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Fantasy Digest, v. 1, issue 2, February 1939

Page 17

FANTASY DIGEST          12

have to call a story a Nova, Mutant, or any other kind of a story to convince us its good. We can read, and we'll soon find out for ourselves. Now to the more prominent inceptions. There was of course the new variety of artists, and the inception of alternating covers with various artists. As a whole this idea though commendable, was disappointing. The illustrations in "Astounding" have hit new low. Dold is very, very conspicous by his absence. Binder is certainly welcome, with his amazingly improved style. Schneeman does not belong in a science-fiction magazine, his illustrations are better suited for the run-of-the-mill type. Wert, Orban, Thomson, Coughlin, are next to untolerable. They should be cast aside. Wesso was reasonably good during all of 1938. Brown was acceptable, for the most part on the covers; definitely undesirable on the inside. A S-F's artists should be Brown, Wesso, Dold, and Binder, with all of them alternating on the covers.
Now we have saved the most important for last. That is definitely the actual stories. From the very first 1938 issue ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION continued a gradual improvement until the December issue contained so large a number of exceptional stories that plaudits are certainly due editor Campbell for the fine job of improvement in quality fiction in the comparatively short space of one year. Astounding is close to being as good as it ever was with the December, 1938 issue. Lets hope that this is no NOVA [underline]. Fiction can be listed in three categories. One, excellent; two, very good; three, good. Excellent stories are necessarily rare. In 1937 Astounding did not produce even one. In 1938 however, Campbell is sort of winning his own game. WHO GOES THERE? by DON A. STUART was unquestionably the years number one story. That was truthfully the only excellent story of the year. However it is flanked by a number of Very Good stories. A MATTER OF FORM by H. L. GOLD, THE MENTAL ULTIMATE by POLTON CROSS; these two very close to excellent. LET CYMBAL'S RING by M. SCHERE, HELEN O'LOY by LESTER DEL RAY, THE TERRIBLE SENSE by CALVIN PEREGOY rank just a little below. The good

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FANTASY DIGEST 12 have to call a story a Nova, Mutant, or any other kind of a story to convince us its good. We can read, and we'll soon find out for ourselves. Now to the more prominent inceptions. There was of course the new variety of artists, and the inception of alternating covers with various artists. As a whole this idea though commendable, was disappointing. The illustrations in "Astounding" have hit new low. Dold is very, very conspicous by his absence. Binder is certainly welcome, with his amazingly improved style. Schneeman does not belong in a science-fiction magazine, his illustrations are better suited for the run-of-the-mill type. Wert, Orban, Thomson, Coughlin, are next to untolerable. They should be cast aside. Wesso was reasonably good during all of 1938. Brown was acceptable, for the most part on the covers; definitely undesirable on the inside. A S-F's artists should be Brown, Wesso, Dold, and Binder, with all of them alternating on the covers. Now we have saved the most important for last. That is definitely the actual stories. From the very first 1938 issue ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION continued a gradual improvement until the December issue contained so large a number of exceptional stories that plaudits are certainly due editor Campbell for the fine job of improvement in quality fiction in the comparatively short space of one year. Astounding is close to being as good as it ever was with the December, 1938 issue. Lets hope that this is no NOVA [underline]. Fiction can be listed in three categories. One, excellent; two, very good; three, good. Excellent stories are necessarily rare. In 1937 Astounding did not produce even one. In 1938 however, Campbell is sort of winning his own game. WHO GOES THERE? by DON A. STUART was unquestionably the years number one story. That was truthfully the only excellent story of the year. However it is flanked by a number of Very Good stories. A MATTER OF FORM by H. L. GOLD, THE MENTAL ULTIMATE by POLTON CROSS; these two very close to excellent. LET CYMBAL'S RING by M. SCHERE, HELEN O'LOY by LESTER DEL RAY, THE TERRIBLE SENSE by CALVIN PEREGOY rank just a little below. The good