Chris Perridas: Antiquarian Weird Tales

1940's Art (Unknown Artist)

2009-10-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Original 1940s full color science fiction fanzine art

The seller of this item stated: Original 1940s science fiction fanzine art. I don't know if this art was ever published. Art is in very good condition (it is not yellowed, the old paper just scans that way as the paper is still clean and white). 7" x 10 1/2". Art is signed on the lower right but I can't make out the signature.

More 1953 AUTOGRAPHS

2009-09-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

Notes are from the seller of the document

Up for auction is something both rare and quite unique, something of which may never appear again. Introducing the Eleventh World Science Fiction Convention. It was held at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel on Sept 5-7th in Philadelphia, 1953. This tradition of gathering authors began back in 1939 and continued onward like a shooting star. 639 members consisted of the Committee, some of which were Forrest J. Ackerman, L. Sprague de Camp, Robert Bloch, Al Feldstein, Al Williamson and Arthur C. Clarke.

This convention program has within its pages 9 autographs of some of the worlds most recognized authors of our time. Both pen and pencil were used to sign the book. Each signature is easy to see.

Willie Ley, Guest-of-Honor {1906-1969 died age 62}. German-American Science writer, who helped popularize rocketry and spaceflight. He also cowrote with Wernher Von Braun. Signature is in black ink.

Theodore Sturgeon {1918-1985 died age 67} Written screenplays for star Trek. "More than human", New Twilight Zone "Killdozer" Signiture is in light pencil

Isaac Asimov {1920-1992 died age 72} Foundation series, Galactic Empire series, Robot series. 14 honorary doctorates from various universities. Signature is in light pencil.

Samuel Mines {?} Editor for Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1951-1953 Bought "The Portable Star" from Isaac Asimov. Signature is in light pencil

L. Sprague de Camp {1907-2000 died age 93} Sword and Sorcery, Historical fiction. "Hand of Zei", "The Glory that Was" Various Conan tales. Signature is in blue ink.

Murray Fletcher Pratt {1897-1956 died age 59} "Land of Unreason" w/ L. de Camp, "Well of the Unicorn", "Blue Star", "Alien Planet" Wrote several books on historical wars. Signiture is in blue ink.

Dr. Edward E. Smith {1890-1965, died age 75} Wrote for Amazing Stories in 1930. "Lensman", "Skylark" Is known as the Father of Space Opera. Signature is in black ink.

Formula written by perhaps one of the signatures in the book.

Philip Jose Farmer {1918-2009 died age 91} "Riverworld", Tarzan, Doc Savage, many, many more. Hugo award winner. Signature is in blue ink.

Robert Bloch {1917-1994 died age 77} Author of Psycho and Psycho 2, several scripts for Star Trek, "American Gothic", "Yours truly, Jack the Ripper", "The Thing" Signature is in black ink.

You will not find such dignitaries of the Science Fiction realm ever collected like this before. It is indeed a treasure to find one, perhaps two autographs but 9 in one book? As for the mysterious formula, perhaps it is the good Dr. Samuel Mines or even Willie Ley who, with a keen sense of humor, added their own brand of humor. Be that as it may, you are bidding on a very special and extremely rare program.

Derleth's Death Notice (August 1971)

2009-09-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

William Godrich

2009-09-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

Recently seen on ebay:

GODRICH, W. J. [William John, 1926-2000]. TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL: AN INDEX, by A.E.R.M. Stevens and W.J. Godrich (unpublished), plus a substantial archive of correspondence concerning the collecting of Weird and Supernatural Fiction, plus miscellaneous notes, dealers catalogues, etc., etc.

William “John” Godrich lived in Swansea, Wales. He was a collector of rare books and records, specializing in weird and supernatural fiction, illustrated books, and American blues recordings. H was co-author (with Robert M.W. Dixon) of BLUES AND GOSPEL RECORDS (1964), still in print and considered the ‘bible’ of collecting early blues recordings, as well as RECORDING THE BLUES, (1970), also with Dixon. He spent many years working on a bibliography of Supernatural fiction, based on his own collection and that of his friends and correspondents. Initially, this was co-authored with Anthony Stevens; later he worked with Richard Dalby. The bibliography, tentatively titled TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL: AN INDEX, was never published. Godrich died in 2000. His book collection was sold off before his death and has long ago been dispersed. Anthony Stevens’s collection went to Sothebys in 1996 ( Sale LN6731, 17 December 1996, Lots 372-641, “The A.E.R.M. Stevens Collection Of Detective Fiction, Ghost Stories, Gothic Novels, Science Fiction And Fantasy And Victorian Fiction”).

We offer here Godrich’s original unpublished typescript for the bibliography, plus his notes and subsequent drafts, plus his correspondence with other collectors and dealers over a multi-year period concerning the identification and acquisition of books of supernatural fiction, including a substantial archive of letters with important bibliographical information. Over 200 pages of original typescript and letters are included, forming an in-depth look at researching, collecting and cataloguing supernatural fiction in these formative years.

TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL: AN INDEX. (Preliminary checklist. 2nd draft. March 1975) by A.E.R.M Stevens and W.J. Godrich. 23 pp., carbon-copy typescript on rectos only, with numerous manuscript additions and notes. “Items owned or inspected by us are designated by either one or two asterisk following book titles. Complete details of other listed titles urgently needed….” Thanks are given to Richard Dalby, Bob Yates, John Melville and George Locke. Approx 1200 titles are listed. Unbound.

TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL (Third draft) April 1976 (by John Godrich and Richard Dalby). Unfinished. 4 pages, original typescript on rectos only, carbon copies included.Covers authors from A.P. Barker - E.F. Benson. A more proper bibliography, with author, title, publisher, date and a plot synopsis. Also included are three pages on Herbert Russell Wakefield: A biography (photocopy of typescript) and 2 pages of bibliography (original typescript, carbons included). Also included is one extra sheet of stories from the pulps, random, with plot outlines; plus short checklists of magazine appearances of stories by Philip Jose Farmer, Otis Adelbert Kline, Laurence Manning, C.L. Moore, Eric Frank Russell, Jack Vance, Roger Zelazny, Leigh Brackett, George Allen England, Ray Cumings, J. Rousseau, C.B. Stilson, Tod Robbins, Frances Stevens, Philip M. Fisher, Perley Sheehan, W.C. Morrow, Ralph Milne Farley, Jack Mann (E. Charles Vivian), John Taine, E. Hoffman Price and others.

Biographies of Algernon Blackwood, Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune and Edith Nesbit, 2 leaves, typescript, first leaf printed on recto and verso, 2nd leaf printed on recto only. Penned by Godrich, these are amateur but original biographical sketches, with some first hand knowledge, i.e.: …”Frieda Harris, who thought Crowley the most wonderful man she had ever met and after his death wore his huge jade ring, once told me that he felt an overwhelming pity for women thus afflicted (with alcoholism)” .

18 pages of typescript (9 pages printed on rectos and versos) by Godrich, reprinting stories from the pulps: THE MALIGNANT INVADER by Frank Belknap Long (Weird Tales Jan 1932); THOSE WHO SEEK by August Derleth (Weird Tales Jan 1932); THE KELPIE by Manley Wade Wellman (Weird Tales July 1936); THE NECRONOMICON by Lin Carter (from The Shuttered Room, Arkham House, 1959); Extracts from THE BOOK OF THE DEAD: FARNSWORTH WRIGHT by E. Hoffmann Price (from W. Paul Cook’s “The Ghost”; reprinted in Anubis. No. 3. 1968); and THE SEALED CASKET by Richard Seawright (Weird Tales March 1935).

CORRESPONDENCE:

ANDREW STEVENS. To John Godrich. 8 Autograph Letters Signed, dated 12th January 1975 24th April 1977. 21 pages on 11 leaves. Mostly dealing with bibliographical matters, books traded or sold between them, etc.

RICHARD DALBY. To John Godrich. 67 Typed Letters Signed and 1 Autograph Letter Signed, total 68 letters 1972-1977: 5 dated 1972, 13 dated 1973 (one is 3-pages); 14 dated 1974; 17 dated 1975; 15 dated 1976; 3 dated 1977. All concern weird fiction: the contents of books (and proposed books) edited by Dalby, extensive lists of titles sold by Dalby to Godrich (and vice-versa); who has what books (Covent Garden Bookshop had Christopher Blayre’s THE CHEETAH-GIRL, one of 20 copies, at £12.50), prices charged by dealers, great finds (Dalby recounts purchasing Timlin’s THE SHIP THAT SAILED TO MARS for £2 in a country bookshop; mentions purchasing a 1st edition of William Hope Hodgson’s MEN OF THE DEEP WATERS, 1914, in d/w), book illustrators, much on collecting M.R. James, H.R. Wakefield, Mervyn Peake, Austin Osman Spare, etc, etc; and, later on, collaborating together on TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL. Also included is a one-page typescript of the Table of Contents for the proposed work THE SPECTRE SPIDER AND OTHER GHOST STORIES, edited by Dalby (never published as such).

JIM PITTS [ILLUSTRATOR]. To John Godrich. 1 Autograph Letter Signed and one Typed Letter Signed, both dated 1976. The ALS is on Pitts’ illustrated letterhead, with Cthulhu and other weird figures. Concerning the purchase of magazines and publications available.

HUGH LAMB. To John Godrich. 4 Typed Letters Signed & 1 Autograph Letter Signed, all dated 1976. Concerning Lamb’s anthologies, and suggestions for contributions to them (Godrich suggested the story “Finless Death” by R.E. Vernede, it was later included in Lamb’s anthology THE MAN-WOLF AND OTHER HORRORS (1978).

BRIAN STABLEFORD. To John Godrich. Undated. 1 short TLS, mentioning a letter in Science Fantasy No. 78 as well as admitting to the short story BEYOND TIME’S AEGIS by “Brian Craig” in that issue, written by him in collaboration with a school-friend named Craig. Signed simply “Brian”.

EDWARD P. BERGLUND. To John Godrich. 12 Typed Letters Signed. Dated 1972-1977. First 4 are on air mail paper, remainder on 8.5 x 11. Printed rectos only. Discusses Fanzines, supernatural tales, an HP Lovecraft bibliography titled BIBLIOTHECA: HPL and anthologies edited by Berglund, Robert Weinberg’s READER’S GUIDE TO THE CTHULHU MYTHOS (co-edited by Berglund), stories by Brian Lumley and Lin Carter, FROM BEYOND THE DARK GATEWAY (edited by Berglund); work on the proposed HYBORIAN AGE CHRONOLOGY, Cthulhu Mythos tales in the SUPERNATURAL STORIES paperbacks, his anthology DISCIPLES OF CTHULHU, etc, etc.

W. PAUL GANLEY. To John Godrich. 2 Typed Letters Signed. Dated 1975 & 1976. Concerning WEIRDBOOK, and offers for magazines and books.

WAGNER, Karl Edward. To John Godrich. 2 Typed Letters Signed, dated 1975 & 1976, on Carcosa Press letterhead. The first confirms an order for E. Hoffman Price’s FAR LANDS, OTHER DAYS, with some commentary (plus enclosed invoice); the second concerns the return of said book as being mis-bound, and notes the upcoming publication of MURGUNSTRUMM & OTHERS. Quite chatty.

Plus, BRIAN MOODY, 2 long letters; JOHN M. HARVEY, 5 letters, MARTIN STONE, 1 letter, WAYNE WARFIELD, 1 letter, NIGEL SMITH (BFS) 5 letters, EDDY C. BERTIN 2 letters, CHRISTOPHER LOWDER 2 letters (mentioning Dermot Chesson Spence’s LITTLE RED SHOES), VERNON LAY 2 letters, DAVE FLETCHER 2 letters, M.F. CRAWFORD 1 letter (on WITCHCRAFT & SORCERY letterhead)

Approx 15 pages of quotes and book offers from various and sundry;

Approx 10 book catalogues & lists from G. Ken Chapman, Ferret Fantasy, Robert Madle, Loompanics, Phantasmagoria, etc. All from the 1970’s.

Autographs Galore (1953)

2009-09-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

Eleventh World Science Fiction
Convention Program Book

Edited by: David A Kyle (signed)
Signed by Many Authors, Artists and Fans

Philadelphia Sept 5-7, 1953

The seller states: Thin (18 page) stapled booklet published as the convention program book for the Eleventh World Science Fiction Convention held September 5th, 6th and 7th, 1953 in Philadelphia, PA. This program appears to have been the property of Dave MacInnes (his name is hand printed on the first page), who usually attended conventions with his wife Pam. For some reason it appears that she was not able to attend this convention, so Dave got the program book signed by many of the attendees with greetings to Pam. Some people signed the program more than once. The signatures are listed below each pair of pictures.

Dave MacInnes
George O. Smith
Joan Skirvin
Ben Singer
Isaac Asimov
Margaret Harrison
E. Everett Evans
Milton Rothman
Lester del Rey
Bill Hamling
Russell Swanson
Joe Gibson
Ric Binkley
Bea Mahaffey
Lester del Rey
Larry Rothstein
Evelyn del Rey
George O. Smith
Pat Mahaffey
Frank Kelly Freas
Tetsu Yano
Bill Hamling
Paul Spencer
Edward E. Smith, PhD (E. E. 'Doc' Smith)
H. J. Campbell
Stephen J. Takacs
Rog Phillips
Katherine MacLean
J. A. Winter, M.D.
Randall Garrett
Wendayne Ackerman
Jean Smith (Mrs E E Smith)
Alex Osheroff
Niel De Jack
Marie De Jack
Al Lopez
Forry (Forrest J. Ackerman)
L. A. Eschbach
Robert Bloch
Malcolm Willits
Earl Kemp
Gerry de la Ree
Dave Kyle
Louis Tabakov
Bob (Wilson) Tucker
Judith Midyette
Marty Greenberg
Andrew Harris
Frank M. Robinson
Sam Moskowitz
Don Ford
Ted Ditkey
Allison Williams

Gerry de la Ree and Hannes Bok

2009-09-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

"BEAUTY & THE BEASTS" THE ART OF HANNES BOK! 1978
Hannes Bok and his art! Issued by Gerry De La Ree in 1978. First edition. Limited to only 1300 copies! 128 pages of mostly full page reproductions of Bok`s art, and representative of his entire career as an illustrator. Intro by Ray Bradbury

1976 A Hannes Bok Sketchbook Magazine Fanzine

August Derleth in Scribner's (Sept. 1936)

2009-09-04T20:08:00.001-07:00

SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE * September 1936 *

Sam Moskowitz and Lin Carter Side by Side

2009-09-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

Worlds of Tomorrow Nov 1966 featuring Moskowitz & Lin Carter

Carter Story:
Crown of Stars [Hautley Quicksilver], (nv) Worlds of Tomorrow Nov 1966

Includes Stephen Tall story:
Seventy Light-Years from Sol [Stardust], (nv) Worlds of Tomorrow Nov 1966; also as “A Star Called Cyrene”.

Frederick Pohl:
The World of Today, (ed) Worlds of Tomorrow Nov 1966

Patrick Stewart Sees Ghost

2009-08-29T14:46:00.001-07:00

Patrick Stewart, right, saw a ghost while performing Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen, left
_____
Chrispy is a major Trek fan. And it's an antiquraian story to a certain extent.
_____

Patrick Stewart saw ghost performing Waiting for Godot

Patrick Stewart has told fellow actors that he saw a ghost in what is reputed to be one of Britain's most haunted theatres.
_____

He saw the apparition while performing Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen.

Stage hands believe he saw the ghost of John Baldwin Buckstone, who was actor-manager of the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the mid 19th century and a friend of Charles Dickens.

Upon coming offstage for the interval, Stewart told his co-star that he saw a man standing in the wings wearing what looked like a beige coat and twill trousers.

Sir Ian asked him: "What happened, what threw you?"

"I just saw a ghost. On stage, during Act One," Stewart replied.

The episode was related in a documentary about the Theatre Royal Haymarket, produced by television channel Sky Arts.

However, it appears cameramen failed to capture images of the ghost itself.

Buckstone had a long association with the Theatre Royal, first as a comic actor, then as a playwright and finally as its actor-manager from 1853 to 1877, during which time it put on some 200 productions. The house became the leading comic theatre of the day.

He did not die in the building, passing away peacefully at home in Sydenham, Kent, after a long illness in 1879 aged 77. But theatre lore professes that he nevertheless haunts the place to the present day.

Nigel Everett, a director of the theatre, said: "Patrick told us all about it. He was stunned. I would not say frightened, but I would say impressed."

Appearances of Buckstone were not that frequent, Mr Everett said, with the last being by a stage hand about three or four years ago.

He added: "The last time an actor saw him would have been I think Fiona Fullerton, playing in an Oscar Wilde, 10 or 12 years ago.

"The ghost tends to appear when a comedy is playing."

While he said he did not consider Waiting for Godot to be a comedy, he thought their production did have comic aspects.

"I think Buckstone appears when he appreciates things," he added. "We view it as a positive thing."

C M Eddy, Jr. Writer, HPL & Houdini Friend.

2009-08-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks, C, for mentioning this article to me. :)
_____

Pulp-era horror is resurrected in book of tales
By Doug Norris/Features Editor

NARRAGANSETT - A close friend to H.P. Lovecraft and Harry Houdini, lifelong Rhode Islander C.M. Eddy Jr. is perhaps best known for his stories in Weird Tales. Eddy's tales of horror, the supernatural and detective mystery appeared in several pulp magazines in the early 20th century.
Just in time for Halloween, a partial collection of his work, "The Loved Dead and Other Tales," consisting of 13 stories from the pulps, has been compiled and published by his grandson, Jim Dyer, owner of Fenham Publishing of Narragansett."He was a pack rat," said Dyer of his grandfather. "He kept all of his stories, letters, notes. It's something that runs in the family."This is the second collection of Eddy's tales that Dyer has published. Fenham Publishing's first venture into the Eddy oeuvre was "Exit Into Eternity, Tales of the Bizarre and Supernatural," a collection of five stories, including one novelette and one unfinished fragment titled "Black Noon." Dyer later edited and published "The Gentleman from Angell Street, Memories of H.P. Lovecraft," which included writings from his grandfather and his grandmother, Muriel, who both knew Lovecraft well."My grandparents became friends with Lovecraft in the early 1920s," Dyer said. "He used to walk to their house in Fox Point and stay late into the night. My grandfather and he would take late-night walks in the streets of Providence, looking for interesting places or just talking about ideas for stories. My grandmother typed some of his manuscripts."Dyer said that Lovecraft encouraged Eddy's writing, offering advice and editing, as he did with many writers of the day."He wasn't competitive at all," Dyer said, adding that, according to his grandmother, "Lovecraft had a hand in a lot of stories that he never got any credit for. He had a circle of friends, who would mail each other different stories and make comments.""The Loved Dead," the opening story in the new collection, was so controversial in its day that it almost didn't get published. It deals with the subject of necrophilia."His agent said no one would touch it in America," Dyer said. "He told my grandfather to try to publish it in France. He thought it might find an audience in Paris, where they had the Grand-Guignol, a theater of the bizarre. Eventually Weird Tales published the story in 1924, even though the editor still had his doubts. As it turned out, the controversy helped sell more copies of the magazine." The story is even credited with helping Weird Tales avoid bankruptcy.Seven stories first published in Weird Tales make up part of the new collection. Dyer's favorite of these is a tale titled "The Ghost-Eater.""It's a werewolf story," Dyer said, "but it's an offbeat werewolf story, about a ghost werewolf."Eddy wrote horror and supernatural tales, along with detective mysteries such as "Sign of the Dragon," first published in Mystery Magazine in 1919 and re-published here. Other stories describe mad scientists, Neanderthals, phantoms and ancient curses."Supernatural had to do with something not of this world, like werewolves, vampires," Dyer said. "The horror story was more based in real life, but just scary. But I don't think they differentiated back then with all of the subcategories. That came later.""It's the kind of writing he liked to do," Dyer added. "Magazines like Weird Tales published stories that didn't fit into the other magazines of the day. My grandfather called his stories his 'brainchildren.' "In addition to pulp fiction writing, Eddy was a composer of lyrics and melodies, whose songs included "Dearest of All," "When We Met by the Blue Lagoon," "Underneath the Whispering Pine," "Sunset Hour" and "Hello, Mister Sunshine (Goodbye, Mister Rain).""People used to send him their poems and he'd put them to music," Dyer said.Eddy became a theatrical booking agent in Providence, which was his residence throughout his life (except for a short stint in East Providence). He befriended a number of famous vaudevillians and performers, including the great Houdini, one of the most popular entertainers of his time."He worked as a ghostwriter and an investigator for Houdini," Dyer said. "Houdini paid writers to write stories that had his name on them in popular magazines. He also used to go around the country breaking up seances and exposing mediums as fakes. My grandfather would travel to a town ahead of him and find out everything he could. He'd figure out how the voices were coming from the walls, how the table might be moving. Then he'd type up a report for Houdini, who would show up with all of the newspapers and expose the act as if he was doing it on the spot.""The Loved Dead and Other Tales" costs $16.95 and is available at local bookstores or through the publisher's Web site, www.fenhampublishing.com.

Bradbury Manuscript Seen

2009-08-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

Bradbury, Ray. "Watchful Poker Chip of M. Matisse, The" [Short Story]. TYPED MANUSCRIPT SIGNED (TMsS). 17 leaves of letter-size bond, typed on rectos only, signed by Bradbury on first leaf. The setting copy, with many minor edits in pencil, as well as typographical instructions. One of Bradbury's better-known stories, appearing first in Horace L. Gold's BEYOND in 1953, and collected in THE OCTOBER COUNTRY (1955). The story concerns a "terrifyingly ordinary man" named George Garvey, whose very banality makes him a camp darling of the avant garde -- but they watch in true horror as he unconsciously manifests one genuinely hip trend after another, the final phase being his decision to replace his body parts, one by one, for artistic objects: a bird cage in an artificial leg, a hand of jade and copper, and, most notably, a false eye consisting of a poker chip with an eye painted on it by Matisse. "Bradbury's target in this uncharacteristic excursion into cultural satire is trendy intellectualism, which finds itself always one step behind the ingenious banality of George Garvey, as he moves from campy nostalgia to florid romantic decadence." - Mogen, Ray Bradbury (1986), p. 55. It belongs to the period, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, that most critics consider Bradbury's most fruitful. On the front page is a pencil notation: "Vouchered 8/17/53 $400." Gold's BEYOND lasted for just ten bi-monthly issues from 1953-1955. Bradbury's story is a good example of the ironic tone that Gold preferred. A bit rumpled and smudged, with a ragged hole in upper right corners of each leaf from former brad binding, generally very good. (#128346)
Price: $4,500.00

The Damn Thing Fanzine

2009-08-10T02:01:00.000-07:00

The notes from the seller:

THE DAMN THING - #1, #2, #3 & #4 - Nov 1940, Dec 1940, Feb 1941 & Mar 1941. Editor: T. Bruce Yerke. Contents: #1 (18 pages)- Assailing The Pro-Scientists by Damon Knight, Bedlam on 9th Street by Lothar Penguin, Is Ackerman A Schizophrenatic? by Prof. Carlton Fassbeinder, Over Hill and Dale to Pomona! by T. Bruce Yerke, The Last Man by Ray Douglas Bradbury, Boosting the Editor, List of Persons Attached in This Issue: Forrest J. Ackerman, Raymond Van Houten & Co, Chas. D. Horning, Price System Justice, Morojo, Bill Crawford, Futuria Fantasi, The Rocket, Shangri-La, T. Bruce Yerke, All Pro-Sceintists, All Fan Feuders. #2 (20 pages)- Cover drawn by Bradbury, The Editor Sits on His Platform, Genie Trouble by Ray Bradbury, Archibald was a Fan Mag Editor, Van Houten Says--, After Armagedddon by Fywert Kinge, Prof. Fassbeinder's Corn-Or, The Newark Convention by TBYerke, The Sucker Bites by Readers; #3 (20 pages) -The Editor Sits on His Platform, Hollorbochen by Lothar Penguin, Column Left! by Rigour Fungus, The Black Supreme br Eustance Bildgewater, The Demise of Clifton's Cafe by Thornton Craymyre, A Dispatch frm Shangri-La by Yerke, Scientifictionurserymes by Prof. Stinkywitz, "How Am I Today, Doctor?" by Ray Bradbury, The Sucker Bites by You & Yoy & You, Notes on Local Mags by Editor; #4 (20 pages) - Contents - Right in Front, The Editor Sits on His Platform, Illustration by Ewing Brown, Hodgkins, The Enigma by Lothar Penquin, The Trouble With Humans Is People by Ray Bradbury, For Fans by Walt Daugherty.

Robert Bloch Remembrance

2009-08-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Uncle Robert, I hardly knew you
August 6, 11:30 AMMilwaukee Horror Movies ExaminerAaron W. Tellock

One of Wisconsin's most infamous writers actually has little association with his own claim to fame. Mr. Robert Bloch wrote the story that horror/mystery legend Alfred Hitchcock would later turn into one of the greatest horror films in the history of horror, although Bloch is a name seldom associated with the film. It also just so happens to be that Robert Bloch took an interest in my great aunt Marion Holcombe and in 1940 they were married. Together they raised a daughter and moved to Weyauwega, Wisconsin where he would later write the story for which he was best known. Psycho is by far his most notable work partly because of the great success of the film adaptation, but Robert Bloch wrote numerous short stories and even episodes for a radio program as well as his many novels.

I never met him, partly because his marriage to my great-aunt Marion dissolved in the mid-1960’s but mostly because he had moved out to Hollywood to pursue a career in screenwriting some years before that. I’ve heard stories about my mother and her siblings going to visit his home in Weyauwega when they were younger. He was a humorous man despite his chilling horror stories and fantastic science fiction adventures. I’ve read in all of his biographies on the net and in his book about how nice he was and how much loved his family, and from what I’ve heard he truly did. The most common story is about his desk, a giant slab of oak that he sat behind creating his masterworks including one of my favorite stories, Terror.

I think about everything that I was told about the great-uncle that I never met and the most renowned feature about him was his attachment to reality. Success never tainted him or changed him; he took everything with quiet dignity and respect for the craft that he so delicately evolved into what it is today. He was one of the first to take horror outside of the supernatural during a time when the supernatural was the topic of most horror tales. His stories influenced generations of writers to follow just as H.P. Lovecraft influenced Bloch himself when he first began penning stories for Weird Tales literary magazine. I think that all authors are influenced by someone, their favorite author, having read a lot Bloch’s work in my teens and early twenties; I guess my own work was probably influenced by him.

Robert Bloch passed away in September of 1994 after a long battle with cancer.

Reference:
http://www.examiner.com/x-11159-Milwaukee-Horror-Movies-Examiner~y2009m8d6-Uncle-Robert-I-hardly-knew-you

Derleth in Redbook

2009-08-09T13:04:00.001-07:00

REDBOOK Jan1941 - in same issue as Disney's Fantasia; A Derleth novel. he Novel of the Month at the end of the issue (pgs 113-146) is a rare novel by noted fantasy writer August Derleth. (Some silverfish damage shown in image, a fitting homage to he who revels in arcane and musty nefarious books).

Virgil Finaly Illustrations (1947)

2009-08-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of Virgil Finlays from March 1947 Startling Stories (illustrating Murray Leinster's "The Laws of Chance").

Saturday, 8 August 2009

2009-08-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

Oh, Chrispy is flying high. Not only did I get three more 1940's era Startling Stories pulps (for my Young Lin Carter research and sheer enjoyment of reading those old tales when they were new) but just came back from watching on the big screen in glorious black and white The Wolfman (1940) and Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954). They were just as much fun - and sometimes as corny - as I remember.

A great Saturday!

Hannes Bok Illustrations, 1948

2009-07-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

_____

L Sprague De Camp, author, Wheels of If Shasta. Hannes Bok, Illustrator. 1948, with brilliant dustjacket art by Hannes Bok (Wayne Woodard).

From wikipedia:

Wayne Woodard (the name is sometimes mistakenly rendered as "Woodward") was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the first stop in a peripatetic youth. His parents divorced when he was five; and his father and stepmother, strict disciplinarians, discouraged his artistic efforts. Once he graduated high school, in Duluth, Minnesota, Bok cut off contact with his father and moved to Seattle to live with his mother. There he became active in SF fandom, including the publication and illustration of fanzines. It was in connection with these activities that he originated his pseudonym, first "Hans", then "Hannes", Bok. The pseudonym derives from Johann Sebastian Bach (whose name can be rendered both as "Johann S. Bach" and "Johannes Bach").

Henry Kuttner (1958)

2009-07-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

Recently seen on the "ebayeum" (for about $85 starting bid). The seller states:

This is a copy of Henry Kuttner—A Memorial Symposium, edited and published by Karen Anderson in August 1958. It consists of 36 well-mimeographed pages, brad-bound in a stiff cardstock folder. Only about 100 copies were produced. This copy is in excellent condition.

Contributors to the symposium include Poul and Karen Anderson, Robert Bloch, Anthony Boucher, Ray Bradbury, Fritz Leiber, and Kuttner himself (a story reprinted from a 1948 fanzine and excerpts from a letter). Donald H. Tuck also contributed a bibliography of Kuttner’s work. There is artwork by Edd Cartier and John Grossman.

Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915. He sold his first story, “The Graveyard Rats,” to Weird Tales in early 1936. Kuttner was known for his literary prose and worked in close collaboration with his wife, C. L. Moore. They met through their association with the “Lovecraft Circle,” a group of writers and fans who corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft. Their work together spanned the 1940s and 1950s and most of it was credited to pseudonyms, mainly Lewis Padgett and Lawrence O’Donnell.

Kuttner wrote a number of stories in the ‘30s in the world of the Cthulhu Mythos, which was invented by Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. His work influenced quite a few other writers including Ray Bradbury, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Richard Matheson and Roger Zelazny. He died of a heart attack at age 42 in February 1958 (referred to in science-fiction fandom as “The Year of the Jackpot,” because it also saw the premature deaths of Cyril M. Kornbluth and Francis Towner Laney).

Proof: Sam Moskowitz Edited "Horror Times Ten"

2009-07-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Recent auction on ebay:

HORROR TIMES TEN // TEN CHILLING TALES OF HORROR
BY SUCH MASTERS AS RAY BRADBURY, AUGUST DERLETH, ROBERT BLOCH AND H.P. LOVECRAFT
Edited and with an introduction by ALDEN H. NORTON
With special notes by Sam Moskowitz
A BERKLEY MEDALLION BOOK

Actually Ghost Edited by Sam Moskowitz
Signed by the real editor, Sam Moskowitz

New York. 1967. Berkley Books x1414. First edition Paperback original (PBO) anthology with "Berkley Medallion Edition, June 1967" stated on the copyright page. Standard size paperback, approximately 7" tall by 4 1/4" wide. 175 pages. 60 cent cover price.

Signed on the front endpaper, inscribed:

To Joel:
Another volume
I ghost edited
Sam Moskowitz

Rare Leo Margulies Book(1949)

2009-07-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Margulies was a powerful and influential editor for many decades. This book has a "Who's Who" of scietifiction writers spanning the end of Lovecraft's era to the start of the Hydrogen Bomb era.

Farnsworth Wright of 1904

2009-07-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

A recent auction showed Wright's (probably) one and only amateur journalism publication. The seller stated:

THE LAUREL - MARCH, 1904
PUBLISHED & EDITED BY FARNSWORTH WRIGHT

Farnsworth Wright was a legendary figure in the history of Weird Tales, Pulpdom, and the fictional lives of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. Were it not for Farnsworth Wright, would the quality of Weird Tales have been as high as it was? Would the artistic freedom he allowed have been present? Would his editorial scrutinies and suggestions to writers that aided their writings have been suggested by other editors? Farnsworth Wright is nearly as major a figure as the writers he promoted!

Farnsworth Wright was only briefly associated with Amateur Journalism and his contributions are few. This is the only issue he ever published himself and is very very rare. I {the seller of item} have never seen another copy of this journal in nearly forty years of collecting and selling in this genre. This is a thin four page issue.

Star Rover 1946

2009-07-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

THE STAR ROVER NOV/DEC 1946 SF FANZINE
LEE BALDWIN

STAR ROVER 1#6 NOV.DEC 1946 MIMEO FANZINE IN FINE SHAPE. F.Lee baldwin was a member of the LOVECRAFT CIRCLE. his stories are very hard to find . there is a EDGAR ALLEN POE Checklist and overall this is a beautiful example of early fanzine output lots of talent here.

ARTICLES
The Fantastic Age"., ..John M. Stadter Jr
The Arkansas Time Traveler. Van H. Splawn
Dogmatica..... .......William Young
Forgotten Fantasies .... ...... . .Redd Boggs

A Checklist of Edgar Allen Poe. ....... Van H. Splawn
FICTION
Island Bees....... F.Lee Ba1dwin

POETRY
The Dwilla Trees Atlantis Lee
The Unwilling Visitor. . .Walter A. Coslet

DEPARTMENTS `
Front Cover. ..... Arthur A. McCourt

Editorial Notes. ............ Van H. Splawn
Back Cover . . . . ("Montage from Metropolis")
Van H, Splawn ...

August Derleth, 1963

2009-07-22T17:43:00.001-07:00

DIANOURA #1 AUGUST DERLETH ARTICLE : WISCONSIN DAIRY
DIANOURA #1 MAY/JUL 1963

cover - Prosser
excerpt from the ODD ONE Annish,,,,.,,CIay Hamlin EDITORIAL.............................Phi1 Harrell
THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK..... ,.Marion Zimmer Bradley.
FILLER #97..............................Dean A. Grinnell
FANDOM EQUALS IDENTITY; ,........... ...Beety Kujawa
WISCONSIN DIARY ........................August Derleth
YES VIRGIN'S,THERE IS A FANTASY MAGAZINE .... Robert S. Coulson
WHAT'S WRONG WITH_FANDOM? .............. .....Edward Wood
WHAT PRICE ENTERTAINMENT?. ..... ,..,,Michael Elm
THE ENIGMATICAL LOVECRAFT REVIEWS ..........Thomas Dilley
THE WORLD OF TIM DUMONT .......... ..... Tim Dumont

World Horror Convention Progress Report 2

2009-07-21T17:27:00.000-07:00

From the ebayeum: This copy of World Horror Convention Progress Report 2 was published by the World Horror Literary Society in 1990, updating the preparations for the February 28-March 3, 1991 convention. This report, sent to registered members of the first-ever world horror convention, features a front cover by Jill Bauman. Interior art by four other artists, with Maxwell and Mayer. The convention line-up included Writer Guest of Honor Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Artist Guest of Honor Jill Bauman and Grand Master Robert Bloch. It was to be held at the Nashville Hyatt Regency, but changed to the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza.

George Barr 1963

2009-07-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

From ebay: The Pulp Era No. 61 July 1964 by Lynn A. Hickman (who had been publishing the newsletter 14 years by this point). It was focused on pulp fiction. The printing is nice and dark, clear and easy to read with some illustrations printed in a different color than the text. Front cover art by George Barr, back cover art by Rackham, interior illustrations by George Barr, Dave Prosser, Pat McLean, Mike Holsinger, Robert E. Gilbert, and Pat Scott.

Contents:
The Difference Between Us by John Phillifent
Down Memory Bank Lane by Terry Jeeves
Argassing
The Shadow by Dean Grennell

Gene Roddenberry H. S. Yearbook (1939)

2009-07-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Unknown if any of these images are of "Eugene Roddenberry", but it gives a feel of the youth he was surrounded by.

1939 Star Trek Gene Roddenberry High School Yearbook

Of Speical Note: Gene Roddenberry the creator of the science fiction super series and movies Star Trek appears with his Senior Class, and is also in Varsity Debate, Junto Club (President), Spanish Club, International Forum, and Authors Workshop.

Los Angeles California

Wandrei: Issues

2009-07-18T15:09:00.001-07:00

1.
Wandrei, Donald. TWO AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED (ALsS). Each one page, on onionskin paper, dated 12 May 1974 and 26 May 1974, to Kirby McCauley, his literary agent, both signed "Don.". The first letter recounts some of the author's health problems as well as those of fantasy author Carl Jacobi, whom he says he plans to go visit as soon as his neighbor Richard L. Tierney, another fantasy author, gets his car fixed - and Tierney hasn't been feeling that well either. Wandrei mentions of some business involving an anthology edited Isaac Asimov containing one of his stories and a royalty check received from Doubleday. The second letter mentions a court case to which Wandrei was a party, apparently involving copyright and contract matters (probably his suit against Arkham House). He urges Kirby to study up on copyright law to make himself a better agent, and closes with some more kvetching and commiserating over health problems. Both letters have old creases where folded for mailing, the first letter has a chip in the upper right margin not affecting content, else both very good to near fine. (#100305)

2.
Wandrei, Donald. FACSIMILE [PHOTOCOPY] AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED (ANS). 1/4 page, dated 27 April 1979, without salutation but enclosed in an envelope with Wandrei's holograph return address, addressed in his hand to T.E.D. Klein. A photocopy on sheet of legal-sized paper of a newspaper clipping annotated by Wandrei. The clipping, from the 21 April 1979 issue of THE DISPATCH, a St. Paul, Minnesota newspaper, is a review of Peter Straub's just-published GHOST STORY. Wandrei appears to be quite exercised by the review and the book itself, perhaps because one of the novel's characters, "a writer of ghost stories," is named Don Wanderley, an obvious nod to Wandrei from Straub, who named other characters in this novel after such figures as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James. Wandrei says he has made efforts, unsuccessful so far, to track down the reviewer and closes with the rather ominous statement, "Inquiry has begun." This document, mailed to Klein, was apparently part of that inquiry, not addressed to any individual so that Wandrei could make multiple copies of it and send them to various associates. Wandrei was one of the cofounders, with August Derleth, of Arkham House. Klein is an author and editor of sf and fantasy. Old creases where folded for mailing, near fine. (#100304)

Stapledon to Moskowitz

2009-07-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

Stapledon, William Olaf. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS). 1 page, dated 30 March 1948, to "Dear Mr. [Sam] Moskowitz," signed "Olaf Stapledon," written on Waldorf-Astoria stationery. Declines an invitation to "the meeting and to dinner on Sunday next. Since arriving in this country, I have been desperately rushed, and indeed have not had a spare half hour to deal with my correspondence. It would have pleased me very much to accept, but unfortunately I have to be in Boston on that evening, to lecture, and must regretfully refuse ... I feel that my negligence is inexcusable, but really I have had an extremely busy few days, and am wondering whether I can survive the wild rush of American life until I leave for England by plane on Monday!" Stapledon spent eleven days in the U.S. where he participated in the Cultural and Scientific Congress for World Peace. "As the sole Western European admitted to the conference, he was not only in constant demand for interviews but had been asked to help open the proceedings with a speech at a black-tie dinner in the Waldorf's grand ballroom. A packed itinerary left him little time to take in what was happening, but the luxury of his surroundings amused and disgusted him. The hotel was 'full of extravagantly wealthy people,' Olaf told Agnes, and a microcosm of the whole 'air-conditioned civilization' of America" (Crossley, p. 371). For an account of Stapledon's visit to America, see Crossley. Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future (1994), pp. 369-81. Faint mailing folds, else fine. Accompanied by the mailing envelope. (#96354)

Silverberg to Moskowitz

2009-07-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

Silverberg, Robert. SIX TYPED LETTERS SIGNED (TLsS), all to "Dear Sam" [Moskowitz], each about 1/2 page or less, dated: 8 October 1951; 11 February 1952; 14 December n.y.; 17 February 1962; 19 August 1963; 7 July 1968, all signed "Bob.". The letters cover a period of 17 years, starting in 1951, when Silverberg was 16 - and the editor/publisher of a fanzine, SPACESHIP. Moskowitz had written, ordering some back issues as well as a subscription. Silverberg informs him that some of the back issues are sold out and that he will credit this payment for those to extend his subscription. He thanks him for suggestions made about the publication. "I've been working on the artwork problem for quite some time - as well as various other format bugs. The current issue (#14) shows some of the changes which I've made, but the improvements probably won't show for a while... I'll appreciate your comments on the current issue when you get it, and I'd be happy if you'd care to contribute something for one of the future issues." A sign of the early literary activity of Silverberg, who would go on to become not only one of the most prolific sf authors of the postwar period, but one of the most highly-regarded. Writing in Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 1107, Brian Stableford says, "He remains one of the most imaginative and versatile writers ever to have been involved with sf. His productivity has seemed almost superhuman, and his abrupt metamorphosis from a writer of standardized pulp fiction into a prose artist was an accomplishment unparalleled within the field." The second letter, written four months later, from the same Brooklyn address, contains Silverberg's congratulatory comments on M's history of early fandom, THE IMMORTAL STORM, which had just been published. "I thought it a most impressive work, which will probably rank with the FANCYCLOPEDIA, the Kennedy reviews, and other similar works." He suggests that he bring it up to date, saying that he would "probably have a greater sale, since most everybody likes to find his name in a history." In response to an ad by Moskowitz (as a dealer) in STF Trader, the young Silverberg orders an old issue of FANTASY MAGAZINE and asks that it be packed carefully since the "Brooklyn post office gives the mail quite a buffeting." The third letter, its year undated but written sometime after 1956 (since it refers to a magazine story of that year) and with a return address of West End Avenue in New York, is brief, answering a bibliographic question that Moskowitz had evidently asked him. "The Robert Howard story was 'White Smoke Rolled' - DOUBLE ACTION WESTERN Dec. 1956. Not a bad yarn, and sort of a parallel-world fsy." In turn, he asks M (in his capacity as dealer, one imagines) if he has had "Any luck with the Brand book?," presumably referring to Max Brand, the prolific author of Westerns and other genre fiction. The fourth letter, dated 1962, mentions a recent move to Goodridge Avenue in New York and concerns payment for some books bought from Moskowitz, "...Olaf Stapledon at $29.40 and Philip Wylie at $35.28. Ted [Carnell] also notifies me of payment having been made on Shiel and Heard..." Carnell was a British editor, anthologist and literary agent, whose "contribution to UK sf was enormous." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 196. Carnell was apparently acting as some sort of agent between Silverberg and Moskowitz. The fifth letter, written about a year and a half later (August 1963), from the same address, is addressed to both Sam and his wife Chris. It refers to the brouhaha with Ted White. Silverberg notes that M's lawsuit against White is coming to trial in October and asks politely but firmly that he not be included among the New York fans that M plans to subpoena as witnesses. "I'm neutral. It's my considered opinion that both sides have merit, and also that both sides are at fault. I wish the whole thing had never blown up. Nothing I could say in court could conceivably help your case - or hurt it either. I ask out of friendship that you refrain from dragging me into it, and if you insist on calling me anyway, well, I'm afraid our friendship will be at an end." He notes that he is busy and doesn't want to lose productive time. "If I told you how much it would cost me to take a day off and testify, it would seem like bragging, so I'll simply point out that you're both professional people and can understand that nobody is going to reimburse me for any time I'm compelled to waste." The last letter, written in 1968, notes that his place on Goodridge Avenue had been damaged in a fire and that he is living temporarily in the Bronx. He mentions some books that he needs to replace, thanks him for the return of a borrowed book and mentions his review of Moskowitz's just-published anthology SCIENCE FICTION BY GASLIGHT. "I hope you'll forgive me for taking a few swipes at your prose style, which isn't getting more elfin with the years. The general tone of the review otherwise can best be summed up by quoting the final line: 'This is a splendid book - an item for the basic s-f shelf.' It sure is. What a fine job!" The lot of six letters provides a sketch of the changing connection between two of the key figures of American genre sf. The first three letters are typed on good-quality note paper, the third with a blue border; the next three are on cheap letter-size paper, browning with age. Sam Moskowitz was one of the pioneers of genre science-fiction scholarship, approaching the subject from historical and sociological as well as literary vantage points; editing anthologies, magazines and book reprint series; and championing the work of obscure authors as well as the genre itself. Though not always meticulous in his research or discerning in his taste, he took seriously a field of literature that academic critics ignored until much later, and blazed many of the trails that they smoothed out later. In saying that he made up in enthusiasm what he lacked in rigor, it could be argued that the former virtue was, at the time, the more needed one. Besides old creases where folded for mailing, the first letter has two faint triangles of offsetting from some other acidic paper at lower corners, the second has a 2 cm hole near the top, above the salutation; else the lot is in very good to fine condition. (#100297)

E Hoffman Price Letters

2009-07-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

1.
Price, E. Hoffmann. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, not dated [circa 1977], to "Dear Amanda" [Jessica Amanda Salmonson]. 34-line letter, enclosing his "tribute and farewell to my good friend Edmond Hamilton" (not present) and discussing mutual interests and Hoffmann's work in progress. "I am batting away at FRIENDS OF YESTERYEAR: FICTIONEERS & OTHERS, and have sent 160 page sample to an agent... I trust and hope that you received my first draft of the essay on THE ORIENTAL FANTASY STORY. If you like it, let me know and I'll edit and clean up for final draft..." Fine. (#96256)

2.
Price, E[dgar] Hoffman. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, dated 2 January 1975, to "Dear Kirby" [McCauley], signed "Ed Price." On plain letter-size paper with his Redwood City, CA address typed at top. The single-spaced typing looks like that of an old Royal manual, clogged keys and all. Price apologizes for his lateness in answering McCauley's letter; explains he was visiting the ailing Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett Hamilton. When he got home he had to do some astrological forecasts to make a little money to pay for unexpected house and car repairs. Says he's not surprised at McCauley's downbeat estimation of the commercial prospects of his SILVER SERPENT, a novel set in the Tang dynasty of China (published as THE DEVIL WIVES OF LI-FONG in 1979). "... Don't knock yourself out. I'd like a sale, yes, but I do not need a sale. In 1932, I did need sales, and I made them, and survived as a professional. Today, I've made virtually no sales -- and, happily, I do not need to sell. Lucky, what?" Then he launches into an attack on a recent publishing offer. "One of the fan blob 'limited' illiterates … made me a ridiculous offer. I told him to shove it -- if his outfit couldn't dig up the $1000 advance I said I'd settle for…" Adds that he might go east for an autographing party for FAR LANDS, OTHER DAYS, Carcosa's omnibus anthology of his "fantasy and adventure yarns," with "art work for the comic fans, and other illiterates!" Price was part of that generation of pulp fiction writers whose roots go back to the 1920s. He was on friendly terms with most of the others in that generation, including Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Many of his works had Oriental settings. He stopped writing for the pulps in the 1950s but resumed writing in the 1970s. Kirby McCauley was probably the most important literary agent of horror, fantasy and sf writers in the boom years of the 1970s and 1980s. Good content. Faint creases where folded for mailing, two tiny faint stains on blank verso, else fine. (#102663)

3.
Price, E[dgar] Hoffman. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS), with handwritten postscript in green ink vertically along left margin. 1 page, dated 21 August 1975, to "Dear Kirby" [McCauley], signed "E. H. P." On plain letter-size paper with his Redwood City, CA address rubber-stamped at top. The single-spaced typing looks like that of an old Royal manual, clogged keys and all. Price opens with news that Oswald Train has accepted "my Seabury Quinn sketch, introduction to ALIEN FLESH... He wondered whether I had any fantasy material." The remainder of the letter is largely devoted to Price's SILVER SERPENT, a fantasy novel set in the Tang dynasty, which McCauley was trying to sell. He discusses marketing and his sources for the novel: a libretto from the Pekin Opera Company; a Chinese novel translated by an associate of Price's; the performance of another Chinese opera, "White and Green," in San Francisco's Chinatown; and sundry bits of Chinese folklore. He compares his making a modern Western novel out of these raw materials to the process by which Bram Stoker made a modern novel out of bits of medieval vampire lore. The SILVER SERPENT was published as THE DEVIL WIVES OF LI-FONG (New York: Ballantine, 1979). Price was part of that generation of pulp fiction writers whose roots go back to the 1920s. He was on friendly terms with most of the others in that generation, including Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Many of his works had Oriental settings. He stopped writing for the pulps in the 1950s but resumed writing in the 1970s. Kirby McCauley was probably the most important literary agent of horror, fantasy and sf writers in the boom years of the 1970s and 1980s. Good content. Faint creases where folded for mailing, fine. (#102664)

4.
Price, E[dgar] Hoffman. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, dated 21 March 1977, to "Dear Kirby" [McCauley], signed "E. H. P." On plain letter-size paper with his Redwood City, CA address rubber-stamped at top. The single-spaced typing looks like that of an old Royal manual, clogged keys and all. Price announces that he has just signed a contract with the Scott Meredith Literary Agency for FRIENDS OF YESTERYEAR, his reminiscence of the pulp fiction days, then devotes the remainder of the letter to the sale of SILVER SERPENT, his Tang Dynasty fantasy novel. He asks McCauley to take the manuscript "out of circulation as soon as possible" and return it to him unless "you have talked ether to Oswald Train, or Lester del Rey" (it would appear that Price is quitting McCauley). Price adds that, before Meredith mailed him the contract for FRIENDS, Lester del Rey asked to see SILVER SERPENT. This happened during a visit with Leigh Brackett Hamilton, whose husband Edmond Hamilton had recently died. Del Rey called, and, when Leigh put Price on the phone to talk with him, the subject of the SILVER SERPENT came up. Del Rey urged Price to submit the manuscript to him, despite Ballantine's earlier rejection of it. "Forget that bounce by Ballantine. I've got a new policy." (The book was, in fact, brought out by Del Rey/Ballantine in 1979 as THE DEVIL WIVES OF LI-FONG.) A interesting look at the informal way that book deals sometimes come about. Price was part of that generation of pulp fiction writers whose roots go back to the 1920s. He was on friendly terms with most of the others in that generation, including Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. Many of his works had Oriental settings. He stopped writing for the pulps in the 1950s but resumed writing in the 1970s. Kirby McCauley was probably the most important literary agent of horror, fantasy and sf writers in the boom years of the 1970s and 1980s. Good content. Faint crease where folded for mailing, several faint corner creases, fine. (#102665)

George Pal to Moskowitz

2009-07-18T14:54:00.001-07:00

Pal, George. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1/2 page, dated 9 April 1969, to "Dear Sam" [Moskowitz], signed "George." On MGM letterhead stationery with Pal's home address and telephone number penciled in at top. A short note to accompany a check. "So that you don't call me pischer, I'm enclosing my check in the amount of $2.50 which you so kindly laid out for my airport tax in Rio." ("Pischer" is Yiddish for a bumpkin.) Pal also writes that he had tried to reach Moskowitz on a recent visit to New York but couldn't; that he had enjoyed meeting him and "your charming Mrs." and hoped to meet them again soon. Pal was a Hungarian-born film producer whose "Destination Moon" (1950) "initiated the sf film boom of the 1950s." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 904. Pal went on to produce and in some cases direct a half-dozen other sf films in the 1950s and 1960s. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, with MGM logo and handwritten note (on front), "I'd photocopy the check for your records." Faint creases where folded for mailing, two staple holes at top left corner, fine, as is the envelope. (#100294)

McIlwraith to Derleth on Bradbury

2009-07-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

McIlwraith, Dorothy. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1/2 page on WEIRD TALES letterhead, signed "Mac", dated 10 January 1945, to "Dear August" [August Derleth]. Thanks Derleth for his letter of January 2, and responds to his comments about a recent issue of WEIRD TALES. She promises to avoid a "consistently flippant" tone; says she's gratified that "you agree with us that [Ray] Bradbury is a good addition to the list"; observes that WEIRD TALES readers "write us very much more frequently than those of SHORT STORIES." Assures Derleth that his "friendship for the magazine is one of out most valued assets... ." Arkham House in 1945 was ramping up its production, issuing six titles that year, on its way towards becoming the dominant specialty press publisher of supernatural fiction. McIlwraith was the third editor at WEIRD TALES, overseeing issues from May 1940 through September 1954, a period of decline, admittedly, after the magazine's heyday in the 1920s and 1930s. The letter documents a connection between the most important periodical and book markets for weird fiction in the mid-century period. Faint fold creases short closed tear in left margin, near fine overall. (#116742)

A Merritt Letters

2009-07-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

LW Currey

1.
Merritt, A[braham]. ELEVEN TYPED LETTERS SIGNED (TLsS) to T. Everett Harre, mostly short and to the point, dealing with editorial matters involving one or the other or both men, written over a period from 1916 to 1941, mostly after 1935. Plus one TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS) to Harre from Jim Niles, a colleague of Merritt's. A revealing look at Merritt as he went about his day job as newspaper editor for a major national weekly. Merritt's newspaper career began when he was 18 as a cub reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wound up as assistant editor, then editor, of THE AMERICAN WEEKLY, a sensationalistic Sunday supplement for the Hearst newspapers. It had a circulation of about 7,500,000 copies while Merritt worked there, a hugely successful figure for that time (or this), which was touted on the paper's letterhead as the "Greatest Circulation in the World." His writing style in these brief business letters is breezy, slangy and hard as nails, the voice of the typical American newspaperman of this period, when the city newspaper was a glamorous thing, mythologized in countless Hollywood movies. (Among other heroes who worked for a newspaper in this period was Clark Kent.) In his spare time, Merritt managed to write and publish half a dozen novels that won him a reputation as "the greatest fantasy writer of modern times" (Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction Writers, p. 836). Since then, "in the fields of science fiction and fantasy there is probably no other great reputation of the past that has suffered as much as that of A. Merritt" (ibid.). Harre also worked as a journalist off and on, in between writing a handful of novels (including two that were listed in the first edition of the Bleiler Checklist, but omitted from the second; one of them is listed in Reginald). He is perhaps best known in genre studies as the editor of an anthology, BEWARE AFTER DARK! (1929), that included Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu," only the second of his stories to be published in a hardcover book. Harre appears in these letters to be a bit obtuse about the kind of publication Merritt was editing, failing on at least two occasions to observe basic guidelines about length, style and deadline. For Merritt to be as patient with him as he appears in these letters (at the same time that he enforced strict rules about the content of the paper) says something complimentary about his basic humanity as well as his editorial finesse. The letters have usual fold creases and some light rumpling, but, except 24 May 1916 letter which has marginal loss at upper left corner, all are in very good to fine condition. A detailed calendar is available upon request. (#111986)

2.
TWO TYPED LETTERS SIGNED (TLsS). Two letters, 2 pages and 1 page respectively, dated 11 May 1941 and 29 August 1941, both to Roy V. Hunt. Two letters (approximately 650 words) on THE AMERICAN WEEKLY stationery, to Roy V. Hunt, a Colorado science fiction fan and small press publisher, concerning a project to reprint Merritt's novel THE METAL MONSTER in book form, and other topics. The first letter includes a lengthy account of the effect of the death of Morrill Goddard, "my illustrious predecessor and trainer," upon Merritt's earlier decision to not renew his contract with The American Weekly and "devote most of my time to writing." Next Merritt comments favorably on the contents of the two issues of Earl Singleton's fanzine NEPENTHE (December 1940; Spring 1941). Robert A. W. Lowndes, "a real poet," John B. Michel "has a fine dissecting room flavor." If Singleton "can only keep it up, he's got something." Regarding THE METAL MONSTER project, Merritt states "it can be done and judging from the number of letters Argosy and myself and others receive it would have a market... I'd like to see [Virgil] Finlay do some of the illustrations... Merritt's second letter is devoted to THE METAL MONSTER project, amateur magazines, and reader's opinions of his work: "I think what you say about my books is absolutely true. I know there are a lot of people who don't like them but - so what? Those who do, like yourself, are sufficient reward." Nice content. Both letters are signed "Abe Merritt," the second, boldly signed in pencil, has several penciled corrections and amendments in Merritt's hand. Faint mailing creases, fine. (#96255)

3.
TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, dated 16 March 1943, to Mrs. Roy V. Hunt. Letter (approximately 100 words) on American Weekly letterhead, to the wife of Roy V. Hunt, a Colorado science fiction fan and small press publisher, concerning the publication of his book STORY BEHIND THE STORY, privately printed by THE AMERICAN WEEKLY, apparently to promote the magazine to potential advertisers. Merritt has sent Hunt one of his "few" remaining copies. According to Merritt, 10,000 copies of the book were printed and they "were going to print 5,00 more, but the paper situation will probably stop this. Otherwise, I would have sent him another one, but I just haven't got it." Faint creases where once folded for mailing, else fine. (#96254)

Leiber/Moskowitz: 1963

2009-07-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

From LW Currey:

Leiber, Fritz. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 2 pages, dated 7 December 1963, to "Dear Sam" [Moskowitz], signed, "Congrats! Fritz." Accompanied by the original envelope with a handwritten postscript on the back side. Written in response to an article on Leiber that Moskowitz wrote (with Leiber's cooperation) for the December issue of AMAZING STORIES. Leiber congratulates Moskowitz on "a good job of compacting a lot of diverse material." He praises his balanced treatment of the various stages of L's career and says, in the case of one topic at least, that "you may see deeper into my motives than I do." He offers some factual corrections of a few "tiny" matters, pointing out that his famous short story "Smoke Ghost" was rejected by WEIRD TALES before it was accepted by UNKNOWN; that his mother's British ancestry did not stop her from belonging to the Daughters of the American Revolution; and that he could not "recall living in a boarding house, theatrical or otherwise." Moskowitz made the point in his article that Leiber had not read WEIRD TALES regularly when he was growing up and suggests as a reason that L's "seeking rational explanations interfered with my enjoyment of such tales." All Leiber remembers is that he found the WT stories "too frightening and -- oddly -- too depressing!" and adds that he may have been "repelled by the element of fatalism in practically all supernatural horror fiction." And the adults in his household did not approve of such reading material. Stepping back, Leiber writes, "it's certainly odd to be on the inside of the story this time (the story being your profile, I the protagonist) and peer out of my cage in space-time, as it were, and see the author - you - describing what I do ..." He ponders the impossibility of a biographer's reproduction of the "exact truth" of the "welter of minutia" that constitutes a person's life. Leiber closes with some remarks about his alcoholism and membership in AA, subjects that were suppressed by the editors of AMAZING STORIES. A frank and revealing document that blends inward - and outward - looking speculation by and about one of the major post-WWII authors of fantasy and sf. Typed with narrow margins on a half-sheet of letter-size paper arranged in portrait mode, with name and address penciled in at top as an afterthought, and with an ink emendation (itself emended in pencil) near the end of the letter. Leiber wrote a postscript on the back side of the envelope, mentioning that he was working on a new novel, THE RED-HEADED NIGHTMARE, whose "gimmick" is "photonic booms." Accompanied by a carbon of short letter from Moskowitz to Leiber, dated 17 June 1964, saying that he has just ghost-edited an anthology for Leo Margulies in which he used Leiber's "Spider Mansion," and that he will be sending him $25 and a copy of the book (titled WEIRD TALES). Sam Moskowitz was one of the pioneers of genre science-fiction scholarship, approaching the subject from historical and sociological as well as literary vantage points; editing anthologies, magazines and book reprint series; and championing the work of obscure authors as well as the genre itself. Though not always meticulous in his research or discerning in his taste, he took seriously a field of literature that academic critics ignored until much later, and blazed many of the trails that they smoothed out later. In saying that he made up in enthusiasm what he lacked in rigor, it could be argued that the former virtue was, at the time, the more needed one. Leiber's letter has two faint creases where folded for mailing and is near fine, as is envelope; the Moskowitz letter, on pulpy browning paper, has some light carbon smudges, but is otherwise near fine. (#100292)

More Heinlein

2009-07-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

From LW Currey

1.
Heinlein, Robert A[nson]. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 3 pages, dated 15 January 1947, to William J. Holt, "Inside Information" Office, The Saturday Evening Post, signed "Robert A. Heinlein.". A fine and very amusing letter in response to Holt's letter to Heinlein dated 7 January 1947 [carbon included] noting "a rather surprising coincidence in the list of contributors to the February 8th Post. There were two writers making their first appearance, yourself and Vida Jameson. In the letter that Miss Jameson wrote to the magazine she had crossed out the 'Heinlein' letterhead but used the same address as yours. Sounds like there might be an interesting story for Inside Information there - if so we'd like to know about it." In his lengthy, informative and humorous reply, Heinlein writes that Vida Jameson, the daughter of the late Malcolm Jameson, is not one of his pen names, and "in truth, Miss Jameson and I are not even collaborators... The fact behind the coincidence is that two of the several writers whom my wife coaches, to wit, myself and Vida, happened to hit the Post at about the same time and at a time when Vida is living with us because of the well-known housing shortage. It's a darn good thing, incidentally, that my first sale to the Post antedated Vida's by a couple of weeks, or I would have gone into a permanent decline. I've been a professional writer for a good many years; Vida has been one for a matter of weeks - and made her first sale to the top magazine market. I am delighted that the kid sold to the Post, but, if, after plugging away for years, I had been beaten out in attaining this market, even by a matter of days, by a youngster and a beginner, I would have blown my top. I might even have taken a job... Don't get upset if you find that other writers claim 8777 as a mailing address... It is the western headquarters of the Manana Literary Society... In the course of the past year the house has sheltered a total of nine writers... Most are scattered by now and we are down to one house guest, a record for this course; but... quite a few of them still get mail here." 95 lines; approximately 1100 words. Good content. The 8 February 1947 issue of THE SATURDAY EVENING POST printed Heinlein's "The Green Hills of Earth," his first story to be published in the "slicks." Heinlein published no fiction in the years 1943-1946, "but in 1947 he expanded his career - and the potential reach of genre sf as a marketable literature - in two new directions: he sold a number of short stories to THE SATURDAY EVENING POST and other "slick" magazines; and he published - with Scribner's, a highly respectable mainstream firm - the first U.S. juvenile sf novel to reflect the new levels of characterization, style and scientific plausibility now expected in the field. ROCKET SHIP GALILEO (1947) is not an outstanding work... but it was the first in a series that represents the most important contribution any single writer has made to children's sf." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1993), p. 555. Faint mailing folds, else fine. Accompanied by letters and letter carbons of others, including Heinlein's agent, Lurton Blassingame," regarding POST publicity and acquiring copies of the 8 February issue of the magazine. (#96353)

2.
Heinlein, Robert A[nson]. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS), one page, dated 15 July 1978, on his letter-size Santa Cruz County stationery, to "Dear Mr. Presser" (John Anthony Presser), signed "All good wishes, Robert A. Heinlein.". Heinlein dominated "hard" science fiction in the mid-twentieth century as no other figure did. The identity of Heinlein's correspondent is unknown (he lived in Visalia, in California's Central Valley, about 200 miles from Santa Cruz). A meaty letter attacking certain literary critical attitudes -- mainly that a writer's biography can be adequately inferred from his or her work -- and asserting that a "competent fiction writer" should be capable of creating and identifying with any kind of character. He blasts Alexei Panshin's 1968 study of his own work, HEINLEIN IN DIMENSION, the first book-length study of RAH, on these same grounds -- but also because, in effect, Panshin was not biographical (not to mention deferential) enough. "I did not want to read HEINLEIN IN DIMENSION because I have no wish to have a man who does not know me and who is considerably less than half my age tell me who I am, what I think, and what my evaluations are." The "intentional fallacy" that Heinlein endorses here (that the meaning of a work is owned and controlled by its author) is a common one among both the naive and the sophisticated. One characteristic of Heinlein's work that has been noted is its propensity for containing dualisms -- a propensity of which this letter is a good example. Old mailing folds, fine condition, with original envelope (a little smudged and stained). (#128340)

Robert Heinlein: 1957

2009-07-18T14:31:00.001-07:00

Heinlein, Robert A[nson]. TWO TYPED LETTERS SIGNED (TLsS). Each 1 page, dated 25 March 1957 and 24 October 1957, both to Reginald Bretnor, both signed "Bob" and a Typed Post Card, dated 2 March 1957, to "Dear Mr. Bretnor," signed "Bob Heinlein," letters and post card on Heinlein's Colorado Springs, Colorado letterhead. The post card is most likely Heinlein's earliest direct contact with Bretnor. Heinlein expects to be in San Francisco in November and wishes to make Bretnor's acquaintance. "In a talk I recently made in Chicago I made extensive use of your symposium on science fiction and especially of your contribution. I acknowledged it at the time and the published version will also contain acknowledgment but I now want to thank you personally for your invaluable aid." The two letters discuss and firm up the San Francisco visit: "I am looking forward to meeting you at last - and also hope to find ways to meet others among our colleagues in the Bay Area ..." Both letters contain amusing remarks about cats. Faint mailing folds, else fine. The envelopes for the letters are present. (#96331)

More Sam Moskowitz

2009-07-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

From LW Currey:

1.
Gunn, James. TWO TYPED LETTERS SIGNED (TLsS) AND ONE TYPED NOTE SIGNED (TNS), to Sam Moskowitz, the first,1 page, dated 23 January 1989, on note paper, the second, 1/2 page, dated 23 May, 1989, the third, 1/2 page, dated 30 May 1989, on a postcard, all signed "Jim." Accompanied by a photocopy or computer printout copy of unsigned two-page letter from Gunn to Robert A. Collins, dated 27 December 1988. Two groups of letters, the first touched off by an unfavorable review of Gunn's THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION (1988) by Rob Latham published in SFRA NEWSLETTER. Gunn forwards a copy of a letter he sent to SFRA's editor, Robert A. Collins, complaining, not so much about the original negative review as his subsequent treatment after sending in a letter of reply to the review. Gunn points out to Collins that the problem with replying to reviews is that, by the time the author has laboriously refuted the reviewer's points in a subsequent issue of the periodical, the readers have lost interest, and, in any event,the reviewer is always given the last word. Gunn also objects to reviews that don't admit the necessarily subjective nature of that work and regrets that reviewing is not subjected to the same degree of scrutiny as scholarship: "...the problem with Latham's review ... was that it accepted as a matter of faith that truth was available and that Latham was the sole possessor of it." Gunn also takes issue with Latham's criticism of an inclusion in the encyclopedia of an article by Poul Anderson as an example (presumably) of clubbiness or lack of academic rigor. "Everyone who would rather read an entry in an encyclopedia by Poul Anderson on 'Alien Worlds' than one by Rob Latham (or another critic) that includes 'metaphorical uses,' please raise your hand." Gunn's cover letter to Moskowitz, thanks him for copying Gunn on his own correspondence with Collins and lamenting that "so much time, energy, and space is being wasted on nonproductive issues.... I am beginning to realize the truth of the old saying: Don't get into a disagreement with a person who buys ink by the barrel." He expresses puzzlement at the "extremity of passions" swirling around the issue, given the history of Collins' friendly relations with him and stated admiration of his work. This note has a handwritten postscript noting that "Mark Hassler has written a good review for EXTRAPOLATION in which he gets into the reviewing issue." The second part of the correspondence comprises three items, of which the first is a half-page letter from Gunn to Moskowitz, asking for suggestions that would help him with a planned lecture on the subject of "The Future of Libraries and Libraries of the Future." Gunn lists a dozen or so novels and stories that he plans to discuss and asks SM if he can think of any "major uses" of the motif that he has omitted. The second item is a carbon of SM's 1 1/2 page reply, listing and summarizing five items that use the motif of fantastic libraries, written by David H. Keller, Eric Frank Russell, A. E. van Vogt and H. P. Lovecraft. SM goes on to commiserate with Gunn over the pneumonia he had mentioned he was recovering from, gives him some doctorly admonishments to rest up and kvetches about his own ailments. The final item is a postcard from Gunn to SM thanking him for the reading suggestions and good wishes. The first group offers a sharp picture of the infighting in the world of sf and fandom. The second group presents a valuable little bibliography of a motif that should be of special interest to book readers, libraries. Gunn taught English at the University of Kansas, where he was born and raised, and published both fiction and nonfiction in the sf field, starting in the 1950s. Sam Moskowitz was one of the pioneers of genre science-fiction scholarship, approaching the subject from historical and sociological as well as literary vantage points; editing anthologies, magazines and book reprint series; and championing the work of obscure authors as well as the genre itself. Though not always meticulous in his research or discerning in his taste, he took seriously a field of literature that academic critics ignored until much later, and blazed many of the trails that they smoothed out later. In saying that he made up in enthusiasm what he lacked in rigor, it could be argued that the former virtue was, at the time, the more needed one. The first two items have faint creases where folded for mailing and old staple holes; the two other letters have some faint creasing at upper right corners and the SM letter has some carbon smudges, but all are near fine; the postcard is fine. (#100287)

2.
Gunn, James. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1/2 page, dated 5 June 1972, to "Dear Sam" [Moskowitz], signed, "Jim." On The University of Kansas letterhead. Gunn asks for help from Moskowitz on a history of science fiction he is preparing for Prentice-Hall (ALTERNATE WORLDS: THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION [1975]). He wants photographs of material belonging to SM and asks that SM give him a quote on what these would cost to prepare. Gunn taught English at the University of Kansas, where he was born and raised, and published both fiction and nonfiction in the sf field, starting in the 1950s. Accompanied by carbon of SM's reply, TLS, 1 1/2 pages on letter-sized pulpy paper, brown with age, with very short tear in margin of each sheet. SM politely tells Gunn that he is too busy to help him with his request and that, furthermore, he is at work on a similar project himself, so that helping Gunn would present a conflict of interests. SM marvels at the sudden surge in publishers' interest in the history of science fiction, enumerating all the current and in-progress projects of which he is aware, not neglecting to blow his own horn as a pioneer in the field. The letter has one or two emendations and a handwritten postscript. Interesting as a document of the period when science fiction was gaining academic respectability. Faint crease near bottom, else fine. (#100286)

A Harlan Ellison/Sam Moskowitz Letter

2009-07-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

From LW Currey

Ellison, Harlan. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 1 page, dated 3 November [19]68, to "Dear Sam" [Moskowitz], signed "Harlan Ellison." On Ellison's 3484 Coy Drive, Sherman Oaks letterhead. Ellison chafes Moskowitz sarcastically for not sending him a copy of the 30th anniversary issue of the fanzine DIFFERENT, in which he apparently issued a manifesto critical of Ellison and certain trends he disliked in science fiction. He reminds Moskowitz that they've known each other 17 years, then predicts that Moskowitz's cause is doomed and "can only aid and abet the revolution in speculative fiction.... The louder you squeal, the quicker the changes will be wrought." Ellison goes on to castigate him for misquoting him and offers to give him as many "inflammatory" quotes as he likes if he just asks for them directly. "In short, what I'm saying, Sam my man, is this: you want a Holy War? Then get it on, baby, get it on." Ellison was "...the most controversial and among the finest of those writers associated with sf whose careers began in the 1950s. He was born and raised in Ohio, attending Ohio State University for 18 months before being asked to leave, one of the reasons for his dismissal being rudeness to a creative-writing professor who told him he had no talent." - Clute and Nicholls (eds), The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, p. 376. Two faint creases where folded for mailing, 7 mm closed tear in right margin, else fine. (#100282)

Derleth: Letters

2009-07-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

Currently for sale at LW Currey:

Derleth, August. THREE TYPED LETTERS SIGNED (TLsS). Each 1 page, dated 15 July 1963, 24 July 1963 and 3 August 1963, to "Dear Kirby McCauley" or "Dear Mr. McCauley," signed "August Derleth." On executive-size Arkham House stationery with Utpatel illustration at top. . These letters mainly constitute one half of a running argument between Derleth and McCauley about a civil rights issue involving a man in an exclusively white neighborhood who sold his house to a black, thereby breaking an agreement to not do so. McCauley apparently sided with the neighbors. Derleth's position seems a little squishier. On the one hand, he writes, "I don't happen to be prejudiced," but elsewhere in the same letter, writes, "I think we can't doubt that the Negro is racially inferior; that is, he will probably not always stay that way, but as at present the race is generally inferior to the white. This may be due to evolutionary as well as socially and economically important factors." Elsewhere he writes that "Catholics aren't supposed to think, only do what the clergy directs." A revealing look at racial attitudes circa 1963. The letters also deal in passing with minor Arkham House business matters, Derleth's writings, and McCauley's search for Henry Whitehead letters. Kirby McCauley was probably the most important literary agent of horror, fantasy and sf writers in the boom years of the 1970s and 1980s. Faint creases where folded for mailing, fine. Excellent content. (#102368)

4SJ and Vincent Price

2009-07-15T20:31:00.001-07:00

VINCENT PRICE READING A FAMOUS MONSTERS MAGAZINE WITH HIMSELF ON THE COVER !!!

LOOKING ON IS ANOTHER ICON FOREST J. ACKERMAN THE CREATOR & PUBLISHER OF FAMOUS MONSTERS. A WONDERFUL BEHIND THE SCENES SHOT ON THE SET OF "THE TERROR"

August Derleth in Sept 1936 Scribner's

2009-07-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

[Derleth to HPL, 3 August 1936]

I went off on a four day vacation last weekend, beginning Wednesday, and returned home on Saturday evening to find a stack of letterssufficiently high to keep me busy most of Sunday and part of this morning, before the mails for today start coming. I also found the New Republic, issue 5 now out, is using my poem, Evenings at Wisconsin, and that the August issue of Scribner's announced fiction by Augus Derleth in its September issue, which means that they are using The Old Lady Turns the Other Cheek, since that is the only one htye have left, though they have another under consideration now

[HPL to Derleth, 22 August 1936] ...Congratulations on Scribners and New Republic contributions.

Back From Seeing Dracula (1931)

2009-07-11T16:38:00.001-07:00

Wow, it was great to sit in the Louisville Palace and experience Dracula on the big screen. Someone behind me said aloud, "This place looks like the places our grandparents would have seen this movie." And so true.

The film was not pristine, but probably resembled the print that the audience in 1931 would have seen. Many would not have seen an oppossum or an armadillo and would have been revolted. Others, like those of us in the audience who rcognized the critters, snickered a bit, or wondered if Dracula imported them?

Browning, of course, grew up in and around Louisville, and was very familiar with 'possums.

All in all, an enjoyable $5 ticket.

I scanned in parts of the brochure, which is also cool.

Bloch, Matheson, Gernsback (1953)

2009-07-10T20:20:00.001-07:00

THE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE FICTION #4 (1953) 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, 80 pages. Very Fine condition. Article by Robert Bloch on Richard Matheson. Test of a science fiction convention speech given by Hugo Gernsback. Eight pages of photos taken of the 1952 World Science Fiction Convention (30 photos, mostly of well known science fiction authors). 3 page bibliography of non-fiction articles about Science Fiction and where they appeared. 1952 Science Fiction magazine index.

1932 Lee Brown Coye Illustrations

2009-07-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

THE SEVENTH OGRE
by Lee Brown Coye; Designed by Leo Kaplan
Cortland, New York: Privately published, 1932.
First edition, first printing.
One of 350 copies printed.
Thin Octavo, 50 pp.
Lee Brown Coye's first book is an illustrated adaptation of an old East Indian folk tale with many of Coye's imaginative black-and-white illustrations.

Derleth to Wandrei - autograph

2009-07-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

SELECTED POEMS by August Derleth
Prairie City, Illinois: The Press of James A. Decker, 1944.
First edition, first printing

Front free endsheet has been SIGNED, dated (1945) and inscribed by Derleth to his Arkham partner, Donald Wandrei. // Fine in a fine dust jacket; jacket design by Ronald Clyne. // Derleth culled the best of his five collections published between 1938 and 1942 for this volume; with an introduction by Edgar Lee Masters. "His book has the music of wind over Wisconsin and the beauty of an April plum petal."--Jesse Stuart.

Ray Bradbury Year Book (Reproduction)

2009-07-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

RAY BRADBURY'S SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK BLUE AND WHITE
Semi-Annual: Summer 1938
Sixty Anniversary Edition

Los Angeles: Los Angeles High School, 1938
First printing
Original blue embossed cloth
SIGNED by Ray Bradbury and dated July, 18, 2008
Ray Bradbury's high school senior annual

His senior class portrait is perceptively labelled: "RAY DOUGLAS BRADBURY--Likes to write stories. Admired as a Thespian. Headed for literary distinction" Additionally, there are two more photographs of Bradbury in the book showing his membership in the Drama Club and the Poetry Club. Usual student inscriptions of the period to a classmate, else near fine. A RARE book and one of the earliest items to refer to Bradbury as a writer!

Unusual Journal of Scholarship on Fantasy and Horror

2009-04-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

A rare artifact of fantasy scholarship from the mid-70's
_____

Cthulhu Calls (A Quarterly Review Devoted to Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature) Vol. 4, No. 1 (July 1976) /// Terry L. Shorb (Editor) Steven Utley, Neal Wilgus, Tom Rea, Pennie E. Robbins, Andreas Nicolas, Paul O. Williams, Duance Ackerson, Edward Bryant, others

Northwest Community College, Powell, Wyoming, 1976.
Stapled Wraps. // Book Condition: Very Good. // First Edition. // 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Fiction by Tom Rea, Pennie E. Robbins, Andreas Nicolas, others.
Poetry by Paul O. Williams, Steven Utley, Duane Ackerson, Neal Wilgus, others.
Articles include
"Science Factual, Science Figurative, and Science Fictional Poetry",
"Of Rocket and Monster Scholarship",
"Recollections of Science Fiction Magazine Art".
Reviews and more. 70 pages.

Despite the title, it wasn't devoted entirely to H.P. Lovcraft or his mythos.

1957 antiquarian letter from the Golden Age of Fandom

2009-04-26T12:49:00.001-07:00

Joe Shuster Revelation

2009-04-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

In the new book "Secret Identity" The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster", the little-known beginnings of one of America's favorite superheroes are revealed. The book features page after page of the Cleveland comic writer's racy, sadomasochistic cartoons which were drawn in the early 1950's. Entitled "Nights of Horror", the erotic horror comics were sold under the counter at drugstores for $3.

Exotic forms of torture, women with whips, men with hot pokes, and spankings are all featured in the drawings, but what makes them even more interesting is that many of the characters look exactly like Shuster's Superman and Lois Lane.

Comic-book historian Craig Yoe, who discovered the comics, said:

"Yes, they look like Lois and Clark. Joe obviously had some very dark fantasies. There's a panel in an early Superman comic book where he has Lois over his knee and is spanking her. But certainly nothing of this depth or extremeness."

Yoe found the complete 16-issue run at a used book store. He says of the publication:

"There are some who say I should have left this stuff buried and not ruin Joe's reputation. But this is a major body of work by the creator of the superhero. Some of the drawings are beautiful, showing the great craftsman that he was. There's even an innocence.

"I can't say I'd frame it and put it above my mantel, but it's a very important find for comic-book history and cultural history."

Shuster and writer Jerry Siegel created Superman in 1938, which gained popularity in the 40's. However they did not benefit from it, and by the 50's Shuster was barely working. He died in 1992.

Alva Rogers art

2009-01-31T21:43:00.000-08:00

_____
The 1945 cover art of Garden of Fear was a commission by artist Alva Rogers.

_____
Here are two commsions from British Strange Tales (UK) the first from issue #1 February 1946.

and this one from Strange Tales #2 of March 1946.

_____
This may have been one of the earliest commissions, Forest J Ackerman's "VOM - VOICES OF THE IMAGI-NATION"; Issue #37, Christmas, 1944; Illustrated rear cover by Alva Rogers. You can see that the Strange Tales cover is identical and basically a copy of VOM issue #37.

I can't confirm that the front cover is also Alva Rogers, but it certainly fits the artistic technique.

_____

Rogers won a retro-Hugo with other artists for the year of 1946:

1946(awarded in 1996)
Bill Rotsler
Joe Gibson
Lou Goldstone, Jr.
Alva Rogers
Jack Wiedenbeck

_____

Rogers was apparently a mainstay of the SF scene for decades, including this reported article: "Fandom As A Way of Life?" by Alva Rogers (Fan Guest of Honor speech Westercon XV Banquet, 1962

1950 Lin Carter art

2009-01-29T21:04:00.000-08:00

Auctioned and sold for $76.00. Description: This piece honors the fantasies of Dunsany and the old school, the Edgar Rice Burroughs heroes, and the newly emerging voices of Science Fiction. This artwork was published in the semi-pro-zine "The Fantasy Advertiser" edited by Roy A. Squires.

1922 letter by Walter de la Mare

2009-01-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

Recently seen at ebay auction, a letter tucked in an Arkham book.

1949 Letter to Clark Ashton Smith

2008-10-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

"Dear Mr. Smith..." - October 8, 1949
Letter of acceptance from Otis Adelbert Kline Literary Agency to Clark Ashton Smith - signed by Oscar J. Friend

Image of the original letter of acceptance from the Otis Adelbert Kline literary agency - signed by their representative Oscar J. Friend - to Clark Ashton Smith for his two stories "The City of the Singing Flame" & "Beyond the Singing Flame" for inclusion in the anthology "Hall of Fame Classics". Smith had engaged the Kline agency after his continued efforts to secure payment from Hugo Gernsback at "Wonder Stories" for payments due. Kline had also represented Robert E. Howard and his estate. Kline had died in 1946 but apparently the agency continued under Oscar J. Friend for some years afterward. Such ephemera from Clark Ashton Smith rarely survive as his cabin was prone to the elements and he was broken into by vandals.

1961 Discord

2008-10-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Discord: Edited and published by Redd Boggs
Number 13, July 1961

A Stir of Hugos.

This day my co-editor Marion {Zimmer-Bradley} called me a reteh. I wonder what is a reteh? You are an ungrateful reteh she said if you intend to let this issue go by without saying to everybody I am glad Discord was nominated for Hugo. I said but Habecua or Who killed Science Fiction? Or Yandra or Shaggy or Fanas will win. Oh mygod mygod she said what do you care? The big thing is to be nominated for Hugo. I will have bad anger she said if you don't tell thanks to all. Will you hang from ceiling and drip green if I don't I said. No she said I will stand here and tell you go hang boy.

Marion is a pretty I know. A pretty stubborn female. She would do as she said and I would have to do as she said too. And she is right all times. So I say thanks to all people. I am so happy at nomination of Discord for Hugo I run on the walls and laugh loud and screech hip-hooray. And Marion thanks you too.

David's Daughter Ann is Two

Two years ago this month Discord was founded (under the title Retrograde), but this seems hardly the occasion for an annish {anniversary issue}. After all, nine months intervened between the publication of the first and second issues, and the magazine was not established on a regular basis till April 1960. However, since a number of policy changes have been made and will be made, this may be the proper occasion for writing one of those tiresome editorials concerning the magazine itself which I prefer to avoid as often as possible. Here's the way it looks from here:

Subscriptions: Reader response to issue #13 was very good, though below the level I think it should attain on a fanzine exchanged for letters of comment. It seems likely that Discord has reached the point where readers take it for granted and feel that it will continue without much further encouragement, and Marion and I foresee that reader response – barring the advent of some furious controversy – will never again reach the level it reached last summer and autumn.

Discord

The JULY 1961 issue of the fanzine DISCORD (a journal of personal opinion), Number 13, co-edited and published by Redd BOGGS (Minneapolis, MN.) and Marion Zimmer BRADLEY (Rochester, TX.), featuring:
Cogito (A Stir of Hugos; David’s Daughter Ann is Two; Discordant Colors) ..Editorial Voices of Discord (After 1929—What?) …Algis BUDRYS Reviewing Stand…Magazine Reviews (by Marion Z. BRADLEY) A Meeting of Minds…Readers Department (A. J. BUDRYS, Bob LICHTMAN, Avram DAVIDSON, Donald A. WOLLHEIM, Leslie GERBER, et al.)
Artwork: William ROTSLER, Arthur THOMSON, Dick SCHULTZ
A NEAR FINE copy. 14 pages.

1942 Fanmagazine

2008-10-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a typical 2 pager fanzine (often abbreviated fmz). You should be able to click the image and let it expand into a readable copy.

1959 Ted White - FAPA Controversy

2008-10-15T06:42:00.001-07:00

Stand by for repercussions

… being a summary of the Ted White situation up to today, 7 December 1959 … it could be subtitled Echo of Blitzkrieg, or Ergebnisse der Sternentwicklung …

Synopsis

During my blitz visit to New York, Ted White told me that (being broke) he had spent the $10 advance on the postage for the late section of Mlg. {mailing #) 88 on food. He said that he'd be having a check from Playboy or Rogue within a week or two, and that the money would be paid back soon, or before FAPAcon time at least. He would, if sufficiently rich, be up for the FAPAcon; if only moderately well off, he would go to the conference in Philadelphia that weekend. I had the impression that FAPA's money would be returned before Ted would consider going to Philadelphia.

Came the FAPAcon. Came a phone call from the celebrants at Philadelphia, among whose joyous number was Ted White. Came no word from Ellik saying that the money had been repaid. Came the typing of the constitution, wherein is a clause saing, "In the absence of a formal controversy, each officer may decide for himself doubtful points concerning his duties." Came the thought: it would be but poetic justice to delay Ted's mailing until the debt is repaid, just as he delayed the last half of the 88th mailing …

Now read on.

(Message included with the check from Ron Ellik. FAPA Secretary-Treasurer, to pay for the postage on mlg. 88

23 Nov. 59
White has NOT paid the $10.00. Excellent idead, holding his bundle. He will probably complain.
- - Ron

(Undated letter to Larry Stark from Ted White, received here several days ago:)

PS To the Youngs:
Just received the FA in a separate envelope. What happened to the mailing? Are we Unfit, or something? Yes, we received extra copies on all the starred postmailings - - thot Sylvia'd said so. Received PM from Graham some time after the Detention, along with an apologetic note …

(Postcard postmarked 7 PM Dec 5, received today, from Ted White:)

I trust you are aware of the fact that you are illegally withholding our mailing. You have no authority to make such a decision, which is basically up to either the Sec-Treas or the President.

Since we are scarping along on a marginal existence at the moment, you have basically deprived us of the mailing - - as you are aware. It's a scummy practice on your part - - and unconstitutional as well.

Rhodomagnetic Digest 1949-1951

2008-10-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

A recent seller of antiquarian items posted this index (and notes) for the first 2 years of Rhodomagnetic Digest. Many notables contributed letters, comments, and essays.

The first six issues of the fanzine RHODOMAGNETIC DIGEST (Being the Proceedings of The Elves’, Gnomes’ and Little Men’s Science-Fiction Chowder and Marching Society - A Society Dedicated to the Purpose of: bringing together people with an interest in Science-Fiction and Fantasy for mutual enjoyment and enlightenment), edited by George T. BLUMENSON (Berkeley, CA.) and published in 1949-50

JULY 24, 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 1)
Editorial: To Hell with ‘Fanzines’ (George BLUMENSON); On The Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); The Basic Science-Fiction Library (a discussion conducted by Anthony BOUCHER); Fifteen Best Science-Fiction Shorts (J. Francis MCCOMAS); About a Story from Nowhere About a Monster from Nowhere (J. Lloyd EATON); Lost and Found (George STALEY); Book Reviews (Gladys FABUN, W.W. WAGNER); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Letters. * slight age-darkening, minor wear. Unpaginated.

AUGUST 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 2)
Editorial: Science-Fiction an Hollywood (George BLUMENSON); The Monster from Everywhere (H.H. HOLMES, pseudo. Anthony BOUCHER); The Comic in Fantasy Fiction (Annette MCCOMAS); Pseudonyms in Fantasy Fiction (Anthony BOUCHER); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Book Reviews (Don L. FABUN and W.W. WAGNER); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Letters. * slight age-darkening. Unpaginated.

SEPTEMBER 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 3)
Editorial: Fantasy is Fun (George BLUMENSON); The Passing of the Six Gun (George HERSH); And Still the Monster (Anthony BOUCHER); Recent Thiotimoline Research (W.W. WAGNER and J. PENSKY); Pseudonymia Revisited (H.H. HOLMES, pseudo. Anthony BOUCHER); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); Book Reviews (Don L. FABUN); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Letters. * slight age-darkening. 18 pages.

DECEMBER 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 4)
The Mind of Man (George BLUMENSON); Science Without Fiction (Wm. BRIGHT); Stuff & Supermen (Karl BOYER); So Help Me…! (J. Lloyd EATON); In Defense of Other Worlds (John BASINSKI); Your Fantastic IQ (Hazelle HERSH); Book Reviews (Don L. FABUN); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Apologia (Addressed to Sam MERWIN by a ‘little man’ - ANON); Letters. * slight age-darkening. Unpaginated.

MARCH 1950 (Vol. 1 No. 5)
The Reprint Rocket (George BLUMENSON); The Road to El Dorado (Fred BROWN); Man and Superman (H.T. GORDON); What About the Flying Saucers? (Don L. FABUN); Casual Thoughts on Random Subjects (Yancy WADSWORTH); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); The ‘Irrelevant’ Controversy (Leland SAPIRO); Book Reviews (R.N. SHIRAS); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN). * slight age-darkening, faint staining and bumping to top corners, shallow chip to front top corner. Unpaginated.

MAY 1950 (Vol. 1 No. 6)
Editorial: Reprints, Rubbish, and Rackets (George BLUMENSON); The Monstrous Innovation (Don L. FABUN); On Dianetics (John W. CAMBELL, JR.); On the Fogging of Photographic Film (George P.S. FINIGAN); Fantasy in Music (George KELLEY); An Evaluation of Poul Anderson (Paul H. FINCH); Trends in Science Fiction (George EBEY); So You’re Going to Be An Editor? (Anthony BOUCHER); The Ending of ‘The Humanoids’ (Jack WILLIAMSON); Science in Science Fiction (Donald Baker MOORE); A Few Notes on ‘The Martian Chronicles’ (Ray BRADBURY); The ‘Irrelevant’ Controversy (conc., Leland SAPIRO); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * slight age-darkening, faint staining to top corners. 40 pages.

Six consecutive issues (comprising Volume 2) of the fanzine RHODOMAGNETIC DIGEST (Being the Proceedings of The Elves’, Gnomes’ and Little Men’s Science-Fiction Chowder and Marching Society - A Society Dedicated to the Purpose of: bringing together people with an interest in Science-Fiction and Fantasy for mutual enjoyment and enlightenment), edited by Donald Baker MOORE (v2 n1-4) and Don L. FABUN (v2 n5-6) (Berkeley, CA.) and published in 1950-51

AUGUST 1950 (Vol. 2 No. 1)
Editorial: ‘The Evil That Men Do…’ (George BLUMENSON); Recent Rocket Research (George P.S. FINIGAN); A Norwescon Preview (Don DAY); Literature and Science Fiction (Norman SIRINGER); On Communication with Extra-Terrestrials (David B. KOBLICK); ‘…Nor a Lender Be’ (Gladys FABUN); ‘Rocketship X-M’—A Review (The Staff); Letters (from ASIMOV, DERLETH, BRADBURY, et al.); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); Index of Volume 1; and Other Articles, Reviews, and Features. * slght age-darkening. 42 pages.

SEPTEMBER 1950 (Vol. 2 No. 2)
Editorial: In Commemoration—Man! (George BLUMENSON); The Case of the Man Who Could Do Everything (David G. SPENCER); Norwescon Report (George P.S. FINIGAN); Apparent Precognition in ESP Tests (Don FABUN); Destination Moon Promotion, Part 2 (Don FABUN); The McMinneville Photos (Bob CONNELL); Letter from London (Fred BROWN); Letters; An English Fan (Ken F. SLATER); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); and Other Articles, Reviews, and Features. * light soiling to wrappers. 44 pages.
1950 (Vol. 2 No. 3)

How Long Is the Past? (P. Ray TERIT); Flight Instruments in Insects (Raymond WALLACE); The ‘Gadget’ Story in Science Fiction (Leland SAPIRO); The Journail of the B.I.S. (Don FABUN); In Memoriam—Olaf Stapleton (Fred BROWN); Letters; A Little Plain Speaking (Marion Z. BRADLEY); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); and Other Articles, Reviews, and Features. * slight age-darkening, light age-wear. 40 pages.
FEBRUARY 1951 (Vol. 2 No. 4)

Straddling (Donald Baker MOORE); Sweeney’s Big ‘Jump’ (Don FABUN); Planetary Research Teams (William A. ERWIN, JR.); Sina Lamittaa minua kun tulen takaisin? (J.R. EMMETT); Winding Up the ‘Gadget’ Story (Leland SAPIRO); Letters; Five Atomic Age Books (Green Vaughn RIVERS); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * two small pieces of transparent tape reinforce spine. 40 pages.

MARCH 1951 (Vol. 2 No. 5)
Editorial (George BLUMENSON); The Whiskey Drinking Mathematician (Bill MURR); Corn Becomes Callous (Walter A. WILLIS); The Perils of Completism (Bob SILVERBERG); Down in the Dumps (Don FABUN); Book Reviews (The Staff); On the Newsstands (The Staff); Letters; In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * light wear to spine. 40 pages.
APRIL/MAY 1951 (Vol. 2 No. 6)

The Astounding Affairs (John W. CAMBELL, JR.); Science Ficton and the New Cosmology (Don FABUN); Element 121 (Mark HARRIS); Sapiro’s Last Stand (Leland SAPIRO); Flying Saucers—a new speculation (Vaughn Greene RIVERS); Book Reviews (The Staff); On the Newsstands (The Staff); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * slight age-darkening, light soiling to front, light wear to spine. 40 pages. One-page typewritten letter (with Society letterhead) from (and SIGNED by) Gladys FABUN, to fan Ted ENGEL (dated August 7, 1951), regarding subscription and back issues, Laid In.

circa 1960 Catch Trap

2008-10-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Catch Trap 109
(Marion Zimmer-Bradley)
Circa 1960
{selected portions}

This is CATCH TRAP 105, dedicated to comments off the FAPA mailing numbered 105, and planned for appearance … there are some new members… who may like to be reminded that CATCH TRAP refers to my firm conviction that writing mailing comments for an organization like FAPA is roughly analogous to working the catcher's positing in a trapeze act - - you have to keep things swinging, you have to be ready to grab and throw back anything that comes your way, or else they are apt to fall to the ground with an unpleasant thunking sound … the writer of these mailing comments is Marion Zimmer Bradley …

By Moskowitz

One of the most neglected fantasy-s-f authors today is Robert W. Chambers. I don't know why some enterprising paperback publisher doesn't put out the two volumes of THE KING IN YELLOW and THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE. ++ Last semester I did a paper on the historicals of Chambers, and while examining book review sources for commentary on Chambers, discovered that during his lifetime he was regarded, first as a great writer, later as a hack; but that in the thirties, most authorities felt that "No collection of the American short story will hereafter be complete without a selection of the works of Chambers." He began to seem old-fashioned in the forties, but the critics who are now re-discovering Kipling, after a couple of decades of thinking him ridiculous and jingoistic, may soon re-discover Chambers. Speed the day …

Alien Critic 1974 #9

2008-10-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

1974 Letter - Robert Bloch, Ted White from H. Ellison

2008-10-13T05:31:00.001-07:00

Alien Critic #2
Letter from Harlan Ellsion
4-12-74

If you run this letter in the next issue, and I hope you will, please include the date above (a safety factor, AKA truth-in-publishing, policy I urge you to adopt for all published correspondence.)

((Good advice. It shall be done.))

"I've come back tot his issue (38) of IAC maybe fifty times since it arrived here, dipping into it briefly, recoiling In horror, putting it away, coming back to it, starting to write a note, slapping my hands, going away from it again, and … inexorably … being drawn back again and again, knowing, I suppose, that I'd eventually say a few words.

I've gained about eight potbelly pounds in the last two years from a constitution of sitting on my ass writing too much of the time, not exercising, acting like a gourmand, and developing what my doctor calls a classic case of out of control triglycerides; for the first time in my almost forty years, I'm on a diet, and it's hard going without my diabetic delights which for many years have provided the necessary chlor –ls{?} and sugars I needed to keep my sugar-hungry hyperthyroid engine racing. Occasionally, I cheat on myself.

Answering the writing in IAC is a –rry {?} parallel. I know I shouldn't, try like hell not to, but eventually do it. Beyond that point the parallel –{?} there is nothing sweet or energy-producing about responding to the IAC correspondents. I can only get in trouble.

Friend Dick, I love your magazine, but so help me, every time I open the covers, I hear the tumult of a lung-{?} lynch mob. That one of the most virulent {?} voices in that mob is mine own, {--?} depresses and frightens me the {most?}.

((That's odd: when I open the covers of IAC I hear it go MMMMM… And when I open other fan magazines I hear TA-{}-PICKETA-POCKETA…))

So I'll make this brief and then {?} you, if you get any other letters from me, that from this date forward, that even remotely seem contentious … please deep six them! If, through madness, I write such letters, to vent my fury, accept them, read them, answer me personally if you feel inclined, but for God's sweet sake, don't publish them. Stop me before I kill again.

((You write such marvelously phrased sentences, Harlan, such delightful invective, that your letters are a kind of art form, and Ellison on a rampage is high entertainment; it almost doesn't matter what you say, it's how you say it. I suspect that most of those you smite hip and thigh are more flattered than outraged or demolished. Your last sentence up there might better be penned, "Stop me before I overkill again.

((But - - I hear and obey, even though it likely means you'll rarely appear in these pages in the future.))

Since the St. Louiscon, when I vowed I'd have nothing further to do with fandom, fans, or fanzines, I've tried valiantly to maintain my resolve. But old habits and roots die hard. And in the past year I've allowed myself to be drawn into nasty, demeaning exchanges with several fanzines and their letter-hacks. Those exchanges have served no commendable end. They've brought into print my utterly negative feelings about the majority of fans, that were better left unspoken.

Yesterday, something called LAUGHING OSIRIS found its way into my mailbox, and I leafed through it as I would a bulk rate mailing catalogue from a novelty house. There tucked away in a paragraph about other things, was a sentence of three by the magazine's editor saying pful to me because Id said the biggest drawbacks sf has to contend with these days are the antics of media-attractive fans acting like nerds. The editor went on to compare my attitude (taken from Cover's interview with me in VERTEX and a position I still maintain despite the pful) with that of Bob Bloch, who had stretched his time and effort to give them an interview.

I don't put that editor down for his reaction, I suppose he's entitled, but he ain't where I am, and he doesn't have to put up with fan impositions the way I do. (I won't even try to cop out by saying I've spent easily as many hours as Bob, doing by-mail interviews with fanzines such as the one published by the U. of Wisconsin, which was published this week. Bloch is a much kinder, much nobler person than I'll ever be, and he's been a certifiably saintly pro where fans are concerned since I was fanning, and long before that time. I'll only say I have very little interest in fmz {fan magazines?} these days, don't want to receive them, and try to be polite when turning down invitations to write for them. And when I do contribute, for whatever dim motivation, I apply myself as I would when writing a piece for a professional journal.)

Nonetheless, that St. Louiscon embroglio {sic} ad fandom's general attitude toward me since that time have left their mark. I'm negative about fandom in the main, and really would be happiest if they'd leave me alone. But I'm like Ted White in the way I leap to the bait. And when I do – as I've recently done in OUTWORLDS and the fmz of the British Columbia SF Society - -I find myself coming off in the manner of a person I wouldn't care for, if I encountered him in the pages of an amateur publication. I find myself snarling, insulting, howling, slicing … and in general acting like the people I despise.

All I ask is that fans leave me alone. Please. Let me do my work. Let me write in peace. I can't stand the waste of time, the burn off of adrenaline, the futile snarling and screaming. I've got too much I want to do, too much love that's been turned sour and cynical, too few years in the machine, to continue this way.

If fans wish to discuss me, let them discuss my work. Let them say yay or nay to what I;'ve written, but leave me alone. I will respond in kind by staying away from fan doings and fan problems, and we'll all be the more content for it.

Thus does the war criminal beg for mercy. If there is a strain of sanity out there, please let it serve to convey the sincerity with which this is written.

1941 Forest Ackerman's Extra-terrestrials.

2008-10-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

The seller (jimvanhise books) states: When the movie E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL was released in 1982, some fans objected that the title was warping the single word extraterrestrial into two words for abbreviation's sake. But here in this 1941 art folio published by Forry Ackerman, he not only called the folio "E.T." but credits L. Sprague de Camp with inventing the abbreviation for the word "extra-terrestrial." // Folio is 5 pages printed on one side of each sheet. Art is in color as shown below with a top sheet of text written by Forry Ackerman giving background on the art (it was drawn by his grandfather when Forry was a child in the 1920s) and the print run was 200. In fine condition.

Ray Bradbury Sketch and circa 1941 Banter

2008-09-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

"Ye Hermit of Hagerstown", Henry Warner, Jr., 303 Bryan Pl., Hagerstown, MD{?} _ for Voice - - well, it seems the only way I might be able not to get a {line?} in is to write in detail about it. Maybe that's the secret formula. Copver {?} time ("Beauty & the Bugle") of doubtful stfan {scientifiction fan} interest but doubtless of interest in other ways. No doubt about it, I don't doubt.

And there really seems to be little to say about the letters this time. Vincent Manning might be interested to know, though, that the reason I write in a fairly accurate version of English is that I'm completely a creature of habit - - more, so, perhaps than anyone I know. Every time I make a typing error I have to remember the word I did wrong, or _ to remember it at least, and make a conscious effort to get it right the next time; otherwise, it'll be wrong in practically the same way. If I do it wrong twice, then the habit is deeply enough engrained that I do the same thing wrong a long, long time. It's the same with me in everything. Therefore, I don't start to use Ackermanese, nonstopparagraphing, or any other eccentricity in letters, or I'd be bound to forget to change back when typing something important. If it weren't for that, I probably succumb to all the goofy ideas immediately and continue using them until the fad wore off.

These Australian fans give more trouble with copies of Horizons; I'm positive they're in some sort of conspiracy telling me they aren't getting their copies in an effort to corner the market on Horizons and sell later at a ridiculously high price. However, I'll probably try to find another copy of that issue of H{orizons} for Vol, although I have my doubts {as?} to my chances of success. Several guys ordering big bunches of back issues have about cleaned me out of stock.

About the little red gentleman on the editorial page, when I first opened this issue of VOM {Voice of Imagination} #11 he reminded me irresistibly of something. I spent hours over it, and then it suddenly came to me - - on a li{ttle?} ad for rather violent introductory cards that Corwin Stickney sent out with one issue of his magazine. Or at least I believe that's where I saw it; I haven't energy to look, and besides the temperature is about 10 {degrees} above in our barn-like attic and it would mean either freezing or going to all the work of putting on an overcoat.

(Well, just as well, Harry, for your search woudve {sic} been in vain; little redevil {sic} of a Marsian {sic} was swiped not from an old Amateur Correspondent ad but from something to do with a certain Sham Poo {sic}. Ditto our "Getting' in your Hair ad.)

_____

The seller states: Description:
"Voice Of the Imagination" - April, 1941
Edited & Published by Forrest J. Ackerman & MorojoIn addition to being a striving author, the young Ray Bradbury was a fine amateur artist - especially caricatures. Bradbury is present in this issue of "VOM" not with his poetry, essays, stories or puns(!) but with his own self-caricature! Because Bradbury was a popular fan personality he also became mentioned more and more in passing: letters, commentary, etc., and is additionally noted in this issue. These fanzine appearances of the legendary "Mr. B" are some of his rarest and hardest to acquire - even for the hardcore Ray Bradbury collector! The few times they are offered they are quickly snatched up. This copy has a few small chips from the front cover and a moisture stain along the top, but internally it is a nice copy never folded for mailing

Even 47 years ago, fans were fans ...

2008-09-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Discord: Edited and published by Redd Boggs
Number 13, July 1961

A Stir of Hugo.

This day my co-editor Marion {Zimmer-Bradley} called me a reteh. I wonder what is a reteh? You are an ungrateful reteh she said if you intend to let this issue go by without saying to everybody I am glad Discord was nominated for Hugo. I said but Habecua or Who killed Science Fiction? Or Yandra or Shaggy or Fanas will win. Oh mygod mygod she said what do you care? The big thing is to be nominated for Hugo. I will have bad anger she said if you don't tell thanks to all. Will you hang from ceiling and drip green if I don't I said. No she said I will stand here and tell you go hang boy.

Marion is a pretty I know. A pretty stubborn female. She would do as she said and I would have to do as she said too. And she is right all times. So I say thanks to all people. I am so happy at nomination of Discord for Hugo I run on the walls and laugh loud and screech hip-hooray. And Marion thanks you too.

David's Daughter Ann is Two

Two years ago this month Discord was founded (under the title Retrograde), but this seems hardly the occasion for an annish {anniversary issue}. After all, nine months intervened between the publication of the first and second issues, and the magazine was not established on a regular basis till April 1960. However, since a number of policy changes have been made and will be made, this may be the proper occasion for writing one of those tiresome editorials concerning the magazine itself which I prefer to avoid as often as possible. Here's the way it looks from here:

Subscriptions: Reader response to issue #13 was very good, though below the level I think it should attain on a fanzine exchanged for letters of comment. It seems likely that Discord has reached the point where readers take it for granted and feel that it will continue without much further encouragement, and Marion and I foresee that reader response – barring the advent of some furious controversy – will never again reach the level it reached last summer and autumn.

_____
Discord

The JULY 1961 issue of the fanzine DISCORD (a journal of personal opinion), Number 13, co-edited and published by Redd BOGGS (Minneapolis, MN.) and Marion Zimmer BRADLEY (Rochester, TX.), featuring:
Cogito (A Stir of Hugos; David’s Daughter Ann is Two; Discordant Colors) ..Editorial
Voices of Discord (After 1929—What?) …Algis BUDRYS
Reviewing Stand…Magazine Reviews (by Marion Z. BRADLEY)
A Meeting of Minds…Readers Department (A. J. BUDRYS, Bob LICHTMAN, Avram DAVIDSON, Donald A. WOLLHEIM, Leslie GERBER, et al.)
Artwork: William ROTSLER, Arthur THOMSON, Dick SCHULTZ
14 pages.

1968 Notice of Tragedy

2008-09-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

Science Fiction Times
No 452
March 1968

Silverberg Home Burns

The home of Bob and Barbara Silverberg was badly damaged by a fire which broke out in the attic about 4. a.m., Tuesday, February 13 {1968}. No one was injured (including the cats) but the roof and the attic were destroyed, and about half of the third floor was badly damaged. There was little damage on the first two floors.

Bob's entire science fiction collection, and his extensive library of rare books and research materials were destroyed. Also partially destroyed were his Science Fiction Writers of America files (Bob is currently President).

The house, in the Riverside section of the Bronx, was formerly the mansion of New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. While it is being rebuilt, the Silverbergs are temporarily living elsewhere in the area.

Groff Conklin Obit

2008-09-25T07:26:00.001-07:00

Science Fiction Times
No 457
August 1968

Groff Conklin

Groff Conklin, leading science fiction anthologist, died July 20 at his summer home in Pauling, NY. He was 63 years old at the time of his death, which was due to emphysema. His permanent home was in New York City.

Mr. Conklin edited a total of 38 science fiction and fantasy anthologies. His first, The Best of Science Fiction (1946) was the first hard cover collection to specifically use the term "science fiction" in its title. With very few exceptions, Mr. Conklin selected stories for his books which had not been published in other anthologies.

He was editor of Grosset and Dunlap's series in the early 1950's, and was book reviewer for Galaxy magazine for five years starting with the first, October 1950 {?}, issue. Mr. Conklin was also active outside the field. For the last three years he was science editor for the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language which is being prepared for publication next year. He wrote books on home improvement and maintenance, and had been a freelance writer on scientific and technical subjects. He was formerly book editor for Robert M. McBride and Co., and scientific researcher for the N.W. Ayer & Son advertising agency.

- Howard Devore

Otis Kline

2008-09-25T05:06:00.000-07:00

Kline's Mars Novels
By James Turner

Science Fiction Review
April 13, 1964
Number 17

The Mars novels of Otis Adelbert Kline appeared after his Venus series, though Avalon and Ace have revised them to appear otherwise. They are inferior to the Venus books while remaining fun.

The Mars of Kline is similar to Burroughs'. Wild, predatory beasts prowl the landscape, high adventure and lost (roles?) abound, science and barbarian stand side by side. One reviewer suggested that Kline's Mars and Burroughs' were in parallel time tracks.

There is a difference: Kline's world is aeons ago when life prospered. Mars was in its prime, not dying like Burroughs' Baroum today.

The Swordsman of Mars (Argosy 1953 Granden, Avalon, Ace) tells how Harry Thorne, rescued from suicide by one Dr. Morgan (also responsible for sending men to Venus), is sent mentally to Mars to inhabit the body of Burgen Takkor, who will use Thorne's body. (See, Prince of Peril for Takkor's story).

Thorne is to eliminate Sel Han, a previous exchange, who is well on his way to becoming a dictator in a Martian land. Before this violent adventure is over, Thorne falls in love with a princess, is sentenced to life in the mines for _?, escapes, and with the aid of friends, undoes Sel Han and the despotic and communistic government. The book suffers from the ancient gimmick of substituting a royal baby for that of a commoner.

This book was as like the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs that the Index of the Weird & Fantastica in Magazines and A Handbook of Science Fiction and Fantasy both credited it to Burroughs.

The second in the series is better. Jerry Morgan, nephew of Dr. Morgan and a cashiered Army officer, travels to Mars bodily in a strange vehicle that transports him through space and time. He even becomes The Outlaw of Mars (Argosy 1933, Avalon, Ace), leading commoners (his title is "The Commoner") against the tyranny of one of the kingdoms and a strange "Torturer." At the end, he refuses a throne to marry and roam the surface of Mars.

Like John Carter, he never hesitates to use his superior muscles and uses as little of Thorne as Carter did of Ulysses Paxton (see ERB's The Mastermind of Mars). In fact, Morgan and Thorne never meet, though Morgan does loot a home belonging to the wife of a friend of Thorne's.

It is said that Burroughs rated Kline as his best imitator. Upon reading the proceeding books, it is easy to see why.

James Turner

Lin Cater Essay and more

2008-09-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Science Fiction Times: The World of Tomorrow Today
No. 455
June 1968

More Conan Due

The phenomenal success of the Lancer series of Robert E. Howard's stories of Conan and others continues to bust {sic} all records with a gusto that would make the Cimmerian warrior grin with pride. At this moment, with well over a half million copies of the seven books in print (to be gracious, 650,000 copies were printed in all, and warehouse stock is down to the last few hundred copies), Conan is just about the most exciting thing on the paperback stands, from the dealer's as well as the reader's viewpoint.

And now the way has been cleared for several more Conan books, for L. Sprague de Camp has just announced that on May 7, 1968 an agreement was signed between himself and Martin W. Greenberg of Gnome Press, resolving the long-standing lawsuit over rights to the Howard properties and reassigning all rights to the Howard estate. This frees a number of stories and one novel for paperback publication.

L. Sprague de Camp has also announced a list of the new volumes forthcoming . Three collections are planned. The first of these, Conan of Cimmeria, includes three of the Howard & de Camp stories form the Gnome Press hardcover, The Tales of Conan, as well as two new Howard and de Camp stories, "The Tale of the Lost Woman" (which has only had one magazine appearance) and "The Snout in the Dark" (which has never been published). This book will also contain three brand new pastiches written by de Camp and Lin Carter "Curse of the Monolith" which will appear in the first issue of Lester del Rey's new magazine "Worlds of Fantasy", and two as yet unwritten collaborations, "The Lair of the Ice-Worm" and "The Black Tower".

The second collaboration, Conan the Swashbuckler, contains the two Howard novellettes. "Black Colossus" and "Shadows in the Moonlight" two Howard amd de camp stories, "Hawks Over Shem" and {...the rest of the text unavailable}
_____
Science Fiction Times: The World of Tomorrow Today
No. 455
June 1968

The Letter From The Kid in Podunk
A guest editorial by Lin Carter

Like everyone else who has ever had a few books published, I sometimes get a letter from readers. In my case these readers are usually young ones, which figures, since my column in IF seems primarily to have attracted new comers to science fiction, and since my fiction, being action adventure yarns, also appeals mostly to kids.
An amazing number of these letters are from kids who want to be writers. After some polite comments on this or that of my novels, they usually get around to a series of questions about the craft. Questions which can be boiled down to How Do You Guys Do It, Anyway. I don't know why they pick me to supply the answers about writing rather than choose some of my more successful or more highly talented colleagues, but come to me they do. Maybe they feel Zelazny would snub them or can't get Laumer's(?) address or think Heinlein is too busy. Or maybe, because they are used to hearing me gas on through the pages of innumerable issues of IF, they feel they "know" me personally.

Like any writer with a grain of humility (and in my case, its only a grain), or like any writer who was once a kid fan and used to pester Ed Hamilton and other nice people with the same sort of letters and remembers the patience and kindness of these pros towards that annoying kid down in St. Pete, Fla.. I take great efforts to make certian I write a letter in reply to every single one I get.
My advice to Writers of Tomorrow is not very deep stuff. I mostly advise them to steer clear of Famous Writer's Schools and such-like tomfollery. and I tell them the only way to learn is to (1) Read. Read a littl of everything you can get your hands on. Don't stop after Proust and sartre and Camus and figure there's nothing else worth reading. Try a little Baumer and Mundy just for the hell of it. And don't be afraid to read Burroughs just because "everybody knows" he couldn't write his way out of the proverbial paperbag. Go ahead ... it's just possible he might have something to teach you about plotting or description or dialogue, who knows? In a word, read every bloody thing from the Mahabharata to Marvel comics, and don't be ashamed if you find yourself enjoying some of the stuff down at th lower end of the spectrum.

And (2) write. Keep on writing, and don't worry about Making A Sale. That takes years. I wrote seven novels before selling one, and I consider myself lucky. (Sinclair Lewis had to write ten before he got lucky.) And, if science fiction is your bag, write novels. Because science fiction is a novelist's medium and always has been. Because novels are more fun to write than short stories, more room to swing your arms and walk around in, and they pay better too. I usually Qualify this last by saying, Unless you are one of those rare types with that peculiar quirk of mind that can come up with short story plots (I am not, and can't), in which case the magazine editors will love you.

These answers, admittedly, basic stuff, fail to satisfy a few of my correspondents, who bring up more seasoning questions like what should I write about? and, How do you know where to start a story?, and like that.

To the first query I make this reply, just tell a story. A story is about people who are going somewhere or doing something and to whom things are happening. Don't get literary. Don't worry about Abt(?). Don't get psychological, or symbolic, or don't write in order to Protest. In Sam Goldwyn's words (and they are wise words), "You gotta Message, call Western Union." And don't be ashamed to be called "Just a story-teller" Some very groovy guys were "just" storytellers and not artists. Doyle, Haggard, Kipling, Merritt Stevenson, Sabatini, and Doc Smith, for example.
To the second question, which is impossible to answer honestly, I generally fall back on the Red Queen's advice to Alice, "Start at the beginning, go on until the end; then stop." It's as good as anything you'll find in the "how-to-write" books. But the reason I'm gassing on about this, is to ask a question of my own" why do so many good science fiction readers want to become writer? Why do they have to write letters asking How Do You Guys Do It, Anway? Do mystery novelists het such letters from their readers? I know a couple and they tell me No. Do readers think there is some Mystique about writing science fiction or fantasy or Sword & Sorcery. One kid asked me if you have to live in New York and know publishers personally. I said, No, but it doesn't hurt; and I pointed out that a few fairly successful writers named Vance, Anderson, and Leiber live out on the California coast. Which is just about as far from New York as you can get and still be on the same continent and in the same continent, and in the same country.

There's no mystique about writing science fiction. The real question is why do so many science fiction readers want to become science fiction writers? Because a hell of a lot of times they do. In fact, most writers are lifetime fans of the stuff, and this is most absolutely, positively certainly NOT true of western {... the rest of the text missing}.

From an obituary of Nov 1968

2008-09-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

Frank Owen

Frank Owen, 79, died at his home in Brooklyn on October 13 after a long illness. He was an author who also wrote under the pen name of Roosevelt Williams and Richard Kent. He was mainly known for his Chinese fantasy stories and many of his works were published in Weird Tales from October 1923 through the 1930's and early 1940's. Several of his stories were also published in Oriental Stories, Best known to fantasy fans was his collection The Porcelain Magician published by Gnome Press in 1945. His other fantasy collections were published during his most active fantasy period from 1929 to 1938. The first issue of Avon Science Fiction & Fantasy Reader (Jan 1953) saw Owen's first appearance in the sf & fantasy field with the publication of his short story "One-Man God."

Sam Moskowitz on P Schyler Miller (1975)

2008-09-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

A Canticle for P Schuyler Miller
Sam Moskowitz
Introduction

When I was doing the series of articles for Amazing Stories that eventually were collected as Seekers of Tomorrow, I needed 30 days, involving most of my evenings and weekends, to do the research and write each piece, which averaged 5,000 words or so in length. The death of P. Schuyler Miller and the final deadline of the earliest issue of Analog that the biographical obituary could be fitted into, left me with one complete weekend to accomplish the job. I had been recommended to Ben Bova by L. Sprague de Camp, and the length limitation given me was 2,000 words. Working from the top of my head, I could have done it in four hours, but I felt that Miller deserved better.

I spent 26 hours over the weekend, researching, rereading his works, calling his sister on the phone and doing the writing. I had contacted his company a few days earlier and gotten whatever information they could feed me. I had to write with extreme care, because there would not be time to extensively rewrite or retype; the copy had to be good enough to go to the printer with hand corrections. The big problem was that, even slighting the tail end of Miller's writing career. I had a 5.500 word piece. Diane King, Associate Editor of Analog, made me a Xerox of my complete copy and I told Ben to cut it down to the 2,000 words needed, but with the understanding that I was going to later use the entire piece elsewhere.

It is my hope to eventually include the article in some furtue hadcover book, but for the present, I wanted to bring it out soon enough after the publication of the shorter version in Analog so that the entire thing had some relevance. To squeeze it into Analog's February 1975 issue at all, Ben had to substitute it for The Reference Library column, and the hidden cost to me was a rave review of my Doubleday book The Crystal Man which was discarded to make room for it.

There are fascinating aspects of Miller's association with science fiction that are little known, and I wanted to put them on record. His influence as both a writer and a fan of science fiction was greater than is generally realized. The emphasis here is entirely on his science fiction achievement. His contributions to archaeology and natural science has not been covered, though so much of these interests are woven into his science fiction that it might prove fruitful to do so in a special study.

It is the continuing regret of any historian and literary critic that too often the people they write about, whom they like, are no longer around to read what was said about them. I regret it particularly in Miller's case, and accept it as an emotional price to be paid when writing about some of the people who play a role in the unfolding panorama of scientifictional events.

Sam
_____

Published in a limited printing of not over 300 copies by Sam Moskowitz, 344 ?vill Ave., Newark, NJ 07107, with the assistance of Ross Chamberlatz (?) for stenciling and Archie and Joyce Katz for mimeographing. Copies will be distributed through The Fantasy Amateur Press Association and a portion of the remainder sold to several dealers on an advance-of-printing order basis.

An Early (High School?) Story by Lin Carter

2008-09-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

_____
This fragment was exhibited in a recent auction on the ebayeum
_____

My Uncle Who Is A Mad Scientist
by Lin Carter

My Uncle Bolivar was as friendly and interesting a person as you'd care to meet. He had only one slight disadvantage. He wanted to be a Mad Scientist.

As a boy, I was simply fascinated by him. I used to spend hours on end in his Secret Laboratory (which was in the attic and could only be reached by a rickety stairway) watching him building time machines or disintegrating rays or some such jolly gadget.

His secret Laboratory was a wonderful place. It was long and narrow and had a sloping ceiling that leaked on rainy days. Along one wall he had a long workbench cluttered with tools and things. He had a pickled brain in a flask, acting as a paper-weight. In one corner stood a half finished robot he was using as a halltree, and in another corner stood a Little Gem Home Model Cyclotron, in which he kept his Scotch.

All his leisure time was spent in devising new ways to conquer the Earth and making inventions. First he invented a heat ray. He wanted {...no further text available}.

Fantasy Fan of 1945

2008-09-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Text:

1945 Fan Journalist

The Role of the F.A.P.A.

By Donald A. Wolheim

A new fan might easily find certain confusion in his first contact with the organization referred to enigmatically, as FAPA. He'll see it mentioned – but no one will contact him and try to make him join. He'll hear of intriguing fan magazine titles which he'll never encounter in the ads in the fan mags he gets, or in the reviews of Startling Stories. Finally he'll track down something definite on an officer of the organization, and write, asking to join. He'll send a rebuff in the form of being politely told that he'd have to wait maybe a year or more before he could be considered for membership, and besides, they’d want to know who he was, and what made him think he was good enough to join.

So what is this organization, the Fantasy Amateur Press Association? What does it do? How did it come about? Let me try to reconstruct the scene that called for the formation of the group. In that way, its purpose will also become understandable.

Fan magazines didn't develope {sic} in a big way until about 1936. There had been fan magazines published before that - - but with only very few exceptions, they had been the official organs of clubs. Remember that organized fandom never existed prior to late 1929, that any sort of developed fan clubs didn't really grow in any number until 1934. Before that, there were the scienceers in New York, and the first International Scientific Association in the U.S., but they were pioneers, experiments, gropings in the dark. Several members of the Scienceers had the idea of bringing out a fan magazine to sell to stf {scientifiction} readers as a commercial idea. Edited by A;;en Glaser, it was entitled The Time Traveler. It ws not the official organ of the club. It was not the organ of anything. It was a fan magazine, pure and unattached. There was a split in friendship among those who were putting out the Time Traveler, about its seventh or eighth issue. {… the rest of the text unavailable}

1952: 1st Australian SF Con

2008-09-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

The seller states: FIRST AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION"
March 22, 1952 - Edited & Published by Nick Solntseff
___
Science Fiction has always been extremely popular in Australia, but it wasn't until well after WWII - March 22, 1952 in Sydney - that the "Auzzies" realized their 1st Convention. The SF Commitee consisted of Chairman William D. Veney, Secretary Graham B. Stone, Treasurer Nick Solntseff, Auctioneer Arthur Haddon, and Film coordinator Lex Banning. The Convention extended over three days and included films, an auction, various programs of what is Science Fiction and The Futurian Society meeting. This program booklet also contains many congratulatory pages from fellow enthusiasts in America - Forrest Ackerman, Roy A. Squires, Mel Korshak, Lloyd Eshbach and the booklet was dedicated in memoriam to H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Abraham Merritt, and Stanley Weinbaum.

National Fantasy Fan Jan. 1968

2008-09-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

The official organ of The National Fantasy Fan Federation Volume 27, Number 3. Editor and Publisher: Don Miller January, 1966 EDITOR’S NOTES Since this is the first issue under a new editorship, it would seem appropriate to say a few words at the beginning of the issue concerning our plans and editorial policy for the forthcoming year. TNFF will be monthly during 1968. Most of the issues will be 10 pages in length, and will be mailed to all members via 1st-class mail; however, time, money, and material permitting, we will try to get out an occasional 20-page, 3rd-class issue —- we make no promises, however. Editorials will be kept to the minimum, to conserve space and save wear and tear on the members. Oh, yes -- from this point on we will no longer use the editorial “we”, but will stick to the plain and ordinary first—person singular, “I”; this will avoid confusion between editorial opinions and official club policy (and will also please Don Franson). However, if /w/e/ I occasionally slip and use "we" instead of “I”, please forgive /u/s/ me; with 100% use of the editorial “we” in all of my other magazines, it will be very difficult for me to remember (I even find myself using “we” in conversation!). As stated in TIGHTBEAM #46, the primary focus of TNFF during 1968 will be on club news and activities, with strong secondary emphasis on news and activities of “outside” fandom; the remaining space will be filled with general material, with special reference on timely reviews of books, magazines, fanzines, movies, etc. Volunteers are urgently needed to: 1. Keep me posted on apa activity; 2. Keep me posted on forthcoming conventions and other club and regional activities of general interest; 3. Keep me posted on news of time, place, and program (if any) of clubs around the country (this can be done on a regional, or even an individual club, basis -- certainly with more than one person involved In the reporting); 4. Keep me posted on clubs, conventions, and other fannish news from outside the U.S.; 5. Keep me posted on forthcoming movies, TV shows, books, magazines, etc. (again, probably involving more than one reporter); 6. Review fanzines; 7. Review prozines; 8. Review books; 9. Review movies, TV shows, etc. Don’t force me to have to rely exclusively upon my WSFA JOURNAL sources for extra material for TNFF —- N3F certainly has enough members to be able to develop its own sourcesl
In brief-1967 NFFF Story Contest winners: 1st Prize ($20), “The Feline Technique” by Doris ‘ Beetem; 2nd Prize ($15), “The Seeding” by Evelyn Lief; 3rd Prize ($10), “The SAH Effect” ‘by Chet Gottfried.
(Source: THE WSFA JOURNL #51) If your report, etc.,doesn’t appear in this issue, it’s because we don’t have it yet. We are typing this issue on Jan. 2, and are including every bit of N3F material on hand. (Undoubtedly something will arrive in tomorrow's mail) Deadline for each issue will be on the last day of the preceding month -— so mail early -- if I don’t have it by the deadline, it will have to wait until the next issue. (Sorry about those “we’s” earlier in this paragraph, Don.) “The Con Game” in this issue was reprinted from THE WSFA JOURNAL #51. DLM

Science Fiction Collector 1939

2008-09-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

_____

Unfortunately not all fanzines had spectacular covers, but each editor tried their best.
_____
The seller states: The NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1939 issue of the fanzine SCIENCE-FICTION COLLECTOR, Volume 5 Number 4 (Whole No. 28), edited by John V. BALTADONIS (Philadelphia, PA.), featuring:
Et Cetera……………..
Cold Water and No Soap……………..by Jack ERMAN
Morojo vs Moskowitz……………..by MOROJO
The First Side – The True Side……………..by Donald A. WOLLHEIM
Book Note – “The Invisible Police” ……………..
Fan Magazine Review……………..review of FUTURIA FANTASIA (Fall 1939, Vol. 1 No. 2 - edited by Ray BRADBURY), and other fanzines
The Readers Say……………..Erle M. KORSHAK, Donald A. WOLLHEIM, et al.
The Eternal Wanderer……………..by Oswald TRAIN
Fantaglimmerings……………..by Robert A. MADLE
Vacancy (poem) ……………..by Larry B. FARSACI

Cover illustration and interior illustration by John V. BALTADONIS

A VERY GOOD+ copy, hint of age and minor fading. Digest-sized. 32 pages. Addressed on back (in pen) to: Russell J. HODGKINS (Los Angeles, CA.).

For those of you who read

2008-09-11T11:20:00.001-07:00

Thanks for reading up until now.
From this point forward, I'm going to be less prompt about daily posts.
It's great, and it looks like a few dozen people are reading this each day (tahnks, thanks, thanks). However, the number of antiquarian zines popping up at auction are slowing down, and it has also impacted my ability to feed the Lovecraft blog. So the posts will be less frequent but still keeping up.

I invite you to go to the antiquarian thread at Horror Mall where Jimster, Vampduster, Dread C, Carcosa, and so many others post their antiquarian research and fun scans.

Horror Mall is at http://www.horror-mall.com/forum/

And the antiquarian thread is at .. .click!

or go:

http://www.horror-mall.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=70&pid=40348&st=1560&#entry40348

More posts will be coming though, soon. :) Meanwhile browse past posts.

1937 Novae Terrae

2008-09-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

The seller states: "NOVAE TERRAE " - October, 1937
Edited by Maurice K. Hanson, Associate editors Ed ward J. Carnell & Arthur C. Clarke
___
The singular honor of the 1st British Fanzine goes to "Novae Terrae" founded in 1936.
"N. T." would publish the young Arthur C. Clarke, and William F. Temple - not forgetting to mentioning such British notables as Ted Carnell, D. R. Smith, Eric C. Williams, S. Youd, and young American Claire Beck brings news from back home that the Science Fiction tales of the late Howard Phillips Lovecraft (HPL had died in March of 1937) published in "Astounding" "...were shortened by more than two-thousand words"...with an additional page of commentary on Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.

A very good copy with a small moisture stain in upper right-hand corner.

Tolkein & George Barr

2008-09-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

A poignant lament over the passing of Tolkein.
Great George Barr Illustration.

Rare Copies of 1956 World Science Fiction Society Publications

2008-09-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Two copies of The Journal Of The World Science Fiction Society from the Committee from 1956.

1946 Post-War Fantasy Fanzine (The Cosmic News-Letter)

2008-09-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

{I found these and thought they were very interesting perspectives on the post-WWII fan mentality}

_____
The Cosmic Newsletter
Edited and published weekly by James V Taurasi, 101-02 Northern Blvd., Corona, New York. 5 cents a copy, 6 issues for 25 cents. "A COSMIC PUBLICATION".
_____
Vol 1
Monday July 8, 1946
No.1
_____
Editorial:
It seems that the weekly publishing bug has a good hold on us no matter what we try to do in the "fan publishing field" we end up with a weekly. Our first, in the field, was Fantasy-News, now owned by Will Sykora. The second was getting Unger's Fantasy Fiction Field under way. We edited and publsihed the first twelve or so issues of this famous weekly. A year ago, Ray Van Houten and us, issued the weekly Fantasy-Times; the only fan magazine ever published in LeHavre, France. It was issued free to the fans in the Armed Forces and lsited for twelve issues.
Now we begin The Cosmic News-Letter, a weekly fan magazine of personal opinion, some news and interesting items. We hope it brings to you a few minutes of pleasure each week and that you will not be bashful in using these pages for your opinions and views. We'll be expecting your letters.
Frankenstein
Arrived last week from Europe, via our European editor, Ray Van Houten, the Armed Service edition of Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley. The picture story version of Frankie was recently published by Classic Comics No. 26. On the stands now is the Quarterly magazine Frankenstein No. 3. This is a cartoon magazine carring {sic} the strip that once appeared in Prize Comics.
{This was a 4 pp. 'zine}
___
The Cosmic Newsletter
The World of Tomorrow Today!
_____
Vol.1
August 5, 1946
No. 5
Five Cents
_____
Philadelphia in 1947
_____
Sergeant Satrun Grows Up
The post-war plan for the pulp science-fiction magazines is slowly beginning to take shape. The war years are over, science fiction is getting back to its high level of the pre-war years. Thrilling Wonder Stories is taking its place in this plan by clearing up its trash in the Reader Speaks. Ever since Oscar J. Friend, back in 1940 turned the serious reader's column into the biggest joke of science fiction, the readers and fans of Wonder and Startling Stories have had to wade thru left over bottles of Xono and droolings of so called Sgt. Saturn in order to read the letters. When the younger fans began writing in letters as gooey as the Sgt's answers, most of us gave up reading the column. When Sam Merwin, Jr. took over, he added on the goo a little thicker which more than undone all the improvements he made in his selection of stories. At the First Post War Science Fiction Convention, Merwin saw how the fans felt about Sgt. Saturn when a motion was passed to give him a discharge.

1961 Lin Carter Letter

2008-09-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hannes Bok = Box 137 = Cathedral Station = New York 25, NY = 11/16/61

Dear JEV:

I'd rather have liked to start out with, "Chanber of the Ugsome Gugglies; Hour of the Purple Swordfish; Year of the Ten Pickled Viffenyiggles", but I'm not good at it – but still get such openings via poet Lin carter's correspondence. Dannit, all my Lovecraft stuff is buried away in a mountain of cartons, so no chance to read it in over 5 years.

Re your being a cat-lover, this automatically makes you a good Joe (beg pardon, good John) and so I am woeful to have to tell you that right after cats of Ulthar tailpiece (you asked about) appeared, Mrs. Gnaedinger wheedled me into giving it to her to give to some fan (I think it was Darrell Richardson, but not sure).

Rather wish I could sales-pitch you by describing other cat-pictures I have for sale, but the truth is, I haven't any – and come to think of it, I may be missing-out on something good; every picture in which I used cats has sold almost as fast as painted. H'm, it gives me pause . .

Your name (Vetter) has been haunting me at least a dozen years. We had a family of Vetters up the block (Brothers, Phillip & John) and though I've never met them, only heard of them, their affairs somehow seem to keep intruding on mine; as for example, when fire burned them out of their apartment, WHY did I have to find Phillip's autograph-book on the stairway to the roof (where only I ever go) and HOW did it ever get there?

'Tis a puzzlement.

Thanks for your good note, and sorry I can't assist (sorry too to miss out on a sale!).

With yuggered yibbins,

Hannes

40 year old Tolkien letter found (Lin Carter?)

2008-09-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

Facts Stranger Than Fiction

Tolkien postcard found behind fireplace
Lee Glendinning
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday July 08 2008 16:26 BST

A demolition worker has discovered a postcard which was written to JRR Tolkien 40 years ago stuck behind a fireplace.
Stephen Malton, who runs Prodem Demolition in Bournemouth, was removing the fixtures from the author's former home in Poole, Dorset, before the property was demolished.
As he dismantled the carved wooden fireplace he found three postcards, the last of which was addressed to Tolkien and dated 1968.
Malton, 42, has now begun investigating how much he can sell the postcard for and said a collector in Belgium had offered $US500,000 (£253,186) for the card and the fireplace.
He said: "I've been in demolition most of my life. I have been doing this for 15 years, my father did it for 40 years before me.
"All of a sudden for this to land in your lap is just quite unbelievable."
The postcard is addressed to the author at the Miramar Hotel, Bournemouth, where he and his wife Edith spent many of their holidays.
It is signed Lin, which some have speculated could be fantasy author Lin Carter, who wrote A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings, published in 1969.
The postcard focuses on the landscape in Ireland, describing hedgerows along with walking and driving in the countryside.
It reads: "I have been thinking of you a lot and hope everything has gone as well as could be expected in the most difficult circumstances."
Tolkien moved to Oxford in 1972 after his wife died and sold the Dorset house for £23,000 to Stephen Frankel who put it on the market for £1m in 2006.
Developers bought the bungalow and secured planning permission to replace it with two four-bedroom family homes, which upset many of the author's fans.
Malton said he was hoping to sell the fireplace, postcard, a bronze fairy and stone gryphon which were found in the garden, at auction at a later date, but still could not believe his luck.
"You could have knocked me down with a feather," he said. "To find something with the Tolkien name on it is quite amazing. We have looked under the floors, if we find a Hobbit, that will be the icing on the cake."

Carl Jacobi & Clark Ashton Smith (1936)

2008-09-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

The seller states: "Dear Friend Smith" - Signed original letter from Carl Jacobi to Clark Ashton Smith Friendly and interesting letter from "Weird Tales" - Arkham House author to fellow "Weird Tales" - Arkham House author! Carl Jacobi thanks Smith for recommending a lawyer, enabling Jacobi to recover from Hugo Gernsback the author's fees due him. Jacobi also notes other markets he's sold to and recommends to CAS. And the author closes - "I'd like to hear from you" and is signed "Jacobi". The nifty illustration is unsigned but I believe it is the work of Vincent Napoli; I'll continue digging and see if I can verify the artist. Letters between "Weird Tales" authors is not common!

Clark Ashton Smith Edited Typescript

2008-09-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

The seller states: "SONG" - "Ah, let us not remember..." Signed original poetry manuscript by Clark Ashton Smith Hippocampus Press has just issued a three-volume set of "The Complete Poetry & Translations" by Clark Ashton Smith - surely the most important CAS event since the publication of "Selected Poems" by Arkham House in 1971 and I urge you all go get your copy as the printing is extremely limited! To celebrate this remarkable publication I am offering another signed poetry manuscript by Clark Ashton Smith, simply entitled "Song". I am unable to fine this particular sonnet in Donald Sidney-Fryer's bibliography, this no doubt was probabl a working title and must've been rewritten and published in a different version; I will continue researching and will fill you all in. For the nonce anyway, the half-page poem contains one word change in the author's hand, and is signed in full "Clark Ashton Smith East Auburn, Cal."

Lin Carter Drafted! Plus Roy Squires and Illustrator Roy Hunt

2008-09-03T00:11:00.000-07:00

_____

Howdy podner: Feb FA {February 1951 Vol. 4 #6 Fantasy Advertiser} came, and pretty good it is, even without any of my articles or pix (this is a subtle hint). Coblentz had a middlin' interesting article: he should have given examples. I rather liked Clarke's long, rambling essay. - - cover this issue not-so-hot. This is Roy Hunt? Ghaa. Nothing to it, nothing new, fresh, original, just a f*cking comet moving by something-or-other. Let's see Grossman or somebody. Neil Austin. --Aristrom's pic on pg. 8 veddy {sic} good. -- Are you sure that double-spread out on pgs 17-18 isn't a set for Destination You-kno-What? Looks muchly like it, but according to what I understand, it's something from Galactic Pat. -- NEWS ITEM: I is jest been drafted. Report for physical Feb. 9th. Louses up my plans for my fanzine, but hope to have my first privately-pubbed collection of poems out before I go. will have an advert for you soon. How much is a full-pager, six$? Nice ish {issue}.

Lin Carter.
_____

The seller (Terrence McVicker) states: "Howdy podner: _ _ _ _"
Original Signed Postcard from Lin Carter to Roy Squires, editor of "The Fantasy Advertiser", posted "Jan, 31, 1951"

Before becoming a much published author and editor in the field of Fantasy, Lin Carter was an enthusiastic fan and collector. Roy Squires - publisher and friend to Ray Bradbury and Clark Ashton Smith, was at this time editing and publishing the much admired magazine devoted to collecting Fantasy and Science Fiction literature, entitled "The Fantasy Advertiser" which later became "The Science Fiction Advertiser" . Lin Carter was contributing articles to "TFA" and comments "FA came today and pretty good it is even without any of my articles or pix" (this is a subtle hint)"...Carter comments on various authors and artists - Arthur C. Clarke, Jon Arfstrom (Weird Tales artist) Roy Hunt (another artist) Neil Austin (artist) and in the wake of this enthusiasm notes...'NEWS ITEM: I is jest been drafted. Report for physical Feb 9th. Louses up my plans for my fanzine..." A lighthearted little card with good banter.

Signed in full "Lin Carter"
_____
As to the Fantasy Advertiser:
36 pages, cover is by Roy Hunt with highlights:
AE Van Vogt - The House That Stood Still , Aleandre Dumas - The Wolf Leader , and others
Stanton Coblentz - The Older Science Fiction Magazines
Arthur C Clarke - Space Travel In Science Fiction
Bob Silverberg - The Antiquarian Bookshelf

Henry Eichner

2008-09-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Henry M. Eichner (1909 - 1971) was an American medical artist, illustrator and writer. His nonfiction book on Atlantis, Atlantean Chronicles, was published by Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. in 1971.
_____

In Tarzan Alive By Philip Jose Farmer, Win Scott Eckert, Mike Resnick: Henry Eichner gave some valuable Atlantean data. (p. lxxvii).

MARCH 1945 / THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 13 Number 3

2008-09-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

The MARCH 1945 issue of the fanzine THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 13 Number 3, edited and published by Donald A. WOLLHEIM (Forest Hills, NY.), featuring:
The Purchase of the Crame (part 2 of 2/conclusion, by Cyril KORNBLUTH) Communique (verse, by John B. MICHEL)
A NEAR FINE-FINE copy. Digest-sized. 4 pages.

JULY-AUGUST 1945 / THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 14 Number 4

2008-08-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

The JULY-AUGUST 1945 issue of the fanzine THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 14 Number 4, edited and published by Donald A. WOLLHEIM, featuring:
Invitation (verse, by Roy St. John LECLAIRE) Germs (verse) After Reading Hegel (verse) I Dream’d in a Dream (verse, by Walt WHITMAN) Proverbs from the Dawnish Warning (verse, by John MICHEL
A NEAR FINE-FINE copy. Digest-sized. 4 pages.

JANUARY 1945 / THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 13 Number 1

2008-08-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

The JANUARY 1945 (Edgar Allan Poe) issue of the fanzine THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 13 Number 1, edited and published by Donald A. WOLLHEIM (Forest Hills, NY.), featuring:
Shadow—A Parable (by Edgar Allan POE)
“In memoriam PAUL FREEHAFER of Polaris
A NEAR FINE-FINE copy. Digest-sized. 4 pages.

JANUARY 1945 / THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 13 Number 1

2008-08-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

The JANUARY 1945 (Edgar Allan Poe) issue of the fanzine THE PHANTAGRAPH, Volume 13 Number 1, edited and published by Donald A. WOLLHEIM (Forest Hills, NY.), featuring: Shadowâ / A Parable (by Edgar Allan POE) / In memoriam PAUL FREEHAFER of Polaris A NEAR FINE-FINE copy. Digest-sized. 4 pages.

Fantasy Review Dec 1948, Jan 1949

2008-08-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Review Vol III No 15 Summer 1949

2008-08-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Review Vol III No 15 Summer 1949
EXTENSION In discussing the disproportionate production costs which hamper any publishing venture catering for a limited circle of readers, Mr. August Derleth. editor and publisher of the Arkham Sampler, announces the imminent. suspension of that valuable periodical. Which prompts us to point out that, had it been launched as a profit-making proposition. Fantasy Review would long since have given up the struggle. Only the continued support of its advertisers — which made it possible in the first place — has enabled it to survive and encouraged by the tangible enthusiasm of its comparatively small number at subscribers develop into something more substantial than it was in itsfirst two years of life.
The letters we have published since its enlargement give evidence of the desire of its readers for more frequent. Publication: and we wish we were in a position to respond to this demand. Instead of which, due to production difficulties which we are powerless to resolve at present, we have to announce that it becomes necessary foe us to issue Fantasy Review at quarterly intervals, as a temporary measure. Only thus can we contrive to maintain both the standard of contents and regularity of appearance which have made its reputation, and at the same time embark on the further development which is essential to its progress in other respects.
At first sight., this might seem a retrogressive step. But although subscribers must now wait longer for each Issue, they will soon be aware of the improvements which the less frequent publishing schedule will permit us to introduce as from the next. (Autumn, ‘49) issue, which will see a modification in the title of this journal the better so convey the greater scope of its articles and features, With the subsequent issue, we intend to add still more pages to the magazine, without any alteration in the price or the subscription rate, except insofar as this will now be based on publication of four issues a year. the period of existing subscriptions being extended accordingly.
You will help to ensure the restitution of the bi-monthly schedule, which we shall resume at the earliest opportunity, if you can persuade a friend of the value of placing a subscription at the reduced rate immediately. For as soon as we are assured of the maximum circulation we can expect — and it is all the time increasing, if slowly — we can establish Fantasy Review on a basis sound enough to ensure its future unequivocally.
The Editor

Stev Fabian Art

2008-08-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

FANTASY ADVERTISER-3/1948 PULP FANZINE

2008-08-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

FANTASY ADVERTISER-3/1948-PULP FANZINE

Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster (1933)

2008-08-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

SCIENCE FICTION FANZINE #4 includes the concept of SUPERMAN 1933
Starting bid: $3,499.99
Issue: V.1 #4Year: 1933

The seller states: Very Rare Fanzine produced by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster when they were a couple of young Science Fiction fans in Cleveland, OH. Their concept for Superman first appeared in the third issue of this title. This issue features King Kong and the 1933 World's Fair. This is a mimeo fanzine that originally had about 50 - 100 copies printed. Overall there were 5 issues produced. A decade ago the set of 5 (in heavily restored condition) sold at auction for almost $20,000. In over 4 decades of collecting this is the only copy of any of the issues that we have had. Obviously not many copies have survived the 75 years since they were printed. this copy is in VG condition with slightly rusty staples. The mimeo quality is a bit fuzzy on a couple of pages. This was published by young kids and is a cornerstone of science fiction and comic book history.

August Derleth in 1950

2008-08-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

Great Art!
_____

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Published by Fantasy House Inc.
Fall 1950
Vol. 1 no. 4
Cover illustration by George Salter
authors: Bill Brown, August Derleth, Roger Angell, James S. Hart, C.M. Kornbluth, Phyllis Lee Peterson, Charles Harness, G. Whitley, D. Grinnell, H. Schoenfeld, H. Nearing Jr.
128 pages

Fantasy Review Aug-Sept 1948

2008-08-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Review of Jun-Jul 1948

2008-08-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

L Sprague de Camp (1950)

2008-08-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

Fanscient No. 13,14 1950

In the last couple of years, a host of new friends have joined his many old ones to rejoice in the return to the fantasy field of L Sprague de Camp, author of many of the most enjoyable stories in the science-fiction realm.

One of the mainstays of Unknown Worlds in its heyday, he has else appeared .notably in ASF {Astounding Science Fiction} and a number of other magazines with a number of their most memorable stories and articles. Few who have read them will forget such stories as “None but Lucifer” (on which he collaborated with H. L. Gold) and “The Undesired Princess” or such articles as “Language for Time Travelers”.

In addition to his fantasy writing, Mr. de Camp has aided in popularizing various branches of science thru his articles in some two dozen different magazines, both popular and scholarly. He. has also sold many book reviews and radio scripts, has done ghost writing and is the author of two textbooks, “Inventions and Their Management” (with Alfred K. Berle, International Textbook Co., Scranton. 1937) and “The Evolution of Naval Weapons.” (U. S. Government, 1947). Mr. de Camp also lectures professionally.

Mr. de Camp is best known for his humorous stories. Many of the more recent ones are set in a background that includes the
planet Krishna, site of his .recent ASF serial, "The Hand of Zei". As for his plans for the future, we’ll let Mr. de Camp tell you about
them. —The Editor

I was born in New York City forty-odd years ago and educated in various parts of the country, but more in Southern California than anywhere else. In 1933 I found myself with degrees in aeronautical engineering and in economics in a time when engineers were still being fired faster than they were being hired. I had worked at various odd jobs in between— saw-mill hand, chainman on a surveying crow, and draftsman, for instance— and had travelled in North America, Europe and Asia. So when a man offered me a job as editor and (I suppose you’d call it) consulting patent engineer I grabbed it.
For the next five years I held several such jobs with publishing and educational institutions. For a year I was principal of the School of Inventing and Patenting of the International Correspondence Schools. In addition to the publicity, textbook and trade-journal writing that comprised part of my jobs I started on fiction in 1936.

My first efforts were a short story, “The Hairless Ones Come”, (which appeared in a now defunct magazine of historical adventure stories, GOLDEN FLEECE) and a novel, “Genus Homo”, in collaboration with P. Schuyler Miller and recently published in book form.

When I saw that first check, my reaction was: This certainly beats working; why hasn’t somebody told as about it before. Hence in 1938 I quit editing for full-time freelance writing, and except for the war years have been at it ever since.. With the sale of “The Command” (the first Johnny Black story) I found I could make money being funny, which neither I nor my friends would have suspected, as in private life I'm a ratter serious gent. In fact my admirers have called as a stuffed shirt, and not altogether without reason.

During World War II I was first a civilian engineer for the U.S. Navy and then an officer (Lt., Lt. Comdr.) in the Naval Reserve. My work was what in romantic moments I call being a mad scientist inventing secret weapons, which gives no idea ef the paperwork and frustration involved in the process. Bob Heinlein and Isaac Asimov worked in the sane place as technical civil—service employees, though it is not true (as a writer for the late Philadelphia Record asserted) that we three were put to work on a space-suit project and made a hash of it. The nearest any of us get to space-suits was that at various times I had charge of the laboratory's cold-room end altitude chamber in which pressure suits were sometimes tested.

Since then I’ve gone back to turning out copy at an average rate of a quarter-million words a year, nearly all or which I sell. In 1939 I married a beautiful blonde named Catherine Crooke. Eleven years later we’re still married and have a red-haired nine— year-old son who shows every sign of becoming a science-fiction fan. We own a house in Wallingford, Pennsylvania (a Philadelphia suburb between Swarthmore and Media) and cope with crab-grass, contractors and cocktail parties like other bourgeois suburbanites.

I wouldn’t say that I had any special hobbies, but I have betimes gone in for many games, sports and hobies, not so much as ends in themselves as to expand my own experiences to use in my writing. Thus one year I say be taking up Spanish, the next shorthand and the next square-dancing, As a result I can do quite a let of things more or less badly; fencing, archery, horseback riding, home photography and sign-painting, for instance. In case anybody is planning a pass at Catherine. I’m a passably good shot with almost any kind of hand firearm. I'm active in several clubs and societies, mostly of a literary nature; and travel when I get the change. Right now I'm polishing my French for a hoped-for visit to Europe en famille next year.

I read a lot, sometimes for fun and sometimes in connection with my work. In the last year I’ve read a let of hard-cover science- fiction and fantasy stories; a few detective stories; about twenty lost-continent novels (by Ashton, Birkmaier, Bond, Cox &c.); some prophetic l9th century science-fiction novels (by Donnelly, Bellamy, Wells, &c.); in Classical literature, parts of Aristophanes, Pausanias, Plutarch, Polybius, Thucydides, and Xenophon; and thirty-odd other non-fiction books such as Abu'1 Fida's "Geographie d’Aboulfeda"; Bok, "The Milky Way"; Bonestell & Ley, "The Conquest of Space"; Brown, "The Story of Maps"; Butler, "The Myth of the Magus"; Chatterton, "Sailing Ships"; Davis, "A Day in Old Athens"; Dixon, "The Building of Cultures"; Duncan, "Astronomy"; Durant, "The Life of Greece"; Pratt, "The Third King"; Thevenin, "Les Pays Legendaires"; Thompson, "Studies in the Odyssey"; &c., &c. At the moment I'm deep in Perkins’ "Elements of Police Science”. I also read regularly about 26 magazines (half of them science-fiction) and two newspapers.

I work about 60 hours a week and belong to the careful, systematic school of writers who meticulously outline everything before starting and rewrite it at least once after it’s done. It takes me anywhere up to six weeks to plot a novel, but on final draft I turn out thirty or more pages a day. One of my little tricks is that when I lay a story in an imaginary setting (like Krishna) I invent a language for it with logical grammar and phonetics. Being a pretty good amateur phonetician, I base the phonetics of my language on that of a real language. Hence, Gozashtandou is a kind of pig-Persian, and Avtinyk (in “Rogue Queen”) a kind of pig-Welsh. I have made very little use of pseudonyms because my own name sounds more like a literary pseudonym than most pseudonyms do.

I keep branching out, trying new things, trying to break into new markets, trying to learn more about writing technique, on the theory that competition. is getting tougher all the time and a writer who stands still will find himself stranded. Sometimes my experiments work and sometimes they don’t. My writing has been influenced by too many people to list, but I might mention Burroughs, Dunsany, Addison, Thorne Smith and Wodehoose. I also learned a lot from the Bread Loaf Conference, where I was a fellow in 1941 and which I have revisited since.

My attitude toward ay profession is frankly commercial. I write primarily to make a living and secondarily because I like writing and like to be self-employed and to work by myself. I don’t mean that I am an unprincipled scoundrel who will do anything for money; but I know of no reason why writers haven't as much right to eat as other people. On the other hand I wouldn’t advise anybody to go into the field unless he has a pretty strong urge; it’s a tough racket, and while it has great compensations it also entails great frustrations and disappointments. 1've had my share of both sucesses and failures, and at that I've gotten off easily compared to some people.

Perhaps you’d like to know what I have in the works. Any time now the Fantasy Publishing Co. should bring out my old novel, “The Undesired Princess”. then about January Prime Press will publish my non-fiction book, “Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science and Literature”. This is 90,000 words of text and 20,000 of appendices and other end matter, and excerpts have appeared in my recent articles in ASF and GSF {Galaxy Science Fiction}. After that, Doubleday will publish another novel, ‘Rogue Queen”, which is told from the viewpoint of a female e. t. and is all about 1ove.. Willy Ley and I are collaborating on a non-fiction book about geographical legends (Sinbad, Prester John, &c.),and I'm. working on stories of various lengths including two book-length novels (at least one of which will probably be published in 1951) and one collaboration with Fletcher Pratt. I'm also revising Berle’s and my old textbook on inventions and patents for its third edition. While I don't know if there will be anymore Krishna magazine serials, I may, if sufficiently encouraged by readers, write more. Krishna novels as book originals; I should like to make an endless series of these a la Tarzan.

So, you see, I keep busy, which is how I like it.

-L. Sprague de Camp.

Fantasy Review Aug-Sep 1949

2008-08-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Review Jun-Jul 1949

2008-08-17T00:01:00.000-07:00