Various

“ And in the darkest depth of the ravine, Sir John and his followers met a solitary jackal, which fled them not in the manner of its kind but passed them with leisurely pace and bespoke them with articulate words, in a voice hollow and sepulchral as that of a demon, bidding them to turn back, since the land before them was an interdicted realm. All were much startled thereat, considering that this was indeed a thing of enchantment, for a jackal to speak thus, and being against nature, was fore-ominous of ill and peril. And the Armenians cried out, saying they would go no further ”

“ And aside from those which were like ghouls or goblins, there were others having the features of heathen idols, uncouth and hideous to behold; and others still that were like the worm-gnawed visages of the dead; and these also appeared to repeat themselves on every hand in a doubtful and wildering fashion.
The Armenians would have turned back, for they swore that the rocks were alive and endowed with motion, in a land where naught else was living; and they sought to dissuade Sir John from his project. But he said merely, "Follow me, an ye will," and rode onward among the rocks and pinnacles. ”

“ Appalled by the clamor of his heart, and affrighted by the thing which lay in perpetual silence beside him, and whelmed by the awesomeness and dire necromancy of all that had befallen him, Sir John was prone to despair, and scant was his hope of returning from that imprisonment amid the dead, or of standing once more under the sun as a living man. ”

“ The earthly ties that hold me mentally and morally to a workaday existence, are hypnotically rent asunder by a mesmerism born of steely sharp concentration. Thus do I thrill—quake—and shudder with the delightful ecstasy of bizarre adventure through the awful expanse of the inconceivably terrible unknown universe, and I love it. ”

“ Man's first instincts and emotions form his response to the environment in which he found himself. Definite feelings based on pleasure and pain grew up around the phenomena whose causes and effects he understood, whilst around those which he did not understand—and the universe teemed with them in the early days—were naturally woven such personifications, marvelous interpretations, and sensations of awe and fear as would be hit upon by a race having few and simple ideas and limited experience. ”

“ The rashness and folly thou hast shown in thus coming here is verily most egregious; since thou wert warned by the peoples of Abchaz, and warned anew by the jackal and the viper which thou didst meet on the road into Antchar. Thy temerity hath earned a condign punishment. And before I suffer thee to go hence, I decree that thou shalt lie for a term among the dead, and dwell as they dwell, in a dark sepulcher, and learn the manner of their abiding and the things which none should behold with living eyes. ”

“ What England needs is a good science fiction mag. The present ones are thrilling, but small and cheap. They have swell titles, but often the story falls short. On the other hand, that's an old American custom. Believe it or not, but just 653210987600 stories have been written under the title "The End of the World"! (Editor's note: Mr. Tucker, I think you exaggerate. I haven't seen half that many.) . And if you scientifictionists want some darned good arguments over anything scientific, just give this fellow a line: Dennis Gilbert Smith, 521 Bearwood Road, Smeethwick, Staffs., England. ”

“ The occult, the fantastic, have always held me with supreme, almost unholy, fascination. I have found that by constant practice, an all-excluding, all-consuming concentration bonds stronger than the strongest steel to all dismally horrible tales of the supernatural. ”

“ This tale was suggested by the reading of "The Voyages and Travels of Sir John Maundeville," in which the fantastic realm of Abchaz and the darkness covered province of Hanyson are actually described! I recommend this colourful fourteenth-century book to lovers of fantasy. Sir John even tells, in one chapter, how diamonds propagate themselves! Truly, the world was a wonderful place in those times, when almost everyone believed in the verity of such marvels. ”

“ The most noticeable one, of course, is the fact that there are almost twice as many pages as in the September copy. But our improvements do not end there—not by a long shot. Not only has the circulation been doubled, but we have a new policy. Starting with this issue, we will present a story every month (maybe more than one) by Clark Ashton Smith, H. P. Lovecraft, August W. Derleth, and other top-notchers in the field of weird fiction. You science-fiction fans are probably wondering by the import of the last sentence why we will not print science-fiction. ”

“ Since horror and weirdness are integral elements of life (as is well known to those who have delved beneath the surface) and since, in all likelihood, the major portion of the universe is quite unearthly, I fail to understand the process of logic or syllogism by which he has arrived at this truly amazing proscription. ”

“ Tucker will be a more or less constant contributor to 'The Fantasy Fan' with information regarding stories in the English magazines.
"I have only one fault to find with the first number of 'The Fantasy Fan' and that's Forrest J. Ackerman. Can't you get along without him? Isn't it bad enough to find his letters appearing in all of the other magazines without having to endure more of him in 'The Fantasy Fan?' Maybe he is the most active science fiction fan, but I wish he would confine his activities to California. ”

“ That saturation must, as a matter of plain scientific fact, be regarded as virtually permanent so far as the subconscious mind and inner instincts are concerned; for though the area of the unknown has been steadily contracting for thousands of years, an infinite reservoir of mystery still engulfs most of the outer cosmos, whilst a vast residuum of powerful inherited associations clings around all the objects and processes that were once mysterious, however well they may now be explained. ”

“ It is only fair that Mr. Smith himself should have the first blow against Mr. Ackerman's argument, in defense of his own stories. He calls his defense "Horror, Fantasy and Science."
"Mr. Ackerman's fervent and ebullient denunciation of my stories, followed by Editor Hornig's invitation to join the melee, is not to be resisted.
"I infer that Forrest J. Ackerman considers horror, weirdness and unearthliness beyond the bounds of science or science or science fiction. ”

“ Fantasy Fans may be interested to know some of the forthcoming fantastic and weird stories scheduled for publication in Argosy, which has always featured this type of fiction. In the November 4th issue, Ray Cummings has a novelette, "Terror of the Unseen," in which a criminal scientist masters the secret of electrical invisibility and throws a great city into chaos. It is an exciting piece of science fiction complete in this issue. ”

“ Now we have to contend with real difficulties. We're going to trail down fantasy stories that were published in magazines no longer sold at newsstands! Chief among these defunct magazines is Astounding Stories, Strange Tales, and Wonder Stories Quarterly. (More details are needed with these out-of-print magazines, so it'll be given whenever definite information is known concerning them.) This periodical (Astounding Stories) , a science fiction magazine, first appeared on the newsstands with its January, 1930 issue and was discontinued but a short time ago, in March 1933. ”

“ But the sensitive are always with us, and sometimes a curious streak of fancy invades an obscure corner of the very hardest head; so that no amount of rationalism, reform, or Freudian analysis can quite annul the thrill of the chimney-corner whisper of the lonely wood. ”

“ The mere fact that a few helpless ray-projectors, heroine consisting mainly of lipstick and legs, and a dastardly villain, are not dragged in by the nape of their respective necks certainly does nothing to impair the excellence of his dulcet prose, but rather it an agreeable relief. ”

“ The peasants of the nearby village know not whence it came nor why 'tis there, and wisely avoid it when the moon is on the wane. Few dare visit the colourful forest of evil or the treacherous river, for strange and unholy things dwell therein. ”

“ Relatively few are free enough from the spell of daily routine to respond to rappings from outside, and tales of ordinary feelings and events, or of common sentimental distortions of such feelings and events, will always take first place in the taste of the majority ”

“ The unknown, being likewise the unpredictable, became for our primitive forefathers a terrible and omnipotent source of boons and calamities visited upon mankind for cryptic and wholly extra-terrestrial reasons, and thus clearly belonged to a sphere of existence whereof we know nothing and wherein we have no part. ”

“ The phenomenon of dreaming likewise helped to build up the notion of an unreal or spiritual world; and in general, all the conditions of savage dawn-life so strongly conduced to a feeling of the supernatural, that we need not wonder at the thoroughness with which man's very hereditary essence has become saturated with religion and superstition. ”

“ However, as he pursued his wayfaring with the two Armenian Christians who formed his retinue, he began to hear from the inhabitants of that portion of Abchaz the rumor of an equally dread demesne, named Antchar, lying before him on the road to Georgia. The tales they told were both vague and frightful, and were of varying import: some said that this country was a desolation peopled only by the liches of the dead and by loathly phantoms; others, that it was subject to the ghouls and afrits, who devoured the dead and would suffer no living mortal to trespass upon their dominions ”

“ Against it are discharged all the shafts of a materialistic sophistication which clings to frequently felt emotions and external events, and a naively insipid idealism which deprecates the aesthetic motive and calls for a didactic literature to "uplift" the reader toward a suitable degree of smirking optimism. ”

“ And more than this, there is an actual physiological fixation of the old instincts in our nervous tissue, which would make them obscurely operative even were the conscious mind to be purged of all sources of wonder. ”

“ Smith's stories, but have read some dandies by him. Some of his stories are a good cure for sleeping sickness, I agree with Mr. Ackerman on some points in The Boiling Point, but on others—aw, phooie, Mr. Ackerman! Because I just half agree with him, I think I will stay neutral in the controversy. Best wishes to you in your new venture. I hope you double your circulation in a few months."—Oswald Train
We have made several of the improvements you mention, and will make others in good time. Do you want a contents page, fans, or would you rather have the space used for some interesting article? ”

“ The first issue is really good, but I think a great many improvements can be made. I would suggest that you use a stiff cover of some heavy paper, with a table of contents either on the front cover, as in the 'Science Fiction Digest,' or on the inside of the front cover. A better grade of paper should prove of advantage. ”

“ In what issues of Amazing Stories did the Skylark stories appear?—J. Smart
"Skylark of Space," by Edward E. Smith, Ph. D., appeared in the August, September and October 1928 issues of Amazing Stories, and its sequel, "Skylark Three" appeared in the same issues for 1930. The former story was collaborated on Lee Garby. Dr. Smith is now working on his third story in this series, which will be published in Amazing some time next year.
4. Who wrote "Cosmic Power?"—J. Sam Smart
"Cosmic Power," in the April, 1931 issue of Amazing, was by John C. Dare. ”

“ The stf alphabet is swell. Tucker's article and 'Club News' are good as are the columns. Am eagerly awaiting No. 2 issue. 'The Fantasy Fan' is filling a long-felt need and I expect it to grow and prosper. Bon voyage."—Daniel McPhail
"Got my first issue of TFF other day. Best articles were 'Science Fiction Alphabet,' 'About Authors,' and 'Conglamitorial.' I thought the whole magazine was excellent."—J. Sam Smart
"'Earthling Spurns Martian' almost sent me into a fit. ”

“ Because of lack of support, we will not present another cash prize contest, until enough readers ask for one. If we receive enough petitions, we will take great pleasure in featuring another in the near future. ”

“ The fastest writer: Arthur J. Burks. The slowest: Edward Elme Smith.... P. Schuyler Miller became a science fiction author as the result of a cover contest.... You can't call Raymond Gallun a half-pint, anyway. (How did that pun get into this column?) ... The question is still unsatisfactorily: WHO is Anthony Gilmore???... Allen Glasser's "Captives in Space" in the July, 1932 "The Time Traveller" is a rejected entry of the November, 1929 Science Wonder Stories cover contest.... Two of the titles of H. G. Winter's stories contain the word "ice," which seems quite appropriate.... ”