the meantime, Science Fiction Magazine has sprung up, and has improved so that my last issue has fine illustrations and a colored cover. SFD releases STF booklets, reprints a classic. WONDER STORIES uses Paul exclusively, and features a futuristic make-up and many contests. Goes in for the STF jigsaw puzzles of Paul's covers. And at the last AMAZING warms to the subject. Unchanging through the years, refusing to alter its title or make-up, the depresh warns her publishers to listen to the readers, and revolutionary modernistic covers are the result. WEIRD and ARGOSY print more science fiction. BLUE BOOK gets the most startling STF serial of 1932-33, Wylie Balmer's "When Worlds Collide!", now being made into a movie. A sequel is secured by popular demand. DOC SAVAGE magazine appears using STF-tinted tales. Ditto EXCITEMENT, where Arthur J. Burks' prehistoric fantasy, "The Crimson Blight", and others, have run. With Technocracy, even the newspapers are getting out STF tales; reprinting "Looking Backward--2000-1887", "Tyrant of Technocracy", etc. Radio goes mad with STF ether dramas, certain advertisers using much noted STF characters as "Tarzan" and "Buck Rogers In The Twenty-Fifth Century", to head their programs. THE AMERICAN FAMILY dramatizes stories from its pages of mechanical men and the future. Eddie Cantor goes to Mars for a coffee company, and visits the past and future. WEIRD TALES goes on the air. And the scientifilms? Nearly twenty five forthcoming! The ISA has resumed the printing of Cosmology; Clark Ashton Smith is releasing six of his fantasies in a printed booklet, and now the FANTASY FAN appears for weird-science and supernatural fans. FANTASY MAGAZINE presents "Cosmos". Continued on the next page.
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FAN-ATIC, Vol 1, No 2. March 1941. Page 3. THANKS, DEPRESH! by Forrest J. Ackerman. Forward, or The Story Behind The Story. The following article was written by me about yrs ago when I was 17, putting a period after the J and spelling "thanks" with a "ks" rather'n an "x". It was accepted by Charlie Hornig and skeded for his Fantasy Fan; but that worthy pub folder bfor the article was printed. Its untimely resurrection may possibly prove of some historical interest. It is publisht as originly ritten. Have you noticed how science fiction has boomed during these hard times? It is interesting to follow the course of events. That the depression started in 1929 i well known. Let's see what's happened to the STF world since: AMAZING smashes financially, so Gernsback starts up another publication: SCIENCE WONDER. A sister pub follows; AIR WONDER: and SCIENCE WONDER QUARTERLY soon appears. SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE is added. STF booklets and a reprint are released, and copies of Paul's drawings are offered for sale. Not bad, eh? Though AWS combines with SWS to be called WONDER STORIES, and SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE is changed to AMAZING DETECTIVE TALES and then folds up, other companies decide STF is what the readers want, so try their hand at publishing it. ASTOUNDING STORIES came first with the splendid, if ill-fated, MIRACLE following. The Boys' Scientifiction Club, Scienceers, ISA, and others issue club papers titled The Meteor, the Planet, and The Comet, respectively. The mail-order Cosmic Publications, sponsors of the Futuristic Themes, pops up and puts out the novelet "Guests of the Earth". Swanson Book Company reprints Hamilton's "Metal Giants". Things get worse, but STF advances. the Time Traveller, Science Fiction's Original Fan Magazine, starts up mimeod; then it is printed; later combines with the Science Fiction Digest. In the meantime, Science Fiction Magazine has sprung up, and has improved so that my last issue has fine illustrations and a colored cover. SFD releases STF booklets, reprints a classic. WONDER STORIES uses Paul exclusively, and features a futuristic make-up and many contests. Goes in for the STF jigsaw puzzles of Paul's covers. And at the last AMAZING warms to the subject. Unchanging through the years, refusing to alter its title or make-up, the depresh warns her publishers to listen to the readers, and revolutionary modernistic covers are the result. WEIRD and ARGOSY print more science fiction. BLUE BOOK gets the most startling STF serial of 1932-33, Wylie Balmer's "When Worlds Collide!", now being made into a movie. A sequel is secured by popular demand. DOC SAVAGE magazine appears using STF-tinted tales. Ditto EXCITEMENT, where Arthur J. Burks' prehistoric fantasy, "The Crimson Blight", and others, have run. With Technocracy, even the newspapers are getting out STF tales; reprinting "Looking Backward--2000-1887", "Tyrant of Technocracy", etc. Radio goes mad with STF ether dramas, certain advertisers using much noted STF characters as "Tarzan" and "Buck Rogers In The Twenty-Fifth Century", to head their programs. THE AMERICAN FAMILY dramatizes stories from its pages of mechanical men and the future. Eddie Cantor goes to Mars for a coffee company, and visits the past and future. WEIRD TALES goes on the air. And the scientifilms? Nearly twenty five forthcoming! The ISA has resumed the printing of Cosmology; Clark Ashton Smith is releasing six of his fantasies in a printed booklet, and now the FANTASY FAN appears for weird-science and supernatural fans. FANTASY MAGAZINE presents "Cosmos". Continued on the next page.
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