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Voice of the Imagination, whole no. 20, January 1942

Page 12

12 NEW YR 42 ended this little spot of bother, a terrific load of all the war-issues of American mags will be on sale over here. I only hope so, for stf. comes few and far between in England, now. Through a friend who has a sub. to ASF. I have been able to read 'Final Blackout', the greatest stf story of all time. Such POWER! I am now about to shock the great American public by openly proclaiming that most of Heinlein's stuff smells, with a capital S. His stories usually start nowhere get nowhere and finish nowhere. One exception so far. I rather liked 'We Also walk Dogs' , an alarmingly meandering story, amazingly irrelevant; my only mental observation on reading it was 'So What ??'. In the same issue Van Vogt's 'SEESAW' was the best tale. That man is good. Haven't had the chance to read 'Slan' yet though. '' The stencilling of some parts of VoM in what you refer to as Vogue, are particularly impressive. As far as I know, we have nothing like over here. (Doug Webster now has such a machine.) '' Please convey my best wishes to my American namesake. I have ambitions of someday being for England what he is for America." Write MEET THE R E A D E R ! Eccpy -- the officially adopted faname of EDWARD C CONNOR of 929 Butler St, Peoria, Ill. [drawing of nude woman wearing a helmet, boots, and bat wings on the right] "Verily, I am a new fan and an unknown fan -- but I am a fan. Unquote. '' Facts, facts, facts. Well, here are a few I picked up at various times in the past. '' I find that I have been a fan only since about last July 12th -- an 'active' fan, that is. I figure I was just another Joe Fann for a number of years previous to that, as I waxed exceedingly nutty over science-fiction in all its fazes. My predominant mania for a couple of years was fantasy movies -- up to the present time I believe I've seen over 40 of that particular type. I definitely enjoyed 'Things to Come' most. '' I am twenty years of age, friends, and of course my ambition for the past ten years has been to become a writer. I confess it innocently, not knowing what the gruesome result will be. '' Strangely enough, it was an item in some ancient, weather-beaten magazine that I picked up in -- of all places -- an alley, that put me on the rite track. I realized the folly of my ways, and swore never again to drink the cat's milk or feed arsenic sandwiches to my brother's pet roaches. '' Yes, even now I remember that when I dumped out the garbage can to get at the bottom, a couple chubby little grey beasties bounded friskily forth, old pulp and type lice dripping from their slavering jowls. Grabbing a nearby fishing-rod, I made the fatal cast. Oh joy! --- The precious tome was now mine. Warily I hastened to the deepest, darkest corner of the attic with my loot, and opened my eyes. 'Eeeghod!' I roared, 'what have I unearthed? A, M, A, Z, I, N, G -- humm, no wonder the ribald rodents mistook it for green cheese -- the cover possesses a very amaturish appearance. Humm -- very funny, hahahahaha. Ha. Too bad they made that mistake on the cover; I can see that the 'A' should have been a 'U'. Tsk. Tsk. '' But I digress. To get rapidly to the point, something in that release of Amazing gave me a start as a fan. Within two weeks I had procured the very latest i ssue of Beling's now defunct fanzine, Fan-atic. Date - July 12, 1941. My sole purpose at that time was to read the Esperanto column, written, strangely, by FJA. I like this manufactured tongue, and even though it is just another 'foreign' language now, I realize that it will not be after I learn it??? '' Well, I've revealed my dislike for Amazing and my liking for Esperanto, now I'll divulge my already not unknown views on fantasy nudes. Bluntly -- I like 'em. Yep, I really think 4e and Morojo are pulling something off, putting them in VoM with such lavish abandon. (At this stage, if you are not roaring with laughter, you have only to read that last sentence again.) (And if U still are not roaring with lafter, read what comes after: As an expression of gratitude for your appreciation of our presentations of the fantasy nude, we have accompanyd your fanografy with one. Only we have had to ask U to be a good nabor & share her with your Canadian confrere cross the aisle, who also admires beauty in undress. Surely 1/2 a Vomaiden is better'n none, & at that, U've got her better half. Incidently, dividing Vom-aiden, we discern a hitherto hidden meaning, when we realize Aiden was the original spelling of the Garden,) -- But to get back to the living -- prior to my obtaining Fan-atic I had been reading the fanzine reviews in STARTLING since the inception of that publication. I had been reading the reviews, yes, and I had read a great deal more about the fan pubs, but I had never sent for one of them. I had read about the Nycon and the Chicon, and even the Denvention, and had not acquiesed to the urge. I can recall, still, the conception of fandom I formulated, it being that the whole thing didn't amount to much. Which just goes to show how ignorant some people can be. '' Anyway, after I obtained a glimpse of one fanzine, 'I not only was in the space-ship, I was in space' -- as the old saying goes. '' Actually, it didn't take me as long to get acquainted with the concepts of fandom as I thought it would. My long acquaintance with science-fiction, I believe, had something to do with it. From the moment I first walked into the neighborhood public library I have had an intense desire for out of the ordinary reading. In the beginning I read scores of books on Mythology -- everything obtainable -- whether I understood it or not. Gradually, of course, my reading increased in comprehensibility. My age, I believe, had something to do with it. I, too, picked up the usual lines -- Burroughs, Buck Rogers, H. G. Wells, etc. '' In Argosy, around 1932-3, I got my real start. As for stf magazines -- pecularily, in the beginning, I shunned Astounding; read Amazing

Saving...

12 NEW YR 42 ended this little spot of bother, a terrific load of all the war-issues of American mags will be on sale over here. I only hope so, for stf. comes few and far between in England, now. Through a friend who has a sub. to ASF. I have been able to read 'Final Blackout', the greatest stf story of all time. Such POWER! I am now about to shock the great American public by openly proclaiming that most of Heinlein's stuff smells, with a capital S. His stories usually start nowhere get nowhere and finish nowhere. One exception so far. I rather liked 'We Also walk Dogs' , an alarmingly meandering story, amazingly irrelevant; my only mental observation on reading it was 'So What ??'. In the same issue Van Vogt's 'SEESAW' was the best tale. That man is good. Haven't had the chance to read 'Slan' yet though. '' The stencilling of some parts of VoM in what you refer to as Vogue, are particularly impressive. As far as I know, we have nothing like over here. (Doug Webster now has such a machine.) '' Please convey my best wishes to my American namesake. I have ambitions of someday being for England what he is for America." Write MEET THE R E A D E R ! Eccpy -- the officially adopted faname of EDWARD C CONNOR of 929 Butler St, Peoria, Ill. [drawing of nude woman wearing a helmet, boots, and bat wings on the right] "Verily, I am a new fan and an unknown fan -- but I am a fan. Unquote. '' Facts, facts, facts. Well, here are a few I picked up at various times in the past. '' I find that I have been a fan only since about last July 12th -- an 'active' fan, that is. I figure I was just another Joe Fann for a number of years previous to that, as I waxed exceedingly nutty over science-fiction in all its fazes. My predominant mania for a couple of years was fantasy movies -- up to the present time I believe I've seen over 40 of that particular type. I definitely enjoyed 'Things to Come' most. '' I am twenty years of age, friends, and of course my ambition for the past ten years has been to become a writer. I confess it innocently, not knowing what the gruesome result will be. '' Strangely enough, it was an item in some ancient, weather-beaten magazine that I picked up in -- of all places -- an alley, that put me on the rite track. I realized the folly of my ways, and swore never again to drink the cat's milk or feed arsenic sandwiches to my brother's pet roaches. '' Yes, even now I remember that when I dumped out the garbage can to get at the bottom, a couple chubby little grey beasties bounded friskily forth, old pulp and type lice dripping from their slavering jowls. Grabbing a nearby fishing-rod, I made the fatal cast. Oh joy! --- The precious tome was now mine. Warily I hastened to the deepest, darkest corner of the attic with my loot, and opened my eyes. 'Eeeghod!' I roared, 'what have I unearthed? A, M, A, Z, I, N, G -- humm, no wonder the ribald rodents mistook it for green cheese -- the cover possesses a very amaturish appearance. Humm -- very funny, hahahahaha. Ha. Too bad they made that mistake on the cover; I can see that the 'A' should have been a 'U'. Tsk. Tsk. '' But I digress. To get rapidly to the point, something in that release of Amazing gave me a start as a fan. Within two weeks I had procured the very latest i ssue of Beling's now defunct fanzine, Fan-atic. Date - July 12, 1941. My sole purpose at that time was to read the Esperanto column, written, strangely, by FJA. I like this manufactured tongue, and even though it is just another 'foreign' language now, I realize that it will not be after I learn it??? '' Well, I've revealed my dislike for Amazing and my liking for Esperanto, now I'll divulge my already not unknown views on fantasy nudes. Bluntly -- I like 'em. Yep, I really think 4e and Morojo are pulling something off, putting them in VoM with such lavish abandon. (At this stage, if you are not roaring with laughter, you have only to read that last sentence again.) (And if U still are not roaring with lafter, read what comes after: As an expression of gratitude for your appreciation of our presentations of the fantasy nude, we have accompanyd your fanografy with one. Only we have had to ask U to be a good nabor & share her with your Canadian confrere cross the aisle, who also admires beauty in undress. Surely 1/2 a Vomaiden is better'n none, & at that, U've got her better half. Incidently, dividing Vom-aiden, we discern a hitherto hidden meaning, when we realize Aiden was the original spelling of the Garden,) -- But to get back to the living -- prior to my obtaining Fan-atic I had been reading the fanzine reviews in STARTLING since the inception of that publication. I had been reading the reviews, yes, and I had read a great deal more about the fan pubs, but I had never sent for one of them. I had read about the Nycon and the Chicon, and even the Denvention, and had not acquiesed to the urge. I can recall, still, the conception of fandom I formulated, it being that the whole thing didn't amount to much. Which just goes to show how ignorant some people can be. '' Anyway, after I obtained a glimpse of one fanzine, 'I not only was in the space-ship, I was in space' -- as the old saying goes. '' Actually, it didn't take me as long to get acquainted with the concepts of fandom as I thought it would. My long acquaintance with science-fiction, I believe, had something to do with it. From the moment I first walked into the neighborhood public library I have had an intense desire for out of the ordinary reading. In the beginning I read scores of books on Mythology -- everything obtainable -- whether I understood it or not. Gradually, of course, my reading increased in comprehensibility. My age, I believe, had something to do with it. I, too, picked up the usual lines -- Burroughs, Buck Rogers, H. G. Wells, etc. '' In Argosy, around 1932-3, I got my real start. As for stf magazines -- pecularily, in the beginning, I shunned Astounding; read Amazing