QUIEN
SABE?

Dear Art:

You ... I er ... as I was ... er but, you ... er .....

I see you printed my letter and also noticed you had some good answers ready. So good in fact that I have nothing more to say except good luck with your bid for the 1951 con.

Re Boggs on the Cincon money, up to now I've kept my big mouth closed when it came to how the money was divided up in Cincy. As you know when the financial committee first announced where the money was going the NFFF was not even mentioned. Then some fan whose name I can't remember made the suggestion that the N3F receive $50.00 in cash. I know that at least 1/3 of the fans at the convention were members of the N3F; I didn't expect the N3F to receive 1/3 of the profits but I thot at the time and I still do think the NFFF should have at least $100.00 for the part they have played in bringing together of fandom. I wonder who on the committee was anti-NFFF? I know, do you? Re the $300.00 the Cincy group received I believe that $150.00 would have been enuff for two simple reasons. First: the very best of mimeos can be had for $110, and that is a Speed-O-Print job which is just as good as a $200. A. B. Dick model. Second, why does the Cincy group need a mimeo in the first place. What use can a fan club put a mimeo to other than publishing a fanzine? In other words, Redd, I agree with you. / / That reminds me -- I queried the Cincy group regarding a Convention Memory Book. They do plan to issue one. -ahr / /

Perhaps some of the readers of SW would be interested in my new fanzine "The Imaginative Collector." My new zine will be slanted toward collectors of Imaginative Fiction in that we will run only book reviews and articles of interest to collectors of both books and mags. The subs price is only 10¢ per copy or 3/25¢. The first issue will be out in January and will contain 18-20 pages. In material for the first issue we see a three page article by Bob Tucker blasting the fan publishing co. (Followers of Boggs, take note), six pages of book reviews and articles by Warner, Harmon, etc. At this time we ask for material for future issues. Rapp, Cox, Sneary and the rest of you get busy.

I urge all fans who have interest in rockets and space travel to beg, borrow or steal a copy of The Conquest of Space, written by Ley and illustrated by Bonestell. The paintings are worth the price asked so don't forget to get a copy today.

Before I leave you lets all give a cheer for the best issue of SW ever. I been reading SPACEWARP for now on 20 year and with all my friends this is the best cigar ... er I mean fanzine ever.

Yours Les

LES FRIED, 2050 Midland, Louisville 4, Kentucky.

Dear Art:

Thanks for the SPACEWARP INDEX, it is very well put up and will come in handy.

The Christmas SPACEWARP was a present for Santa Claus. Warren Baldwin's story was very well done -- the boy has talent. I don't write an article like Edco says, but it is a good idea to have a few suggestions now and then on this subject by top fan writers to stir the lagging talents of the faithful. A look through the SPACEWARP INDEX shows that it takes a lot of stuff to keep even one fanzine supplied. "Starvation" by King was a good gag story in the old SPACEWARP tradition. Bet this one gets top honors from the subscribers in spite of Baldwin's talent.

"File Thirteen" -- Awww gonn, Redd, unmask "Stf Weirdest" we are all dyin' to know. Redd is still the best reason why SPACEWARP makes the "A" List (Startling). Or is it because of such things as "Tale of the Purple Porch". My brother, Dan, who never reads stf -- he reads detective stories -- liked the poem very much and took a copy of the poem to work with him because a guy over there collects "shaggy dog stories." And what is a shaggy dog story?

Well, a salesman dropped into a country store to find the owner playing checkers with a large shaggy dog. "My god," yelled the salesman, "Do you mean to tell me that dog can play checkers?" "Well," hesitated the owner, "he plays, but he's no good. He only beats me one out of ten games!"

Lyon De Coeur's satire on Lovecraft's style was -- well -- HELLISH! After "mad, terrifying clouds," windows "hellishly open," "blasphemous shadows" "loathsome hosts," batons swung "nightmarishly," "hideous shadows," "hellish tale," "appalling grasp," "nameless horror," "hideous shadows," "evil fingers," "accursed voice," etc. well, I echo the opening of Par. 4 -- "It was Hellish!" Lovecraft move over.

Also want to mention Warner Baldwin's "A Return to the Old Ideas," a fine article; and Stephen's poem "Three Sisters Have I." Thanks for listing her publication. I will have to send for it when I get another dollar.

Keep the WARPS coming. TEW

T. E. WATKINS, 1605 Wood Ave., Kansas City 2, Kansas

Dear Art:

A production like the Dec. WARP, and supplement, requires a comment or two. Though of course it's the biggest WARP of them all, I'm not quite sure it is the best. For that honor, I think I'd choose the July 1948 issue, with "Torcon Daze" and "The Lost Chord" in it, or maybe the November 1948 number, featuring "The Armchair Fortean Discusses Arson" and "Flickering Future". Still the new issue is considerably above average.

Gawsh, from a quick glance at the contributors index, I note I'm far behind Conner and a few others as far as formal contribs go, but that I'm the leading letter-writer to WARP. Maybe a closer study would turn up someone beating me out, but maybe not, at that.

As for WARP itself, it is nice to see your foreclosure again - st fanfiction, but I echo JoKe's sentiments in hoping there'll be plenty of fun-fiction in future issues. The fiction in this ish wasn't too interesting. I didn't get "One of Us Must Die" finished -- lost interest on the first page. "Starvation" was nicely written, but no great shakes as a story. "The Bloodless One" was kind of melancholy, except that the payoff was neat. "The Corpse" was competent -- and dull.

I still haven't been able to stomach a Longhammer yarn, with their contrived cuteness and calculated sex. Wilkie is wasting his time on such crud, especially when he's such a stimulating writer on such subjects as he deals with in "The American Way," "So you Want To Write Stf" -- etc.

Speaking of which, SPACEWARP seems bent on giving readers a correspondence course on writing. In addition to Conner's 2-part article, we've had your own Bottstory, which has almost the same title as Conner's, and EdCo's "What'll I Write?", "How To Write Fanfiction", and in this issue, "How To Write An Article." Gad, Ed has pulled three articles out of one idea, and, now that he's demonstrated that he can do it, I wish he'd turn to something else. He's a good writer, but he needs to use some of the ideas he's mentioned, not just list them.

"Super-What?" demonstrates a good article-writer with a good, different idea, banging out a good, interesting article. Few fan writers these days have been turning out more unusual articles than Watkins has done in "Fortune Tellers of Calcutta", "Solar-Politics", etc. Very good indeed.

"A Return to the Old Ideas" wasn't the type of thing I care about in fanzines -- I'd rather read science in aSF -- but it was well-done. Who is Warner Baldwin?

Genevieve K. Stephens' "Three Sisters Have I" has the air of an old English ballad. Fine fare.

In format, SPACEWARP this time was at its zenith. The letterguide headings are definitely snitzy, especially the one for File 13. I note an improvement, too, in the reproduction of the filler pix, which are clearer and more adroitly stenciled than heretofore.

Just bought The Conquest Of Space by Veely Lie. Magnifique.

Sincerely, Redd

REDD BOGGS, 2215 Benjamin St. NE, Minneapolis 18, Minnesota

Dear Art --

I apologize for being impatient over the arrival of WARP. After seeing it I was surprised that you managed to get it out when you did. What an ish! I think you'll have to go a long way to beat that one. For lack of words, I can only say: it was swell! There is only one thing to chastize you on -- you by-lined the poem "The Eyes" wrongly. It should have been Bill Warren (on the contents page) and not me. / / Amazing how often I get you two Warrens mixed up, even tho I seldom have similar trouble with the four or five Coxes in fandom. -- ahr / /

Edco's "How to Write an Article" was one of those pieces of trivia which it grieves me to see you print every once in a while. A good fan article, but I can't get rid of the feeling that if some of the more noted authors you have - Cox, Conner, Shapiro, etc. -- would write their stuff in a more straightforward manner, they could really turn out some enviable work. I've thot time and time again, when reading on Conner's Longhammer yarns, that if he buckled down to business he could write books which might easily approach Thorne Smith. What's the matter, Wilkie? Don't you like to make money?

Incidentally, speaking of Edco, I just mailed in my NFFF ballot yesterday. You may be sure that I voted for the Activity Party. I want that monthly TNFF. I might also say that I approve of the projected Activity Requirement Plan if said requirements aren't too stiff. If you make 'em too hard, NFFF won't have any members left. You know how apathetic fans are. If the Activity Party is elected, I hope that you will quickly clarify the matter by giving out with a few details.

Ah, good old File Thirteen is here again. There really isn't much I can say about this month's column. Not being too familiar with convention procedure, I was rather confused by the section "The Fantasy Boys Over The Rhine", so on that I think I'll keep my mouth shut. But the "Convention Tidbits" I found not only interesting, but amusing. I wonder if the last one wasn't a bit of editor's propaganda? Boggs' reply to STF WEIRDIST was slightly disappointing to me. But, then that is not Redd's fault. I was probably expecting too much. I had thot, tho, that he would lash out a little more than he did. While he put the WEIRDEST in his place, I suspect Redd would have liked to use a few of his choice Anglo-Saxon words. Why didn'cha, Redd? You're liable to get neurotic repressing all those impulses! But I have no place saying that. I felt somewhat like an ass, myself, Art, after you printed my brief concerning the matter. Didn't think you'd do it. Tsk! Shane on Mr. Aronson for profiteering on innocent fen. By the way, Redd, if you feel inclined to let it out, where do you get those Astoundings for 15¢?

So this is Dick Avery? The "Psycho Lab" is always an interesting feature. But that pun: "Heir born ... Airborne ..." Aaaagh!

"Lost in Lovecraft Land" you may put at the bottom of the list. Now I may be wrong, but it seems to me that de Coeur used a hell of a lot of adverbs. Bet he was using Roget's. Sure spoiled it for me. He had a good idea there if the writing had been better. It would have made a nice little piece of pure fantasy if he had done a little more research and described scenes from some of Lovecraft's stories in which he wandered lost. Some of the fen who have never read Lovecraft (are there any?) would have welcomed a well-done yarn along that line. Of course, de Coeur may have written the thing that way deliberately as a farce or a satire on the horror writers, but if he did, I wish he'd say so. Otherwise some readers might get the wrong idea of the quality of work he can do.

Ghu! Call me dull-witted! Was reading over Shapiro's letter and I just woke up to the fact that it's written in rhyme! (The format you used threw me off) To Shapiro my hat must I doff, as his verse is the worst that I have ever read. Could it be he is light in the head?

Will be interested in hearing any interpretations of Einstein's new theory of gravitation which may be forthcoming in language I can understand. Betcha a year's sub to WARP that it provides a new hey-day for the stf writers.

Must close now ... Warren

WARREN BALDWIN, 407 Philip Ave., Norfolk, Nebraska

Note to anyone concerned: Dick Avery has been transferred back to the States. His new address:

Now can anyone be helpful and tell me where Ben Singer is getting his mail these days? He doesn't seem to be at Chanute AFB any longer.

Dear Art:

Happy turn of the century.

The Christmas issue of WARP was pleasingly plump. That lettering of the title on the cover fascinates me.

Among the items of material, this 'umble one would give the palms to "Super-What?", to Ed Cox's article on how to write an article (a rose is a rose is a rose), and of course to Redd Boggs' "File Thirteen". Speaking of the practise of selling prozine excerpts, if memory is correct Julie Unger used to make a rip-roaring business of this, during the wah. Unger specialized in yarns from the heyday of Gernsback, but would price 'em at from 2 to ten dollars -- even short stories! -- and when he got the order, would merely grab whatever mouldering pulpmag the story was in, and rip out only the pages the yarn was on.

"Tale of the Purple Perch" was facile, and smells pleasantly of Looey Carroll.

The Index is neat. 'Tis tantalizing, tho, to flip through it and see all the interesting-sounding stuff I've never read.

Cordially, JoKe

JOE KENNEDY, 84 Baker Avenue, Dover, New Jersey.

From the smogbound coast of Calif to the 'tater farms of Maine
We will see you-all in Portland when it's stfcon time again!

Dear Art:

Dec. WARP just received. And boy, what an ish! Wonderful. Superb. The best yet. I had never read a LONGHAMMER story before, and got a big buzz out of this one. Also the other stories were all good, the articles good to terrible, and the poetry good. I'm getting to appreciate it. Get some more LONGHAMMER stories out of Wilkie Conner. Tell 'im to get 'em sexier, too.

Next, you have all my sympathy on the sad incident of the explosion on your front lawn. Some fans are so extremely puerile that one thinks they will never grow up. And I hope you reconcile yourself and rejoin the Misfits, for I think it was not the fault of the society but rather of a couple rather thotless members.

Your predictions for the future sound rather interesting to me. About fandom splitting up into two groups I cannot say, but I think it unlikely. I sure hope the price of prozines stays the same, for they make a big enough hole in my budget now.

Yours, Bill

BILL VENABLE, 32 Park Place, R. D. #4, Pittsburgh 9, Pennsylvania

Dear Art:

Man-O-man how do you do it, this latest SPACEWARP, I mean? The index too. Thanks for that index, now I have to try to get the issues I don't have, the first 12 of them. In this issue, you did something much like Tom Carter did with his last SPEARHEAD, put so much good material in it, that it is impossible (for me) to comment on it suitably. Hard to pick one thing over another, but an outstanding thing (one way or the other) is the latest LONGHAMMER EPIC. If the last tame one brought forth arguments, this will blow the durn place apart (maybe I shouldn't have put it that way). Even I will admit, it was a bit strong in places, but I'm weak, so I'll admit it tickled me. Shows the truth made by J. E. Edmiston in "The Purposeless Publication," MAKHZAN, in which he stated "what fandom needs id a fearless author who will bring out a Pornographic Fanzine" Maybe not an exact quote, but I'm too lazy to dig out my copy of that priceless publication. Conner always surprises me, which may be why I like his stuff ... Err ... do you know if Longhammer would care for another subscriber ... I promise to read his mag first.

Sorry there wasn't anything by Ray Nelson / / !!! - ahr / / I didn't find anything to growl about this issue, even found myself agreeing with Redd Boggs. Like the plans for the revised style of forthcoming WARPS, but along with Kennedy I ask that you keep using the humor stories.

Hope you change your mind about resigning from the MISFITS, even though I can see your point, and more than likely would do the same thing in your place. Still tho the club won't be the same without you fellows, and I hope you reconsider. Was wondering about that bomb. >From your, and the papers, and etc. description of the thing, it sounded like a cardboard tube, with slightly under two ounces of Black powder, that is the size and all. I know darn well that that would make a blast, although I never tried exploding it that way. In fact that much powder, 1 4/5 ounces of Black powder was considered enough of a load for bursting the charge of the old Hotchliss 2 pounder (1.65 inch) mountain cannon. Are either of those two fellows Muzzle-loading shooters? / / not that I know of -- ahr / /

If so they must be nuts to fool around that way. I know my brother and myself, not to mention Johnny Blyler, usually have quite a bit of gun-powder around for our own, and semi-professional bullet reloading, but I doubt is Johnny would ever pull anything like that, and I know darn well Bill and I wouldn't. Gun powder isn't anything to play with, particularly black powder. Funny those fellows didn't put their bomb in the center of a fruit jar filled with pebbles, or nails, would have been much more exciting that way. Guess it takes all kinds.

Finally met another fan, and a BNF at that. None other than K-Mar. He was busy though, so the talk was rather short, although I remember babbling like a run away brook. Nice fellow, and I want to see more of him.

Sincerely, Wrai

WRAI BALLARD, Blanchard, North Dakota.

Text versions and page scans Judy Bemis

Data entry by Judy Bemis

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