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Shangri-La, July 1941

Page 22

PAGE 22     SHANGRI-LA

1936;   van Lorne's STRANGE CITY, Binder's SPAWN OF ETERNAL THOUGHT and C. L. Moore's TRYST IN TIME.
     1937: Norman L. Knight's FRONTIER OF THE UNKNOWN, and Stuart'a OUT OF NIGHT.
     1938:  GALACTIC PATROL. Schere's ANACHRONISTIC   OPTICS, Wollheim's MEN
AGAINST THE STARS,   Gallun's SEEDS OF THE DUSK, Stuart (again!) with
WHO GOES THERE?,   Robert Willey Ley's ORBIT 23-H, Burks' THE TRAPPER, Gold's A MATTER OF FORM, de Camp's THE MERMAN, and HYPERPILOSITY, del
Rey's HELEN O'LOY, and, lastly, Simak's HUNGER DEATH.
     My, my! How times change! Notice that swing up in quality and quantity after Campbell took the reins? And the terrific swoop away free the old stereotyped science-fiction with it's cosmic-bonding space warps and what have you? The new blood coming to the fore, the old
authors fading out, the new requirements of high literary standards, Above all, notice the number of authors who repeat 4-star performances!
     Having digested this galaxy of stories and authors, it would be only
appropriate to find the star issue of the years. Despite some of those terrific earlier yarns,the graph shows a surprising lack of good yarns backing them up! It is not until 1938 that the majority of short
stories come up to 3-star standard. Not surprising, therefore, that the September issue of that year carries more stars than any other issue. 5-stars for THE TRAMP, 4-stars for ORBIT 23-H and THE TRAPPER,
3-stars for DOUBLE! DOUBLE!, IMPULSE, X1-2-200 and ROBOT'S RETURN. The only 1-star poor story was Tollman's TREASURE ASTEROID,
     A few moments study of the authors' individual graphs reveals why Stuart was and is the most popular writer of science fiction, despite the handicap of now being an editor, which, he admits, is the main reason for curtailing his wordage. Out of 15 stories, he rated two 5-stars,five 4-stars and eight 3-stars. Not one 2-star recording, and I have
no doubt that practically every reader of this article will totally disagree with my ratings for each story.     NIGHT I was informed today, by a local reader,   rates the coveted 5-star.
Many others will think likewise, and I think that it it is a harder job to actually rate Stuart's work than it is  to classify Smith's.
      Schachner, the prolific, with 42 stories, records one 4-star, nine 3-stars, and the surprising low of four minus yarns out of the total of twelve I have listed over the ages.
      de Camp's graph shows his excellence immediately. Eight stories, three 4's, two 3's. two 2's. Not including his articles which rate 5-stars each. Yet Gallun, second most prolific author, with 32 stories, has only one 4-star and three 3-stars. Of the authors with many acceptances in the magazine, Vincent appears most popular, and is actually improving under the new conditions.

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PAGE 22 SHANGRI-LA 1936; van Lorne's STRANGE CITY, Binder's SPAWN OF ETERNAL THOUGHT and C. L. Moore's TRYST IN TIME. 1937: Norman L. Knight's FRONTIER OF THE UNKNOWN, and Stuart'a OUT OF NIGHT. 1938: GALACTIC PATROL. Schere's ANACHRONISTIC OPTICS, Wollheim's MEN AGAINST THE STARS, Gallun's SEEDS OF THE DUSK, Stuart (again!) with WHO GOES THERE?, Robert Willey Ley's ORBIT 23-H, Burks' THE TRAPPER, Gold's A MATTER OF FORM, de Camp's THE MERMAN, and HYPERPILOSITY, del Rey's HELEN O'LOY, and, lastly, Simak's HUNGER DEATH. My, my! How times change! Notice that swing up in quality and quantity after Campbell took the reins? And the terrific swoop away free the old stereotyped science-fiction with it's cosmic-bonding space warps and what have you? The new blood coming to the fore, the old authors fading out, the new requirements of high literary standards, Above all, notice the number of authors who repeat 4-star performances! Having digested this galaxy of stories and authors, it would be only appropriate to find the star issue of the years. Despite some of those terrific earlier yarns,the graph shows a surprising lack of good yarns backing them up! It is not until 1938 that the majority of short stories come up to 3-star standard. Not surprising, therefore, that the September issue of that year carries more stars than any other issue. 5-stars for THE TRAMP, 4-stars for ORBIT 23-H and THE TRAPPER, 3-stars for DOUBLE! DOUBLE!, IMPULSE, X1-2-200 and ROBOT'S RETURN. The only 1-star poor story was Tollman's TREASURE ASTEROID, A few moments study of the authors' individual graphs reveals why Stuart was and is the most popular writer of science fiction, despite the handicap of now being an editor, which, he admits, is the main reason for curtailing his wordage. Out of 15 stories, he rated two 5-stars,five 4-stars and eight 3-stars. Not one 2-star recording, and I have no doubt that practically every reader of this article will totally disagree with my ratings for each story. NIGHT I was informed today, by a local reader, rates the coveted 5-star. Many others will think likewise, and I think that it it is a harder job to actually rate Stuart's work than it is to classify Smith's. Schachner, the prolific, with 42 stories, records one 4-star, nine 3-stars, and the surprising low of four minus yarns out of the total of twelve I have listed over the ages. de Camp's graph shows his excellence immediately. Eight stories, three 4's, two 3's. two 2's. Not including his articles which rate 5-stars each. Yet Gallun, second most prolific author, with 32 stories, has only one 4-star and three 3-stars. Of the authors with many acceptances in the magazine, Vincent appears most popular, and is actually improving under the new conditions. SHANGRI-LA RECORD