Well, I hope this letter will reach you safely. Remember me as a contented reader of your magazine.—Geo. Young, 447 Canning St., Nth. Carlton N. 4, Melbourne, Australia.
We Are Printing It!
Dear Editor:
It seems that you have taken a wrong slant on my letter which you published recently. True, I did give you a long list of stories which I wanted to see, but I didn't mean that you should publish only reprints, no new stories. Far from it. Instead, I'd suggest that you give us a classic, say, every six months. This arrangement ought to be okay with everyone. That's that for reprints.
About the stories and the authors, they're all right. There's one thing that I like about you that I don't find in the other Science Fiction magazines. With the very first issue you started off with the authors that are wanted by everyone who reads this type of literature. You began with Cummings, Rousseau, Meek and Leinster. Hm-m, let's see. And you're keeping up the good system by having added Vincent, Starzl, Burks, Curry, Miss Lorraine, Hamilton, etc. But you don't escape entirely unscathed, for the other magazines give us stories from authors which haven't as yet written a story which appeared in your columns. Let's see; besides the stars above, let's add to the galaxy Keller (three cheers), Breuer, Smith (his story, "The Skylark of Space," ought to have about six sequels), the late Mr. Serviss, Verrill, Poe, Wells, Verne, Flint (o-o-oh, for that "Blind Spot"), Hall, England, Hasta (one story by him is all I've read, but it only whetted my appetite), and Simmons. Oh, yes, the two Taines, the detective of Dr. Keller's and the author. But there's something missing. Hm-m—ah, A. Merritt! What a writer! How could I have forgotten him? Which reminds me of Burroughs who has been left out in the rain for quite a while. He belongs back in the fold.
Mr. Editor, do you remember way back when you said we should write in to you to tell you of the stories we want and that you would get them for us? Of course, you do. Stories and authors cannot be parted, so get those authors I've listed above and forget about the stories, for they'll all be good.
I do not kick about any particular author for the reason that if I tried to write on the same subject they picked out and are picking, my work would be pretty different from what they'd produce, and their works would be the ones that would be published. Please don't read that twice; I hope to be a contributor very soon.
In my opinion you should enlarge the size of the magazine, but for heaven's sake don't increase the departments. Every day that we read a paper we learn of what science is doing. And, at the end of the month we read the same thing in a magazine which should give us a story instead. The price is just right. But, even if the magazine were enlarged and the price boosted to a quarter, do you really think that we get enough material to devour? No! Then what? Get out a Quarterly! And please don't wait about that for the next ten years.
This is a pretty lengthy letter and I don't expect you to print it but I want you to get the views of at least one devoted reader—Isidore Mansen, 544 Myrtle Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Every Single One