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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 7, Summer 1945
Page 162
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162 FANTASY COMMENTATOR With "Terror Island" appeared "The Indigestible Dog Biscuits," by J. U. Giesy, in which the famous professor Xenophon Xerxes Zapt invents a wireless ray that will explode gunpowder at a distance. Complications develop when the invention is tried out on the professor's lawn. On the whole, this story is fair. A rather unusual novel is George Allan England's "Fatal Gift," which was published as a four-part serial beginning in the September 4th number. More of a psychological study than a fantasy, it tells of an attempt to remake a woman into a perfect physical specimen. The experiment fails, however. In the September 18th issue Achmed Abdullah began a series of connected stories concerning "The God of the Invincibly Strong Arms," a secret Asiatic society which tries to bring about a general revolt of the East against the West. In the first two tales it is attempted to thwart the cult's plans, which have already resulted in a revolution in the Philippines. Blue Book's sole contribution is an amusing Irish fairy tale by Seumas MacManus in the September, 1915 issue, "King Fintonnack and His Grandsons," that is very good reading. Munsey's likewise offer but one story; in the July issue is "The Belated Tears of Louis Marcel," by Perley Poore Sheehan. This excellent story describes the thoughts of a murderer---after he has been beheaded! 1925 found fantasy at a low ebb indeed. In the three-month period of that decade being covered here Arogsy-Allstory had but two tales, Blue Book and Munsey's none. "The White Chimpanzee" of L. R. Sherman (August 8th) is a story of a tailed man from South America who visits and shocks distant relatives in rural England; it is a poor effort viewed from any standpoint. A three-part serial beginning in the September 5th number is "The Red Hawk"---which, despite its wild-west title, is the last of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Moon Maid" trilogy. Here the author depicts the final revolt against the moon men who have subjected this planet; it is very well done. In the August 10, 1935 Argosy appeared Murray Leinster's above-average time-machine story, "The Morrison Monument." The villain of the piece kills the inventor and attempts to send the body into the farthest possible future; however, the operation of the time-machine requires it to be in existence at each instant in the same spot from start to finish---and this results in the evidence of the crime---the Morrison Monument---remaining visible. With September 7th we have Theodore Roscoe's "Munumguru," an eerie tale of a curse which an African witch doctor lays upon a modern psychiatrist. The weird atmosphere here is very effectively sustained. The August, 1935 Blue Book's contribution is a delicate fantasy authored by Kingsley Moses. The "Maid of the Moon" crashes in the Atlantic near a radio-compass station. She makes shore, and, being invisible, manages to keep her existence secret. Finally falling in love with one of the keepers, however, she reveals herself. In the same number of the magazine is G. E. Wheeler's "Pachydermo," a farce in which a strange drug transforms a man into an elephant. (An apology is due here. In my last column I stated that Peter "the Brazen" Moore had been untrue to his first love. This is wrong: a check shows that she was actually killed in a hospital-ship sinking in World War I; and Susan came into the picture years later, when the author revived the series.) ---oOo--- Crack-Pot Heaven---concluded from page 157 might spread to a denunciation of the better fantasy publications as well. And a blanket ban of this entire segment of the pulp field would not be out of the question. Let's hope for the best, of course---but on the other hand, don't be surprised at anything!
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162 FANTASY COMMENTATOR With "Terror Island" appeared "The Indigestible Dog Biscuits," by J. U. Giesy, in which the famous professor Xenophon Xerxes Zapt invents a wireless ray that will explode gunpowder at a distance. Complications develop when the invention is tried out on the professor's lawn. On the whole, this story is fair. A rather unusual novel is George Allan England's "Fatal Gift," which was published as a four-part serial beginning in the September 4th number. More of a psychological study than a fantasy, it tells of an attempt to remake a woman into a perfect physical specimen. The experiment fails, however. In the September 18th issue Achmed Abdullah began a series of connected stories concerning "The God of the Invincibly Strong Arms," a secret Asiatic society which tries to bring about a general revolt of the East against the West. In the first two tales it is attempted to thwart the cult's plans, which have already resulted in a revolution in the Philippines. Blue Book's sole contribution is an amusing Irish fairy tale by Seumas MacManus in the September, 1915 issue, "King Fintonnack and His Grandsons," that is very good reading. Munsey's likewise offer but one story; in the July issue is "The Belated Tears of Louis Marcel," by Perley Poore Sheehan. This excellent story describes the thoughts of a murderer---after he has been beheaded! 1925 found fantasy at a low ebb indeed. In the three-month period of that decade being covered here Arogsy-Allstory had but two tales, Blue Book and Munsey's none. "The White Chimpanzee" of L. R. Sherman (August 8th) is a story of a tailed man from South America who visits and shocks distant relatives in rural England; it is a poor effort viewed from any standpoint. A three-part serial beginning in the September 5th number is "The Red Hawk"---which, despite its wild-west title, is the last of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Moon Maid" trilogy. Here the author depicts the final revolt against the moon men who have subjected this planet; it is very well done. In the August 10, 1935 Argosy appeared Murray Leinster's above-average time-machine story, "The Morrison Monument." The villain of the piece kills the inventor and attempts to send the body into the farthest possible future; however, the operation of the time-machine requires it to be in existence at each instant in the same spot from start to finish---and this results in the evidence of the crime---the Morrison Monument---remaining visible. With September 7th we have Theodore Roscoe's "Munumguru," an eerie tale of a curse which an African witch doctor lays upon a modern psychiatrist. The weird atmosphere here is very effectively sustained. The August, 1935 Blue Book's contribution is a delicate fantasy authored by Kingsley Moses. The "Maid of the Moon" crashes in the Atlantic near a radio-compass station. She makes shore, and, being invisible, manages to keep her existence secret. Finally falling in love with one of the keepers, however, she reveals herself. In the same number of the magazine is G. E. Wheeler's "Pachydermo," a farce in which a strange drug transforms a man into an elephant. (An apology is due here. In my last column I stated that Peter "the Brazen" Moore had been untrue to his first love. This is wrong: a check shows that she was actually killed in a hospital-ship sinking in World War I; and Susan came into the picture years later, when the author revived the series.) ---oOo--- Crack-Pot Heaven---concluded from page 157 might spread to a denunciation of the better fantasy publications as well. And a blanket ban of this entire segment of the pulp field would not be out of the question. Let's hope for the best, of course---but on the other hand, don't be surprised at anything!
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