Science Fantasy Correspondent

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Zine
Title: Science Fantasy Correspondent / Amateur Correspondent
Publisher:
Editor(s): Willis Conover / Corwin F. Stickney
Type:
Date(s): 1936-1937
Medium: Print
Fandom: Science Fiction
Language: English
External Links: Amateur Correspondent hosted online by fanac.org
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The Science Fantasy Correspondent was a science fiction zine published from 1936 to 1937. Its first three issues were edited by Willis Conover under that name, and then Corwin F. Stickney took over, publishing another three under the name Amateur Correspondent. It was traditionally printed, instead of using a mimeograph or hectograph like most other fanzines. Also unlike most other fanzines, The Amateur Correspondent printed advertisements and classified listings for non-fandom subjects.

Frank S. Bogert, an elderly printer who was friends with Conover and had helped finance the magazine, handled advertising for the first five issues before resigning due to illness.

About

THIS IS THE THIRD issue of the Correspondent published under our new policy, and we think it is the one most representative of that policy. We pledged ourselves to the cause of the aspiring writer of fantastic fiction, promised to encourage his abilities by printing his work, if at all worth printing, and lined up for publication articles by well-known professionals concerning certain aspects of fantasy writing, with the hope that amateur authors would find them of some use....

Of course, we get quite a few brickbats, many of them somewhat discouraging. But it is notable that not one has been received from the writers we are trying to help---that practially all of them come from the hardened fans, who have no sympathy whatever with writing hints and the efforts of amateurs, but who seek only a fan magazine, containing, for the most part, news of fan and fantasy magazine activities. It is obvious that if this element of our reading audience raised a loud enough voice, we should be forced to listen to its demands and turn the Correspondent into a fan magazine, pure and simple. But it is just as obvious that this element cannot raise a voice loud enough to sway us, for at the very outside, the real fans number a mere two hundred---a group which could not possibly support a magazine such as is wanted. We must, therefore, cater to the majority by continuing on our present course.

Corwin F. Stickney: Editorial. Amateur Correspondent #2 pg 2. Sept 1937.

Reviews

I have just received the March-April issue of the Correspondent. What have you done to it? It is nothing like the preceding issues. I want a fan magazine for news of what's happening in the world of fantasy fiction---for instance, what new stories have been bought by the magazines, what new tales the authors have underway, what new books are being published, etc., etc., etc.... Fantasy Magazine had these departments, and you did in the January-February number. I hope that your new policy as set forth in your current issue will be changed. I understand that you cannot afford stories by professional writers, but a fan magazine doesn't need them. The magazines on the newsstands carry all that we need. Let's have bigger and better departments and articles.

Harold F. Benson: Letter printed in Amateur Correspondent # 1 pg 16. May 1937.

After reading the March-April issue of the Correspondent I wish to offer a few words of praise for Robert A. Madle's and Philip Sutter's very interesting stories.... Am hoping you're receiving a lot of usable material in answer to your editorial. Who knows how many authors you'll start on their journey to the stars with your policy! You'll really be filling a place that's long been needed in the stf. and weird field. There's potential talent, I'd venture to say, in just about ninety-nine per cent. of those readers who take an actual interest in either field; but the percentage who eventually "deliver the goods" are those who in some way receive some, no matter how small, encouragement.... I presented such an idea to Wonder Stories several years ago, but they were unwilling to heed. So, in reality, the Correspondent is rather exclusive....

Joseph Hatch: Letter printed in Amateur Correspondent # 1 pp 16-17. May 1937.

As a science-fiction fan and ex-Fantasy Magazine reader I notice the lack of gossip columns and news articles. Also, there is a lack of fantasy element.... Your make-up is fine---the best I've ever seen in a "fan" magazine.

Richard Frank: Letter printed in Amateur Correspondent #2 pg 17. September 1937.

You carried several good pieces.... Hit 'N' Run is good and long. I'm glad to see you putting the advertisements to some use, i. e., to isolate Hobbyana. Would suggest that you give Sidenius' stuff more of the appearance of an advertisement and less of an article. You have your good points.

BUT

Hobbyana may be a necessary evil, but it's still an evil.

You may publish good fantasy, but it is still fantasy.

There is almost no s-f content.

You ignore fans in the false belief that there are others in your audience.

Therefore I am not resubscribing.

Jack Speer: Letter printed in Amateur Correspondent #3 pg 18. November 1937.

It all began sometime in 1937, when I joined the Science-Fiction League. Joining the League, as you may know, means getting one's name and address in the S.F.L. column and that might mean, at least it might in 1937, getting sent to you a throwaway copy of Stickney's AMATEUR CORRESPONDENT. The Amateur Correspondent thrilled me beyond words, just beyond words, and as a result I subscribed to every fan mag I could find advertisements for.

Jack Gillespie: My Years in the Fan Field or Why People Point at Me OR How It Feels to be Seventeen; The Science Fiction Fan #41, pg. 10. Dec. 1939.

This was a BEAUTIFUL LITTLE PRINTED MAGAZINE, ISSUED BY Willis Conover and Corwin Stickney late in 1930.

Robert A. Madle: So You're Going to Print Your Fan Magazine. The Science Fiction Fan #46, pp. 15-18. May 1940.

Contents

Amateur Correspondent #1 (May-June 1937)

  • Cover: H.P. Lovecraft illustration by Virgil Finlay.
  • Editorial: "Metamorphosis" by Corwin F. Stickney (4-5)
  • Article: "The Sage of College Street" by E. Hoffman Price (6-7)
  • Article: "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction" by H.P. Lovecraft (7-10)
  • Fiction: "The Jest of Tianne" by Robert F. Ennis (10-14)
  • Poem: "The Spirits Mourn" by Willis Conover (15)
  • Department: "Hit 'N' Run" (16-17)
    • Letter: Harold F. Benson
    • Letter: Joseph Hatch
    • Letter: Sam Moskowitz
    • Letter: J. Vernon Shea, Jr.
  • Ads (18-22)
  • Department: "Odds and Ends" (23; 27-28)
  • Hobbies: "First Day Covers" by John C. Sidenius (24-25)
  • Hobbies: "Those Stamps and Coins" by Jack E. Fry (26-27)
  • Ads (27-32)

Amateur Correspondent #2 (September-October 1937)

Amateur Correspondent #3 (November-December 1937)

  • Cover: Burton C. Blanchard (illustrating W. I. Parks' From Forgotten Ages)
  • Editorial: "Anniversary" by Corwin F. Stickney (2)
  • Article: "A Warning on Collaboration" by Chester D. Cuthbert (3)
  • Fiction: "From Forgotten Ages" pt. I by W. I. Parks (4-5, 14-16)
  • Article: "Atmosphere in Weird Fiction" by Clark Ashton Smith (6-7, 25)
  • Fiction: "The Waterfall" by Paul Hayward (8-9)
  • Poem: "The Immortal" by Robert Sanders Shaw (9)
  • Fiction: "The Sniper" by W. C. Peters (10-11)
  • Fiction: "The Final Vision" by J. Francis Hatch (12-13)
  • Department: "Hit 'N' Run" (17-21)
  • Ads (22-26)
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