Amateur Correspondent, September-October 1937

# Amateur Correspondent: September-October 1937

This issue features amateur science fiction and fantasy writing alongside articles on the genre. The lead story, "The Mysterious Stranger" by Earl and Otto Binder, follows John Selby encountering a bewildered colonial-era man who claims to be Ebenezer Wayland, a Boston merchant attacked by Indians near Philadelphia. The stranger's terror at modern conveniences—electric lights and radio—suggests a genuine time-displacement rather than madness, though he ultimately escapes an asylum. Burton C. Blanchard's "The Last Scoffer" and Sidney L. Birchby's "The Wrath of Zeus" are also fiction entries. Robert Bloch contributes "What Every Young Ghoul Should Know," while J. Francis Hatch provides verse including "The Rood and the Vampire." Sam Moskowitz and R. W. Sherman offer articles analyzing science fiction's popularization and critical reception, discussing how the genre's emergence into mainstream awareness has paradoxically lowered literary standards. Sections on hobbies cover first-day postal covers and stamp/coin collecting.