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Science Fiction Forward, v. 1, issue 1, September 1940

Page 7

SCIENCE FICTION FORWARD     Page 7.

     Blackness of infinity, Indeed!
     Mr. Thayer is too full of maybes and perhapses for our tastes. It appears that he is not only a moron, but a particularly dull type of moron. He maunders thru a vst jungle of words, phrases, and similar grammatical underbrush. In what direction he is headed he neither knows or cares. All he has in mind is to smear science. In Hegel's phrasing, "He starts with Nothing, grapples with Nothing, and arrives at Nothing". We find his attempts pathetic.

                      IV.

     Science does not pretend to know everything. It does not even pretend to know anything, much. It is merely trying in its sometimes ham-handed and ludicrous way to find out something. Human beings are as yet pretty raw and unformed, and the theories they clutch fiercely to their breasts today may be as repugnantly discarded tomorrow. The history of Mankind is, indeed, a history of these discarding. Now two steps forward, new two backward, now tripping over an obstruction and falling flat on its face. But it never fails to get doggedly to its feet again, and stagger on.
     And science-fiction? Here too we find an expression of that same upward groping, the same drive toward truth. Only it is constructed on a much more flexible and inspiring scale. The laboratory technician has no idea of the larger results his work may bring. The very nature of his work makes it impossible, for, to quote the old saying, "He can't see the forest for the trees". Science-fiction changes the perspective of science to a point where the forest, the complete whole, is more visible.
     That is the extremely important function of our much-maligned science-fiction, to give direction to the more or less blind forces of science; to hew a path; in fine, to plan the future.
     And this it can do only by closely collaborating with science, by building upon the foundation of fact which science has established. If those facts are misused, then the path which a given scientifictional work suggests will be erroneous. It will, in fact, not be science-fiction, but only a useless "story". It may be nice reading and allothat, but not science-fiction.
     Let the henchmen of Brer Fort beware! They have a big head start on us, and they have two enormous weapons at their command to use against us, Ignorance and Stupidity. They have been fighting science for many year, and our movement is as yet small and weak. They have managed, by dint of tireless propaganda, to gain adherents from the very ranks of science-fiction itself!
     Hence we see that our task will not be an easy one. But easy or difficult, win or lose, when the time comes to evaluate the struggle, the evaluators, whoever they might be, will not be able to say that the science-fiction fans didn't try!

     WHY BEAT AROUND THE BUSH? We need you, and you need us. Let's co-oparate! Send SL $1 today for a year's subscription to the S-FF, the mag with a policy! Or we could use a dime, for which you will receive one issue.

     The era of the Frothy Fan Mag is over. [Fandom] has grown too big to play with [this] any more. Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon are but memories of our childhood days. The time has come for science-fiction fans to put away their toys and work for the realization of their dreams.

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SCIENCE FICTION FORWARD Page 7. Blackness of infinity, Indeed! Mr. Thayer is too full of maybes and perhapses for our tastes. It appears that he is not only a moron, but a particularly dull type of moron. He maunders thru a vst jungle of words, phrases, and similar grammatical underbrush. In what direction he is headed he neither knows or cares. All he has in mind is to smear science. In Hegel's phrasing, "He starts with Nothing, grapples with Nothing, and arrives at Nothing". We find his attempts pathetic. IV. Science does not pretend to know everything. It does not even pretend to know anything, much. It is merely trying in its sometimes ham-handed and ludicrous way to find out something. Human beings are as yet pretty raw and unformed, and the theories they clutch fiercely to their breasts today may be as repugnantly discarded tomorrow. The history of Mankind is, indeed, a history of these discarding. Now two steps forward, new two backward, now tripping over an obstruction and falling flat on its face. But it never fails to get doggedly to its feet again, and stagger on. And science-fiction? Here too we find an expression of that same upward groping, the same drive toward truth. Only it is constructed on a much more flexible and inspiring scale. The laboratory technician has no idea of the larger results his work may bring. The very nature of his work makes it impossible, for, to quote the old saying, "He can't see the forest for the trees". Science-fiction changes the perspective of science to a point where the forest, the complete whole, is more visible. That is the extremely important function of our much-maligned science-fiction, to give direction to the more or less blind forces of science; to hew a path; in fine, to plan the future. And this it can do only by closely collaborating with science, by building upon the foundation of fact which science has established. If those facts are misused, then the path which a given scientifictional work suggests will be erroneous. It will, in fact, not be science-fiction, but only a useless "story". It may be nice reading and allothat, but not science-fiction. Let the henchmen of Brer Fort beware! They have a big head start on us, and they have two enormous weapons at their command to use against us, Ignorance and Stupidity. They have been fighting science for many year, and our movement is as yet small and weak. They have managed, by dint of tireless propaganda, to gain adherents from the very ranks of science-fiction itself! Hence we see that our task will not be an easy one. But easy or difficult, win or lose, when the time comes to evaluate the struggle, the evaluators, whoever they might be, will not be able to say that the science-fiction fans didn't try! WHY BEAT AROUND THE BUSH? We need you, and you need us. Let's co-oparate! Send SL $1 today for a year's subscription to the S-FF, the mag with a policy! Or we could use a dime, for which you will receive one issue. The era of the Frothy Fan Mag is over. [Fandom] has grown too big to play with [this] any more. Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon are but memories of our childhood days. The time has come for science-fiction fans to put away their toys and work for the realization of their dreams.