THE BOILING POINT
Only the hottest of controversies will be printed in this column—radical arguments that will bring your blood to 'The Boiling Point.' We start this department off by presenting one of the most blasphemous articles it has been our pleasure to read. It is by Forrest J. Ackerman, and he calls it
'A Quarrel With Clark Ashton Smith'
No doubt this will be the commencement of a lively discussion between the readers. It is the editor's intention to print the most interesting arguments on both sides of the case. I have this to say: it seems to me that Wonder Stories is going far afield when it takes such a horror story as Mr. Smith's "Dweller in Martian Depths" and, because it is laid on the Red Planet, prints it in a magazine of scientific fiction. Frankly, I could not find one redeeming feature about the story. Of course, everything doesn't have to have a moral. The thrilling scientifilm, "King Kong," for instance, has no moral to it—except, perhaps, to be careful of Fay Wray, if you are a great prehistoric ape—but it has a point, at least: to interest. And "Dweller in Martian Depths" didn't interest me. I don't know, maybe it did others. But it disappointed me very greatly to find it in a stf publication. In Weird Tales, all right. I don't like that type of story, I wouldn't read it there. I fail to find anything worth-while in an endless procession of ethereal lites, phantastic visions, ultra-mundane life, exotic paradises, airy vegetation, whispering flutes, ghastly plants, and dirge-like horrors. May the ink dry up in the pen from which they flow! Or, at least, Mr. Smith, direct those tales elsewhere—NOT to a stf publication, because I do like your science fiction like "Master of the Asteroid" and "Flight into Super Time." But 'stuff' like "The Light From Beyond"….
Well, let's hear from someone in favor.
(Make "The Boiling Point" boil you indignant fans. Don't let this guy Ackerman get away with it. Your replies will be published in this department. We would especially appreciate a reply from Mr. Smith himself in defense of his stories.)
You may have the mistaken idea that "The Fantasy Fan" and the "Science Fiction Digest" are in competition. The truth is that they are not. We are working together, and it is our mutual opinion that TFF and SFD each fill a separate niche in the fantasy field. Every active fan will want both magazines. See the SFD ad in this issue. You won't want to miss COSMOS, and the other SFD features.
SCIENCE FICTION IN ENGLISH MAGAZINES
by Bob Tucker