In my shame and despair I sometimes scream frantically, begging the dream-creatures around me to waken me ere the Inutos steal up the pass behind the peak Noton and take the citadel by surprise; but these creatures are daemons, for they laugh at me and tell me I am not dreaming. They mock me whilst I sleep, and whilst the squat yellow foe may be creeping silently upon us. I have failed in my duty and betrayed the marble city of Olathoe; I have proven false to Alos, my friend and commander. But still these shadows of my dreams deride me. They say there is no land of Lomar, save in my nocturnal imaginings; that in those realms where the Pole Star shines high, and red Aldebaran crawls low around the horizon, there has been naught save ice and snow for thousands of years, and never a man save squat, yellow creatures, blighted by the cold, whom they call "Esquimaux."
And as I writhe in my guilty agony, frantic to save the city whose peril every moment grows, and vainly striving to shake off this unnatural dream of a house of stone and brick south of a sinister swamp and a cemetery on a low hillock; the Pole Star, evil and monstrous, leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey.
Watch for another story by H. P. Lovecraft in an early issue.
FACTS AND PROPHECY
W. A. Conrad, assistant professor in mathematics at the United States Naval Academy, says that a trip to the moon in a rocket is possible. According to him, it would cost as much as two battleships—$100,000,000, but it would be worth it. The biggest obstacle to overcome would be the fuel problem, he declares. It would take a huge amount of oxygen to make the trip. Other problems would be dodging meteors and overcoming the falling-in-an-elevator feeling. He likens the benefits derived from such a voyage, to those derived from Columbus' trip across the Atlantic.
During the National Inventor's Congress in Cleveland, September 5 to 9, Arthur Shenderlein, of Oakland, California, exhibited a motor which he claims will carry passengers to Mars, or any other planet in record time. He declared his motor will go 100,000 miles without gasoline.
HOWLS FROM THE ETHER
by The Spacehound
Some copies of the August, 1929, Amazing Stories contained "Out of the Void" printed twice and "The Grim Inheritance" omitted. This happens every so often in the binding of magazines, when one of the several sections is left out and two of another inserted. In the above case, this means that several issues of the magazine contained no "Out of the Void," and two copies of "The Grim Inheritance"…. Voltaire's "Micromégas" is an excellent interplanetary story concerning a Sirian's visit to Saturn and Earth…. In the days of "Science Fiction" (the pamphlet mimeographed in Cleveland), Hugh Langley was the pseudonym for the joint efforts of Jerome Siegel and Bernard Kenton…. P. S. Miller mentions working on his "Arrhenius Horror" in an early 1930 mag…. "Desolation's War", an excellent science fiction tale was in Top-Notch a short while ago. They present stories of this type at odd intervals…. Roy Rockwood's "Great Miracle" series have been reissued…. An English newspaper runs science fiction regularly. Roy's "Prince of Atlantis," while a stf classic is also a subtle treatise on sociology…. Radio Guild carried an illustrated feature on Buck Rogers…. The December 1932 Happy Hours Magazine carried an editorial on "Science Fiction in the Dime Novels," by Ralph P. Smith…. O. O. Mclntyre and Philip Wylie are good friends…. In regards to the question in the August 1932 Time Traveller, "The Nth Man," by Homer Eon Flint, was written especially for the Amazing Quarterly…. The Doc Savage magazine is running a number of good adventure fantasies. Recent issues have had "The Land of Terror," and a tale of adventure at the North Pole among several others, including one about super-gangs attempting to conquer a nation…. And keep an eye on Thrilling Adventure and the new companion mag to Nickel Detective…. Austin Hall had a humorous western in a recent Argosy…. You cover fans keep an eye on the fine work Paul is doing for Science and Mechanics, the sister magazine of Wonder Stories…. One of H. G. Wells' latest contributions is "Love on Mars" in a romance magazine…. "Conflict," a new magazine issued by the Central Pub. Co. at the old Miracle Stories address, will use "weird adventure stories"…. R. F. Starzl had a review of the science fiction market in the Author and Journalist over two years ago…. The staff of the Dallas Journal serialized the first chapter of Burroughs' "A Fighting Man of Mars" over WFAA last June…. Edison's last work is said to have been on a machine to communicate with the dead…. Your scribe is No. 1 in the Jules Verne Prize Club…. Two recent radio fantasies are "The Man with the Golden Head" and Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"…. An excellent satire on interplanetary stories ran through the comic sheets of the AP newspapers, which showed Sappo and Professor Whattasnozzle going through adventures on Man and Venus…. A vote taken in the early days of Amazing Stories showed 32,644 in favor of a bi-weekly publication, and 498 who thought otherwise…. Edgar Wallace's "The Fourth Plague" is a good scientific mystery novel.