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Ember, issue 31, 1947

Page 3

As promised in the last ish, here are some remarks from Embereaders directed toward Derleth's criticism of the Kenned Fantasy Review Pool results. In line to say their pieces, we have Redd Boggs, Jack Speer, D.B.Thompson, and Joe Kennedy himself.
"August Derleth should be informed that Kennedy's poll was for...determining the best authors of 1946 only - not of all-time. That explains the apparent victory of science-fictioneers therein. Had it been  an all-time poll, such weirdists as Blackwood, Lovecraft -- and even Derleth - might have placed. As it is, Bradbury (at his best, primarily a weird writer) made an excellent showing, for after all Weird Tales had only 6 issues in 1946, while ASF had 12, plus the issues of other stf mags," -- Boggs
"Derleth is irritating. His statement that the poll was weighted with science-fictioneers implies negligence or dishonesty on Joe's part, when the truth is simply that it was a poll of fandom, which happens to contain more s-f than weird devotees. But more, there is implicit in Derleth's criticism an assumption either that there are more devotees of weird fiction than science-fiction, or that regardless of their smaller numbers weird fiction addicts should have polls weighted in their favor because their tastes are obviously superior." -- Speer
Mr. Derleth makes a statement which is true, but highly misleading. Kennedy's poll is heavily weighted with science-fictioneers, for the very reason that a rather overwhelming majority of active fans are science fictionists, and only a small but erudite and prolix minority are weirdists. After all, the group started as a science-fiction group, and only the advent of Unknown Worlds succeeded in rousing some interest among us in the older and sillier component of the 'fantastic' fiction field. ((I)) Mr. Derleth once made the dogmatic statement that it is a fact that weird fiction is superior as literature to s-f. The statement is ridiculous, since there is no factual basis for it,nor any possibility of such a basis. Had he said 'In the opinion of a majority of recognized literary critics, weird fiction is superior to science fiction',  then he would have been making a factual statement, or at least, a statement capable of proof or disproof. Opinions do not constitute factual data, no matter what dictionary or system of logic one employs." -- Thompson
"I should like to remind Derleth that no fan poll can obtain complete accuracy, for not until somebody figures out a way to contact every single fantasy, weird, and stf reader in the world will a poll be truly representative! Doing the next best thing, The Review polled actifandom -- a field which, while it includes a crossection of humanity running from devotees of the occult to nuclear physicists, is admittedly somewhat slanted toward SFans rather than weird and horror-story lovers. Inspection of the complete poll results ((Ember printed just the highlights, with the complete results due soon from Kennedy. Write and ask him for The Fantasy Review.)) should show that the weird and supernatural elements were very much in evidence. Many weirdists received ballots -- if they lacked enuf interest to vote for their favorites, this can hardly be blamed on the poll-taker. It is not surprising that really unusual and exceptional volumes like Adv in Time & Space and the Best of SF should be more memorable in a classification which was monopolized by good, bad, and indifferent weird material. No poll pleases everybody; Derleth being a weirdist -- and a pro publisher of the stuff --can hardly be expected to show much sympathy for stefnal elements; at that, he should be gratified that 3 our of the top 5 books of the year were Arkham publications. The poll would draw many more accusations of inaccuracy if some (continued middle nest page)     page 3

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As promised in the last ish, here are some remarks from Embereaders directed toward Derleth's criticism of the Kenned Fantasy Review Pool results. In line to say their pieces, we have Redd Boggs, Jack Speer, D.B.Thompson, and Joe Kennedy himself. "August Derleth should be informed that Kennedy's poll was for...determining the best authors of 1946 only - not of all-time. That explains the apparent victory of science-fictioneers therein. Had it been an all-time poll, such weirdists as Blackwood, Lovecraft -- and even Derleth - might have placed. As it is, Bradbury (at his best, primarily a weird writer) made an excellent showing, for after all Weird Tales had only 6 issues in 1946, while ASF had 12, plus the issues of other stf mags," -- Boggs "Derleth is irritating. His statement that the poll was weighted with science-fictioneers implies negligence or dishonesty on Joe's part, when the truth is simply that it was a poll of fandom, which happens to contain more s-f than weird devotees. But more, there is implicit in Derleth's criticism an assumption either that there are more devotees of weird fiction than science-fiction, or that regardless of their smaller numbers weird fiction addicts should have polls weighted in their favor because their tastes are obviously superior." -- Speer Mr. Derleth makes a statement which is true, but highly misleading. Kennedy's poll is heavily weighted with science-fictioneers, for the very reason that a rather overwhelming majority of active fans are science fictionists, and only a small but erudite and prolix minority are weirdists. After all, the group started as a science-fiction group, and only the advent of Unknown Worlds succeeded in rousing some interest among us in the older and sillier component of the 'fantastic' fiction field. ((I)) Mr. Derleth once made the dogmatic statement that it is a fact that weird fiction is superior as literature to s-f. The statement is ridiculous, since there is no factual basis for it,nor any possibility of such a basis. Had he said 'In the opinion of a majority of recognized literary critics, weird fiction is superior to science fiction', then he would have been making a factual statement, or at least, a statement capable of proof or disproof. Opinions do not constitute factual data, no matter what dictionary or system of logic one employs." -- Thompson "I should like to remind Derleth that no fan poll can obtain complete accuracy, for not until somebody figures out a way to contact every single fantasy, weird, and stf reader in the world will a poll be truly representative! Doing the next best thing, The Review polled actifandom -- a field which, while it includes a crossection of humanity running from devotees of the occult to nuclear physicists, is admittedly somewhat slanted toward SFans rather than weird and horror-story lovers. Inspection of the complete poll results ((Ember printed just the highlights, with the complete results due soon from Kennedy. Write and ask him for The Fantasy Review.)) should show that the weird and supernatural elements were very much in evidence. Many weirdists received ballots -- if they lacked enuf interest to vote for their favorites, this can hardly be blamed on the poll-taker. It is not surprising that really unusual and exceptional volumes like Adv in Time & Space and the Best of SF should be more memorable in a classification which was monopolized by good, bad, and indifferent weird material. No poll pleases everybody; Derleth being a weirdist -- and a pro publisher of the stuff --can hardly be expected to show much sympathy for stefnal elements; at that, he should be gratified that 3 our of the top 5 books of the year were Arkham publications. The poll would draw many more accusations of inaccuracy if some (continued middle nest page) page 3