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IFA Review, August 1940

Page 6

   Next is Herschel Maurice (Morris) Jenkinson, Jr., 214 E. Willard St., Muncie: Yes, I enjoy literature. But whether it's correct from a literary standpoint makes  no difference to me. If I enjoy the story or article, that's all I ask for. Usually, though, a piece of literature that is enjoyed is true literature in every respect. My likes in the fantastic field lean toward science-fiction, with the interest in weird-fantasy being nil. That is, I believe in many of the things in stf, but the w-f type contains nothing I believe in. But since I read primarily for entertainment, magazines like Unknown, Weird Tales, and Strange Stories, for the most part, prove very interesting, especially the stories based on psychology.
   I see that you, too, believe fantasy fiction is escape literature. Well so do I, but I try to kid myself that escape is secondary to a "sugar-coated education". (Today, the answer to that is Ha! Ha!)
  You are perfectly right about the degeneration of most of the fantasy stories which dealt, and are dealing, with all of the various political groups you mentioned. If you will look over your collection, you will find that most of the stories from 1929 to date deal with Communism, Socialism, Technocracy, and a thousand other UTOPIAN isms that work only on paper. Then you will note that the leaders and "big" members of those pro-Communist, etc., clubs were fans who, as did we, grew up to speak, on the preceding type of fantasy stories. But unlike us, they are so warped in their views that they fail to realise that the heads of such governments would have to be super, unselfish gods to make their regimes a success. Such political ideas can never be successful in today's world. In the far distant future, they may be successful, because of a vastly different human outlook. I guess fantasy fiction will always have it's beefers, juvenile howlers, and foreign "ismites". The latter may yet cause the downfall of fantasy fiction fandom. Perhaps we, through the IFA, can do something about cleaning up the fantasy fiction house-----at least in Indiana.
   You can see that this IFA idea strikes me as an excellent one. Please enter me as a member as soon as possible. I expect to get a lot more enjoyment out of belonging to a home state organisation, than out of a dozen other national organisations, sponsored by some pro magazines to advertise their publications.
   ((Morrie is the fellow who is responsible (&) for the illustrations in this issue. For this co-operation in the matter of art work, we extend our sincere gratitude.)) 
   And now we hear from Melvin C. Schmidt, R. F. D. #4, Mount Vernon: If a state organization is formed, you can count on me to help as much as possible. I have always wished that there could be a state organization, but up until the last few months there were only a few fans in Indiana. Now, with the gang working at Decker, there are about ten fellows of whom I know. That should be enough for a start. I've always wondered why there weren't many fans in such large cities as Indianapolis, Terre Haute, South Bend, etc.
   ((The reason for that is, of course, a matter of conjecture. But we already have a couple of IFA members from these cities as you may have noted in glancing through this section.))

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Next is Herschel Maurice (Morris) Jenkinson, Jr., 214 E. Willard St., Muncie: Yes, I enjoy literature. But whether it's correct from a literary standpoint makes no difference to me. If I enjoy the story or article, that's all I ask for. Usually, though, a piece of literature that is enjoyed is true literature in every respect. My likes in the fantastic field lean toward science-fiction, with the interest in weird-fantasy being nil. That is, I believe in many of the things in stf, but the w-f type contains nothing I believe in. But since I read primarily for entertainment, magazines like Unknown, Weird Tales, and Strange Stories, for the most part, prove very interesting, especially the stories based on psychology. I see that you, too, believe fantasy fiction is escape literature. Well so do I, but I try to kid myself that escape is secondary to a "sugar-coated education". (Today, the answer to that is Ha! Ha!) You are perfectly right about the degeneration of most of the fantasy stories which dealt, and are dealing, with all of the various political groups you mentioned. If you will look over your collection, you will find that most of the stories from 1929 to date deal with Communism, Socialism, Technocracy, and a thousand other UTOPIAN isms that work only on paper. Then you will note that the leaders and "big" members of those pro-Communist, etc., clubs were fans who, as did we, grew up to speak, on the preceding type of fantasy stories. But unlike us, they are so warped in their views that they fail to realise that the heads of such governments would have to be super, unselfish gods to make their regimes a success. Such political ideas can never be successful in today's world. In the far distant future, they may be successful, because of a vastly different human outlook. I guess fantasy fiction will always have it's beefers, juvenile howlers, and foreign "ismites". The latter may yet cause the downfall of fantasy fiction fandom. Perhaps we, through the IFA, can do something about cleaning up the fantasy fiction house-----at least in Indiana. You can see that this IFA idea strikes me as an excellent one. Please enter me as a member as soon as possible. I expect to get a lot more enjoyment out of belonging to a home state organisation, than out of a dozen other national organisations, sponsored by some pro magazines to advertise their publications. ((Morrie is the fellow who is responsible (&) for the illustrations in this issue. For this co-operation in the matter of art work, we extend our sincere gratitude.)) And now we hear from Melvin C. Schmidt, R. F. D. #4, Mount Vernon: If a state organization is formed, you can count on me to help as much as possible. I have always wished that there could be a state organization, but up until the last few months there were only a few fans in Indiana. Now, with the gang working at Decker, there are about ten fellows of whom I know. That should be enough for a start. I've always wondered why there weren't many fans in such large cities as Indianapolis, Terre Haute, South Bend, etc. ((The reason for that is, of course, a matter of conjecture. But we already have a couple of IFA members from these cities as you may have noted in glancing through this section.))