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Horizons, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 6, December 1940

Page 12

A YEAR OF UNKNOWN

as a rule; on a yarn like this everything turning out okay would be horrible. However, it's not use arguing as to whether happy endings should be the rule or whether there should be unhappy ones once in a while, in any type of literature. The story takes care of that. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred there's no choice in the matter for the author once he comes to the end; after you finish any decent yarn you realize that the happy ending couldn't be made unhappy or vice versa logically without virtually re-plotting the entire yarn. THE AFRICAN TRICK: A little too long, we think; as a rule, any Unknown yarn between 10 and 20 pages in length can be compressed and thus made better. But the plot is refreshingly new, and Guernsey remains one of our favorite Unknown writers. ALL IS ILLUSION: The guy who argued that this was copied after Thorne Smith couldn't see the forest for a tree, or something. Almost every semi-humorous yarn in Unknown is written in the Smith tradition. That's mostly because when you writing goofy fantasy it almost inevitably falls into either the TSmith or the LSdeCamp classification; it's inevitable. (We should have elaborated what we said about Philtered Power and our dislike for humorously-treated stuff on page 9. But room forbids now, and so you'd better just forget all about it until we find space to go into our opinions on this matter in detail.) Kuttner's yarn not of his best; still good. In order: He Shuttles, The African Trick, All Is Illusion, Indigestible Triton. Almost nothing to choose among the last three. Editorial same as usual; letters could be a darned sight better.

May: Cover: On first glance awful, but after staring at it for several moments you realize you've seen worse. Atmosphere saves it from being completely bad. THE ROARING TRUMPET: Ah, the first excellent novel of the year! In the hands of anyone except de Camp this would be as bad as the Prester John things, but he knows what it takes. I've already expressed my opinion on one episode herein as being the best of the year, in an article in another fan magazine. Wonder if this was a rejection of Fletcher Pratt's doctored up by de Camp, same as Gold's "None but Lucifer"? MAD HATTER: Just about the best pure fantasy, unterrorizing, short of the year; at least, the best of the harmless ones that aren't intended to make you wonder. WELL OF THE ANGELS: And yet another one we hustled through. We detest Price's work most of the time, and this is certainly no exception. THE PIPES OF PAN: It's remarkable how one issue of this magazine can be only fair, and the next one superb. This doesn't drag down the quality in the least; not classic, but it'll suffice. THE REIGN OF WIZARDRY: The same thing that was said about "On the Knees of the Gods" applies here. But this is even worse: it's Williamson's poorest work in a long while, we think. Anything like this isn't fitted for Unknown; you can find it lots of other places and add as much fantasy as you wish. Too bad; luckily, there hasn't been any more of this type. Order of preference: Roaring Trumpet, Mad Hatter, Pipes of Pan, Reign of Wizardry, Well of the Angels. Willy Ley's article is quite enjoyable, although it doesn't say much new and is mostly speculation. We prefer in Unknown articles inspired by something definite, like Time Travel Happens. Editorial best of the year thus far. No letter section.

June: Cover: Second-best of the six pictures. If covers like this had been forthcoming each issue, we would make the switch to the new jackets very much. BUT WITHOUT HORNS: Believe it or not, we liked it. This is partly because the superman, futureman, mutantman, or what you will is our favorite type of story. We might as well call it the slan story, using slan in a general sense rather than in referring to the Astounding yarn (when we do that we'll capitalize) and do our bit toward putting it in the dictionary. True, it is cops-and-robbers. So what? We like it, and we've a hunch we weren't entirely alone in that way. And that ending! No other pulp magazine would have used it. MASTER GERALD OF CAMBRAY: It left us with a rather negative sensation -- a lack of feeling about it one way or the other, rather. It was well worked out, and Schadner used considerable skill in writing it, but it hardly had a divine spark. Still, Nat should turn more to Unknown. He has talents as a writer, although you would never guess it to read some of this stuff. THE KRAKEN: This gave an entirely different sensation; one of having read it before in a dozen different stories

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A YEAR OF UNKNOWN as a rule; on a yarn like this everything turning out okay would be horrible. However, it's not use arguing as to whether happy endings should be the rule or whether there should be unhappy ones once in a while, in any type of literature. The story takes care of that. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred there's no choice in the matter for the author once he comes to the end; after you finish any decent yarn you realize that the happy ending couldn't be made unhappy or vice versa logically without virtually re-plotting the entire yarn. THE AFRICAN TRICK: A little too long, we think; as a rule, any Unknown yarn between 10 and 20 pages in length can be compressed and thus made better. But the plot is refreshingly new, and Guernsey remains one of our favorite Unknown writers. ALL IS ILLUSION: The guy who argued that this was copied after Thorne Smith couldn't see the forest for a tree, or something. Almost every semi-humorous yarn in Unknown is written in the Smith tradition. That's mostly because when you writing goofy fantasy it almost inevitably falls into either the TSmith or the LSdeCamp classification; it's inevitable. (We should have elaborated what we said about Philtered Power and our dislike for humorously-treated stuff on page 9. But room forbids now, and so you'd better just forget all about it until we find space to go into our opinions on this matter in detail.) Kuttner's yarn not of his best; still good. In order: He Shuttles, The African Trick, All Is Illusion, Indigestible Triton. Almost nothing to choose among the last three. Editorial same as usual; letters could be a darned sight better. May: Cover: On first glance awful, but after staring at it for several moments you realize you've seen worse. Atmosphere saves it from being completely bad. THE ROARING TRUMPET: Ah, the first excellent novel of the year! In the hands of anyone except de Camp this would be as bad as the Prester John things, but he knows what it takes. I've already expressed my opinion on one episode herein as being the best of the year, in an article in another fan magazine. Wonder if this was a rejection of Fletcher Pratt's doctored up by de Camp, same as Gold's "None but Lucifer"? MAD HATTER: Just about the best pure fantasy, unterrorizing, short of the year; at least, the best of the harmless ones that aren't intended to make you wonder. WELL OF THE ANGELS: And yet another one we hustled through. We detest Price's work most of the time, and this is certainly no exception. THE PIPES OF PAN: It's remarkable how one issue of this magazine can be only fair, and the next one superb. This doesn't drag down the quality in the least; not classic, but it'll suffice. THE REIGN OF WIZARDRY: The same thing that was said about "On the Knees of the Gods" applies here. But this is even worse: it's Williamson's poorest work in a long while, we think. Anything like this isn't fitted for Unknown; you can find it lots of other places and add as much fantasy as you wish. Too bad; luckily, there hasn't been any more of this type. Order of preference: Roaring Trumpet, Mad Hatter, Pipes of Pan, Reign of Wizardry, Well of the Angels. Willy Ley's article is quite enjoyable, although it doesn't say much new and is mostly speculation. We prefer in Unknown articles inspired by something definite, like Time Travel Happens. Editorial best of the year thus far. No letter section. June: Cover: Second-best of the six pictures. If covers like this had been forthcoming each issue, we would make the switch to the new jackets very much. BUT WITHOUT HORNS: Believe it or not, we liked it. This is partly because the superman, futureman, mutantman, or what you will is our favorite type of story. We might as well call it the slan story, using slan in a general sense rather than in referring to the Astounding yarn (when we do that we'll capitalize) and do our bit toward putting it in the dictionary. True, it is cops-and-robbers. So what? We like it, and we've a hunch we weren't entirely alone in that way. And that ending! No other pulp magazine would have used it. MASTER GERALD OF CAMBRAY: It left us with a rather negative sensation -- a lack of feeling about it one way or the other, rather. It was well worked out, and Schadner used considerable skill in writing it, but it hardly had a divine spark. Still, Nat should turn more to Unknown. He has talents as a writer, although you would never guess it to read some of this stuff. THE KRAKEN: This gave an entirely different sensation; one of having read it before in a dozen different stories