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National Fantasy Fan, v. 5, issue 2, February-March 1946

Page 10

THE BEGINNER'S PAGE

(Among the several ideas which your new editor hopes to incorporate into the official organ is the page below...This page is written especially for the new fan, the one who has just joined the NFFF and is not yet thoroly acquainted with fandom and its various devious branches.)

Every new fan, when he begins to correspond with, or talk to, the older fans, becomes aware of certain famous stories which are called the "classics". And with the natural curiosity and intense interest in fantasy which he obviously has, he wants to read and become acquainted with as many of these classics as possible, so that he may discuss them intelligently with his friends.

Yet many new fans seem to be of the opinion that these classics are all but unavailable, and that it is almost beyond the bounds of possibility for a new fan to possess copies of them.

Well, 'tain't so. Many of these classics are surprisingly easy to obtain. The works of A. Merritt, for instance (and these might almost be called the classics of all classics, are available in twenty-five cent volumes from the Avon Book Co., of 119 West 57th Street, New York (19) N. Y., and Arkham House, of Sauk City, Wisconsin, have issued a remarkable series of books dealing with the supernatural and containing, in their entirety, almost every exceptional supernatural story that has appeared in "Weird Tales" in the last twenty years.

"The Other Worlds," by Phil Stong, the Pocketbook of Science Fiction", edited by Don Wollheim, and the "Best in Science Fiction," are anthologies which, for varying prices, will resurrect a number of the shorter classics of the last twenty years. And the Buffalo Book Company, of Buffalo, N. Y., a rather new organization, is seeking to do for science fiction what Arkham House has done so successfully for supernatural fiction. They will send you a catalog of projected publications if you write requesting it.

And last but not least, if you can manage to pick up the back numbers of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, you can become acquainted with all the really great fantasies of the century, for nearly all of them were reprinted in that magazine while it was still in Munsey's hands.

There are other anthologies and book series available, but if those mentioned above are acquired and read, I rather think the new fan may discuss "classics" with any old fan and hold his own.

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THE BEGINNER'S PAGE (Among the several ideas which your new editor hopes to incorporate into the official organ is the page below...This page is written especially for the new fan, the one who has just joined the NFFF and is not yet thoroly acquainted with fandom and its various devious branches.) Every new fan, when he begins to correspond with, or talk to, the older fans, becomes aware of certain famous stories which are called the "classics". And with the natural curiosity and intense interest in fantasy which he obviously has, he wants to read and become acquainted with as many of these classics as possible, so that he may discuss them intelligently with his friends. Yet many new fans seem to be of the opinion that these classics are all but unavailable, and that it is almost beyond the bounds of possibility for a new fan to possess copies of them. Well, 'tain't so. Many of these classics are surprisingly easy to obtain. The works of A. Merritt, for instance (and these might almost be called the classics of all classics, are available in twenty-five cent volumes from the Avon Book Co., of 119 West 57th Street, New York (19) N. Y., and Arkham House, of Sauk City, Wisconsin, have issued a remarkable series of books dealing with the supernatural and containing, in their entirety, almost every exceptional supernatural story that has appeared in "Weird Tales" in the last twenty years. "The Other Worlds," by Phil Stong, the Pocketbook of Science Fiction", edited by Don Wollheim, and the "Best in Science Fiction," are anthologies which, for varying prices, will resurrect a number of the shorter classics of the last twenty years. And the Buffalo Book Company, of Buffalo, N. Y., a rather new organization, is seeking to do for science fiction what Arkham House has done so successfully for supernatural fiction. They will send you a catalog of projected publications if you write requesting it. And last but not least, if you can manage to pick up the back numbers of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, you can become acquainted with all the really great fantasies of the century, for nearly all of them were reprinted in that magazine while it was still in Munsey's hands. There are other anthologies and book series available, but if those mentioned above are acquired and read, I rather think the new fan may discuss "classics" with any old fan and hold his own.