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Southern Star, v. 1, issue 1, 1941

Page 6

Adventures in Re-Reading   
Page 6
         
       SOUTHERN STAR   

   As for authors, Weinbaum, Smith, and Keller held up best; because, I suspect, they were the best. Poe and Verne, as before mentioned, got better. Certain author's stuff I just couldn't get interested enough in to read a second time; that held true for most of F. B. Long's stories, and Frank Kelley's. Certain yarns that were greatly enjoyed on first reading never were touched again, either through chance or certain something that didn't give the requisite get-up-and-go for re-perusing. Most notable of these was "The Mightiest Machine". Oddly enough, I cannot recall ever having re-read a single story by Campbell or Stuart, even though only one of his stories -- Cloak of Aesir -- failed to click with me, of all I've read. Twenty years hence, if termites don't ruin my collection, that record will undoubtedly be broken. By that time I and the rest of the science fiction would will probally be wondering whether JWC jr's editorship of Astounding and Unknown was worth the dozens of un-written masterpieces it caused. 

   By the Fall of 1936 I had acquired a fine set of correspondents. By the next year other magazines began to appeal to me, I was old enuf to borrow books from the adults' section of the library, and then the following year I became an active fan. So I stopped re-reading. It's possible to count on the fingers of one hand the number of yarns I've read again in the past two years, and as far as I can recall I've not re-read a single one which was originally published during that time. Those which gained that distinction were old classics I felt a yen to re-read, or cases like "The Snake Mother" which I already had and had read which then appeared in reading a story for the second time and not having to wonder how it's going to turn out; instead, you can go along the yarn with a sublime feeling of sureness that the author isn't going to doublecross you and bump off you hero. 
             THE END

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

          FOR ADANA
                  by
    ROBERT W. LOWNDES

- "Guest" Material -                                              - Verse -

Adana, serpent-mother, in the sultry afternoon
Of your forbidden land, 
Where Graydon and Suarra, hand in hand, 
Behold the renaissance of Yu-Atlanchi, wonderstrewn
With seeming sorceries, 
Why lie you sleeping?

I tell you, serpent mother, that the Dark One lives again, 
And, whispering to men, 
Has wrought new hells without your secret pool
Of tuft slumber, 
And Graydons without number
Would win their way to you for aid in shattering its rule
Within your keeping. 

            THE END

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Adventures in Re-Reading Page 6 SOUTHERN STAR As for authors, Weinbaum, Smith, and Keller held up best; because, I suspect, they were the best. Poe and Verne, as before mentioned, got better. Certain author's stuff I just couldn't get interested enough in to read a second time; that held true for most of F. B. Long's stories, and Frank Kelley's. Certain yarns that were greatly enjoyed on first reading never were touched again, either through chance or certain something that didn't give the requisite get-up-and-go for re-perusing. Most notable of these was "The Mightiest Machine". Oddly enough, I cannot recall ever having re-read a single story by Campbell or Stuart, even though only one of his stories -- Cloak of Aesir -- failed to click with me, of all I've read. Twenty years hence, if termites don't ruin my collection, that record will undoubtedly be broken. By that time I and the rest of the science fiction would will probally be wondering whether JWC jr's editorship of Astounding and Unknown was worth the dozens of un-written masterpieces it caused. By the Fall of 1936 I had acquired a fine set of correspondents. By the next year other magazines began to appeal to me, I was old enuf to borrow books from the adults' section of the library, and then the following year I became an active fan. So I stopped re-reading. It's possible to count on the fingers of one hand the number of yarns I've read again in the past two years, and as far as I can recall I've not re-read a single one which was originally published during that time. Those which gained that distinction were old classics I felt a yen to re-read, or cases like "The Snake Mother" which I already had and had read which then appeared in reading a story for the second time and not having to wonder how it's going to turn out; instead, you can go along the yarn with a sublime feeling of sureness that the author isn't going to doublecross you and bump off you hero. THE END - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FOR ADANA by ROBERT W. LOWNDES - "Guest" Material - - Verse - Adana, serpent-mother, in the sultry afternoon Of your forbidden land, Where Graydon and Suarra, hand in hand, Behold the renaissance of Yu-Atlanchi, wonderstrewn With seeming sorceries, Why lie you sleeping? I tell you, serpent mother, that the Dark One lives again, And, whispering to men, Has wrought new hells without your secret pool Of tuft slumber, And Graydons without number Would win their way to you for aid in shattering its rule Within your keeping. THE END