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PSFS News, v. 5, issue 6, July 1945
Page 2
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July 1945 PSFS NEWS Page 2 Fancyclopedia The Fancyclopedia, which was written by Jack Speer, has been out for some time now, but it was only recently that a copy was received by us. A perusal of it reveals many understatements, overstatements and half truths, especially concerning the PSFS (of course we were more interested in items of the PSFS than anything else in the book). Don't get us wrong, now. Jack has done a stupendous job, and done it well. We take our hate off to him. But as could be expected of such a project undertaken by a single fan, many unimportant things took up a great deal of space, and other items that should have been more thoroughly defined received little more than a passing mention. We shall attempt to enlighten Jack on a number of things concerning the PSFS. In the first place, Speer was way off on "Comet Publications." He says that it was originally consisting of all the PSFS, later narrowing down to John V. [Baltadouls?]. Actually, Comet Publications was a partnership formed by JVB and Ossie Train, and continued as such for quite a long time. Bob [Madle] put out Fantascience Digest independently, then went in with Comet for a short time, then went back to working by himself again. We think that at one time almost 14 titles came out from Comet, thought some of these were insignificant little two or three page affairs. Each individual editor had at least one particular magazine that he was almost entirely responsible for, and help out with the other stuff. It gradually faded out as other things forced the fellows to spend less time one these activities -- work, school, etc. He was right when he stated that the last Philly Conference was in 1940. He fails to mention, however, that one was planned for the fall of 1941. But at this time, although the United States had not entered the war as yet, the draft was beginning to take its toll, and war work was also taking a prominent part. It was felt that more time would be needed to make preparations, so it was put off until early 1942 -- March, unless memory fails us. But the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray. Came Pearl Harbor, and the United States was plunged into the greatest war of all history. Within a few months many Philadelphians were called into service. The conference was called off, and by the end of 1942 it was impossible to hold one, and all but one active member of the PSFS had joined the armed forces, and most of the active fans of the east were also gone. Jack should have mentioned all of this, because he mentioned other gatherings that failed to materialize -- such as the Newark Convention. And another thing--Jack Speer should have a kick in the pants for even mentioned the "conventions" with one or two "attending"--like the one in the phone booth, etc. Such stuff is silly and childish. That phoney "con" stuff is a pet peeve of ours. And what was so much space wasted on the doings of one Claude Degler? There have been a lot of other fans who did more either for or against science fiction, yet were barely mentioned. And here we thought that all that nonsensical baloney about ghu-ghu and foo-foo had been buried and forgotten, and here Speer goes and digs the whole mess up again--probably because the foo stuff was his own doing. Jack errs again in his item
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July 1945 PSFS NEWS Page 2 Fancyclopedia The Fancyclopedia, which was written by Jack Speer, has been out for some time now, but it was only recently that a copy was received by us. A perusal of it reveals many understatements, overstatements and half truths, especially concerning the PSFS (of course we were more interested in items of the PSFS than anything else in the book). Don't get us wrong, now. Jack has done a stupendous job, and done it well. We take our hate off to him. But as could be expected of such a project undertaken by a single fan, many unimportant things took up a great deal of space, and other items that should have been more thoroughly defined received little more than a passing mention. We shall attempt to enlighten Jack on a number of things concerning the PSFS. In the first place, Speer was way off on "Comet Publications." He says that it was originally consisting of all the PSFS, later narrowing down to John V. [Baltadouls?]. Actually, Comet Publications was a partnership formed by JVB and Ossie Train, and continued as such for quite a long time. Bob [Madle] put out Fantascience Digest independently, then went in with Comet for a short time, then went back to working by himself again. We think that at one time almost 14 titles came out from Comet, thought some of these were insignificant little two or three page affairs. Each individual editor had at least one particular magazine that he was almost entirely responsible for, and help out with the other stuff. It gradually faded out as other things forced the fellows to spend less time one these activities -- work, school, etc. He was right when he stated that the last Philly Conference was in 1940. He fails to mention, however, that one was planned for the fall of 1941. But at this time, although the United States had not entered the war as yet, the draft was beginning to take its toll, and war work was also taking a prominent part. It was felt that more time would be needed to make preparations, so it was put off until early 1942 -- March, unless memory fails us. But the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray. Came Pearl Harbor, and the United States was plunged into the greatest war of all history. Within a few months many Philadelphians were called into service. The conference was called off, and by the end of 1942 it was impossible to hold one, and all but one active member of the PSFS had joined the armed forces, and most of the active fans of the east were also gone. Jack should have mentioned all of this, because he mentioned other gatherings that failed to materialize -- such as the Newark Convention. And another thing--Jack Speer should have a kick in the pants for even mentioned the "conventions" with one or two "attending"--like the one in the phone booth, etc. Such stuff is silly and childish. That phoney "con" stuff is a pet peeve of ours. And what was so much space wasted on the doings of one Claude Degler? There have been a lot of other fans who did more either for or against science fiction, yet were barely mentioned. And here we thought that all that nonsensical baloney about ghu-ghu and foo-foo had been buried and forgotten, and here Speer goes and digs the whole mess up again--probably because the foo stuff was his own doing. Jack errs again in his item
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