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K'tagogm-m, v. 1, issue 2, May 1945
Page 3
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K'taogm-m and yet not to know the true score in science-fiction. It is no value to remain buried in one's room in Schenectady or in Hagerstown and type out stencils and letters for the perusal of immature minds elsewhere, unless you have something to say and to contribute to the active enlargement of your world and theirs, and of course of the raison-d'etre of the whole business, the branch of fiction called Fantasy. It is no merit to rate the stories in Astounding. The editor doesn't care and his opinion is of such a nature that it will take more than what a fan thinks to sway it. Finally, the mind of a recluse, afraid of the world, unable to meet the problems of the world and of living among strong-minded people, is not capable of analysing and criticising the literature of the future and the problems attendant upon the future. Let Harry Warner search his own soul and ask himself what he has to gain by staying in fandom. He spent some four years putting out a regular, neat, publication called Spaceways. It has now been defunct for two years or more. It is now virtually forgotten among fans; it has left absolutely no trace of its existence; it had no influence; it changed nothing. Mr. Warner never used his magazine to give a basis for criticism of anything. He never allowed its pages to add in the solution of any controversial problem. He never allowed the free flow of thought and debate to flower in his pages. He abused the privilege of freedom of the press to produce nothing. Freedom of the press was granted to the American people by the founders of this nation in order to allow the untrammeled expression of minority opinion (majority opinion always finds expression in the government it creates). Criticism is without meaning unless it is prepared to be a guide to something better. Criticism, without political and social understanding, is worthless. Larry Shaw will agree with this view today. As a man, Larry is 100% further advanced than he was before moving to New York and the company fo the Futurians. And if he is still interested in science-fiction as literature (and I think he is), he will in a year or so probably achieve more for that literature than Harry Warner and his ilk can ever achieve cooped up in a room in a small town in the thought-deserts of the hinterland. From being a directionless boy, without an idea of his future or his faculties, Larry has found himself a profession, is acquiring invaluable experience in that profession, has found a philosophy, has learned and gained social contacts, has learned how to guide himself in a changing world. His several months in New York have benefited him more than four years at college benefit the average hinterlander. If Harry Warner would take the advice of an older friend, of one who has a solid record of literary achievement behind him as I have, he will tear himself away from the bosom of his family and come to New York to join the Futurians. We guarantee that he will never regret it. A Futurian education lasts a lifetime. ********** The above is not to be taken as a blanket invitation to everyone. There are many who could not pass the entrance exams to Futurian Prep, for many reasons, witness C.J. Fern. Others, like the Backwoods Bumpkin from the Potlatch Forest, could never learn from anything except the hard thwacking of falling logs. **********
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K'taogm-m and yet not to know the true score in science-fiction. It is no value to remain buried in one's room in Schenectady or in Hagerstown and type out stencils and letters for the perusal of immature minds elsewhere, unless you have something to say and to contribute to the active enlargement of your world and theirs, and of course of the raison-d'etre of the whole business, the branch of fiction called Fantasy. It is no merit to rate the stories in Astounding. The editor doesn't care and his opinion is of such a nature that it will take more than what a fan thinks to sway it. Finally, the mind of a recluse, afraid of the world, unable to meet the problems of the world and of living among strong-minded people, is not capable of analysing and criticising the literature of the future and the problems attendant upon the future. Let Harry Warner search his own soul and ask himself what he has to gain by staying in fandom. He spent some four years putting out a regular, neat, publication called Spaceways. It has now been defunct for two years or more. It is now virtually forgotten among fans; it has left absolutely no trace of its existence; it had no influence; it changed nothing. Mr. Warner never used his magazine to give a basis for criticism of anything. He never allowed its pages to add in the solution of any controversial problem. He never allowed the free flow of thought and debate to flower in his pages. He abused the privilege of freedom of the press to produce nothing. Freedom of the press was granted to the American people by the founders of this nation in order to allow the untrammeled expression of minority opinion (majority opinion always finds expression in the government it creates). Criticism is without meaning unless it is prepared to be a guide to something better. Criticism, without political and social understanding, is worthless. Larry Shaw will agree with this view today. As a man, Larry is 100% further advanced than he was before moving to New York and the company fo the Futurians. And if he is still interested in science-fiction as literature (and I think he is), he will in a year or so probably achieve more for that literature than Harry Warner and his ilk can ever achieve cooped up in a room in a small town in the thought-deserts of the hinterland. From being a directionless boy, without an idea of his future or his faculties, Larry has found himself a profession, is acquiring invaluable experience in that profession, has found a philosophy, has learned and gained social contacts, has learned how to guide himself in a changing world. His several months in New York have benefited him more than four years at college benefit the average hinterlander. If Harry Warner would take the advice of an older friend, of one who has a solid record of literary achievement behind him as I have, he will tear himself away from the bosom of his family and come to New York to join the Futurians. We guarantee that he will never regret it. A Futurian education lasts a lifetime. ********** The above is not to be taken as a blanket invitation to everyone. There are many who could not pass the entrance exams to Futurian Prep, for many reasons, witness C.J. Fern. Others, like the Backwoods Bumpkin from the Potlatch Forest, could never learn from anything except the hard thwacking of falling logs. **********
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