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Fantascience Digest, v. 2, issue 1, Novermber-December 1938

Page 25

FANTASCIENCE DIGEST                Page 25

   The most noticeable point about the 6th issue is the slump in the quality of your art work. Advise sticking to Baltadonis, he's the best in your end of the country. I still shudder when I think of that monstrosity on page 3. The cover is the best in the issue, but still can't compare with last month's/ Looks like Rothman might have been trying to illustrate Wells' "War of the Worlds."

   Experience in hectographing, over a period of two or three years, has given fan mag editors dexterity to a degree where today it is difficult to find a publication that is not easily legible. To this trend FD is no exception, in fact, it ranks in quality with those which have existed several times as long.

   Your departments are all interesting, altho containing nothing startling in the way of news. Conover shows improvement this time, while Hart and Reinsberg hold up their ends ably. Can't comment on the fiction as I make it a practice never to read (if I can help it) the stuff the average fan writer turns out. Wilson covers the situation neatly when he labels it "unutterably rotten". Unfortunate, but true. 

   The ordinary run of fan poetry leaves me cold, and the two examples in this issue don't have much to recommend them. Get more by Miske, his "Yeta" i the previous issue should rank high among fan efforts. 

   JOHN GIUNTA: Let me congragulate Rothman on the fine cover, although it was a bit vague. His interior illustration is good, too. However, I don't think much of that department. It is merely a waste of space, not that the drawing isn't good. But it is not technical -- it could have represented Jupiter just as well as Venus. 

     *Skylark Vs. Thought* by MAR was all right. But why doesn't MAR attempt to write a serious story? True, the idea is novel, but I don't give a hang about it. If you're going to publish fiction, publish those that are written seriously, like "Good Company", "The Eyes of Paul Cordney," "The Mother," etc. I hope you get what I mean.

   Dale Hart's "Thumb-Nail Thought-Themes" was an enjoyable article. As for ""Anonymous", I won't say a thing, let the others say it. "Progress" by H.C. was good. "Looking Around" did not reach its usual standard in my opinion, although I did enjoy its humor, if not its news. "AMAZING News" by Mark Reinsberg was swell, it made up for a lot. It was enjoyable and it furnished news which I could keep reading for all eternity Gulp! That is a large order. Whenever I receive your mag, the first things I read are the editorial and "The Reader Comments"; those are two columns that never lack interest. 

   BOB TUCKER: Regarding issue #4, which you sent me a while back I only wish that I had obtained the Henry Kuttner story, "Fun With Atoms" for my D'Journal. I can't think of any higher compliment on the story than to wish that I had published it myself. If there is ever any reprint rights loosed on that epic, I want them. D'Journal is doing a little reprinting, you know (The reprint rights are yours for the asking, Bob. -- RAM)

HELEN CLOUKEY: I have read the sixth FD. Rothman's "Skylark Vs. Thought" was clever, although personally I tended to mix up the characters. Perhaps that is the effect of the subway. Dale Hart's "Thumb-Nail Thought-Themes" holds one's interest. Incidentally Rothman's illustration for his own tale is neat. "You Can't Have Everything" is insipid. Conover expressed some of my thoughts, though not quite like I would express them. Naturally! Reinsberg's column was fair; those truths

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FANTASCIENCE DIGEST Page 25 The most noticeable point about the 6th issue is the slump in the quality of your art work. Advise sticking to Baltadonis, he's the best in your end of the country. I still shudder when I think of that monstrosity on page 3. The cover is the best in the issue, but still can't compare with last month's/ Looks like Rothman might have been trying to illustrate Wells' "War of the Worlds." Experience in hectographing, over a period of two or three years, has given fan mag editors dexterity to a degree where today it is difficult to find a publication that is not easily legible. To this trend FD is no exception, in fact, it ranks in quality with those which have existed several times as long. Your departments are all interesting, altho containing nothing startling in the way of news. Conover shows improvement this time, while Hart and Reinsberg hold up their ends ably. Can't comment on the fiction as I make it a practice never to read (if I can help it) the stuff the average fan writer turns out. Wilson covers the situation neatly when he labels it "unutterably rotten". Unfortunate, but true. The ordinary run of fan poetry leaves me cold, and the two examples in this issue don't have much to recommend them. Get more by Miske, his "Yeta" i the previous issue should rank high among fan efforts. JOHN GIUNTA: Let me congragulate Rothman on the fine cover, although it was a bit vague. His interior illustration is good, too. However, I don't think much of that department. It is merely a waste of space, not that the drawing isn't good. But it is not technical -- it could have represented Jupiter just as well as Venus. *Skylark Vs. Thought* by MAR was all right. But why doesn't MAR attempt to write a serious story? True, the idea is novel, but I don't give a hang about it. If you're going to publish fiction, publish those that are written seriously, like "Good Company", "The Eyes of Paul Cordney," "The Mother," etc. I hope you get what I mean. Dale Hart's "Thumb-Nail Thought-Themes" was an enjoyable article. As for ""Anonymous", I won't say a thing, let the others say it. "Progress" by H.C. was good. "Looking Around" did not reach its usual standard in my opinion, although I did enjoy its humor, if not its news. "AMAZING News" by Mark Reinsberg was swell, it made up for a lot. It was enjoyable and it furnished news which I could keep reading for all eternity Gulp! That is a large order. Whenever I receive your mag, the first things I read are the editorial and "The Reader Comments"; those are two columns that never lack interest. BOB TUCKER: Regarding issue #4, which you sent me a while back I only wish that I had obtained the Henry Kuttner story, "Fun With Atoms" for my D'Journal. I can't think of any higher compliment on the story than to wish that I had published it myself. If there is ever any reprint rights loosed on that epic, I want them. D'Journal is doing a little reprinting, you know (The reprint rights are yours for the asking, Bob. -- RAM) HELEN CLOUKEY: I have read the sixth FD. Rothman's "Skylark Vs. Thought" was clever, although personally I tended to mix up the characters. Perhaps that is the effect of the subway. Dale Hart's "Thumb-Nail Thought-Themes" holds one's interest. Incidentally Rothman's illustration for his own tale is neat. "You Can't Have Everything" is insipid. Conover expressed some of my thoughts, though not quite like I would express them. Naturally! Reinsberg's column was fair; those truths