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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946

Page 260

260
FANTASY COMMENTATOR

Charles Avison (both of him!) start on a space-flight, one being killed en route. This wrenches events out of kilter, for when the Avison from there lands here by mistake, he finds that he has been buried. Finally he sets off for the other earth to return things to "normal". Marshall has hit upon a bizarre idea and he has handled it interestingly.

Although Blue Book lacks fantasy fiction during the first half of 1916 several interesting items crop up a decade later. The January, 1926 number includes "The Black Star" by George L. Knapp, and April's issue has the same author back again with "McKeever's Dinosaur." The latter is a humorous fantasy and the former tale is about an invading sun---similar to the When Worlds Collide theme---and is quite well done. May features "The Kingbird" by Kenneth Gilbert.

Argosy-Allstory Weekly has Katherine Haviland Taylor's weird, inexplicable little fantasy "The Return" in its April 17, 1926 issue; this story concerns an apparition and the love of a man and woman after death, and is quite good. "The Thing that Hunts in the Night" by Marshall South (May 15) is another theme entirely. This is an adventure yarn about an allegedly haunted lost mine in Mexico, which turns out to be guarded merely by a deformed Indian. It conforms perfectly to the usual boy-meets-girl formula, being made readable only by a little atmosphere. With the June 26 number Ralph Milne Farley starts the latest adventures of Miles Cabot in a five-part serial, "The Radio Planet." Cabot returns to Venus, and, landing on the wrong continent, becomes involved in a series of narrow escapes and daring exploits with his old enemies, the Formian Ants. Along with part one of this novel is John Wilstach's "Genius Epidemic." A child genius in a small town dies, and the local doctor extracts some pineal fluid from the body, injecting it into other members of the community. They too become geniuses---and too many geniuses quickly disrupts things, until finally the doctor discovers a cure. The story is very well told.

During the second quarter of 1936 the only fantary to be found in Argosy is "The Witch-Makers" of Donald Wandrei, which has since been reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries and the author's collection The Eve and the Finger. This interesting story, to be found in the May 2nd issue, concerns the transfer of a man's ego into bodies of several African animals.

The 1936 Blue Book continues "Tarzan and the Immortal Men," while that January Ray Cummings for once remained on earth in the right size and time with his "Man with a Platinum Rib," an above-average futuristic crime tale.

---oOo---

The World

by
Christina G. Rossetti

By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair:
But all night as the moon so changeth she;
Loathesome and foul with hideous leprosy,
And subtile serpents gliding in her hair.
By day she woos me to the outer air,
Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety:
But through the night, a beast she grins at me,
A very monster void of love and prayer.
By day she stands a lie: by night she stands
In all the naked horror of the truth,
With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands.
Is this a friend indeed, that I should sell
My soul to her, give her my life and youth,
Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?

Saving...

260 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Charles Avison (both of him!) start on a space-flight, one being killed en route. This wrenches events out of kilter, for when the Avison from there lands here by mistake, he finds that he has been buried. Finally he sets off for the other earth to return things to "normal". Marshall has hit upon a bizarre idea and he has handled it interestingly. Although Blue Book lacks fantasy fiction during the first half of 1916 several interesting items crop up a decade later. The January, 1926 number includes "The Black Star" by George L. Knapp, and April's issue has the same author back again with "McKeever's Dinosaur." The latter is a humorous fantasy and the former tale is about an invading sun---similar to the When Worlds Collide theme---and is quite well done. May features "The Kingbird" by Kenneth Gilbert. Argosy-Allstory Weekly has Katherine Haviland Taylor's weird, inexplicable little fantasy "The Return" in its April 17, 1926 issue; this story concerns an apparition and the love of a man and woman after death, and is quite good. "The Thing that Hunts in the Night" by Marshall South (May 15) is another theme entirely. This is an adventure yarn about an allegedly haunted lost mine in Mexico, which turns out to be guarded merely by a deformed Indian. It conforms perfectly to the usual boy-meets-girl formula, being made readable only by a little atmosphere. With the June 26 number Ralph Milne Farley starts the latest adventures of Miles Cabot in a five-part serial, "The Radio Planet." Cabot returns to Venus, and, landing on the wrong continent, becomes involved in a series of narrow escapes and daring exploits with his old enemies, the Formian Ants. Along with part one of this novel is John Wilstach's "Genius Epidemic." A child genius in a small town dies, and the local doctor extracts some pineal fluid from the body, injecting it into other members of the community. They too become geniuses---and too many geniuses quickly disrupts things, until finally the doctor discovers a cure. The story is very well told. During the second quarter of 1936 the only fantary to be found in Argosy is "The Witch-Makers" of Donald Wandrei, which has since been reprinted in Famous Fantastic Mysteries and the author's collection The Eve and the Finger. This interesting story, to be found in the May 2nd issue, concerns the transfer of a man's ego into bodies of several African animals. The 1936 Blue Book continues "Tarzan and the Immortal Men," while that January Ray Cummings for once remained on earth in the right size and time with his "Man with a Platinum Rib," an above-average futuristic crime tale. ---oOo--- The World by Christina G. Rossetti By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair: But all night as the moon so changeth she; Loathesome and foul with hideous leprosy, And subtile serpents gliding in her hair. By day she woos me to the outer air, Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety: But through the night, a beast she grins at me, A very monster void of love and prayer. By day she stands a lie: by night she stands In all the naked horror of the truth, With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands. Is this a friend indeed, that I should sell My soul to her, give her my life and youth, Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?