Transcribe
Translate
Wavelength, v. 1, issue 3, Fall 1941
31858063099622_001
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
Wave Length Baptism of Fire "Doc" Lowndos "You're not really an editor," says Mr. Sundoll, "until you can handle the scissors and cement." There I was, the April issue of "Future FIction" ready to go out, doing the layouts over at the last second because the printers just wouldn't accept them the way I'd done them at first. That way, I might add, would have been perfectly all right for some other printer, but not the one (or ones) that do Columbia magazines. Either we toe the line or they don't play ball. Well, let's go back a bit further, because I've started all this pretty late into the game. Go back, shall we say, to a certain day in October (or was it November?). (I just looked it up; it was the first week in November. I received a letter from Mr. Silberkleit dated November 1st, asking me to call the following Monday, which I did.) On that certain day, I was an agent and a writer. I'd had a reasonable amount of success in both lines of endeavor -- at least I'd managed to keep eating more or less regularly -- but the whole business was nothing which could stand up against any real disaster. So, I'd been trying to get an editorial post to keep the cash coming in more regularly, besides which I thought I could do things with a science-fiction magazine that didn't occur to other editors. I'd been writing to Munsey, for example, urging them to try a fantastic magazine, offering my own services if Miss Gnacdinger was too busy to take care of it. (Not that I thought she would be, but it didn't hurt to show your hand a bit; if I had just written as a fan, they would have dismissed the entire business at a glance. But when you give figures and definition statements, and apply for a job, they assume that you have some idea of what you're talking about.) There'd been no results from them, or from others I'd contacted. Don Wollheim was also campaigning. We kept close notes so as to make sure we didn't get in each other's way in the matter; it wouldn't be anything of a catastrophe if Don made out and I didn't or vice versa. The point was that it was time another Futurian became an editor because, despite Pohl's work with "Astonishing" and "Super Science Stories", science fiction was still not what we thought, in the hands of solid, oldtime fans, it could be. (Yeah, I
Saving...
prev
next
Wave Length Baptism of Fire "Doc" Lowndos "You're not really an editor," says Mr. Sundoll, "until you can handle the scissors and cement." There I was, the April issue of "Future FIction" ready to go out, doing the layouts over at the last second because the printers just wouldn't accept them the way I'd done them at first. That way, I might add, would have been perfectly all right for some other printer, but not the one (or ones) that do Columbia magazines. Either we toe the line or they don't play ball. Well, let's go back a bit further, because I've started all this pretty late into the game. Go back, shall we say, to a certain day in October (or was it November?). (I just looked it up; it was the first week in November. I received a letter from Mr. Silberkleit dated November 1st, asking me to call the following Monday, which I did.) On that certain day, I was an agent and a writer. I'd had a reasonable amount of success in both lines of endeavor -- at least I'd managed to keep eating more or less regularly -- but the whole business was nothing which could stand up against any real disaster. So, I'd been trying to get an editorial post to keep the cash coming in more regularly, besides which I thought I could do things with a science-fiction magazine that didn't occur to other editors. I'd been writing to Munsey, for example, urging them to try a fantastic magazine, offering my own services if Miss Gnacdinger was too busy to take care of it. (Not that I thought she would be, but it didn't hurt to show your hand a bit; if I had just written as a fan, they would have dismissed the entire business at a glance. But when you give figures and definition statements, and apply for a job, they assume that you have some idea of what you're talking about.) There'd been no results from them, or from others I'd contacted. Don Wollheim was also campaigning. We kept close notes so as to make sure we didn't get in each other's way in the matter; it wouldn't be anything of a catastrophe if Don made out and I didn't or vice versa. The point was that it was time another Futurian became an editor because, despite Pohl's work with "Astonishing" and "Super Science Stories", science fiction was still not what we thought, in the hands of solid, oldtime fans, it could be. (Yeah, I
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
