I seemed at the sheer end:
Albeit mine eyes, in mystery and night
Shrouded as with the thick profundity of death,
Or as if underneath Lethean lentors drowned,
Saw never lamp nor star nor dead star's wraith of light,
Yet seemed I at the world's sheer end;
And fearfully and slowly I drew breath
From silent gulfs of all uncertainty and dread,
Precipitate to Nadir from around;
Nor trusted I on any side to tread
One pace, lest I should overstep the brink
And infinitely and forever sink
Past eye-shot of the Cyclopean sun,
When from the bulwark of the world adown oblivion,
He on the morrow should stare after me.
Swift from infinity,
The black, unformed, enormous Fear that lives between the stars,
Clutched with the cold, great darkness at my heart.
Then from the gulf arose a whispering,
And rustle as of Silence on the wing,
To stay and stand
Anear at my right hand:
What Powers abysmal, born o' the blind black air,
What nameless demons of the nether deep
That 'scape the sun and from the moonlight live apart,
Came and conspired against me there
I heard not, ere the whispering
Ceased, and a heavier darkness seemed to spring
Upon me, and I felt the silence leap
And clasp me closer, and the sweep
Of all the abyss reach up and drag
Body and feet from the crumbling uttermost crag
To the plumb and infinite emptiness unknown:
Nor knew I, in tumult of the rapid air,
If me did Azrael or Abaddon bear,
Or if I fell alone.
HOW TO COLLECT FANTASY FICTION
by Julius Schwartz
Part Three
Volume one number one of Mind Magic, a magazine dealing with the occult, was June, 1931. It lasted until the end of the year, December, 1931 issue. (The last two issues were published under the title of My Self Magazine.) Another science fiction magazine, Miracle, Science and Fantasy Stories, disappeared after issuing two numbers, the April-May and June-July, 1931. The same publisher of this magazine, Harry Hershey, printed some good fantasies in Ghost Stories. Exact dates of this magazine are unknown to the writer, but the magazine gave up its ghost sometime in 1932.
Hugo Gernsback, editor of Wonder Stories, put out two magazines that expired within a year. The first, Air Wonder Stories (July, 1929 to May, 1930) dealt with aviation of the future, mostly. It combined with Science and Wonder Stories in June, 1930 to form the present Wonder Stories. The other, Scientific Detective Monthly, appeared in January, 1930, and after changing its name to Amazing Detective Tales in June collapsed with the October, 1930 issue.
Oriental Stories, companion magazine to Weird Tales, burst forth on the stands September 15, 1930. Some excellent weird and oriental tales made their appearance in this magazine, which afterwards, in January, 1933, became Magic Carpet. Black Cat magazine (published around 1924) had some weird and scientifiction stories. These issues are particularly hard to obtain.
CLUB NEWS
The Fantasy Fan Fraternity, announced in our September issue, is now well under way, with members in nine different states. The purpose of the organization is to foster fellowship among science-fiction fans by means of correspondence, or where possible, by personal contact in local groups or chapters.