A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, February 1950 — page 101: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

We are very sorry not to be able to print all of your encouraging letters. But we were glad to find that you are as en- thusiastic about our new magazine as we are. Starting with our next issue we intend to have many more pages where you will find a cross section of ideas and criticisms. We want you to write us. This space will be devoted entirely to you. In the meantime, here are just a few of the letters that we have already re- ceived—but there are many more waiting to be printed. Thank you for your wonderful response. —The Editor Dear Editor: Thank you for the valuable service you are performing in bringing to us Abraham Merritt’s classics in one magazine. May Merritt’s Fantasy live for years and years, till it outshines its three older sisters! Now that there are four magazines in the Popular chain, I guess it’s a little too much to ask for a fifth one, but please try to revive “Astonishing” sometime. Your first issue was very interesting. Of course, it’s impossible to rate the stories because, well, Merritt is Merritt, and no one is going to improve on him. Lawrence’s cover was excellent, but you should use old Verne more often on the inside, along with Finlay and Bok—no one else rates mention along with those names. Maybe Bok will do a cover, just for us fans? Will Fantasy have a letter-column? The fantasy quiz is a good idea, but I don’t see where “fantasy” comes in in a question about the amount of hydrogen at the top of a mountain. Though, come to think of it, that question is a good bit of fantasy itself.... I like the idea of the author-profiles. But I believe that AMF™M should be re- served for Merritt exclusively, with the others being shifted to F.N. and F.F.M. If there’s room after the novel, publish one of Merritt’s beautiful poems, a short story if available, or even a piece of non- fiction. Why don’t you print a check-list of all Merritt fantastic works and let the readers decide their preferences? Reprint the ones READERS’ COLUMN which have not been seen around for many years. Who did the picture on page 119? I don’t recognize the style. I guess Fin- lay’s busy with the five other magazines he illustrates, but he’d be around in future issues...Is it at all possible to reprint some of the original illustrations from the Merritt stories? In what magazine was “Creep, Shadow!” originally printed? I think it would be of interest to the readers to know the name of the magazine that published his stories. There were a few minor errors in get- ting the magazine together—the cover wasn’t centered too well, and a few of the pages were smeared with ink. But I’m sure you'll conquer all these things and soon give us one of the best magazines on the market. One last thought—how about a photo of Merritt on the Editor’s page? Robert Silverber Brooklyn, New York, ED: “Creep, Shadow!” first came out in Argosy in 1934. We'll try and get a picture of Merritt for you. The picture on page 119 was by Paul Callé. Thank you for your opinions. Dear Editor: Congratulations on turning out a splen- did first issue of A. MERRITT’S FAN- TASY MAGAZINE. This idea of presenting a dual-story magazine, one devoted to A. Merritt ma- terial and the other to that of another author, is a commendable one. It offers all of us the opportunity to read the com- plete works of this great teller of tales. Format, type size and style are just about as perfect as one could want. But please don’t get into the early habit of “girly” front covers. (This latter com- ment is solely mine and does not neces- sarily reflect the wishes of the Associa- tion). Please allow me to take this oppor- nly to extend to you our best wishes. oy W. Loan, Jr., Pres. Washington Science-Fiction Assn. tion. 101 _ED: Thanks for the personal sugges- COMmic ooo S C@ iin