| THE KEY J... 000° . 5 . by John As Keel F THE FALLACY OF HASS RULE, D by Vaughn Groene DEAR EDITOR..... E Ea 7 ty C. Lee Riddle ‘THE EXPERIMENT THAT FAILED...... 9 by Edy dW, Ludwig VHY VE LOST THE BATTLE OF TEL-AVEN,,, 10 by Donn Brazicr LIBRARY NOTES (Book Review) by David H. Keller LAMENT FOR A LOST LOVE......4. Serene, by Robert Bloch TEE FIRST MODERN HORROR NOVEL......-- 19 by.-anthony Boucher THE SACRIFICE... by Jack Cordes A SUGGESTION by MEETING OF MINDS, GRAPH-O-MAP OF N.FVF.F. MEMBERS...... 16 PHILBERT THE- FAN. - 7 oe 4 PEON, 4 "Rog! Yooman-Fentasy Publication, is published bi-ronthly, mat- , finances, and the Navy willing, by. Charles Loo Riddle, PN1, USN, all-Court, Llaneda,- California Artwork is supervised by tho rt Editor, Jorri Bullocks 10¢ per issue, six issucs’ for 50¢, or the | next 15 issues will be sont to. you for one dollar. ADVERTISING RATES:, $1.00 for half-page, $1.50 for full pago, 10% off if you type :the. ‘stencil. :a adh OLA, LUGRLO) NCAR (ion “ih4t is thot scuttlebutt I hear, that you ar& so rash as to launch a fangine in this perilous Ah, you mad, mad fool..." That is what r.t. Rapp vrote us whenve “brought ‘dut @ tlew ‘fanzine for the ic last year, At times, we have agre eed with hin that we vere mad, mad fools, but for ‘the most part, it has been a great deal of fun putting out PEO’, The support we have received from our readers has teen amazing and gratifying to say the least. We hope that we will continue ‘to rédeivd ‘as much cooperetion in the future as we have in the past. This, then, is our anniversary iss e---celebrating the end of our first year of publishing, and the commencérent ‘df dur, second year, Although the first issno of PEOM was dated July, it was conceived in April of last year, We began to souut around for material about. this time last year, Pianecwers still in tho onbryo stage, until a dértain night in May. During that night, while I paced the floors of Oak Knoll Naval Hospital over in Oakland while Mrs, Riddle was deciding to present me with a new son or daughter, I began to formulate the first issue in my mind,’ ‘Robert Earl (our second son) was born that night and so was PEON, So, actually this month, both "Robbie" and PEON are a year old, We hope that both of them continue to grow as they have in the past year. ‘ i This issue represents the posk of our publishing efforts to date. We have grthered together ‘what we hope is a selection of good reading material for you. Ciretiletion of this issue hes becn increased by a 100 for this time only to give a wider distribution of PEO", We aro aiming on building up our ireulation to 300, As you romember, ve started out with that figure, held it for the first tuo issues (which: werd féé) ° and ‘then ‘ad ‘we began to charge a quarter, the circulation éroppod, We have around 200 circul-tion now, :and hope to increase it each month in the futurc, Subscription pricos have been increased also, but for thet, _see our Yotdd further ‘dlong. ‘ Joseph B, Baker, in writing to the of SCIENTIFANTASY, States in part," see now fenzines appear, dacli ‘with ‘A definite personality, Ye take issue with thé word "purpose." Need a féngino haye a purpose? What is a fonzine after all? Ts it issued for the purpose of offer- ing personal. opinions and views to ‘the rddding ‘public, ‘or is it issued just for the fun of it? Poon has had no definite policy or purpose since it: issued, Jim Harmon once wrote us thet we rominded him of thc minister who vas not mad at snyone--voll, we aren't! At times we get pretty disgusted with the high-jinks of .softe of tho fans and pros, but POON wsn't started for tho, pur- pose ‘of “enrrying on fouds with others, We are issuing and sending out PEON because: wé like to do go -Tho rdader knows this journal isn't rut out for the profits involved! 4 glanco at ‘tho subscription price we h-vo boon charging will Inlock that idea in thé head, We've had fun gotting this magaziic out to you, our renders, and wo will continue to do so. Wron it bocomes a choro, a drudge, and no fun onymoro, then we'll quit putting if out. But unless sone- thing drastically “hoppons inthe future, that won't’ be soon at all, _Wo!vo tricd to bring you good roading materiel in tho past, and vo'll continuo to do “the samo in tho futuro. But, now, if YOU want to-got mad nt -eenobody--good deal! Write about it and wo'll print it in "“Mocting of Minds." At timos, if r-gontinued on page 22--ON oe PAGE 3 Tle Hey Professor Willian Kent pushed his long, vhite hair out of his eyes, laid aside the manuscript he had been working on, and rose from his writing desk. He walked slowly to the door of the little one-room cabin and looked out at the green forest basking in the warm morning sun. The muscles in his aged, wrinkled face twitched nervously. Deep in the forest he could hear a strange chattering. "Ah," he sighed alou¢, "It used to be so peaceful here until they came, I wish they would eave me alone, I am way behind in ‘ny studies." Like most people who live alono, Frofessor Kent had a habit of talking to himself, The professor's ‘cabin was located deep in the forests of Maine. Every summor he would go there to spond his vacations from the University, He spent his time studying wild life and writing up his observations for various scien- tific journals. He loved the quict of the forests and aluays reluctant to return to the University at the end of the summer, But this year was diffor- ents. A lot of queer things had happened, He stood at the screcn door, thinking,-for soveral minutes, The inhabit- ants of tHe nearby towns had always whispored that the forest was haunted but ho had lived there every sunmet for ton years and had scen nothing unusual un- +i1 this yoar. It started one evening soon after he brrived-férfthetbunmors. ro had-boon working late at his microscope, studying some specimens he had pickod up ear- licr in the day when thore was a strange rapping sound onthe window, In all the summers that the Professor had sport in the cabin he had never hind @ visi- tor, so he wont outside to investigate, . There vas no one in sight, However, hen he returned to the cabin, he discovered that somoone had placed his chair on his desk, It roquired a great deal of offort to get it back on the floor since it was a heavy upholstered affair, While he was struggling with it he thought he heard someone laughing glecfully at him, He kmow that no children could have'done it beesuse the chair was oxtremely heavy and he had boon’ out of the cabin for only a few seconds, He wont to slogp puzaled that night. That was tho first of a. series of strango incidonts, He had strang visitors frequently after that. Thoy never really damaged anything. They just played fantastic pranks and chucklcd with gloo at his anguish, .Thoy put gluo in his bottle of hair tonic, thoy hid the lens of his microscope, and when they could think of nothing else to do, thoy made horrible noisos so that he could not sleops...in short, thoy destroyed tho peaco and privacy Professor Kent had previously enjoyod, and made hin a norvous wreck, . Ho had putin a niserable sunmor ard was actually lightig forward to returning to the Univer- sity in two weeks. As ho stood in’ the “doorway, of his cabin he vonderod if the natives wore not right when thoy said that . tho forest was haunted,: He folt sure that his agonists weren't human, They were. ho’ searchod for tho word, spoltergoists. Yes, that's it.sthey were poltergeists, . They had visitod him carlicr in tho morning, They had put a tack.in his chair and spilled his ink bottle. Then he heard them chattering as they vent off into the woods, They were bold because they were invisible and oftdn camo around in the daytine, Professor Kont turned and started tovards his dosk,when he saw “sonething out of the corner of his cye, There was an odd, shiny object on-‘the.table in the corner of the room, He walked ‘over and picked it up. “It was a stiall tube flat at ono ond, and with a smell rod sticking out of the other énd, There wag a strange jewel in the center of it and the whole thing seemed to be made ELPAGE 4 + of metal and plastic, which had been combined into a strange alloy, The fessor turned it over in his hands, » shrugged his,shoulders and stuck it in his pocket. Ho-returned to. his desk and forgot about At Tt was. several hours later that a strange chattering outside: the cabin door caused the scientist . to look up from his work. "It's those blasted do- nons!" He muttered. : ™Phey've come ‘back to taunt me some more." Thore was o sudden crash as . tho: woodpile “was Imocked over. 'Theri there was a long period: of. silence, ° Suddenly a squeaky voice oxclaimed,®'"I'11’ bot the Doe took it.". "Youh," said another'high' pitched voice, "I'll bet: he did. Let's make hin givo it to us." ‘ Professor Kent stounded, Ho had never heard thé’ dorions talk English before, only that unintelligible gibberish. Suddenly ‘something of someone grabbed his hair and pulled. The pfofessor cried out in pein“and ‘surpriso. "Did you-steal our key?". One, of thoy squeaky voicos demanded, “"Yeah," said tho other, "We lost our key. Did you steal it?" : "T don't know what yeu nean.", . They gave-his hair another pull, "You took it." Voice number one do- clared, "You hid it!" : a ‘The papers on the scientist's desk suddenly seuttered as if struck by an invieible troon, "Come on," the voices domanded, "Give it to us 6r wo'll toar thie joint apart." . Furniture suddenly slid across the floor, books fell om their shelves, scientific instrunents floated up in the air, The professor realized thet the thing he had found was their "key'. He voeieved a gudden inspiration, © ‘Migitty" he shourteds ? 2 The.noises and movement stopped. "You've ‘ got it?" Voico numberone skeds . - "Yos," said the professor, “and I'll give it to you if you will complyto certain requests." t , Mhat are thoy?" The professor smoothed down his hair, "First," he said, "I waht to lmow cere you come from; and what you need this "key! for?" There was a. chattering noise as the two demohs hiéld a conferénce in ‘their strange tongue, Finally one of- them said, "ie guoss it'l1 be’ ell right to tell you. If you toll anybody else’ they probably won't believe you anyway." "fe cone fron another dimension, We visit this strange place evry now and then-and amuse ourselves by playing pranks on your quoor race, The ‘key’ is a device which enables us to got back into our dimension, It's a space- warpor." whet?” . "Oh, nevor mind. You wouldn't under'stané’anyway. “Now, give it to wu: The professor started to reach into his pocket, paused ahd said, give it to you onuone condition. Aré, you gontlenen of honor?" "Are we?" the squeaky voice cried out, “why, wore’ tho’ most honorable race in ten dinonsions, | lip aren't Like you berbartans, who sign ai treatios nf peaco and thon broak thom at leisure.” Tho professor. wet his lips. “Thon,: will you;promise never to bother me n, and stay out of this forest overy summer when L'm hore?" he asked; Once again, the air ues filled with the. strange-chatterings. Finally tho squeaky voice spoke again, "0.K. We!ll do it, We,don't want to be strandod in this scrovy dimension.": . J "Gan T-rely on that?" f "Of course." Tho voice said in insulted tones,’ "Didn't I say we were the most honorable race in all the dimensions?" ‘continued on page /4 )EON . PAGE 5 THE FALLACY. OF MASS RULE by VAUGHN GREENE One of my most -minunderstdod statements’ was the one in which I somewhat vaguely mentioned: my proferonce for'a fuehror, For the lumination of yeu who wish to debate this ina. constructive manner----and none of you can, judging fron the vulgar way in which -my.lettér was received--I will outlino. my theory in greator detail. : You tell me democracy fs good: You say man rules himself, culture is rampant, and-this land is thé nadir ‘(thahk you for that word, Deeourcoys!) of nilk and honey, dnd I reply: with gritted teeth thet I havd deen and lived with children who shall grow into stioddy beings beecuse of their slum environ- nents, And Ithave seen discrimination against my follow man--Nogro, Chinese, Pod. “hy ina most ePel God cave govern yoursclf--which allows me a good snecr at you, Hearst.and Colonel” McCormic would haye a big laugh ovor thet. So would your, congressmen, advertisers, police officers, otc. Oh, 2 ahead! Spout alot of theory and. books at mo, :‘And’I'l1 spout right back what I've. scons Oh, sand there aro many things wrorg which will never bo corrected in a thousand years ujder presont conditions, Marriage is becoming a farec, our lives arc oxtended, but defoated into misery by the nervous conpotition which is Domocracy's heart. And I say this heart‘is ovil. Let ne say something clse~sif ithe, Russian boar-were to decide’ to bogii war on the U. S. tomorrow do you Imow whet vould happen? You'd bé dead. Or a ‘slayc. Bocause, by the tine Congross got around to ‘donocratically déclaring war, there would bo no United States. Thoro might bé a lot of Fadioactive ruins, but no Ancrica, 4s I spoak, the vision’ grovis, and I cannot: help but think’of othors nillions who starve annually in China; tho millions who are underncuris! tho point of dostroying a good part of thoir thinking abilities in India; millions homoless in Europe; tho nillions of death slaves starving in Sovict + mines, : But Tda0 ‘tm bocéning daftiscd tilder the spell of a poctic blaze, To put it-in sober words--sthe United States 4s a democracy in partiality only_and will-romaiin below its evolutionary pessibilitics as long as this is so. Fur- thermore, good majority. of our people aro ‘not boing treated as a democracy should trost ‘them, Last! of all in a donocrdcy, “the poo end those who said thon---do: not know what is good for thom and‘aro ‘hon thenselvos into ~dvolutiion, degoncratioh and a final destruction such as was the fate of Pan Gonmorra. Lot us, ‘thon, look at the world, Its ‘people ‘are enslaved. Its poople are starving, They have littld oducation or property or homes. Then there ~e tho . cxtornal facturs--=the “wars “that sear us covery so oftch. Then . the eapons-reny God, the weapons! "A" bombs the sizo of a man's hand that can des sroy: a block, find there are cnough "A" boms in'the U. S. today to DESTROY ‘the mtire world! ‘And:that IS the truth, Death sprays that will uipo out a city in two minutes. Biological warfare that can destroy a country's ontiro wheat ficlds in a wook, -Supersonic beams thet cin’ turn huhan bldod to water. “Infra red rays that can project a 8000 degree heat beam for ton miles.PAGE 6 ‘PEON All of what I've say before is fact.,.and what is Democracy doing about it? No a dae= thing! Now I have my little side to tcll. Tempted as I am to comment on “the many incorrect and untruthful criticisms by certain individuals I will stick strictly to the point. This is my philosophy---I call it a philosophy, but it is really a fact. Man needs a dictator, Democracy, ike’ communism, is not infallible, and the reins of g nment should be held by ccrtain individuals, Under their super= vision and rule peace would be established, the masses would have thier stan- dard of living raised and most important, the goniouses would have everything. There aro clearly two defined types of man--one is the mutant, the genius. Tho other is the advanced type of homo-spaien ‘animal which contains a‘ ruddinentary bra: The former arc the workers, the latter the artists--desigmers, con- querers, ctc, To the lattor, and since I am not afraid to admit I have shown sufficient tendencies to. be included among them and therefor speak with a co of authority---should be given everything of true artistic -value. You come along and tell me democracy means equal distribution of wealth. Bah! Syould we---because a speaker causos a crowd to choer---reward the crowd? Or 1d the reward be givon to the spoakor? : The man on the stroct is of little importante.. Thore was a million- lion of him yesterday, There will be an equal amount tomorrow. Who cares? t there was’ only one Shakespeare “or'Crane or Shelley. And when thoy pass, teu ic suffers, It loosos something irreplaccable, In short, the mass- ces are incapable of ruling themselves, have no right to do soy and i thoy continue to do so, will eventually impovorish or demolish the carth. On the other hand, those who are their given masters--those whom they live for--- mist rule for them, be responsible for their happiness and culture. This was tho original way of nature---wo had our emperors and kings, nd these would ave completely succeedcd in‘ their purpose had not rule-boon based on one's thinking process rethor than one's father, Thon, this'mongrol democracy cane but it mill pass, just as did tho Grook mongrcls ¢ h, for the flory of a Richard to sorve undor or a Napeclean to follow into conquest. Well, tho day shall come and Wordsworth knew it when he said, "The world ig too much vith us." T shall be glad to sco thet day for undor tho inspired rule. of superiors, life on carth.chall be paradise. There will be none of this donccratic stupidy and indecisiveness of mind, Rogsrding the latter, I cannot help but give one oxanplo, In San Diogo, a litrary wes built in 1900 for a population of 15,000, Today that samo library is being used by a population. of a half million, Lobbics and the civic officials are ‘ithe reason it hag not been increased. On the other hend, Paris about 70 years ago decided its strects wore old fashioned. & dict an inspired one---was in power. The streets wont through---the Rue do, 'larscilles is a mile long and soveral hundred yerds in width; it is lined on both sides and the conter with beautiful treos. No donocratic banalist there. Vast sluns and buildings were destroyed in the process, tut the streets went through. will agroe with me for the najority must But, you fen comrades who arc above the clods whall know I am right---and it is you who are C= OR0 = =0-0=0= 0" 9-90-9404 O=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0"0-0-0: On0-00 ORS NOTE::2Needless, to eay the above opinions arc of ‘those of ‘ir. Groeno, not the editor's, The readers of this journal are cordially irivited to on this subject through the medium of the dopartment,PAGE & //tave you’ ever vritten.a letter toa prozine and “told them what.“ you thought about that magazine? “Quite d few people have done so, Was the letter blished? Quite a few'letters were publishéd during the years 1947 and 1948. out of curiosity I started to check up on the number of letters published dur- ing these two years, and before I had gone very far, I became so interested that.I made a complete survey, I felt that the readers of this journal might be interested in the results, ‘so here 'tis, The report is divided into two rts; the first, 1947, in this issue and the second, 1948, in the next issue, Seven prozines published letters from readers in the year 1947, These nuded Amazing, Astounding,Femous Fantastic Hysteries, Fantastic Adventures, et, Startling, and Thriiling Wonder. eird Stories is not represented as d not publish any letters as such, and of course, Famous Fantastic Novels n't revived until 1948, so it will be in the next article. These seven zines put out a combined total of 5% different issues, monthly, bi-nonthly, na quartorly. 1 There were 782 letters published in those 58 i vork of 396 different readers, The good Lord knows how many letters were sont to the hard-pressed cditors, but it is interesting to note that they did find room for so many letters, The amount of letters published by the different magazines ran for the year from 216 down to 46, The breakdown is as follows: sues, representing the Amezin, nm Astounding, 46 Famous Fantastic Mys dove 216 Fantastic Adventures. 70 Planct...+.. 46 Startling Storics.. 160 Thrilling Wondor < 173 Any consisteht roader of the letter colunns of the various prosines will recognize at a plance tho magazincs that eater to the lotter uriters, The letter coluns of Amazing and Fantastic Advontures during 1947 swung around the Shaver and related controversies, while Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder tories concerned thenselves with a runing battle of wits between readers and Ne editors and vice-vorea. As usual, Agtounding featurod letters for and mn tho "thinking" class of readers--wherein the reader tricd to show thet he ‘ cither more than the author, or whet the author was talking about; no "I iked Joc Doakes' story, Eternal Vifo, "idcauso it was sexy" stuff for Astound- y Fr } Fe in ry opinion, contained the best letter ction for th gh quite a feu of the letters published vore mere offers of megazincs for sale or trade... And as for Elanot--tho worse of © lots hos boon, is, and probably always will bo. One of tho interosting things thst showed up on a chart propared for the survey was the average mumbor of lotters. published cach issue, Amagineram an vorago of 6 letters; Astounding.for tho year ran an average of 4, but for threo issues, didn't have a single lottcr;. Famous Fantastic liysterics ran anSE 8 f PRON rage of 25 letters, but in the October issue hit the jacktot. with 85 lett- published, st had an-average of 6; Startling and Thrilling Wonder ran round 28 each is Idon't know if this is actually true or not, but it appoared thet the poorer the quality of the issue, the more letters were pub- lished, Could bo thet is a good editorial policy---the reader will buy the nagazine regardless of tho material contained therein, if his letter is pub- lished, 4s stated heretofore, the work of 396 different readers resulted in 782 letters being printed in 1947, _ Of this, around 400 "one shotters" (that is spelled with an “o"), while the remaining 382 letters were written” by approximately 100 roaders, and their output ran from 20 to 17 letters each, hla ds further broken down aa follovst Number of readers - No, of letters printed by each 1 uv . 12 2 nn ae) 9 a 8 4 6 7 5 12 4 al 2 AL 2 It appears thgt the grukthernunbeh xfcfrejicaters" are those fans who make it.a practice of wMiting regularly to the progines, It is my opinion that the oditers Tike this practice, for the reposters more: or ‘less @rav in other read= v comments, “For, as much as you may doubt. this, editors DO like to mow how ries and articlas are received by the, reading public, Sometimes, it ap- pears that the renders are merely beating their head against, the stone wall of. circulation: inditference, but once in a vhilo, we readers got things done our wy. After all, if the readers hadn't clamored for more, the Shavor storics wuld have bon dropped much sonner than thoy were. And, in spite of your porgonal opinions concerning Shaver, you'll heve to admit that fandom hasn't had a good bone of contention to mill over for a’many yoar, as they hed with hint . 3 And hore is the pay-off----vho were thor fans who had so many lottors vrinted in 1947? Well, hore is a eummary of the top five: Lin Carter... Rick Sneary, Chad Clivor Rox EY Ward Guerry Brow The top five more or less’ followed the pattcrn of the number of letters ublished in the prozing: Carter chad a-letter’in each P wneentrated in the ‘Panous-Fentastic-Startling-Thrilling Wionder group, .as did © rost of the five, Chad Oliver was an oxception, .as he had,‘ however, two atters printed in two succossive issues of Astounding---the only one of’ the op five to tap. that publication.PEON 8 tl 2 ated PAGE 9 THE EXPERIMENT THAT TAILED dy, EDWARD W, LUDWIG The thunder had stopped. The leader of Men sucked cool, clean air into aching lungs, and slowly he opened his eyos. Tt was 1 standing on the peak of a very high mountain, excopt thore vere no winds to chill. his naked body, no rocks to bleed his feet. NHW-awill it be long?" a weak voico behind him asked. Tho Leader of Non turned, his gaze pausing briefly on the little man who had spoken, then swooning downviard and cutward into the purple distanec, Behind the two men, as if crowded on an ondloss staircase, wore the mon of Barth, Nakod and shiv- ering they were, and swaying as if toa silont rhythm, A low, maoning murmur érifted upward fron thom, like the whisper of wind through dead leaves. "Long?" ropeated the Leader of Mon, "Porhaps, After all, time means nothing to Hin," *Thoy tell mo He's © pretty tough guy," whispered the little man, Ho was a rat-facod follow with beads of porspiration glistening on his baldish head. . Tho Leader “of. Mon. nodded, "Tough---yos, but just, too. dnd somotincs justice can be crucl.” 4 -slondor blonde: girl, unashaned: of chor nakedness steppod forverd, "But, I always thought Ho had infinite moroy, Tho Leador.of Hen seoned not to hear, He kept gazing doward, "Black and white and red and yellow," ho murmured, "beggars and beasts, end men like: you and I." He stared, then, ‘at a man. several yards avay, a nan who scomed stran rt from the others. ‘The short, muscled body was round and covered w: thick, coarse brown heir. The tiny cyes, half-hidden beneath a slanting fore- head, were like red lanterns winging at cach movement that attracted their attention. Meanderthal," the Leader of Men said, half. to.hinsolf. To the right of the hairy man was a tall, motionless creature who held a crying baby in his arns.” His huge bald hoad was like a. groat white stone. 'The man of my futuro,” the Loader of Men whispered, "I wish I -aigbt have know hin," Sudéonly the rumbZorof thunder sounded again, The moaning and murmuring ceased. The vhitc, naked bodics were motionless, as if frozen by some invis~ ible gas. The Leader of Men looked skyward. He tichold only a vast white mist svel- ling and. swirling and filling the sky, \ ana at last, there vere shadows, black and shapeless, thet moved behind tho mist. dnd thon the Voice’ spoke. "I have failed," it said. It was a soft voice, and deep, and reflecting a great weariness. Silence, for: many moments. Finally the Voice spoke again. "I have failed because of my hope and my mercy, and becatise my reason was clouded by the fires cf genésis. T created you out of dust, and yet you have proven yourselves’ unworthy. even to ‘be children of that dust.” a of'Ifen stepped fornard, his body.tense, "But not all of us he protested, "Thord heve boon great men and kind men. 4nd in h of us dhore has beon sone good along with ‘tho evil!" 4 murmur’ of approvel from those behind him, The Voice laughed, "The Good with tho Evil? *Toll mo, is thore one of youy just one, ‘who’ would dare oxpos’ ‘his ‘soul. tomo? Is thcre ono of you who vould reveal all his ‘thoughts and actions. of’ a' 1ifotime oven to. your fellow mon? bPAGE IO . PEON Tho mon of Earth were silont, and the Loador of Men bowed. "lie havo ways believed you to havo infinite morcy," he said, "Ny morey! Vas that why ‘you.continucd to slaughter your brothers, Was that why you dostroyod the beauty ond truth I tried to give you with greed and passion?" "But if we hed anothor chance "“indthor chance! Must you The Voice broke off. Tho shadows in the snothor chance, but another oxperimont. Yes, The Voice held a grent:porce now, Tt vas tho weariness and sadness wore gonc. “Thunder boomed, Huge tongues of flame stabbed outward’ from the swept over the Mon of Earth, There wore sercamings.and fallings and tw and thon tho flames died and there was blackness and silence. Later, below the mist, vias a vorlé--a fiory white sun, ‘oncircled by nino snallor vorlds. yy wore sphores of hollish fire and stean, The Voice ighod and said to itsolf, "I suc now thet six days was not enough, This tino work slowly, This time T shall not fail me 0-0H080e0- 0-080) 2 0eO=O=ti-O=0=0=0~0-0: ORK 0H 0=0ROROm g OST 6th ey ; + Do opoT ep WHY WE LOST THE BATTLE OF TEL-AMEN BY DONN: BRAZIER Tt has never been fully understood why the crack -sdivision, cne of the vost over thore in tho Second World War, defeated in the strategic and docisive battlo at Tol-imon, Many obscrvors point out that the Germans cn- ployed anystorious, nev, and odorless gas to turn the tide, 4s an actual perticipant in thet battle tt is my duty to cloar up this grave military prob- lom with the true facts of the caso. Tho gas was used, ycs, but it was nothing now; it was phosyene. It came suddenly, on a gontlo broezo, its now mom hay frapranco startling fresh in tho desert nir. Tt came whon we: wore least proparcd, Fortunately for me T had boon a ppor roador when a froshman in college, and the required course in vding which I labored through at first, and thon sailed through, was instru- montal in saving my lifo. How could my trained ability to rond savo my life, you ask? Tt was bo weasc, perhaps, I wns the fastest rondor in the outfit; and, being a fast ador, my life vas spared. On tho morning of that fata’ the low clouds ovorh: Tt we an idenl think back upon it; i wag not too hot, and clouds, vhich vore a rarity, indiented high humidity, Tho wind wns contlo, and blow from tho onomy toward our Lino one of us theught about thet, howover, with Stukns diving down at us from the sky. Yo flopped on tho sand, somo. of us making running dives toward cactus and rocds with which wo could blond cur’ shadows, I scooped out a small in tho send as a protection against the machine gun slugs which cone. Hearing no rat-tat-tat of machine guns or tho sh¥ill wi looked up nt the Stulins, a foolish thing to do, really, for a white faco nincs in the sun like a blazing target for tho gunnor to aim at. What I. saw cught wrinkles to ny forchad. Out of the sky, fluttored thousands of paper white objects. Leisurcly thoy twietod and banked Like lazy awallows, but always noarer t> tho ground at avery moment. Yhilo wo watchod, forthe whole outfit had its collective face turned skyunrd now, the Stukas circled back to their own lines and disappodrod in the haze, on0n0-0 dey, soveral Gorman Stukas dived dom from for a ttack, now thet IPEON a PAGE |! Oh, it was all beautifully timed! The Gormans wore clever, and displayod an insight into our psychology tht, was’ phonomenal, You will realize just how shrewd and how sharp ‘tho onomy was when:you rerch the conclusion of my state- nont of the true facts in the defcat of Tol-Amon, Seoing tho Stulas fly avay I jumped up and shouted at the sergeant, "What Kind of a trick is this?" "Propaganda," ho replied superiorly. "It will be a piece of paper or a booklet with a message to us about how nico it would be to surrender, Good food, plenty of water, cigarcttcs, and all that kind of stuff." Thon he turned away, looking skyward, and I could see his faco vas as puzzled as mind. Now the fluttering. shects wore striking the ground, and wo wore dashing around like made, picking thom up, We were scrambling in tho sand whon tho ioutonant ordored us to got back to our stations and drop the papors we hnd picked up. Tam vory much afraid that all of us sccroted at loast one of the panph- lots in our uniform; I had elippod one into the top of my shoe, Back at my gm, Isat on tho sand, slipped the pamphlet out of my shoe, and road the title, Tt was in English, end said: THB WORLD'S GRELTEST SCIENCE FICTION STORY, This was-lottcred in bold black prnt, and before I know it I had suno- cumbed to the promisc of tho title and had started to read. Now you begin to understand, don't you, ‘why my training in rapid roading saved ny life? "Not oxactly," you say; woll, I thon shall cxplain a little further. . After I had finished it, I walked swiftly to the latrino dug in the sand and threw up ny dinners fifter I had washed and had walked back to my gun, I noticed others running forthe ditch, Some never got there; it was that bad. “Then the breoze brought tho now mown hay fragranco across the sand,"Gas!" I yolled, and dovo into my mick, Those other poor devils just getting rid of thoir dinnors..... . "You vant-to sce ond of thio pamphlets?" T hand it over to you keoping nose turned away, You road the bold black typo on the cover; thon you turn the page, read, and road the footenote at the finish, It says: . "Space. Pirates on‘tho Golden Asteroid" .. by Ludowitz first. appeared in the SPACE TALES, end was later reprinted in 4MLZING STORIES." You finish reading this. A glaze comes over your cyes, Then, "Say,not that way, it's tho sccond door on the loft#": I shout at you, and there you g? with your hand to your mouth. "Didn't you like the greatest scicnce fiction story in tho world? Woll, neither did vie; thoso damably clover Germans!" 0=020=940=0-070- 040" 0=O-0~OR0=0=9H0= 0-08 ORO 0-0-6 -on0~ 9. IF THIS IS A SAMPLE COPY OF PEON, WHY NOT SEND IN YOUR SUBSCRIPTION KOK! 20. 0 -0=020-0=040-0-0=0-0-0= 9-04 020=0-0=0= 9-0-0 0=9-0=0-0-8REBIRTH T. C. McCleary Bart + 650 BAR THE DOOR Hitchcock Dell +35 THE DUNWICH HORROR Lovecraft Bart House 3-50 DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE Merritt Avon 35 OU? OF. THIS WORLD Past Penguin +40 FIRST MEN IN THE MOON Yells Dell +50 ¢ ————————————— MAGA Z | NES ASTOUNDING UNKNOWN WORLDS February 1947 +30 August 1943 +50 Hovenber 1938 240 September 1930 +50 December 1938 15 June 1943 +50 May 1938 +20 April 1941 +50 April (no cover) 1939 10 December 1940 250 October 1941 250 November 140. . + 50 March 1942, +40 ' October 1940 250 April 1943 +40 February 1941 +50 Suly 1942 +40 June 1939 -30 April 1942 +49 October 1943 +50 September 1943 40 August (Fair) 1940 15 October 1943 +40 October 1941 225 Decenber 194d, 235 February 1942 +30 February 1940 230 April 1942 230 March 1945 3A5 June (no cover) 1942 +10 Spril 1945 Ad Decenber 1946 se FANTASTIC NOVELS June 1946 +30, June 1945 +35 September 1940 5 October 1946 235 Yovenber 1940 15 January 1946 35 January +++ 1942 +50 February 1946 335 TON WG 3 hak Tare “ty STONISHING STORIES February 1945 125 February. 1943 +30 September 1946 35 October 1922 235 Everything in general good condition, unless otherwise stated above, The prices quoted above include postage and insurance, Please mike alter» nate choices, if possible, © Remit by cash, check, or money order, No stamps please. WILLIAM JAMES P.0.Box 1h Big Bay, MichiganSecrenental Cakes; An Anthropological Study of Religious Foods. By Anton Zarwcbky, Poland, 1800, Translated by Sir Herbert Young, F.R.A.C,, Lone don, 1932, . Published. by the Royal Academy Press, London}. folio of 470 pages, illustrated-bound in pig skin; Limited to 100 copies, Priced at ten pounds, Reviewed by David H, Keller, Anthropology isa definite and basic part of ture ‘science and has en used by the writers of ‘science-fiction, As this monu- mental study ‘ill be available to only a few in America it seems advis- able to’ review it, Perhaps suffic- tontinterest ‘may thus be aroused to induce ‘some publisher in ‘the United States to issue an edition at a price that will enable the average science- fiction reader to add it, to his 1ib- rary. ‘The format is excellant; an ele- ‘ phant folio, printed on Bachelor-hand made paper,, bound in pig skin... Type is large primer and chapter hoadings illuminated in gold. The illustret- ions are from old books, and show an intensive research, Twenty pages are devoted to the list of hundreds of referenc’ books. Zarwesky begins his study in pri- mitive ages, Man needed and longed for God. Driven hy necessity he made these in odd shapes and finally en- volved the thought that Gods wore shaped like men and therefore had de- sires, longings and noeds of men.. If men covld create Gods, then the Gods must have created men, Though oceas- ionally a God was horn of a virgin or sprang full grew from a parental brain, tho moet natural supposition vas that now Gods camo from tho phy- sical union of male and female Gods. PAGE 13 In the citics, images of Gods stood, but these resided in Temples and were too large. for the intimate worship of the poor, Therofore smal- ler Gods were made of chospor mater- ial, so that evorynan, no matter how poor, could own ono, If ho could not Fossess an entire God, he could have tho ropresentation, of a part. There were a number of Gods, but they all, great and small, possessed the parts Frocreative, These were the most im- portant parts for all things, — summer and harvest, came to an end and dicd, and could only be resurrected by the continued . activity of the Gods. Through their activity other sunners and harvests came, fruit of His loin and Her wonb. For God was a duality, malo and fomale and certain parts of their body were sacred because with- out thom there could be no life. On the Ganges, mon made these parts of clay and, wore thom on a string tied around. the neck. A path wag worn through the solid rock of China by milliong of men walking to vorship a mystic .stroan pouring life from a peculier rock formation. Egy- ptfan, women wore betwoen their breast poridants shaped like huge moths, the ‘body representing the God. Into the deép caves of Grocco slaves . were flung into the body of the Goddess. Votives, sclf mutilated and blecding, fronzied with desire to ploase the Great Mothor, tossed phallic offer- ings into the depths, thus becomming sterile voluptuaries at Her altar. Inter, those physical offorings wore replaced by cakes, baked in the forn of tho Gods. Sone wore thrown into the caves, gaping darkly, sym= bolic of the constant fominine hunger and other cakes were oaton by women to derive fertility from tho God through the touch of man, The Ving, vicar of God, was yearly killed and ceten; he was later replaced by a slave; king for a day, and still lat- er by the scapegoat, killed without the shedding of blood and partaken by all so that the sins of the tribe could be forgiven through the partak-PAGE 14 ‘ng of tho Devine‘ nature. The lamb oa symbol; fron*it uss onvolved the sacrement, the broad and water, emblems of the flosh and blood of the very God., : The, author then. claborates on the relation between food and relig- , ion,..To oat of the God was to become possessed of his Divinity. From this cucharist came all His power, His nost wonderful attribute was’ the abi- lity to procreated, be renewed by eating His acrehtypes the wheat, bennana, oysters, aspara- gus, the green bamboo shoot and torn tread baked into certain shapos. Such foods were ospecially to be eaten at certain soasons, thon all onjoyed the festivals variously called fertility roriode,. Saturnalia or love feasts. Atter eating and drinking His body, el men and wore permitted to partake of each other, for, | during ilicse days, all covld imitate tho conduct of Gods without sinning. Ifa man became drunk, he could successfully imitate God; wine from Mount Olympus brought human Joves' closer to human dunos. The uered Cow in Egypt, fed 2fernahtdd nigh, bellowed more appealing to the eacred snow white bull, In the fos- tive processions, cytophores carried paskets of reads filled with round cakes, each with a contral opening. Then came the High Priestess carrying between her breasts, a golden vase in which . reposed the lost. fragmentiof Osiris, Nebdphites marched bearing trays ladened with wheat loaves, long and: small cnough to fit into the eke ? the Gytophores. This vas tho Holy Mystery, Food n tho shape of Gods. In voning “HE KEY (continuod from.page 4) more ‘This -posorr could” snone PEON flesh and blood was substituted for the cakes. The Gods vicariously accepted the offering of delicate bodics. In Babylon, Venus assumedd flesh end accepted the caresses of the men of Asia, , for a brief poriod became Gods because they par- took ‘6f ‘the bodies of Goddesses. Zaviesky continues this study by showing how this food-religion dual- om has come down through the ages. The old Gods were no longer ‘wor-- shippdd, --but) “definite: vvelues ‘con tinued to be assigned to various food in réletion to seasons and religious “@erenonics, long after their, original meaning was forgotton.' “Tho “doughnut, as still caten’ at Shrovetide, but vemembered its symbolism, A long voll was simply a loaf of bread; doughnuts becand cakes sold for fif- teen conts a dozen. No one wondered why they had. a contral hole, Love feasts continued, but their original meaning was placed, dust covered in the dark closets of tho past. This is dofinitely no book for the average reader. The translator has made no effort to mako"it casy roeding and a definite cultural edu- 4s necessary to understand it. uild be creatly condensed but, h of the charn vould be lost by such simplification. It is a scrious study by a scholar and will be onjoy- ed by. the few who can obtain a copy. If Joe .Baker of Chicago; Ackcrman of Los Angeles; or Moskowitz of Newark heve copies it is reasoneble to be- lieve thet they would bo willing to loan them, though it is doubtful if they would sell then.’ Tho copics in America are very . definitely colle Something snatched’ the’ "key" out of his hand and it apparently floated in the air, essor had to shield his silent. Professor Kent at he loved so well, and he managed to accomplish a great deal. Tho rod in the end of it wriggled and the jewel, started to glo hole thing glittored with a strange radiance. eyes. ! When he locked again the room was. ompty ond The demons andthe "key! were gone. : spent the ldst two ' weeks of his vacation in the solitude The It grew brighter and the pro- The extra- ‘mensional creatures did not appear again that year nor any yoar after that. for, even if they were demons, they were honorable,a AGES REBUNPAGE 168 7 as cn PB ON edd Py Qgene Aref iNEMBERS Since the publication of the bar-graph of the NFFF membors (appearing in PEON #3) aroused so much interest, we have onee again taken the list of nembers and arranged thon, this time on a graph-o-map, ‘The explanation of the map on the opposite page is given below. Special attention is called to the localities not appearing on the map, but having the following number of members: Washington, D. C., 6; Canada, 10; England, 10; Africa, 1; Alaska, 1; and Australia, 1. It is also interesting to note that only seven states aro not represented on the map with any members, as compared with cight last tine. Figures for this mp were obtained from the December issue of tho National Fantasy Fan magazine. O No nenbers =) 6 - 10 nombers 5 nonbors ® 16 = 20 nenbers Q over 20 nenbers 2 nonbers SY 11 - 15 membersPAGE 17PAGE 18 PEON LAMENT FOR A LOST Love A COMODE CDE— She was so beautiful, Her hair, an auturn jungle In which strange’ pagsions provled... I ran my fingers thru her hair And the rat came loose and fell Revealing thé bald crown. She was so beautiful “Her eyelids beaded curtains Hiding doorways to lost dreams... I kissed her eyelids And they fluttered - Fluttered down to the floor. She was so beautiful Her cheeks roseate petals Of desire's perfumed flower... I stroked her cheeks And lo, the powder streaked As rouge my fingers incarnadined. She was so beautiful Her body: moulded in the matrix That shapes all flesh for love... I earessed her body As padding fell awry Beneath the girdle and confining stays She was so beautiful Despite the flaws her lips Were true, natural, her om... So I kisses her lips And she spit her false teeth out into my mouth, —— BY ROBERT BLOCH—— (Reprinted, by permission, from CHANTICLEER, Number 5}©EON | PAGEI9 James Hogg's “Confessions of a Justified Sinner" burst upon me without varning. James Sandoe (mystery reviewer for the Chicego Sun-Times and one of he foremost living scholars of the detective story) lent it to me with no es- pecial coment; I hogan reading it, expecting nothing in perticuler; end then was lost for the rest of the night in one of the most exciting literary dis- voverios thet heve ever come my way. James Hoge (1770-1835), known es “The Bttri¢k Shepherd," was a curious pecimon of the solf-made writer. & shepherd (or, to give the fact more im- ct to American reedors, a sheepherder) without formal educetion, he somohow cquired merked literary skills; published many volumes of verse, fiction end chnical treetises on sheep raising, edited magazinos (on one of which he served not only as editor but as the entire staff of contributors), and becamé ding figure in Scottish sociel end literéry life--s friend of Sir Walter ceott, and a sort of licensed buffoon, who brought his obstinetoly preserved ad Scots disloct and his certhy whicky-tippling crudity into the fincst vewing-roons of Edinburghs In his own timo, he wes esteemed almost solely as a poct (fantasy enthus~ may rocell the lovely "Kilmeny," en excerpt from his most noted long 2 "The Queen's Wake," reprinted in August Derleth's “Dark of the loon"), so h so thet his contomporery Robert Perse Gillios wrote in his memoirs thet “nevor in his life could write a peze in prose thet was fit to be road." But he aid produce m ny supernoturel short stories, partly besod on Scot- ish folklore; and in 1824, he published "The Private Memoirs and Confessions fs Justified Sinner. Thore are two 1824 editions, one enonymovs, and ‘one sublished as “by Robert “rincham Colwan," tho namo of the protegonist;sonly later wes the novol admitted into Hogg's collected works (though, cs a de- Shepherd eppears es e@ minor cherecter in tho The book eroused no notice in its tinc. Tt hes been reprinted ct lenst three times, most rceently by the Crossct Press (London, 1947) with a foreword vy Andre Gide. Its ono appocrence ja thi mtry wes ine vory small odition cy Boni in 1925, And no one (as Gido discovered in his first rapturo of dis- covery) hes ever honrd of it. The plot is simple: 4 priggish young Scot, brought up by e dourly doc- © minister, becomes so imbued with the oxtremes of Celvinish thet ho ches the terrible entinomion belicf thet the soul of a men predestined to saved cannot be affected by the most hidcous oxtremos of crime which his commit. Ho fells in with e mysterious friond, who strongthens his jefs and encoureges him to test thom in practise. The fricnd, of course, i neernstes; ho lords the youth on to the ultimate offonse of fret- things meke tho novel extraordinary. One is its skillful snd sub- sontetion of Saten in the flesh, es plausibly and fully roalizod a ortreit of Iys Dark Majesty es fiction has cvor presented to us.PE ON quo. Tho story is PAGE 20 Another is tho pute virtuosity of tho narretive tec! st prosonted in its extarmels by "tho oditor" who scts down tho cbscrvablo outer fects of o curious eriminel cose with ¢ detailed fectuality compereblo ly to Defoe. Thoa, with Wringhem's om "Confessions," wo roread the same story, sceing it this timo from tho tuside with oll-its supornetural rovelat- fons and psychological implicetions. Tho ‘third fcetor,” and most stertling to the Wlond of the supcrnaturel Gnd psychological. g employes the supornetural purely as en ox cal symptoms; so thet tho narrative of Wringh v 42ka Honrfsdepos': Abedunteof thot igovotncss 's*oxdortekes® with’ the Ghost of er Quint) mav be viowed either as a supernetural thriller or es a erso h in synbolic torms, of the working of Wringhem's own shettered mind. Thet this novel should heve gone unnoticed at a time when the horror syel still moent M. G. Lewis! "The Monk" is not surprising. Thet it should so unknown ond in this country inncecssiblé todey is less understandeblc. re, of tll tho pest classics of terror, is perhups tho oldost book which do- ag imedinte reissuing for the terrificd plonsure of the modern cnthusicet. +) 29 29=0202929-0~0-0-0~0=0~0=0=0-0 00-0 =0=0-0=9==I~=D=O=O=O=O=OAD=O==O=D=O™ THE S#cCRIFICE 1 “by Jack Cordes From tho derkness of outer space Ho comos, Seoking those who ere boginning to ecll. Onwerd Ho rushes to His proy--tho carth, Unsoon by humen eyes in His tremondous fell. His sleves arc gethored in the fog and mist, ind tho sterifien writhes ond begins to moan; For ho it tho bese of the greet black stone, Thon e foulncss pervedes the ghost-riddon night ing tho vorshippors mow thet Ho is near. He crouchos in the fog etop His elter, ind His victim knows the ultimete in fear. Slowly He ercops upon his torror-riddon proy. Suddonly @ pounce.end Ho bogins His grisly foost While Hie slevos tremble end drool. Dofying 211 good, Ho crouches-ra thing nother mon nor boast!!PEON a PAGE ZT A SUGGESTION from JACK RIGGS "Scienco-fiction, fens cre the ev! gerdo of the scionti Y sor sqme such siniler stetemonts have been uttorad by fens ‘in the pest end probeb- lr will in tho future.’ The oughors of those statements heve tindoubtedly +ong- > boot mumrous cxticlos | in 1 from the’ sincorio to fecotious, | Thoro he th fon mingezinos, covidenming this es a fatuous ides: for one rosson of caothor by vir cuthors. Tho purpdsd of this article is sotto deery this, but to cx- sg wondow thet there ere not more jens doin something chout to colldge and/or hundreds vtheb’ hever ig PMold of 2+ liiny former -exid ill "active" fans heve studicd end will etudy physics, chemistry,psychology, Meny science fiction fans heve cientific ondervor, ‘but whet of ito som eial seionce end others; Reve or wikl me hoscn subject’ their sofossion, c 3 2 it isn't possiblo for cvoryone to go to # university; not ell heve money, or thé rontal-oquipmont, or even intorest, among othcr rossons. To digross a littloj what is your {dea of tho "millenium? stive imegos do these vory words bring:up? How’ do these “black marks on per" reret with you? Perheps with rumors of wer boing romerkod ebout in tho pers and on the re. 1d GSvernmont with power. to' stop any wer eppocls y you. How ebout passoagor-cerrying rockets Berth evory other dey rv the oon, liars, Vets,’ Moreury, oteotera; you like to go along? 1d you like to liye in.the midst of soering buildings with fluttoring holi- opters a11 ebout liko flocks of birds in a forest? Or do, you picture @ ono- wily home in a docontrelized erca with superhighways:;for rapid trensit to 1 from vork, amusement, shopping and other centers? You" meme: it. % sub Sut. how is ell this to come ebout? Whet ero you doing ‘to help your ideal slong; end do you avon know how or where to start? The world HES. & couple of sillion inhebitents, tho United Stetos hes cround 140 iaillion’ populetion at he lest cstinete by tho U. S. Burcau of Consus. You and I tre governed by poople whe were bor, went to sehool, playod gemes, end maybo got drunl:, meybo trried; in short, other people. Herry 3. Truman, crstwhilo Army Captein, ex- eberdesher, who reeontly called someone’ a "3.0 evon es you end I nights fhy not be one of those people and Holp shopo.the fyture? Evan a city council en, eldornen,,...anything; thore are weys. Join ‘the Young Democrats, the In= opondent Progressive Perty, the Republican Perty, the Socialists, tho Vere= rians. : Srhaps you don't keye the. inclinction to’ be a door-knocker, a voter= gistrer, © politicien. . Look eround thon,‘ nnd sbo Gust whet it ie thet is ‘ding beck tho “rillenium." Could it be people tho erguo, fight, kill, and relly bohtve like anirals over alstractions? Phentoms of tho mind? Somo- 's ides of god, government, unichs, bosses, railroads, dorocracy, -capital- s truth, justice, roli, n, hete, love, races, money, netionclism, end all eso othor symbols thet no one yot has actually totiched with’ his fingers» ‘LL wegor thet ovoryono who reeds this sohds mo his definition o! ech vd, thoy would ell differ from ech of 0 is right, then? : You’ might A Sey. ."I cgi touch monoy"; of course you can touch those printed pisces of y end round bite of metal ve coll money.’ Vonoy-is en-ebstraetion though;AGE 22 PEON "ld you buy a ¥: froma ‘TMboten vith a au. ‘s. thousand dollar bs if he ver saw one before or didn't Imow what the paper was a symbol of? At least then; or so it scems to. mo, you should be interested in a scien- tific approach to life and the innumerable daily. problems it offérs. Who to vote for on election day; howto évaluate the "race problem"; how to evaluate yourself and your place in society, The list is for practical purposes; inex- haustible; £111 in with your own personal and particular problems, fo learn of one suggested scientific appr or nothodology, to prob- lems of thie sort, try the theories under the term "General Sonantics" non-~ Aristotelian systems, I suggest "Tyranny of Words" by Stuart Chase, "Language in Action" by'S. I. Hayakavay "People in Quandarics" by Wendoil Johnson, "Science and Sanity" by Alfred Korzybski, Thene are many other books oxplain- ing and elaborating this (to me) fascinating subject; these should do to start though. If you read the above books, and do not utilize the suggested techniques, ati least you “will be come aware of issues you probably never fully realized; at all; before. To me, those books opencd up a whole new world; the world sround me; a world I'd been sceing with prejudice and opinion; a world I took Shey. waa NOTES continued from '@ fob wo should, we'll comment on your letters, but other than that, "Mect- ing o1 Minds" is tho road'ers department, alone, As for "Peon Notes" wo'vo tried to bring you bohind-the-seenes affairs, goncral comnonts, ctc, That has on the arrangonont Herotofore, and unless you commlain too much.wo willikeop on doing just that? SUPPORT THE GINVENTION Soveral fanzinos worthy of mon= tioning in this column havo arrived in our mailtox of Into, The second issuc of SCIENTIFANTASY boars out tho promiso madé by the editors in the first issue, Tuolve artists (inelud- ing the editors)" are reprosonted on tho pages of that fanzine, along with prose selections by Appolman, Carson, Evans, Koostnor, ekorman, Keller, and others, Al] in all, an oxcollont fanging, nocding your subscriptions, ° Published quarterly, the price is 75¢ por yoar now, Yrite Bill Kroll, 1031 \ort 18th St., Des Moinos, Towa. In the courso of a month's time, 1o've recoived three fanzines from the Los Angeles arca---all doaling ‘th portions of that well-known or- nization, the Los dngoles Fantasy ocicty, First of all, SHANGRI-LA, the official organ (#11), was an ox- collont mimcographed issuo--ovon mar- gins, no_offset, as you will ‘find in ~-continued on page 31-- “lave you taught that stupid dog.of yours cany tricks yat?™PEON Paz MEETING OF MINDS 4s 4 department written by and for YOU, the readers of PEON. Tf, you want to. blow’ off steam ot the editor ér another fan--then, this is just the place ‘to do that! of the best letter appearing in each of the writers and not nece mon 0-041 ston © pa k war (notice, no caps) is nearly upon us, thet you all know. However, this tine, WE, us right hore in our town, USA, will FEEL tho war diroct- ly. Not by rationi car po ar bond out gaping hole in the block that to be over on the noxt street, rigid Dlackouts because if any lights show bombs fall, Something like that. You seo, this won't be any clerice fiction story where'a sciet ist, not especially a super scient- st, will come up vith something to stop it all, Idke in’ George 0, Smith's . stories in ASF, ‘or in-Ted Sturgeon's Unite quer, Or in Murray Lienster's - Wight-Beforo The End of the " mould be o1 Now the fact that-Russia MUST have atomic vespons is obvious to us all who have no wool in front of our eyes, Russia wouldn't be putt- ing up a cock-sure front in Berlin if she didn't. She is» challenging cur country and the United Nations (an utter farce) and she vodldn't be trying to star ‘var without atomic yeapons, Tt is damn voll true that things got hot for’ the U.S., vetd use atom-bonbs, ia Inows it, Therefore, she must have-them AND others, like the durt, all ready and waiting. sone utter stroke of Provi- maybe the next wor won't bo But chances are ngainst it. ve we, stfen nostly, been lulled into a "false sense of security" by reading ASF yarns? Thoy usually do turn out wcll for us imho end, Al- though we've read plonty that, don't Yo holds ‘the letters and we'll print them, One ssue as jude course the opinions oxpressed in the letters appear’ arily those of tho editors 0-0" 0=0~G-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-Or0=0=0-0 pot barred, nothing excepted; you wiite dollar cash will be paid to the w ed b; Om0=0=0-0-0-0-0-0- at happened af~ country was shed up... idn't fight in’ thelast Ives too young and had it I probably am unfit-to fight next, although I von't heve it soft nxt time. Why an T squavk ing? Flonty of you reading this have fought before, and mov much, much more than I do about it all. So, trie to fan-type, I am writing away for almost no reason at all, But, Task you, just how is it ing to end? find 4t will one or another" n 5 years.’ Less perhaps, everytine T read in the poor, "Russia Won't Have Atom Seeret For Ton Years". ,"We have cight yar to prepare",,.cte. Who aro’ ‘they fodling? Thonselvos? WE don't knox ‘8 going. on in FBI, G-2, cte., m from Russia, So they say, ‘and they'd bo likely to But, at tho same timo, this country'is one big sight-cooing tour for:a11 to see and oxplor: Not to montion the’ papers blabbing out cvorything thoy discover. Freedom coch is fine, but it ean go too the Freedom of the press. For bo it from me to deery my cherished ‘Bill of Rights and every- thing for which'this country. is fam ous or infamous.,.but I can't help noticing, So, sit dom and think of our chanecs, Based on your s-f roading, om oxperience ard common senso, If docs conc, it's coming right to our front door and if atom. war,.no noed to connont further, any others have asked in ing today, mon nét just a ferPage 26 insignificant stfan like me, what's the use of it all? It'll get us no cnatter what.ve do! Anyone what to join "Pessinists and Defeatists, Inc?" Our motto "Let's all Go. Owt and Conmit Sui cide!" EVAN H. APPELMAN PEON, Received the February after tearing ny hair out by the chunks for to months over its tard- iness. If I wasn't bald to begin with, TI sure an now, The cover was nediocre, but the type of. paper give it special emphasis. Keep using that type for the cover, it gives your 'zine class, But let us leave ‘the hero-heroine-BEM type pictures to Planet and Amnazing--Fantastic. Let PEON rise above such stuff! Hah! I knew you couldn't keep it going monthly, "But you say that “subscriptions will advance secord- “ingly." “ow, I started subscribing when the zine was coming out bi- nonthly, and the rates were a quart- er a year; thén, you started to come out monthly, .and the rates remained a quarter a year, Now, you change back to bi-monthly, but your rates are still a quarter a year, Pray tell what. do you consider the corr- ect nunber of issues to a year? Oh? So "Spacewarp™ hasn't folded, eh? It's still with us, Well, if so, ‘will someone be kind enough:to tell me. exactly where is 44? I!ve dim memories of subserib- ing sonetine bask, but haven't seen the darned thing for let's see, a good three months., If "Spacewarp" isn't. dead, it's mare doing a fiée job of playing possum, Now to the contents of the Feb- ruary. issue,’ "Fantasy Collecting" was good, as was the rest of the “series, "Fantasy on Record". wes well done, but I don't know quite what to make..of "Library Notes," I an thinking that either that des- cription, or my thinking mechanism was off, WAS THAT A BOOK, YET?7? I would enjoy being onlighted on the subject. Your U-N-A-E-C article w: if you don't mind my saying so, rat- her pointless, The information giv- en was well known by all, and you failed to draw any concitsions of your own-except thet’ which wis self- evident. To my surprise, I:find’thet my vote for the best letter in "Meeting of Minds" goes again to Len Moffatt. I didn't even notice his name until I finished the letter. I seldom read the names, unless they catch me as someone I know, But Len strikes me as the type of person I would like to know much better than I do nov. A little significant item that shows that Vaughn Greene vas not by any means unbiased. He calls for tho expulsion of the anti-Sheverites - but not the Shaverites. Many other fen would do exactly the opposite. However, if we are going to be thor- ough, we should expell both of then, shouldn't we, Vaughn? Art Rapp brought out my only objection to "The Red Barrell" in PEON no. 4, an objection which I forgot to mention in my last letter. The ending just doesn't match the boginning. Another point that I came acros recently is that as much as five per cent of the total population of the United States ‘is estimated to be honosowmal. Quite a big minority, don't you think? “Incidentely, homo- sexuality is not criminal, not in- moral, but an inherited factor like blue eyes or brown hair, It might, not bo abnormal, evon, . considering thet normalcy is an extremely rolat- ive tern. Jim Harmon: ‘Tho calling of people nancs is probably the lovest possible form of argunent,. Becauso a person, in “this case, Vaughn Greene, holds views contrary to your own, he-is an imbecile, Tot cxactly acgurate logic. It is usually held that, if a person has no better ar- guments at his disposal than the namccalling of his opponent, ho should stay out of a discussion,PEON I could make some unfavorable connents on tho state of Jim's nind on the basis of his letter, but I will rest contont with saying that he scene to have an oxtrenely unor- thodox sense of humor, Incidentally, Jin, a historical novel, a good one, thet is, is one hardest typos of books to Botwoon the keeping of the historical events straight, and the weaving in of a goca plot, you can be sure thet a person who writes an acclaincd historical novel has whet it takes to make a good vriter. RICK SNEARY ITOR'S NOTE: :This lotter was orig- inally scheduled for appearance in the last issue of PEON, Hovevor du ot 4t boing misplacod at home, ve vere unable to print it in the scho- dulod iss Inasmuch as Rick "in- spired" the special editoral in no.3 ve felt that his remarks should be published, even though belated. A word or two on #4.,.I like tho "Fantasy on Record" sorics vory much and hope it will bocome a permonent part of the mag, Whore as I think you could do with out some of the vhen you get somo i Not fiction, things being a navy or ox-navy man I to have mis somot: Island Fantasy. To return fo editoral in #3...,Not that it maters much, but you niss quoted/interped ny idea, I did not suggest throwing Paul Cox out of tho NFFF, What I said wns, somo one was trying to get him ronovod. — It wont as far as a demand of Prosidont Tarr to kick Cox out. Tarr wrote cach Director, ask- ing thom to voto ofixtt, but orgéiug thom to give Cox a vote of confa- denco, Not that vo agreod vith hin, but his right to oxpross hinsolf.Tho results of this vote wore nevor given as the porson domanding his ronoveal withdrow tho domand, ond I understand now carrying on a correspondence with Cox, But th a Page.27 In the sano vane lot us leap to and on one Vaughn Groene. Frankly, T neaver read a such a utterly- I wont say stupid, but at least le of understanding. Whilo 1t is quito possable, though reathor hard to kick some one out of a club such as the NFFF, or FAPA, or any othor group, the thought of kicking anyone out of fandon is complestly silly. How would you go ebout it? Tho only vey is a comploat boycot. And that is possable only all fans, or at least 99% arc against the person boycotted, A thing like thethas happened only once in fan history Not only that look at the list- Ackerman, Cox, Honoscxuals,athoists, conmunists, radicals, .tho only ansur I can seo is to let Mr. Groon got up before every one and say 'You aro no longer fans.! For as far as I havo seon in four yonrs, nosrly every fan falls into one group or another. (I have not scen to ny knowledgo any homos or Communists, but if you aro one or not doosn't kcop poople fron calling you that.) Tho only trouble is that fandom would have to do avay with Greene as ho is a bigot. And look at it this way, whet would happen, if fandom tryed throv- ing, Ackerman say, out? "You would split fandom dow the middle in tho nost beautiful feud you over saw. Acky is rospected and liked by just too many opople, Alot of whom would erthcr soe him stay in, or go out with hin fighting, The sano applios to nonrly everyonc else in leser degrees, Vonnter who you mon- tion, he has pooplo, though mayb not agrecing with him, will fight for him, Me for cxamplo. 1'11 argue with Cox ti11 I'm green in the face, but bast anyono with a million words that trys to get him kicked out of anything. I say that both as alone fan and as Chairman of tho NEFF Board of Diroctors and Presi- dont. of FAPA, Thoro is of courso timos whon it is bost for a group to rid itself of a undesirable monbor. But, I do not belicvo io havo the right to do so moarly becruse of a porgon's personal ideas and action:Page: 28 Yhen over anyone in tho’ past has tryed it, it has alvay mont troublo, Tho" only time I belicve fandon or fans havd: 4 justafiable right to try and trhow out another fan is whon that ‘person has done somothing to hurt fandom, Dogler did tht, by trying to flinflam both fans and the pros. into thinking fans were roally Slan, Van Houten was almost booted vhon it was thought thet he had miss roprosented hincelf to Ziff-Davis and cost tho Facifico a #100 boost-~ er add, (He wrote Z-D, as if he werd speaking for fandom, ‘The nator’ wag dropped though, as too many fon, on postin tho lettor, agreed with it. Ido fully agreo though with V.G. thet Zandon is a loosely held together group, that don't care much for the fanish future, Noro dothcy work ‘oll together, Tho roason is all fans aré indavigulosts, and do not thinl: alike, If thoy did there would be no fandon, As I for one would not be vory intorested in it. In closing lot mo say ono. thing nore. What is the mattor with diff- cront ideas, Y.G.? Are our minds so uonk that thoy can be swayed by the words of others? Go read the Little quote at tho begining of "Sub Standard Sardines " Might not this talk o erance make us try to follow our licf of tole vere fully? Slab dab noss I russ say. .onl time sport (sceningly not cnough, keeps mo from throwing if avay, so § st you odit it, ‘cut it, and thon stick it in a clectrig fan! SOUTH GATE IN 58! the Editor of PEON has boen sitting on his crow's nest with maybo a bottle of Old Crow anxiously awaiting my usual crudite conments on the currotit iseuc (you will note with pleasure, I refrain fron mentioning tho poop deck), I Giscover, upon receipt of. Isguc #7, that I have neglected to dissortate PEON ue #5 and 6---and I had such ant series of thoughts lined up in comment, upon Issue 5 and its supor Galaxy of minds. However, it is too late now, so I must perforeé turn to #7 and I may sey that your idea of going bi-mon- thly is:voll chosen, True, ong on- joys receiving the Thing every month but wo may also realize that this new idea will give the hard working editor nore time to spond on makcup, contents and such like and this shall,’ no doubt, result, in a better publication and may also load to tho olinination of ny lsarned connonts, But ve shall not stand betwixt tho vhedls of progress. |” = So, wo go on--and in passing, T night say thot a glance at the cover night lead one to suspect that, all- Fell ‘has broken oo: Tt might woll, be titled. or Returns Hone and Finds His Stapling Maching Broken." For my money, thing in #7 was Lib: J, Schaunburger: Aindocd, which’ reminded mo of certain book revic books which f sT unfortunately have read. It appealed ently to my bizarre sense of hunor tec if any.) 8, Pocples' article, as usual, woll done and interesting and’ ny main objection was to him closing the series so scon---scems as if ho night have gohe on for’a couple nore dhstallnents---but I surmise he has other things to doy’ Anyhow, the wholé thing wes well done and leave us hear more fron Sanucl. Mou ve shall turn to the Moot- ing. of tho Minds---a rather loose title. Sinco nost of the spsco in there scons to be devoted to one V. Groche, a writes I not go into the’ cetod at his unbonding head. Actually Ichave a faint suspicion that M G's lotter which stirred up all this vas not necesserily lr, G's actual, optnions--I scon to suspect, porhaps wronply,’ that V.G. vrote tho letter to sce if he couldn't stir up sone any, the’ best ary Not very droll itemPEON sort of ex argumont---and it would appoar thet he ‘sieccoded right well- nuch +6 his’ delight-and perhaps tho delight of ono.G.I.Riddle, I have boon” know to: attonpt a similar thing nysolf,! but:up to now, it has not ‘workod tod-well,. But, maybe I have’ a suspicious mind. - (Note’to Janos "Shows Me @ Bod Hrnon!----gjust call me a bec-bee brain!) Anyhor, now thet Mr, Greene has been ‘disposed of, whom or what shall vo cast our vords upon now? Would anyone like to dobete the quostics "Are Scionec Fiction Fans People “I noto thet Mr. Rapp-r.t., that is, ‘soots to object to my idba of jotting together fanmngs with shoo strings. Oh vory voll, would ho be ling to sott: r corsct. strings in the ovont thet same are being yet nanufactirod=--if not, thoy may be purchased et one's local antique shop. Mov, vith corsct strings, one could assonble ton or tvolve nagsrat a time, and send them to various fan clubs, and then, the menbers. could pull off their ¢opies like bananas. ghetti night nake mediun for this -purpose ‘and ing the magazine, the fan coulg cat the or by hinsclf. limit to my gonius. So much - for scon to detect a rospoct in tho Editorial conmert or Janent mixed in with ny letter thé:.botton of page 18, I quote: "There's some nore of this guy on the noxt page--Gad!" End of quotes. Anyhow--I at loast got a connont out of Yo Dear Oldo Ed, which is somc- thing. So therefore, if youtte going to act that way, T shall stop right © and stall not continue for wen. pages more, cd is my usual custon---and if your magazine is lamontably short of words this nonth you have no one but yourself to blano--but, fans being whet thoy are T kmoy thet: vill never happen. Or better still ‘s a fino improvenents nt aura of dis -Just’ a few words to ict you know how much I enjoyéd the PRON. 4s for “the good advice on howto buy nagas for collection; many of us fi have already learned thet by sad ox- perience. Tho article about atomic onérgy vas especially intcrosting; also the soction, calling itself "Moéting of Kinds." But why, oh why," should "Anti--Shaveritos" be among sone un- savory and hardly montionable class of people?,..Must we all’ kmotww to Shaver? As a vriter of fiction, he is not bad; but that's all; why keop on the . protension that the orrth is honey-conbed with caves, filled with Dorés---not many sane men or women pelicve it. ‘and then the Negro question. It would be far bettor if wo discussod the why of different .racos, than tae sides about which are the best. The black and the white’ race are truly opposites---vhy, try to discuss tho questionable boot of /a rredal mixture? The bible states that onc of Noah's. sons was black---it should prove ‘tho carly oxistence of racial nixturos,’ Would the Negroes be’ ds tolerant as the. Whites if they wero in the. driving seat? I hardly think 80. 4nd please, please, don't even nerition tHo vord homosexual .in. conne ection with anythi hy be dirty? Jin Harmon rites a fine lettcr ag usual; the test in ny-opiniion. » — FANTASY PAN-FARE If you are interestod in Fantasy and Scionce-Fiction, both in books and magazines, vrite Walter EB. Olson, 2046-4. Univorsity Avonue, Berkeley 4, California. oie |Now to PEON #" someone, somewhere, might Lik Fiction? Better than lastime... especially, Jos, S's "book review." Best line in the whole thing is "Her trother, John, is Evil Incarnate, lurking ‘behind the mack ofan arn recruiting sergeant." I bet Keller himself laughs at that, tho-t'would be interesting to Imow his reaction to'the whole take-off, DEATH VALLEY FLOODED! Thet vas the funniest line in "The Sea--Rox," needless to say. Articles: Best, thio'time, was Fan- tasy on Reaord, ill Gt work? It sould. But will it? Laws still must be enforced, We are not edvi- lized to the point where each obey the laws, good as those laws may be. So..,.international police is needed as well as internetional Jaws, rul- ings, eta, The United Nations Pol- ice Force, please Note some improvoment in mimeo= graphy and think thet PEON on the whole is improving. Mecting of Minds...,.and what mirids! " Thenk you, thank you, Msrs. Avpelman, Cuthbert, and Harmon. T shall, dance at your weddings if wed- ings you have, if canco I could, Harmon was hilarious (as usual) with his take-off on psoudo-"Historical" novels, Note, I said pscudo, Real historical novels ‘have been written. Thope thet is the kind lr, Peeples is writing, A real historical novel doos not sltcr the facts for the sake of the plot, but designs the plot to fit in with the facts, Harmon asks if I know of a rea- gon why he an't hate dictators, race bigots and a: largo~ number of I ean see why he'd hate a rumbor of wives, One at’ a ud be t moant, is it? enough for me. Too one time...but that People who hold their personal rights above the privileges of others...,he hates ‘em, But maybe that is just a Pri- mery Reaction, That is, ho meets a bigot; tho bigot proves unbearable-- areal stinker of a human being; so he mucho pronto hates the bigot. 4 natural reeetion for anyone who ab- hors bigotry, BUT...is it a good thing to let this reaction linger... to let it grow into a really ugly hatred which may consume both hater and hated? Why not find out why the bigot isa bigot? Why not debate the matter with him? What can you loose? And you may gain by it, Even if you don't change the bigot's mind you will have. participated in 4 stimilating montel combat which will leave youin better shape for the noxt battle you fight against. bigo- try. And, if the bigot isn't.com- pletely stubborn or complotely stu- pid, it is quite possible you will get him to chango his belicf. But if you aro blinded by hste, you will not be able’ to call cold logic to your command...and hate struggling violently and unroason- ebly with hate, begets nothing but more and greater hetred. So, when you ask,me if there is any reason why .you shouldn't hato race bigots, ete., I can oniy reply: there is no reason why you shouldn't as a primary reaction, I know whon Inicet a porgon who's actions and words are completely disagreeable to ne, I don't exactly welcome 'om vith open But--oventually--I will, if I'm around thom cnough, seewhat can bo done about tho situation. Aftor all, I may seom twice es dis- agreeable to thom, And probably do. Tt is--in a very oxact sense--a mat- ter of oducation, I must learn ebout them, They must learn about ne. The othcr letters are commbnt> able, too, but the night grows old and I must, bo up at davn and off to ye olde. saltmines,.. THE WIMNERI/? Or, rather, only four votes Winners! cast for the best letter in PHON #7---and Appelman, Harmon, Moffatt, and Groene recoived one each. For some unknown reason, there wore A quarter is being mailed to cach!iS} EEO et PEON NOTES (continued from pago 22 PHO, ard sorttaining good reading matorial--but lacking something, Perhaps it lacked thet ‘'wild-oyed! look of fun that permentates so many good fanzincs. However, I understand that the LAFS is undergoing internal strife (again) and perhaps this spirit will return in future issues, This is a special fiction issue vith off fron such authors as Ackcrman, Bonnel, Cox, Evans, Konig- sborg, Van Vogt, lorson and Reynolds, Igduod cvery six wecks and priced at 15¢ por copy. For a copy or future issues, write F. J, Ackernen at, 236s North Now Hampshire, Hollywood, California. “Now, lot’us turn to the other two fanzines received fron the"#fringers" of.the LAFS, The nost outstanding of theso two and the strangest fanzine I've secn-in.ages'is WILDHAIR put out by the "Insurgent Elenont of Southern Calif- opnia” 4s they -call thenselves; otherwise known as Charlés Burboe, Cy Condra, Roger’ Grahan, F. Tomer Lenoy, Sydney Stibbard, and Art Widnor. . (Let it be known right: here and nov, that I'm NOP going to ontor into the debate rag- ing down thére in baja Californie bit merely conmenting on’ the fanzines fr that sdetion.) This is a magagine vheroin cach editor takes his turn at bl ting the LAFS and their magazine (sce preceeding paragraph), Couple of fict- joh--satires also--good rosding, too! I think you ought to obtain this nage~ zine, if for. nothing clse, for a lot of good laughs, 15¢ to Charles Burboo.at 1057'S, Nornandie Ave., Los Angoles, Calif., will tring it to you. We want: to take issue, herevor, with one statement by Burboo, He statos that 24-1b pap- cr "has nover at any time cost more than 41,35 a roan top." I'll take all can soll mo at that pricd, For 20-1b paper, I'm paying $1.63 por roan-- thet, I hevo to buy at least cight roams to got the quantity pri #2.10 singly.. But enough of that--better got your cory of WILDHAIR today, Tho othor "frings" fanzine was put out by the Outlandcr Society of which Rick Sneary is-the Weleoner, It's a frierdly set-up zine, but not of much interest to the gonoral render, unless you know tho background. Mo subseription price as I recall, but-write Rick for_details, I'm gure ho'd be glad’to oblige you. ~-SUEPORT THE CINVINTI THE BAD HENS DEPARTMENT, Subscription prices hevo gone up. It's now six cop- ics for 50¢, or better still, the noxt 15 copics for a green buck, Evan Hy Aprolnan in'this issuo's . Mecting of Minds" calls attention to tho fouled up ness of subscriptions “t the present tine, Well, ve took oach of our sub- seribers and figured out the end of. his present subsoription, It's tod con- plicated.to go into thc forma wo used to'arrivo at tho cxpiretion of your subscription, but opposite your nemo on the nailing slip you'll find’a nunbor. Thet is the number of the issue your subscription oxpiros--subtract the nunbor :‘of this issue (#8) fron it and you'll ko ow'many nore issucs you have com- ing to you, Tf you think ve are wrong--rve're opon te debate on the subject, put you"l? hove to adnit thet you've had your monoy!s worth for the quarter you gent us. If your nane has no nunbor following it but a "B" it means that *Youtve beon getting conplincntary copies horetofore-~BUT NO LONGER, Paper and postage rates prohibit us fron sonding out but a fcw conplincntery copics--so, © subseribe ard vo'J1 all be happy. ‘"“C" means that wotre exchanging with and wo'J1 bo glad to arrange more oxchango subscriptions. . The only wey future is to vrite somthing for publication, «or a flinds.” If your offoring is. printed, you'll roecivo -if already a subscriber, and cxtra copy: for your ogokoo ? We think sol cory of File." This winds up PEON #@-sce you noxt issue, 7 oeA ANI / (5 . Sy RT oMILBE