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The Alchemist, v.1, issue 3, Summer 1940
Page 18
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Page 18 THE ALCHEMIST copies of which are now known to exist on Earth. That was before they appeared twice a day, you know, and reached their circulation of 5,000,000 (that figure includes the readers of their foreign editions, mainly Russian and Patagonian). I opened with reverence this issue-—and immediately a tremendous roar came from the assembled multitudes. I had forgotten they had the television sets trained on me, and every person there could see me as if I were a foot away. 1 asked one of my guides what was the meaning of the roar. He merely pointed to the pages I had opened in the magazine—it was the story "Manna from Mars", by Stanton A. Coblentz. "Look," said he, and you shall know what our reason for hating earthmen is. Do you remember the plot of that story?" I probed my memory. Then I remembered having read the copy in the Congressional Library back on Earth, and ran over the plot briefly. It mainly concerned the Martians contacting the people of Earth, and saying that they were sending a marvelous plant which would make life a Utopia. But no one ever found the plant, the world was plunged into war over it, and everyone finally decided that the Men from Mars had deliberately stirred up trouble in this way, and no such thing as the plant had ever existed. I began to see a great light. "Look further!” the guide commanded. I picked up another nearby copy. I opened it—it was another 1934 magazine; a Wonder Stories, to be exact, and I opened it an "A Martian Odyssey" by Weinbaum. "Do you remember that one?" the Martian leered. ’ "Remember it?" I cried. "Why, that’s the story that’s in every child’s sixth reader at
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Page 18 THE ALCHEMIST copies of which are now known to exist on Earth. That was before they appeared twice a day, you know, and reached their circulation of 5,000,000 (that figure includes the readers of their foreign editions, mainly Russian and Patagonian). I opened with reverence this issue-—and immediately a tremendous roar came from the assembled multitudes. I had forgotten they had the television sets trained on me, and every person there could see me as if I were a foot away. 1 asked one of my guides what was the meaning of the roar. He merely pointed to the pages I had opened in the magazine—it was the story "Manna from Mars", by Stanton A. Coblentz. "Look," said he, and you shall know what our reason for hating earthmen is. Do you remember the plot of that story?" I probed my memory. Then I remembered having read the copy in the Congressional Library back on Earth, and ran over the plot briefly. It mainly concerned the Martians contacting the people of Earth, and saying that they were sending a marvelous plant which would make life a Utopia. But no one ever found the plant, the world was plunged into war over it, and everyone finally decided that the Men from Mars had deliberately stirred up trouble in this way, and no such thing as the plant had ever existed. I began to see a great light. "Look further!” the guide commanded. I picked up another nearby copy. I opened it—it was another 1934 magazine; a Wonder Stories, to be exact, and I opened it an "A Martian Odyssey" by Weinbaum. "Do you remember that one?" the Martian leered. ’ "Remember it?" I cried. "Why, that’s the story that’s in every child’s sixth reader at
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