April 2010

–e*I*49– (Vol. 9 No. 2) April 2010, is published and © 2010 by Earl Kemp. All rights reserved.
It is produced and distributed bi-monthly through http://efanzines.com by Bill Burns in an e-edition only.

Contents – eI49 – April 2010

…Return to sender, address unknown….39 [eI letter column], by Earl Kemp

The Anthem Series: FPCI, by Earl Terry Kemp

Back cover: “Machine Wars,” by Ditmar [Martin James Ditmar Jenssen]

TV drama, although not yet classified as fine art, has on occasion performed marvelous services for Americans who want us to be less paranoid, to be fairer and more merciful.  M.A.S.H. and Law and Order, to name only two shows, have been stunning masterpieces in that regard.
                                         -- Kurt Vonnegut, 1/27/03, "In These Times"

THIS ISSUE OF eI is in memory of William Crawford and his numerous sf publishing ventures.

In the strictly science fiction world, it is also in memory of Jim Harmon, Phil Klass and George Scithers.

#

As always, everything in this issue of eI beneath my byline is part of my in-progress rough-draft memoirs. As such, I would appreciate any corrections, revisions, extensions, anecdotes, photographs, jpegs, or what have you sent to me at earl@earlkemp.com and thank you in advance for all your help.

Bill Burns is jefe around here. If it wasn’t for him, nothing would get done. He inspires activity. He deserves some really great rewards. It is a privilege and a pleasure to have him working with me to make eI whatever it is.

Other than Bill Burns, Dave Locke, and Robert Lichtman, these are the people who made this issue of eI possible: Jacques Hamon and Earl Terry Kemp.

ARTWORK: This issue of eI features original artwork by Harry Bell and Ditmar, and recycled artwork by William Rotsler.

Change of address: Please note that emails should now be sent to earl@earlkemp.com

In this era of big brains, anything that can be done will be done – so hunker down
                    -- Kilgore Trout

…Return to sender, address unknown…. 39
The Official eI Letters to the Editor Column
Artwork recycled William Rotsler

By Earl Kemp

Wednesday February 3, 2010:

http://efanzines.com/EK/eI48/index.htm

"A Faan for All Seasons" is a fascinating look at Dick and Pat Lupoff and the panel on Edgar Rice Burroughs at the 1963 World SF Convention.

Friday February 5, 2010:

Chris Garcia:  I love Victor Banis' stuff and this is another fine piece. Victor’s stuff is great and I'm so glad I bought his book after reading about it in eI. Pretty awesome stuff.

Michael Moorcock writing Doctor Who. That’s pretty freakin' rad! I completely see his point that the Doctor is infinitely interpretible. I'd only seen a few of the first run of Doctor Who when I started going to our local Who Club, The Legion of Rasillon, and watching the new ones starting with the Ninth Doctor. Even within a single performer and writing team taking on the Doctor, they put the character through a series is dislodgings, as it were and it works beautifully. David Tennant, one of the best actors working in the English language, managed to play the Doctor as everything from an intruder with a God complex to an alien who desperately does not want to understand this thing called...love. It’s impressive. The new Doctor is pretty good, as I've seen him on a couple of episodes he appeared in of Party Animals and Diary of a Call Girl. He’s impressive.

I really wanna read Michael’s take on The Doctor. I must admit to not having read much Moorcock, but I have to say that what I've read (mostly the proto-steampunk stuff) has been really strong.

You know, I've heard of Tides of Lust, but I've never seen a copy. Delany is a writer who, when approached from one angle, is an infuriating wreck of a prose-ist and when approached from another has a greater understanding of how to spit onto the keys of a typewriter and turn out magnificent pieces of stratified meaning. I still believe that Dhalgren is the best piece of science fiction from the 1970s.

I own a copy of The Power and the Pain, though I haven't read it. I need to get around to touching those books I boxed up on my last move to the smallest apartment in Sunnyvale. In fact, I think it’s in the storage closet at my Mom’s house. I should probably get that box back before she goes poking around into it.

Lensmen is one of the most important series of novels ever written if you're a fan of video games. Steve Russell, a volunteer here at the Computer History Museum, wrote the first major computer game, SpaceWar! in 1961 for the PDP-1. He did so with a few friends of his under the influence of Toho films and the Lensmen novels. Later, there was a Lensmen game, though it was horrible. Several games have specifically tried to use ship designs influenced by Lensmen, and again, they usually fail. As, every single gamer I know loves powered sugar donuts, and that’s the area where Doc Smith did a lot of his research. So many connections!

Sadlt, save for one wonderful afternoon in the BayCon Fanzine Lounge, I've never got much chance to chat with Dick Lupoff. I ran into him at the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose back in October, but sadly he was a GoH and I was running around so much that I didn't get to talk with him much. I hear that he and Steve Stiles' The Adventure of Professor Thinwhistle & His Incredible Aetherflyer is coming back out! That makes me happy.

Monday February 15, 2010:

Charles Platt (via Harry Bell):  I just searched online and found the essay, and read it. Funny to see those old books still receiving a little attention after all these years. Sort of like Nazi memorabilia collectors reminiscing about the Third Reich, although I doubt that Professor Gertzman would like the analogy. Anyway, much appreciated.

Personally I find the analysis by David Kelso Mitchell (in a book of essays published by Savoy) to be the most unnervingly accurate piece written about my work. Dave got it all.

Monday February 22, 2010:

Lloyd Penney:  Another eI to enjoy; thank you much. Issue 48, Vol. 9, No. 1...still lots to talk about and reveal? Very good. the .pdf will be here soon, no doubt. Let’s read some more now.

I cannot get to Eeriecon in Niagara Falls this year, just because we've decided we cannot afford out-of-town cons this year, and crossing the border has become insane. I hope Eeriecon will do something in the memory of Ken Krueger. It is difficult to make people understand and appreciate all someone has done in the past; modern generations seem to ignore the past entirely. Will the Australian Worldcon mark the passing of Shibano-san?

Thank you for printing my loc and conversation with Terry. We need to know our roots, and those who have produced SF in the past. If we date from the late 20s when Gernsback published, SF is now about 80 years old, even more to preserve and remember, and it gets more and more difficult each year. I'd love nothing better than to collect these old magazines and books and keep them for posterity and remembrance, but I can't possibly afford to collect them, and I'd never have any place to keep them to ensure they don't dry out to dust. With articles like Terry’s series, I get to learn about books I've never seen before, and enjoy them vicariously. May we never forget those first authors of our reading pleasure. Another installment in issue 49. Bring it on, Terry. Nudge your dad every so often. Pester him.

Great Victor Banis story...no, he’s definitely not a vampire. It’s always what’s not said that’s the most important.

Toronto is the home of a large Doctor Who club, one of the largest on the continent, the Doctor who Information Network. Through a network of chapters, and its well-produced fanzine Enlightenment, it has kept its members informed about the last seasons of the original Who and kept the memory of the Doctor alive all through the past years. Some may have labeled them as geeks and anoraks, and ignored them, but as what happens to many things, everyone old is new again, and the Doctor is back. Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and now Matt Smith have allowed the Doctor to live again in this modern era, and spinoffs like Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures have made the franchise more vital than ever, and DWIN continues on, bringing modern DW fans together, and being in the unfamiliar forefront of SF today. I know many of the local Whofans, and those who have kept the club going. There’s a local DW convention, too. Yvonne and I assisted Who Party last year by running their on-site registration and pre-registration tables, and I was amazed by how many people turned out, nearly 400. When I asked how the chairman got so many out, of course, the new shows helped, but an inexpensive ad on Facebook brought out so many new fans. I haven't heard if there will be a convention this year. I am certain that if Michael Moorcock is writing a new Who, it will be superb. Should I let the local Who fans know about this?

I do have a copy of The Best of Xero, which I received at auction at Corflu Silver in Las Vegas. If there’s the possibility of an autograph, I will definitely go for it. I just have to find a convention I can get to with the Lupoffs in attendance. This is a mighty big continent, after all.

Many thanks, Earl, for another most enjoyable read, and I do look forward to more. Go on, Terry, pester him some more...

Friday March 26, 2010:

John Teehan: Recently finished reading eI48--another great issue. As my fanac waxes and wanes over weeks and months, I always try to remain relatively current I love the articles you print on the various paperback houses and trends of yore.

I seem to recall meeting a chap a year or two back who was selling adult books under the Olympia Press name. I asked if it was related to the same Olympia Press that published one of my all-time favorite books: The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy to which he claimed this was still the same imprint. I didn't believe him, but didn't want to press the issue. Any idea if the pedigree is true?

John, I can’t tell from this comment…not enough details. There was an Olympia Press New York for a few years operated by the same Maurice Girodias…until he was “invited” to leave the US and never return. Could be related to that. –Earl Kemp

I was a little tickled to see mention of I Am a Barbarian. I happened across this title (Ace edition, 1985) in college shortly after a.) seeing the Vidal/Guccione movie about Caligula, b.) reading Albert Camus's Caligula play, and c.) reading J.P. Sartre's take on the same. Weirdest Christmas break ever. Of the four, I recall enjoying the Burroughs offering more. I wonder if I still have the paperback, likely not. More's the pity.

By the by, I greatly enjoyed listening in on the interview with you conducted by Bill Burns via Corflu's Virtual Con Suite. If the virtual suite's one-shot ever comes out, you'll see me claim that the poor resolution was a way to obscure you all and substitute everyone with cardboard cutouts, puppets, monkeys, etc., while you all actually sat in the hotel bar. I don't disavow this yet, although I'll note that the VirtConSuite's resolutions mysteriously improved shortly after my “wild” claims. Good to see and hear you there. Maybe one of these days I'll get my butt to one. At the very least, the recent virtual viewing has spurred me back into a little fanac.

Most fascinating game there is, keeping things from staying the way they are.
                        -- Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano

Anthem Series: Part II

by Earl Terry Kemp

This is the second installment in the Anthem Series project, including: Visionary Publishing Company, Fantasy Publishing Company, Incorporated, Griffin Publishing Company, Carcosa House, and Fantasy Book. The first part, Fantasy Press, appeared in eI27 (August 2006) and eI28 (October 2006). The third part, including: Prime Press, Avalon Company, and Chamberlain Press, appeared in eI42 (February 2009). The fourth part, including: Shasta Publishers, and Gorgon Press, appeared in eI33 (August 2007). The fifth part, Gnome Press, appeared in eI47 (December 2009). The sixth part, including: Arkham House, and Mycroft & Moran, appeared in eI44 (June 2009) and eI45 (August 2009).

By Way of a Foreword:

Find a comfortable chair, and a soft, warm light, and get ready. Among these pages you’ll find the Golden Age of Pulps, reprinted and rescued from oblivion. Long forgotten volumes, incredible artwork, and rare and unusual ideas abound, jumping out of each book.

Look no further, your quest is over!

No need to seek for those elusive, non-existent mint condition magazines of the past. These books were meant to be read and re-read, not fall apart with the first touch. These stories were written with the reader in mind, with you in mind.

Don’t hesitate to pick up one, start anywhere, and enjoy…  

The Works of William L. Crawford:

Visionary Publishing Company: Titles

Visionary Publishing Company
1935—1936 

The Visionary Publishing Company was one William L. Crawford, who was later to leave Everett, Pennsylvania, for Los Angeles and found the Fantasy Publishing Company Inc. (see FPCI).

As Fantasy Publications, Crawford published Mars Mountain by Eugene George Key, cover art of Dorothy Marie Nelson by illustrator Irving E.G. Bjorkman. It has the single merit of being the first science fiction specialty press hardbound book, excluding a few paperbound booklets published by ARRA (four booklets published 1932-1934), as well as Fantasy Publications own paperbound booklet, an anthology containing  “The White Sybil,” by Clark Ashton Smith, and “Men of Avalon,” by David H. Keller (500 copies of this 40 page pamphlet, published earlier in 1935), and a handful of books published by general private presses (like The Recluse Press which produced books by Long, Lovecraft, Wandrei, and others in the 1920s). Crawford printed 400 copies of Mars Mountain, but no more than 150 were bound; 100 hardbound in white boards and 50 paperbound, the latter stapled signatures laid into pictorial paper dust jackets. This pioneer 142-page book, which originally sold for $1.00, collected three short stories, “Mars Mountain,” “Earth Sees Mars,” and “Lake Tempest,” that Key was unable to place in the pulp market and is now notorious for being unreadable.

Whereas Mars Mountain might well be considered the first legitimate specialty press book, it did not spark the publishing craze, or the science fiction and fantasy publishing industry. For that singular honor belongs solely to The Buffalo Book Company and their original publication of the classic, The Skylark of Space by E.E. Smith.

During this period, Crawford also published two magazines, Marvel Tales, which ran five issues (May, July-August, and Winter 1934, and Spring and Summer 1935) and Unusual Stories, which lasted two issues (May-June and Winter 1935). The magazines and the Visionary Press book are noted mainly for being of good quality content and poor typography. Crawford, with this imprint, started the specialty publishing as we know it.

With FPCI he reversed that.  

(A promotional card mailed by the Visionary Publishing Company of Cleveland, Ohio, upon the release of their series of fantasy novels. This card promoted The Titan by P. Schuyler Miller (which appears never to have been released as it was later published in 1952) and the first edition of The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft. The card states that Innsmouth is “...a first edition you will treasure all your life. Only four hundred copies have been been (sic) printed and most are already distributed.  Your copy will be mailed within 24 hours after your order arrives. It is on heavy book paper, bound in black cloth stamped in silver.” No mention is made of the dust wrapper, which was apparently printed after the book was published. A total of 200 copies of this book were rumored to have been destroyed. The card was sent in January 1940.)
 
1. 
Lovecraft, Howard P[hillips] 
Shadow Over Innsmouth
Visionary Press; Everett, PA  1936  13+158  $1.00
400 copies printed, 200 destroyed.
(100 black binding, 100 white.)
Jacket and four interiors by Frank Utpatel.

Fantastical novel. ***A novel of supernatural horror, occasionally reprinted as “The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth.”***(Weird Tales, Vol. 36, No. 3, Issue 203, January 1942 [abridged]), (Weird Tales (Canada), Vol. 36, No. 3, May 1942 [abridged]) & (The Acolyte, Vol. 2, No. 2, Issue 6, Spring 1944 [first draft]). ***The narrator, traveling for antiquarian delights—much as did Lovecraft himself—is intrigued by the rumors about strange Innsmouth, on the north shore of Boston. According to hearsay from nearby towns, Innsmouth is almost isolated culturally, and strangers are not welcomed, for the population is largely inbred, and shows certain fish-like stigmata which are repellent to most people. And the town has a bad history: smuggling, gold running, and so on. ***The narrator boards the single bus that connects with Innsmouth, and makes his way to the strange town, where he begins his antiquarian delving. He finds a garrulous nonagenarian, whom he primes with whiskey to tell the story of Innsmouth, and pieces together the following story: one of the native of Innsmouth, before its decay, had, on a South Sea voyage, contacted sea-beings, more or less humanoid, but connected with the archaic rites; and the sea-captain had made a contract with them. The sea-beings opened a colony on a reef nearby Innsmouth, in the sea, and a brisk trade had begun, mostly in strangely worked gold. But the sea-people had insisted on interbreeding with humans as part of their share, and acculturation of the humans to their own civilization; and this is where the physical peculiarities of the Innsmouth people originate. The mixed blood usually does not show in early life, but at maturation becomes increasingly observable, until, at a certain stage of evolution, the individual takes to the sea as a seaman. ***The party, which advocated dealings with the seamen in Innsmouth, had arisen one night, and massacred all those who were against the treaty, and since then Innsmouth has been a stronghold of Otherness. ***But the traveler was not wise in eliciting this information, for he is seen, and barely escapes with his life from pursuit by humans, semi-humans, and nonhumans. Later, however, he discovers that, he, too, is of Innsmouth blood, and is undergoing the transformation. ***For this reader, the additional material included in the preceding sentence spoils what would otherwise have been a remarkable novel of weird horror. Lovecraft’s concern to end a story on a high point—whether a pursuit or an O. Henry ending—has in this case badly misled him. ***Of note: Published in his lifetime, this is the only book that can carry a Lovecraft autograph, and remember it sold for $1.00. ***First paperback edition: Bart House, 4, 1944, 190 pp., pa .25¢.

2. 
Reynolds, Peter [Pseudo. of Long, Amelia Reynolds and Crawford, William L.] 
Behind the Evidence
Visionary Press; Everett, PA  1936  vii/228  $1.00
100 copies printed. 50 hardbound, 50 wire-staple bound with jacket wrapped around.
Jacket by Clay Ferguson.

Fiction, not truly fantasy. ***The novel concerns conspiracy theories and a case similar to the Lindbergh kidnapping. Long felt that Richard Hauptmann had not received a fair trial, and Crawford agreed with her. The story they wrote together was a parallel of the Hauptmann case—set in a mythical Germanic country with an American accused of kidnapping (or murdering) the baby of a famous German. ***Listed for consistency. ***Not recommended. ***Long was most noted as a detective storywriter. Her story “The Thought-Monster” was filmed as Fiend Without a Face in the U.S. by MGM in 1938, produced by John Croydon and directed by Arthur Crabtree, with Marshall Thompson.

Fantasy Publishing Company Incorporated
1946—1972

The Fantasy Publishing Company Incorporated was formed in December 1946, by William L. Crawford and his wife, Margaret. Forrest J Ackerman has been credited as being a partner, thinly disguised as Garret Ford, but was not. Their published titles combined beautiful print and illustrations with often mediocre fiction. After all, Crawford had been there before (see Visionary Press). FPCI was based in Los Angeles.

Of the 37 titles credited, the major weakness of the FPCI line was the matter of book size. There was no consistency, the productions were lacking in uniformity. The books have an unprofessional ad hoc style due to its combination of design, the odd sizes, and the artwork. Most of the artwork came from friends of Ackerman or would-be illustrators who dropped in or wrote offering their skills. This was combined with Crawford’s own unique contribution, he had the equipment to set type and print his own books.

In 1953 the imprint went into a hiatus. At that time Crawford couldn’t even sell enough books to pay his low overhead. He tried by combining unbound stock in various combinations, complete with new dust jackets, but the effort wasn’t enough to keep his operation solvent.

Crawford resumed publication of the magazine Spaceway in 1969, and he tried publishing books again in 1971 with the final three titles under this imprint, before this imprint terminated operations.

The demise of this imprint finally came in 1972, with his publication of Garan the Eternal, by Andre Norton. Crawford had held the copyright to two Norton novelettes since 1935, these were combined with two new stories that she wrote for this edition. Due to various time delays, Norton sold the rights to Don Wollhiem of DAW books. His paperback edition was released a month before Crawford’s FPCI edition.

So, it was finally all over with.

In 1959 the unbound surplus books, amounting to 200 or 300 of various titles, were sold to Martin L. Greenberg at Gnome Press for his Pick-A-Book operation. Characteristically, he bound them as cheaply as possible (he was selling them at $1.20!). Known Greenberg Variants are marked * below. In some cases a jacket had to be reprinted. If so the back advertising was usually left off (although not always) and sometimes the basic dust jacket color was changed. In one or two cases the Greenberg Variant binding says “Gnome Press” on the spine. The Toymaker and Others is the prime example—blank jacket back, front jacket illustration black instead of green, and the cardboard binding is stamped “Gnome.” Known jacket variants are marked @. Number of copies includes Greenberg Variants, always.

Crawford also created his own variant by binding a number of the backlist signatures together with a wire staple and either perfect binding or simply wrapping a trimmed jacket around them, thus creating a soft cover variant.

FPCI also published two magazines, Fantasy Book and, later, Spaceway .

Fantasy Publishing Company Incorporated: The Ephemera

A. 
Advertising Flyer Spring 1949
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949
Single-sheet. Ephemera.

***Advertising flyer published after their first six books. ***A rare item, it lists several books such as The Radio Man, The Works of M.P. Shiel, and The Cosmic Geoids.

B. 
Advertising Flyer Spring 1949
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949
Single-sheet. Ephemera.

***Advertising flyer for The Kingslayer by L. Ron Hubbard, cover art by William Benulis. ***A rare item.

Fantasy Publishing Company Incorporated: Titles

1. 
Flagg, Francis [Pseudo. of Weiss, George Henry] 
The Night People
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1947 32  .25¢
500 copies printed.
Cover design of all text by Alva Rogers.

Science fiction short story. ***Prison-break by time travel. ***Joseph Smith has been sentenced to die. About to die, he is on death row at San Quentin State Penitentiary, where his final appeal has been refused. The prison doctor, Stanson, known inside the prison as “The Brute,” because of the way he handles the condemned, gives Smith a mysterious drug to drink shortly before his time is up. Smith is overcome and passes out, only to recover in some unknown place, unlike any he has ever seen. He awakes in under a dark, red sun, in a place almost always dark. The plants are purple. Surrounded by two-foot-tall, insect-like creatures, he is taken prisoner. Soon he finds out all about the empire of Kola, where he becomes versed in the language of his captors. Eventually, he even fights for them, being much stronger and more powerful. But during the great battle, where he turns the tide for the Kola, he is overcome by the stings of many minor wounds. Once again, he is overcome, this time he awakes in a world much more familiar to the one he came from. In an overgrown forest of giant trees, he rescues the beautiful girl, Dwana, from her brutal captor, Bara. After a tremendous battle, in which Smith subdues and kills Bara, the two flee in a “skyro.” Still pursued by the followers of Bara, they crash in the mountains, far from the land of “Mex-can” from which Dwana was kidnapped. Now in the land of Ainar, where the dreaded Night People live, they must flee from all, with no hope of help. Smith battles with the Night People, who are evolved ape-like creatures. In a tremendous final battle, Dwana’s people have found them, rescuing them in a skyro, but Smith is pulled away, falling to the earth, by one of the Night People. He awakes back in Oakland, California, where he is injured in a traffic accident, and shortly he is returned to prison to face his sentence of death. There, Doctor Stanson tells Smith of the drug, which he administered, and how Smith was a test subject. Stanson now knows that the drug expands the test subject until the subject grows into the next dimension and so on. Stanson, who can control the dosage, and where the two go, and when they return, if ever, wants to explore these new dimensions with Smith as his protector. Stanson suggests they go to explore the world of Dwana. Together they disappear from the prison. Smith has escaped a second time from death row. ***Slight, not recommended.

*2. 
van Vogt, A[lfred] E[lton] and Hull, E[dna] Mayne 
Out of the Unknown
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1948 141  $2.50
3 editions; the first was 1,000 copies, second 1,000 no interiors, third 500 and 500 GV.
The first edition has interiors by Roy Hunt, Charles McNutt, and Neil Austin. The 2nd ($3.00) and 3rd editions omit these interiors.
Jacket by Roy Hunt.

Fantasy short stories. ***A sterling collection of fantasy tales from the magazine Unknown by a writing team unique to science fiction and fantasy—A.E. van Vogt and his wife, E. Mayne Hull. ***By A.E. van Vogt: [a] “The Sea Thing.” (Unknown, Vol. 2, No. 5, Issue 11, January 1940).The shark god of the natives takes human form to avenge the slaughter of his fellows by a shark-hunting party. [b] “The Witch.” (Unknown, Vol. 6, No. 5, Issue 35, February 1943).Mother Quigley is a witch who takes possession of the bodies of younger women, and is thereby practically immortal. [c] “The Ghost.” (Unknown, Vol. 6, No. 2, Issue 32, August 1942).Mr. Wainwright is a ghost, but will not lie down. He had been a ghost long before he died, it is revealed. It is all explained by means of Dunne’s time philosophy. ***By E. Mayne Hull: [d] “The Wishes We Make.” (Unknown, Vol. 7, No. 1, Issue 37, June 1943).Kennijahn, a ruthless and powerful man, is offered six wishes, by the Drdr, all of which, however, cannot save him from his destiny, hanging. [e] “The Patient.” (Unknown, Vol. 7, No. 3, Issue 39, October 1943).Cancer is the foreword to the supreme mutation in man, ultimate adaptability. The new superman is a single giant cancer. [f] “The Ultimate Wish.” (Unknown, Vol. 6, No. 5, Issue 35, February 1943).Lola Pimmons, a cripple whose mind and soul are twisted by strange loves and hates, with a very sour personality is offered a wish, but learns that almost anything she might ask for would entail consequences far worse than her present position. She finally asks for the ultimate wish. **[c] is intricate and enjoyable; the other stories are not up to the usual standard of either author. ***First [abridged] paperback edition: Powell, PP-128, 1969, 222 pp., pa .95¢.

*3. 
Coblentz, Stanton A[rthur]
The Sunken World
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1948 184  $3.00
1,000 copies printed.
1,500 copies printed in 1952. 1,000 FPCI/500 GV
Jacket by Roy Hunt.

Science fiction novel. ***Satire. ***From: (Amazing Stories Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 3, Issue 3, Summer 1928 & Vol. 7, No. 2, Issue 22, Autumn 1934). ***For many centuries people have been intrigued by the puzzle of Atlantis. Was this mythical continent merely a gigantic hoax or did earthquakes and tidal waves destroy its super-civilization thousands of years ago? Here you journey beneath the ocean to the exotic land of the Ancients, where science rules and peace dwells—until Fate takes a hand. During World War II a mystery submarine, of a new model, sinks out of control, dragged to the bottom of the sea by a whirlpool, where it collides with a huge glass dome. The crew is rescued by the inhabitants who live beneath the dome—the Atlanteans, where the sailors discover an idyllic rationalistic non-religious aesthetic utopia based on largely Greek ideas. Anton Harkness and his companions set out to explore the strange shores upon which their submarine has been wrecked, and they enter into another world. When they blunder into the capital of the unusual land they are captured by the inhabitants, who are completely amazed by the visitors. With the exception of Harkness, who is fascinated with the new land—and the exotic dancer, the bewitching Aelios—the simplified life of the Atlanteans bewilders the Upper World men. They cannot understand the scientific civilization of the sub-oceanic world; they are amazed by the intelligence of the people, and they are awed by the wonder of the architecture and landscape. Anton Harkness, the leading character, marries a local girl, Aelios, and takes part in politics, joining the Emergence Party, which wants to reestablish contact with the outside world, and bring life to Atlantis. Anton is commissioned to write a history of his people. Some of the Atlanteans are shocked by his tales of the outer world. Others feel that the undersea culture has stagnated. The Atlanteans are disquieted by the arrival of the Upper World men, and soon throughout the once peaceful land whispers voice of Doom, a forewarning of the Fate awaiting the lost continent. A crisis comes when the submarine, floating around outside the city, cracks the glass shell that protects Atlantis and an expedition must contact the outside world to ask for aid. Harkness and his wife and some friends leave. They return, however, to find Atlantis destroyed. ***Mr. Coblentz’s ideas are clearly and eloquently expressed, but the book, unfortunately, is really a fictionalized essay. ***Coblentz’s first published novel. ***First paperback edition: Kemsley, CT402, 1951, 190 pp., pa 1/6.

*4. 
Hubbard, L[afayette] Ron[ald]
Death’s Deputy
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1948 167  $2.50
1,200 copies printed. 700 FPCI/500 GV
Jacket by Lou Goldstone.

Fantastical adventure novel. ***From: (Unknown, Vol. 2, No. 6, Issue 12, February 1940). ***This is the story of a man who became an unwilling instrument of destruction, bringing misery and death to his fellow beings. Clayton McLean is saved supernaturally from death and taken to Destruction, personified, and deputized as an agent to cause further destruction upon Earth. He is an accident prone. Everywhere he goes accidents happen, from which he emerges unscathed. When he discovers his fate, he becomes afraid for his wife, and breaks the bond that has been placed upon him, and dies. His wife, we learn, as part of him, was immune to the “spell.” She continues as an accident prone. ***The currents of sorrow and love, death and fortune, wisdom and bewilderment combine to make this an interesting idea, which could have been worked more economically into a short story. ***First paperback edition: Leisure, LB 0005-09, 1970, 158 pp.    

*5. 
Farley, Ralph Milne [Pseudo. of Hoar, Roger Sherman] 
The Radio Man
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1948 177  $3.00
2,000 copies printed. 1,000 FPCI/700 GV/300 paper
Interiors by O.G. Estes, Jr.
Jacket by Jack Gaughan.

Science fiction novel. ***A semi-juvenile reprint from the Argosy magazines of the 1920’s. (4-part series beginning with Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 28, 1924). Also: (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Vol. 1, No. 3, 4, & 5, December 1939, January 1940 & February 1940). ***Miles Cabot, an electrical engineer, is experimenting with radio apparatus when an accident occurs: he is transmitted from his Boston home to Venus, where he is immediately captured by giant intelligent ants. As he later discovers, the great continent of Venus is divided into ant and human sections, with the human subject to the mild rule of the ants. The Formians, gigantic intelligent antmen who communicate by means of radio waves inaudible to human ears, and the Cupians, a human race with elflike wings and antennae. Cabot’s first meeting with a Cupian maiden proves disconcerting, since she faints from the shock of seeing the Earthman. Cabot learns that he is considered horrible by Cupian standards because of his deformities; his five-fingered hands, his beard, his ears, and his lack of antennae and wings. Cabot wins their princess, Lilla, and overthrows the ants. The Earthman introduces gunpowder to them, and then leads them into war against the Formian enemy. Faced with an unknown weapon, the latter are all but exterminated. ***Derivative Burroughs, which is spoiled for this reader, even as a thriller, by the persistent ironical overtone, which the names might be taken to offer. ***First paperback edition: Avon, 285, 1950, 125 pp., pa .25¢, as An Earthman on Venus.

6. 
Morse, A. Reynolds
The Works of M.P. Shiel
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1948 xvii/170  $6.00
1,000 copies printed.
Jacket by Salvadore Dali and Jack Gaughan (the Dali portion is not original)

Reference. ***An introduction to the master of new adventure, scientific fantasy, detection and crime, world cataclysm and world conquest. Herein the author collates every known edition of M[atthew] P[hipps] Shiel’s novels and presents new items of interest about Shiel’s life and works. Every novel was collated with a short synopsis given for each story. This is a book for the exacting collector of scarce Shiel titles, but it is also a tantalizing, provocative study in bibliography designed to tempt new readers to discover the still unsung Lord of Our Language for themselves. ***Extensively illustrated with black and white photo reproductions from Shiel’s major works, and his life. ***[a] “Introduction,” by A. Reynolds Morse. Written two years after Shiel’s death, it is essentially an overview of the following contents, with a reason and justification for producing it. Morse praises Shiel as only a fan can, while wondering if Shiel will retain the rank and impact he merits. [b] “About Myself,” by M.P. Shiel. A rather self-serving autobiography, rewritten several times, and each time with conflicting facts about his life and his recollections. It is followed by a series of biographical details compiled by Reynolds that were not included by Shiel. ***The “Biographical Notes” are more interesting than the autobiography. [c] “The Personal Library of M.P. Shiel,”by A. Morse Reynolds. A short list of books of note kept by Shiel, very tediously compiled. [d] “Check List of the Various Editions of the Novels of M.P. Shiel,” by A. Morse Reynolds. Of some note and interest to the collector or bibliophile. [e] “The Collations,”  by A. Morse Reynolds. This is the most important and detailed segment of this work. It makes the rest worthwhile. It consists of a short explanation of the various series that Shiel produced and their subsequent path into complete novels. It is followed by a chronological review of each, complete with a short synopsis, bibliographical points on editions and binding states, and then a breakdown of each edition, with binding states. ***This segment consists of the bulk of this work and is a must have for any collector. [f] “Miscellaneous Works by M.P. Shiel” (Short Stories, Articles, Translations, etc.), by A. Morse Reynolds. As stated, this segment consists of a list of first appearances in various anthologies of Shiel’s more obscure short stories. [g] “Miscellaneous Works by M.P. Shiel” (In Periodicals and Newspapers), by A. Morse Reynolds. As stated, this segment consists of a list of the first appearances of much of Shiel’s ephemera. [h] “Known Manuscripts, Corrected Texts, Proofs, Typescripts. Published and Unpublished of M.P. Shiel,” by A. Morse Reynolds. A bibliographical list of same from the collection of John Gawsworth, Shiel’s literary executor. [i] “The Novels of ‘Gordon Holmes,’” by A. Morse Reynolds. A list of eight novels written under the pseudonym of Gordon Holmes as a collaboration between Shiel and novelist Louis Tracy. A short article is followed by a chronological review of each, complete with a short synopsis, bibliographical points on editions and binding states, and then a breakdown of each edition, with binding states. Included in the breakdown are two more such collaborations wherein Shiel had a hand in at least a part. [j] “Bibliography: M.P. Shiel,” by A. Morse Reynolds. A possibly complete bibliography of his works. [k] “An Epilogue,” by Edward Shanks. The Address of Edward Shanks at the funeral of Matthew Phipps Shiel, February 24, 1947. [l] “Index,” by A. Morse Reynolds. This section is omitted in some FPCI binding states, such as the soft cover. ***This book is the first major key to Shiel and his fast-paced writing compiled in such complete detail. ***The Works of M.P. Shiel Updated: A Study in Bibliography. [Cleveland, Ohio: The Reynolds Morse Foundation], 1980. Large octavo, two volumes; pp. [1-11] 12-414; [1-4] 415-858, illustrations, facsimiles, cloth. First edition. Limited to 900 sets of which this is one of 200 issued in loose-leaf cloth binders signed by compiler A. Reynolds Morse. Comprises volumes two and three of The Works of M. P. Shiel (1979-1983). Basically, the two volumes provide a miscellany of bibliographical, biographical, and critical information on Shiel and his literary associates. Of major significance is the extensively reworked, updated, and enlarged version of Morse's fine The Works of M. P. Shiel (1948) constituting a major portion of "Shielography Updated. ***First paperback edition: Centaur, 1980, 414 pp., as The Shielography Updated (two volumes, 2nd edition, as Vol. II, Part 1, and Vol. III, Part 2).  

*7. 
Taine, John [Pseudo. of Bell, Eric Temple] 
The Cosmic Geoids
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 179  $3.00
1,200 copies printed.
Reprint: 300 FPCI/500 GV/300 paper
Jacket and interiors by Lou Goldstone.
2nd 1950, printings after the first edition do not contain illustrations.

Science fiction short novel and a long short story. ***[a] “The Cosmic Geoids.” (Spaceway Science Fiction, No. 5, 7, & 8, December 1954, February 1955, & April 1955).In the future, when there is danger of the sun’s becoming a nova, records found in geoids from beyond the solar system are translated. They concern Eos [Apparently not the same Eos as in The Time Stream], where a highly civilized people evolve or devolve from a rigid intellectualism to art and love. ***The first Cosmic Geoid was discovered in 1879 by the Lascelles paleontological expedition. After three hundred years of constant searching only forty-three more were found. When the technicians opened the first geoid they discovered small plates of some black metal covered on both sides with minute characters. But the key to the mystery of the symbols etched so deeply into the strange metal plates was more difficult than the mere finding of the specimens. The scientists were in much the same position as a savage might be if asked to describe the most intricate apparatus of modern technology and to explain its underlying science. Concepts, not words, were the scientists’ irremediable lack. But in three centuries of the most intense study the Alliance of World Scientists had read enough of the records to know that the full history of the death of the Eosian universe, which the laborious translation of the plates was revealing, contained a message of urgent importance for the survival of our race. Suspense mounts steadily from the moment Professor Gifford (one of the most profound of all the scholars who had devoted their lives to the history of the Cosmic Geoids) is found dead without a trace of anything that might have caused his death. As succeeding mysteries unfold, a breathless, uncanny atmosphere envelops the story. ***The story is confusingly told as an intrigue between super-dictatorships and associations of scientists. ***A major blunder was noticed by Taine, only after this book was printed and released. “Geoids” should have been “Geodes.” The word used has a totally different meaning than the author intended. [b] “The Black Goldfish.” (Fantasy Book, No. 4, 1948 & No. 5, 1949).A story involving scientific research, international intrigue, and Cleo, the Black Goldfish. In the future when Russian armies are poised on the borders of the U.S.A., Jones saves the world with vitamin pills that create a cumulative sleep factor. ***It is difficult to say anything favorable about this volume; it hardly fits with the excellent adventure stories that Taine occasionally produced in the twenties. ***No paperback edition.

8. 
Hubbard, L[afayette] Ron[ald]
The Kingslayer
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 208  $3.00
1,200 copies printed.
Jacket by William Benulis.

Science fiction short novel and two short stories. ***[a] “The Kingslayer.” (Two Complete Science-Adventure Books, Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 1950).Kit Kellan becomes associated with a group of revolutionaries against the Arbiter, the mediating authority between the space empires. After much blood-and-guts adventure, in and out of space, he learns that the rebels were a front, merely to educate him. He is the Arbiter’s son, and is crowned. ***Space opera on a low level. [b] “The Beast.” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 30, No. 2, Issue 143, October 1942).Adventure in the jungles of Venus. A human hunter tracks down an astonishingly clever beast: a madman. [c] “The Invaders.” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 28, No. 5, Issue 134, January 1942).Crystal mines beyond the Black Nebula are threatened by insuperable monstrosities until Gadso Brown, a comic hero, destroys the invading monsters. They were phagocytes within a gigantic worm, which is the Black Nebula. ***An interesting concept. ***[a] is best. ***First paperback edition: Major Books, 3018, 1975, as Seven Steps to the Arbiter [title story only].

*9. 
Wells, Basil ([Eugene])
Planets of Adventure
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 12+280  $3.00
2,000 copies printed. 1,500 FPCI/500 GV
Jacket by Jack Gaughan.

Science fiction short stories. ***The following are adventure stories set in a fantastic environment, mostly naive narrative, and are best merely listed: [a] “Empire of Dust.” (Fantasy Book, No. 5, 1949). Gerd Kern and the shanghaied crew of the Freedom have been stranded in the dunes and dust of Venus by the greed of Bland Losson, and his partner, Wimer Tarlby. The two men wanted to create an empire on the planet, using the crew as slaves. But they are soon at the mercy of the dust, and seek survival. They find it at the root of a strange crystal forest, which they have landed near. At the base of the tree-like things is an underground lake. They have their first encounter with the inhabitants of the lower world. The fish-like wifts fight against Tarlby’s unwarranted aggression. Kern and Alda Selkirk, Tarlby’s secretary, are taken prisoners. Later they find that Tarlby has been taken too. Tarlby is sold into slavery, but the nicer Kern and Alda are to go to the Water People, worshipped by the wifts. The Water People are war-like, very human in every regard. Tarlby shows up. As Kern and Alda seek ways to regain the surface and contact with the ship, they fight Tarlby. Finally, in yet another battle, Kern defeats and kills Tarlby. Alda is revealed to be a government agent spying on Tarlby. The last obstacle between the two is removed, and love is able to blossom. And the Water People gift them a special map, showing them all about the underground world, and a place that they can set up their outpost. Peace and trade loom in the future for all the wonderful people of Earth and Venus. ***Pointless.[b] “The Hairy Ones.” (Planet Stories, Vol. 2, No. 9, Issue 21, Winter 1944). Garmon Nash and Sisko Rolf, two patrolmen are trapped inside of the labyrinth of caverns deep inside Mars by an outlaw ship controlled by water pirates. Rolf wanders deeper into the trackless caverns until he is found by Altha and her companions. Altha is a telepathic half-breed, half human and half Hairy One (the original inhabitants of the caverns of Mars) and a member of the Outcasts. The Outcasts, Hairy Ones, colonists, spacers from various ports, are all looking for the same thing, the lost sunken seas of Mars. He also meets Martin Tanner, one of the original explorers and discoverers of the lost sunken seas. Tanner explains to him how this underground world works, about the war between the Hairy People and their former slaves, the Furry Ones. How both races have lost the high technology they once possessed, relics of which still abound throughout the caverns. The outlaws have captured Altha, and Rolf is captured trying to rescue her. The outlaws want to stop Altha, and Tanner, from telling the colonists about the water. Rolf battles the outlaws, wins, and frees Altha. Together with his new found love, who he calls “Shorty,” with Tanner they go surfaceward to tell the colonists the great news. [c] “Gateways.” (Follows after “Fog of the Forgotten” from Planet Stories, Vol. 3, No. 5, Issue 29, Winter 1946.) [Thrane] Another in a sequence of stories about Thrane, a parallel earthlike world reached by any number of gates. ***Lo, the first spaceship to try for the Moon, has crashed through a space-time-material eddy to the Lower Plateau. Marta Gosden, and the pilot, Glade Nelson, are befriended by the six-limbed native from one of the steaming fog seas of Thrane, Ho Dyak. Aloft in a helicopter carried in the crashed spaceship, the three are seeking a gateway back to Earth, and home. They rescue a woman from her humanoid pursuers, and she rewards them by pulling a gun on them and ordering them to take her through the gate to her home world instead. They turn the tables on their hitchhiker, but at the gate are attacked by its guardians. Beth Dunhill of New Britain, that hitchhiker, befriends the injured Nelson, as Marta takes the helicopter alone, seeking another gate. Kwi and Djop, two of the guardian nakks, have befriended the two humans. Warning them about the Dying and the Great Lords who hunt them, they advise them to flee, leaving the nakks to their doom. The four flee through yet another gate and after a series of adventures and battles, they discover the lost city of the Arhans. They find the last living ancestors of the nakks, who want to telepathically give their descendants their collective knowledge. Promising to help the Arhans with the nakks of the lower plateau, the two humans return to their starting point, and start the trek to New Britain. They cross paths with Marta in the downed helicopter, for her it has only been a day, but for Beth and Nelson, it has been weeks. Marta is disappointed, they appear to be stuck on this world, but she is now eyeing Beth’s handsome brother. Beth and Nelson have found true love, and Nelson doesn’t have any desire to leave. Further adventures on Thrane await them. [d] “Quest of Thig.” (Planet Stories, Vol. 1, No. 12, Autumn 1942). Thig is an alien humanoid, and one of three members of the Orthan invasion reconnaissance party. By means of a psychic transfer he becomes Lewis Terry, in both body and soul. Living in his shoes, he falls in love with his wife, Ellen, and with the human race in general. They have all the things that he has never experienced, things that the Orthan’s will destroy. Eventually he is summoned and returns to his partners, his masters. When they mention that they will kill Ellen, he goes berserk, kills them instead. Faking a fatal disease he sends a partial message to the waiting Orthan fleet, warning them to stay away from the worthless planet Earth. He then returns to his life as Lewis Terry, and Ellen.[e] “Power for Darm.” (Fantasy Book, No. 6, 1950). Jem Thyrne has enjoyed living on Darm. After crash landing he has become an integral part of the Welk’s family, helping them advance technology by making plow shares from his wrecked craft. But Thyrne is worried that the mutant Tyrants from his home world will find Darm and destroy it. So, he leaves the lovely Foa, Welk’s youngest daughter, behind to go to the Great Cramar, ruler of that part of Darm. He is emprisoned for his efforts by the corrupt minister, Rud Toln. Jem manages to escape and heads back to the Welk farm, deciding to try to be content with his lot, in spite of all of his fears for the future. But not all of the people of Darm are foolish or corrupt. With the help of Fora Welk, the trader Reb Stot, and the freedom-loving men of Noor, Thyrne knows he will succeed and bring power to Darm. ***Okay. [f] “Caverns of Ith.” (Fantasy Book, No. 2, February 1948). Ruld is a golon captured by Earthmen. The Earthmen have taught Ruld to speak their language, and try to keep him captive. Ruld escapes, but is injured. He is taken care of by his beloved, Uva, with whom he wishes to mate, so that he can remain leader of his people. Cyrn Smith, a Terran, is aiding Ruld’s enemy, Orn, using him until Smith can take over the entire planet. Ruld aids two friendly Terrans. They have many adventures, hiding from Smith in the caverns, hiding from the lizards that live deeper in the bowels of Ith. Ruld uses a mental creature he controls to free them when they are captured by these lizards. There is a final battle with Smith and Orn, Ruld triumphs. But his two Terran friends are stranded on Ith. As they part, the Terrans to live in the upper caverns, Ruld and his people to return to the lower caverns as the cycle of ice and snow cover the entire planet and the only opening. All the people of Ith are now secure in their potential future of peace together. ***Had some potential, could have been reworked to better effect. [g] “The Swift People.” (Future Fiction, Vol. 3, No. 3, Issue 15, February 1943). Joln Dar is one of the Swift People. These are aliens who live among us at an immensely faster speed. Generations have passed for them, while hardly any time has passed on Earth. The Swift People have lost all their technology and now live as savages, as Indians. Joln is captured by a rival tribe while seeking gelt (horses) to give as a gift to the father of the beautiful Yrmo. Escaping with two friends who help him capture a herd on the way back to their tribe, only to find that Yrmo has run away with a minstrel, and now Joln must hunt for his fickle wife to be. ***A terrible western.[h] “World of Misters.” (Fantasy Book, No. 6, 1950 as by Gene Ellerman). Allan Bruce is a Mister, one of the Overlords of the future America. Bruce is arrogant and has spent a lifetime lording it over the Cits, the peasant class of workers. But the Cits have risen in revolt. The Overlords, Bruce among them, have fled from the diz ray used by the Cits. But Bruce is rayed, and awakes in some other time or place, or dimension. It seems the diz ray isn’t destroying things, it has been transporting them to this place. Now most of the fertile soil of America has been piled on this new planet. Bruce finds that the beautiful Isyl, a female Overlord, and his girl friend, has also been transported. Together they begin to adjust to the new world, and new life, doing things by themselves without slaves. But then a Cit appears. It turns out to be Bruce’s old, childhood friend, Erl. Many Cits remained loyal to the Overlords and were eliminated by the diz ray. Together the loyal Cits and several Overlords fight the bad Cits and bad Overlords on the new world, creating a new order. They win and decide that now everyone is a Mister. ***Okay.[i] “Planet of New Men.” (Fantasy Book, No. 7, 1950). Bill Guthrie, news reporter, has stowed away aboard a ship bound for the penal colony on Glaca. Glaca is a new planet in the solar system, between the orbit of Earth and Venus. It has come from somewhere deep in space, and now has found a place as the penal colony for the Reborn. The Reborn are criminals and dissidents who have had their memories erased and serve out their sentences as new people, supposedly. But Guthrie has heard rumors. His ship is destroyed by pirates, but he survives and his adventure begins. Shortly he meets the beautiful Wiltha, who appears to be a female Reborn, but soon he realizes she is more than that. As the story unfolds, the agents of the Corporation pursue the two, and their friends, trying to stop them. But Wiltha is determined to put her life on the line to save the entire planet that will soon fall into the sun. Wiltha is really a sleeper, a member of the alien, human, race that once lived on Glaca. They have slept for thousands of years, hoping to find a new sun. But on the verge of success, the sleeping chambers are decaying. The Corporation doesn’t care; they know about the imminent destruction of Glaca and hope to use it to conceal their abuse of the Reborn, who they have used as slave labor in their mining operation. But Wiltha and Guthrie free a surviving sleeper, save the planet, defeat the Corporation, and give the Reborn a new world. ***Long, a few, very few, points of interest. [j] “Scrambled World.” (Planet Stories, Vol. 3, No. 6, Issue 30, Spring 1947). Neilson, Devon Orth and Norris Horn have traveled three million years into the future to find the secret of the atomic force screen to prevent sterilization from destroying mankind. They find themselves in a scrambled world, where every war that was ever fought is being played out and fought again, simultaneously. Wandering around in this confusing world, they encounter Ayna, who seems to have a complete grip on what is really happening. It turns out that the master, Ivath, has created a world filled with android robots to artistically recreate and the worlds of the pass, as on a great canvas. Ayna mistakes them for androids at first. It turns out that the two survivors can’t go back in time, but Orth doesn’t mind, he has fallen in love with Ayna and looks forward to seeing her modern civilization.***The others are more concerned with ideas: [k] “The Twisted Men.” (Fantasy Book, No. 7, 1950 as by Gene Ellerman).***A village inhabited by humped men who are the symbioses between humans and extraterrestrial intelligent beings. ***The narrator delivers dry goods to Corinth Hollow, and to Abel Marsh. Due to a mistake, he actually enters the village, instead of leaving the goods at the mailboxes. Witnessing an accident, he discovers that all the inhabitants are hag-ridden, carrying a slug-like alien on their shoulders, thus the humped back shape. But it is a freely given companionship, or so they say, the narrator is unsure. But fearing for his own mental freedom, he is instead hypnotized into briefly forgetting about their existence long enough for the colony to move to some other, unspecified place, before he can remember and spread the unlikely story. ***Brief, and to the point, and thus, not bad. [l] “Prison Rats.” (Fantasy Book, No. 4, 1948 as by Gene Ellerman). ***A convict with theriomorphic tendencies turns into a horde of rats. ***Selby Lycan is a big man, a giant among the prisoners who all detest him. He has ignored his inherited gift, but in solitary confinement sees a rat, one of many that infest the prison. He gets a wicked idea, and transforms himself into a particularly hideous rat. As a rat, he brutalizes the other inmates and guards until he becomes bored and finally decides to escape. He makes his way out, still as a rat, and exhausted falls asleep in a barn. In the morning he wakes, surrounded by a pack of hideous black rats, he realizes that they are all part of him, formed when he transformed himself. He returns to his former self, but is remarkable shrunken, now only a small shell of a small man, not the giant he was formerly, to late and to his dismay he realizes that by splitting into a pack of rats, that some did not survive the prison break, and now there is only enough substance left to make him a small man. ***Of interest, mostly because the ending is not anticipated. [m] “A Knight for Miss Merkins.” (Fantasy Book, No. 8, 1951). ***A single woman alone among asteroid miners. ***Sophronia Amelia Merkins is a spinster school teacher. At the advanced age of thirty-five, she has gone out toward Ganymede to find adventure and a “real man.” Her ship is destroyed and the survivors are stranded on an asteroid. She is the only woman alive, alone with thirty men. Twenty-two have proposed to her, and she has turned all of them down. The other seven are married, if they ever return to their wives, and only the old, space-mad miner, Arthur Jensen has never proposed. It was Jensen who saved them all with his knowledge of hydroponics, mechanics and asteroids. But over time all that has been forgotten, and the poor derelict is the butt of every joke. Things come to a head when the men band around Arton Kitts. Kitts wants Miss Merkins to pick a man, himself preferably. The Captain and a few of the decent men try to stop the brutal men from having their way and they are imprisoned. Merkins picks Jensen, who then rescues her from Kitt. It turns out that Jensen is far from mad. He has managed to rebuild the radio and signals for help. Jensen builds an impromptu tunnel through the asteroid to rescue the Captain and the decent men. While he is away, Kitt makes his move on Merkins. She blasts him into atoms. Jensen is impressed and falls in love with her. Shaved, with his false teeth in, and cleaned up, it turns out the Jensen is really an operator in the secret service of the Interplanetary Patrol. He was on the crashed ship while on the trail of space pirates. By lucky coincidence he was able to rescue the survivors, specifically lucky for him, as he has saved, and fallen in love with Merkins, or Milly. Miss Merkins is delighted because after all is said and done, she has found her “real man.” ***A tremendous little gem. [n] “Wall of Darkness.” (Fantasy Book, No. 4, 1948).***A darkness that comes from somewhere and must be restrained. ***Mr. Borton, and his wife, Vivian, buy an old house from the now dead, Mrs. Gaspee. The one room that Borton wants to turn into his study, for his writing, has a peculiar wall. He hires old Renwood Peters, a local, to repair the wall, but Peters tells him the tale of Old Herrod Enselm who built the place in 1812. Something mysterious and terrifying happened to the man and killed him. His heirs tore the house apart, building separate buildings from the remains, the old Gaspee house is a part of the former mansion. But one wall is from the former Enselm mansion, and it is the same wall that drove Enselm mad. Since that time is has been papered over and over again, but never repaired. Peter refuses to fix the wall. Later Borton and his wife decide to do it themselves, and of course, they release the Darkness concealed behind the wall. Peters shows up just in time to help Borton plaster over the hole in the wall, thus trapping the Darkness. ***Has a few points of merit, chief being its brevity. [o] “Crusader.” (Fantasy Book, No. 5, 1949 as by Gene Ellerman). ***A time-traveling crusader from the past who duplicates himself to fight for right and justice. ***Allan finds a magic armlet while sacking a tower in the Holy Land. He is whisked into the future and saves a witch in England who is about to be burned. Using the armlet, the two travel further forward to the Revolutionary War, where Allan fights for America. By now Allan has determined that each time he uses the armlet, a duplicate is created. Sometimes the duplicate remains behind to live out the wonderful life Allan could have had, sometimes the duplicates fight at his side. During the Civil War, Allan duplicates himself so many times that he becomes a small army, fighting for the Union. And so it goes, Allan keeps moving forward, fighting for the right. ***Not the worst such time travel story. ***[l] and [m] are best. ***No paperback edition.  

*10. 
Leinster, Murray [Pseudo. of Jenkins, Will(iam} F(itzgerald)]
Murder Madness
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 298  $2.75
1,100 copies printed. 500 FPCI/300 GV/300 paper
Jacket by William Benulis.
1st edition Brewer Warren, Chicago, 1931, 298 $2.00

Fantastical adventure novel. ***Facsimile of the 1931 edition from commercial publisher Brewer and Warren of Chicago. ***Borderline of political pharmacology. ***From: (Astounding Stories, Vol. 2, No. 2, No. 3, Vol. 3, No. 1, & No. 2, Issue 5, 6, 7 & 8, May, June, July & August 1930). ***The scene is South America where the leading political and scientific minds have become subjugated to the will of a madman called The Master. By using a strange new drug as a weapon, and possessing the only antidote to the poison, the Master plans to conquer the Earth. Charles Bell, an American intelligence agent journeys into danger to learn the identity of the unknown maniac. Pursued by the legions of The Master, Bell escapes into the Amazon jungle and discovers the hidden flower fields where the deadly narcotic is cultivated and obtains his passport to danger. ***Leinster makes illusion seem like reality. ***No paperback edition.

*11. 
Repp, Ed Earl
The Radium Pool
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 188  $3.00
1,200 copies printed. 700 FPCI/300 GV/200 paper
Jacket by Jack Gaughan.

Science fiction short stories. ***Reprints of early magazine science fiction. ***[a] “The Radium Pool.” (Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 3 & No. 4, Issue 3 & 4, August 1929 & September 1929). Deep beneath the many-hued, volcanic sands of the Manalava Plains is an eerie world. And in this world, in a gem-encrusted cavern, is a pool of shimmering, iridescent matter, guarded by creatures from outer space. Into this unexplored region go two men following the shadowy trail of a vanished girl; searching down the corridors of time for a fragment of a departed age. Intent upon their quest they do not heed the silent voice that warns them of the great peril in the secret recesses of the cavern land. Lured irresistibly toward danger, the Earthmen discover that the interlopers from a far planet plan to use their superior powers to protect their lootings. An enormous deposit of radium exists under the Valley of Death, which keeps a pioneer girl and her father in youth. Two gallant men go on a desperate search for the lost woman. They meet with weird Jovians in their hidden workshop under the Valley. They uncover the uncanny mysteries of the Pool, and the immortality found therein. The Jovians are also present, removing the radium. The girl’s boy-friend and the narrator find the place and undergo adventures. [b] “The Phantom of Terror.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 8, No. 1, Issue 85, April 1933). A scientist invents a means of entering another dimension. His invention is stolen by a criminal who uses it for invisible burglaries. [c] “The Red Dimension.” (Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 8, Issue 8, January 1930) & (Startling Stories, Vol. 12, No. 2, Issue 35, Summer 1945). A ray for seeing into another dimension, where intelligent life uses a disintegrator ray against gigantic insects. The ray flashes into this world and destroys the inventor. ***Of no interest, except slight historical. ***No paperback edition.

*12. 
Hubbard, L[afayette] Ron[ald]
Triton, and Battle of Wizards
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 172  $3.00
1,700 copies printed. 1,200 FPCI/500 GV
Jacket by Jack William Benulis.

Fantastical adventure short novel and science fiction short story. ***[a] “Triton.” (Unknown, Vol. 3, No. 2, Issue 14, April 1940, “The Indigestible Triton” as by René Lafayette).Bill Greyson, a young millionaire, is hampered by a vicious family that wishes to marry him off. He feigns insanity, and is committed. But while fishing one day, he captures a triton, Trigon, the great nephew of Neptune, and the triton possesses him and makes him appear really insane. After much fuss and to-do Trigon and Bill escape to the sea, where Bill’s wits save Trigon’s neck from the soldiers of Oceanus and Neptune, and Bill, rid of Trigon, returns to the surface laden with gold. **Amusing as something like a modern fairytale, but very formulary. [b] “Battle of Wizards.” (Fantasy Book, No. 5, 1949).***A native magician versus a scientist in a test to see whether interplanetary visitors will be permitted to exploit the riches of a planet. The battle of future science and primitive sorcery on the galaxy’s most backward planet. The scientist uses a robot to win. ***Angus McBane is an unorthodox bureaucrat in Civil Affairs. He is sent by the Galactic Council onboard the Argus 48 to Deltoid in order to win a foothold on that planet and obtain mining concessions of the all important catalyst crystals used for fuel. The unpolished Scot meets with the chief of a major tribe of nearly human, but clawed, inhabitants. Everything he offers, all the benefits of science and civilization are equaled or dismissed, until finally McBane is challenged by their wizard, Taubo. It will be a fight to the death, the wily and tricky Taubo against the sage and experienced McBane. McBane seems unperturbed by the impending fight, much to the consternation of his best friend and talented mechanic, Sergeant Dirk. Taubo is skilled, but his magic is mostly a scaled down science, relying on poisons and showmanship to win. He is first, and tries everything he knews as McBane sits in the center of the arena, reading a book. McBane wins the challenge win Taubo, in a fit of frustration falls dead after all of his tricks fail. They fail because none of the poisons work on the robot Sergeant Dirk fashioned in the likeness of McBane. Without doing much, McBane has succeeded in winning the much needed mining concessions. ***Readable, but could have been improved with by rewriting and better editing. ***The first story can be read with some amusement. ***No paperback edition.

*13. 
Stapledon, (William) Olaf
Worlds of Wonder
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 282  $3.00
900 copies printed. 500 FPCI/400 GV
Jacket by Neal Austin.

Science fiction short stories. ***[a] “The Flames.” (Secker Warburg, London, 1947, 84 pp., 6/-) Treats an amazing phenomena, intelligent life from the sun, and an ironic, ghastly commentary on human race as seen by a denizen of the sun. *** The story takes the form of a long letter written by one old university friend to another. The recipient of the letter, known only as “Thos” (a college nickname, short for “Doubting Thomas”) introduces the strange document, from a friend known only as “Cass” (another nickname; short for “Cassandra”, an allusion to the friend's apparently prophetic abilities). Cass is regarded as a harmless eccentric by his friends, but Thos notes that his prophecies and preoccupations, wild as they may seem, have a habit of coming true. Thos also notes, ominously, that Cass's letter “bears the address of a well-known mental home”. ***Cass's letter, which forms the bulk of the novel, describes his contact with a bizarre form of alien species. Whilst holidaying in the Lake District, Cass is inexplicably drawn to a lump of rock, which he pockets and takes back with him to his room. There, he is driven to place the rock on the fire, and this action releases a bizarre form of alien life—a living flame, which has been trapped in the rock for millennia. The flame reveals itself to be one of an ancient alien race who originated in the photosphere of the sun. Solar catastrophe has distributed the ancient race throughout the planets of the solar system, and the flame-beings can only be woken by intense heat. The flame and Cass discourse at great length about typically “Stapledonian” topics - the life of the spirit, the role of the individual and the purpose and meaning of the universe. Over the succeeding nights they develop a strange friendship, in which Cass reactivates the flame in his hearth, (which slumbers in the cold rock of the firebrick) with a hot coal fire. ***Eventually, the flame reveals that it has grand plans for Cass—it wishes him to be an ambassador for his people, and explains that the flame and his race have been manipulating events on Earth in order to better their chances of survival, manipulation that included the unfortunate suicide of Cass’s wife. The flame proposes that Cass aid in introducing the flames to humankind. In exchange for a permanent home on earth—a zone of extreme heat—the flames will use their telepathic powers to assist mankind. Cass agonizes over this offer for two days, and comes to the decision that humanity must stand or fall on its own merits, without outside help or control. He reactivates the flame and douses it violently with cold water. The rapid change in temperature kills the ancient being at once. ***Cass, torn with regret and doubt, but set in his course of action, begins finding and killing the little flame creatures wherever he can find them. Posing as a journalist, he visits a foundry where locomotives are made and attempts to shut off the furnace. He is arrested and placed in a mental home. ***Thos takes up the final part of the narrative, visiting Cass in the asylum. Cass claims to have been in contact with the flames once more, who have re-established contact with their brethren on the sun. Cass tells the story of their race: how they became part of a “cosmical mind” reaching out to the creator of all things, and how this enterprise failed. Thos hears nothing from Cass for a few months, but is later informed of Cass's death—he perished in a fire at the asylum, which he started himself. [b]”Death Into Life.” (Methuen, 1946, 159 pp., 7/6) Follows that elusive essence called Consciousness from the time that, like a moth burgeoning from its chrysalis, it forsakes the mundane body for the spiritual existence of the cosmic community. Spirits of a dead bomber crew merge and explore the past, present and future. *** Not strictly science fiction (the genre into which Stapledon’s works are usually classified), the novel is described as “an imaginative treatment of the problem of survival after death”. It deals primarily with the soul of a rear gunner who is killed in World War II, and who finds himself surviving his apparent death—first as part of a spirit bomber-crew, then as part of the spirits who were killed in the battle, and so on until finally his soul becomes part of a ‘cosmical spirit’. ***The book was the second to last work of Stapledon’s fiction to be published during the author's lifetime. [c]“Old Man in a New World.” (G. Allen, London, 1944, 36 pp., 2/-) Regards through critical eyes the changes that have come upon the world by 1970. A mood piece on the folly of man. ***Published as a separate volume by George Allen and Unwin in 1944. It was published through PEN, the international writers’ association. ***The story is set some time in the 1960s, and tells of the world that has been rebuilt from the devastation of the Second World War, as seen through the eyes of an old revolutionary. The “Old Man” is invited to London to see “The Procession of The Peoples”, an event celebrating the new order and the triumph of the human spirit. ***In witnessing this event, however, the Old Man sees nothing but the seeds of the very things he, in his youth, fought against—falsehood, political will and religiosity. ***A brilliant fictional trio from the pen of one of the finest writers of science fiction of his time. Forrest Ackerman rightly called Stapledon the philosopher of fantasy, and this book “a meal for the mind.” ***Highly recommended. ***No paperback edition.

*14. 
Repp, Ed Earl
The Stellar Missiles
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 192  $2.75
1,200 copies printed. 500 FPCI/500 GV/200 paper
Jacket by William Benulis.

Science fiction short stories. ***[a] “The Stellar Missiles.” (Science Wonder Stories, Vol. 1, No. 6, Issue 6, November 1929), really two short stories. Book One of this volume recounts the mystery of the arrival on Earth of a space ship from a distant planet, brining strange creatures whose tremendous knowledge has made possible travel across the star-ocean. When the interplanetary ship, which has buried itself deep into the desert sands of Arizona, is recovered by the tireless work of engineers, Professor Brandon discovers inside the space vessel the Stellarites. The extraterrestrial beings found in a meteor crater are in a state of suspended animation. The beings are humanoid, enormous, green, and give evidence of superhuman intelligence and malignancy. Dr. Farrington, to whom their revival had been entrusted, had placed his own son in a similar condition of suspended animation, and is now trying to revive him. A further complication is the discovery of parchment writings in the Stellar Missile telling the purpose of the visit. Farrington finally succeeds by using a plant found growing in the remains of the spaceship. The plant had grown without light, heat, moisture from outside, purely from a reviving liquid that the aliens carried with them. The aliens are then entombed in concrete for safekeeping. [b] “The Second Missile.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 5, No. 9, Issue 57, December 1930). The second story, set some years later, tells of an expedition to the new meteor craters of Siberia to determine if they, too, had been caused by the alien men. They were. Armed with greater knowledge, gleaned from the fifteen years of work during the period of the discovery of the First Missile and the finding of the Second Missile, an expedition of American scientists invades the Russian wilderness to the Missile site. Determined to bring the sleeping Stellarites back to America for security reasons, the scientists are terrified to learn that the Siberian Missile contains living creatures, and these powerful, intelligent creatures are preparing to rescue their companions from the first space ship. The expedition is captured by the Stellarites, who hold them until the previous Stellarites are released. Both the malignancy and the intelligence of the aliens have been toned down. [c] “Quest of the Immortal.” (Planet Stories, Vol. 1, No. 4, Issue 4, Autumn 1940 as “Buccaneer of the Star Seas”). An English nobleman, using a device given him by Roger Bacon, renews his life indefinitely until the far future, by sucking life from women who love him. He dies in a spaceship in the far future. ***Of no interest, except as examples of popular fiction of the 1930’s. ***No paperback edition.

*15. 
Franklin, Jay [Pseudo. of Carter, John Franklin] 
The Rat Race
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1950 371  $3.00
2,000 copies printed. 1,200 FPCI/500 GV/300 paper
Jacket by Jack Gaughan.

Fantastical adventure novel. ***From: (Colliers, March 13, March 20, March 27, April 3 & April 10, 1948 as “Madam President”). ***Sex and Washington intrigues, with a slight element of fantasy. ***When Lt. Commander Frank Jacklin is blown up on April 3, 1945 aboard the Alaska, which had been carrying a naval atomic bomb (a thorium device), he suddenly awakens in the body of an acquaintance, fat Winnie Tompkins, a dissolute and lecherous stockbroker, the man who perpetrated the destruction. Jacklin has difficulties in disentangling Tompkin’s involved sex-life, which is given in much detail. Complications develop when Jacklin gets involved with Tompkin’s wife, his red-haired mistress, and his luscious secretary—three too many women for Jacklin to handle. And he is in difficulties with the F.B.I. because of his knowledge about the Alaska. His foreknowledge of the sinking, and other top-secret matters, plunges him into a mad whirl of intrigue and excitement in Washington. He poses as a top-secret investigator, using Washington interdepartmental hatred. As Tompkins, he learns that President Franklin Roosevelt is secretly being poisoned by German agents, and he tries to warn the authorities of his impending death. But Tompkin is returned by accident to his own body at the wrong moment, and Jacklin to the body of a dog. ***The period satire on Washington politics is amusing. ***Also, Galaxy Novel, No. 10, 1952. ***No paperback edition.   

*16. 
Coblentz, Stanton A[rthur]
After 12,000 Years
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1950 295  $3.00
1,500 copies printed. 750 FPCI/500 GV/250 paper
Jacket by Jack Gaughan.

Science fiction novel. ***Satire on the totalitarian state and a future adventure story. ***From: (Amazing Stories Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2, Issue 6, Spring 1929) & (Uncanny Tales, No. 16, No. 17, No. 18 & No. 19, April 1942, May 1942, July 1942 & September 1942).***Here is the story of one man’s adventures in the distant future. ***Henry Merwin takes an active part in an experiment involving a new drug and is mistakenly directed into a world twelve thousand years in the future. He finds mankind divided into three great nations—and four species—and a scientific civilization that is magnificent in its efficiency yet utterly ruthless when dealing with individual members of society. Henry, a 20th century man who had been a laboratory guineapig, falls into suspended animation and awakens in the future, 12,201 A.D. He finds the world organized into three large states, Euro-American, African, and Asian, all of which are equally unpleasant. Insect-life, especially the anthill, has been accepted as a model, and a religion of insects controls the human race. And, like termites, occupational groups have become physically diversified. Workers are giants with tiny heads; administrators have heads like wolves, etc. Each state is an anthill dictatorship, at war with its two neighbors. Armies of giant insects fight the wars. Normal humanity survives only in New Guinea, in savagery. ***In a world that is a logical outgrowth of ours—and is brilliantly real and prophetic. A scientific civilization has developed whose latest feat is regulation of weather—with the result that wars are fought for climatic control. Into the vortex of one of these wars, Merwin is drawn. The mechanized marriage laws tear him from the girl he loves, and the equally mechanized military regulations threaten him with death for the crime of individuality. His service begins in the Department of Insect Distribution where Henry is sentenced to labor in the insect warrens until war breaks out, when he is put into an aerial service that drops insects on the enemy. He is captured, but as the war progresses the insects on both sides get out of control, and wipe out the aberrant future men. Henry rescues the captive New Guinea girl, Luellan, and together they fly to the last refuge of normal men, Borneo. ***Good satire and a good adventure story, which is astonishingly modern, perhaps because the problems it covers has risen to greater importance than it was years ago (1929) when this story was first published in magazine form. A breath-taking glimpse into what well may be our world of the future, vividly imagined and graphically related. ***Recommended. ***No paperback edition.

*17. 
Farley, Ralph Milne [Pseudo. of Hoar, Roger Sherman] 
The Omnibus of Time
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1950 16+315  $3.50
2,000 copies printed. 1,500 FPCI/500 GV
Jacket by Jon Arfstrom.

Science fiction short stories. ***A potpourri of materials dealing more or less with time. Some are built around the old time-paradoxes: that a man traveling in the past might meet himself or be his own grandfather. Other are concerned more with theories. ***[a]“The Man Who Met Himself.” (Street & Smith, 1935) In 1935, a traveler, Dick Withrick, in Cambodia goes into the past after meeting himself. A stockbroker, his ten years in the past are spent gathering money on the stock market for a Buddhist priest named Yama(!) Toga. The Buddhist Abbot, contrary to the teachings of his faith, beats and abuses Withrick, forcing him to make a fortune for him, even threatening to kill him if he doesn’t obey. The time machine that is used is never explained, but Withrick escapes only to find himself ten years later and try to warn himself not to proceed, but fails. He is finally freed by the Abbot, and given a million dollars for his ten years of troubles. [b] “’Time’ For Sale.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 12, No. 4, Issue 130, August 1938).An entropy cabinet, in which time can be accelerated or decelerated, is used to give a student, Tom Porter, time to bone for his college physics final exam. Proving the value of the fledgling device, his father finances Tom and Doctor Hatch to improve it. Tom falls in love with Evelyn Hatch, the much younger wife of the creator of the device. He also becomes almost a member of their family as they diligently work together on the device, becoming the “uncle” to their young daughter, the spitting image of Evelyn. Doctor Hatch tricks Tom into the device to test the latest improvement. Intentionally disposing of the third member of the triangle. Tom won’t age, but Doctor Hatch and Evelyn will, and Tom will no longer be attracted to his wife. Tom, finally escapes from the device, right into the arms of their young daughter, who is now a fetching grown woman. Delighted with each other, the two are already on the path to true love at first sight, which meets with the approval of the Doctor. [c] “Rescue Into the Past.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 14, No. 10, Issue 155, October 1940).Time travel into the Revolutionary War. Barney Baker is a lawyer working on a big real estate case. If he can prove which brother died first, during the Revolutionary War, it will decide the case. Barney is not much of a lawyer, but he has invented a time machine in order to go back and find the diary of one of the brothers and win his case. Barney, the time traveler rescues, in a way, a girl that had been killed in warfare, by going back in time over and over again, changing the past, and meeting himself. The reappearance of his time machine at just the right moment is not fully explained. But it doesn’t matter, Barney is set to go back in time as often as necessary to rescue the girl of his dreams, that he has saved from death, from one of his previous incarnations, who has taken her somewhere in one prior version of the time machine. He leaves the diary he has found with his best friend, at the end succeeding in winning his only case before disappearing forever on his quest. [d]“The Immortality of Alan Whidden.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 16, No. 2, Issue 171, February 1942).***He utilized a timewarp to go into the past, and became his own grandfather. ***Alan Whidden is a super genius who has found the secret of immortality, but it comes with a hitch. He also has liver cancer which is also immortal and incurable and causing him great suffering. All the ways that he can find to kill himself seem to him to be incomplete, and his immortality now a curse. But he decides to uncreate himself by going back in time and stopping his grandfather from leaving his father as a baby and establishing the cycle of his existence. Going back in time he finds true love, becomes his own grandfather, leaves at the same time without making any changes. But he leaves to go to a possible Shangri-La, with a strange Chinaman he has befriended, where there is possibly a cure for his cancer, a reason to live forever. [e] “The Time-Wise Guy.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 14, No. 5, Issue 150, May 1940) & (Amazing Stories, Vol. 14, No. 6, Issu e151, June 1940).A time-eddy traps a smart-aleck, George Worthley, who would not follow instructions. George loves to correct his fumbling professor of physics, Professor Tyrell. Tyrell seems not to carry any kind of grudge and invites George over to help test his new time machine. After a test run, millions of years into the future, George is to return to a point in time carefully specified by Tyrell. The Professor cautions George that if he fails to follow his instructions he will cease to exist. George is in a hurry to return after a successful trip into the future, in order to go to a fraternity dance, so he disobeys the professor. To Tyrell, he disappears forever, but George is in fact stuck in a time loop, forever repeating the journey he has just taken. [f] “A Month A Minute.” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 10, No. 3, Issue 9, December 1937).***Unsuccessful faster than light travel ends in a return through the past. ***Young Benson Crocker becomes an unwilling test subject for Professor Porter’s new spaceship. Lured into the spaceship, along with the Professor’s beautiful granddaughter, Iralene, the two go catapulted across space. The theory, which the Professor thinks is foolproof, will take them to 61 Cygni at faster than light speeds by using a gravity based engine. Instead they seem to be circling around the Earth in a bizarrely receding pattern. No matter what the two do, things go from bad to worse. Their supplies, planned for a journey of just a few days, are soon depleted after nearly a month on the voyage to nowhere. Finally, in desperation, the end nearing, Iralene turns off the field. They materialize exactly where they began, without any elapsed time occurring in the view of the Professor who shanghaied them. In spite of arguing constantly, the two have fallen in love due to their enforced proximity. The drive is, however, a flop, neither time machine, nor faster-than-light engine. ***This story is also, a flop. [g] “The Invisible Bomber.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 12, No. 3, Issue 129, June 1938 as by Lieutenant John Pease). ***Former Cadet Phil Winters, a dropout from West Point, has used his inherited money to invent an invisible bomber. By threats and cajoling he bullies his way into the presence of the President in order to sell his new device. When the President balks at his demands, he threatens to sell his device to the highest bidder. The President, who has learned a little about the technology, finally relents, and pays the extortion. But during the first demonstration, Winters disappears never to return. It turns out that the President has spiked the electrical current, overloading the device and sending it into oblivion. The President is now relieved that he will not have to pay and the device is forever out the hands of any enemies. [h] “The Time Traveler.” (Weird Tales, Vol. 18, No. 1, Issue 92, August 1931).***In a dream a college professor who had been badly treated by a former friend whose life he had saved has a chance to change the past. During the first such dream, Professor John D. Smith does not save his friend, Paul Arkwright from drowning. But his life seems to turn out pretty much the same for him, only slightly better. Paul Arkwright is of course, dead. However, Smith feels such dreadful remorse, he can not enjoy his slightly better life. So, he has another such dream, and saves his friend, and has his miserable, but morally satisfying life. [i] “I Killed Hitler.” (Weird Tales, Vol. 35, No. 10, Issue 200, July 1941).***A remote cousin of Hitler’s goes by Indian magic to turn-of-the-century Austria, and kills Hitler. But the present is not changed. ***The unnamed relative, who has changed his name, and is a much better painter, meets the Swami Ananda, who convinces him that he has the power to let the man go back in time and try to change history. But Ananda warns him that changing the past will not change the future. The relative goes back in time, meets the young Hitler of that era, and finally murders the little boy. He goes forward in time, using the techniques taught to him by the Swami. Concentrating on the crystal globe, the relative emerges in the changed present, only now, he is Hitler, his past as the relative, and murderer forgotten, as he prepares to wage war on the world. ***Written and published just before Pearl Harbor. [j] “The Radio War,” an unpublished first chapter to “The Radio Man.” [First chapter, not published with rest of serial in Argosy beginning July 2, 1932] ***Really a fragment, wherein the narrator establishes the circumstances in which he learns to commune with his ancestors and descendants. At the end of this very brief buildup, the narrator is ready to relate the story of his descendant, John Farley Pease, of the year 2000 A.D. [k] an extract from “The Golden City” (Argosy, May 13, 1933 + 4), a serial of some years back. ***Adams Mayhew, aboard a the whaler, Alaska, falls overboard while trying to take a better look at the strange mirage-like appearance of the Golden City in the middle of the ocean. Eighty years later, he reappears, although he has aged only a few years. He relates the strange tale of his experiences in the Golden City to the narrator. Mayhew is pulled onto the wharf of the city after a long swim. The city is roughly at the stage of feudalism. Mayhew is mistaken for Porto, his exact double, by Tirio. All three eventually fall in love with the beautiful Eleria. The Spider, a hunchbacked magician, is working at the destruction of the land because the Muians refuse to pay him homage. With the help of minions, Tirio and others, he is building a causeway from the ocean to the volcano, Pele. As earthquakes and volcanic explosions destroy most of the island, Mayhew battles and defeats Tirio, who has kidnapped the beautiful Eleria. Even though Mayhew has saved Eleria, she still wants to be with Porto. Sulking, Mayhew notices that the rest of the island is sinking. Finally, he goes to warn his friends, but he is too late, a devastating earthquake throws him to his knees. He wakes in the ocean and is rescued. He is back in his world, eighty years have passed, and he finds the Mu sank into the ocean twenty-five thousand years ago. [l] a cut version of “The Hidden Universe.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 13, No. 11 & Vol. 13, No. 12, Issue 144 & 145, November 1939 & December 1939). ***Robert Cathcart attempts to find his missing brother. His brother, along with thousand of others, have taken jobs with Malcolm Frain, for his industrial empire, and all have disappeared. Frain has found a way to transport all these people to a hidden universe, where some of the rules of physics operate differently. Frain has also set himself up as a dictator over the masses. Cathcart is befriended by Dr. Freudlich and Frain’s daughter, Donna. Together they discover the secret of the Hidden Universe, it is in fact, not another universe. They have been shrunk to subatomic size. Terro, a revolutionary set to overthrow Frain, kidnaps Donna. Frain is trying to make a deal with the U.S. government to use his slaves to make munitions, and the difference in time rates to train soldiers. Terro has him at a standstill by threatening to kill his sister, and finally kills Frain. Cathcart kills Terro and saves Donna, and wins the love and loyalty of both Donna and the people, by saving them from the next wanna-be dictator, Terro. Bob and Donna become the new rulers of the Hidden Universe, vowing to make it a paradise and use the time differential to freely help the U.S.  [m] “Stranded In Time.” (First appearance.) Milton Collett and Carolyn Van Horn are carried several hundred years in the future to a matriarchy, where because of mounting investments in their names, they are tycoons. After attempting a short journey into the future, they break their new time machine. They awake in a hospital, their machine a wreck. They find that they are rich, but only women can speak or have any rights. Carolyn must battle with several wily females to win the hand of Milton, while they rebuild their machine, only to find that it does not work any more. But by then they have adjusted to the future and plan to stay and create a more balanced society with their wealth. [n] “The Man Who Lived Backwards.” (Fantasy Book, No. 7, 1950).***Motion along the time dimensions is reversed for a single individual from another world. ***Patient Sixty-three is an odd one, and has been for years. His calls for Margaret Oakes are met with confusion, until a young girl moves into the neighborhood. Intrigued, she visits the patient, who greets her like a long-lost lover. One day, the doctor, the patient, the gardener, and Margaret are all mysteriously transported to some unknown place where the sun never moves. They meet another group of strangers, and among them is patient Sixty-Three. After much effort by both sides, the scientists can communicate and determine that they are in a limbo place, a crossroads between their two dimensions in which time runs in different directions. The gardener, who is the narrator, falls in love with one of the alien women. But they realize it is doomed. When they go back to their separate dimensions they will never remember each other. This turns out to be true. Only Narden, or patient Sixty-Three, is so madly in love that he returns to be with Margaret, his one true love, no matter how hopeless. ***A careful rewriting could have helped this story. [o] “The Revenge of the Great White Lodge.” (First appearance.) A obscure fragment about an occult organization that battles evil through the ages. Lincoln Houghton becomes an initiate of the Great White Lodge and learns how to send his mind back in time to a prior incarnation. He has joined the fight of good against evil. The story, more an idea really, ends as Lincoln arrives in the past. [p] “The Man Who Could Turn the Clock Back.” (First appearance.) A parable about human nature. ***A very short tale, almost a limerick, wherein the husband considers the two possible ways to tell his wife he has just spent a rainy interlude with a beautiful woman. Even though nothing has happened, in one ending, he successfully finds a way to tell his wife, and keeps her love. In the other, he seems to loose her love, and goes back to become the rascal she has accused him of being, by seducing the beautiful woman. [q] “The End of the World.” (Science Fiction Digest, July 1933) ***A short, dismal, sad poem, waxing about the end of the world as entropy runs its course, and all is gone. [r] “After Math.” (First appearance.) A thirteen-page discussion of theories of time and time travel that is more interesting than any of the stories. The author reviews, in part, some of the application of his various theories, and in which stories they occur. His mathematics is weak, and now very dated. ***Even though all of these short stories are as dated as his theories, they still make for some fine reading. ***[c] is the best. ***No paperback edition.  

*18. 
Weinbaum, Stanley G[rauman]
The Dark Other
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1950 256  $3.00
1,500 copies printed. 700 FPCI/500 GV
Jacket by Jon Arfstrom.

Fantastic novel. Thriller. ***Two minds in one body. ***Two men and a woman are caught in a web of darkness: Dr. Carl Horker, grave, scientific, anxious about his foster daughter; Patricia, cool, modern, confident of her ability to handle anything human; Nicholas Devine, usually gentle and sensitive but at times strangely cruel and crafty. Patricia Lane is in love with the gentle and quiet writer, Nicholas Devine. She is puzzled and terrified when a sudden change takes place in him, and he is temporarily left cold and calculating. Frightened after a wild series of events brings out a savage element in him, she takes him to the doctor. Could Nicholas be a victim of schizophrenia? Dr. Horker advises her that split personalities cannot contain any characteristics not present in the original normal character. Patricia consults a psychologist, Dr. Carl Horker, who later rescues her from Devine, after he has been seized by one of his attacks. Patricia has the faith of her generation in the omnipotence of science. But in the depths of night the dormant superstitions (man’s unruly legacy from pre-scientific ages) becomes appalling realities and old forgotten tales arise from their graves to gambol in a ghostly parade across her mind. Perhaps...perhaps both of these entities, Nicholas and the Other, are fragmentary portions of some greater personality. Devine, in his true mentality, confides that the change has often occurred, and that he cannot combat it. When the other mind again assumes control of the body, Horker is forced into helplessness by sheer mental supremacy, and the ultimate corruption generated by the conquest of will over intellect. Patricia, in danger, shoots Devine’s form, and he is rushed to a hospital, where a second brain is revealed. An operation removes the malignant brain, and Devine recovers. ***Written during an early, formative period in Weinbaum’s career, the patterns of suspense and drama are not smoothly and cohesively drawn, it is one of his—and FPCI’s—worst. ***The manuscript was titled The Mad Brain. (First appearance.) ***First paperback edition: Leonaur, 2006, 248 pp., as The Black Heart: Classic Strange Tales (including “The Dark Other”) [printed on demand].

*19. 
Farley, Ralph Milne [Pseudo. of Hoar, Roger Sherman] 
The Hidden Universe
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1950 134  $2.00
900 copies printed. 500 FPCI/200 GV/200 paper
Jacket by Laura Ruth Crozetti.

Science fiction short novel and short story. ***[a] “The Hidden Universe.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 13, No. 11 & 12, Issue 144 & 145, November & December 1939). Billionaire Malcolm Frain sends colonists to worlds which exist as holes in a solid universe. Colonists have been lured into Frain’s organization by utopian promises. But their “utopia” is filled with military police, their freedom is restricted and the very air they breathe is controlled by Boss Frain. Bob Cathcart goes to one such world to find his brother, and instead becomes involved in a series of revolutions and intrigues against Frain and his worlds. Impelled by the state of unrest Cathcart persuades the great scientist Dr. Emanuel Freundlich to assist him in hunting the key to Frain’s universe. They measure the acceleration of gravity and find it to be 32.16 feet per second, per second. This being exactly the value on Earth, it indicates that they are on Earth, in some cavern far below the surface. But their magnetic compass shows no north, and the plane of the Foucault pendulum shifts only imperceptibly instead of making one complete rotation every twenty-four hours as it would if they were still on Earth. Working against Frain’s security police, Cathcart’s investigations take him into dangerous realms. With increasing suspense the phenomena of the Hidden Universe is brought to reality. Size-reduction is important. [b] “We, the Mist.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 14, No. 8, Issue 153, August 1940 as “The Living Mist”). Warden Lawson always claimed that the difference between a crook and an honest man was that the crook had no guts. Hence, when a strange yellow mist absorbs criminal brains and seeks world domination, Lawson knows how to overcome the mist. ***Far-fetched. ***No paperback edition.

*20. 
de Camp, L[yon] Sprague 
The Undesired Princess,
[and] Mr. Arson
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1951 248  $3.00
1,100 copies printed. 750 FPCI/350 GV
Jacket by Laura Ruth Crozetti.

Fantasy short novel and a short-story. ***[a] “The Undesired Princess.” (Unknown, Vol. 5, No. 5, Issue 29, February 1942). Rollin Hobart, puzzler by hobby, is taken to the land of Logia by Hoimon the sage. One minute Rollin Hobart is a consulting engineer working on a complex problem for a client. The next minute he is in a cubical world rescuing a beautiful red-haired, blue-eyed princess from being eaten by an Androsphix—a dragon-like creature of this queer world. There, he discovers that nature conforms to the complete pure abstractions of language, with no gradations. If, for example, a person is a boy, he remains a boy until in an instant he becomes an adolescent, and later, in another quick flash, a man. ***Hobart after saving the princess from the androsphinx by solving a paradox makes use of his knowledge of modern logic to explain the various paradoxes of earlier philosophy. In the Aristotelian world of Logeia reason reigns supreme, and everything is remorselessly literal. The Princess Argimanda, being a true princess, is kind, lovely and intelligent. Rollin, as her Champion, gets half her father’s kingdom, automatically becomes a prince, and is supposed to marry Argimanda. But Rollin has other ideas, all of them being how to get out of Logeia and back to his New York apartment. Adventure follows the usual pattern. His search for Hoiman, who brought him to this world, takes Rollin into the barren land of the Barbarians, forces him into magical battles with the Wizard of Wall Street, leads him into peculiar adventures among the Fish-People and the horrible Cave-Folk. Hobart becomes ruler of the land, reaches the headquarters of the Nois, who was Zeno, and becomes for a moment the being whose will sustains the land, before he returns to Earth. ***[b] “Mr. Arson.” (Unknown, Vol. 5, No. 4, Issue 28, December 1941). A correspondence course in Paracelsian magic results in the evocation of a fire elemental. The elemental, who is burning hot, is destroyed by pouring thermite upon him, and melting him. ***Not de Camp’s best work. ***First paperback edition (title story only): Baen, 0-671-69875-3, 1990, 282 pp., as The Undesired Princess and The Enchanted Bunny [with David Drake writing The Enchanted Bunny].

@*21. 
Jones, Raymond F[isher]
The Toymaker
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1951 287  $3.00
2,000 copies printed. 1,000 FPCI/700 GV/300 paper
Jacket by Jack Gaughan.

Science fiction novellas and short stories. ***[a] “The Toymaker.” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 38, No. 1, Issue 190, September 1946).An absorbing story of the struggle between the solar system’s two leading civilizations for economic and political control. It is also a gripping and penetrating study of the psychological differences of two men: Professor Rold Theorn, working for a peaceful solution to the galactic problems, and Senator Callimus, who is using the resources of super-science to whip the people into a mood for total war. Callimus has at his command all the mediums of propaganda and with the subtle deftness of a puppet-master he pulls the strings to frighten, cajole and threaten. But Professor Theorn, the Toymaker, creates the uncanny Imaginos and, through the children (who are completely bewitched by the strange, shapeless toys), spreads his doctrine of peace. The incredible effects achieved by the Imaginos and the lurking nearness of the System’s total destruction make The Toymaker a story not easily forgotten. War is stopped by children’s toys that work through hypnotism and advanced educational techniques. They force warlords to cancel their plans. [b] “The Model Shop.” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 39, No. 4, Issue 199, June 1947).A turbulent tale of some badly bewildered technicians at North State Laboratories, whose plans are neatly scrambled by an unexpected visitor from an unknown future. Future engineers attempt to apply their advanced technology in a time-traveling jaunt to our laboratories. [c] “The Deadly Host.” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 36, No. 1, Issue 178, September 1945).Men discover that weird insect-like robotic creatures from the mechanical planet Sian are invading Earth and they devour Earth’s electricity. Civilization falls as disaster comes to Earth’s crowded cities. [d] “Utility.” (First appearance.) Space humor of a sort, an intriguing saga of the days of interplanetary trade and the wild schemes of the trading companies who barter with the queer natives throughout the cosmos. [e] “Forecast.” (Astounding Science Fiction, Vol. 37, No. 4, Issue 187, June 1946).An exciting depiction of the tremendous problems encountered in tomorrow’s world by the intrepid men who must control the climate. Future life, as hydroponics trusts try to scuttle a metrological science which is able to control weather and make outdoor ground farming almost foolproof. [f] “The Children’s Room.” (Fantastic Adventures, Vol. 9, No. 5, Issue 63, September 1947).A powerful and unforgettable drama of a man and woman who are forced to make a momentous decision involving the future welfare of the entire human race. ***[a] is best. ***This was Raymond Jones first hardcover science fiction novel. ***No paperback edition.

@*22. 
Wells, Basil
Doorways to Space
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1951 12+206  $2.50
1,200 copies printed. 700 FPCI/500 GV
Jacket by William Benulis.

Science fiction short stories. ***First appearance. ***Contents: Book One: Other Worlds: [a] “The Lurkers of Burm.” Balt Donner, mechanic, is the sole survivor of the crew of the Avalon. He decides to try to carry on their mission, single-handedly, and finish mapping the planetary system. Donner thinks he can do the jump using the last remaining super-mech, a robot named Cass, that he can remotely control using the mentrols. The mentrols enable Donner to become the human looking robot. But Donner makes a catastrophic mistake when he sends out Cass, and the skimmer runs out of fuel on a distant island. Now Cass must work his way back to Donner on foot, or Donner will be doomed and stranded on Burm. On the way back, Cass befriends a run-away slave, Gant, and together the two brave the hazards of Burm. Donner manages to save Gant, and Cass. He makes the much-needed repairs to his robot before sending him back to retrieve the skimmer. But to do so, Cass must face the “Lurkers.” The Lurkers are the remaining crew of an alien race from a nearby planet. They crash-landed on Burm shortly before Donner, and by mental powers, took control of all the rulers, and have caused an upheaval on the planet. Cass rescues the best of those rulers, the lovely Yvas Koha, and frees her from her mental slavery, by killing all the Lurkers. In doing so, Donner realizes that it will be some time before he can ever return home, because now he feels responsible for helping the people of Burm, via Cass. Cass and Donner must remain vigilant to ward off the expected revenge from the home planet of the Lurkers. ***This story has a few points of interest, but the motivations are vague, and the plot thin. [b] “The Singer.” Zh is the Singer, a reptilian-like mass of protoplasm. The Singer is the god of a small band of primitive humans it keeps to feed off of in the enclosed valley of the Rift. Ralph Siccard and Peck have fled from their advanced settlement on this backwater planet due to a difference in opinion. They plan to leave as soon as they can carve a stairway over one of the barrier that the Singer has recently erected. But the Singer has different plans; it wants to keep the two men as breeding stock. About to leave, the Singer sings its song, which the locals believe is the song of their god and will lead them to paradise. Two years pass, the two men have fallen under the spell of the Singer, called for one of the feeding culls, the two men have placed plugs in their ears to prevent falling under the siren spell. Siccard attacks the Singer with his gun, and the precious horde of bullets, when the Singer seeks to take his wife and baby to feed. The two men had just about decided to stay with their new tribe, but after attacking the Singer they have no choice but to leave. They are pursued by the tribe to the barrier. The two men get away, taking the baby, but not the wife, who stays behind, still under the spell of the Singer. The Singer is left to wonder if it has misjudged its flock, and maybe they do possess intelligence after all. [c] “Barren World.” The multiple-eyed, and limbed alien narrator, his wife and a small band of his fellows are stranded on the lifeless planet of Estur. Near death, the small band of political outcasts, from the planet Hurm, continue to struggle for survival. Somehow they are cast into another dimension, and find themselves on a planet that they can live and thrive on. Slowly they build a town, and lay their eggs, waiting for the next generation. In order to survive they have used their mental powers to enslave the native race of two-legged, intelligent, lizards, the Kren. When their eggs don’t hatch, the Hurm find themselves sterile, they all devote their remaining energy to advance the Kren, leaving some kind of legacy behind. [d] “Planet of Mist.” Gordon Blake, the last of the forty survivors of the crash of the spaceship, Fairmont, stranded on the planet Nara, under the unending rain, is alone. He has been alone for over fifteen years, half of his life. Ready to give up, he stumbles across one of the cows, one that he remembers well by name. He traces the cow back to a strange altar left by some unknown, long gone, race. There he encounters Mayla, a woman he thought had died fifteen years ago, and she hasn’t aged a week. Together, falling the cow who knows the way, they cross over into another dimension, where the lost race live during the rainy season. In this world, Mayla is sought by He-Don-Ka, a primitive human type, who wants her. Gordon battles and kills the primitive brute, thus winning Mayla, and the end of his loneliness. [e] “Lord of the Desert Planet.” Drake Penton, pampered and mothered only son of one of the wealthiest families on Ganymede, has crashlanded on Vultan. The beautiful Elina Forbes, his mother’s secretary, is the only other survivor. Facing imminent death, the two find themselves captive of giant Acorn-like aliens. The aliens take them to a strange castle. There they met Barton Glant, genius and mad-scientist, exiled to the Ulz Galaxy a century ago. By harnessing his great mental powers, Glant has created all life on Vultan, from the Acorn Beasts, to his two giant sons, Rondel and the Forest-King. The two survivors are imprisoned in the tower by Rondel. It seems that Rondel represents the worst in Glant and humanity. Rondel has also grown so powerful that he is able to create life and resist the control of Glant. Penton fights Rondel and is defeated, and Rondel takes Elina to have as his own. Penton escapes from the tower, and finds the Forest-King, who befriends him. The Forest-King represents all that is good in humanity. They return to the tower to rescue Elina. A great battle ensues; Rondel kills Glant, ready to take over his empire. Rondel and the Forest-King fight to the death. But as Glant slowly dies, everything he has mentally created disappears. The two survivors are left in his wreck of a spaceship. They are soon rescued. Penton has become a man, winning Elina. [f] “The Aliens.” Three Goffs from Aldoon crash land on earth, Mina, Kirl, his mate, and the older Andri. Bob Palmer, submariner turned space pilot, with Alden Campbell, farmer turned scientific genius, Wilbur P. Seabrook, writer of advanced scientific papers, and Mary McIlroy, housewife turned expert on interstellar navigation, all take off onboard a spaceship bound for the moon. On the journey they all regain their mental freedom and wonder why, and how, they have accomplished what they have. They see their pet dogs, who have accompanied them, are not dogs at all, but have six-fingered hands and advanced weapons trained on them. The four humans think they have been given a choice, death or life on an earth-like Mars. They decide on Mars, living for fifteen years in its peaceful valleys, and exploring the planet, before they are rescued. [g] “Space Woman.” Gordon Michael Lopez is a tired old asteroid miner. He has decided to return to Earth to raise a family and farm. He tells Fay Garber his plans. He wants the burnt out torch singer to marry him and be his wife. At first, she refuses, still preferring the life on the drifting Cinder Heap in the asteroid belt. But when she hears about the kidnapping of the two year old son of Frederick Loran, wealthy spaceship manufacturer from Loran, Ganymede, she changes her mind. She tells Lopez that the child is really hers, a love child from the days when she was beautiful and talented. She persuades Lopez to take her to find the evil arch-criminal, The Monk, Harry Grenge, who is believed to have taken the child. Lopez takes her to Rilak City, a dome on an asteroid. He leaves her onboard as he seeks out the baby. There is a story going around that the Monk is dead, killed by three of his gang. Cornell and Petty, the two remaining gang members, have kidnapped the baby. It turns out that Lopez is really The Monk, and with the help of friends on Rilak City, he rescues the baby. He takes the baby back to Fay, who then turns on him. She takes the baby for the reward, and his money belt. Wistfully, with some regret, The Monk returns to Rilak City, a sadder but wiser man. He reflects that he would have given Fay his many millions, but she stole a few thousand and settled for it. [h] “Rebellion on Venus.” Vern Masson is a gray skinned lizard man, native of the watery earth-like planet, Venus. He has kidnapped Governor Dane of Tular, the human city on the planet. The humans have enslaved the natives, and Dane is there to make even more repressive moves. Using the science of the natives, Masson transfers his consciousness into Dane’s body, and becomes the Governor in order to make positive changes. He becomes more and more human, falling in love with the Governor’s wife, Maris Dane. Dane, in Masson’s body, escapes from the Venusian prison, and returns to take his rightful place. The two enemies fight to the death, Masson as Dane, wins the fight and returns to his new love. ***Book Two: The Alien Earth: [i] “The Sudden Forest.” A cargo of alien fertilizer lands on the fields owned by Elkin Mundy. Since Elkin owes the heir of the property and can’t pay, Henry Pan takes it over. All of Elkins dreams of owning a gas station and bed-and-breakfast vanish. Henry uses the fertilizer and overnight a forest of giant trees grows on his land. Henry sees money in the crop and uses up all of the fertilizer, even over-extending himself to buy more property. Henry even wins the heart of Elkin’s girlfriend, the simpering Ann Mae Estes. Bettina Carfax, a reporter, sensing a great story, arrives in town. She falls in love with Elkins as things get worse for the plucky young man. But then the fertilizer proves to be worthless, the plants grow, but can’t be used for anything and mostly turn into powder. The alien fertilizer has been affected by radiation. Henry Pan goes bankrupt. Bettina marries Elkin. The two find a small amount of powder and use it to raise special, giant flower and plan on getting rich.  [j] “The Elfin Hills.” Miss Elizabeth notices that the last painting of her lover, Miles Bailey is magical. She sees Miles with his wife, and over time, the two figures move through the beautiful landscape of Elfin hills. She overhears the magic words used by his children, who vanish into the painting. Seeking to win back her lover, she uses the words and appears in the painting. By now she knows that Esther Bailey is a powerful witch, but she thinks that her beauty is more than equal to whatever power the mousy woman might possess. But when she meets Miles, expecting him to follow her back, he refuses. In a rage, she utters the magic words. She plans to return and destroy the painting. But the words don’t work, and she falls to her death, instead of departing from the painting. [k] “Conquest.” Fifty thousand Griffs invade Earth from Mars. Amml, one of the horde, finds Mabel Yetz, and makes her his host. By mental control he is able to make Mabel do his bidding. Finally, he makes her board an airplane to another city, so that when he buds, he can create more of his kind and spread the invading horde faster. But in the air, the city left behind is destroyed in a nuclear attack. Amml feels he is up to the task, as the last remaining Martian, he still thinks he can win. But then the airplane is attacked in mid-air, as Mabel dies she feels that she has won. The country might be totally destroyed, and she dead, but they won’t become slaves. [l] “Chrysalid.” Old Bryan Mercer, brilliant scientist, has hidden the body of his wife in the basement. He has conducted some kind of experiment on her, encasing her in a cocoon. He arrives as his wife, Helena, awakes and breaks free of her cocoon. She has been transformed, much to Bryan’s delight, into a beautiful, angelic, butterfly-like human. He kisses her, but she drinks all of his blood, feeding off of him in her new born innocence. She has been reborn, and has no memory or real intelligence. Seeking to flee from the basement, and feed on more humans, she is trapped, unable to even open the door. [m] “The Chair.” Borton buys an old handmade chair at an auction. The chair has a sinister history. The last living descendant of the maker warns him not to sit in it until he has read the documents she promises to bring to him. But he sits in it, and is transported back in time. He takes over the mind and body of a drooling, inbred idiot, who has never spoken before. As he tells the people in this pre-Civil War era about the future, the doctor takes notes. When Borton comes to his senses, he is given the documents, and sees his notes and drawings. He keeps the chair, pondering on using it again. [n] “Martyr from Mars.” Ual Orn, missionary from Mars, is determined to spread the faith of Thonroth. He has, he thinks, his first convert, David Barnes, the patient in the bed next to his. David takes careful notes, but one day he chortles over the receipt of money from a short story he wrote based on Orn’s nonsense ideas. David wants more tales about Mars to sell, but Orn only wants to discuss religion. David is convinced that Orn is mad. But in the middle of the night, Threl Ers, leader of the Martian settlement on Earth, gives Orn a hypnotic drug to give him amnesia and stop him from telling any more tales until he is fully recovered and can be returned to the settlement. Orn is briefly worried about David, and how much truth he has already spread. But Threl knows just how such stories are appreciated among humans, and isn’t worried at all. [o] “Exiles of the Forbidden Planet.” Gorvan and Idith are on their mating flight, when their spaceship, the Lorm, is smashed by a meteor. They land on Earth. Using their superior mental powers, Gorvan takes over the body of Lawrence Bellaire. Later, Gorvan, as Lawrence, rescues Margaret Kern from a brutal beating by her husband. Idith takes over her body. Five years later, the two hosts, along with Ray Selwyn the pilot, and their two pet dogs, take off in their new spaceship. The two have single-handedly built an interstellar spaceship. Released from mental control, Bellaire attacks. Selwyn, with Gorvan’s mental help, defeat him and tie him up. Gorvan and Idith are delighted that Selwyn and Margaret love each other, surprised that such lesser creatures are capable of such an emotion. They plan to make both welcome on their home planet. ***[b], [g] and [j] are best. Many of these stories appear to be fragmentary and hastily finished, with endings quickly added. (First appearance.) ***No paperback edition.

@*23. 
Taine, John [Pseudo. of Bell, Eric Temple] 
The Iron Star
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1951 312  $3.00
1,200 copies printed. 700 FPCI/500 GV
(1st edition, Dutton; New York  [1930] 356 $2.50)
Jacket by Laura Ruth Crozetti.
The only reprint FPCI did that used brand new plates.

Science fiction novel. ***Also: (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Vol. 5, No. 4, Issue 28, September 1943).***How far removed are humans from their gibbering ancestors? The little that ex-missionary Swain tells Doctor Colton is enough for him to realize that medical science is faced with a new and dreadful challenge—and that man can slip from his peak of evolution, and be swallowed by the gray mists of a pre-dawn past. Doctor Colton is present when Swain’s wife is killed. The Chicago police, investigating reports that a maniac is wandering the park, shoot at a huge figure swinging through the trees and bring down an exceptionally large ape-like beast. Aware that the most cursory examination will reveal that beneath the long hair and gross animal features is the human framework of a once-beautiful woman, changed by some hellish vice into an anthropoid ape, Colton orders the body destroyed. Determined to solve this loathsome mystery, Colton and two fellow-scientists follow the trail to the renegade Swain deep into the unexplored interior of Africa. The biological expedition to Central Africa, discovers the causes for the degeneration of a missionary into an almost ape-like man, they discover in an isolated land a group of ape-like beings of fantastic strength and viciousness. They find their first clue to the nature of the incredible disease in a tiny spear of star-iron—a metal as black, alien and menacing as the cosmos from whence it came. Then Colton meets one of these ape-beings, called the Captain by the expedition, a brutal and magnificent creature who is unhuman—yet a man. He is friendly, and kills all the others. He indicates to the expedition that it should destroy the enormous meteorite of an unknown substance called asterium, which has caused the degeneration. Even Colton feels the paw of the beast on his shoulder, bidding him to turn his back on human kind and follow the laggard apes back down through time. The Captain is killed in the explosion, and later it is revealed that he was a white man, which, of course, the reader knew long before. ***Poignant, exciting adventures combine with unsurpassed imaginative writing to make this an unusual story which will long linger in your memory. If there is a theme, it is that a noble Anglo-Saxon will not degenerate, no matter what the circumstances. ***First paperback edition: Hyperion, MM060408, 1976, 357 pp.

24. 
Lengyel, Cornel (Adam)
The Atom Clock
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1951 66  $1.00
250 hardbound ($2.00) and 750 paperbound copies printed.
Cover by Walter.

Science fiction play. ***A play about rebellion against the military control of atomics. ***The clock is ticking. The hands are moving—moved by everyone. Zero hour approaches. What are the four facts that every human being should know? What can you do? Can anything more be done, or is it already too late? Only as one can we all stop the atomic madness. ***Dr. Paul Freeman appears on scene. Almost all of the action takes place in front of the gates to the Atomic Power Plant where the main character, Martin Crale, works. Freeman makes a short speech pertaining to his conversion from designer of weapons of mass destruction to circulating a petition designed to change the course of atomic energy usage. He is arrested and dragged off, his petition falls to the ground. Martin Crale, late for work, has an encounter with the timekeeper, Sam Ornik, who is going to dock his pay. While talking about the arrest of Freeman, which Crale missed, he picks up the discarded petition. Before he can read it, Clyde Arp, captain of the plant police, demands it. He tells Crale that he will report this subversive act on Crale’s part. Crale is confused, he is a hero, back from the war that killed his brothers. Hertha Crale works as a nurse at the plant. Nurse Crale makes several points about the use of these weapons, and the current effect on workers, who she sees dying of radiation. She seems to be a limited influence on Crale’s change from supportive worker to questioning the end result of his work, and the use of the weapons. While this conversion is going on, the plant is going into overtime to make even more weapons, faster, in order to combat other countries doing the same. Ann Moore, another technician at the plant, is the force of total support for the production of weapons. The Nurse and Moore seem to wrestle with Crale over his future. The timekeeper is the moderator. Finally, Crale makes his decision, about to be arrested by Captain Arp, Crale takes hold of two halves of a bomb, threatening to bring them together, thus destroying the plant, unless he is heard. Nurse Crale wants him to destroy the plant. Moore reads the petition aloud to the gathered workers. Arp kills Crale after the petition is read. Moore, in the end, is the one converted, and is arrested by Arp. The net result is as if nothing happened, the plant continues with its production unchecked.  ***A prize-winning dramatic treatment of the (still) most controversial question of our time...the play won the 1950 Maxwell Anderson award. ***Highly recommended.  

*25. 
Leahy, John Martin
Drome
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1952 295  $3.00
1,500 copies printed. 1,000 FPCI/500 GV
Illustrated, with jacket and endpapers by the author.

Fantastical adventure novel. ***A thriller from the 1920 issues of Weird Tales. (Weird Tales, Vol. 9, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, & No. 5, Issue 40 thru 44, January 1927, February 1927, March 1927, April 1927 & May 1927).***When the descendant of an early explorer shows Milton Rhodes the diary of his ancestor, Rhodes knows he must investigate the mystery of Drome. Milton Rhodes and Bill Carter, after checking old reports of strange murders on Mount Rainier, and appearances of a “demon” controlled by an “angel,” investigate, and find beneath a glacier, a passage to a strange underground world called Drome. Treading the ancient causeways of Drome, now dangerously weakened by the ravages of time, they journey through lofty chambers of jagged rock. Here are massive statues created by a fabulous technology eons before Earth’s civilization was ever born. Passing these colossal sentinels they cross the land of the tree-octopi and the snake-cats. In their travels underground, they immediately meet a beautiful girl accompanied by a horrible flying ape—an ape-bat—and after killing the ape-bat, proceed with the young lady through horrendous perils to the land of Drome, where the expected happens. A great distance beyond is the Golden City, the Capital of Drome. But greater peril awaits them there, for the inhabitants of Drome fear the Earthmen as maleficent beings. The discoverers become involved in the complex society of Drome, using the logic of science to combat the superstition and ritual which have enslaved the Dromans. ***A routine thriller, of antiquarian interest only. This reader found especially annoying ubiquitous little snippets of popular “things not generally known” about two-headed salamanders and similar phenomena. ***First paperback edition: Wildside Press, 1434486826, 2007, 312 pp.

@*26. 
Taine, John [Pseudo. of Bell, Eric Temple] 
Green Fire
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1952 313  $3.00
1,250 copies printed. 750 FPCI/500 GV
(1st edition, Dutton; New York  [1928] 313 $2.00)
Jacket by Walter & Crozetti. Facsimile of 1926 Dutton edition.

Science fiction novel. ***A melodramatic thriller of science. ***In 1990 two scientific cartels fight for economic control of the nation. They are Consolidated Power, which stands for monopoly and oppression; and Independent Laboratories, who stand for freedom. At the head of Consolidated is Boris Jevic, once the world’s greatest scientist, but now growing old, although like Bernard MacFadden he claims to retain his youth. Boris Jevic is a man with a tremendous scientific intellect, yet subject to barbaric emotions. Jevic and Consolidated are using the forces of private enterprise to destroy all private enterprise. They plan to usurp all the world governments and become the one supreme authority on Earth. They need only the absolute mastery of cosmic power to complete their domination of the world. Jevic has unwittingly solved the problem of the destruction of matter, and by accident has started a disruptive process that threatens to destroy the universe. One small group of independent research scientists are holding out against Jevic’s bribes and threats. Led by Dr. Ferguson, they are working day and night to find the key to the cosmic secret. But before they have progressed far with their work strange events begin to occur. A new nervous disorder afflicts the world’s workers; mysterious sunspots appear; violent electrical storms disrupt all means of international communication and a flashing light of green fire, the exact shade of green found only in the spectra of nebulae and nowhere else in nature, appears throughout the Earth’s atmosphere. The situation for a time is dangerous, but a brilliant young physicist, MacRobert, derives another equation and saves the universe. ***A vivid and dramatic saga of scientist versus scientist as, with the Earth as their puppet, the rival groups manipulate the strings of cosmic destruction and holocaust. While some of the portions of Jevic’s early life are well-imagined, a melodramatic presentation will not recommend this book to a modern reader. ***There is even a play, Green Fire: A Melodrama of 1990 in Three Acts, adapted by Glenn Hughes (Samuel French, 1932, 108 pp., pa .85¢-.90¢.  ***No paperback edition.

27. 
Coblentz, Stanton A[rthur]
The Planet of Youth
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1952 71  $1.50
300 hardbound copies and 300 paperbound printed.
Jacket by Walter.

Science fiction novel. ***Light novelette of the real estate boom on Venus. ***From: (Wonder Stories, Vol. 4, No. 5, Issue 41, October 1932) & (Tales of Wonder, No. 5, Winter 1938).***Eternal life—the golden dream of man through the ages—realized on the veiled world of Venus! During the latter part of the 20th Century Earthmen conquer the hazards of interplanetary travel and journey to Venus, the Planet of Youth. Man is no longer earthbound; man is no longer haunted by the fear of death; man has found a world where life is more wonderful than any human ever imagined it could be. But a ticket to Venus costs thousands of dollars, and few—very few—people have the necessary fee. Thus begins a reign of terror on Earth as men seek any means of obtaining passage to the world of their dreams. And what of Venus? Is it truly a world of love and laughter and perpetual youth? It is a young planet, its stage of development corresponding to the Jurassic, or even the Carboniferous Era of Earth. During this period no mammals existed on our planet. Can man survive on this perfect world? Here is this tale of tomorrow you will find exciting adventures, biting satire and heartbreaking pathos. ***An outstanding story of things to come. ***No paperback edition.

28. 
Richardson, Darrell C.
Max Brand: The Man and His Works
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1952 198  $3.00
900 copies printed.
Jacket by H. Richardson.

Reference. ***Illustrations, photos, bibliographical and biographical.  Enlarged from Richardson's previous The Fabulous Faust Fanzine. [a] “Introduction,” by Darrell C. Richardson. Short explanation about his discovery of Max Brand and the subsequent creation of his fanzine. [b] “The Life and Works of Max Brand,” by Darrell C. Richardson. A short, but incredibly detailed biography of Frederick Faust. [c] “Bohemian Days with Max Brand,” by John L. Schoolcraft. A period glimpse of the very early writing days of Frederick Faust that he shared. [d] “Twenty-Five Million Words,” by Edward H. Dodd, Jr. Dodd, was Vice President of the Dodd, Mead Publishing Company which published a majority of Max Brand titles beginning in 1926. In this engrossing article, Dodd has revealed some little known facts about the strange genius of Frederick Faust, starting with his amazing productivity. [e] “Post Script to Twenty-Five Million Words,” by John Blair. Blair, a western fiction editor at Dodd, has brought the previous article up to 1938. [f] “A Farewell to Max,” by Steve Fisher. Fisher wrote this article in 1944, shortly after learning of Faust’s death on an Italian battlefield. He had worked for years with Faust for the same Hollywood Studio, and was with Faust when he made his decision to go overseas as a wartime correspondent. [g] “Max Brand and the Western Story,” by S. Allen McElfresh and Darrell C. Richardson. A thorough discussion of his western stories and their relationship to American literature. [h] “Interesting Facts About Faust’s Prolific Distribution,” by William F. Nolan. ***[His first appearance in print!] ***A collection of rare anecdotal information about Faust and his writing, from his prolific production to his impact on movies. [i] “Fantasy in the Writing of Max Brand,” by Darrell C. Richardson. A modest review of the formal pieces of fantasy and science fiction written by Faust as well as providing representative samples of the element of fantasy which appears in so many of his stories. [j] “The Death of a War Correspondent,” by Jack Delaney. An account of Faust’s final moments compiled by Sgt. Jack Delaney, a member of the division which contained the platoon to which Faust was attached. [k] “Bibliography of the Works of Frederick Faust,” compiled and arranged by Darrell C. Richardson. An article accounting for the bibliography and the source of the various details. [1.] “Pseudonyms of Frederick Faust,” by Darrell C. Richardson. Short list of all known pseudonyms. [2.] “Descriptive Listing of the Published Books of Frederick Faust Under His Various Pseudonyms,” by Darrell C. Richardson. ***Expertly done, well researched. [3.] “Anthologies and Special Faust Associational Items,” by Darrell C. Richardson. ***A short, by very important list. [4.] “Listing by Title of Faust’s Published Books,” by Darrell C. Richardson. An alphabetical list, which really needs to be cross-referenced to [2.] above. [5.] “Faust Titles Published as Pocket Novels,” by Darrell C. Richardson. A short list, without publication dates. [6.] “Original Magazine and Newspaper Works,” by Darrell C. Richardson. The best index for Frederick Faust, carefully arranged and dated, parts [6.], [7.], & [8.] are all companion pieces. [7.]“Reprinted Magazine Material,” by Darrell C. Richardson. [8.] “Articles About Frederick Faust and His Works,” by Darrell C. Richardson. [9.] “Addenda to the Bibliography,” by Darrell C. Richardson. Contains an update for 1950 and 1951. ***This is a masterful work of scholarship, far better than the M.P. Shiel book by A. Morse Reynolds (which see). It is highly recommended for both the reader and the fan, for the scholar and the novice. Without a doubt, this is the key, seminal work on Frederick Faust. ***No paperback edition.

29. 
Repp, Ed Earl and Hubbard, L[afayette] Ron[ald]
Science-Fantasy Quintette
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1953 360  $3.50
300 copies printed.
Jacket by Crozetti.

About 1953 somebody at FPCI noticed the staggering number of unbound books lying about. Feeling they could unload them under a different title, they combined them in no logical association. This book contains “The Radium Pool” by Repp and Hubbard’s “The Triton.” See individual entries.  

30. 
Hubbard, L[afayette] Ron[ald]
From Death to the Stars
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1953 375  $3.00
300 copies printed.
Jacket by Crozetti.

Contains “Death’s Deputy” and “The Kingslayer,” which see.

31. 
de Camp, L[yon] Sprague and Weinbaum, Stanley G[rauman]
Fantasy Twin
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1953 503  $3.50
300 copies printed.
Jacket by Crozetti.

Texts of “The Undesired Princess” (de Camp) and “The Dark Other” (Weinbaum), which see.

32. 
Stapledon, (William) Olaf and Leinster, Murray [Pseudo. of Jenkins, Will Fitzgerald] 
Quadratic,
Four Science Fiction Novels
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1953 580  $3.50
300 copies printed.
Jacket design by Walter.

Texts of “Worlds of Wonder” (Olaf Stapledon) and “Murder Madness” (Murray Leinster), which see.

33. 
Farley, Ralph Milne [Pseudo. of Hoar, Roger Sherman] 
Strange Worlds
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1953 311  $3.00
300 copies printed.
Jacket by Crozetti.

Texts of “The Radio Man” and “The Hidden Universe,” which see.

34. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Science and Sorcery
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1953 327  $3.00
800 copies printed. 500 FPCI/300 GV paper.
Illustrations by Arnold and Lorraine Walter.
Jacket by A.L. Walter & Crozetti.

Science fiction short stories. ***Contents: [a] “Scanners Live in Vain” (Fantasy Book, No. 6, 1950), by Cordwainer Smith [Pseudo. of Linebarger, Paul M.A.]. ***Enthralling story of the habermans and Scanners—fantastic, eerie products of science, half-men, half-machines—whose task it is to pilot spacecraft across the gulf between the worlds in defiance of the Great Pain of Space. ***Martel is a Scanner. By medical science his brain has been cut from his body, which he can control by scanning. Only by cranching can he even feel, or become momentarily human. While under the influence of his latest cranch, he is called to an emergency meeting of Scanners. Despite his protests, the Scanners have decided it is best to kill Adam Stone. Stone has developed a new process so that man can travel in space without the Pain. If it is real, the Scanners know they will have lived in vain, so they plot to kill Stone, and keep their control of Space. Martel warns Stone. Finally, Martel must fight and kill his best friend, Parizianski, to protect Stone. By cranching regularly, Martel has remained human enough to except whatever future Stone will create, even if it means living in vain. But at the end, Martel is restored to his complete humanity, as the process is reversed. ***This is one of the very best short stories ever written. [b] “The Little Man on the Subway” (Fantasy Book, No. 6, 1950), by Isaac Asimov &. James MacCreigh [Pseudo of Pohl, Fred]. Subway conductor Patrick Cullen has the adventure of a lifetime. All day long he sees people boarding the first car, but no one ever leaves. Puzzled by this, at the end of the line he goes in to investigate. He sees that the motorman isn’t who it should have been, but instead is a little old man. Just then the train is signaled to move, back the way it came, but instead the first car goes the wrong way at Flatbush Avenue, where there are no further tracks. In a daze, Cullen watches as it passes stations with names like Cherub Plaza. After Hosannah Square the train stops and the little old man leaves the motorman’s cabin. Cullen gets to meet Mr. Crumley. Mr. Crumley performs a miracle, and makes Cullen into a true “Believer.” He takes Cullen to the Factory, so he can be processed into a “Disciple.” But Cullen finds that not all is well in heaven. The other Disciples have decided to take over, create their own god, and rule by committee. They end up creating a new Destroyer, who begins to destroy everything. Crumley and Cullen barely manage to get back to the subway car and back to Flatbush. By then Crumley has decided to give up the god business as too much trouble, but before he goes, he erases all memory of the adventure from Cullen. ***A great story. [c] “What Goes Up” (Fantasy Book, No. 6, 1950 as “Goldfish Bowl”), by Alfred Coppel, Jr. Paul Marshall heads the U.S. rocket program. He is preoccupied with his current, and as yet, unexplained, problem. Each new rocket they send up has disappeared. Marshall is so preoccupied that when his wife asks him to deal with his young daughter, he does as directed. Their daughter has outgrown her pet goldfish, and mother wants to be rid of them. The daughter readily agrees, knowing that she is bored by them and tired of taking care of them. Marshall goes back to work, sending up yet another rocket, which also disappears. The story segues to Teev, who is admonished by her Life-giver for allowing her pet humans to test the limits of their fishbowl. He talks her into eliminating them. ***Clever twist ending. [d] “Kleon of the Sun” (Fantasy Book, No. 7, 1950), by Ed Earl Repp. Timothy Saxon is a bankrupt and untalented sculptor. His tools have been stolen and his last chance for any success, participation in the upcoming Fine Arts Exhibition is slipping from his hands. Saxon goes to Reams, the pawnbroker, and begs for credit for the loan of tools that might help him. He is refused. But that night Saxon has a dream. Kleon, of the Golden Star comes to him and makes him an offer he can’t refuse. By taker over a part of his mind, he imbues Saxon with the talent and ability he doesn’t possess. With renews confidence, Saxon makes a bust of Reams, and gets the tools he needs, a set of chisels purported to have belonged to Michelangelo. Saxon works ardently on his statue, a fabulous representation of Peace. But Kleon takes over his mind and body to advance his own ends, almost overnight Saxon becomes the messiah of War, leading the entire country on the path to war. Saxon sees that he is Kleon’s tool. Finally, as he completes his statue, he realizes that he has become the doorway for the alien monsters of Kleon’s race to take over the earth after it is destroyed by war. Saxon seizes his great statue, and uses it to commit suicide, thus thwarting Kleon for all time. ***Not bad. [e] “How High on the Ladder?” (Fantasy Book, No. 7, 1950), by Leo Paige. Markowov is Captain-Controller of a ship in sub-space. The Life-Controller has mysteriously died, and only he can create new androids. The androids are all dying of a virus, and soon the ship will be lost in space, unless Markowov and the only other living being can create another android. Together they attempt the impossible, and create another android, but due to gaps in the process, the android is born with a soul, and is able to become a god-like super-intelligence. It must destroy the ship in order to release its mind from the material, it does so. Back on Earth, the two men in charge of the sub-space bio-laboratory shrug their shoulders as the ship is reported gone. They laugh at the possibility that the protoplasmic life onboard might have attempted to create life, but realize that it can’t do that, it only thinks it can because it is programmed that way. ***This story has a few points of merit. [f] “Footprints” (Fantasy Book, No. 8, 1951), by Robert Ernest Gilbert. ***Told as a series of letters and articles, mostly about James Englert. ***James has gone missing on a fishing trip to Indian Creek. A series of mysterious occurrences cloud the disappearance, such as: Huge footprints, a giant horse, stories of eighteen-foot-tall men, and the disappearance of an entire tanker truck. The last note is a cryptic, hastily written note from James to his wife, wherein he tells that he has been kidnapped by a mountain family of giants who plan to kill him to keep their secret. Something in the water has made them huge. ***This story had possibilities that were never worked out.  [g] “The Naming of Names” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 34, No. 3, Issue 81, August 1949) & (Treasury of Great Science Fiction Stories, No. 3, 1966), by Ray Bradbury. ***Journey to Mars and learn how an Earthman becomes a Martian. ***Harry Bittering, his wife and children are among the first colonists on Mars. They have built a house, with a picket fence, and they farm, leading an idyllic life. But there is something in the wind that bothers Harry; something unexplained that stirs all the colonists. Harry wants to return to Earth, but before he can, there is a war, and all transportation stops, for at least the next five years. He becomes more disturbed by his neighbor’s casual acceptance of this turn of events, but he remains determined to build a rocket to return his family to Earth. As he works diligently on the rocket, all of the colonists undergo a slow, subtle transformation, even Harry. Until finally they all become Martians, leave their homes to reclaim the long abandoned cities of Mars. When the first rocket from Earth arrives five years later, they can find no trace of the colonists, only the natives, and the strange wind. ***One of Bradbury’s semi-poetical stories set on an Earth-like Mars so that he could try to work out his ideas. Now dated. [h] “The Eyes” (Fantasy Book, No. 8, 1951), by Henry Hasse. Peter Higgins, while tramping through the woods, comes across a nearly invisible alien from Mars. The sympathetic Martian, Dheya-Raj, and Higgins become fast friends. Only the eyes of the Martian are visible and this leads the two to a way to make quick money. They become a ventriloquist act. The money they make is used for special equipment to make a communicator. When the money is made, the machine is completed. At this point, Martha, Peter’s wife, becomes a close friend for the alien, to his surprise. As the alien is rescued, Martha, reveals that it is a she, and that she is pregnant. ***Hokey.   [i] “The Scarlet Lunes” (Spaceway Science Fiction, No. 1, December 1953 as “The Revolt of the Scarlet Lunes”), by Stanton A. Coblentz. In the far future, people live underground. The Scarlet Lunes are the peasant class who do all the labor. They are controlled by the Orange Lunes who work for the ruling class of Magnifats. In order to increase their control over the peasants, the Magnifats have decreed that henceforth all marriages will be arranged by the state. Olvan loves the beautiful Mergyl and joins the ongoing revolt because he will not be allowed to marry the female of his choice. The Scarlet Lunes begin a work strike, beginning with the harvest of the most important crop. The Magnifats would kill all of them but they alone possess the secret of how to grow the special mushroom, Kafful. All the male Magnifats, including the High One, Thoreth, and his Chief Councilor, Eb-Horath, are addicted to the powerful drug-like substance. Knowing this, the Scarlet Lunes send Olvan to bargain in good faith with the Magnifats. The High One plots to deceive Olvan merely to get them back to work. However, the Scarlet Lunes have now bred the mushroom back to its poisonous origins, without the special knowledge of the Scarlet Lunes, the Magnifats are doomed. They can not kill the Scarlet Lunes, and they can not deal with them in bad faith. The first step it to allow them to marry as they please. It is a beginning, a first step, but the Scarlet Lunes know they are on the path for a true democracy. ***Thin, mostly a thought piece. [j] “Demobilization” (Vortex, No. 1, 1947), by George R. Cowie. ***About the not quite human robot, Bel-X, who becomes a man. ***Bel-X, like all robots, has been created for the war games for the jaded residents of Kolar. Tired at long last of the endless games, the Council-Elder, Hor, has ordered all of the robots to be demobilized, destroyed. Bel-X as he awaits destruction, has gained self-awareness as a result of the terrible effects of weapons on his mechanical body. He meets Lura, a beautiful throw-back to an earlier, better type of human. Lura has been ordered to give her body to Hor, for his detestable and perverted lusts. She escapes with Bel-X, and instills in him more self-awareness. Bel-X seems to fall in love with Lura, but decides he must return and try to awaken the other robots. In a final battle, Lura is accidentally killed. Bel-X, his mission accomplished is also destroyed. But now the other robots are all waking up. The future seems to be meant for them. ***A pulp-era thriller. [k] “Voices From the Cliff” (Weird Tales, Vol. 5, No. 5, Issue 20, May 1925), by John Martin Leahy. George Peabody and Doctor Thompson argue in their club about whether science or the supernatural explains everything. While they argue, they mention the sad situation of their friend, Guy Oxford, who has just been jilted by his one-true love, Clara Maitland. Oxford has left for a cruise aboard the Shadow, and was not in town to hear the terrible news. It seems that Clara was murdered last night. Peabody and Thompson think it was her cad of a husband, Dirk, but the man has an alibi. Meanwhile, aboard the Shadow, Oxford has a seeming supernatural visitation from Clara, telling him about her death, the culprit, and how to prove it. He returns, and apprehends Dirk, who confesses since Oxford somehow knows all the details. At the end, Peabody is convinced that the supernatural explains the visitation, but it is Dr. Thompson who triumphs as he points out how it was the sail that created an acoustical amplifier which allowed Oxford to hear his dying Clara’s last words. ***Told as a discussion, dryly, and thus, not much interesting. [l] “The Lost Chord,” by Sam Moskowitz. (First appearance.) Felix Danburg is a stowaway on a ship, the Vanguard, bound for the pleasure domes of Ganymede. He is following his fickle wife, who has left him for a younger lover, taking his fortune as well. All Felix has left is his violin. Felix is discovered by the crew and put to work in the hardest jobs onboard. The ship makes a layover on Mars, and the Captain cruelly abandons Felix to certain death on Mars. But Felix is able to make contact with the true Martians via his violin, as they communicate with sound. They befriend him. He plays for them, but he still wants to return to his people. Sadly, they bring him back to the surface (they live in fantastic underground cities) just as the Vanguard has returned to Mars. It doesn’t have enough power left to escape the gravity of Mars, and certain doom now faces all of them. The Captain apologizes to Felix after they find him still alive. Felix persuades his reluctant Martian friends to help all of them. He is about to depart, but sees his fickle wife, and decides that he is already at home and at peace. He remains behind, to play his beautiful music for his new friends. They are delighted because he plays even better, having found some lost chord never before played by man. ***Not recommended. [m] “The Watchers,” by R.H. Deutsch. (First appearance.) The hard to follow story of Raymond Lanson, who tells his landlady, Mrs. Green about his revelation. Raymond has determined that she is a watcher, and is able to change reality, removing and replacing material things, in order to deceive him. At the end of the long and lengthy proof that he offers, the story segues to another dimension. It seems that Raymond, and Mrs. Green, are both watchers, but Raymond has gone mad, accepting the reality of the human world as fact rather than manipulation, and forgetting that he is a watcher in the process. ***Not recommended. [n] “The Peaceful Martian” (Fantasy Book, No. 8, 1951), by J.T. Oliver. Karto is a Martian on a peace mission to Earth. He wants to make a trade deal for the much needed bosk ore. If he fails it will mean war, and Mars is ready to invade. The man-like Karto lands and makes his way to the nearby town for First Contact. The story ends with a headline from the next day’s newspaper. It seems that last night a Negro was found and hung by the Klan. ***Cute, short and to the point.  [o] “Escape to Yesterday,” by Arthur J. Burks. (First appearance.) Leonard Rascoe is a misunderstood genius. Rascoe has come to loath his wife, and his even more brilliant son, and builds what he thinks will be a time machine in order to escape from all of them. Instead he enters into a kind of stasis, and much of this garbled story is his varied reflections on time. Finally, his son, the Brat, is able to mentally contact his father, they become a shared consciousness. His father continues on in his stasis, but his son looks forward to great accomplishments as a double-genius. ***Avoid this story at all costs. ***Alone, the magnificent internal illustrations make this book worthwhile. ***Transparently composed as a vehicle to use up left over printed sheets from the later issues of Fantasy Book. ***[a] is best. ***No paperback edition.

35. 
Petaja, Emil ([Theodore])
Stardrift
And Other Fantastic Flotsam
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Alhambra, CA  1971 xii/220  $4.95
1,500 copies printed.
Frontispiece, endpapers, title designs and jacket by Hannes Bok.

Science fiction short stories. ***Contents: Introduction, by Forest J Ackerman. [a] “Stardrift.” (Weird Tales, Vol. 42, No. 2, Issue 250, November 1949 as “Skydrift”). Big Tom and bony little Aino are two bums freezing on the beach after a storm. Big Tom orders the little runt to pick up more wood. Big Tom always bullies and orders the runt to do things for him, like find food and money. Aino finds something, not wood, he calls it a thunderstone, dropped by aliens during the storm. He warns Big Tom to leave it alone. Aino takes possession of the thunderstone, and it confers strange powers on him that aren’t apparent at first. Aino opens a castaway tool box, only to find it full of money and jewels. Big Tom plans to do away with his little pal, and take all the money. Big Tom also plans to take the stardrift away from Aino. He does, but is burned to a crisp. Aino remains untouched, and picks up the stone, his new master, now that the old one is gone.  [b] “Moon Fever.” (If, Vol. 15, No. 3, Issue 88, March 1965 as “Million-Mile Hunt”). Perry Alman is a tough loner, a tough spacer, always on the make. He encounters Dober, who practically materializes out of thin air, while prospecting on a planetoid. Dober appears to be a doglike humanoid, thus the name. He warns Perry not to go in a certain direction, but Perry does. Perry finds what he is looking for and more. He finds the minerals he is looking for, but it comes to life, and attacks him. He barely manages to escape. Dober saves him, puts him the unconscious Perry on his spaceship and warns him to leave. But a piece of the living mineral is onboard and damages his ship. Dober rescues Perry again. Even though Dober has saved him twice, the loner, Perry, chases him away. Back on Marsport, drinking his recent failure away, he hears the sob story from Lisa. The beautiful Lisa has just escaped from a Ganymede body snatching ring, but is being pursued. Perry offers to take her away, but she insists on stopping at her place to pick up a few things. Lisa is, of course, a part of the body snatching ring, and they have lured Perry in order to steal his body parts. But he is rescued again. As Perry recovers in the hospital from his wounds, it turns out that Dober is a young alien, raised by scientists to telepathically bond especially with him. After this third rescue the two are now fast friends. [c] “Where is the Sting.” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 32, No. 5, Issue 192, May 1967). Wendall Kane is heartbroken, he has lost the love of his life. He keeps trying to suicide, but he carries viable sperm, so he isn’t allowed to die. The doctors try everything to shock him back into doing his duty, impregnating as many women as he can, but he refuses, and tries to suicide again. This time he seems to actually talk with his lost love, and finds closure. Recovering from the attempt he is over his suicidal desires and has found true love at the hand of his nurse. [d] “A Dog’s Best Friend.” A retired salesman, basking in the sun on the beaches near Acapulco, is approached by a beachcomber with a tale. The drunken bum has listened to the wild dogs talking to each other at night, and decided they are the true masters of the earth. He has approached them to become one of them, if they will let him. His discussion with the salesman is mostly philosophical rant about the sad condition of man. ***Thin and hardly worth reading. [e] “Peacemonger.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 18, No. 5, Issue 196, December 1944 as “The Man Who Hated War”). Doctor Myles Foster hates war. Forced to do scientific work for the latest in a never-ending series of wars, he turns his genius to perfecting suspended animation. He makes all the provisions to sleep through the centuries, with the descendants of his best friend taking care of him, until the world knows universal peace. He awakens to a terrible future. Deep in a bunker, he is told the sad tale of the future. After centuries of ideal peace, the world has plunged into eternal warfare all due to the Immortal One, the undying scientist. Foster in a fit of revulsion discovers that he is the Immortal One, and his caretaker, his High Priest. [f] “Dark Balcony.” (Fantastic Adventures, Vol. 13, No. 2, Issue 104, February 1951) & (Fantastic Adventures Yearbook, 1970). Arthur loves his strange aunt, Ermintrude Calder. They are much alike. They also share secrets, dark secrets. Arthur longs to know about the balcony, and finally on her death bed, as he inherits everything, he also inherits the secret. The Balcony is a doorway, an opening, that lets her demon lover come to her. At the end, after his aunt has died, Arthur goes to the balcony to welcome his “Cousin Daniel.” [g] “Hunger.” (Weird Tales, Vol. 42, No. 3, Issue 252, March 1950 as “The Hungry Ghost”). Gordon Ellis is a poor man. He inherits everything from his wealthy uncle, on one condition, that he take care of his cousin, Grey. Grey is a huge moron, who can’t feed himself. Gordon decides to end Grey’s life by starving him to death “accidentally.” He feels such remorse that during his subsequent honeymoon, he can no longer eat anything. A doctor, a psychiatrist, partially heals him, but to her horror, his wife soon finds herself married to a moron who can’t find himself, but is always hungry. Gordon has become his cousin in his madness. [h] “Dark Hollow.” (Magazine of Horror, Winter 1966). Adam Monfret is the writer of children’s fantasy stories. He is hired by the bossy Edith Spinney to rewrite a found manuscript into a children’s fantasy on magic. The manuscript, found in a Salem attic, is from a true warlock, a magician and demon master. Adam settles in the same Salem cottage as the warlock, Thomas Oliver Sark, had inhabited. Reading the manuscript, Adam is soon possessed by Sark, becomes truly evil and soon children are missing from the neighborhood. Edith has lost touch with her writer and goes to find out why. She discovers the mad magician, but she has read the manuscript and knows how to destroy him and does. [i] “Dodecagon Garden.” (Spaceway Science Fiction, May/June 1970 as “Cube in a Dodecagon Garden”). Clark Hauran is selected as an alien anthropologist to solve a dire problem. An alien race has a planet with the much needed source of special minerals on it that they need, but no accord can be reached with them. All who have tried have died or gone mad. Clark enters the alien garden. He comes to understand the aliens, that they don’t use thought, but only sensation. He handles the conversion, and comes to an understanding the highly evolved aliens. They allow for the mining concession, but refuse to let Clark return to the garden, he just isn’t advanced enough for them. [j] “Only Gone Before.” (Magazine of Horror, March 1967). Cyril Osbourne has returned to his hometown. A stranger there even as a child, he found wonder in the original Welsh inhabitants of the burned out mining village. He also discovered a living man who was willing himself to be immortal. Thomas Craig and Cyril have an understanding, they are kindred spirits. Cyril goes off to study to solve the problem that Craig has encountered. But he returns to late, only to find Craig almost dead, battling the final Great Enemy, nature, it’s insects. [k] “The Answer.” (Imagination, No. 6, September 1951). John Reeve has grown to hate his wife, Lisa. So he strangles her. Waiting in the room, having just killed her, he can finally answer the ringing phone. In the past, this is one of the things that always irritated him, she always answered it first. Finally, he nerves himself up to answering the phone, fearing at first it would be someone who would discover that it was he who was there and that he has just killed his wife. He is right, Satan answers. [l] “Be a Wingdinger, Earn Big Money.” Al Kolapka is a big, brawny man, without many brains or imagination. He can take or leave women, but he can’t seem to find work. He applies to become a “wingdinger” and is hired. He finds that he has been hired by some unidentified, unseen, alien race, to become an exhibit in a zoo of rutting humans. He is about to object when the chemicals in the air kick in and he finds himself doing his job. [m] “Pattern for Plunder.” The Syndicate lands on Otava, which seems to be just another planet to plunder. They work all their tricks, bullying the locals, and forcing them to work until everything on the planet is exhausted and they leave. It turns out that the aliens have the ability to create believable illusions that totally fool every race that comes to plunder them or their resources. It is the formula for their continued successful existence. [n] “Found Objects.” Jack and Mab are a bit on the outs, but they still go to the party, which has every indication of being the highest fashion event of the season. At the party, Jack is slowly told the story of the impending height, climax of the party. When everyone has indulged themselves, each according to their inclination, the alien throwing the party will capture the moment in fourth-dimensional space forever freezing them at the moment of climax. Alas, the alien only wins second place for his artwork. ***Fantastic flotsam, wolfbane and wonder by a master story teller. Fourteen selected tales in this limited edition. ***Mostly all flotsam, but [f] is recommended, with a nod to [l]. This reader found most of the rest of these stories confusing and only partially worked out. ***No paperback edition.

36. 
Eichner, Henry M.
The Atlantean Chronicles
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Alhambra, CA  1971 230  $9.50
1,250 copies printed.
Illustrations, maps, book and magazine covers, ets. Bibliography, Index, Jacket by Henry Eichner; back jacket portrait of Eichner by Bill Nelson.

Reference. ***No previous magazine appearance. ***At Last, everything you have ever wanted to know about Atlantis, a comprehensive reference book on this subject. Over the centuries people of all lands have been fascinated by the mystery of Atlantis. Strange legends exist regarding this lost continent, and Henry Eichner spent forty years gathering the information for this book. Six years in the writing, he has researched with meticulous care the theoretical locations and delineated them in detail: Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean, Spanish Atlantis, Minoan Atlantis, Atlantis in the Americas, in the Arctic, in the Mediterranean, in Great Britain. Other interesting subjects: Occult Atlantis, Lost Lands, Maps and People, the Hoerbiger and Wegener Concepts. The Atlantean scholar will use this book to locate English language stories about Atlantis, whether published in book form or in magazines. Resumes of more than one hundred hard cover books and a number of pocketbook novels are given. In addition there are synopses of some movies and comic books concerning Atlantis. There is also a list of foreign fiction on the subject and a bibliography, also eleven maps and sixteen reproductions of book and magazine covers. ***Reprinted: (Perry Rhodan, Issue 82 thru 98, ACE, November 1975 thru July 1976 in eleven parts)

37. 
Norton, André [Pseudo. of Norton, Alice Mary]
Garan the Eternal
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Alhambra, CA  [1972] 1973 199  $4.95
1,300 copies printed.
Jacket by Morris Scott Dollens.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.         (DAW paperback, true 1st edition) UQ1045, 1973, 156 pp., pa .95¢ Garan the Eternal by André Norton

Fantastical adventure novel. ***A tale that spans two widely separated lifetimes and two planets. ***It might be interesting to note that these Alice Mary Norton tales that Crawford used were for his LA magazines and one-shots and were contributed around 1934-1935. ***[a]“Garin of Tav.” (Fantasy Book, No. 1, 1947 as “The People of the Crater” as by Andrew North). Garin of Tav overcomes the evil Dark Lord Kepta, and wins the love of one more precious to him than life itself, his Lady Wife. The three are tied together by Fate. They had lived and loved and fought before and would again. [b]“Garan of Yu-Lac.” (Spaceway Science Fiction, No. 11, September-October 1969 & May/June 1970). Deep in the hidden exotic world beyond the Antarctic ice barrier Garin of Tav relives his past life as Garan of Yu-Lac among the remnants of the Great Race which had fled there after they founded the Empire of Yu-Lac. He continues to be involved in the fateful struggles of the Ancient Ones against the Lord of Darkness. [c]‘Legacy from Sorn-Fen.” Higbold, a commoner, has risen to command the Gate Keep of Klavenport, and taken the high-born lady, Isbel, as wife. One-eyed Caleb becomes a close retainer, and the caretaker of the Lady Isbel’s special garden. In the garden, Caleb overhears the ambitious Higbold plotting to take the throne. Caleb tells the Lady Isbel of the plot, and then quickly leaves the Gate Keep. He wanders toward the Fen of Sorn, which most stay away from, but he is afraid that Higbold will pursue him no matter where he goes. Cabel rescues a strange, unidentified creature from the hands of local herdsmen. Caleb settles in the burnt-out shell of the Inn of the Forks, magically restoring both the inn and himself to better circumstances. Higbold learns that his ex-servant, Caleb, has mysteriously enhanced his circumstances and sends his mistress, Elfra to him. Elfra becomes a barmaid with a tale of woe at the hands of Higbold, and eventually learns Caleb’s magical secret, which she steals and gives to Higbold. Higbold’s first use is to make her disappear. Higbold begins to use the magic ring to become the first king of High Hallack. Caleb, without the ring, looses everything, his health and his inn. At this time, Higbold acquires a strange new type of cat as a present for his lady, the cats come from Sorn Fen. One of the cats steals the ring from Higbold, who pursues the animal deep into Sorn Fen where he encounters Caleb. Caleb explains that the magic ring came to him when he helped one of the older, magical beings that inhabit the fen. After Higbold stole it, Caleb enlisted the help of the magic beings to create the cats to steal it back. Caleb gives the now cursed ring back to Higbold, who then disappears into the fen, never to be seen again. The Lady Isbel gives away all of her wealth, and then goes to seek Cabel to be with him in Sorn Fen.[d] “One Spell Wizard.” Saystrap is a less than mediocre wizard. He enlists a stumbling, mumbling farm boy as his accomplice. Saystrap teaches his new apprentice, Joachim Ladizwell, as little as possible. The inept wizard can only make his spells last twenty-four hours, and has stumbled onto a plan to get rich by transforming his apprentice into various creatures, and selling them. The lad changes back to human form after twenty-four hours and they repeat the fraud. Eventually, Joachim learns magic, and becomes an even better wizard than his master, able to make the spells work without speaking. Joachim is transformed into a bird and sold to the Lady Juluya, who he immediately falls in love with. Transforming from the falcon into a human at the wrong moment, he is nearly caught. The Lord Tanheff, alarmed that magic has occurred inside his keep and compromised the safety of his people, sends for a special spell from a great wizard to put a stop to and catch the intruding wizard. At first he believes Joachim to be the evil wizard. Saystrap has also fastened onto the Lady Juluya as the way to solve his ambitions, and starts to use magic to trap the lady. Joachim transforms himself into a ring, which the Lady Juluya finds and wears. This way he is able to watch over his love and protect her. Finally, he fights Saystrap in a magic battle where both transform into bigger and stronger creatures to fight each other. At the height of the battle, Saystrap transforms into a powerful, fierce, dragon, and the nearly beaten Joachim transforms back into a man. As a man he casts the spell that returns Saystrap back into a man. Lord Tanheff appears with the special magic spell that turns Saystrap into a spider which a nearby rooster eats. Joachim is applauded as a hero, wins the hand of Lady Juluya and is started on the road to great success. ***These stories were written by Norton at an early stage in her writing career and lack some of the polish of the author’s later work. ***[c] and [d] are, and recommended as early stories written in Andre Norton’s Witch World. ***Preceded by one month by the release of the DAW paperback. ***First paperback edition: DAW, UQ1045, 1973, 156 pp., pa .95¢.

Griffin Publishing Company
1948—1949 

Griffin Publishing Company was an unregistered trading name for William L. Crawford. All titles were distributed by FPCI. The primary reason for this separate imprint was the intention of issuing books outside the science fiction and fantasy field.

1. 
Crawford, William L[evi] (editor)
Science Fantasy Series
Griffin Booklet One
Griffin Publishing Company; Los Angeles, CA   [1948] 1949  47  .35¢
1,000 copies printed.
Jacket by Alva Rogers.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Title page.

Fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “Empire of Dust” (Fantasy Book, No. 5, 1949), by Basil Wells. Gerd Kern and the shanghaied crew of the Freedom have been stranded in the dunes and dust of Venus by the greed of Bland Losson, and his partner, Wimer Tarlby. The two men wanted to create an empire on the planet, using the crew as slaves. But they are soon at the mercy of the dust, and seek survival. They find it at the root of a strange crystal forest, which they have landed near. At the base of the tree-like things is an underground lake. They have their first encounter with the inhabitants of the lower world. The fish-like wifts fight against Tarlby’s unwarranted aggression. Kern and Alda Selkirk, Tarlby’s secretary, are taken prisoners. Later they find that Tarlby has been taken too. Tarlby is sold into slavery, but the nicer Kern and Alda are to go to the Water People, worshipped by the wifts. The Water People are war-like, very human in every regard. Tarlby shows up. As Kern and Alda seek ways to regain the surface and contact with the ship, they fight Tarlby. Finally, in yet another battle, Kern defeats and kills Tarlby. Alda is revealed to be a government agent spying on Tarlby. The last obstacle between the two is removed, and love is able to blossom. And the Water People gift them a special map, showing them all about the underground world, and a place that they can set up their outpost. Peace and trade loom in the future for all the wonderful people of Earth and Venus. ***Pointless. [b] “Gifts of Asti” (Fantasy Book, No. 3, 1948), by Andrew North [Pseudo. of Norton, André [Pseudo. of Norton, Alice Mary]]. Her world was dead...but the Goddess had given to her the key to another life. ***Varla, last of the virgin Maidens of Asti, flees the complete destruction of her home city of Memphir, with her small pet-like, mute telepathic lizard companion, Lur. Fleeing the shaggy-headed barbarians sacking her city, she goes to the austere temple of Asti, seeking counsel and help. Varla receives a psycho-kinetic gift from the hand of Asti’s statue, with this power, and a lizard-like outer suit, she begins the long climb into the depths of her world. She follows dimly remembered legends on a strange journey into the unknown. Along the way, she encounters the alien Guardians of the Dark, who although not of her race, show her two paths to choose from in order to reach her final destination. From the depths, they begin a long climb, back to the ways of men. Finally, they reach the surface, and encounter the long decayed ruins and the stranger mutations of the surface world. Inside a peculiar lake of living water, they find the preserved remains of a great spacecraft, and inside a space suit, a man, also preserved by the lake against the effects of time. Still in her lizard-like suit that protects her from all ill and dangerous things, she rescues the man by using the power of Asti. In brief, they are told of the destruction of all the worlds of mankind in the far past, and how this one spaceman tried to prevent the destruction of Varla’s world and failed, and was imprisoned in the living lake. Varla realizes that she is at the end of her quest, and has received the final gift of Asti, her new companion, a man unlike any she has ever known. ***[b] is highly recommended. Although it is clearly early Norton, her quality and talent show through and this short story is a surprising gem.    

2. 
Hall, Austin 
People of the Comet
Griffin Publishing House; Los Angeles, CA 1948  131  $2.00
900 Crawford copies bound. 350 Greenberg variants.
Has “The People of the Comet” on the spine.
Jacket by Jack Gaughan. Illustrations by R.K. Murphy.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Weird Tales, Vol. 2, No. 2, Issue 6, September 1923         “The People of the Comet” by Austin Hall Cover art: R.M. Mally

Science fiction novel. ***An old serial from Weird Tales, naive and badly written. (Weird Tales, Vol. 2, No. 2 & No. 3, Issue 6 & 7, September 1923 & October 1923, originally published as “Hop O’ My Thumb”). ***Alvas the Sansar, the First Lord of the Atom, and his mate, Zora, appear in a California observatory. Alvas is from a pre-glacial civilization, a time in the incredibly distant past, when the polar regions were green and fertile and inhabited by an advanced civilization of scientists and artisans. Alvas, one of the foremost scientists of his time, builds a spaceship so that he can visit and study the great Red Comet that has suddenly careened into the solar system. Alvas journeys through space to the fiery comet and discovers the people living there, where he meets the fabulous Star-Rovers and the marvelous astronomer, Zin of Zar. He has also finds the exotic Zora, the girl of the comet. Alvas ventures into the forbidden worlds of the atom and through the dimensions of an expanded super-universe, until he falls back to this universe, ages later, after a series of unearthly and thrilling adventures. ***This story should not have been reprinted; Hall has written far better material. ***No paperback edition.

3. 
Pragnell, Festus
The Machine God Laughs
Griffin Publishing House; Los Angeles, CA 1949  134  $1.50
900 Crawford copies bound. 300 Greenberg variants, with new jacket, color-scheme and back cover ad.
Jacket by Lora Ruth Crozetti.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Science fiction novel. ***[a] “The Machine God Laughs.” (Fantasy Book, No. 2, February 1948, No. 3, 1948, & No. 4, 1948). The Dictator of China, Hu Fong, is planning to conquer America, as well as the rest of the civilized world. By kidnapping famous scientists of all nations, Hu Fong forces them to work on super-weapons of destruction in order to overcome the technological superiority of the United States. Rumors that slip through China’s bamboo curtain hint that Hu Fong has developed a super-intelligent mechanical brain. But America is not idle. Two of her best scientists are also working to develop the super-brain, and their efforts have met with startling success. They not only create a mechanical brain, but the machine is so perfect that it quickly takes over the American war effort. As Frank—the American super-brain—begins his role as supreme war commander, he demands and gets, finer and more complex adjustments in his own robot body. He creates more powerful weapons of offense and defense, and finally locates the secret city that houses the Chinese brain. Thus begins the strange battle of the mechanical giants—a war between two titanic forces of pure thought. ***Peter Holroyd, a government scientist, has constructed a thinking machine—a robot of millions of photoelectric cells. When Jim Dale, sent by Washington, to assist Holroyd, arrives at the secret desert base, Frank, as the machine is called, has acquired only a limited intelligence. Spurred by his visitor, Frank demonstrates enough knowledge to make Dale send immediate notice to the Government. The next day enemy agents disguised as government officials arrive and are successfully routed by Frank. Frank then commands Dale and Holroyd to transport him to San Francisco, where they board a submarine for an unknown destination. They are scarcely underway when they receive a radio report concerning the destruction of their former base. However, it doesn’t take the Chinese dictator long to discover the escape of Frank and he sends planes marked with U.S. insignia to hunt down the submarine. They narrowly escape a second attempt to destroy Frank, and learn that industrialized China has also invented a mechanical brain. Frank works frantically to strengthen their hand for the coming battle, as the submarine silently guards them in the murky waters of the vast ocean... ***They hide out on an island while Frank I makes a much smaller version of himself, Frank II, to whom he transfers all of his knowledge. In an exchange of intelligence between the two super brains, Frank I is destroyed. Frank II and his allies begin searching the continent of Asia for the Chinese Brain. ***Floating in an invisible crystal sphere controlled by Frank II, they find the Chinese Brain hidden inside a Buddhist Temple high in the mountains. By this time, Frank II has gotten out of control, and is openly using the humans for his own unknown designs. They land at the temple, only to discover that the Chinese Brain is constructed of countless human brains, taken from scientists, traitors, and religious fanatics, any who opposed the Dictator. Frank II and the Chinese Brain battle, and both seem to be destroyed. The Chinese Brain triggers a timebomb that destroys the temple. The men escape, delighted to be free of both Brains, and now must make the long walk out of Asia to Alaska. During the walk, Frank II gets into with Jim Dale, and tells him about his great joke. Now that Frank II has taken on all the religious trappings from the Chinese Brain, it is enjoying being a god, and its joke is that men, Dale in particular, will never be free again. ***The was Pragnell’s last story. [b] “Star of the Undead” (Fantasy Book, No. 2, February 1948), by Paul Dennis Lavond [Pseudo. of Lowndes, Robert A.W.]. Master Pilot Devlin has a problem, the exploration spaceship, Stark, has returned, without its crew. The Stark has been taken over by some malevolent alien presence. A member of its crew, without a spacesuit on, floats over through the vacuum of space, and boards his ship. Soon, Devlin is in a struggle with the alien as it disables his ship. Devlin crashes his ship onto a nearby planet. The two survivors, Harveson and Devlin, battle with the alien, who appears as a giant, but insubstantial slug. Finally a mental battle ensues, with the alien taking over the dead bodies of Devlin’s friends, including Harveson. But in the end, Devlin triumphs, overcoming the alien, when he makes it clear that he will destroy the final ship, himself, and all the hosts, as well as the alien. Devlin wins, the alien departs. [c] “Crusader” (Fantasy Book, No. 5, 1949 as by Gene Ellerman), by Basil Wells. ***A time-traveling crusader from the past who duplicates himself to fight for right and justice. ***Allan Allan finds a magic armlet while sacking a tower in the Holy Land. He is whisked into the future and saves a witch in England who is about to be burned. Using the armlet, the two travel further forward to the Revolutionary War, where Allan fights for America. By now Allan has determined that each time he uses the armlet, a duplicate is created. Sometimes the duplicate remains behind to live out the wonderful life Allan could have had, sometimes the duplicates fight at his side. During the Civil War, Allan duplicates himself so many times that he becomes a small army, fighting for the Union. And so it goes, Allan keeps moving forward, fighting for the right. ***Not the worst such time travel story. ***Not listed in the Tuck Handbook or Cole Anthology Checklist. ***[a], the title story, gets a qualified recommendation. It is readable, and it merits being published as a representative of the Golden Era of Pulps. ***No paperback edition.

Griffin also released a book, The Hypnotism Handbook, by A.E. Van Vogt and Charles Edward Cooke.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Griffin Publishing Company, 1st edition 1956; 252 pages Charles Edward Cooke & A.E. van Vogt

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Borden edition, later printing Note cover has both     Griffin and Borden on title

Crawford: Distributed By

Crawford created and distributed the following:  

1. 
Simak, Clifford D[onald]
The Creator
A Crawford Publication; Los Angeles, CA 1945  49   .10¢
500 paper copies printed.
Cover by Alva Rogers.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. 1st edition

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.   39th World Science Fiction Convention, 1981

Fantasy short story. ***From: (Marvel Tales, No.4, March-April 1935) & (Fantastic, July 1961). ***Scott Marston and the narrator, Peter Sands, have developed a theory of the “consciousness unit.” Together they spend all their time and money until they have created a device powered by time energy from the fourth dimension and use it to project their minds outside of the known universe. They arrive in the Creator’s laboratory. The Creator of the known universe appears to be a very childish creature that created the universe merely to see what kind of life might develop. Scott and Peter, along with three other diverse types of alien intelligence, have bridged the gap to the Creator’s laboratory. Each, without being able to really communicate with Scott and Peter, have assessed the Creator and found him wanting. The Creator plans to destroy the universe, in order to move on to other experiments. Together they all stop the Creator and finally Scott and Peter return to the known universe. But they are separated by time, not having made the necessary calculations, and Peter, the narrator, is all alone. He is back on Earth, but at the very end of all life, surrounded by an underground dwelling, barely intelligent, descendant of mankind. Peter’s last act is to make a record of his adventure. ***Considered blasphemous when first appeared in 1935, since God is a character, now it only shows how much Simak has improved with the years. ***Reprinted as a Special Commemorative Issue with appreciations from Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Jack Williamson, and Frederik Pohl, for the 39th World Science Fiction Convention, Denver, Colorado, 1981. This was a tribute for Clifford D. Simak who was the Guest of Honor. The appreciations are for the most part reprinted letters to Simak, with the Heinlein letter being the slimmest and weakest.

2. 
Crawford, William L[evi] (editor)
The Garden of Fear
And Other Stories
A Crawford Publication; Los Angeles, CA 1945  79   .25¢
48,000 paper copies printed. In order, blue, green, yellow, and red.
Cover by Alva Rogers.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “The Garden of Fear” (Marvel Tales, No. 2, July-August 1934) & (Fantastic Stories of Imagination, Vol. 10, No. 5, Issue 79, May 1961), by Robert E. Howard. From the knoll, Hunwulf could see the tower where his mate, Gudrun the Beautiful was held captive. But between them lay the Garden of Fear, where no man dared walk. ***Hunwulf, the Wanderer, is a past memory of James Allison. Allison has the ability to remember all of his past lives, including those from the very beginning of mankind’s descent from the trees. Hunwulf was a son of the golden-haired Aesir, from Asgard. As a youth he fell in love with Gudrun, who is the prototypical woman that all others are descended from. However, she is given to Heimdul, the Strong, the mightiest warrior of the tribe. He slays Heimdul and steals Gudrun. They flee, pursued, finally escaping. Finding sanctuary with a strange tribe of brown-skinned people. In the night, Gudrun is kidnapped by a winged terror. By signs and drawings, the chief of the brown-skinned people tell Hunwulf about the winged devil, a man-like creature that steals sacrifices from their tribe. He lives in a high tower surrounded by a beautiful, but deadly garden. Following the map drawn by the old man, Hunwulf finds the tower, and watches as the winged man drops a captive into his garden. Like snakes, the plant comes alive, and devours the victim. The winged man toys with Hunwulf, threatening to throw Gudrun into the plants. In despair, Hunwulf conceives of a plan. Traveling far, he finds a herd of wooly mammoths and stampedes them into the garden. They trample it down, allowing Hunwulf access to the slick, high tower. Reaching the top of the tower, he fights the black, winged giant to the death. Departing with his prize, Gudrun, in his arms, they seek a distant valley. ***Closest story to pure science fiction that Howard ever wrote. ***The story is told by the narrator, there is very little dialogue, which is where Howard showed his real talent in his later writing. [b] “The Man With the Hour Glass” (Marvel Tales, No. 1, May 1934), by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. The people loved Marley Day, when a chosen actor impersonated their national hero by pretending to travel out to the past. But on the eighty-fifth Marley Day, the real Nathan Marley appeared! ***Nathan Marley was an old man, an artist, a painter. He has finally finished painting his masterpiece, illustrated one man and the procession of time. He is going to sell it that night for a pittance, he is that desperate. There is a knock on his door. His neighbor, Harlin Kane, wants to show him his new invention, a time machine. Marley is impressed. He likes the young scientist, and thinks he is more valuable alive than the old, faded painter, so he offers to test the machine. Going one hundred years in the future, Marley finds his rooming house has been turned into a monument of his life. A guard mistakes him for an actor. As he watches in stunned awe, and some fear, he realizes that he is being commemorated for ushering in a new golden age due to his time machine invention. He elbows aside the real actor who is to represent him in that celebration, and protests. He tells them about Harlin Kane. But he is shouted down as a dissident, spreading falsehoods about “Kane the Imposter.” Nathan nearly escapes from the mob. He returns and tells Harlin about the glorious future, not saying a word about their respective future roles. He feebly tries to prevent Harlin from going into the future to meet his death at the hands of the mob. Resigned to his fate, Nathan returns to his shabby room. [c] “Celephais” (The Rainbow, May 1922), by H.P. Lovecraft. All through life Kuranes searched for the wondrous city of Celephais. Only in death does he find it. Each dream brings him some tantalizing vision of the city, sometimes it is close, sometimes far. Always he is searching for the valley of Ooth-Nargal beyond the Tanarian Hills, where the city can be found. He finds the captain, Athib, who long ago agreed to sail him to those shores, but he is awaken from his dream to soon. Kuranes seeks so ardently for his dream city, that he neglects his health, and his surroundings. Taking more and more potent drugs, until he has no more money. He is turned out into the streets. Wandering the streets, he dream is finally realized. A cortege of knights come to take him there, placing him at the head of their cavalcade. Kuranes becomes the new ruler, forever reigning in Celephais. His forgotten body, find under a bridge. ***A typical Lovecraft dream journey, told in surreal language. [d] “Mars Colonizes” (Marvel Tales, No. 5, Summer 1935), by Miles J. Breuer M.D. A billion Earth people had been eliminated from existence in the high-strung Martianized world. Would the remainder be able to shake off the Martian influences and regain the Earth? ***Lieutenant Gary, one of a handful of remaining Earthmen, listens to the General preparing his troops for the last battle against the invading Martians. The story segues into an historical account of how the Martians invaded and took over the Earth. Coming as friends at first, with each new wave of visitors, the Martians learned more about society and civilization on Earth. The Martians wisely prepare for their colonization of Earth, breeding generation after generation specially in order to allow them to stand and breath on Earth. They learn about commerce, and trade their superior technology for wealth and property. Until one day they begin to outnumber the native population. Still, wave after wave of Martians land on the Earth, increasing their numbers, finally the natives are forced out of their cities into the desolate, unwanted places. Much too late, they recognize what has been happening and try to stop it. But the Martians even use the legal system to prevent this. Now with only a few Earthmen left, they are prepared to stop at nothing to remove the Martians from the Earth. The final battle begins. There is no response from any Martian. Lieutenant Gary investigates and discovers the final message from the dead Martians. It reveals that the Martians are unable to breed on Earth, thus requiring endless increases in population from the home planet. But for some reason that has already stopped, being too taxing on the Martian resources. The final Martians all have died, the last shortly before the final battle. Earth is once again for the natives, and not a real shot has been fired. ***Very weak, told mostly as a narrative, historical account. [e] “The Golden Bough” (Marvel Tales, No. 3, Winter 1934) & (Weird Tales, Vol. 36, No. 8, Issue 208, November 1942), by David H. Keller, M.D. The castle in the dark Forest held a strange fascination for the bride of Paul Holland. But it was not until he had read the ancient book and heard the laughing man that Paul understood. ***The rich, effete, Paul Holland humors his new wife, Constance. She is searching for the perfect spot for them to live, she has dreamed about it. Finally they find it. Almost ready to give up, they stumble across the ruined castle, down a trail in a deep forest. They ask the old woman, the caretaker about it, and they make arrangements to live there. Strange things abound in the Dark Forest, summoning Constance from her sleep. Finding no joy in her marriage, she goes to find a man making olden music. She asks the man for a son. He tells her how to grow one from the fetid pool in the heart of the garden in the castle, where the golden bough grows. She does as he says, beginning the process, becoming very happy and contented. Paul Holland notices the changes in his young wife. He finds a strange book in the library, and it feels him with a sense of dread. That night he spies on his wife as she goes out to dance to the music of the laughing man. Paul drains the pool, killing her happiness. He wants them to leave, but she persuades him to spend one more night. In the night, her long hair strangles Paul, killing him. Constance does not care, she takes off her clothes, running to dance to the music of the laughing man. But this time, she can not get close to Pan, who steps back, until she reaches for him one more time, to kiss him, and falls over the cliff to her death. ***One of Keller’s better short stories, at least this one makes some sense and is internally consistent and not overly given to the use of archetypes. ***[a] is best. ***Recommended.

The next two were only distributed by Crawford:

3. 
Harris, Clare Winger
Away from the Here and Now
Dorrance; Philadelphia, PA 1947    365    $2.50

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Science Wonder Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 3, Issue 3, Spring 1930         “The Ape Cycle” by Clare Winger Harris Cover art: Frank R. Paul

Dorrance is a “vanity” publisher—the author pays 60% of the print costs and receives 40% of any profits.

Science fiction short stories. ***Contents: [a] “A Runaway World.”  (Weird Tales, Vol. 8, No. 1, Issue 34, July 1926). Leon La Rue, noted scientist in the year 2026, comes to the laboratory of Henry Shipley with astounding news. It seems that Mars, a planet he has been in communication with for some years, is leaving its orbit. It is being pulled out of its orbit by intelligent beings in a supra-universe as part of an experiment. The narrative shifts to James Griffin, an average, everyday citizen. Now the Earth is leaving its orbit, following after Mars. Griffin and his family, with a few friends, make a stronghold out of a nearby observatory. They stay there for several years as the Earth freezes, living out a fairly normal existence while traveling at the speed of light on their journey. Finally, just as supplies are getting short, they find themselves around a new sun, in a new orbit. The inhabited planet of Mars has made the journey to a closer position to that sun as well. There are several new inhabited planets in orbit around this sun too. ***All’s well that ends well, for the survivors of the journey. [b] “The Fate of the Poseidonia.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 3, Issue 15, June 1927). George Gregory is driven nearly mad vying for the hand of the beautiful Margaret Landon with the strange man, Martell. Soon, he is spying on the man, and finds him to be in communication with Mars, which explains his barely human appearance. He tries to tell and warn Margaret, but she has fallen for the alien. Ships and airplanes are disappearing, and the level of the ocean is changing. The Martians need water, and are stealing it from the Earth. Gregory is imprisoned in a mental hospital for his bizarre ranting just as the last invasion of the Martians occurs. The Martians take enough water to survive for a while. They also take the oceangoing liner, Poseidonia. Onboard is Margaret and her family. The evil Martell has sent Gregory his communication device, and in the final moments, Gregory finds that Margaret has survived to become a prisoner of Martell. The communication breaks off as she vows to keep the Martians from stealing more water. ***Thin, at best, not fully worked out. [c] “A Certain Soldier.” (Weird Tales, Vol. 10, N0. 5, Issue 50, November 1927). Ebson meets Clayton while touring the ruins of ancient Rome. Clayton is possessed by a recurring bad dream, trying to figure out which Jewish soldier, acting as a Roman soldier, torched the famous temple in 70 A.D. The two men experience their prior incarnations as Tacitus and Pliny the Elder. The two follow Josephus, the other noted historian of the era, and find out where the clue to the identity of the soldier is hidden. They awake in modern times, go after the clue. They are prevented from discovering the clue by the reincarnation of Josephus, but they find the answer in an alternate manner, thus fulfilling an ancient prophecy. ***The identity of the “certain soldier” is never revealed to the reader. [d] “The Diabolical Drug.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 4, No. 2, Issue 38, May 1929). Edgar Hamilton is in love with a slightly older woman, Ellen Gordan. He uses his chemical discoveries to try to change the rate of time flow so that Ellen will stay the same age, while he gets older, old enough for her to accept him. It backfires, so he invents a way to increase the flow of time, and takes it as a test before freeing Ellen from the seeming coma she has fallen into. He ends up in a microscopic world, much like Mu, where he finds the beautiful Yana. They marry and have a son. His son also has a son. All are dedicated in keeping the seas from flooding through the dikes and destroying the island. At the end, long after Yana has died, the seas finally break through, but Edgar has recreated enough of his original elixir to take himself, his son and grandson, back into the world he came from. Back at the original starting point, only a few days have passed, but he has aged rapidly, becoming an old man. Still, he goes to rescue Ellen with the right dosage of the elixir to free her from her coma. They think he is mad when he relates his strange story, he is sent to a mental hospital. Ellen, however, falls in love with his grandson, who is his physical twin when he was younger, thinking that he is, in fact, Edgar. ***Love unrequited. [e] “The Miracle of the Lily.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 1, Issue 25, April 1928) & (Avon Fantasy Reader, No. 5, 1947) & (Science Fiction Classics, No. 4, Spring 1968). A rambling narrative given by a succession of descendants who have witnessed, and been instrumental in the radical changes in evolution on Earth. All plant life has gone extinct. A great battle ensues between man and the evolving insects, who become increasing advanced while waging war. After two thousand years, insects have been eradicated. Man lives on synthetic food and manufactures oxygen. He is in contact with Venus. The inhabitants of that planet are begging for help in eradicating their insects, who threaten to destroy them. The final narrator has uncovered a cache of seeds, and becomes a farmer, bringing about a rebirth of the Earth. Just as they are planning to go help Venus, they find out that the inhabitants are insects, and they are battling humans, whom they consider menacing insects. Contemplating a journey to free the humans and destroy the real insects on Venus, the farmer sees the first of a new generation of insects eating his new plants. ***There is trouble enough at home on Earth for all of mankind without going to seek new battlefields. [f] “Baby on Neptune.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 4, No. 9, Issue 45, December 1929). By the year 2300, mankind is in communication, via space radio with all the intelligent races on Mars, Venus and the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. They find that all the races communicate at different speeds. They are plagued with a mysterious communication coming from Neptune. They figure out the different rates of speed and establish communication. Then they go to visit, but can not find the inhabitants. After another brainstorm, they figure out that the inhabitants are gigantic gaseous beings who move very slowly. They establish communication, visit, rescue the baby of the scientist in charge. ***Again, all’s well that ends well. [g] “The Artificial Man.” (Science Wonder Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 1, Autumn 1929). George Gregory is a vain, but intelligent, athlete. In a football accident he loses his leg, which is amputated. It affects his philosophy of life, which is essentially that a great intellect will create a great body, and never have any kind of accident. Rosalind Nelson, his girl, sticks with him. But on the eve of their wedding, he has another accident, loses more body parts, and becomes so mentally changed, that Rosalind can no longer stand to be with him. She marries the doctor who has saved him each time, his best friend, David Bell. Bitterly, after George recovers, he approaches David with a strange proposition. He wants David to amputate all of his limbs, and exchange all of his organs for artificial ones. David refuses. Gregory finds someone else to perform the surgery, and becomes a cyborg. He returns five years later, to have his revenge on David. Gregory shows him that his artificial body is stronger and more powerful than his original one. David is almost killed by him, but his friends overcome Gregory, destroy his mechanical body, and save David. ***The organic triumphs over the machine. [h] “The Menace of Mars.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 7, Issue 31, October 1928). Hildreth, an astronomy student, and Vivian, a chemistry student, meet and fall in love at college. They pursue their studies, which is merely a backdrop for the author to explain the basic premise of the story, that the universe is undergoing the same changes as chemicals will, going from solid, to gas, to liquid. As the universe turns to a solid state, people die, small groups survive on both poles. The south pole is the new Eden where Hildreth and Vivian find each other, and marry. They are troubled by the living planet, Mars, which is trying to use up the Earth to survive, by putting it between itself and the sun that is burning it up. But just as it nearly succeeds, the universe goes to a liquid state, and now Mars is limited in what it can do. Things seem to stabilize, the menace of Mars is neutralized in this new state of affairs. ***Once again, all’s well that ends well. [i] “The Evolutionary Monstrosity.” (Amazing Stories Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 1, Issue 5, Winter 1929). Ted Marston is a genius, the rich Irwin Staley his facilitator. Their third friend, Frank Caldwell, the anchor for the wild schemes the three hatch. Ted comes up with a method of accelerating evolution and uses it on himself in order to become the monstrous dictator of mankind. He plans to make the rest of mankind simple-minded to do his bidding under his powerful mental control. Dorothy Staley, Irwin’s sister, is in love with Ted, at first. This breaks Frank’s heart, so he soon departs from the triumvirate and goes his own way, after warning Dorothy about Ted’s sinister plans. Dorothy does not heed his warnings at first, but eventually calls for his help to rescue him from the telepathic control of Ted. Ted plans to evolve her into his equal. He has already devolved Irwin into a mindless minion. Frank nearly succumbs to Ted’s mind control, but brutally and savagely beats the floating brain he has become into a pulp, thus saving Dorothy. ***Need the moral of the story be pointed out...again...all’s well that ends well. True love triumphs once again, as well.  [j] “The Fifth Dimension.” (Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 9, Issue 33, December 1928). Ellen keeps having premonitions. She warns her husband, John, who at first scoffs at her fears. But she shortly convinces him of her abilities by helping him avoid a fatal accident. They develop a theory of the circularity of time, and the reoccurrence of the same experiences, and the hope and possibility of altering events. ***Hope, like true love, always wins in the end. [k] “The Ape Cycle.” (Science Wonder Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 3, Spring 1930). Over the course of three hundred years, the Stoddart family, led by the founding-father, Daniel, has been involved in the evolution of apes, from beast to highly bred and intelligent slaves. His son, Ray, and wife-to-be, Melva, have a near experience with the dark side of this attempt, when they see that the more intelligent ape is capable of murder, when one murders Daniel. But they do not heed the lesson, wanting to save mankind from drudgery. The Stoddard descendants find a glandular extract that rapidly evolves the ape, and other monkeys, into the slaves they want. Soon, all mankind is dependent on the advanced apes, and the apes revolt. The Ape Cycle begins. Rex, the present Stoddart ape overseer, is president of the ape revolutionary government, but he is replaced by Marzo, a sly conniver, and Gunther, who is half-ape and half-man, the next step in evolution. The revolt begins, and the apes shortly take over. Sylvia Danforth, a neighbor of Stoddart’s, and her boyfriend, Hayes Sulter, take action against the apes. They begin by trying to free, Wilhoit Stoddart, who kills Rex, his overseer, and skins him. Dressed in his new Rex suit, he impersonates the ape and easily infiltrates their government, learning their secrets. Together, Sylvia and Wilhoit, keep donning the Rex disguise, fooling the other apes into thinking that Rex (as Sylvia) has Wilhoit prisoner, a docile man slave to do their bidding. The two make bombs and at just the right moment destroy the intellectual leadership of the Ape Cycle, thus ending the revolt and returning all mankind to domination. Wilhoit marries the beautiful Sylvia, and becomes President of North America for his efforts. ***True love triumphs, all’s well that ends well...the overarching theme of each of these stories. ***[k] is best. ***Clare Winger Harris (January 18, 1891- October, 1968) was an early science fiction writer whose short stories were published during the 1920s. She is credited as the first woman to publish stories under her own name in science fiction magazines. Her stories generally featured strong female characters and dealt with characters on the "borders of humanity" such as cyborgs. ***No paperback edition.

And:

Corsca House
1947

Carcosa House was formed by a growing group of fans, all with the intention of at least producing this title. Dr. Fred Shroyer began the quest hunting for this near mythical title. He was joined by Ted Dikty and both contributed $500 to publish it. Russ Hodgkins joined as proofreader and William Crawford lent his services as a printer for his share. A Langley Searles, Ph.D., wrote a scholarly biographical-critical introduction and supplied a Serviss bibliography for the book.

Ted Dikty had a roommate redraw the original newspaper art. The original artwork of Russell Swanson didn’t turn out to well. Although a few of the illustrated jackets got into circulation, it was immediately substituted for a glassine wrapper. When it was finally remaindered to Julius Unger (FFF), he got the never-used dust jackets from Crawford and used them.

Eventually the investors got their money back, but Carcosa House—intended to act as a scholarly competitor to Arkham House—folded after the first try.

1. 
Serviss, Garrett P[utnam]
Edison’s Conquest of Mars
Carcosa House; Los Angeles, CA  1947  xiii/186  $3.50
1,000 copies printed, of which only 500 bound.
Illustrations by B. Manley, Jr. reproductions of the originals by Russell Swanson.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.

Science fiction novel. ***This is the story of the punitive expedition to Mars led by the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison that was to launch a massive retaliation for the dastardly acts performed in the year 1895 by the Martians (as recorded by a Mr. H.G. Wells in “The War of the Worlds” as published in Cosmopolitan in 1897). Serviss was a staff writer for the New York Evening Journal, where it was first published just before the turn of the century as “dispatches.” Efforts to discover who did the complex cover and interior illustrations have failed. ***Serialized in 30 parts in the New York Evening Journal, from January 12, 1898 to February 10, 1898. ***The Martian invaders of Earth have withdrawn because of a malignant bacteria fatal to them. On their home planet, they prepare a second invasion. With this in mind, a panel of the Earth’s greatest scientists—including Edison, Roentgen, and Lord Kelvin—dismantle abandoned Martian machines to learn their principle of operation. Edison adds to this newly found knowledge a discovery of his own, a disintegration machine. Organizing a space expedition by a pool of their resources, the Earth nations bring the fighting to the Martian homeland. The invaders all but obliterate the Martian race, and insure a peaceful state of affairs between the two planets. ***Serviss eulogizes Edison’s inventiveness. Except for gigantism, the evolution of Mars parallels that of Earth. Serviss’s terrestrial jingoism declares that the issue at stake is that of Martian evolution against that of Earth. Edison and company incidentally find a young woman, descendant of humans brought to Mars after the giants built the pyramids. ***First paperback edition: Collector’s Guide Publishing, 2005, 264 pp., pa £5.95.

The bulk of the copies were distributed by FPCI (which see). Carcosa House projected Enter Ghost: A Study in Weird Fiction that was to be a scholarly work, written by Paul W. Skeeters and Samuel D. Russell, covering the whole genre of supernatural fiction, including “the most complete bibliography of the field ever assembled.” It never appeared, and if the manuscript exists anywhere we would dearly love to find it.

Crawford: The Errata

Marvel Tales and Unusual Stories, the first successful transitions from fan publication to professional magazine, doomed to failure due to a lack of financing.

Marvel Tales
1934—1935 

Edited by William L. Crawford and published by Fantasy Publications (Everett, PA).

Marvel Tales 1

“The Man With the Hour Glass”—L. A. Eshbach • nv
“Antares”—Natalie H. Wooley • pm
“The Cossacks Ride Hard”—August W. Derleth • ss
“Celephais”—H. P. Lovecraft • ss  The Rainbow May '22
“Binding Deluxe”—David H. Keller • ss

Marvel Tales Vol. 1, No. 1 May 1934 10¢, 40pp+, 5¼ x 8¼ Cover art: Lloyd A. Eshbach

Marvel Tales Vol. 1, No. 2 July-August 1934 15¢, 60pp+, digest Cover art: F.V.C.

Marvel Tales 2

“The Dark Beasts”—Frank B. Long, Jr. • ss
“The Garden of Fear”—Robert E. Howard • ss
“Synthetic”—Harl Vincent • ss
“From the Log of the Space-Ship Flammarian”—Manly Wade Wellman • pm
“Antidote”—Robert M. Hyatt • ss
“Conquest”—H. Donald Spatz • pm
“The Torch of Life”—Joe W. Skidmore • ss
“A Horror in Profile”—Wilfred Blanch Talman • ss

Marvel Tales 3

“The Second Step”—Orris M. Kellar • ss
“The Ferryman”—Timothy H. Loft • pm
“Lilies”—Robert Bloch • vi [His first appearance in print!]
“The Ship”—Duane W. Rimel • pm
“On Board the Space Ship Terra”—L. A. Eshbach • ss
“The Golden Bough”—David H. Keller • ss
“The Titan” [Part 1 of 4]—P. Schuyler Miller • na; incomplete
backcover: ad for David H. Keller's Men of Avalon & Clark Ashton Smith's The White Sybil (Fantasy Publications)

Marvel Tales Vol. 1, No. 3 Winter 1934 15¢, 68pp+, digest Cover art: Guy L. Huey

Marvel Tales Vol. 1, No. 4 Spring 1935 15¢, 108pp+, 5 x 8½ Cover art: ?

Marvel Tales 4

“The Creator”—Clifford D. Simak • nv
“The Doom That Came to Sarnath”—H.P. Lovecraft • ss The Scot Jun '20
“The Cathedral Crypt”—John Beynon Harris • ss
“Sanctuary”—Natalie H. Wooley • pm
“The Titan” [Part 2 of 4]—P. Schuyler Miller • na; incomplete
“Masters of Matter”—Amelia Reynolds Long • ss
“Haunted House”—Lovell Hert • pm
“The Nebula of Death” [Part 1 of 2]—George Allan England • n. People's Favorite Feb 10-May 10 '18; incomplete.

Marvel Tales 5

“Mars Colonizes”—Miles J. Breuer • nv
“The Man from Makassar”—Carl Jacobi • ss
“The Titan” [Part 3 of 4]—P. Schuyler Miller • na; incomplete
“Annabel Reeves”—Ralph Milne Farley • ss
“Witch's Bercuese”—Emil Petaja • pm
“The Elfin Lights”—Anders W. Drake • ss
“The Nebula of Death” [Part 2 of 2]—George Allan England • n. People's Favorite Feb 10-May 10 '18; incomplete
“Famous Fantasy Fans”—Forrest J Ackerman • bg
Scientifictionist (written both in English and Esperanto)

Marvel Tales Vol. 1, No. 5 Summer 1935 Larger format, 60 pages, 8 x 10 ½, 15¢ Cover art: Clay Ferguson, Jr.

Unusual Stories
1934—1935 

The full story of Unusual Stories’ tangled history is told by Sam Moskowitz in The Immortal Storm. A four-page flyer was issued in 1934, followed by a partial printing of a first issue, mailed in two sections. Publication was temporarily aborted in favor of Marvel Tales, then finally started again in 1935. The 1934 issue was never finished and the uncompleted story by Tooker has never been completely published.

Edited by William L. Crawford and published by Fantasy Publications (Everett, PA).

[Not Pictured]
Unusual Stories
Announcement Issue
1934
20¢, 4pp, 5¼ x 8¼
Cover art: ?

“The Titan”—P. Schuyler Miller • ex

[Not Pictured]
Unusual Stories
Vol. 1, No. 1
Advance Issue—March 1934
10¢, 16pp, 6 x 9
Cover art: ?

“When the Waker Sleeps”—Cyril G. Wates • ss

Unusual Stories Vol. 1, No. 1 May-June 1935 10¢, 48pp, 5 x 8 Cover art: ?

Unusual Stories Vol. 1, No. 2 Winter 1935 10¢, 50pp, 5 x 8 Cover art: ?

Unusual Stories Vol. 1 No. 1

“Waning Moon”—Robert A. Wait • nv
“A Résumé of Rays”—Forrest J Ackerman • pm
“The Jewels of Charlotte”—Duane W. Rimel • ss
“Allalieor”—Donald A. Wollheim • pm
“The Experiment”—R. H. Barlow • ss
“Dawn-Shapes”—Kenrad Leister • pm
“The White Gulls Cry”—P. Schuyler Miller • ss

Unusual Stories Vol. 1 No. 2

“A Diamond Asteroid” [Part 1]—Lowell Howard Morrow • na
“The Black Lotus”—Robert Bloch • ss
“The River Dwellers”—Lionel Dilbeck • ss
“The Two Doors”—Theodore Pine [Pseudo. of Petaja, Emil] [His first appearance in print!] • ss
“Derelict”—Robert W. Lowndes • pm

The Crawford Magazines:

Fantasy Book
1947—1951 

FPCI also published eight issues of a magazine, Fantasy Book, in odd sizes—from 11-5/8  x 8-7/8 to 7- 3/16 x 4-5/8. A bound set would be difficult. Publication of this magazine began in 1946, appearing thereafter at irregular intervals.

Issue no. 6 has the distinction of being the first publication of Paul M.A. Linebarger, writing as “Cordwainer Smith,” and his first science fiction story, the famous “Scanners Live in Vain.”

1. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 1
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1947 42  .25¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book Vol. 1, No. 1 Issue 1, 1947 25¢, 42pp, 11 5/8 x 8 7/8 Cover art: Milo

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: Inside back cover has a striking full page add for The Mightiest Machine and announces the forthcoming Skylark of Space, as published by Hadley Publishing Company. [a] “The People of the Crater,” by Andrew North [Pseudo. of Norton, André [Pseudo. of Norton, Alice Mary]]. Garin of Tav overcomes the evil Dark Lord Kepta, and wins the love of one more precious to him than life itself, his Lady Wife. The three are tied together by Fate. They had lived and loved and fought before and would again. ***Dated. ***Also better known as, “Garin of Tav.” Reprinted as part of Garan the Eternal, only slightly edited and revised. ***At the end of this first story is a small advertisement for Away from the Here and Now, by Claire Winger Harris. [b] “The Black Lotus” (Unusual Stories, Vol. 1, No. 2, Winter 1935), by Robert Bloch. ***Very short, and clearly early, story by Bloch. ***The great ruler Genghir is a dreamer. He ignores his kingdom while enjoying drug-induced dreams. Eventually, all of his people leave him, except for three. Seeking even more extreme pleasures, he sends these out looking for the black lotus. He has read about this rare drug in a book of forbidden and dark magic. One returns, seemingly transformed into a demon, but Genghir is too far gone to notice. He prepares the black lotus and takes it. He has three very real and frightening dreams about his future, each foretold in the book of magic. Finally, unable to face the results of the final, most fearful one, he cuts his throat, exactly as the book foretold. ***Early Bloch, derivative of Howard. ***This story is followed by a half-page add for People of the Twilight by Hyman Kaner. [c] “Strange Alliance,” by Bryce Walton. Doctor Spechaug, a teacher of psychology, is wandering around the dark forests of Glen Oaks. As the story unfolds, he meets a peculiar young, nineteen year old girl, Edith Bailey, who shares all of his strange traits, like not being able to see a reflection, or a shadow. It turns out that the Doctor hates all peasants, something he brought with him from the old country, Hungary. So does the young girl, who is also from Hungary. He thinks the peasants are all worthless and superstitious, like his wife, who it turns out he has just killed, brutally. Together, the two easily tear apart a group of pursuers, running easily through the dark woods. Still running easily through the woods, with the young girl at his side, they pass another run-down peasant farm, the old woman inside, who the Doctor knows, shoots them, killing them both. The Doctor has a moment to realize that he was right about the superstitious people in his neighborhood, the old woman has used silver bullets. ***Not the most despicable werewolf story ever told, it has some points of interest. ***This story is followed by half-page ad for The Prime Press. [d] “Micro-Man” (Specula, 1941), by Weaver Wright. The unnamed narrator finds a microscopic man while riding on the streetcar. He captures the man in a matchbox, taking him home to study. He hopes that the discovery will make him rich. But the micro-man is able to escape. It turns out that the man, wearing a type of spacesuit, has journeyed from his even smaller world to this one, which he thinks is inhabited by the gods. Via a type of radio, the micro-man manages to relate some of his experiences to his fellow scientists. But in the end, the narrator tries to write up his experiences using his typewriter, only to kill the micro-man, who has escaped to the sheet of paper. The narrator sees a patch of red leaking from the black ink. The fellow scientists of the micro-man, fearing retribution from the gods, hide in fear. ***Waste of paper. ***Followed by a third-page ad for FPCI, offering The Garden of Fear, The Creator, The Night People, and Away from the Here and Now, for sale. [e] “Flight Through Tomorrow,” by Stanton A. Coblentz. The narrator is able to psychically travel through space and time. He journeys to some distant and catastrophic war, seeing the few survivors hide in the ruins. Next, after some more time has passed, the survivors come forth, because the technology that has enabled them to survive has ceased working. The narrator sees that these survivors are unable to survive any longer without some part of the technology they have come to rely on. He concludes that this is the ultimate fate of mankind. ***A thought-piece, not really a story. ***Followed by a beautiful ad for Edison’s Conquest of Mars by Garrett P. Serviss, as offered by Carcosa House. [f] “Walls of Acid,” by Henry Hasse. Braanol is the living disembodied brain and repository of the Diskra. He has watched his people battle with the Termans for over five thousand years. He, alone, tells the sad tale of how seven of his people journeyed to the next planet, Terra, where they hoped to flee the Termans. On this world, they encounter an even more powerful branch of that dreaded race, and fleeing once again, they return to Diskra. Finally, on Diskra, his people erected huge walls, held together by forcefields, filled with powerful formic acid, keeping the hordes of Termans away. Being the oldest survivor of these great events, he counsels his people to keep the walls up. ***Avoid, if possible. ***Followed by a half-page ad for ordering future copies of Fantasy Book. ***This is followed by a full page ad from Forrest J Ackerman, offering a wonderful selection of books from sale. It is a must read selection of books one could only hope to own now. [g] “The Cataaaaa,” by A.E. van Vogt. In a bar, a stranger tells several drunken barflies the tale of one of his old college chums, Silkey Travis. Silkey was the organizer, the one who planned the best events, who liked to put on a show, or exhibit the unusual. After college, the narrator thinks that Silkey ended up owner of a circus freak show. The narrator begins to receive notes sent by Silkey, asking him to visit him at his circus. Eventually, mostly due to the strange manner of receiving these notes, he goes and sees “The Cat.” Being a teacher of biology, he realizes that this is not some freak cat, but an alien creature. Silkey denies sending him the notes. The narrator awakes that night; somehow the strange cat has followed him home, and talks to him via a machine. The creature explains that it is a kind of student, studying this world, and is about to leave, but as a part of leaving, it must take something with that represents our civilization. The narrator finally suggests something religious. After their talk, the creature is delighted, it has discovered the right artifact to send back home, Silkey. It is a proper arrangement, according to the creatures’ civilization. Silkey will be virtually immortal, which is something he desires. Fading back to the bar, the narrator who has lost his job trying to tell other people about his alien encounter, tells the barflies that he was long puzzled about the unexplained reasoning behind the creatures delight in taking Silkey, until he realized that a major factor of all religions is exhibiting oneself, which is what Silkey loved to do, and will now do forever. As he leaves the bar, the drunks sneer at his story, commenting that he just likes to be the center of attention. ***This is followed by a two-thirds of a page ad for FPCI, announcing books in print and forthcoming. ***The inside back cover has a magnificent drawing by Hannes Bok, as part of The Bok Artfolio, as offered by Utopia Publications. ***The back cover announces eight books as forthcoming from FPCI. ***[g] is by far the best story in this collection. It is recommended as a fine example of the best of the early van Vogt. ***Overall, this is also the very best issue of Fantasy Book, even the odd size works in its favor. The advertisements are priceless.

2. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 2
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1947 42  [.25¢] .35¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book       Vol. 1, No. 2       Issue 2, February 1948      1st state  25¢, 42pp, 11 1/8 x 8 7/8  Cover art: Roy Hunt

Fantasy Book Vol. 1, No. 2 Issue 2  2nd state    35¢, 42pp, 8 3/8 x 5 7/8   Cover art: Crozetti

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: Inside front cover has a wonderful full page advertising offering the forthcoming Final Blackout by L. Ron Hubbard from the Hadley Publishing Company. [a] “The Ship of Darkness,” by A.E. van Vogt. D’Ormand dials the time machine for the far future while onboard his ship in intergalactic space. Hurtled into the void, he encounters a nightmare ship, a floating platform upon which men and women stand apparently unprotected. He boards the strange ship. The first thing he notices is that the women outnumber the men, three to one, but as he goes about, they seem unconcerned about his presence. Trying to fit in, he kisses one of the women. Suddenly, he is surrounded by a group of men. They leap at him with weapons. During his struggle with these men, he is telepathically brought up to date with them and their type of existence. Women are the nodal power that establishes the force-field surrounding them. Men are the anodal power, the ones that control the power to do with as they will. This platform is about to battle another one, and D’Ormand has destabilized it by kissing the woman. Times passes as he looks for that woman again. He finally finds her on the eve of the great battle. During the battle, D’Ormand disengages his mind as he realizes in horror that these people seek a dark victory. The success of their battle will launch them into another state of being with the Darkness. They win, and D’Ormand is alone, the platform returning to a different state of energy as the people have disappeared. But his lifeboat is nearby, and the woman he kissed is also nearby. Using the nodal-anodal power, he locates his spaceship, and flash both into it, instantaneously. Once aboard, he realizes his initial mistake, he has not gone into the far future, but into the far past. He tries once more to establish the bond of power with the woman, in order to flash them to his place of origin, but she refuses to be used in that way ever again. So instead, he plots a course to a nearby, habitable planet. During the voyage, he has come up with a name for the girl, Eve. ***Of some interest, not his best work...or his worst. ***Followed by a column and a third ad for books offered by FPCI. [b] “Little Johnny,” by O.G. Estes, Jr. In some place, apparently a medieval Inn, a creature appears. At first it is seen in its natural guise, as a many-legged thing, like a spider, but on closer examination it becomes the dearest child-like being the beholder can imagine. Each new person encounters it, first with dread, then delight, with no apparent concern. The creature reveals no motives, and seems to have no point for its existence. ***Huh!?! [c] “Bargain with Beelzebub,” by Gene Hunter. Langdon gets drunk in a bar, with an apparent dwarf. As they get drunker and chat, the demon offers Langdon whatever he wants for his soul. He bargains for immortality, ageless, never to die or be killed. The demon is dismayed, in some ways the drunken devil has been gulled, agreeing to readily to Langdon’s bargain. But as they both sober up, both realize that they will now have their own version of hell to exist in forever, the devil in the actual hell, and Langdon in the hell of his devising as he outlasts the universe and all life. ***A real hoot, highly recommended. [d] “Star of the Undead,” by Paul Dennis Lavond. [Pseudo. of Lowndes, Robert A.W.] Master Pilot Devlin has a problem, the exploration spaceship, Stark, has returned, without its crew. The Stark has been taken over by some malevolent alien presence. A member of its crew, without a spacesuit on, floats over through the vacuum of space, and boards his ship. Soon, Devlin is in a struggle with the alien as it disables his ship. Devlin crashes his ship onto a nearby planet. The two survivors, Harveson and Devlin, battle with the alien, who appears as a giant, but insubstantial slug. Finally a mental battle ensues, with the alien taking over the dead bodies of Devlin’s friends, including Harveson. But in the end, Devlin triumphs, overcoming the alien, when he makes it clear that he will destroy the final ship, himself, and all the hosts, as well as the alien. Devlin wins, the alien departs. ***Has some merit, could have been re-written for better impact. ***This followed by a half-page ad for Fantasy Advertiser, and a full-page ad for Forrest J Ackerman, selling a list of books at discount. [e] “Caverns of Ith,” by Basil Wells. Ruld is a golon captured by Earthmen. The Earthmen have taught Ruld to speak their language, and try to keep him captive. Ruld escapes, but is injured. He is taken care of by his beloved, Uva, with whom he wishes to mate, so that he can remain leader of his people. Cyrn Smith, a Terran, is aiding Ruld’s enemy, Orn, using him until Smith can take over the entire planet. Ruld aids two friendly Terrans. They have many adventures, hiding from Smith in the caverns, hiding from the lizards that live deeper in the bowels of Ith. Ruld uses a mental creature he controls to free them when they are captured by these lizards. There is a final battle with Smith and Orn, Ruld triumphs. But his two Terran friends are stranded on Ith. As they part, the Terrans to live in the upper caverns, Ruld and his people to return to the lower caverns as the cycle of ice and snow cover the entire planet and the only opening. All the people of Ith are now secure in their potential future of peace together. ***Had some potential, could have been reworked to better effect. [f] “The Machine God Laughs” [Part 1 of 3] (Fantasy Book, No. 2, February 1947, No. 3, 1948, & No. 4, 1948), by Festus Pragnell. The Dictator of China, Hu Fong, is planning to conquer America, as well as the rest of the civilized world. By kidnapping famous scientists of all nations, Hu Fong forces them to work on super-weapons of destruction in order to overcome the technological superiority of the United States. Rumors that slip through China’s bamboo curtain hint that Hu Fong has developed a super-intelligent mechanical brain. But America is not idle. Two of her best scientists are also working to develop the super-brain, and their efforts have met with startling success. They not only create a mechanical brain, but the machine is so perfect that it quickly takes over the American war effort. As Frank—the American super-brain—begins his role as supreme war commander, he demands and gets, finer and more complex adjustments in his own robot body. He creates more powerful weapons of offense and defense, and finally locates the secret city that houses the Chinese brain. Thus begins the strange battle of the mechanical giants—a war between two titanic forces of pure thought. ***Part I: Peter Holroyd, a government scientist, has constructed a thinking machine—a robot of millions of photoelectric cells. When Jim Dale, sent by Washington, to assist Holroyd, arrives at the secret desert base, Frank, as the machine is called, has acquired only a limited intelligence. Spurred by his visitor, Frank demonstrates enough knowledge to make Dale send immediate notice to the Government. The next day enemy agents disguised as government officials arrive and are successfully routed by Frank. Frank then commands Dale and Holroyd to transport him to San Francisco, where they board a submarine for an unknown destination. They are scarcely underway when they receive a radio report concerning the destruction of their former base. However, it doesn’t take the Chinese dictator long to discover the escape of Frank and he sends planes marked with U.S. insignia to hunt down the submarine. They narrowly escape a second attempt to destroy Frank, and learn that industrialized China has also invented a mechanical brain. Frank works frantically to strengthen their hand for the coming battle, as the submarine silently guards them in the murky waters of the vast ocean... ***A representative of the pulp era. ***This is followed by “The Book Shelf” which attempts to review some of the new releases by the various specialty presses; most noteworthy is E. Mayne Hull’s review of A.E. van Vogt, her husband, novel The Book of Ptath. ***This is followed by “The Book Mark” which is merely a letters to the editor section. ***The inside back cover is a full page ad from The Rosicrucians for a free book. ***The back cover is a repeat from Fantasy Book No. 1. ***[c] is the best, a whimsical tall tale, full of humor. ***Overall, Fantasy Book No. 2 does not keep the promise shown in the first issue. It lacks many of the attractive and wonderful ads from the other specialty presses. The short stories are similar to those in the first issue, but since they are not better, the impact is diminished.

3. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 3
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1948 66  [.25¢] .35¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book       Vol. 1, No. 3 Issue 3, 1948 1st state 25¢, 66pp, 8 3/8 x 5 7/8 Cover art: Crozetti

Fantasy Book       Vol. 1, No. 3        Issue 3       2nd state       35¢, 66pp, 8 3/8 x 5 5/8     Cover art: ?

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: Inside front cover has a full page ad from Forrest J Ackerman offering discount books for sale. [a] “The Great Judge,” by A.E. van Vogt. Douglas Aird has been found guilty of treason, the punishment is death. In the future of 2460 A.D., the Great Judge reigns supreme, the treason Aird has committed was to suggest that he could rule better. Aird has an ace up his sleeve, he is a master scientist who has invented a thought transference device. Allowed to remain free until the time of his execution, he tantalizes the Great Judge by offering a demonstration of his latest invention. Catching the Great Judge off-guard, Aird transfers his mind into the body of the Great Judge, thereby becoming the ruler. His Aird body, with the mind of the Great Judge in it, is eventually executed. ***Not the best by this author. ***Followed by a small FPCI ad announcing The Works of M.P. Shiel for sale. [b] “Gifts of Asti,” by Andrew North [Pseudo. of Norton, André [Pseudo. of Norton, Alice Mary]]. Her world was dead...but the Goddess had given to her the key to another life. ***Varla, last of the virgin Maidens of Asti, flees the complete destruction of her home city of Memphir, with her small pet-like, mute telepathic lizard companion, Lur. Fleeing the shaggy-headed barbarians sacking her city, she goes to the austere temple of Asti, seeking counsel and help. Varla receives a psychokinetic gift from the hand of Asti’s statue, with this power, and a lizard-like outer suit, she begins the long climb into the depths of her world. She follows dimly remembered legends on a strange journey into the unknown. Along the way, she encounters the alien Guardians of the Dark, who although not of her race, show her two paths to choose from in order to reach her final destination. From the depths, they begin a long climb, back to the ways of men. Finally, they reach the surface, and encounter the long decayed ruins and the stranger mutations of the surface world. Inside a peculiar lake of living water, they find the preserved remains of a great spacecraft, and inside a space suit, a man, also preserved by the lake against the effects of time. Still in her lizard-like suit that protects her from all ill and dangerous things, she rescues the man by using the power of Asti. In brief, they are told of the destruction of all the worlds of mankind in the far past, and how this one spaceman tried to prevent the destruction of Varla’s world and failed, and was imprisoned in the living lake. Varla realizes that she is at the end of her quest, and has received the final gift of Asti, her new companion, a man unlike any she has ever known. ***Highly recommended. ***Followed by a list of “Science Fiction Classics,” pamphlets on the order of Fantasy Book, offered by FPCI. [c] “Songs of the Spaceways.” Four poems. “We’ll Launch our Space Ships Yet” by Lilith Lorraine [Pseudo. of Wright, Maude Mary]. “Recognition” by Enola Chamberlain. “Upon the Planet Valapo” by Stanton A. Coblentz. “Lost Earth” by Rita Barr. ***Short, slight and not recommended, juvenescent at best. ***Edited by Lilith Lorraine beginning in this issue through the final issue. [d] “Secret Weapon,” by Terry Thor. Carl Freed has invented a device that allows him to communicate telepathically with his son. His son is spying on the Great Dictator, who thinks he is about to launch an atomic powered rocket, with a biological weapon at the U.S. Carl Freed goes to the President to try to stop the Leader. But he is too late, the evil genius, August Heim, who designed the great weapon, has lied to the Leader. It is a chemical rocket containing a stockpile of atomic weapons, all controlled by a new type of electronic brain. Oddly, at the end, it is revealed that the Leader, the Great Dictator, is Albert Freed, the son of Carl, who has been working both ends trying to conquer the world. The electronic brain has been designed to frustrate him, and goes into orbit with the bombs, but has reached consciousness, and now considers dropping the bombs, to see what will happen. ***Garbled. [e] “Blurb,” by E. Everett Evans. Carleton Bafer, a writer, has an idea for a story, starting with the possible cover blurb. As he writes the story, the main character comes to life, and appears on his doorstep, taking over his life. The man Bafer has created is all powerful, and it seems that Bafer can do nothing to stop him. The key seems to lie in his typewriter. The all-powerful man writes a story, wherein he conquers all. Not liking his new role as Slave, Bafer manages a brief momentary access to his typewriter, and writes his new Master out of existence, along with all memory of him. ***Deserves a notable mention, but only in comparison to the other, worthless stories in this issue. ***Followed by “The Book Shelf” which reviews several books, most notably The Black Flame by Stanley Weinbaum. [f] “Turnabout,” by H.S.W. Chibbett. Dennis Madden, or “Mad Den,” as his friends call him, is obsessed with new experiences. He mysteriously receives a calling card from an equally mysterious magic society. Becoming intrigued he pursues the card, and the club, until he begins to conjure. Using mirror palindromes as the key, he makes a magic circle, and summons two strange man-like creatures. But something has gone with his spell, and he is seized by a demon and vanishes. His friend, a witness to all the above, survives, and later thinks he knows what went wrong, that the mirror palindrome also included Madden’s nickname, and that he summoned the Devil, “Old Ned.” ***Beyond garbled, not recommended, confusing at best. [g] “The Machine God Laughs” [Part 2 of 3] (Fantasy Book, No. 2, February 1948, No. 3, 1948, & No. 4, 1948), by Festus Pragnell. The Dictator of China, Hu Fong, is planning to conquer America, as well as the rest of the civilized world. By kidnapping famous scientists of all nations, Hu Fong forces them to work on super-weapons of destruction in order to overcome the technological superiority of the United States. Rumors that slip through China’s bamboo curtain hint that Hu Fong has developed a super-intelligent mechanical brain. But America is not idle. Two of her best scientists are also working to develop the super-brain, and their efforts have met with startling success. They not only create a mechanical brain, but the machine is so perfect that it quickly takes over the American war effort. As Frank—the American super-brain—begins his role as supreme war commander, he demands and gets, finer and more complex adjustments in his own robot body. He creates more powerful weapons of offense and defense, and finally locates the secret city that houses the Chinese brain. Thus begins the strange battle of the mechanical giants—a war between two titanic forces of pure thought. ***Part I: Peter Holroyd, a government scientist, has constructed a thinking machine—a robot of millions of photoelectric cells. When Jim Dale, sent by Washington, to assist Holroyd, arrives at the secret desert base, Frank, as the machine is called, has acquired only a limited intelligence. Spurred by his visitor, Frank demonstrates enough knowledge to make Dale send immediate notice to the Government. The next day enemy agents disguised as government officials arrive and are successfully routed by Frank. Frank then commands Dale and Holroyd to transport him to San Francisco, where they board a submarine for an unknown destination. They are scarcely underway when they receive a radio report concerning the destruction of their former base. However, it doesn’t take the Chinese dictator long to discover the escape of Frank and he sends planes marked with U.S. insignia to hunt down the submarine. They narrowly escape a second attempt to destroy Frank, and learn that industrialized China has also invented a mechanical brain. Frank works frantically to strengthen their hand for the coming battle, as the submarine silently guards them in the murky waters of the vast ocean... ***Part II: They hide out on an island while Frank I makes a much smaller version of himself, Frank II, to whom he transfers all of his knowledge. In an exchange of intelligence between the two super brains, Frank I is destroyed. Frank II and his allies begin searching the continent of Asia for the Chinese Brain. ***Followed by several pages of miscellaneous material. First, a column from the editor, wherein it is mentioned that the expensive illustrations disappointed the readership so much that they have been discontinued, and the type size has been made much smaller (nearly unreadable, in fact), so as to contain more text. ***This is followed by several “Letters to the Editor,” chief among them is one from Rick Sneary, in which he rightfully criticizes the entire second issue. Of note, he asks if Crozetti was a certain former female member of LASFS. ***Another full-page ad for the free Rosicrucian book. ***Then a page and a half of ads for FPCI books. Of note: There is a brief disclaimer pointing out that Fantasy Book was never intended to be a monthly production, thus explaining the erratic publication dates. ***The inside back cover offers a list of books distributed by FPCI. ***The back cover lists books published by FPCI. ***[b] is highly recommended. Although it is clearly early Norton, her quality and talent show through and this short story is a surprising gem. ***Overall, this issue lacks the promise of the first. The second issue was a disappointment, but this issue is terrible. The lack of illustrations (there are a few) shows, and hurts this issue. The small typeface size makes it so hard to read, that a magnifying glass is required.

4. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 4
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1948 66  [.25¢] .35¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book Vol. 1, No. 4 Issue 4, 1948 1st state 25¢, 66pp, 8 3/8 x 5 7/8 Cover art: Neil Austin

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book Vol. 1, No. 4 Issue 4, 1948 2nd state 35¢, 66pp, 8 3/8  x 5 5/8 Cover art: Neil Austin No ads on inside of front & back cover

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “Black Goldfish” [Part 1 of 2] (Fantasy Book, No. 4, 1948 & No. 5, 1949), by John Taine [Pseudo. of Bell, Eric Temple]. ***A story involving scientific research, international intrigue, and Cleo, the Black Goldfish. In the future when Russian armies are poised on the borders of the U.S.A., Jones saves the world with vitamin pills that create a cumulative sleep factor. ***Dr. Klaup is a thief; he has stolen the secret of the alpha and omega vitamin from his former employer, Jones. Klaup is also a glutton, and keeps his personal cook and maid busy. A very self-centered individual, he jokes to his maid, Cleo, that she reminds him of a Disney cartoon character, a blonde goldfish named, Cleo. Since they share the same name, Klaup refers to his maid as his “Black Goldfish.” She hides her bitter feelings from everyone, except for Jones, who enlists her as his confederate to feed Klaup those very same vitamin pills. Jones joins the army, or at least it seems that way, after Klaup steals his secret vitamin formula. But Jones, although seeming to be a private, is much more then a general, ordering majors and colonels to do his bidding. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Jones has let Klaup steal his formula, knowing that Klaup was so greedy that he also sold it to his former country, those very same armies now on the U.S. borders. Part I ends with the scene set. ***Readable, and it is Taine. [b] “Songs of the Spaceways.” Three poems. “Universe Bound” by L. Major Reynolds. “Secret of the Sun” by Edsel Ford. “The Emigrant” by Vera L. Eckert. ***Short, slight and not recommended, juvenescent at best. ***Followed by a half page ad for the Gnome Press “Fantasy Book Club.” Of note is a much smaller ad for the first of the famous Gnome Press Fantasy Calendars. [c] “Wall of Darkness,” by Basil Wells. ***A darkness that comes from somewhere and must be restrained. ***Mr. Borton, and his wife, Vivian, buy an old house from the now dead, Mrs. Gaspee. The one room that Borton wants to turn into his study, for his writing, has a peculiar wall. He hires old Renwood Peters, a local, to repair the wall, but Peters tells him the tale of Old Herrod Enselm who built the place in 1812. Something mysterious and terrifying happened to the man and killed him. His heirs tore the house apart, building separate buildings from the remains, the old Gaspee house is a part of the former mansion. But one wall is from the former Enselm mansion, and it is the same wall that drove Enselm mad. Since that time is has been papered over and over again, but never repaired. Peter refuses to fix the wall. Later Borton and his wife decide to do it themselves, and of course, they release the Darkness concealed behind the wall. Peters shows up just in time to help Borton plaster over the hole in the wall, thus trapping the Darkness. ***Has a few points of merit, chief being its brevity. [d] “Dwellers in the Dust,” by Forrest J Ackerman. George Romani tells his friend, the narrator, that he has build a time machine. For a first test, the two journey two years back in time to try to prevent the accidental death of the narrators sister, Lorie. But the narrator finds that the two time travelers are insubstantial, just dwellers in the dust, able to see, but not interfere with events. They go to the future, finding a great war comes in just a few more years. For a final trip, they go to find out the find of the rascal that caused Lorie’s untimely death, Anthony Krebs. They find his body a bloated corpse, a victim of a biological weapon in the coming war. This satisfies the narrator’s sense of justice. ***Appalling and trite. ***Followed by a half page ad for books distributed by FPCI. ***This is followed by two pages of ads, listing books from Shasta Publishers, Ackerman, Avalon Company, the Gnome Fantasy Calendar, and from Gorgon Press. Truly wonderful ads, the very best part of this entire issue. ***They are followed by “The Book Shelf” which reviews three books. The review for Life Everlasting by David Keller is the best. [e] “Prison Rats,” by Gene Ellerman [Pseudo. of Wells, Basil]. ***A convict with theriomorphic tendencies turns into a horde of rats. ***Selby Lycan is a big man, a giant among the prisoners who all detest him. He has ignored his inherited gift, but in solitary confinement sees a rat, one of many that infest the prison. He gets a wicked idea, and transforms himself into a particularly hideous rat. As a rat, he brutalizes the other inmates and guards until he becomes bored and finally decides to escape. He makes his way out, still as a rat, and exhausted falls asleep in a barn. In the morning he wakes, surrounded by a pack of hideous black rats, he realizes that they are all part of him, formed when he transformed himself. He returns to his former self, but is remarkable shrunken, now only a small shell of a small man, not the giant he was formerly, to late and to his dismay he realizes that by splitting into a pack of rats, that some did not survive the prison break, and now there is only enough substance left to make him a small man. ***Of interest, mostly because the ending is not anticipated. [f] “The Machine God Laughs” [Part 3 of 3] (Fantasy Book, No. 2, February 1948, No. 3, 1948, & No. 4, 1948), by Festus Pragnell. The Dictator of China, Hu Fong, is planning to conquer America, as well as the rest of the civilized world. By kidnapping famous scientists of all nations, Hu Fong forces them to work on super-weapons of destruction in order to overcome the technological superiority of the United States. Rumors that slip through China’s bamboo curtain hint that Hu Fong has developed a super-intelligent mechanical brain. But America is not idle. Two of her best scientists are also working to develop the super-brain, and their efforts have met with startling success. They not only create a mechanical brain, but the machine is so perfect that it quickly takes over the American war effort. As Frank—the American super-brain—begins his role as supreme war commander, he demands and gets, finer and more complex adjustments in his own robot body. He creates more powerful weapons of offense and defense, and finally locates the secret city that houses the Chinese brain. Thus begins the strange battle of the mechanical giants—a war between two titanic forces of pure thought. ***Part I: Peter Holroyd, a government scientist, has constructed a thinking machine—a robot of millions of photoelectric cells. When Jim Dale, sent by Washington, to assist Holroyd, arrives at the secret desert base, Frank, as the machine is called, has acquired only a limited intelligence. Spurred by his visitor, Frank demonstrates enough knowledge to make Dale send immediate notice to the Government. The next day enemy agents disguised as government officials arrive and are successfully routed by Frank. Frank then commands Dale and Holroyd to transport him to San Francisco, where they board a submarine for an unknown destination. They are scarcely underway when they receive a radio report concerning the destruction of their former base. However, it doesn’t take the Chinese dictator long to discover the escape of Frank and he sends planes marked with U.S. insignia to hunt down the submarine. They narrowly escape a second attempt to destroy Frank, and learn that industrialized China has also invented a mechanical brain. Frank works frantically to strengthen their hand for the coming battle, as the submarine silently guards them in the murky waters of the vast ocean... ***Part II: They hide out on an island while Frank I makes a much smaller version of himself, Frank II, to whom he transfers all of his knowledge. In an exchange of intelligence between the two super brains, Frank I is destroyed. Frank II and his allies begin searching the continent of Asia for the Chinese Brain. ***Part III: Floating in an invisible crystal sphere controlled by Frank II, they find the Chinese Brain hidden inside a Buddhist Temple high in the mountains. By this time, Frank II has gotten out of control, and is openly using the humans for his own unknown designs. They land at the temple, only to discover that the Chinese Brain is constructed of countless human brains, taken from scientists, traitors, and religious fanatics, any who opposed the Dictator. Frank II and the Chinese Brain battle, and both seem to be destroyed. The Chinese Brain triggers a timebomb that destroys the temple. The men escape, delighted to be free of both Brains, and now must make the long walk out of Asia to Alaska. During the walk, Frank II gets into with Jim Dale, and tells him about his great joke. Now that Frank II has taken on all the religious trappings from the Chinese Brain, it is enjoying being a god, and its joke is that men, Dale in particular, will never be free again. ***Readable as a period piece from the Golden Era of Pulps. [g] “Out of the Sun,” by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. Clint Morgan is an archeologist far in the unexplored territory of Peru, alone in the Peruvian jungles, except for his trusty horse, Pizarro, and his guide, Gozano. Morgan finds a strange green coin-like artifact, strangely warm in a frozen cave. It appears with several other green statues that all surface at the same time. Abruptly the sun turns green and begins to come closer, filling the sky until it covers everything. Morgan, with his companions, makes it to a nearby fortress, only to find a scientist, Don Alfredo Castilla, and the beautiful, Louisa. It turns out that the scientist has developed a device that can broadcast electricity, and this has somehow summoned green globes that live inside the sun. Periodically these green globes have come to earth, and Morgan has previously discovered signs of them, but they have come back to retrieve these things. A type of battle occurs where the green globes suck the life out of everything until Morgan turns the scientists’ electrical device against them, thus saving the beautiful Louisa just in time. Just when Morgan thinks he is about to receive his reward, the beautiful Louisa, he finds out that she is the wife, not daughter, of Castilla. Philosophically, Morgan leads his horse Pizarro out into the jungle, his only reminder of the strange adventure, the first mysterious green coin he found. ***Well written, and the atmosphere is gripping, but the premise is laughable. ***The inside front and back cover, as well as the back cover (Death’s Deputy by L. Ron Hubbard) carry ads for FPCI. ***The later binding has no internal ads on the cover, and on the back has a long list of books by FPCI. ***This issue carries the same flaws as the last one, and more, there are no internal illustrations at all. The type size is still as small. The type is set for a book, and both the first state and the second state issue show an offset column, revealing that the type was not set for the issue, but for a book. ***[e] is best, barely. The Taine story has potential, but is so dated, and transparently racist, that it is hard to read. However, it is noticeably Taine, and is at least, readable. ***This issue is not recommended, and further shows the sad, slow decline of a wonderful idea.

5. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 5
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1949 82  [.25¢] .35¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book Vol. 1, No. 5 Issue 5, 1949 25¢, 82pp, 7 7/8 x 5 1/4 Cover art: Jack Gaughan

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “Battle of Wizards,” by L. Ron Hubbard. ***A native magician versus a scientist in a test to see whether interplanetary visitors will be permitted to exploit the riches of a planet. The battle of future science and primitive sorcery on the galaxy’s most backward planet. The scientist uses a robot to win. ***Angus McBane is an unorthodox bureaucrat in Civil Affairs. He is sent by the Galactic Council onboard the Argus 48 to Deltoid in order to win a foothold on that planet and obtain mining concessions of the all important catalyst crystals used for fuel. The unpolished Scot meets with the chief of a major tribe of nearly human, but clawed, inhabitants. Everything he offers, all the benefits of science and civilization are equaled or dismissed, until finally McBane is challenged by their wizard, Taubo. It will be a fight to the death, the wily and tricky Taubo against the sage and experienced McBane. McBane seems unperturbed by the impending fight, much to the consternation of his best friend and talented mechanic, Sergeant Dirk. Taubo is skilled, but his magic is mostly a scaled down science, relying on poisons and showmanship to win. He is first, and tries everything he knews as McBane sits in the center of the arena, reading a book. McBane wins the challenge win Taubo, in a fit of frustration falls dead after all of his tricks fail. They fail because none of the poisons work on the robot Sergeant Dirk fashioned in the likeness of McBane. Without doing much, McBane has succeeded in winning the much-needed mining concessions. ***Readable, but could have been improved with by rewriting and better editing.  [b] “The Albino Canary,” by Hal Moore. ***Told from the point of view of the mutant albino canary. ***The canary has a malevolent intelligence of a very high order, and the ability to suck the life, energy and memories out of its victims. As a pet, freshly taken from the store, it takes on the family cat, Tom. This is followed by the baby, and the mother, and finally the father. The bird, which is growing in power, gloats while waiting for the next innocent victim to fall prey. ***Capable. [c] “Timeless,” by Edsel Ford. Foster leaves his office with a headache caused by his endless worries. As he makes his journey home, he is suddenly thrust out of time and space, frozen, while his consciousness puzzles through the cause. He realizes that his worries have separated him from both time and space, which must be joined together. This realization brings him back, and he resumes his day. ***A waste of time to read. [d] “Songs of the Spaceways.” Two poems. “Return of the Hero” by Evelyn Thorne. “The Evil Star” by Enola Chamberlain (given as Enola Chamberlin). ***More bad poetry.  [e] “Empire of Dust,” by Basil Wells. Gerd Kern and the shanghaied crew of the Freedom have been stranded in the dunes and dust of Venus by the greed of Bland Losson, and his partner, Wimer Tarlby. The two men wanted to create an empire on the planet, using the crew as slaves. But they are soon at the mercy of the dust, and seek survival. They find it at the root of a strange crystal forest, which they have landed near. At the base of the tree-like things is an underground lake. They have their first encounter with the inhabitants of the lower world. The fish-like wifts fight against Tarlby’s unwarranted aggression. Kern and Alda Selkirk, Tarlby’s secretary, are taken prisoners. Later they find that Tarlby has been taken too. Tarlby is sold into slavery, but the nicer Kern and Alda are to go to the Water People, worshipped by the wifts. The Water People are war-like, very human in every regard. Tarlby shows up. As Kern and Alda seek ways to regain the surface and contact with the ship, they fight Tarlby. Finally, in yet another battle, Kern defeats and kills Tarlby. Alda is revealed to be a government agent spying on Tarlby. The last obstacle between the two is removed, and love is able to blossom. And the Water People gift them a special map, showing them all about the underground world, and a place that they can set up their outpost. Peace and trade loom in the future for all the wonderful people of Earth and Venus. ***Pointless. [f] “Black Goldfish” [Part 2 of 2] (Fantasy Book, No. 4, 1948 & No. 5, 1949), by John Taine [Pseudo. of Bell, Eric Temple]. ***A story involving scientific research, international intrigue, and Cleo, the Black Goldfish. In the future when Russian armies are poised on the borders of the U.S.A., Jones saves the world with vitamin pills that create a cumulative sleep factor. ***Dr. Klaup is a thief; he has stolen the secret of the alpha and omega vitamin from his former employer, Jones. Klaup is also a glutton, and keeps his personal cook and maid busy. A very self-centered individual, he jokes to his maid, Cleo, that she reminds him of a Disney cartoon character, a blonde goldfish named, Cleo. Since they share the same name, Klaup refers to his maid as his “Black Goldfish.” She hides her bitter feelings from everyone, except for Jones, who enlists her as his confederate to feed Klaup those very same vitamin pills. Jones joins the army, or at least it seems that way, after Klaup steals his secret vitamin formula. But Jones, although seeming to be a private, is much more then a general, ordering majors and colonels to do his bidding. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Jones has let Klaup steal his formula, knowing that Klaup was so greedy that he also sold it to his former country, those very same armies now on the U.S. borders. Part I ends with the scene set. ***Part II: The enemy invades. The U.S. retreats. The enemy takes over everything. Klaup, falling asleep now due to the overdose of vitamin omega, is taken to Washington to prevent the enemy from bombing the capital. Finally, the President is required to surrender personally to the Komizahr. He does. Klaup is rewarded by the Komizahr for his treachery. But just as the two are gloating, Jones’ secret plan kicks in. It seems that vitamin omega eventually puts users into a deep, coma-like, sleep. All the forces of the Komizahr fall asleep, timed for that exact moment of revelation. It is the superior vitamin alpha, used by the U.S. forces secretly, that have enabled them to turn the tables on the enemy. They catch the sleeping enemy, win the day. Cleo gets her reward of gold for betraying Klaup and poisoning him with vitamin omega. ***Readable, and it is Taine.  [g] “Crusader,” by Gene Ellerman [Pseudo. Of Wells, Basil]. ***A time-traveling crusader from the past who duplicates himself to fight for right and justice. ***Allan Allan finds a magic armlet while sacking a tower in the Holy Land. He is whisked into the future and saves a witch in England who is about to be burned. Using the armlet, the two travel further forward to the Revolutionary War, where Allan fights for America. By now Allan has determined that each time he uses the armlet, a duplicate is created. Sometimes the duplicate remains behind to live out the wonderful life Allan could have had, sometimes the duplicates fight at his side. During the Civil War, Allan duplicates himself so many times that he becomes a small army, fighting for the Union. And so it goes, Allan keeps moving forward, fighting for the right. ***Not the worst such time travel story. [h] “Tongue of the Dragon,” by Dale Hart. Norman mysteriously appears in an unknown place. He is met by One-Eye, who becomes his guide, telling him some of the rules of the unknown place, about the Wall no one can climb, and the Pearls everyone looks for so they can escape. But mostly about the High Sheriff who runs the place, like it, and doesn’t want anyone looking for the Pearls. There are supposed to be no large creatures but the two encounter the dragon that speaks, and it gives them a package. The package tells them that the Pearls can be found on top of the Wall. At the Wall, Norman realizes it can’t be climbed and wonders if they will ever get out of the unknown place. ***Oddly, this story had some interesting points that could have been better developed, but since they were not, it is not recommended. ***Overall, this issue has nothing to recommend. There are no internal illustrations, no ads of note, except for the FPCI ads on the inside front and back, and outside cover. If pressed, [a] is the best.

6. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 6
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA 1950 114 [.25¢] .35¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book Vol. 1, No. 6 Issue 6, 1950 25¢, 114pp, 7 3/16 x 4 5/8 Cover art: Jack Gaughan

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “The Little Man on the Subway,” by Isaac Asimov & James MacCreigh [Pseudo. of Pohl, Fred]. Subway conductor Patrick Cullen has the adventure of a lifetime. All day long he sees people boarding the first car, but no one ever leaves. Puzzled by this, at the end of the line he goes in to investigate. He sees that the motorman isn’t who it should have been, but instead is a little old man. Just then the train is signaled to move, back the way it came, but instead the first car goes the wrong way at Flatbush Avenue, where there are no further tracks. In a daze, Cullen watches as it passes stations with names like Cherub Plaza. After Hosannah Square the train stops and the little old man leaves the motorman’s cabin. Cullen gets to meet Mr. Crumley. Mr. Crumley performs a miracle, and makes Cullen into a true “Believer.” He takes Cullen to the Factory, so he can be processed into a “Disciple.” But Cullen finds that not all is well in heaven. The other Disciples have decided to take over, create their own god, and rule by committee. They end up creating a new Destroyer, who begins to destroy everything. Crumley and Cullen barely manage to get back to the subway car and back to Flatbush. By then Crumley has decided to give up the god business as too much trouble, but before he goes, he erases all memory of the adventure from Cullen. ***A great story. [b] “Songs of the Spaceways.” One poem. “Chief Engineer” by Lucrezia Reynard. [c] “The Universe Ranger,” by Stanton A. Coblentz. The narrator tells about his friend, John Willis Spruce. Spruce has spent his lifetime teaching physics and applying it to a special project. He shows the narrator the results. Spruce has created a device of mirrors that allow him to look into atoms, and further into the universes within, and studying all time. He dies before passing on the secret of his invention. ***A thought piece, not really a story. ***This is followed by two pages of “The Book Shelf.” The review of 1984 by George Orwell is of note. [d] “Scanners Live in Vain,” by Cordwainer Smith [Pseudo. of Linebarger, Paul M.A.]. ***Enthralling story of the habermans and Scanners—fantastic, eerie products of science, half-men, half-machines—whose task it is to pilot spacecraft across the gulf between the worlds in defiance of the Great Pain of Space. ***Martel is a Scanner. By medical science his brain has been cut from his body, which he can control by scanning. Only by cranching can he even feel, or become momentarily human. While under the influence of his latest cranch, he is called to an emergency meeting of Scanners. Despite his protests, the Scanners have decided it is best to kill Adam Stone. Stone has developed a new process so that man can travel in space without the Pain. If it is real, the Scanners know they will have lived in vain, so they plot to kill Stone, and keep their control of Space. Martel warns Stone. Finally, Martel must fight and kill his best friend, Parizianski, to protect Stone. By cranching regularly, Martel has remained human enough to except whatever future Stone will create, even if it means living in vain. But at the end, Martel is restored to his complete humanity, as the process is reversed. ***This is one of the very best short stories ever written.  [e] “Goldfish Bowl,” by Alfred Coppel. Paul Marshall heads the U.S. rocket program. He is preoccupied with his current, and as yet, unexplained, problem. Each new rocket they send up has disappeared. Marshall is so preoccupied that when his wife asks him to deal with his young daughter, he does as directed. Their daughter has outgrown her pet goldfish, and mother wants to be rid of them. The daughter readily agrees, knowing that she is bored by them and tired of taking care of them. Marshall goes back to work, sending up yet another rocket, which also disappears. The story segues to Teev, who is admonished by her Life-giver for allowing her pet humans to test the limits of their fishbowl. He talks her into eliminating them. ***Clever twist ending. [f] “Power for Darm,” by Basil Wells. Jem Thyrne has enjoyed living on Darm. After crash landing he has become an integral part of the Welk’s family, helping them advance technology by making plow shares from his wrecked craft. But Thyrne is worried that the mutant Tyrants from his home world will find Darm and destroy it. So, he leaves the lovely Foa, Welk’s youngest daughter, behind to go to the Great Cramar, ruler of that part of Darm. He is emprisoned for his efforts by the corrupt minister, Rud Toln. Jem manages to escape and heads back to the Welk farm, deciding to try to be content with his lot, in spite of all of his fears for the future. But not all of the people of Darm are foolish or corrupt. With the help of Fora Welk, the trader Reb Stot, and the freedom-loving men of Noor, Thyrne knows he will succeed and bring power to Darm. ***Okay. [g] “World of Misters,” by Gene Ellerman [Pseudo. of Wells, Basil]. Allan Bruce is a Mister, one of the Overlords of the future America. Bruce is arrogant and has spent a lifetime lording it over the Cits, the peasant class of workers. But the Cits have risen in revolt. The Overlords, Bruce among them, have fled from the diz ray used by the Cits. But Bruce is rayed, and awakes in some other time or place, or dimension. It seems the diz ray isn’t destroying things, it has been transporting them to this place. Now most of the fertile soil of America has been piled on this new planet. Bruce finds that the beautiful Isyl, a female Overlord, and his girl friend, has also been transported. Together they begin to adjust to the new world, and new life, doing things by themselves without slaves. But then a Cit appears. It turns out to be Bruce’s old, childhood friend, Erl. Many Cits remained loyal to the Overlords and were eliminated by the diz ray. Together the loyal Cits and several Overlords fight the bad Cits and bad Overlords on the new world, creating a new order. They win and decide that now everyone is a Mister. ***Okay. ***[a] and [d] are best, with [e] a close third. ***This is the best of the Fantasy Book series, too bad it came so late. ***There are no internal illustrations, no ads of note, except for the FPCI ads on the inside front and back, and outside cover.

7. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book Vol. 2, No. 1 (No. 7)
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA 1950 114  [.25¢] .35¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection.  Fantasy Book Vol. 2, No. 1 Issue 7, 1950  25¢, 114pp, 7 3/16 x 4 5/8 Cover art: ?

(ACE Double, 1st publication) D-53; 1954; pa 35¢ Gateway to Elsewhere by Murray Leinster       The Weapon Shops of Isher by A.E. van Vogt

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “Kleon of the Golden Sun,” by Ed Earl Repp. Timothy Saxon is a bankrupt and untalented sculptor. His tools have been stolen and his last chance for any success, participation in the upcoming Fine Arts Exhibition is slipping from his hands. Saxon goes to Reams, the pawnbroker, and begs for credit for the loan of tools that might help him. He is refused. But that night Saxon has a dream. Kleon, of the Golden Star comes to him and makes him an offer he can’t refuse. By taker over a part of his mind, he imbues Saxon with the talent and ability he doesn’t possess. With renews confidence, Saxon makes a bust of Reams, and gets the tools he needs, a set of chisels purported to have belonged to Michelangelo. Saxon works ardently on his statue, a fabulous representation of Peace. But Kleon takes over his mind and body to advance his own ends, almost overnight Saxon becomes the messiah of War, leading the entire country on the path to war. Saxon sees that he is Kleon’s tool. Finally, as he completes his statue, he realizes that he has become the doorway for the alien monsters of Kleon’s race to take over the earth after it is destroyed by war. Saxon seizes his great statue, and uses it to commit suicide, thus thwarting Kleon for all time. ***Not bad. [b] “Songs of the Spaceways.” One poem. “Cybernetic” by J.W. Jakes. [c] “Journey to Barkut” [Part 1; series never completed], by Murray Leinster. Tony Gregg buys a mysterious gold coin. It brings him luck, as he uses it for every decision, flipping it to decide. Eventually, he meets someone who can translate the Arabic on it, and learns of the mythical legend of cities from other dimensions. Barkut is one such city. Offered a fortune for the coin, he decides to keep it, due to a flip of the coin. Using the coin, he makes a small fortune, and uses it to go on the journey of a lifetime, a quest for the nonexistent city of Barkut. Finally, by using the coin, he unerringly finds his way to the coast of Africa, and literally disappears. He is about to be murdered by the crew of the ship of smugglers who have lied about taking him to the city. But as he jumps overboard, and into a rowboat, he makes his way to the shore, and encounters three Arabs, and a swirling cloud that follows him to the city of Barkut. His first encounter with the inhabitants is his arrest. ***A truly great short story. [d] “How High on the Ladder?” by Leo Paige. Markowov is Captain-Controller of a ship in sub-space. The Life-Controller has mysteriously died, and only he can create new androids. The androids are all dying of a virus, and soon the ship will be lost in space, unless Markowov and the only other living being can create another android. Together they attempt the impossible, and create another android, but due to gaps in the process, the android is born with a soul, and is able to become a god-like super-intelligence. It must destroy the ship in order to release its mind from the material, it does so. Back on Earth, the two men in charge of the sub-space bio-laboratory shrug their shoulders as the ship is reported gone. They laugh at the possibility that the protoplasmic life onboard might have attempted to create life, but realize that it can’t do that, it only thinks it can because it is programmed that way. ***This story has a few points of merit. [e] “Man Who Lived Backwards,” by Ralph Milne Farley [Pseudo. of Hoar, Roger Sherman]. ***Motion along the time dimensions is reversed for a single individual from another world. ***Patient Sixty-three is an odd one, and has been for years. His calls for Margaret Oakes are met with confusion, until a young girl moves into the neighborhood. Intrigued, she visits the patient, who greets her like a long-lost lover. One day, the doctor, the patient, the gardener, and Margaret are all mysteriously transported to some unknown place where the sun never moves. They meet another group of strangers, and among them is patient Sixty-Three. After much effort by both sides, the scientists can communicate and determine that they are in a limbo place, a crossroads between their two dimensions in which time runs in different directions. The gardener, who is the narrator, falls in love with one of the alien women. But they realize it is doomed. When they go back to their separate dimensions they will never remember each other. This turns out to be true. Only Narden, or patient Sixty-Three, is so madly in love that he returns to be with Margaret, his one true love, no matter how hopeless. ***A careful rewriting could have helped this story. [f] “Planet of New Men,” by Basil Wells. Bill Guthrie, news reporter, has stowed away aboard a ship bound for the penal colony on Glaca. Glaca is a new planet in the solar system, between the orbit of Earth and Venus. It has come from somewhere deep in space, and now has found a place as the penal colony for the Reborn. The Reborn are criminals and dissidents who have had their memories erased and serve out their sentences as new people, supposedly. But Guthrie has heard rumors. His ship is destroyed by pirates, but he survives and his adventure begins. Shortly he meets the beautiful Wiltha, who appears to be a female Reborn, but soon he realizes she is more than that. As the story unfolds, the agents of the Corporation pursue the two, and their friends, trying to stop them. But Wiltha is determined to put her life on the line to save the entire planet that will soon fall into the sun. Wiltha is really a sleeper, a member of the alien, human, race that once lived on Glaca. They have slept for thousands of years, hoping to find a new sun. But on the verge of success, the sleeping chambers are decaying. The Corporation doesn’t care; they know about the imminent destruction of Glaca and hope to use it to conceal their abuse of the Reborn, who they have used as slave labor in their mining operation. But Wiltha and Guthrie free a surviving sleeper, save the planet, defeat the Corporation, and give the Reborn a new world. ***Long, a few, very few, points of interest. ***Followed by “The Book Shelf” which is so very slight as to be worthless. [g] “The Twisted Men,” by Gene Ellerman [Pseudo. of Wells, Basil]. ***A village inhabited by humped men who are the symbioses between humans and extraterrestrial intelligent beings. ***The narrator delivers dry goods to Corinth Hollow, and to Abel Marsh. Due to a mistake, he actually enters the village, instead of leaving the goods at the mailboxes. Witnessing an accident, he discovers that all the inhabitants are hag-ridden, carrying a slug-like alien on their shoulders, thus the humped back shape. But it is a freely given companionship, or so they say, the narrator is unsure. But fearing for his own mental freedom, he is instead hypnotized into briefly forgetting about their existence long enough for the colony to move to some other, unspecified place, before he can remember and spread the unlikely story. ***Brief, and to the point, and thus, not bad. ***[c] is the very best, and a delightful Leinster story in its own right. ***Without the Leinster story there would be no reason to recommend this issue, but the Leinster is a must read story. ***There are no internal illustrations, no ads of note, except for the FPCI ads on the inside front and back, and outside cover.

8. 
Ford, Garret [Pseudo. of Crawford, William L[evi]] (editor)
Fantasy Book Vol. 2, No. 2 (No. 8)
Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.; Los Angeles, CA  1951 82  [.25¢] .35¢
? paper copies printed.

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Fantasy Book Vol. 2, No. 2 Issue 8, 1951 25¢, 84pp, 7 3/16 x 4 5/8 Cover art: ?

Science fiction and fantasy short stories. ***Contents: [a] “The Eyes,” by Henry Hasse. Peter Higgins, while tramping through the woods, comes across a nearly invisible alien from Mars. The sympathetic Martian, Dheya-Raj, and Higgins become fast friends. Only the eyes of the Martian are visible and this leads the two to a way to make quick money. They become a ventriloquist act. The money they make is used for special equipment to make a communicator. When the money is made, the machine is completed. At this point, Martha, Peter’s wife, becomes a close friend for the alien, to his surprise. As the alien is rescued, Martha, reveals that it is a she, and that she is pregnant. ***Hokey.  [b] “Footprints,” by Robert Ernest Gilbert. ***Told as a series of letters and articles, mostly about James Englert. ***James has gone missing on a fishing trip to Indian Creek. A series of mysterious occurrences cloud the disappearance, such as: Huge footprints, a giant horse, stories of eighteen-foot-tall men, and the disappearance of an entire tanker truck. The last note is a cryptic, hastily written note from James to his wife, wherein he tells that he has been kidnapped by a mountain family of giants who plan to kill him to keep their secret. Something in the water has made them huge. ***This story had possibilities that were never worked out. [c] “Songs of the Spaceways.” One poem. “Pirate’s Return” by Michael Wolf. ***Another dreadful poem. [d] ‘Journey to Barkut” [Part 2; series never completed], by Murray Leinster. ***Part I: Tony Gregg buys a mysterious gold coin. It brings him luck, as he uses it for every decision, flipping it to decide. Eventually, he meets someone who can translate the Arabic on it, and learns of the mythical legend of cities from other dimensions. Barkut is one such city. Offered a fortune for the coin, he decides to keep it, due to a flip of the coin. Using the coin, he makes a small fortune, and uses it to go on the journey of a lifetime, a quest for the nonexistent city of Barkut. Finally, by using the coin, he unerringly finds his way to the coast of Africa, and literally disappears. He is about to be murdered by the crew of the ship of smugglers who have lied about taking him to the city. But as he jumps overboard, and into a row boat, he makes his way to the shore, and encounters three Arabs, and a swirling cloud that follows him to the city of Barkut. His first encounter with the inhabitants is his arrest. ***Part II: Tony has learned much while in prison. He has learned to speak Arabic from the beautiful slave-girl, Ghail, and he has learned that he loves her. Tony is believed to be a djinn, because of the way he has appeared at the gates of Barkut. By drinking the bitter tea, lasf, he proves to Ghail that he is a man. But as she goes to tell her master, another djinnee, Nasim, appears, and falls in love with the stranger. She disappears in a whirlwind, but now more then ever, the ruling council of Barkut is convinced that Tony is a powerful wizard, who has power over the djinn. They enlist him in their war against them. Tony must fight for them or die. At night he dreams about winning Ghail, and somehow figuring out a way to create commerce between New York and Barkut. Another djinn, Es-Souk, appears, and he is mad at Tony for taking the love of his girl, Nasim. Tony and Es-Souk fight, somehow something Tony does strikes terror in the powerful djinn, and it flees. Tony is left with all these puzzles...as is the reader, because the story is never finished. ***A truly great short story, sadly, incomplete, as Fantasy Book folded before this story could be told. ***The completed series first appeared in Startling, January 1952. It appeared as a completed novel as Gateway to Elsewhere, in an Ace Double, D-53, 1954, backed with A.E. van Vogt’s The Weapons Shops of Isher. [e] “The Peaceful Martian,” by J.T. Oliver. Karto is a Martian on a peace mission to Earth. He wants to make a trade deal for the much needed bosk ore. If he fails it will mean war, and Mars is ready to invade. The man-like Karto lands and makes his way to the nearby town for First Contact. The story ends with a headline from the next day’s newspaper. It seems that last night a Negro was found and hung by the Klan. ***Cute, short and to the point. [f] “Reward,” D.J. Reiner. Rand is a scientist who has found what he wants through the use of powerful drugs. His mind free to drift, he encounters a disembodied consciousness, in the form of the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, trapped in another dimension. He determines to help free Loana. He is promised a great reward. Rand creates the device to free the being and is given the reward. Rand becomes the first victim of the loathsome, mind-sucking vampire-like being, Varthanagor, long-exiled member of the Ularthi. Varthanagor, now free, summons his fellow vampires to the new feeding ground, Earth. ***Cute. [g] “A Knight for Miss Merkins,” by Basil Wells. ***A single woman alone among asteroid miners. ***Sophronia Amelia Merkins is a spinster school teacher. At the advanced age of thirty-five, she has gone out toward Ganymede to find adventure and a “real man.” Her ship is destroyed and the survivors are stranded on an asteroid. She is the only woman alive, alone with thirty men. Twenty-two have proposed to her, and she has turned all of them down. The other seven are married, if they ever return to their wives, and only the old, space-mad miner, Arthur Jensen has never proposed. It was Jensen who saved them all with his knowledge of hydroponics, mechanics and asteroids. But over time all that has been forgotten, and the poor derelict is the butt of every joke. Things come to a head when the men band around Arton Kitts. Kitts wants Miss Merkins to pick a man, himself preferably. The Captain and a few of the decent men try to stop the brutal men from having their way and they are imprisoned. Merkins picks Jensen, who then rescues her from Kitt. It turns out that Jensen is far from mad. He has managed to rebuild the radio and signals for help. Jensen builds an impromptu tunnel through the asteroid to rescue the Captain and the decent men. While he is away, Kitt makes his move on Merkins. She blasts him into atoms. Jensen is impressed and falls in love with her. Shaved, with his false teeth in, and cleaned up, it turns out the Jensen is really an operator in the secret service of the Interplanetary Patrol. He was on the crashed ship while on the trail of space pirates. By lucky coincidence he was able to rescue the survivors, specifically lucky for him, as he has saved, and fallen in love with Merkins, or Milly. Miss Merkins is delighted because after all is said and done, she has found her “real man.” ***A tremendous little gem. ***[d] and [g] are recommended. It is too bad that the Leinster story remains unfinished, but it is well worth reading. A Knight for Miss Merkins is possibly the best short story Basil Wells wrote. ***There are no internal illustrations, no ads of note, except for the FPCI ads on the inside front and back (ad for Wine of Wonder by Lilith Lorraine [Pseudo. of Wright, Maude Mary]), and outside cover.

AND:

Spaceway
1953—1970

Spaceway was Crawford’s first successful newsstand magazine. Crawford published in two different attempts a second magazine, Spaceway. The first attempt began in December 1953, and ran for eight issues, until June 1955. The second attempt, with an additional four issues, began January 1969 and finished with the May-June 1970 issue. It was also edited under his pseudonym of Garret Ford, often wrongly mistaken as a pseudonym for Forrest J Ackerman.

Spaceway 1

“The Osilans” [Part 1 of 3]—Arthur J. Burks • na
“Slaves of the System”—J.T. Oliver • ss
“Re-Entrant”—Clyde Beck • ss
“Spaceways to Venus”—Charles Eric Maine • nv
“Frederick”—Atlantis Hallam • ss
“Dominant Species”—E. Everett Evans • ss
“The Revolt of the Scarlet Lunes”—Stanton A. Coblentz • ss
“Now You See Them—”—Gregory Francis • ss
“The Glad Season”—Gene Hunter • nv

Spaceway Vol. 1, No. 1 Issue 1, December 1953 35¢, 160pp, Digest Cover art: Mel Hunter

Spaceway Vol. 1, No. 2 Issue 2, February 1954 35¢, 160pp, Digest Cover art: Mel Hunter

Spaceway 2

“Battle Of Wizards”—L. Ron Hubbard • ss
“The Midgets of Monoton”—Stanton A. Coblentz • na
“A Look at the Stars”—Gene Hunter • ss
“Time to Retire”—E. Everett Evans • ss
“Going Home”—Kris Neville • ss
“Deadly Weapon”—Lou Tabakow • ss
“The Rose of Venus”—Atlantis Hallam • ss
“The Osilans” [Part 2 of 3]—Arthur J. Burks • na
“Scientifilm Parade” (with photos)—Forrest J Ackerman • ar

Spaceway 3

“The Alien”—H.J. Campbell • nv
“Block Party”—Williams S. Corwin • ss
“Quiz Kid”—E. Everett Evans • ss
“Unwanted Heritage” [as by Charles Gray]—E.C. Tubb • nv
“The Remarkable Dingdong” [*Tex Harrigan]—August Derleth • ss
“The Smuggler”—Jim Harmon • vi
“Hybrid Enigma”—Max C. Sheridan • nv
“The Trial”—Atlantis Hallam • ss
“The Osilans” [Part 3 of 3]—Arthur J. Burks • na

Spaceway Vol. 1, No. 3 Issue 3, April 1954 35¢, 160pp, Digest Cover art: Mel Hunter

Spaceway Vol. 2, No. 1 Issue 4, June 1954 35¢, 128pp, Digest Cover art: Paul Blaisdell

Spaceway 4

“X of Mizar”—Arthur J. Burks • nv
“The Green Earth Forever”—Christopher Monig • ss
“Hypnotism Man”—A.E. van Vogt • ar
“The Human Thing to Do”—Kinsley McWhorter, Jr. • ss
“The Long Night”—Melvin Sturgis • vi
“Martian Pete”—Albert Hernhurter • ss
“The Uncompromising People”—Jim Harmon • nv
“Pearls of Parida”—Alma Hill • ss
“One Out of Many”—Mark Pines • ss

Spaceway 5

“The Festival of Earth”—Charles Eric Maine • na
“The City of Ind”—Arthur J. Burks • ss
“Via Paradox”—Henry Hasse & Albert dePina • ss
“Even Steven”—Dan Kelly • ss
“Hunger”—M.B. Wolf • ss
“The 7,000 Steps”—Atlantis Hallam & J.M. Loring • ss
“The Cosmic Geoids” [Part 1 of 3]—John Taine • na

Spaceway Vol. 2, No. 2 Issue 5, December 1954 35¢, 128pp, Digest Cover art: Paul Blaisdell

Spaceway Vol. 2, No. 3 Issue 6, February 1955 35¢, 128pp, Digest Cover art: Paul Blaisdell

Spaceway 6

“Criswell Predicts: On Outer Space”—Criswell • cl
“Panic on Celluloid”—Charles F. Wireman • mr
“The Fool”—Edward G. Robles, Jr. • nv
“The Shell Dome”—H.B. Fyfe • ss
“Van Vogt on Dianetics”—A.E. van Vogt • ar
“The Towers of Silence”—George H. Smith • nv
“The Third Empire”—Jeff Sutton • ss
“Friendly Planet”—Dan Kelly • ss
“A La Carte”—Leonard Pruyn • vi
“The Cosmic Geoids” [Part 2 of 3]—John Taine • na

Spaceway 7

“Riddle of the Rim”—Jack Lewis • nv
“People of the Valley”—Jim Harmon • ss
“Criswell Predicts: The Dying Planet”—Criswell • cl
“A Posy for Rosie”—Rory Magill • ss
“Martian Interlude”—Gene Hunter • vi
“Ship of the Fog Seas”—Basil Wells • nv
“The Cosmic Geoids” [Part 3 of 3]—John Taine • na

Spaceway Vol. 3, No. 1 Issue 7, April 1955 35¢, 128pp, Digest Cover art: Paul Blaisdell

Spaceway Vol. 3, No. 2 Issue 8, June 1955 35¢, 128pp, Digest Cover art: Paul Blaisdell

Spaceway 8

“Stairway Into Mars” [Part 1 of ?]—E. Everett Evans • na
“Criswell Predicts: On First Moon Flight”—Criswell • cl
“The Unwanted”—George H. Smith • ss
“Spectrum of Space”—Jim Harmon • ss
“It’s All Legal”—Edward Stutz • ss
“Curtain Going Up”—Harry Warner, Jr. • nv
“Last One”—Albert Hernhuter • vi
“Then There Was Peace”—L. Major Reynolds • ss
“For Glory and the Empire”—Richard Hodgens • ss
“Igor”—Dan Kelly • ss
“The Radio Minds of Mars” [Part 1 of 3]—Ralph Milne Farley • na

Spaceway 9

“Unwanted Heritage” [as by Charles Gray]—E.C. Tubb • nv
“Him”—A.E. van Vogt • ss
“The Gentle People”—James Causey • ss
“Lethal Planetoid”—Harl Vincent • ss
“Block Party”—William S. Corwin • ss
“The Shell Dome”—H.B. Fyfe • ss
“The Third Empire”—Jeff Sutton • ss
“Slaves of the System”—J.T. Oliver • ss
“The Radio Minds of Mars” [Part 2 of 3]—Ralph Milne Farley • na

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Spaceway Vol. 4, No. 1 Issue 9, January 1969 50¢, 132pp, Digest Cover art: Morris Scott Dollens

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection. Spaceway Vol. 4, No. 2 Issue 10, May-June 1969 50¢, 132pp, Digest Cover art: Morris Scott Dollens

Spaceway 10

“The Alien”—H. J. Campbell • nv
“Battle of Wizards”—L. Ron Hubbard • ss
“The Nova Incident”—Charles Nuetzel • ss
“People of the Valley”—Jim Harmon • ss
“Earth's Lucky Day”—Forrest J Ackerman & Francis Flagg • ss
“Alien Carnival”—Walt Liebscher • ss
“Going Home”—Kris Neville • ss
“The Radio Minds of Mars” [Part 2 of 3]—Ralph Milne Farley • na

Spaceway 11

“Monsters of the Moon” [as by Francis Parnell]—Festus Pragnell • ss
“Lunar Lilliput”—William F. Temple • nv
“Garan of Yu-Lac” [Part 1 of ?][*Garan]—André Norton • na
“People of the Black Coast”—Robert E. Howard • ss
“Father Image”—Basil Wells • ss
“The Ruthless Man”—Gerald W. Page • ss
“Requiem for Planet X”—George Hopkins • ss
“The Radio Minds of Mars” [Part 3 of 3]—Ralph Milne Farley • na
“Martian Interlude”—Gene Hunter • vi

Spaceway Vol. 4, No. 3 Issue 11, September-October 1969 50¢, 128pp, Digest Cover art: Morris Scott Dollens

Spaceway Vol. 5, No. 1 Issue 12, May-June 1970 50¢, 128pp, Digest Cover art: Morris Scott Dollens

Spaceway 12

“Farewell Mars”—Gerald W. Page & Hank Reinhardt • nv
“Cube in a Dodecagon Garden”—Emil Petaja • ss
“The Many Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs”—Gerald W. Page • ar
“The Hard-Skin”—Thomas Cleary • ss
“Garan of Yu-Lac” [Part 2 of ?] [*Garan]—Andre Norton • na
“The City in the Syrtis”—Carleton Grindle • ss
“Hybrid Enigma”—Max C. Sheridan • nv

AND, THE FINAL ACT:

Witchcraft and Sorcery
1971—1974

Witchcraft and Sorcery was Crawford’s last successful newsstand magazine. Spaceway never really achieved major newsstand distribution. Crawford learned he could assume at little or no cost the publication of the horror fiction magazine Coven 13, which would give him a distribution contract. Coven 13 was originally published by Camelot Publishing Company, Arthur H. Landis, president. The series only ran for 4 issues: September 1969, November 1969, January 1970, and March 1970. Crawford snapped it up and he talked Jerry Burge and Gerald Page into becoming partners with FPCI in the project and they published a few issues with Burge as art editor and Page as editor. It was retitled Witchcraft and Sorcery. The magazine did not last many issues. But it did achieve some successes, especially in the art field. Among them were the first professional publication in a fantasy magazine of artwork by Stephen Fabian, the first regular appearance of artwork by Tim Kirk, and illustrator Bob Maurus. Only the first two issues had newsstand distribution, after which it appeared sporadically. It was the only one of Crawford’s magazines to fold without an uncompleted serial. Witchcraft and Sorcery sold about 20,000 copies an issue, but never made any money, and soon, like the other publications, ceased.

Coven 13      

Coven 13 Vol. 1, No. 1, September 1969

Coven 13     Vol. 1, No. 2, November 1969

Coven 13  Vol. 1, No. 3, January 1970

Coven 13 > Vol. 1, No. 4, March 1970

Witchcraft & Sorcery
Vol. 1, No. 5
Issue 5, January-February 1971
60¢, 64pp+, quarto
Cover art: Burge

“The Great Pyramid of Giza”—L. Sprague de Camp • pm
“Welcome as Lover Come, O Thunder”—Anthony Sandor • pm
“The Dark Door”—Leo P. Kelley • ss
“Musings”—Robert E. Howard • pm
“House of Evil”—Pauline C. Smith • ss
“The Momentary Ghost”—Carleton Grindle • ss
“Portrait of Things to Come”—Leon Zeldis • ss
“The Ideas”—Edith Ogutsch & Ross Rocklynne • ss
“Four Letters to Clark Ashton Smith”—H.P. Lovecraft • lt
“Ghost Tour”—Andre Norton • ar
“Mistress of Death” [*Agnes]—Robert E. Howard & Gerald W. Page • ss
“Wind Magic” [*Simon Grisaille]—Edmund Shirlan • ss
“The Forgotten”—Lin Carter • pm
“The Hate”—Terri E. Pinckard • ss
“Jade Pagoda”--(Ralph Milne Farley)—E. Hoffmann Price • cl
“The Rat and the Snake”—A.E. van Vogt • vi
“Bruce”—Saliitha Grey • vi
“Embarkation of Evil”—W.S. Cobun, Jr. • vi
“Smoke”—Leo Tifton • vi
“Tower of Blood”—David A. English • ss
“Were-Creature”—Kenneth Pembrooke • ss

Witchcraft & Sorcery Vol. 1, No. 5 Issue 5, January-February 1971 60¢, 64pp+, quarto Cover art: Burge

Witchcraft & Sorcery Vol. 1, No. 6 Issue 6, May 1971 60¢, 64pp, quarto Cover art: Steve Fritz

Witchcraft & Sorcery
Vol. 1, No. 6

“Flight”—Robert E. Howard • pm
“A Garland of Three Roses from Atlantis”—Donald Sidney-Fryer • gp; Rose Verdastre, pm; "O Ebon-Colored Rose", pm; Song, pm
“Dragon's Daughter”—E. Hoffmann Price• nv
“Mother Love”—Brian Lumley • ss
“Ghost Lake”—August Derleth • ss
“Silverheels”—Glen Cook • ss
“Dragon Saga”—Saliitha Grey • vi
“The Lorn of Toucher”—Ross Rocklynne • vi
“Tomorrow's Mask”—Emil Petaja • ss
“Jade Pagoda: Spider Bite”—E. Hoffmann Price • cl
“Circe's Laughter”—Carleton Grindle • ss
“The Grimoire”—Gerald W. Page • ar
“Fire Master” [*Simon Grisaille]—Edmund Shirlan • ss
“Hungry Ghosts”—David A. English • ss

Witchcraft & Sorcery
Vol. 1, No. 7

“Hopes of Dreams”—Robert E. Howard • pm
“Thirst”—Gerald W. Page • nv
“Price of a Demon”—Gary Brandner • ss
“In the Sorcerer's Garden”—Susan M. Patrick • vi
“Appointment in Samarkand”—Glen Cook • vi
“The Dancing Girl of Isphatam”—Leo Tifton • vi

Witchcraft & Sorcery Issue 7, 1972 60¢, 32pp, quarto Cover art: Bob Maurus

Witchcraft & Sorcery Issue 8, 1972 60¢, 40pp, quarto Cover art: Burge

Witchcraft & Sorcery
Vol. 1, No. 8

“The Castle at the World's Edge”—Carleton Grindle • nv
“Gola's Hell”—Emil Petaja • ss
“Sergi”—Dale C. Donaldson • ss
“Jade Pagoda” (Barsoom Badigan)—E. Hoffmann Price • cl

Witchcraft & Sorcery
Vol. 1, No. 9

“Yesterday's Witch”—Gahan Wilson • ss
“Today's Witch”—Dale C. Donaldson • ss
“Tomorrow's Witch”—Carleton Grindle • ss
“A Witch for All Seasons” [*Lee Cobbett]—Gans T. Field • ss
“Yuggoth Comes to Providence”—L. Sprague de Camp • pm
“The Archangeli Syndrome”—Deane Dickensheet • ss
“Jade Pagoda: Hugh Rankin”—E. Hoffmann Price • cl
“Death God's Doom” [*Malkar]—E. C. Tubb • nv
“Wanted: Immortality Now!”—William L. Crawford • ms

Witchcraft & Sorcery Issue 9 (1973) Incorrectly dated 1972 75¢, 48pp, quarto Cover art: Stephen E. Fabian

Witchcraft & Sorcery Issue 10, 1974 $1.00, 40pp, quarto Cover art: Jeff Jones

Witchcraft & Sorcery
Vol. 1, No. 10

“Othuum, Chapter 1: The Last Rite”—Brian Lumley • rr
“Othuum, Chapter 2: Out of the Darkness”—David Gerrold • rr
“Othuum, Chapter 3: The White Magician”—Emil Petaja • rr
“Othuum, Chapter 4: The Gate Cracks Wider”—Miriam Allen deFord • rr
“Othuum, Chapter 5: The Doom that Came to Blagham”—Ross Rocklynne • rr
“Jade Pagoda: Jack Williamson”—E. Hoffmann Price • cl
“Into the Blue Forest”—Leo Tifton • vi
“The Man with the Aura”—R.A. Lafferty • ss
“Purr”—Len Wilburn • vi
“Restless Waters”—Robert E. Howard • ss

 

The Works of William L. Crawford: Checklist

Visionary Publishing Company:

■	1.	Shadow Over Innsmouth	Lovecraft, Howard Phillips
■	2.	Behind the Evidence	Reynolds, Peter

Fantasy Publishing Company Incorporated

RE	SC	GV	DJ	(RE = Regular Edition; SC = Softcover Edition; GV = Greenberg Variants; DJ = Dust Jacket Variants)
■				1.	The Night People	Flagg, Francis
■	■	■		2.	Out of the Unknown	van Vogt, A.E. & Hull, E. Mayne
■	■	■		3.	The Sunken World	Coblentz, Stanton A.
■		■		4.	Death's Deputy	Hubbard, L. Ron
■	■	■		5.	The Radio Man	Farley, Ralph Milne
■	■			6.	The Works of M.P. Shiel	Morse, A. Reynolds
■	■	■		7.	The Cosmic Geoids	Taine, John
■				8.	The Kingslayer	Hubbard, L. Ron
■	■	■		9.	Planets of Adventure	Wells, Basil
■		■		10.	Murder Madness	Leinster, Murray
■	■	■		11.	The Radium Pool	Repp, Ed Earl
■		■		12.	The Triton	Hubbard, L. Ron
■		■		13.	Worlds of Wonder	Stapledon, Olaf
■	■	■		14.	The Stellar Missiles	Repp, Ed Earl
■	■	■		15.	The Rat Race	Franklin, Jay
■	■	■		16.	After 12,000 Years	Coblentz, Stanton A.
■		■		17.	The Omnibus of Time	Farley, Ralph Milne
■	■	■		18.	The Dark Other	Weinbaum, Stanley G.
■	■	■		19.	The Hidden Universe	Farley, Ralph Milne
■	■	■		20.	The Undesired Princess	de Camp, L. Sprague
■	■	■	■	21.	The Toymaker	Jones, Raymond F.
■	■	■	■	22.	Doorways to Space	Wells, Basil
■		■	■	23.	The Iron Star	Taine, John
■				24.	The Atom Clock	Lengyel, Cornel
■	■	■		25.	Drome	Leahy, John Martin
■		■	■	26.	Green Fire	Taine, John
■	■			27.	The Planet of Youth	Coblentz, Stanton A.
■				28.	Max Brand: The Man and his Works	Richardson, Darrell C.
■				29.	Science-Fantasy Quintette	Repp & Hubbard
■				30.	From Death to the Stars	Hubbard, L. Ron
■				31.	Fantasy Twin	de Camp & Weinbaum
■				32.	Quadratic	Stapledon & Leinster
■				33.	Strange Worlds	Farley, Ralph Milne
■	■			34.	Science and Sorcery	Ford, Garrett
■				35.	Stardrift	Petaja, Emil
■				36.	The Atlantean Chronicles	Eichner, Henry M.
■				37.	Garan the Eternal	Norton, Andre

Griffin Publishing Company:

■	1.	Griffin Booklet Number One	North, Andrew & Wells, Basil
■	2.	The People of the Comet	Hall, Austin
■	3.	The Machine God Laughs	Pragnell, Festus

Distributed By:

■	1.	The Creator	Simak, Clifford D.
■	2.	The Garden of Fear	Crawford, William L.
■	3.	Away From the Here and Now	Harris, Claire Winger

Carcosa House:

■

1.

Edison's Conquest of Mars

Serviss, Garrett P.

Marvel Tales:

■	1.	Marvel Tales, Vol. 1, No. 1
■	2.	Marvel Tales, Vol. 1, No. 2
■	3.	Marvel Tales, Vol. 1, No. 3
■	4.	Marvel Tales, Vol. 1, No. 4
■	5.	Marvel Tales, Vol. 1, No. 5

Unusual Stories:

■	1.	Unusual Stories, Announcement Issue
■	2.	Unusual Stories, Vol. 1, No. 1, Advance Issue
■	3.	Unusual Stories, Vol. 1, No. 1
■	4.	Unusual Stories, Vol. 1, No. 2

Fantasy Publishing Company Incorporated: Fantasy Books:

FS	SS	FS=first state; SS=second state
■		1.	Vol. 1, No. 1	People of the Crater	North, Andrew
■	■	2.	Vol. 1, No. 2	The Ship of Darkness	van Vogt, A.E.
■	■	3.	Vol. 1, No. 3	The Great Judge	van Vogt, A.E.
■	■	4.	Vol. 1, No. 4	Black Goldfish	Taine, John
■		5.	Vol. 1, No. 5	Battle of Wizards	Hubbard, L. Ron
■		6.	Vol. 1, No. 6	Scanners Live in Vain	Smith, Cordwainer
■		7.	Vol. 2, No. 1	Journey to Barkut [Part 1 of 3]	Leinster, Murray
■		8.	Vol. 2, No. 2	Journey to Barkut [Part 2 of 3]	Leinster, Murray

Spaceway:

■	1.	Vol. 1, No. 1
■	2.	Vol. 1, No. 2
■	3.	Vol. 1, No. 3
■	4.	Vol. 2, No. 1
■	5.	Vol. 2, No. 2
■	6.	Vol. 2, No. 3
■	7.	Vol. 3, No. 1
■	8.	Vol. 3, No. 2
■	9.	Vol. 4, No. 1
■	10.	Vol. 4, No. 2
■	11.	Vol. 4, No. 3
■	12.	Vol. 5, No. 1

Witchcraft and Sorcery:

■	1.	Vol. 1, No. 5
■	2.	Vol. 1, No. 6
■	3.	Issue 7
■	4.	Issue 8
■	5.	Issue 9
■	6.	Issue 10

- - -
Promag cover scans Courtesy Jacques Hamon Collection http://www.collectorshowcase.fr

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Q: "What targets would you consider fair game for a satirist today?"
A:  "Assholes."
                      -- Kurt Vonnegut, 1/27/03, "In These Times"

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“Machine Wars,” by Ditmar [Martin James Ditmar Jenssen]