Transcribe
Translate
Fantascience Digest, v. 2, issue 1, Novermber-December 1938
Page 11
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
FANTASCIENCE DIGEST Page 11 Atmosphere in Fan Mags Robert Bahr Everyone has heard the term "atmosphere" used in connection with some subject or another. It is an indefinable something that possesses it from the common, the ordinary, or in some cases its limitations. Everything possesses a more or less pronounced atmosphere, but usually it is present in varying stages of intensity. This is only natural when one takes into consideration the countless objects present upon mother earth which can boast such a term as "atmosphere". Atmosphere does not necessarily mean popularity. Few people have the faculties to perceive so ethereal a thing as "atmosphere". More than in almost any other fiction, tales of the unusual, imaginative, and weird possess a very pronounced atmosphere. Who can deny the magnetic quality of, for instance, the old AMAZING STORIES? A quality so likeable that it held its advocates long after the magazine itself had nothing worthwhile to offer. All science fiction readers of three years or more vintage will never forget the atmosphere of the old WONDER STORIES. A magazine that shifted size, content, price countless times and never lost that indefinite "something" that set it apart from other magazines of the type. Here also we have contributing features, such as Paul's typical, oh so fitting illustrations. True, none of them were art, but they belonged in a science fiction magazine. However, that is a subject in itself, so let us turn once again toward the real object of this article. Fan magazines possess a true scientifictional "atmosphere". It seems a little too much to expect of such a variable group, many of which never go more than a few pointless numbers. Nevertheless, I find in this fertile field as easy a pick of publications with atmosphere as could be found in any professional publication of any size. FANTASY MAGAZINE-- I know the very mention of the name practically carried through my point without any real necessity for enlightenment. FANTASY MAGAZINE was a publication that possessed as much, or more, atmosphere than the professional publications themselves. I feel safe in stating that no fan will ever recapture that height of inexpressible joy that he found when he read, with full understanding, his first copy of FANTASY MAGAZINE. A new field lay open before him. More than he had ever dared to hope for, & the knowledge was his as fast as he could read and digest it. There in one comparative small pamphlet, he had the key that unlocked every puzzling factor that the professional science fiction magazines could present. Sadly enough, FANTASY MAGAZINE never gained the circulation that it deserved. Those who could understand and appreciate the marvelous inside interviews with such well-known scientifictionists as Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, H.P. Lovecraft, Stanley G. Weinbaum; if a few fans in obtaining for them original works of A. Merritt, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Stanley G. Weinbaum, C.L. Moore, Robert E. Howard; who could chortle with delight over some magazine or shake their heads in admiration of Clay
Saving...
prev
next
FANTASCIENCE DIGEST Page 11 Atmosphere in Fan Mags Robert Bahr Everyone has heard the term "atmosphere" used in connection with some subject or another. It is an indefinable something that possesses it from the common, the ordinary, or in some cases its limitations. Everything possesses a more or less pronounced atmosphere, but usually it is present in varying stages of intensity. This is only natural when one takes into consideration the countless objects present upon mother earth which can boast such a term as "atmosphere". Atmosphere does not necessarily mean popularity. Few people have the faculties to perceive so ethereal a thing as "atmosphere". More than in almost any other fiction, tales of the unusual, imaginative, and weird possess a very pronounced atmosphere. Who can deny the magnetic quality of, for instance, the old AMAZING STORIES? A quality so likeable that it held its advocates long after the magazine itself had nothing worthwhile to offer. All science fiction readers of three years or more vintage will never forget the atmosphere of the old WONDER STORIES. A magazine that shifted size, content, price countless times and never lost that indefinite "something" that set it apart from other magazines of the type. Here also we have contributing features, such as Paul's typical, oh so fitting illustrations. True, none of them were art, but they belonged in a science fiction magazine. However, that is a subject in itself, so let us turn once again toward the real object of this article. Fan magazines possess a true scientifictional "atmosphere". It seems a little too much to expect of such a variable group, many of which never go more than a few pointless numbers. Nevertheless, I find in this fertile field as easy a pick of publications with atmosphere as could be found in any professional publication of any size. FANTASY MAGAZINE-- I know the very mention of the name practically carried through my point without any real necessity for enlightenment. FANTASY MAGAZINE was a publication that possessed as much, or more, atmosphere than the professional publications themselves. I feel safe in stating that no fan will ever recapture that height of inexpressible joy that he found when he read, with full understanding, his first copy of FANTASY MAGAZINE. A new field lay open before him. More than he had ever dared to hope for, & the knowledge was his as fast as he could read and digest it. There in one comparative small pamphlet, he had the key that unlocked every puzzling factor that the professional science fiction magazines could present. Sadly enough, FANTASY MAGAZINE never gained the circulation that it deserved. Those who could understand and appreciate the marvelous inside interviews with such well-known scientifictionists as Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Merritt, H.P. Lovecraft, Stanley G. Weinbaum; if a few fans in obtaining for them original works of A. Merritt, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Stanley G. Weinbaum, C.L. Moore, Robert E. Howard; who could chortle with delight over some magazine or shake their heads in admiration of Clay
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
