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Fantasy Fan, v. 1, issue 6, February 1934
Page 92
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February, 1934 THE FANTASY FAN 93 THE BOILING POINT "Donald Alexander's letter caused me to reread carefully my own answer to the Forrest Ackerman's epistolatory critique. Since my one concern was to meet Mr. Ackerman's arguments on their own ground, I am puzzled by the assertion of Mr. Alexander that I had made a fool of myself by descending to personalities. Offhand, I should have said that my letter was about as free of that sort of thing as it could conceivably have been. Perhaps there were a few mildly ironic touches; but certainly nothing of an indidious nature was implied or even intended. I do not think that any good purpose is ever served by abusive personalities. If my letter was derogatively personal, I really wonder how Mr. Alexander's should be classified." -- Clark Ashton Smith H. Koenig suggests that we missed a golden opportunity by not supplying the debaters with gloves and entering them in the Golden Glove Contests in Madison Square Garden! "When you shout, pertaining to Smith stories, 'May the ink dry up in the pen from which they flow!' you affect the refined and sensitive minds of the admirers of beautiful things, and cause them to exclaim, 'Here, indeed, is one who endeavors to do something in words as terrible as in actuality: cleave the head of a genius in twain!' Hence our fitting denunciation of you, Mr. Ackerman, for attempting to backbite one of the greatest writers America has ever produced." -- Robert Nelson "When some well-meaning person says that Ackerman has more sense than Smith and Lovecraft combined, he is just being ridiculous. If Clark Ashton Smith has a deseased mind, as Mr. Alexander states, I would for one like to be exposed to the germ. -- Duane W. Rimel "I have been following with interest the Ackerman adventures in your pages. I am wondering if he ever wrote any stories, besides criticizing them?" -- Natalie H. Wooley "The Ackerman-Smith debate amuses me. Of course, I am squarely on Smith's side, and don't understand why you publish the more peurile of the letters on the matter, such as the one by Lloyd Fowler." -- August W. Derleth "The whole argument was caused by Ackerman claiming that Smith's 'Dweller in Martian Depths' should not have appeared in Wonder Stories. Smith should have sent the story to Weird Tales, thus avoiding a clash with Ackerman, who, I take it, has no use for weird literature. Or the editor of Wonder Stories should have foreseen some catastrophe and promptly returned it to C. A. Smith, who I esteem very highly, by the way." -- F. Lee Baldwin We stated last month that the Smith-Ackerman debate would end in this issue --and so it has. Many of our readers have started to get bored with it and more than that, some ill-feeling has been aroused. We go further to state that there will be no more department known as "The Boiling Point." The name implies that everything contained therein should be boiling hot-- and these boiling hot arguments, as we have found out, create an unpleasant atmosphere for many concerned. THE FANTASY FAN is attempting to bind the lovers of science and weird fiction tighter together with [continued on page 95]
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February, 1934 THE FANTASY FAN 93 THE BOILING POINT "Donald Alexander's letter caused me to reread carefully my own answer to the Forrest Ackerman's epistolatory critique. Since my one concern was to meet Mr. Ackerman's arguments on their own ground, I am puzzled by the assertion of Mr. Alexander that I had made a fool of myself by descending to personalities. Offhand, I should have said that my letter was about as free of that sort of thing as it could conceivably have been. Perhaps there were a few mildly ironic touches; but certainly nothing of an indidious nature was implied or even intended. I do not think that any good purpose is ever served by abusive personalities. If my letter was derogatively personal, I really wonder how Mr. Alexander's should be classified." -- Clark Ashton Smith H. Koenig suggests that we missed a golden opportunity by not supplying the debaters with gloves and entering them in the Golden Glove Contests in Madison Square Garden! "When you shout, pertaining to Smith stories, 'May the ink dry up in the pen from which they flow!' you affect the refined and sensitive minds of the admirers of beautiful things, and cause them to exclaim, 'Here, indeed, is one who endeavors to do something in words as terrible as in actuality: cleave the head of a genius in twain!' Hence our fitting denunciation of you, Mr. Ackerman, for attempting to backbite one of the greatest writers America has ever produced." -- Robert Nelson "When some well-meaning person says that Ackerman has more sense than Smith and Lovecraft combined, he is just being ridiculous. If Clark Ashton Smith has a deseased mind, as Mr. Alexander states, I would for one like to be exposed to the germ. -- Duane W. Rimel "I have been following with interest the Ackerman adventures in your pages. I am wondering if he ever wrote any stories, besides criticizing them?" -- Natalie H. Wooley "The Ackerman-Smith debate amuses me. Of course, I am squarely on Smith's side, and don't understand why you publish the more peurile of the letters on the matter, such as the one by Lloyd Fowler." -- August W. Derleth "The whole argument was caused by Ackerman claiming that Smith's 'Dweller in Martian Depths' should not have appeared in Wonder Stories. Smith should have sent the story to Weird Tales, thus avoiding a clash with Ackerman, who, I take it, has no use for weird literature. Or the editor of Wonder Stories should have foreseen some catastrophe and promptly returned it to C. A. Smith, who I esteem very highly, by the way." -- F. Lee Baldwin We stated last month that the Smith-Ackerman debate would end in this issue --and so it has. Many of our readers have started to get bored with it and more than that, some ill-feeling has been aroused. We go further to state that there will be no more department known as "The Boiling Point." The name implies that everything contained therein should be boiling hot-- and these boiling hot arguments, as we have found out, create an unpleasant atmosphere for many concerned. THE FANTASY FAN is attempting to bind the lovers of science and weird fiction tighter together with [continued on page 95]
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