Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 51 — page 140: what you’re looking at

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

OVERSEAS SECTION UPGRADE STILL Allow me to congratulate you on a very good issue, No. 47. W. B Johnson’s Tryst, as you said in your editorial, was strange, but very good indeed. I hope we'll hear more of him in the future. ’m glad to see the standard of your maga- zine is still on the upgrade. I’ve yet to see a cover to equal Authen- tic’s. I’m very pleased to see the AUTHENTIC BOOK OF SPACE, by H.J.C., on sale. Keep up the good work. Mike Penny, ‘22756894, Sigmn. Penny, C Troop 2825N, 2 Wireless Rgt., Royal Signals, M.E.L.F. 3. Thank you, Mike, for your kind words. We hope you'll go on liking us. SICK In the first place, science fiction, no matter how you bake it, comes out of the oven as escapist reading. And escapist reading one does for sheer pleasure. And believe me, as an avid reader of the stuff for over twenty years, I’ve had my share. There are two really top drawer 5S.F. magazines over here. I’ve : =e eck ft > 4 =i -- a ar Tig ane’ we sag gjectiles watched them graduate fist pure corn-fed space opera (some of it good, too!) to a spell of “‘gadget” stories (these I also like) to the present philosophical, psycholo- gical dreary little opuses. This fad I hope will soon pass. When I first ' subscribed to Authentic I stacked most of them on the shelf and planned to start on them when I got around to them. Well, the mood hit me a couple of weeks ago, and I pulled the wrapper off one and got the surprise of my life. Brother, they’re good! Today, Issue 47 came in. I started at the beginning. Stranger in Time lasted four pages. Trite and trivial. As I always save the articles until last, The Mutilants was next. That nauseating little horror cost me my dinner. No rational thinking human can derive pleasure from reading a mind- twisting, stomach-turning collection of tripe like that. The rest of the ‘stories were fine. Now pardon me while I go have a nice quiet little nervous breakdown. J. G. David, Box 205, Bishopville, S.C. Sorry about your dinner, Mr. David. We thought American science fiction fans were tougher than that! In Britain we take this kind of thing in our stride. Maybe you've got Marilyn Monroe, but we've got that! Want sto trade? 139 conniicloooks.conm