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Le Vombiteur, v. 3, issue 7, whole no. 32, December 2, 1939

Page 2

voters as blandly distributed 1 vote over 2, 3, 4 or 5 stories. Thus Rosenblum and Rothman each gave one vote to 3 Skylarks or 1/3rd vote each. Rosenblum split 1 vote between "Before" and "After" worlds collide, likewise between "Erewhon" and "Erewhon Revisited", and, to top it off, he gives 1/5th vote each to the 5 "Lemurian Documents". All in all, his ten votes covered 18 stories. Rothman covered 16 with hs offering 1/5th vote each to the 5 Arcot-Wade-Morey mths. Miss Moore, we are sorry to say, also tried to cover 5 Penton & Blake stories with one vote. Jim Avery had 1 vote for the 3 Van Manderpootz tales. 

As a result of such tactics, the Skylarks, actually mentioned by 7 people, should have been 6th place int he standing, while "When Worlds Collide" would have had more than a technical lead over "War of the Worlds" -- and behold the plight of Campbell! But, that is the way the voters actually placed them, so thus are they listed. 

The results, as they stand, have a certain amount of interest, although probably little real value, except as sources of arguments. The high standing of Stapledon and Coblentz comes as a distinct surprise and the first 4 stories named also surprised this critic. I think that "In Caverns Below", while good, isn't THE story that the poll would make it out to be. "Last & First Men" deserved its high rating, but is curiously constrated with "Black Flame", which follows. The latter is an amusing enough fairy tale, and has characters a trifle more real than those in ordinary magazine stuff, but as serious literature the thing does not even begin to compare in insight into human psychology as with Gertrude Atherton's "The Blacj Oxen" on a comparable theme. ((Nor with Hilton's "Lost Horizon" - Ed.)) I advise all admirers of "The Black Flame" to read Atherton's book and revise their estimates of Weinbaum's little pleasantry. Perhaps one of the reasons it ranked so high was its comparative newness: the polees didn't have time to forget it. This also applies to "Survival" which I doubt would draw as many votes were the poll to be retaken in a year or so. To leave particulars and generalize: there were two great sources of confusion in the poll. In the first place, despite the requests for the first ten you think of, many voters, including myself, made an effort to remember the best ten. Since one may remember a story because it was very good or because it was very bad, the result of mixing the two procedures (first & best) will be obvious. 2nd, and even more important, plenty of voters entirely disregarded the request for stf. This is shown by the great number of fantasy tales named, and by the high standing of Merritt, Lovecraft, and C. L. Moore. Clask Ashton Smith also picked up a scattering of votes though he is strictly a fantasy writer. It is certain that if Le Vombiteur holds a fantasy poll, a great deal of overlapping will result: indeed, this overlapping may turn out to be the most significant feature of the 2 polls, as it will offer illuminating evidence of how the various fans classify the fields. It's quite certain that, for many, the line is by no means a clear-cut one.

As the poll terminates, the most significant feature to me is the high stand of solid, substantial, intellectual fare, such as "Last & First Men" & the general works of Stapledone, Wells, Coblentz, and Keller, who may be termed essentially realistic in their approach. Except for the probably temporary popularity of engbaum, induced by eulogic sentimentalists, the pure romantics suffer in comparison. Even EESmith's Skylarks stand up only fairly well, and it is heartening to observe the unanimous indifference which meets Jack Williamson's epics. This growth of a drift toward realism is distinctly encouraging in a fiend over-ridden by the cheap devices of the more sentimental hack writers. 
---LOUIS RUSSELL CHAUVENET

((We apologize again for the delay in these returns; it is now almost exactly a year since Mr. Chauvenet's report, as given above reached us. Thanks to all who sent in their votes. Editor.))

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voters as blandly distributed 1 vote over 2, 3, 4 or 5 stories. Thus Rosenblum and Rothman each gave one vote to 3 Skylarks or 1/3rd vote each. Rosenblum split 1 vote between "Before" and "After" worlds collide, likewise between "Erewhon" and "Erewhon Revisited", and, to top it off, he gives 1/5th vote each to the 5 "Lemurian Documents". All in all, his ten votes covered 18 stories. Rothman covered 16 with hs offering 1/5th vote each to the 5 Arcot-Wade-Morey mths. Miss Moore, we are sorry to say, also tried to cover 5 Penton & Blake stories with one vote. Jim Avery had 1 vote for the 3 Van Manderpootz tales. As a result of such tactics, the Skylarks, actually mentioned by 7 people, should have been 6th place int he standing, while "When Worlds Collide" would have had more than a technical lead over "War of the Worlds" -- and behold the plight of Campbell! But, that is the way the voters actually placed them, so thus are they listed. The results, as they stand, have a certain amount of interest, although probably little real value, except as sources of arguments. The high standing of Stapledon and Coblentz comes as a distinct surprise and the first 4 stories named also surprised this critic. I think that "In Caverns Below", while good, isn't THE story that the poll would make it out to be. "Last & First Men" deserved its high rating, but is curiously constrated with "Black Flame", which follows. The latter is an amusing enough fairy tale, and has characters a trifle more real than those in ordinary magazine stuff, but as serious literature the thing does not even begin to compare in insight into human psychology as with Gertrude Atherton's "The Blacj Oxen" on a comparable theme. ((Nor with Hilton's "Lost Horizon" - Ed.)) I advise all admirers of "The Black Flame" to read Atherton's book and revise their estimates of Weinbaum's little pleasantry. Perhaps one of the reasons it ranked so high was its comparative newness: the polees didn't have time to forget it. This also applies to "Survival" which I doubt would draw as many votes were the poll to be retaken in a year or so. To leave particulars and generalize: there were two great sources of confusion in the poll. In the first place, despite the requests for the first ten you think of, many voters, including myself, made an effort to remember the best ten. Since one may remember a story because it was very good or because it was very bad, the result of mixing the two procedures (first & best) will be obvious. 2nd, and even more important, plenty of voters entirely disregarded the request for stf. This is shown by the great number of fantasy tales named, and by the high standing of Merritt, Lovecraft, and C. L. Moore. Clask Ashton Smith also picked up a scattering of votes though he is strictly a fantasy writer. It is certain that if Le Vombiteur holds a fantasy poll, a great deal of overlapping will result: indeed, this overlapping may turn out to be the most significant feature of the 2 polls, as it will offer illuminating evidence of how the various fans classify the fields. It's quite certain that, for many, the line is by no means a clear-cut one. As the poll terminates, the most significant feature to me is the high stand of solid, substantial, intellectual fare, such as "Last & First Men" & the general works of Stapledone, Wells, Coblentz, and Keller, who may be termed essentially realistic in their approach. Except for the probably temporary popularity of engbaum, induced by eulogic sentimentalists, the pure romantics suffer in comparison. Even EESmith's Skylarks stand up only fairly well, and it is heartening to observe the unanimous indifference which meets Jack Williamson's epics. This growth of a drift toward realism is distinctly encouraging in a fiend over-ridden by the cheap devices of the more sentimental hack writers. ---LOUIS RUSSELL CHAUVENET ((We apologize again for the delay in these returns; it is now almost exactly a year since Mr. Chauvenet's report, as given above reached us. Thanks to all who sent in their votes. Editor.))