Page:Stirring Science Stories, March 1942.djvu/65

Vincent, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Miles J. Breuer, Clark Ashton Smith, and innumerable others. Surely, we thought, what a mighty array of terrific fiction could be assembled from the files of these writers! What a colossus among books! But we shall have to wait. That book has yet to be compiled. The elite circle has scored again. The book that was published is entitled "The Other Worlds" and is edited and prefaced by Phil Stong. It is 466 pages long, it contains twenty-five stories, it sells for $2.50, and is published by Wilferd Funk of New York. It bears the subtitle on the jacket "The best modern stories of free imagination since Dracula and Frankenstein." The wording of that subtitle was our first hint. Was this another weird anthology ignoring science-fiction? Well, we could make the most of it anyway. But it did not ignore science-fiction though the weird story is in the majority. We had thought that it would contain only stories from the pages of the fantasy pulps. Mr. Stong, the anthologist, admits that that was his intention. But, he goes on to say, after going through the files of all the fantasy magazines, some 20,000 stories he estimates, he was not able to find enough good stories to fill up his book—hence there are some tales included that appeared in Westminster Magazine and Esquire and a couple that have never been published before. Before going on further, let us introduce Mr. Stong. You all must of heard of him we're sure. For, according to the book jacket, he is "the foremost critic of this type of fiction." He is "a recognized authority upon this unique type of fiction." He has been "a devotee and student of weird and fantastic stories for a number of years." He is the author of many books, the best known of which are "State Fair" and "Horses and Americans." At this point we wish to state that we are familiar with fantasy fiction in every aspect for over fifteen years; we have met and contacted several hundred students, collectors and enthusiasts of fantasy; we have read thousands of articles and letters by fantasy fans and authorities; we never heard of Phil Stong. Let that pass. Obviously he is recognized among the elite, among the non-pulp writing literati. The book proves that clearly enough. "The Other Worlds" is divided into three sections: "Strange Ideas" being stories with ideas never used before, "Fresh Variants" being new twists on old ideas, "Horrors" being just that. We shall take up the third section first. Here is a compilation of fairly passable but not outstanding weird tales. The best is Henry Kuttner's minor classic, "The Graveyard Rats." The rest are not poor stories but they certainly do not rate reprinting. They were acceptable stories when they appeared but they are not the gems of weird fantasy. Manly Wade Wellman's "School for the Unspeakable" and "Song of the Slaves" are good average ghost stories. This is true also of August Derleth's two stories. Stong felt that Seabury Quinn should be included and deliberately picked a story he describes as among Quinn's worst "The House Where Time Stood Still." Stong states that it is a good example of Quinn's most outstanding flaws. Therefore Stong stuck it in. In his introduction to this section, Stong dwells a bit on H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's tremendous popularity compelled Stong grudgingly to admit him a place, but he takes revenge by making mockery of him and including one of his most unrepresentative works, "In the Vault." The manner of Stong's handling of Lovecraft left us utterly infuriated, so crudely cynical it was, so tot-

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