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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 9, Winter 1945-1946
Page 224
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224 FANTASY COMMENTATOR materialize after all in a modified form, and that Fantasy Publications (the name his publishing enterprises now carried) would enter the book-publishing field. The first volume announced was Eugene George Key's Mars Mountains; these were to be followed by Andrew North's People of the Crater and The Missing Link of Ralph Milne Farley. As if all this were not enough, a series of paper-bound pamphlets were planned as well. Only one of the pamphlets actually appeared. This was a neat booklet bound in stiff white cover stock that contained two short stories: "The White Sybil" by Clark Ashton Smith and David H. Keller's "Men of Avalon." Its selling price was a modest fifteen cents per copy. Two numbers of Unusual Stories materialized as well. They contained forty-eight email-sized pages apiece, and were dated May-June, 1935 and Winter, 1935. Material by P. Schuyler Miller, Robert A. Wait, Lowell Howard Morrow, Robert Bloch and others appeared. The second number printed "Derelict," Robert W. Lowndes' first essay into fan journalism; Donald A. Wollheim and Forrest J. Ackerman likewise contributed poetry to the magazine, although it was not for them their first important appearance. As a whole Unusual Stories was an invertebrate affair which never packed the punch of Crawford's Marvel Tales. And though it sold for but ten cents a copy it never attained even the meagre circulation of its sister publication. Crawford finally managed to issue Mars Mountains, which emerged as a tiny board-bound volume of 142 pages. In addition to the title story two others were included, "Earth Sees Mars" and "Lake Tempest," both authored by Eugene Key. They were of little merit, and amateurishly illustrated besides, though the book is a rare and sought-after item in collecting circles today. It was not well received in 1935, however, and this probably discouraged Crawford from issuing the North and Farley titles he had contemplated. His second attempt in the field was far more pretentious and important---but equally unsuccessful. It was the production of the first book by H. P. Lovecraft: The Shadow Over Innsmouth. This boasted high quality paper, strong black linen binding, and four illustrations by Frank Utpatel; it was an exceptional bargain at the selling-price of a dollar. Nevertheless, scarcely a hundred copies were bought. Crawford's third (and final) effort was the non-fantasy Facts Behind the Evidence, which proved also to be a failure from the standpoint of sales. Had his book-publishing been a success, he planned to print E. E. Smith's Skylark of Space and a collection of C. L. Moore's fiction; fandom was not yet ready for this early version of Arkham House, however. In the meantime the final issue of Marvel Tales was distributed. This fifth number was enlarged in size, and with this change all the atmosphere of compact, balanced professionalism that had characterized the fourth was lost completely. But despite the ungainly, amateurish appearance the quality of the contents did not suffer. Apart from serials, the outstanding story was "Mars Colonizes" by Dr. Miles J. Breuer, which virtually rates the designation of classic, as it is the finest fantasy the author wrote except for his "Paradise and Iron." This writer has already outlined elsewhere the heart-breaking story of Crawford's plan to put the sixth Marvel on the newsstands from coast to coast, giving references to the material slated for inclusion (Fantasy Commentator, #5), and the interested reader is referred there for further details. So shamefully small had been fandom's support for all these enterprises---Marvel Tales at is peak boasted a circulation of less than two hundred copies---that Crawford, in an attempt to recoup a fraction of his losses, sold his stocks of Marvel Tales to dealers for a pittance. Thus even today copies may be seen in Eastern bookshops---though they are far from common. A further signal contribution of Crawford to fandom was his printing of Fantasy Magazine after Ruppert was no longer able to do so. Had he not undertaken this task the periodical would have folded with the September, 1935 number
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224 FANTASY COMMENTATOR materialize after all in a modified form, and that Fantasy Publications (the name his publishing enterprises now carried) would enter the book-publishing field. The first volume announced was Eugene George Key's Mars Mountains; these were to be followed by Andrew North's People of the Crater and The Missing Link of Ralph Milne Farley. As if all this were not enough, a series of paper-bound pamphlets were planned as well. Only one of the pamphlets actually appeared. This was a neat booklet bound in stiff white cover stock that contained two short stories: "The White Sybil" by Clark Ashton Smith and David H. Keller's "Men of Avalon." Its selling price was a modest fifteen cents per copy. Two numbers of Unusual Stories materialized as well. They contained forty-eight email-sized pages apiece, and were dated May-June, 1935 and Winter, 1935. Material by P. Schuyler Miller, Robert A. Wait, Lowell Howard Morrow, Robert Bloch and others appeared. The second number printed "Derelict," Robert W. Lowndes' first essay into fan journalism; Donald A. Wollheim and Forrest J. Ackerman likewise contributed poetry to the magazine, although it was not for them their first important appearance. As a whole Unusual Stories was an invertebrate affair which never packed the punch of Crawford's Marvel Tales. And though it sold for but ten cents a copy it never attained even the meagre circulation of its sister publication. Crawford finally managed to issue Mars Mountains, which emerged as a tiny board-bound volume of 142 pages. In addition to the title story two others were included, "Earth Sees Mars" and "Lake Tempest," both authored by Eugene Key. They were of little merit, and amateurishly illustrated besides, though the book is a rare and sought-after item in collecting circles today. It was not well received in 1935, however, and this probably discouraged Crawford from issuing the North and Farley titles he had contemplated. His second attempt in the field was far more pretentious and important---but equally unsuccessful. It was the production of the first book by H. P. Lovecraft: The Shadow Over Innsmouth. This boasted high quality paper, strong black linen binding, and four illustrations by Frank Utpatel; it was an exceptional bargain at the selling-price of a dollar. Nevertheless, scarcely a hundred copies were bought. Crawford's third (and final) effort was the non-fantasy Facts Behind the Evidence, which proved also to be a failure from the standpoint of sales. Had his book-publishing been a success, he planned to print E. E. Smith's Skylark of Space and a collection of C. L. Moore's fiction; fandom was not yet ready for this early version of Arkham House, however. In the meantime the final issue of Marvel Tales was distributed. This fifth number was enlarged in size, and with this change all the atmosphere of compact, balanced professionalism that had characterized the fourth was lost completely. But despite the ungainly, amateurish appearance the quality of the contents did not suffer. Apart from serials, the outstanding story was "Mars Colonizes" by Dr. Miles J. Breuer, which virtually rates the designation of classic, as it is the finest fantasy the author wrote except for his "Paradise and Iron." This writer has already outlined elsewhere the heart-breaking story of Crawford's plan to put the sixth Marvel on the newsstands from coast to coast, giving references to the material slated for inclusion (Fantasy Commentator, #5), and the interested reader is referred there for further details. So shamefully small had been fandom's support for all these enterprises---Marvel Tales at is peak boasted a circulation of less than two hundred copies---that Crawford, in an attempt to recoup a fraction of his losses, sold his stocks of Marvel Tales to dealers for a pittance. Thus even today copies may be seen in Eastern bookshops---though they are far from common. A further signal contribution of Crawford to fandom was his printing of Fantasy Magazine after Ruppert was no longer able to do so. Had he not undertaken this task the periodical would have folded with the September, 1935 number
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