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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 267
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 267 graphed Tucker's family, receiving a Twain-like reply from Tucker himself to the effect that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. And slowly it became apparent to fandom that the entire affair had been hoax. Tucker claimed that it was someone else's idea of a joke, and that he himself knew nothing of it; but Tremaine took an entirely different attitude. He had learned of the hoax before the copies of the magazine carrying it reached the newstands, and, with the natural reaction of a man whose ready sympathy is made light of, he decided that as far as the readers of Astounding Stories were concerned Tucker would stay dead. And indeed it was a long, long time, as eras of fandom are reckoned, before letters bearing Tucker's name were published in Astounding again. Although Tucker's D'Journal was not his initial entry into the amateur publishing field (he was responsible for The Planetoid, an evanescent periodical appearing in 1932) it remained for some time his most important one, for though Wollheim's "Sun Spots" spoke from time to time of projects he was allegedly planning, little or nothing further was heard of the man until late 1938. Throughout all the strife of 1935 it is well to keep in mind that Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger had kept Fantasy Magazine far in the front of the field, and that "the digest of imaginative literature" remained the dead center of science-fiction fandom. The quality, variety and all-around interest of its features simply could not be matched. Its fiction was very good, and included stories by such top-notch authors as A. Merritt, stories that were obtained at no cost, while professional publications offering tempting word-rates could obtain from Merritt nary a line. The magazine's art work, done by the clever amateur Clay Ferguson, Jr., was likewise up to the same high standard, and compared favorably with that found in the professional fantasy magazines. With the change in title from Science Fiction Digest (made in January, 1934) the coverage of material had become broader than ever, and naturally had resulted in an even wider reader-appeal. After an elaborately fine second anniversary number, a series of issues dedicated each to a professional fantasy magazine was launched, and these increased Fantasy Magazine's popularity yet more. After three bimonthly numbers the periodical resumed monthly publication in April, 1935, and from then until the third anniversary issue its supremacy was impossible to challenge. (to be continued) ---oOo--- Open House (letters from our readers) Groff Conklin, editor of The Best of Science Fiction, writes briefly: ...you might keep an eye on Science Illustrated (either the June or the August issue) for my swipe at the supernatural. As you'll see, I'm all for freezing science-fiction's definition more and more rigidly... My favorite in the genre is Lindsay's Voyage to Arcturus, one of the most extraordinary science-fiction-plus-philosophy tales I've ever read---even though it starts off with a seance... I hope to get out a second anthology, but it'll depend on how long and how well the first one sells. Perhaps by next Spring---or even late this Fall. Matt Onderdonk, one of our contributing editors, tells of a current cinema offering: The Boris Karloff picture, Isle of the Dead, which I saw a month or so ago, wasn't too bad. The acting left something to be desired, but the plot was good and the director managed to infuse several creepy episodes of first-rate caliber. I liked the plot of a contest between modern science and the ancient
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 267 graphed Tucker's family, receiving a Twain-like reply from Tucker himself to the effect that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. And slowly it became apparent to fandom that the entire affair had been hoax. Tucker claimed that it was someone else's idea of a joke, and that he himself knew nothing of it; but Tremaine took an entirely different attitude. He had learned of the hoax before the copies of the magazine carrying it reached the newstands, and, with the natural reaction of a man whose ready sympathy is made light of, he decided that as far as the readers of Astounding Stories were concerned Tucker would stay dead. And indeed it was a long, long time, as eras of fandom are reckoned, before letters bearing Tucker's name were published in Astounding again. Although Tucker's D'Journal was not his initial entry into the amateur publishing field (he was responsible for The Planetoid, an evanescent periodical appearing in 1932) it remained for some time his most important one, for though Wollheim's "Sun Spots" spoke from time to time of projects he was allegedly planning, little or nothing further was heard of the man until late 1938. Throughout all the strife of 1935 it is well to keep in mind that Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger had kept Fantasy Magazine far in the front of the field, and that "the digest of imaginative literature" remained the dead center of science-fiction fandom. The quality, variety and all-around interest of its features simply could not be matched. Its fiction was very good, and included stories by such top-notch authors as A. Merritt, stories that were obtained at no cost, while professional publications offering tempting word-rates could obtain from Merritt nary a line. The magazine's art work, done by the clever amateur Clay Ferguson, Jr., was likewise up to the same high standard, and compared favorably with that found in the professional fantasy magazines. With the change in title from Science Fiction Digest (made in January, 1934) the coverage of material had become broader than ever, and naturally had resulted in an even wider reader-appeal. After an elaborately fine second anniversary number, a series of issues dedicated each to a professional fantasy magazine was launched, and these increased Fantasy Magazine's popularity yet more. After three bimonthly numbers the periodical resumed monthly publication in April, 1935, and from then until the third anniversary issue its supremacy was impossible to challenge. (to be continued) ---oOo--- Open House (letters from our readers) Groff Conklin, editor of The Best of Science Fiction, writes briefly: ...you might keep an eye on Science Illustrated (either the June or the August issue) for my swipe at the supernatural. As you'll see, I'm all for freezing science-fiction's definition more and more rigidly... My favorite in the genre is Lindsay's Voyage to Arcturus, one of the most extraordinary science-fiction-plus-philosophy tales I've ever read---even though it starts off with a seance... I hope to get out a second anthology, but it'll depend on how long and how well the first one sells. Perhaps by next Spring---or even late this Fall. Matt Onderdonk, one of our contributing editors, tells of a current cinema offering: The Boris Karloff picture, Isle of the Dead, which I saw a month or so ago, wasn't too bad. The acting left something to be desired, but the plot was good and the director managed to infuse several creepy episodes of first-rate caliber. I liked the plot of a contest between modern science and the ancient
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