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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 6, Spring 1945
Page 115
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 115 Calling All Crack-Pots! An Analysis of the Lemurian Hoax in Amazing Stories by Thomas S. Gardner The followers of science-fiction are now witnessing the beginnings of the most extraordinary publication trends in the realm of fantasy fiction that has taken place within the past five years in this country. The only other successful trend there in the last decade was the sudden splurge of fantastic comic-books. At the present time the more serious, technical and well-written field in science-fiction magazines has been completely captured by Astounding Science-Fiction under John W. Campbell's editorship; the more juvenile field by the Better Publications group (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Startling Stories and the now-defunct Captain Future); and an entirely new field was opened up by editor Raymond A. Palmer with Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. The reader-group catered to by Palmer consists of the average person with a sixth-grade educational level, who wants in his fiction very little plot or characterization, plenty of action, and a love-story ending of a clinch. Amazing has been very successful, too---contrary to the dire predictions of veteran fans. However, it should be noted that there are not enough veteran fans to support any one professional fantasy magazine; in order to survive, therefore, a magazine must cater to other (and larger) sections of the reading public. Charles Hornig formerly tried to capture this same field in his Science Fiction magazine, but made the mistake of "talking down" to his readers, cutting out the writers' theories, eliminating two-syllable words, etc. Palmer, one of the cleverest business editors in the game, shied away from such errors. Instead of eliminating wild theories, he "explained" them in footnotes, thus giving the impression that they had factual basis, occasionally adding pseudo-scientific jargon to give readers the impression that they were learning something. This clever policy cornered for Amazing and Fantastic a larger number of enthusiasts who seldom think critically but read for amusement only. It is hard to imagine that Palmer himself actually believes the things he writes for his stories' footnotes, for if this were true it would be necessary to assume that he knows little or nothing about geology, industrial processes, potential theory, anthropology and other scientific subjects. Palmer is probably as well informed as any other successful fantasy editor, but he is clever enough to keep his readers satisfied. And this build-up has laid a perfect basis for a complete change in policy and an attempt to capture hundreds of new readers. Before proceeding further, let us examine these readers' make-up. The crack-pots, as they are usually called, number at least a million in the United States. They are, in the main, adults, and have educational levels ranging from near zero to those of Ph. D.'s engaged in technical occupations. A great many harbor seriously delusions of ancient civilizations superior to ours, believe in pyramidology and the like. Indeed, there are today in this country several esoteric societies based on Lemuria, Mu, Atlantis, one actually numbering over fifty thousand members. In fact, these groups are in a way semi-religious, since their members have stated that they are not interested in learning anything which would change their beliefs; that they can learn more from their inner consciousness than from without; and some have gone so far as to state that they abhor mathematics and allied modern sciences because these disprove their beliefs. Included also in such groups are those who cling to the idea that the history of world can be determined by measuring the dimensions of the pyramids---in spite of the fact that the pyramids have been used as a source of rock for buildings for ages, and have steadily decreased in size. Besides, it is
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 115 Calling All Crack-Pots! An Analysis of the Lemurian Hoax in Amazing Stories by Thomas S. Gardner The followers of science-fiction are now witnessing the beginnings of the most extraordinary publication trends in the realm of fantasy fiction that has taken place within the past five years in this country. The only other successful trend there in the last decade was the sudden splurge of fantastic comic-books. At the present time the more serious, technical and well-written field in science-fiction magazines has been completely captured by Astounding Science-Fiction under John W. Campbell's editorship; the more juvenile field by the Better Publications group (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Startling Stories and the now-defunct Captain Future); and an entirely new field was opened up by editor Raymond A. Palmer with Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. The reader-group catered to by Palmer consists of the average person with a sixth-grade educational level, who wants in his fiction very little plot or characterization, plenty of action, and a love-story ending of a clinch. Amazing has been very successful, too---contrary to the dire predictions of veteran fans. However, it should be noted that there are not enough veteran fans to support any one professional fantasy magazine; in order to survive, therefore, a magazine must cater to other (and larger) sections of the reading public. Charles Hornig formerly tried to capture this same field in his Science Fiction magazine, but made the mistake of "talking down" to his readers, cutting out the writers' theories, eliminating two-syllable words, etc. Palmer, one of the cleverest business editors in the game, shied away from such errors. Instead of eliminating wild theories, he "explained" them in footnotes, thus giving the impression that they had factual basis, occasionally adding pseudo-scientific jargon to give readers the impression that they were learning something. This clever policy cornered for Amazing and Fantastic a larger number of enthusiasts who seldom think critically but read for amusement only. It is hard to imagine that Palmer himself actually believes the things he writes for his stories' footnotes, for if this were true it would be necessary to assume that he knows little or nothing about geology, industrial processes, potential theory, anthropology and other scientific subjects. Palmer is probably as well informed as any other successful fantasy editor, but he is clever enough to keep his readers satisfied. And this build-up has laid a perfect basis for a complete change in policy and an attempt to capture hundreds of new readers. Before proceeding further, let us examine these readers' make-up. The crack-pots, as they are usually called, number at least a million in the United States. They are, in the main, adults, and have educational levels ranging from near zero to those of Ph. D.'s engaged in technical occupations. A great many harbor seriously delusions of ancient civilizations superior to ours, believe in pyramidology and the like. Indeed, there are today in this country several esoteric societies based on Lemuria, Mu, Atlantis, one actually numbering over fifty thousand members. In fact, these groups are in a way semi-religious, since their members have stated that they are not interested in learning anything which would change their beliefs; that they can learn more from their inner consciousness than from without; and some have gone so far as to state that they abhor mathematics and allied modern sciences because these disprove their beliefs. Included also in such groups are those who cling to the idea that the history of world can be determined by measuring the dimensions of the pyramids---in spite of the fact that the pyramids have been used as a source of rock for buildings for ages, and have steadily decreased in size. Besides, it is
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