August 2006

Fantasy Press

Part I

-e*I*27- (Vol. 5 No. 4) August 2006, is published and © 2006 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 — eI27 — August 2006

…Return to sender, address unknown….18 [eI letter column], by Earl Kemp

The Fantasy Press Story, by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach

The Anthem Series, Part I, by Earl Terry Kemp

‘A Rocket A Rover,’ by Peter Weston

Ring Ring Goes the Bell, by John Nielsen Hall

Charles Platt Made me Cum, by Graham Charnock

Richard Lupoff’s Terrors, by Earl Kemp

Maurice and Me, by Harvey Hornwood

Our awareness is all that is alive and maybe sacred in any of us. Everything else about us is dead machinery.
                 --Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

THIS ISSUE OF eI is for and in memory of my good friend and contributor to eI, rich brown (Dr. Gafia). It is also in memory of Lloyd Arthur Eshbach and his many contributions to science fiction, along with Fantasy Press.

In the exclusively science fiction world, it is also in memory of Jim Baen, Ronald Clyne, David Gemmell, Mickey Spillane, and Fern Tucker.

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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 earlkemp@citlink.net 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: Robert Bonfils, Bruce Brenner, Graham Charnock, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Elaine Kemp Harris, Harvey Hornwood, Patrick Kearney, Earl Terry Kemp, John Nielsen Hall, Jim Linwood, Robert Speray, and Peter Weston.

ARTWORK: This issue of eI features recycled artwork by William Rotsler.

Sometimes I think it is a great mistake to have matter that can think and feel. It complains so. By the same token, though, I suppose that boulders and mountains and moons could be accused of being a little too phlegmatic.
                          --Kurt Vonnegut, Sirens of Titan

…Return to sender, address unknown…. 18
The Official eI Letters to the Editor Column
Artwork recycled William Rotsler

By Earl Kemp

We get letters. Some parts of some of them are printable. Your letter of comment is most wanted via email to earlkemp@citlink.net or by snail mail to P.O. Box 6642, Kingman, AZ 86402-6642 and thank you.

Also, please note, I observe DNQs and make arbitrary and capricious deletions from these letters in order to remain on topic.

This is the official Letter Column of eI, and following are a few quotes from a few of those letters concerning the last issue of eI. All this in an effort to get you to write letters of comment to eI so you can look for them when they appear here.

Sunday June 4, 2006:

Lots of good stuff as usual, from a quick skim-thru.  But it's Lynn & Robert Maguire, not "McGuire".

                        --Art Scott

Art, thanks very much for making this embarrassing to me correction. --EK

Monday June 5, 2006:

Another issue of eI that just blows me away. As always, it immediately followed an issue of The Drink Tank and again, I was severely out-classed. Go figure.

You know, someone at Ram Books should be shot. They took a lovely cover for Red Hot & Ready and turned it into the crap that showed up on Lens Lust. Just a pure crap reinvention. At least the other two are better.

I still love that Victor Banis piece, but seeing it in eI, I completely realize that it was the right place for it. Those Rotsler pieces were nice too. I recently came into possession of a number of issues of KTEIC Magazine from 1982 that he put out and I seem to recall that sacrificial altarpiece being in one of them. I'm thinking of scanning them, but I'm not sure what to do with them after that.

There was a store around the corner from my house growing up that sold no Playboys, only Hustler and those Filthy Mags that came from Europe. You'd find one sometimes, laying in a parking lot or somewhere like that, and you'd sneak and peak and they'd always disturb me somehow. Maybe it was those close-ups of things going in and out that bugged. I never much got into Hustler. True, it's done some okay journalism, and I must admit that Larry Flynt has done some good things over the years (mixed in with a lot of terrible things) but I just couldn't get into the no-class sexuality they presented. Then again, I read Playboy for the fiction these days, so what do I know? I loved Omni, and I'll always thank Flynt for giving us that. While I hate to admit it, despite my last name being Garcia, I'm only a fourth or fifth cousin to Jerry (I figured it out once and it's not that close, but I could trace it) while Jerry Falwell is a solid fourth cousin. I remember reading about the Falwell trial when I was a kid and my Grandma saying that he was 'a dark spot on the family'.

Alan White is a good man. Sybil Danning may have been one of the most attractive women of those days I was too young to have experienced.  In that photo of Alan and Sybil, Alan has my hair. It's scary how much it looks like my hair right at this very moment. I called in two of the girls from work and they both said that the hair was exactly the same! I must track down a copy of Slam. It sounds like it was a hoot.

There are some very good books written about the inside of the pornography business, and a whole lot of bad ones. The same goes for the wrestling business. I've been asked twice to write insider books, but I'm not an insider, even though I know a lot of people who are pretty deep in. Sadly, there are a lot of folks like me in various fields that get asked to write books on the Inside and sadly, a lot of folks don't have my restraint. I must pick up a copy of The Prisoner of X.

Sandra Scream. There's a pair of tits I haven't thought of in ages. She was one of the people who really changed the way Cannes views people. Adult stars had shown up before (Ciciolena or however you spell it was the one who really invented the Cannes Porn movement) but I remember hearing folks talking about Sandra for years.

If it’s the same Frank that I’ve heard about, I’m certain that there are a thousand great stories about the former Flynt bagman. There was an article about Larry’s assistants in an issue of Rolling Stone (I think it was Rolling Stone, I did read it while I was in college, so it was either Rolling Stone or The Phoenix) that told the story of the, as I believe they put it, ‘the creeps and the motherfuckers.’

If you’ve ever seen the movie version of Dragnet, Dabney Coleman’s performance as the owner of a porn empire (with titles like Bait and Field & Cream) was based off of a party imitation someone did of wrestler Dusty Rhodes if he had become Larry Flynt. It’s a funny performance and I constantly quote it.

rich brown just became my hero. That was a fantastic piece of post-modernist humour/Good Ol’ Fun. I loved it!

Pete mentions that it was uncharacteristic of France to sell Louisiana for such a small price. Fact is, Old Nap needed that money, there were wars to pay for and those that still needed paying and he was planning on getting out of the New World business anyhow. It was strange that the US would put so much of their coffers into one big score, but that’s the way we roll: big money, no whammies, stop!

I wish I could have gone to the Paperback show. I had it on my calendar, but it was either that or a visit to my friends in Vegas, and knowing what I’d be spending at a paperback show, Vegas was the better part of valor. Looking at the folks pictured, I certainly missed out. I’d have loved to meet Dick Lupoff there, but luckily he wandered into the Fanzine Lounge at BayCon and we had a lovely chat there. Great photos, though.

Thanks much for running Dad’s piece. I’m sure he’d be proud to see it in what was his favourite fanzine at the end. I found the copies of eI I had printed for him next to his bed, probably among the last things he ever read. That, and the small pile of conventional porn that was right next to it.

                            --Chris Garcia
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Thanks for the heads up.  It was another great "issue." Congrats on last "issues" reprinting rich's "Two of a Kind," it is an intense story deserving of wider readership.  rich is an amazing guy and has been a great friend for many years.  And a good writer, too.

Enjoyed reading Ted's piece about Althea again.

Keep up the good work.

                         --Dan Steffan

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I have to tell you this: Of all the humorous/literary/gossipy delights I effortlessly inhale from friends through the Internet--and make mental notes to go back and finish reading them--yours is the only site I do go back to and complete reading. The arrival of your zine doesn't even leave room for the inevitable guilt feelings ("what did you think of the ______?"), trying to bluff my way through their _______...  something which I just couldn't endure reading more than a few lines, but really don't want to be impolite because I do like the sender. 

I always enjoy your ezine in a special way: I'm basically introverted, and sometimes your zine works like a few hits off a freshly stuffed, newly lit bong. It gives me a sense of what fun it is to play being an extrovert. Like I'm really having fun at the party instead of dutifully biding my time for a quick retreat. 

I trust you won't misunderstand if I say "keep it up"! 

                        --Rose Idlet, Black Ace Books

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Just downloaded your latest eI and was surprised to see pics of me in it. I saw you at that signing, tried to find you after getting worn out scribbling in books, & failed --& didn't see the Lupoffs, either! AAargh!--that was the main reason I went!  Maybe next year...

Anyway, I've been guiltily reading your ezine for years & not writing. It's a great nostalgic trip. Somehow those days ring with a clarity I miss in the present squalor. My god, even Ted White! A bit sobering, that of the Void coeditors, 2 are gone & 3 survive... Thanks!

                       --Gregory Benford

Friday June 9, 2006:

It took me a couple of "sit downs", but I just completed el26. My ignorance of behind the scenes porn is almost as vast as my lack of knowledge on the subject of science fiction.

But, the high level of input that you present regularly makes it worthwhile and easy to learn.

I think that we can all learn from a man like Mr. Garcia since we are all dying without the deadline. Set goals for yourself and remember; It's not that life is so short. It's that death is so long.

                        --Daniel Andrews

Saturday June 10, 2006:

It’s been ages, although I do make it a point to check in regularly at your web-sites to see what in the hell you’re up to (although seeing how much you manage to accomplish makes me literally tired as hell – must be age creeping up on me).

I’m delighted to see a short story by Victor Banis, “In Passing” recently posted on your site.

Speaking of “the” Victor, I just finished reading his memoir SPINE INTACT, SOME CREASES; REMEMBRANCES OF A PAPERBACK WRITER, and didn’t you come out the star (not that the designation isn’t deserving)! Such an exciting life we all led/lead – although I must admit that there are some of your and Victor’s shared experiences that I’m damned happy to have missed.

Must say that I’m sorry that the book in question hasn’t yet been picked up by any U.S. publisher, making it so damned hard to come by, it having only been published by that obscure Italian university press in a limited edition (oh, well, only apt to make my first-edition all the more valuable as a collector’s item, in time). Where are Earl Kemp and Greenleaf Classics when you need them?! 

Anyway, always glad to hear that you are alive and thriving.

                      --William Lambert, III

(AKA William J. Lambert III, WJ Lambert, Lambert Wilhelm, Christopher Dane, Karl Klyne, Ernst Mauser, Alex von Mann, Cort Forbes, Adriana deBolt, Willa Lambert, Anna Lambert, Chad Stuart … et al).

#

Just finished downloading and reading the latest issue.  The current el is as provocative as ever.

I was especially taken by Ted White's article on his brief and fruitless encounter with Althea Flynt.  (And has anyone observed that Ted is one of the most apt and articulate chroniclers, and always has been?).  In the movie, The People VS Larry Flynt, Althea was portrayed by Courtney Love.  Highly appropriate casting, I'd say, although I wonder if Althea was really that mangy.

In passing, Althea references Matty Simmons, the publisher of National Lampoon and producer of Animal House and other related comedies. 

In the early ’60s, I spent a few years working for  The Diners' Club in New York.  Although their showcase offices were situated at the very spiffy New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle, the grunt work was performed at an annex several blocks away on West 57th Street. It was a small overcrowded office space, tucked beside IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances).  Day and night, summer and winter, their latest olfactory confections penetrated the building.  It was inescapable and after a while, if you were lucky, you learned to ignore it.

Matty Simmons was an executive helping to run the company, and also helming the official Diners' Club magazine (which might have been called Signature, that's the only name that leaps to mind). I met him several times. He was always congenial and ambitious but gave the impression of satisfaction in the lofty role he had there.  Shortly afterward, he left for the much more lucrative field  of film  and magazine production, where he enjoyed considerable success.

I also shook hands with Alfred Bloomingdale (of Bloomingdale's Department Store fame), who was an early backer of  The Diners; Club.  In later years he gained unwelcome notoriety for his associations with major political figures, as well as his personal pursuits.

I swore I'd never wash my hands after the handshaking encounter.  And I never did.

                       --Mike Deckinger

Saturday June 24, 2006:

I really gotta hand it to you, Earl; you know how to pub an interesting zine. Never in my wildest imaginings would I have thought that I would be interested in reading articles written about Hustler magazine; a normal male would be much more interested in simply reading -- no, make that "eye-balling" (hahahahaha) -- Hustler. A most enjoyable read, so to speak.

I really thank you for pubbing John Paul Garcia's last and only piece of fan-writing and, of course, Chris for forwarding it on to you for publication. It really bums me out that I never met John because I was very active in fandom when he was, even though his fanac was rather minimal and we were geographically separated (West Coast fan vs. Midwestern fan.) Even so, what a cool link that would have been since Chris is now pubbing one of my favorite zines to read, Drink Tank. John's first piece of advice has always been one of my favorite practices when attending a con; many a fine conversation has taken place in the hallway outside the con suite because it is so true that everybody will come by at some time over the weekend, some way more times than once. 

Y'know, someday if I'm ever out there at the time, I would love to see that Mission Hills Paperback Show and Sale; sounds like a lot of fun to an avowed bibliophile like me.  Great photos, by the way.

I think Peter Weston may have something here, but I personally believe that aliens really don't want to have anything to do with us humans because we are such a self-destructive creature. We don't need no stinking alien help in starting wars and messing up our planet. Sheesh! What the heck is Peter thinking -- or smoking? (Can I have some?)

Not much else to say for now, but that in no way reflects the actual enjoyment I derived from reading eI #26.  As always, an interesting and enjoyable collection of writings; I just have no pithy comments to make on it all except, "Read And Enjoyed." Thank you for your continued fine efforts.

                        --John Purcell

Friday June 30, 2006:

Propaganda films extend to cartoons. I have a tape at home called Uncensored Toons, full of Warner Brothers cartoons from the ’30s, ’40 and ’50s, all, shall we say, very, VERY politically incorrect. Some of the characters dance and sing to raise money for war bonds, and titles like Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips set the tone.

I have been hearing from several people, all saying that if you think Dubya was bad, don’t vote for Bill Frist. I said in my loc that it would be tough to do worse than Bush, and it looks like I might be proved wrong. The Supreme Court’s latest ruling that the war trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees is illegal, and Bush acted outside of his authority, is a welcome slap in the fact for this administration. Let the nightmare end now…

Ah, Twilight Zone Magazine…a great publication, with so many good memories inside. I have the whole set, except for the last issue, which I loaned out, and never got back, serves me right…

I wonder, Earl, if your friend Hugh has seen any of these issues of eI, and if he might be prevailed upon to make a few comments? With Hef hitting 80, I’m sure he’s got a few memories

[I suspect he’s much too busy doing his own thing. It would be a pleasure to have him aboard though and thanks for the suggestion. –EK]

I have never been able to latch onto a job as a freelance typographer, or copy editor, or any other editorial position like that. Either my qualifications are sadly lacking, or Canadian employers in the publishing industry are a helluva lot smarter than their American counterparts. I think it’s mostly the latter.

I wonder how many fans of Beauty and The Beast, and anything else Ron Perlman has done, know that Frank from LFP was his frontman? I can think of a few friends who would be shocked and disappointed.

If someone like Hugo Gernsback hadn’t been there to plant the idea of science in the future in our minds, would we have had the idea ourselves later on? Would we have gone to the moon without that initial seed? Did Uncle Hugo change us that much, or did he just accelerate the process of forward-thinking and a desire to peer forward into the future, close or distant?

I had hopes that David Gerrold would have made it up to Toronto for Gaylaxicon. In the various places it's been held, it was in Toronto last month, and Yvonne and I were on the committee. (It’s a telling remark on the GLBT SF community when the majority of the committee on a GLBT SF convention are straight.) As the head of the dealers’ room, it was up to me to contact David, and see if he wanted dealers’ tables in Toronto. I was getting remarks like, “You’re in Canada? I’ll wait until it’s in the United States again.” and I was getting discouraged. David ignored my missives, and it fell into the chairman, Lance Sibley, to contact him. He found out David had an on-going feud with one of the guests of honour, Richard Arnold, and would not be coming to Toronto. At all. Period.

I may have asked before, Earl, but are you going to LA for the Worldcon this year? Guess I’d like us to meet, and this continent is just too big, and my paycheque is just too small.

John Garcia need a lot more time. Just as Chris convinced him he had to put his memories down on paper, cancer took him away. At least John did get to do some writing, and we’ll be richer for that. I hope to see the Trimbles in Los Angeles, but if that doesn’t happen, they are scheduled to be the Fan GoHs at Astronomicon 10 in Rochester in November. John is absolutely right when it comes to finding a seat where the whole con walks past. I’ve done that three times now, and never felt like I was missing much. The people make a con for me.

                        --Lloyd Penney

Tuesday July 4, 2006:

I've read every issue of eI, found the whole thing brilliant and fascinating from beginning to end, but the problem is I have nothing to add. It's almost all entirely new to me.  I mean, you wouldn't want to get an e-mail every two months that said nothing but "brilliant and fascinating,"

                        --John Boston, Wegenheim

"Your planet's immune system is trying to get rid of you."
                -- a Kurt Vonnegut bumpersticker

The Fantasy Press Story*

By Lloyd Arthur Eshbach

An unsolicited letter of criticism, a fannish gesture of helpfulness and a joke led to the formation of Fantasy Press.

It began when I ordered a copy of Skylark of Space from the Buffalo Book Company of Providence, Rhode Island. After months of waiting during which I wrote several letters of inquiry, I finally received The Time Stream, by John Taine. Since sales promotion and advertising were my business, and since I felt Tom Hadley (of Buffalo Book Co.) had not handled this particular transaction to his and my best advantage, I wrote him a lengthy letter of criticism and suggestion.

There was no reply until one day when I received a phone call from Providence. An interchange of calls (from Hadley) and letters (from me) led to my joining Hadley to help him sell his books. Joined him, mind you, only as a fannish gesture, since there was no mention of financial matters—only a sort of vague “if things go over we’ll talk about pay.”

For a number of months I handled correspondence, prepared promotional pieces, kept records, designed a letterhead for Hadley Publishing Company, the new name which Tom adopted, and otherwise made myself useful. ’Twas a lot of fun—until I began receiving complaints from people who for some reason had failed to receive already published books for which they had paid. This and other matters led to my returning all correspondence, records, etc., etc., to Hadley and gently withdrawing from the scene.

Some time later in the office in which I worked (as ad copy writer for the Reading branch of the Glidden Company, a paint manufacturer), I said jokingly to a friend of mine, G.H. MacGregor (who knew about the Hadley deal), “Say, Mac, how’d you like to go into the publishing business?”

“You mean like this guy Hadley?” When I replied in the affirmative, he asked, “How much dough would it take?”

I shrugged. “Maybe a couple thousand.”

“Sure,” MacGregor said. “We could get Donnell here”—the artist who was in the room at the time—“and he could do the illustrating. Maybe add Leman Houck—he’s a bookkeeper—and with each of us putting in five hundred we’d be on our way.”

I had been joking—but that’s exactly how it worked out, and the four of us formed Fantasy Press within the next week. This partnership continued until January of 1950, at which time I bought out my partners’ share of the business. They were fine partners, still are swell men and good friends of mine, but their contribution to a science fiction publishing house had to be limited. None of them even read SF.

During our initial conference I had told the others that our success in launching Fantasy Press (a name not even thought of at that time, November 1946) depended upon our getting a book by Dr. Edward E. Smith as our first title. I knew Doc would sell, since Skylark of Space had sold for Hadley. Spacehounds of IPC seemed to be the logical book to start with, since it was an independent novel, not part of Smith’s famous Lensmen or Skylark series. Since Spacehounds was our first title, released in February 1947, my efforts to secure it from Doc Smith, obviously, were successful.

To digress briefly, it may be of some interest to you to learn that the name “Fantasy Press” was chosen among the following: Nova Publications, Stellar Publishers, Science-Fantasy Press, and, it seems to me, one other. I think we might have done better—but it’s too late now.

With Spacehounds of IPC in production, I went after other stories, and got what I wanted. At that time I had no competition worthy of the name, and if I had wanted to do so, I could have sewed up most of all of the really good magazine material in sight. Frankly, I didn’t expect competition to come into the picture so quickly, but even if I had known just what the future would bring forth, I don’t think my actions would have been altered to any great extent. I knew my own limitations, and I wanted to be fair with the writers.

As must be the case with any one-man publishing house, Fantasy Press reflects the tastes of the publisher. Any material selected, of course, must have at least a fair chance of selling. I like space operas—space operas sell—so I publish space operas. Perhaps I should clarify one point. Fantasy Press does not publish literature. (And in this respect it’s just like 99% of the publishers in these United States, regardless of the kind of books they issue.) Not one book I have issued is literature—but then, this is also true of Gnome, Shasta, Prime, Doubleday, etc. I publish what I think is entertaining science fiction.

I have issued a number of books which I knew would not sell well. The Bridge of Light by Verril, and Beyond Infinity by Carr, for example. But I liked the stories, and I felt they should be published—so they went into the list. In passing, my judgment was vindicated—they haven’t sold at all well!

A few of the headaches of those early days may be worth recording. When we announced Spacehounds of IPC we gave ourselves three months for production, just to be safe. With publication date a month away, we learned that the mill which was to supply the paper hadn’t even scheduled it for manufacture! The printer (who was buying the paper) couldn’t locate any other. I asked him if he’d object to my getting paper. “Of course not,” he said with a superior smile. I can still see it—within one week the paper was in the print shop. True, it was ivory, not white, and it had a deckle edge (which we had to pay for, cut off and throw away), but it was paper on which to print the book. We missed publication date by twelve days.

When Of Worlds Beyond—The Science of Science Fiction Writing was being planned, I had a different sort of headache. I had asked seven top SF writers to write a symposium on SF writing, each to cover an assigned subject, and each to write a minimum of 2,000 words. Note the word minimum. I told the printer to get enough paper for 2,000 copies of a ninety-six-page book. I decided on a column width, and as the articles came in in various lengths, wrote the introduction for each chapter and had the printer set the copy in type. When all copy was in, at long last, and all in type, I made up the pages—and found I had exactly ninety-six pages! It couldn’t happen again in a hundred years.

But it did—on the very next book. I had estimated The Forbidden Garden by John Taine at 288 pages, bought paper on that basis, and when about half of the book had been set in type, had the printer start running the forms. When the book was ready for the bindery—you guessed it—there were exactly 288 pages!

Statistics may be of interest. Fantasy Press has published 32 books with a total of more than 123,000 copies. This does not include two books issued under Polaris Press imprint (about which more below); nor does it include the newest title, The Black Star Passes by John W. Campbell, Jr., which should be available by the time this article is published.

A word concerning Polaris Press. For a long time I’ve had a desire to issue some of the old “classics” of science fiction and fantasy in a truly handsome format and in a limited edition. In April of 1952 I put out the first of these, the semi-mythical The Heads of Cerberus from the pages of Thrill Book. I have received more complimentary comments on this book than on any FP release—but the sales are not good. Slightly less than 700 copies have been sold to date. (1,563 copies were printed, 1,490 of which were offered to the public.) Recently I issued the second in the series, The Abyss of Wonders, by Perley Poore Sheehan. The future of the series depends upon the sale of these two volumes. I thought I had a good idea in the Polaris Fantasy Library, but apparently not too many fans agree with me.

Since Fantasy Press and Polaris Press are actually Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, some of you may be interested in a few vital statistics. Born June 20, 1910, in Palm, Pennsylvania. Moved to Reading at age of five, attended Reading schools, married; have two sons. Began reading fantasy and science fiction (though the name hadn’t then been coined) at the age of nine in the old Munsey magazines: Burroughs, Merritt, Flint, Stevens, etc. Bought the first issue of Amazing Stories when it appeared on the newsstands. Started writing SF a year later; sold my fourth attempt to Amazing Stories at the age of seventeen. Have written and sold close to a million words of fiction of various kinds—SF under my own name; general fiction under three pen names. Wrote and sold radio plays, verse, filler articles, juveniles, etc.

My first effort (I still have it) was called “Up from the Pit.” It didn’t sell, but my third story; “A Voice from the Ether,” sold to Amazing. While all my fantasy has been published under my own name this is not true of the love stories which I hacked out for the love pulps. I used a feminine pseudonym—and the name is a never-to-be-revealed secret. I wrote some straight adventure fiction, most of it against a Brazilian background; one of these appeared as a serial in the Toronto Star Weekly almost twenty years ago. On the other hand, I wrote a number of bits for the experimental literary magazines using a pen name reserved only for these “little” mags. Because my own name was not associated with them, when two of my stories were starred in the O’Brien Year Book of the American Short Story, the pen name got the credit.

Began collecting SF and fantasy at the age of fourteen. I now have a copy of every SF magazine ever published in America, and most of those issued in England and Australia. Have approximately 2,000 SF and fantasy books, including a lot of really rare stuff. At one time my collection was far larger than it is today—the hardcover portion of it, that is. In those days I kept every book which could be designated as fantasy or science fiction. A completist, in short. But as every collector knows, there are many books in the field which aren’t worth even a single reading. These have been sold, and every book now in my fantasy library is at least readable. The scarcest items in my collection are absolutely unique. You see, when I publish a new book, I prepare a special edition of each title, limited to two copies, numbered and bound in full Morocco. The No. 1 copies go to the respective authors. The No. 2 copies go to the authors for their inscription and are then returned to me! Which means that I have the only complete set in existence, since, obviously, each writer has only his own books!

That does it, I suppose. Or maybe I should say a word or two about the future of Fantasy Press.

Scheduled for publication during 1953 in the order listed are the following: Assignment in Eternity, by Robert A. Heinlein (originally announced as “Possible Answers”); Man of Many Minds, by E. Everett Evans; Deep Space, by Eric Frank Russell; G.O.G. 666, by John Taine; Three Thousand Years, by Thomas Calvert McClary and Children of the Lens, by Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.

For later publication I have the following: Islands of Space, by John W. Campbell, Jr.; The Time Conqueror, by L. A. Eshbach; The Metal Man and Others, by Jack Williamson; Invaders from the Infinite, by John W. Campbell, Jr.; The Vortex Blaster, by E.E. Smith; Tomorrow, by John Taine, and others.

If the Polaris Fantasy Library continues, there will be books by Homer Eon Flint, J.U. Giesy, and possibly by William Wallace Cook, George Allen England, Garrett Smith, Murray Leinster, Victor Rousseau, Stephen Chalmers, Garret P. Serviss, and many others.

- - -
*Reprinted from Destiny #8, Spring 1953.

Every passing hour brings the Solar System forty-three thousand miles closer to Globular Cluster M13 in Hercules - and still there are some misfits who insist that there is no such thing as progress.
                          --Kurt Vonnegut; Ransom K. Fern in Sirens of Titan

[Introduction: Following is the rough draft of a major reference work in the making. We are presenting it here in this tentative final form in an effort to gather support from the readers to make it even better than it is presented here. In particular we need corrections of errors of text and content, of physical characteristics, or of any other nature. We also need better, replacement, or other missing jpegs to help round out the usability of this monumental effort that, with any luck, will not stop with Fantasy Press. You can email your additional data to me at earlkemp@citlink.net or send snail mail to P.O. Box 6642, Kingman, AZ 86402-6642. –Earl Kemp]

The Anthem Series

Part One
[Part Two will appear in eI 28, October 2006]

By Earl Terry Kemp

This volume was inspired by Jack Chalker and Mark Owings and their seminal work The Index to the Science Fantasy Publishers. I first encountered this work when I was going through boxes of old fanzines of my parents’ during their divorce in 1970. The cover design captured my imagination. A further reading showed me that it seemed to contain the very answers to many puzzles about science fiction and fantasy. Specifically about Advent:Publishers and other family book collections no longer in existence. It led me to collecting and my first collection of the Specialty Publishers. During the long decades since, many collections have come and gone through my hands but one desire remained, to take the Index to its natural conclusion.

For me that wasn’t a longer, larger, and more detailed bibliography, it was a volume that contained all of the fabulous books first mentioned in the Index, what I have always thought of as The Anthem Series. A volume dedicated to The Anthem Series, containing all the relevant bibliographic material and a little historical material (such as interesting anecdotes). Most important were the differences from the Index, those features lacking in that work and in any other such work, such as a detailed synopsis of each book with a short critical review. Finally, the greatest aspect to be included in this volume was a full color reproduction of the magnificent dust jackets.

The idea that I was striving for throughout was to have in one volume the complete set of The Anthem Series, all the specialty books, what they were about, and what they looked like, in order to have in my hands one volume that would share with the world, whether collector, historian, bibliographer, or bibliophile, what is becoming harder to find and even harder to own, the entire group from the Golden Age of Specialty Publishing.

This volume is dedicated to those publishers who created this body of work in order to share with posterity the sense of amazement, the search for wonder, and astonishment in all those worlds beyond that exist in science fiction and fantasy.

Here is the capstone for that Golden Age: The Anthem Series!

The Guides to Collecting

These three books are a minimum requirement for any serious collector. They formed the basis for this volume, each one contains elements lacking in the others, but no one book is complete in itself. The first two are dated, and the last one too detailed and lacking the essential charm and attraction to make The Anthem Series truly accessible to everyone.

1.
Chalker, Jack L[aurence] and Owings, Mark
The Index to the Science-Fantasy Publishers: The Anthem Series
Jack L. Chalker & Mark Owings: Publishing; Baltimore, MD, 1966 ix/76 $5.00
Second edition was soft cover, mimeographed, and stapled.
An unknown number of hardcover editions were offered at $8.00.
No Jacket, cover titled in text, with various logos from the Specialty Publishers.
313 copies were printed, all numbered, some autographed to subscribers.
Cover design by Mark Owings.

***An unique reference work produced by a couple of science fiction fans, one who became a science fiction writer, and both who subsequently started their own specialty imprint. It was the second attempt by them to compile a bibliography for the first specialty publishers of science fiction and fantasy publishers. The first attempt failed. ***This particular edition is perhaps the seminal work in the field. It covers what is now the Golden Age of Specialty Publishing, and it is a cornerstone index. The third edition (which see) is more complete and thorough, but lacks the charm and enthusiasm, which made this work truly great. This Index is an unnoticed gem for the collector, bibliophile, completist, and historian. Not only a cornerstone, but a capstone, the Index marks the culmination of an era of publishing long since gone. Certainly it was an unexpected aspect of the production of this Index by the publishers. For this effort alone they both deserve special recognition for a wonderful accomplishment.

2.
Resnick, Michael
Official Guide to the Fantastics
House of Collectibles; Florence, AL, 1976 iv/212 $5.95
Photography by Larry Reynolds.

***An “official” guide to collecting covering only American products pertaining to the fantastic from pulps, magazines, fanzines, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Specialty Publishers, general publishers, paperback books, Star Trek memorabilia, science fiction art, Radio, and television premiums, to the miscellaneous collectible. ***Contains a fabulous checklist, with a price guide (now very dated), for the specialty publishers. This checklist has several, small, black and white photographs of various dust jackets which for the beginning collector (this reader at that time) are instrumental for identification in collecting.

3.
Chalker, Jack L[aurence] and Owings, Mark
The Science-Fantasy Publishers
A Critical and Bibliographic History
The Mirage Press, Ltd., Westminster, MD, 1991 744 $100.00
Third edition revised and enlarged.
No Jacket, cover and spine titled in gold embossed text.

***A controversial reference work containing bibliographic, historical, and critical material pertaining to the science fiction and fantasy specialty presses. This volume is the first complete revision since the publication of the second edition in 1966. A continuing effort on the part of the authors, it is in every sense a new work which only follows the second edition in form and intent. Every attempt has been made to create as complete and accurate a record as possible. Originally started in 1963, the specialty publishing project has as its objective to keep on file a history of all science fiction and fantasy publishing imprints exclusively devoted to that market, and all books published under those imprints. The second objective was that the imprint issue at least one hardcover book. Finally, the authors were concerned only with those works published since the beginning of the twentieth century. Although the authors admit to many gaps due to the vagaries of time and the absence of any remaining principals in many cases, they have made every attempt to continue this work, which is complete through 1990, with periodic updates and supplements. ***This tome is in an historical format, listing titles in order of publication, with a subjective commentary. ***This reader is biased thinking this work to be the second greatest such ever produced, only eclipsed by the charm and sense of wonder contained in the second edition (which see). This work lacks both that special charm generated from being an essential part of the works of that era, and the sense of wonder that only comes from an energetic participation and love in the body of work being discussed.

Fantasy Press
1946—1961

Fantasy Press was founded in late November 1946 by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach as head, A.J. Donnell as commercial artist, G.H. MacGregor as sales manager, and Leman H. Houck as accountant. A.J. Donnell did most of the Fantasy Press jackets and illustrations until he left the firm in 1950. When in January 1950 Eshbach bought out his other partners, and continued publishing on his own until 1963, when he sold the last of his back stock to Donald M. Grant: Publisher (which see) and to Greenberg’s Pick-A-Book selection for Gnome Press.

Lloyd Arthur Eshbach U.S. author and book publisher. He was born in Palm, Penna., and moved to Reading when five. At the age of nine he became interested in sf, and started collecting seriously when 14; he now possesses one of the most comprehensive magazine collections. He sold his fourth attempt at writing to Amazing Stories: “The Voice From the Ether” (May 1931). Thereafter he had a number of sf stories published in the 1930’s. After the war he formed Fantasy Press, one of the first specialist sf and fantasy houses, became its director, and in 1950 bought out his partners. In 1952 he began the specialist Polaris Press to reprint the lesser-known classics of interest to collectors, but this produced only two books. In late 1958 he sold his stock, including unbound books, to Martin Greenberg, and they were then included in Gnome Press’s Pick-a-Book selections.
[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy (through 1968), Volume 1, Who’s Who and Works, A-L, by Donald H. Tuck, Advent:Publishers]

Scan courtesy Earl Terry Kemp Collection

A.
Eshbach, Lloyd Arthur
Fantasy Press Books
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1947 12
Pamphlet; cover text only. Ephemera.

***Advertising pamphlet published after their first year, and first six books. It contains a delightful preface “By Way of Introduction,” by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, which reviews the status of the company and defines the class of story that they publish. Lists the first six books published, those planned for 1948 and 1949, all of which they did in fact publish. It also contains a list of planned books, which they did not publish, it concludes with a list of books for sale from other publishers. ***A charming, wonderful piece of ephemera, the capstone of a bygone era. The introduction is priceless.

B.
Eshbach, Lloyd Arthur
Fantasy Press Books
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1951 12
Pamphlet; cover text only. Ephemera.

***Advertising pamphlet published after their first three years. It contains a delightful preface “For The Collector,” by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, which covers the Fantasy Press autograph plan pertaining to those sought after volumes inscribed to subscribers. The pamphlet lists the books currently still available in stock for purchase by mail order. It also contains a list of planned books, which they did not publish, such as: White Lily, by John Taine; The Time Conqueror, by Lloyd A. Eshbach; Golden Blood, by Jack Williamson; and Hobbyist and Other Science Fiction, by Eric Frank Russell. ***Another charming piece of ephemera. The anecdotal introduction by Eshbach is priceless.

Fantasy Press: Of Note

THERE ARE 5 VARIANT TYPES Of FANTASY PRESS BOOKS.

First is the Special Edition of two copies, one copy was inscribed by Eshbach to the author, and the other was inscribed by the author to Eshbach (see The Fantasy Press Story elsewhere in this issue of eI).

Second is the Special Edition, sold on subscription. This is bound in full cloth, with an extra page which has a number—usually the first 300 to 500 were numbered—and, if living, the page is signed by the author. To regular subscribers to most of the books the inscriptions by the authors became quite personal. For dead authors the special page bore the number and a photo and biography of the author—special Eshbach biography/memoir not seen anywhere else.

Third is the Regular Edition, which is identical to the Special Edition but contains no number or extra page.

Fourth and fifth are the Grant Variants and the Greenberg Variants. The Greenberg Variants are more noticeable, they have a cheaper board binding instead of Fantasy Press’ full cloth and gold print. The Greenberg Variants are so called because they were unbound copies of the original editions sold to Martin Greenberg, of Gnome Press; he bound them in a very cheap fashion and sold them cheaply, too.

Due to the limited number of variants, in some cases those bound by Grant and Greenberg amount to very rare, scarce, and hard to find books, and as such are eminently collectible and as valuable if not even more so than the trade editions.

THERE ARE ALSO REPRINTED DUST WRAPPERS. Storage decayed many, and beginning in 1955 Eshbach printed up new ones. They contain same front illustration, but the back-jacket ad is changed and quite often the prices of the books advertised are reduced for quicker resale.

Following the Chalker and Owings second edition of their Index, I have continued the same markings. Books known to have Greenberg and Grant Variant editions are marked *.

Those known to have the markdown variant dust jackets are marked @.

(Please note: Better quality scans for these dust jackets are gratefully sought, also any and all additional bibliographical information, and in particular, any more information regarding the various Grant and Greenberg variants, and variant dust jackets.)

Fantasy Press Titles

1.
Smith, E[dward] E[lmer], Ph.D.
Spacehounds of IPC,
a tale of the Inter-Planetary Corporation
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1947 257 $3.00
2,008 copies printed, of which 300 were signed and numbered on tip-in sheet. First state dust jacket has 5 titles on the back.
Jacket and interior illustrations by A.J. Donnell.
2nd printing 1947 (1,000 copies) omits interior illustrations.
3rd printing 1949 (2,510 copies) 985 of which had tipped-in frontispiece only.
Total print run=5,518 copies.

Space-opera set in the early era of interplanetary contact in the solar system. ***The Inter-Planetary Vessel Arcturus starts on its regularly scheduled flight to Mars—and the routine journey develops swiftly into a brilliantly imaginative story of the spaceways that awakens the reader to new thoughts about the future world and its relationship with the other planets of the solar system. Earth, Mars, Venus have been on amicable terms for a short time, when the Earth ship is attacked by a strange globe from the outer planets, with weapons beyond Earth science. Incidents are set into motion that thrust “Steve” Stevens and Nadia Newton into a primitive and harrowing existence on Ganymede, third moon of Jupiter; that involve them and their fellow victims of Jovian marauders in conflicts in space and on other worlds, with their meager resources pitted against alien and hostile forms of life. What they do and how they fare forms a tale of strange adventures and cosmic wonders, yet a story of likable people and their reactions to the extraordinary things that befall them. The spaceship from Earth is cut to pieces by a ray, but in one damaged segment, Stevens and Nadia manage to survive and reach Ganymede. After attacks and escapes, the interplanetary attackers are revealed to be hexans, insect-like beings who control most of Jupiter’s moons. Natives of Saturn’s moon, Titan; humanoids from Callisto; Earthmen; and mostly the Vorkuls—a reptilian super-intelligent race with a tremendous science on Jupiter—destroy the hexan menace once and for all. Stevens and Nadia get married. Up to now, in desert island tradition, they have been living together in chastity. ***This is the only one of Smith’s stories which confines its action to the Solar System. As space adventure stories go, this was one of the best early examples, but it has long been surpassed.

*2.
Williamson, Jack
The Legion of Space
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1947 259 $3.00
2,970 copies printed, of which 500 have the signed-numbered tip-in sheet.
Jacket and illustrations by A.J. Donnell.
Original binding (2,000 copies) has endpapers; Greenberg’s binding does not.

An old-fashioned space-opera with, according to the inside cover blurb, “tremendous concepts and quick adventure.” ***Old John Delmar knew a lot of things. He knew the date of his own death. He knew that his son, in 1956, would pilot the first manned atomic rocket ever launched. In short, through a strange, inexplicable faculty that came into being during his latter years, he “remembered” the future! Most unusual, perhaps, of all his “memories” was the period of future history, in the thirtieth century; when men finally ventured beyond the solar system—and brought back terror and suffering and the shadow of doom to the human planets. This is the record of that portion of history-to-be. It is the tale of four men of the Legion of Space and their flight to the eerie world that circles around a dwarf sun which astronomers call Barnard’s Runaway Star. The story of Aladoree Anthar, in whose lovely head is locked the last hope of the human race, known only by the symbol AKKA. This is also the tale of the fearsome Medusae, the ancient dwellers on an ancient, dying planet. Invaders from another solar system, the Medusae, capture Aladoree, the sole holder of the secret of AKKA, a tremendous secret which permits almost instantaneous destruction of whole solar systems and galaxies by a tiny apparatus focused by mental powers. When John Starr, descendant of old John Delmar, newly assigned to the Guard of AKKA, is tricked into betraying the Legion of Space, he embarks on one of the strangest adventures ever imagined. John Star, a cadet member of the family of dictators who had once ruled the solar system, and three companions very reminiscent of the three Musketeers—most fascinating of whom is Giles Habibula, a wheezing old dipsomaniac with uncanny skill with locks—sail after the incredible Medusae to their own planet. Accompanied by old, fat, blue-nosed Habibula, steady Jay Kalam, and huge, powerful Hal Samdu, he sets out to correct his terrible blunder. There, after almost incredible hardships on a world with a corrosive atmosphere, horrible jungles, and the terrible Medusae themselves, they rescue Aladoree and return to the Solar System, which they find half-conquered. Aladoree sets up her apparatus and saves mankind. ***In some ways this is the best old-fashioned space-opera in book form. Jack Williamson has given reign to a usually rich imagination. It is entertaining and ingenious, despite the limitations of pulp adventure.

3.
Taine, John [Pseudo. of Bell, Eric Temple]
The Forbidden Garden
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1947 278 $3.00
3,029 copies printed, of which 500 have the tipped-in signed and numbered sheet.
Jacket, endpapers, and interiors by A.J. Donnell.

A science fiction novel with botanical interests. ***When the proprietor, Charles Brassey, of a world famous London seed house is willing to pay an American geologist and his paleobotanist partner $100,000 for a shovelful of soil from a certain locality, something queer must be afoot. Starting in post-war London, in an atmosphere of suspicion and mystery, the narrative moves swiftly to India and the Himalayas. How queer Vartan, Shayne, and Marjorie—who is beauty and publicity personified—only realize after they go to Central Asia to track down the habitat of a strange plant. They become enmeshed in a web of strange scientific mystery, international intrigue, and enthralling adventure amid the ice clad Himalayas of Central Asia. Eventually they come to a lost land where a radioactive body had landed years ago, and had started many aberrant forms of life, including plant-animals. The plant-animals multiply with incredible rapidity, and carry a virus which causes insanity and death. Such seemingly unrelated ingredients as a gorgeous delphinium, hereditary insanity, black ice, radioactivity, a visitant from cosmic distances and remote ages, seeds of madness, and the strangest garden every imagined are combined. The expedition wins out over a rival expedition that wants the secret of the lost land for military purposes, and is present when the land, with all its unwholesome fauna and flora, is destroyed. There are also devolved humans. ***Written in the tradition of Taine’s The Purple Sapphire, The Greatest Adventure and The Iron Star, this engrossing novel is an example of what can be accomplished when a prominent scientist with a vivid imagination and a gift for writing applies his talents to science fiction. Although it is not up to his earlier works it is written with unusual originality and is equally interesting to the mystery story addict, the adventure enthusiast, and the science fiction fan.

4.
Eshbach, Lloyd Arthur (edited by)
Of Worlds Beyond
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1947 96 $2.00
1,262 copies printed.
Done on slick paper with author photos, no special signed plated edition done.
Jacket by A.J. Donnell.

A critical symposium of various essays on the techniques pertaining to writing of science fiction. ***Introduction, by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. [a] “On the Writing of Speculative Fiction,” by Robert A. Heinlein. [b] “Writing a Science Novel,” by Dr. Eric Temple Bell (pseudo. of John Taine). [c] “The Logic of Fantasy,” by Jack Williamson. [d] “Complication in the Science Fiction Story,” by A.E. Van Vogt. [e] “Humor in Science Fiction,” by L. Sprague de Camp. [f] “The Epic of Space,” by E.E. Smith Ph.D. [g] “The Science of Science Fiction Writing,” by John W. Campbell, Jr. Each segment contains photos and biographies of the authors by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. ***The pitfalls inherent in writing science fiction are not always evident to the would-be SF author and for many years there has been an urgent need for a guide to these and other problems with which he is faced. In this symposium, seven prominent authors offer advice based on their success, and the writer who is planning to make a contribution to the SF market will find it both informative and helpful. The first work of its type ever produced. The seven authors discuss in detail their own methods of producing the kind of fiction which has made them leaders in the field. ***A valuable, indispensable book.

Reprinted by Advent:Publishers, Inc., which included an index (which see) and the British commercial publisher Dennis Dobson Ltd., which included a new introduction by E.J. Carnell.

A.
Eshbach, Lloyd Arthur (edited by)
Of Worlds Beyond
Advent:Publishers, Inc.; Chicago, IL, 1964 104 $3.50
1,000 copies printed.
Later paper binding of 1,000 copies.
Jacket by Jon Stopa.

***Originally issued in a small, limited edition by Fantasy Press, it rapidly sold out and became a collector’s item in a very short time. In response to many requests, the proprietors of Advent:Publishers arranged with the editor, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, to return Of Worlds Beyond to the realm of the present day student of science fiction as well as those who were unable to obtain a copy originally. With great pride, Advent:Publishers offered the entire symposium as an historical classic, complete, and unabridged, plus inclusion of a comprehensive index. ***Advent:Publishers added this valuable index to this edition.

B.
Eshbach, Lloyd Arthur (edited by)
Of Worlds Beyond
Dobson Books, Ltd.; London, Great Britain, 1965 118 13s6d net
Jacket by Jenifer Armour.

***Originally issued in a small, limited edition by Fantasy Press. The second edition was published by Advent:Publishers and included an index. This first book in a new series of Dobson Studies in SF contained an introduction by John Carnell. ***The new introduction by E.J. Carnell is short and terse, and adds nothing new to this symposium.

5.
van Vogt, A[lfred] E[lton]
The Book of Ptath
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1947 227 $3.00
3,021 copies printed, of which 500 had the signed and numbered tip-in sheet.
Jacket and illustrations by A.J. Donnell.

A thriller set 200 million years in the future. It combines in a very strange way science fiction, adventure, and fairy-tale motives. ***The scene is the Earth—but a world so remote from our own that intervening time has lost all meaning. Seas have disappeared, new continents have arisen. New and strange geologic formations exist—a river of boiling mud, a land of volcanoes, continents of tremendous size—and all of it a stage for the three to whom has been given god-power. Ptath, the God-King of Gonwonlane—a future landmass—awakens in his own time after incarnations as a man in the twentieth century. He is also Captain Peter Holroyd, of the United States Army, who died in a direct bomb-hit—yet lives as the mighty Ptath, the Shining One, a dual personality, groping in a maze of confusion and uncertainty, seeking blindly for powers which once were his. He had incarnated himself previously, because he had felt his own humanity growing weak, and had wanted to renew it. When he left, he gave control of his world to his two consorts, two goddesses, but safeguarded his power against usurpation by a compulsion: the goddesses could not seize his power unless they could compel him to do seven things. ***On his return Ptath finds one of the goddesses in rebellion, but he is so weakened that he does not know the rebel, and does not know how to avoid the seven tests. For a time it looks as if Ptath is lost, but eventually he muddles through. He must contend with his two goddess wives. There is Ineznia, lovely, child-like, golden-haired goddess—ruthless, conscienceless, ambitious Ineznia, gambling for a world. And there is L’onee, dark, glorious, helpless L’onee, chained in her dungeon, an unwilling pawn in a tremendous game. ***A cryptic and bewildering story which could have been developed more. It is still very interesting at times, however, for its ideas. This was A.E. van Vogt’s first major venture into the field of sheer fantasy. His singularly complex story of scientific speculation is chock-full of new yet logical ideas.

6.
Weinbaum, Stanley G.
The Black Flame
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1948 240 $3.00
3,246 copies printed, of which 500 have an added tip-in sheet with author photo, bio, and number.
Jacket and illustrations by A.J. Donnell.

Two connected thrillers set in the future. During the twentieth century—so say historians of the age of the Second Enlightenment—civilization died in a blaze of atomic and bacterial warfare, and the world relapsed into barbarism. The Dark Centuries followed the holocaust during which humanity rested and prepared for a charge to new heights of development. Amid the ruins of one civilization, another and greater slowly grew. But about four centuries later atomic energy and immortality were discovered at approximately the same time by a cabal of scientists who set out to impose peace and civilization upon Earth. ***[a] :Dawn of Flame,” the first story, tells of the march of Joaquin Smith [the Emperor] and his sister Margot [the Black Flame] to world conquest. Black Margot, they called her, this most beautiful woman of the Immortals, “a black flame blowing cold across the world.” The Black Flame, loved by men, hated by women—vibrantly alive, yet bored with living—restless as though demon-driven—who did not age, who remains untouched by the passing of time. In Margot of Urbs, Weinbaum has created one of the most fascinating characters in science fiction. There are others, such as Old Einar, who rediscovers atomic energy, but refuses the “gift” of immortality. Local troubles arise in Missouri, and honest Hull Tarvish of the “mountainies” becomes erotically involved with the Flame. (See The Milwaukee Fictioneers)***The second novel, [b] “The Black Flame,” is set 700 years later. The Black Flame is still unmarried. Tom Connor, a man with a forgotten past, who had been electrocuted in the twentieth century, awakens from accidental suspended animation. After a thousand year sleep, a victim of enforced electrolepsis, he awakens and takes part in a rebellion of the “Weeds”—the degenerate peasants who form the bulk of humanity—against the Immortals. The rebellion is led by Jan Orm against Evanie Sair, the Sorceress, and Martin Sair, the giver of life, among others. The rebellion fails disastrously, and Connor is captured. He is finally convinced that the dictatorship of Joaquin Smith, the Master, is all for the best, and wins immortality and the Black Flame. ***The first novel is undistinguished, but the second, despite melodrama, a pulp-level background, and a perilous approach to a superman philosophy, has some of the life and charm that made Weinbaum famous.

@7.
Smith, E[dward] E[lmer], Ph.D.
Triplanetary,
A tale of cosmic adventure
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1948 287 $3.00
4,941 copies printed, of which 500 were signed and numbered on tip-in sheet.
Jacket (titling in red in first state), frontispiece, and interiors by A.J. Donnell.

2,505 copies in 1950 second printing, there are changes in jacket copy, and cover title is in yellow.

This is an old-fashioned space adventure story, which was at first independent, but was later slightly rewritten to fit into the Lensman series. ***The story starts with the origins of Arisia and Eddore. Like two opponents in a tremendous cosmic chess game with galaxies as their chessboard, are the incredibly ancient races of Arisia and Eddore. The game begins two thousand million years ago when two galaxies pass through each other; and during the inter-passage countless solar systems are born. The Arisians are benevolent beings, the survivors of former universes, who are so advanced that their mental ability is almost equivalent to divinity. They have declared themselves the Guardians of Civilization. The Eddorians, on the other hand, are amoeboid, shapeless, malevolent beings, violently individualistic and aggressive, who came into our cosmos from another space and time. Although their mental power is but little less than that of the Arisians, they are evil incarnate. They fight on both physical and mental levels. During the first clashes between the two powers and philosophies, the Arisians win out, and expunge any memories of their existence from the Eddorians. A further victory would have been impossible. So close are the powers of the two races that victory for either side seems impossible, until, in accordance with the Arisian ground plan, life in this universe shall rise high enough to aid, or even surpass the Arisians. Centuries pass. Millennia. Cosmic and geologic ages. Planets cool to solidity and stability. Life forms and grows and develops. And as life evolves it is subjected to, and strongly if subtly affected by, the diametrically opposed forces of essentially Earth-like Arisia and utterly alien Eddore. The battleground is in a remote galaxy on the planet Earth. Earth and its people, among other promising worlds in the First Galaxy, receive the attention of the cosmic chess players. The swamping of the atomic age in Atlantis, the bloody fall of Rome and its arena, the wars that rack the world, World War I, II and III, and blaze through space—all seem historical accidents to the men involved. The Eddorians, out of pure malice, wreck civilization after civilization upon Earth, as upon other planets. Until finally at a point in the future, the Arisians decide that the Eddorians must be restrained. This is the moment when the Earthmen first explore the solar system, and exploit it as they enter into participation in the savage universe-wide power struggle. When Civilization moves on into the future era of the Triplanetary League; and the conflict between the Arisians and the Eddorians mounts toward a climax. ***The balance of the story, the original Triplanetary, consists mostly of space-battles between the Triplanetary League [Earth, Mars, Venus], Gray Roger [An interplanetary pirate of great resource and ability, an adept from South Polar Jupiter, now explained as a monstrous Eddorian animation], and invaders from another star system who raid the solar system for iron. Steve Costigan, agent of the Triplanetary Service, Virgil Samms (destined to have a momentous influence on the fate of countless worlds), Cleveland, and the power of Triplanetary finally win, with secret aid from Arisia. ***The original Triplanetary  was hardly Doc Smith’s best work, and its incorporation in the Lensman universe was hardly necessary, convincing, or successful. The original basis for the clash between Eddore and Arisia was clearly enough hinted in later novels, and really did not need Triplanetary.

8.
Heinlein, Robert A[nson]
Beyond This Horizon
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1948 242 $3.00
3,497 copies printed, of which 500 have a signed and numbered sheet tipped in. Some copies were bound with the rear endpaper missing and the last blank sheet used as the paste-down.
Illustrations by Robert Breck.
Jacket design by A.J. Donnell.

Science fiction, primarily about the world of the twenty-third century and its dueling culture. ***This is the story of Hamilton Felix, inventor of super pinball machines in a world three centuries in the future, a world of controlled genetics, in which every child is the best child the heredity of its parents makes possible. In a sense, Hamilton Felix is the culmination of 300 years of genetic control—for his child, so says the Genetics Board, would be a genius, the next step forward in human development—under certain conditions. To make this possible, he should marry Loungcourt Phyllis, his fifth cousin—but Hamilton isn’t interested in marrying anyone, and if he did consider marriage, it would be to someone of his own choice. As for children—he sees no reason why the race should continue. To him it seems completely pointless and futile. However, if Mordan, the Genetics Moderator, can find an answer to the “why” of life, then perhaps he’ll cooperate. ***Hamilton Felix, an inventor of popular games, is told that he is the end product of a long eugenic experiment, and that he should propagate the race upon a selected mate. He refuses at first, but discovers that his selected mate is really very pleasant, when she tries to shoot him. Meanwhile, an organization called the Survivor’s Club, a group of third-rate geniuses who want to run things their way, revolts and attempts to conduct different genetic experiments, as they have highly original ideas as to how the race should be developed. Felix joins the Club as a spy and becomes embroiled in the revolution. After a short battle the revolution fails. Finally, Hamilton Felix and Longcourt Phyllis marry, and are instrumental in establishing experiments on the purpose of human existence, and before the end of the book discover that one of their children is a former friend reincarnated. There is also a primitive man from the twentieth century, who has difficulties in adjusting, for, compared to him, the future men are supermen. It is questionable whether he serves any purpose in the book. ***This novel is carried through by a breezy energy and a drive that are unusual, though developmental eccentricities and mannerisms will annoy many readers. Of note is Heinlein’s scientific attempt to solve the philosophical mysteries of the ages. ***There is a Grossett & Dunlap cheap reprint of this, different plates, and no illustrations.

*9.
Russell, Eric Frank
Sinister Barrier
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1948 253 $3.00
3,084 copies Fantasy Press dark blue cloth binding, of which 500 had signed and numbered tip-in sheet; 834 Greenberg variants.
Illustrated by Edd Cartier; jacket by A.J. Donnell.

A thriller, based upon the Fortean (Charles Fort) premise that “we are owned.” ***The story begins with a sudden upsurge of deaths among world famous scientists. In Sweden and in England, in Germany and the United States, prominent scientists die at a rate that cannot be normal. Some, apparently are victims of heart disease; others commit suicide; one dies pushing at thin air; another, shooting at a blank wall. All are friends or associates of Professor Peder Bjornsen; and all have strangely protruding, strangely hard eyes when they die. Bill Graham, special investigator, enters the case when he witnesses one of the deaths. There’s nothing unusual about Bill, unless it is his ability to remain alive under the most adverse conditions. And it’s highly important that he remain alive, not only for the benefit of Bill Graham—but for the peace and security of the entire world of man. ***In 2015, a means is discovered for seeing radiations normally beyond sight, and a new form of life is discovered: Vitons. These are intelligent beings, which appear as globe lightning when they die, and have ruled and persecuted mankind through the ages for completely selfish reasons. The Vitons attempt to kill off all those who know the secret of seeing them, but fail, and warfare breaks out between them and Western man. (Oriental man, unfortunately, accepted the Vitons as ancestral spirits.) Justice, of course, prevails. ***Sinister Barrier begins as a superb thriller, despite a little too much eccentric sarcasm aimed at those who do not follow the Fortean “logic,” but the mood is not sustained, and the story falls into conventional science fiction. It is still well worth reading.

10.
Smith, E[dward] E[lmer], Ph.D.
Skylark Three
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1948 246 $3.00
4,017 copies printed, of which 500 are signed and numbered on tip-in sheet.
Jacket and interiors by A.J. Donnell.

A sequel to The Skylark of Space. ***Friends come from the Green System to Earth, and ask Seaton’s aid against an invasion from a nearby planet. Seaton responds, settles the war, and discovers that a greater threat is impending over the whole galaxy from the Fenachrone, a semi-human race of beings from a distant solar system. Duquesne has ambitions of ruling the Earth. His quest for scientific knowledge leads him to the planet, Fenachrone, at the galaxy’s outer rim. From his visit, the Fenachrone are apprised of the Earth’s existence, and make preparations to destroy it. The Fenachrone are monstrous green humanoid beings with an extremely advanced science and enormous space fleets, who plan to conquer the entire universe. Seaton, Crane, and his friends explore the galaxy uniting worlds against the Fenachrone, and looking for a science to match that of the Fenachrone. Somewhere, Seaton believes, must live a race whose knowledge is greater than that of the marauders. In Skylark Two he begins his quest among the worlds of a galaxy for the beings that will help him build—Skylark Three. He finds such a science on the ultra-civilized world of Norlamin, where Seaton absorbs knowledge through thought-transference machines, and integrates it beyond the ability of the Norlaminians themselves. Employing a weapon of offense which harnesses the power of a sun, Seaton and Crane destroy the fog-enshrouded home planet of the Fenachrone. The few survivors are followed into unknown space and annihilated from the ship of the Earthmen, the Skylark Three. ***As a subplot, Duquesne, his enemy, had followed Seaton into space, and had been easily destroyed by the Fenachrone. ***Once again Doc Smith takes us convincingly into the transcendent world of true science fiction, a fitting sequel to the groundbreaking The Skylark of Space, well up to its role in continuing the dynamic series of stories.

11.
de Camp, L[yon] Sprague
Divide and Rule &
The Stolen Dormouse
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1948 231 $3.00
3,111 copies printed, of which 500 have a signed and numbered sheet tipped in.
Jacket by A.J. Donnell.

This volume consists of two short science fiction novels. ***[a] Divide and Rule. Knighthood returns some four centuries hence as a means for invaders from space to control the human race. Hoppers, kangaroo-like beings from another world, have conquered the Earth, and to prevent uprisings have destroyed most of Earth’s technology and installed a new feudal society which fosters lack of cooperation among the humans. A new knighthood with jousts and castles is the order of the day. Most of the story is told through Sir Howard van Slyck, who becomes more or less accidentally associated with an underground movement that hopes to overthrow the Hoppers. Sir Howard Van Slyck, a second son of the Duke of Poughkeepsie, by reputation a large, energetic, and rather empty-headed young man with a taste for action, lives up to the family motto, “Give ‘em the Works.” Several incidents lead up to the Hoppers being “given the works” filled with Van Slyck and the interesting people involved in his adventures. Adventures follow and the Hoppers are overthrown, although the “gimmick” seems a little far-fetched. [b] The Stolen Dormouse. In another future, a feudal world exists in which rival big business empires (such as the Crosleys and the Strombergs) comprise royalty and are organized into Renaissance-like clans, in which a Romeo and Juliet romance takes place. The rival companies or clans of the American Empire, battle over a stolen semi-corpse, an engineer in a state of suspended animation. Whitecollar Juniper-Hallett, to give him his title, is elevated to the rank of businessman, given his badge of office, a briefcase, and a fountain pen—and the fun begins. He wins his Juliet, smashes a Stromberg plot, and finally escapes to relatively free Hawaii. The dormouse, which is hardly necessary to the story, is a man in suspended animation who is presumed to have knowledge of a secret and potent power source. ***As is frequently the case with de Camp’s work, the ideas behind the story are even more interesting than the stories themselves. De Camp’s work is a sort of Lewis Carroll nonsense-made-sensible—and that phrase best describes the two novellas in this book. In these novellas de Camp has played with the forces that form a society in a very amusing way which shows considerable sociological insight. This book, which shows de Camp’s pre-war work at its best, was a landmark in integrating adventure into the society out of which it arises.

*12.
Williamson, Jack
Darker Than You Think
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1948 310 $3.00
3,020 copies bound in dark green cloth (of which 500 have signed and numbered sheet tipped in) 510 copies Grant binding in brown cloth, 472 Greenberg gray binding.
Illustrations and endpapers by Edd Cartier, jacket by A.J. Donnell.

A thriller based on archeology and parapsychology. ***When the Mondrick expedition returns from the Gobi Desert with an iron-bound chest and a haunting burden of dread, it brings with it proof of a warfare that has continued for unnumbered centuries—warfare hitherto buried deep in the subconscious of the human race. According to the discoveries of the Mondrick expedition, modern man is a hybrid breed between two stocks, Homo sapiens proper, and a hitherto unknown stock called Homo lycanthropus. This latter stock is immortal, evil, and is gifted with paranormal powers, such as psychokinetic control of matter, theriomorphy, and so on, but is now extremely weak. The blood of Homo sapiens is diluted with a darker stream. In your veins, and in ours, so the Mondrick theory claims, ebbs and flows an evil tide. Perhaps you, the individual reader, are only one part in a thousand human, or one in ten thousand. But you aren’t all human...Few men are aware of their own alien strain. We know more about the distant stars than we do of our own tragic plight. But every man now living has inherited some of the black taint of Homo lycanthropus. And there are throwbacks! Or so, at least, Dr. Mondrick suggests. ***For ages the sapiens group has persecuted—justifiably--those who possess obvious lycanthrope blood. The present is a crucial point in history, for a few lycanthropi, conscious of their origin and powers, wish to destroy the Mondrick evidence, and desire to re-isolate the ancient race which had once been master of humanity. A Black Messiah, otherwise known as the Child of Night, is due—to become the leader of inhumanity. Will Barbee, reporter, covering the return of the Mondrick expedition for his newspaper, meets the gorgeous April Bell who claims to be a reporter for a rival sheet. He gets a story stranger far than he expects—and becomes involved in a desperate drama of dark human conflict and darker victory. The plot is based around Barbee, who is sapiens by day, and, under control of another personality than his conscious mind, is by night lycanthropus. ***A good thriller, although many may find the somewhat indifferent acceptance of evil—as in The Humanoids—a little hard to accept. ***In this strange study of our own troubled times and our own secret lives, Williamson has skillfully blended such seemingly unrelated subjects as lycanthropy and witchcraft with parapsychology and psychokinesis. He has written a story which may well be unique, embracing a theory new to anthropology, and an interpretation of human behavior never anticipated by psychologists. But above all, he has produced an enthralling story.

13.
Smith, E[dward] E[lmer], Ph.D.
Skylark of Valeron
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1949 252 $3.00
4,958 copies printed, of which 500 are signed and numbered on tipped-in sheet.
Jacket and Illustrations by A.J. Donnell.

A sequel to Skylark Three which continues the ongoing “Skylark” saga. ***Several diverse subplots are united. Duquesne, who was not really destroyed by the Fenachrone, instead, outwits the green men easily by means of a robot made in his own image, steals one of their battleships, and after seeing Seaton’s destruction of their planet, proceeds to Norlamin. There he beguiles the simple philosophers into accepting him as a friend of Seaton’s, and giving him their science. He returns to Earth, which he conquers easily, and begins a long-term conquest of the universe on his own. ***Seaton, meanwhile, leaves Norlamin with his friends, and rashly challenges the disembodied intelligences of the first volume. The intelligences are still too strong, and Seaton and his friends have to rotate themselves into the fourth dimension to escape. They emerge from the fourth dimension, after adventures, far, far from their original position. Seeking star maps for their locations, they find a humanoid planet [Valeron] being badly beaten in a war with amoeboid, chlorine-breathing beings from another planet. They save Valeron and with Seaton’s science rout the invaders, and force them to terms. On Valeron, Seaton, with the aid of the inhabitants, constructs a new spaceship of planetary dimension for the return to Earth. His arrival finds Duquesne firmly entrenched as dictator, with the Earth’s resources at hand. Seaton who has by now far exceeded even Norlaminian science crushes Duquesne’s empire, seals the disembodied intelligences into an impenetrable sphere, and casts Duquesne in with them. ***The end of the “Skylark” series. ***All three of the Skylarks may be judged together. All are written with a contagious gusto and verve that are seldom matched in science fiction, and all are very imaginative. Historically, in addition, they are very important, for Doc Smith long led the magazine area with new applications of science to fiction, new insights, and sometimes brilliant feats of fantastic view. Melodramatic situations and characterizations and possibly the worst slang dialogue ever to appear in science fiction are but a couple of these flaws. Doc Smith’s later work is far superior.

14.
Weinbaum, Stanley G.
A Martian Odyssey, and others
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1949 289 $3.00
3,158 copies printed, of which 500 have tipped-in sheet with number, photo and bio of author.
Jacket by A.J. Donnell.

Science fiction short stories. **[a] “A Martian Odyssey.” This is the public’s first meeting with the amazing Martin, “T’we’er’r’rl.” The first expedition to Mars, and Martian life: a strange animal with a silica chemistry that secretes silica bricks, and builds hollow pyramids with them; the dream-beast, which attracts its prey by pretending to be whatever its prey most desires--Earthmen see women; barrel-beasts, who strangely run back and forth with wheelbarrows, building mounds; and Tweel, an intelligent Martian that looks like a freak ostrich, and communicates with the Earthmen by the simplest yet most complex logic. [b] “The Adaptive Ultimate.” Kyra Zelas, a sickly, unattractive, dying girl is injected with a serum that turns her into a superwoman. The injection permits her adaptation to any life situation and she becomes an incredible monster almost impossible to destroy. She becomes capable of adapting to knife and gun wounds. Due to her new abilities her moral compass shifts easing her path to survival and power. Completely amoral, except for her love of Dr. Daniel Scott, who gave her the injection, Kyra sets out to bring the nation under her power. Her adaptation extends to becoming beautiful to influence a murder jury. Dr. Scott, who is in love with her, reluctantly sets out to destroy his own creation. [c] “The Mad Moon.” An adventure romance set upon Io, Jupiter’s moon, which has a strange population: the pathetically stupid Loonies, or large humanoid beings with enormous heads, unfortunately half-witted, and given to continual giggling. There are also Slinkers—small, intelligent rat-like beings. Grant Calthorpe, who collects drugs for a large company, gets in the bad graces of the malicious Slinkers, and barely escapes with his life, and a girl. [d] “The Worlds of If.”  One of a series of humorous stories based upon Professor van Manderpootz, an eccentric megalomaniac genius. Van Manderpootz has invented a machine that sees into worlds that might have been, if things had turned out differently. [e] “The Lotus Eaters.” Ham Hammond and Patricia Burlingame’s explorations and encounters with strange beasts on the dark side of Venus. The strangest discovery is the uncanny mastermind, Oscar of the Lotus Eaters, a super-intelligent plant-genius that knows all the secrets of the universe, but has no incentive to survive. Ham and Pat discover Oscar amid a group of warm-blooded mobile plants who are far more intelligent than man. However, Oscar and his fellow plants have no compunction about being eaten by predators and possess no will or desire to create a civilization. [f] “Valley of Dreams.” A sequel to “A Martian Odyssey.” It explains many of the mysteries in the first story, and also relates an encounter with dream-beasts. It is learned that the Martians in their greater period—they are now decadent—had visited Earth, and were remembered by the Egyptians as Thoth. [g] “The Ideal.” This is another famous humorous short story in the series about Haskel van Manderpootz, who is an eminent, acid-tongued, scientist and ever-so very modest. The eccentric professor invents an apparatus which presents to the viewer the ideal of whatever he is thinking about. [h] “The Point of View.” A van Manderpootz story. The professor has created a machine that permits the point of view of other persons to be visualized. The narrator accidentally sees a dull office drudge through the eyes of the man who loves her, and finds himself falling in love with her also. [i] “Pygmalion’s Spectacles.” A new invention designed to supersede movies, which causes the viewer to live in the story. The story itself is about a utopia, Paracosma, which the viewers find quite pleasant. [j] “Parasite Planet.” The first short story in the Ham Hammond and Patricia Burlingham series in which a romance develops between the trader and the biologist on Venus. Venusian life is given in detail, and includes all sorts of horrible creatures: carnivorous vegetation that lures its victims; dough-pots, or giant amoeba-like creatures, etc. Of most significance amid all the mindless terrors are the dough-pots, giant cancer cells which destroy all life in their paths. Weinbaum died of throat cancer at the age of 33. [k] “The Planet of Doubt.” The first biological explorations of Uranus find life that includes monstrosities which have some analogies to tent-caterpillars. [l] “The Circle of Zero.” Old de Neant has a theory that time is circular, and that memories of the past and future may be obtained by psychological means. Jack Anders serves as a guinea pig, and remembers, in trance, the last city of man, and other segments of history; but it was all probably self deception induced by the trance. ***Several of these stories are well worth reading, despite being dated by a pulp-era melodramatic treatment. [a], [c], [d], [g], and [i] are the most interesting.

*15.
Zagat, Arthur Leo
Seven Out of Time
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1949 240 $3.00
2,612 copies (limitation sheet says 5,000) bound in red cloth, gold lettering, of which 500 had tipped-in sheet with number, author photo and bio; 426 Greenberg variants.
Illustrated by Hannes Bok, jacket by A.J. Donnell.

A science fiction thriller. ***Meant to be one of the greatest of all time travel stories—concerning a strange adventure in the remote future upon a world far removed from our own galaxy, an eerie Otherworld “where time is not.” Seven people, an oddly assorted group, are lured from different ages to meet in Adalon, seven who have vanished quietly from among the living, but who are not numbered with the dead. There are John March and Evelyn Rand, a twentieth century hero and heroine, who are kidnapped to the far future, where they find, similarly kidnapped, the prophet Isaiah of Israel, Francois Villon (the poet-thief), King Arthur of Camelot, and other notorious characters of history, such as John Orth of Tuscany, and Louis Capet, ill-fated child of Louis XVI, who have all disappeared under strange circumstances. All these people, it seems, have been brought out of the past to serve as specimens for qualities that the future men lack: honor, courage, love, chivalry, and so on; for future man [as is so often the case in such stories], suffers from hypertrophied intellect and atrophied emotional life. ***The Earth is a waste, and mankind has moved to another star system, where it is being besieged by mindless monstrosities, and is on the edge of defeat. The future men plan to invade the past, to continue their lives, but the men from the past wreck the machinery, and the monsters from outside crash through the defenses. One of the future men, however, has learned what love is, and sends the twentieth century couple back to their own time. And now, to avoid this terrible future, the author hints of a time-fork in the twentieth century, so that mankind may yet survive in another future. ***The motif of assorted heroes from different time eras is usually a mark of a poor thriller, and this volume is no exception. It is interesting as possibly the best-known work of a lesser writer of the golden era.

16.
Campbell, John W[ood], Jr.

The Incredible Planet

Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1949 344 $3.00
3,998 copies printed, of which 500 have the tipped-in numbered limitation sheet but of which only the first 250 were signed.
Jacket by A.J. Donnell.

Modern science fiction, three short stories which are sequels to The Mightiest Machine. ***[a] “The Incredible Planet.” Aarn Munro, Russ Spencer, and Don Carlisle are returning to Earth in their space ship, The Sunbeam, from an accidental visit to Anrel, a planet of another solar system in another galaxy existing in another space, when trouble begins. Through some miscalculation, they are lost in space, so far from home that they aren’t certain they’re in the right galaxy. They are faced with the unpleasant prospect of having to find a planet with inhabitants sufficiently civilized to have star maps which will guide them home. They visit Myra, the incredible planet whose people are older than the very stars! It has drifted for billions of years, with its population in suspended animation. An attempt is made to capture something of the mood of the ancient inhabitants of the frozen world. [b] “The Interstellar Search.” Munro and associates are still looking for Earth. They find lizard-men and humans entangled in interplanetary warfare, and aid the humans. They become involved in warfare between two planets revolving about a sun which is on the verge of blowing up. With ever-mounting super-weapons they destroy the lizard-men by exploding the unstable sun that their planet revolves about. ***Pure “space-opera” at its best. [c] “The Infinite Atom.” Ages ago, an expedition from the Centaurs had invaded Earth. Now, they invade Earth once again, but are met by Magyan-Earth super-defenses. Super-weapons exceed super-weapons until Munro finally controls the ultimate force, and builds new planets, with the power of thought, for the Centaurs. The story suffers from being presented from too many points of view. ***Historically significant, but now very outdated.

17.
Smith, E[dward] E[lmer], Ph.D.
First Lensman
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1950 306 $3.00
5,885 copies printed, of which 500 have signed and numbered limitation sheet tipped in.
Jacket, interiors, and Frontispiece by A.J. Donnell.

A sequel to the new Triplanetary, it is the first story that really fits into the Lensman universe. It continues the adventures of Virgil Samms and his associates in their attempts to establish a police organization with interplanetary and interstellar powers. ***In the not-too-distant future fleets of commercial space ships travel constantly between the planets of numerous solar systems, but with interstellar commerce come interstellar headaches. The forces of law and order lag far behind those of organized crime. Civilization seems to be heading for chaos. A small group of men, headed by Virgil Samms, Chief of the Triplanetary Service, and Councilor “Rocky” Kinnison, face the issue—and bring into the open a secret conflict that has been going on for uncounted ages. No human had ever passed through the mysterious, unseen barrier, hiding the planet Arisia. Word comes to Earth compelling Virgil Samms, the founder of the Galactic Patrol to go to Arisia. In a very complex succession of subplots Virgil Samms goes to Arisia, and obtains the lens of civilization and overt cooperation from the Arisians. During his visit to Arisia he becomes First Lensman. (The lens, it should be noted, is a “device” worn on the wrist of a qualified person; it is matched to his life force, cannot be worn by another person, and offers paranormal abilities to the wearers. Only elite members of the Galactic Patrol possess lenses, and each is fitted personally on Arisia.) Samms knows that the price for receiving the Lens will be high, but he has no idea of the ultimate cost, nor of the strange destiny awaiting the First Lensman. Samms then contacts the other two leading races of the First Galaxy, the Palanians from Palain Seven (a frigid-blooded race that has an extension into the fourth dimension) and the Rigelians from Rigel Four (people who look like animated oil drums), both non-human races, and establishes the Galactic Patrol. ***Other subplots include a side-show battle between Arisia and Eddore; interstellar dope-peddlers and pirates, whose local operations are stopped by the Patrol; and finally a political struggle on Earth between the Patrol, on one hand, and politicians backed by Boskonian (an organized pirate empire which serves as a “front” for Eddore) influence on the other. The patrol wins. This volume may be termed the battle for Earth. ***Doc Smith is always most successful when tinkering with futuristic gadgets or when visiting non-human cultures. Imaginary exposition and extrapolation of the worlds of tomorrow is his forte. All such situations in this volume, as usual, are highly creative. Unfortunately, most of the book takes place among humanoids and on the planet Earth, in both circumstances Doc Smith is clearly not really comfortable or at home.

*18.
van Vogt, A[lfred] E.
Masters of Time
Fantasy Press; Reading, PA, 1950 227 $3.00
4,034 copies dark red cloth FP binding, of which 500 have signed and numbered limitation sheet tipped in; 30 Greenberg binding, tan cloth, with title in black.
Jacket and interiors by Edd Car