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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 3, September 1944

Page 42

42
FANTASY COMMENTATOR

stories hidden away in obscure, almost unobtainable magazines. I've merely done a bit of listing of some truly excellent stories that are well within the grasp of the average fan. There is not one story mentioned in this article that could not be obtained with a little patience in a good second-hand magazine shop or from a science-fiction dealer. To read these stories is to enrich your appreciation of and restore your faith in science-fiction as literature, instead of as the inferior "pulp" version that chokes the field today. Those who claim that science-fiction cannot produce literature cannot honestly claim to have read any amount of either. So much of magazine-printed science-fiction should be republished in book form that fans should never relinquish their fight for this goal. The great novels of David H. Keller---"The Conquerors," the magnificent "Evening Star," the warmly human "Life Everlasting"; the superb satires of Stanton A. Coblentz, as typified by "The Blue Barbarians," "After Twelve Thousand Years," "The Man from Tomorrow," "The Sunken World," and "In the Caverns Below"; the greatest interplanetary novel ever written, Richard Vaughan's "Exiles of the Skies"; the magnificent conception of the ultimate in mechanical civilization, "Paradise and Iron," by Miles J. Breuer, M. D.; the marvelously drawn superman of John Taine's "Seeds of Life," as well as his novel "The White Lily"; "Liners of Time," by John Russell Fearn, which is to me the fastest-moving time-travel yarn ever written; the enthralling reconstruction of civilization in Thomas Calvert McClary's "Rebirth," or in Arthur J. Burks' "Survival"; the truly stirring concept of future eras contained in John Bertin's "Brood of Helios"---all these are just a few of the many fine novels and short stories that were breathed to life through the existence of science-fiction magazines. Of course many of them are not by any stretch of the imagination forgotten, but if they are not republished many will doubtless eventually become so.

Few fans today remember Jack Williamson's "Dead Star Station"; "A Race through Time" and "Farewell to Earth" by Donald Wandrei; Nat Schachner's "Hundredth Generation"; "Succubus" and "Man of the Ages" by K. F. Ziska; Edmund Hamilton's "Island of Unreason"; "A Scientist Rises," by D. W. Hall; R. Frederick Hester's "Gypsies from Thos"; the "Mr. Dimmitt Seeks Redress" of Miles J. Breuer M. D.; "The Far Way" by David R. Daniels; Raymond Z. Gallun's "Old Faithful" and its sequel, the equally beautiful "Son of Old Faithful"; "The Phantom Director," by Wallace G. West; J. Harvey Haggard's "Lost in Space"; "Outcasts" by Guy Wernham; the wonderfully memorable "Proxima Centauri" and "The Mole Pirate" of Murray Leinster---and an interminable host of others.

I have presented, then, this list of forgotten classics, with, in many cases, their equally-forgotten authors. Some of these I have already spoken of in a previous article, "Uncrowned Greats," to which this may be considered a sequel. All of the tales cited in both articles need resurrection and rereading---and I hope that those of my readers who may be able will do this. New fans, especially, should be curious when I tell them that they have missed most of the great stories, and they should also be skeptical enough to secure and read them in order to confirm or refute my opinions themselves. Then, I have no doubt, the gradually fading chorus of the old-timers will be swelled by the voices of new-comers who will taste great science-fiction---and many for the first time.

---oOo---

Bibliography of William Hope Hodgson (continued from page 35)

The Voice of the Ocean
46pp, 1921; London: Selwyn & Blount; 19cm; 2/6.

The English Catalog of Printed Books gives incorrect numbers of pages for the sixth and eighth titles above.

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42 FANTASY COMMENTATOR stories hidden away in obscure, almost unobtainable magazines. I've merely done a bit of listing of some truly excellent stories that are well within the grasp of the average fan. There is not one story mentioned in this article that could not be obtained with a little patience in a good second-hand magazine shop or from a science-fiction dealer. To read these stories is to enrich your appreciation of and restore your faith in science-fiction as literature, instead of as the inferior "pulp" version that chokes the field today. Those who claim that science-fiction cannot produce literature cannot honestly claim to have read any amount of either. So much of magazine-printed science-fiction should be republished in book form that fans should never relinquish their fight for this goal. The great novels of David H. Keller---"The Conquerors," the magnificent "Evening Star," the warmly human "Life Everlasting"; the superb satires of Stanton A. Coblentz, as typified by "The Blue Barbarians," "After Twelve Thousand Years," "The Man from Tomorrow," "The Sunken World," and "In the Caverns Below"; the greatest interplanetary novel ever written, Richard Vaughan's "Exiles of the Skies"; the magnificent conception of the ultimate in mechanical civilization, "Paradise and Iron," by Miles J. Breuer, M. D.; the marvelously drawn superman of John Taine's "Seeds of Life," as well as his novel "The White Lily"; "Liners of Time," by John Russell Fearn, which is to me the fastest-moving time-travel yarn ever written; the enthralling reconstruction of civilization in Thomas Calvert McClary's "Rebirth," or in Arthur J. Burks' "Survival"; the truly stirring concept of future eras contained in John Bertin's "Brood of Helios"---all these are just a few of the many fine novels and short stories that were breathed to life through the existence of science-fiction magazines. Of course many of them are not by any stretch of the imagination forgotten, but if they are not republished many will doubtless eventually become so. Few fans today remember Jack Williamson's "Dead Star Station"; "A Race through Time" and "Farewell to Earth" by Donald Wandrei; Nat Schachner's "Hundredth Generation"; "Succubus" and "Man of the Ages" by K. F. Ziska; Edmund Hamilton's "Island of Unreason"; "A Scientist Rises," by D. W. Hall; R. Frederick Hester's "Gypsies from Thos"; the "Mr. Dimmitt Seeks Redress" of Miles J. Breuer M. D.; "The Far Way" by David R. Daniels; Raymond Z. Gallun's "Old Faithful" and its sequel, the equally beautiful "Son of Old Faithful"; "The Phantom Director," by Wallace G. West; J. Harvey Haggard's "Lost in Space"; "Outcasts" by Guy Wernham; the wonderfully memorable "Proxima Centauri" and "The Mole Pirate" of Murray Leinster---and an interminable host of others. I have presented, then, this list of forgotten classics, with, in many cases, their equally-forgotten authors. Some of these I have already spoken of in a previous article, "Uncrowned Greats," to which this may be considered a sequel. All of the tales cited in both articles need resurrection and rereading---and I hope that those of my readers who may be able will do this. New fans, especially, should be curious when I tell them that they have missed most of the great stories, and they should also be skeptical enough to secure and read them in order to confirm or refute my opinions themselves. Then, I have no doubt, the gradually fading chorus of the old-timers will be swelled by the voices of new-comers who will taste great science-fiction---and many for the first time. ---oOo--- Bibliography of William Hope Hodgson (continued from page 35) The Voice of the Ocean 46pp, 1921; London: Selwyn & Blount; 19cm; 2/6. The English Catalog of Printed Books gives incorrect numbers of pages for the sixth and eighth titles above.