DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Scientifictionist, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 8, March-April 1947

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Scientifictionist, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 8, March-April 1947

Page 3

the world. If you read as suggested you will see the sly innuendo that the allies should not have blamed the "good" Germans, that bad leaders were to blame. Note the clever glorification of the elements of nazism, and the read in idea that nazism would have been good for Europe but the bad, bad, wolves outside of Germany did not give it a fair chance!
De la Ree states in regard to World of A: "only a few fans were able to muster the courage to say they like it. They were those, of course, who read the story, failed to understand it, and therefore imagine that it must truly be the story of the century." Well, I have recently recontacted six men in the field of research chemistry who liked the story; they are men who have proven they can think clearly, accurately, and successfully. They admit every single criticism made against the story of van Vogt's, but still maintain it is a good story. The theme and implications were tops, they state. Now I fear that I must make a contradictory statement to Gerry's. Not only do I believe that he did not understand van Vogt's WORLD OF A, but also I must state that he did not understand, nor read AGHARTI with an understanding eye; but merely with the attitude of another fiction story to amuse the house and pass the time away. Neither the mechanics, which Hauser has, nor the clever propaganda which was present, should blind one to thinking a little when reading. 
Therefore, my I suggest that thinking be included as part of reading science fiction, especially the implications of the story as well as the little red riding hood adventures of the characters. There is one strange point in AGHARTI. It was obviously written after the use of the atomic bomb. The release of energy occurs in all atomic reactions except for the synthesis of elements in the extreme ends of the table of elements. This is determined by the sign of the packing fraction. Even when energy is used up in atomic reactions, heat energy is not utilizable. Yet Hauser has atomic bombs absorbing heat, freezing people instantly, etc. Now, even a speaking acquaintance with heat flow, specially the laws of radiation and cooling, should have prevented such a gross error. Frankly, I was shocked to see such a complete blunder; even Shaver has not made that error to date. (As I recall.)
Hauser said last year that he wanted to go back to rebuild germany but wanted to leave his children here for America to care for and make something out of. To date, as far as I have been able to determine, Hauser is still in the U.S. What is holding him up? I am in complete favor of his going back to Germany and staying there. We have enough native fascists and his kind of "good" people without Hauser.
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IT'S UP TO US --cont'd from page 1
equipment, and in Russia the difficulty of building a new plant even with trained help and imports from outside. Our barbarous descendants will not have the resources of our ancestors to work with. The richest ores in the earth have been worked over. Expensive machinery is required now to mine and refine them. This is true of metals, and the coal beds laid down for us two hundred millions years ago. Petroleum is even more hopeless as a power source for a primitive future. The very soil from which we draw our food, thousands of years in the forming, we are allowing to wash into the salt sea or leeching of its elements until commercial fertilizers and special agricultural methods are necessary to keep it producing. A civilization based on poverty of the necessities of life can attain no great heights. Little leisure can be seen in the post-Blowup world. 
No, gentlemen, there is far less chance that our barbarous descendants will win thru to Utopia, than that we may. We in this generation will nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of Earth.
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A lawyer, a doctor, an architect, and a communist were arguing over whose profession was the oldest. "Even primitive society had to have laws", said the lawyer. "But before society was even organized, there had to be a doctor when the babies came", put in the doctor. "But even before that, God was an architect when he created heaven and earth out of chaos", said the architect. "Ah! and who creates chaos!"

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the world. If you read as suggested you will see the sly innuendo that the allies should not have blamed the "good" Germans, that bad leaders were to blame. Note the clever glorification of the elements of nazism, and the read in idea that nazism would have been good for Europe but the bad, bad, wolves outside of Germany did not give it a fair chance! De la Ree states in regard to World of A: "only a few fans were able to muster the courage to say they like it. They were those, of course, who read the story, failed to understand it, and therefore imagine that it must truly be the story of the century." Well, I have recently recontacted six men in the field of research chemistry who liked the story; they are men who have proven they can think clearly, accurately, and successfully. They admit every single criticism made against the story of van Vogt's, but still maintain it is a good story. The theme and implications were tops, they state. Now I fear that I must make a contradictory statement to Gerry's. Not only do I believe that he did not understand van Vogt's WORLD OF A, but also I must state that he did not understand, nor read AGHARTI with an understanding eye; but merely with the attitude of another fiction story to amuse the house and pass the time away. Neither the mechanics, which Hauser has, nor the clever propaganda which was present, should blind one to thinking a little when reading. Therefore, my I suggest that thinking be included as part of reading science fiction, especially the implications of the story as well as the little red riding hood adventures of the characters. There is one strange point in AGHARTI. It was obviously written after the use of the atomic bomb. The release of energy occurs in all atomic reactions except for the synthesis of elements in the extreme ends of the table of elements. This is determined by the sign of the packing fraction. Even when energy is used up in atomic reactions, heat energy is not utilizable. Yet Hauser has atomic bombs absorbing heat, freezing people instantly, etc. Now, even a speaking acquaintance with heat flow, specially the laws of radiation and cooling, should have prevented such a gross error. Frankly, I was shocked to see such a complete blunder; even Shaver has not made that error to date. (As I recall.) Hauser said last year that he wanted to go back to rebuild germany but wanted to leave his children here for America to care for and make something out of. To date, as far as I have been able to determine, Hauser is still in the U.S. What is holding him up? I am in complete favor of his going back to Germany and staying there. We have enough native fascists and his kind of "good" people without Hauser. ########################################## IT'S UP TO US --cont'd from page 1 equipment, and in Russia the difficulty of building a new plant even with trained help and imports from outside. Our barbarous descendants will not have the resources of our ancestors to work with. The richest ores in the earth have been worked over. Expensive machinery is required now to mine and refine them. This is true of metals, and the coal beds laid down for us two hundred millions years ago. Petroleum is even more hopeless as a power source for a primitive future. The very soil from which we draw our food, thousands of years in the forming, we are allowing to wash into the salt sea or leeching of its elements until commercial fertilizers and special agricultural methods are necessary to keep it producing. A civilization based on poverty of the necessities of life can attain no great heights. Little leisure can be seen in the post-Blowup world. No, gentlemen, there is far less chance that our barbarous descendants will win thru to Utopia, than that we may. We in this generation will nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of Earth. ########################################## A lawyer, a doctor, an architect, and a communist were arguing over whose profession was the oldest. "Even primitive society had to have laws", said the lawyer. "But before society was even organized, there had to be a doctor when the babies came", put in the doctor. "But even before that, God was an architect when he created heaven and earth out of chaos", said the architect. "Ah! and who creates chaos!"