Fan-Atic

Zine
Title:	Fan-Atic
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Charles A. Beling, assistant editor Yehudi
Type:
Date(s):	1941
Medium:	Print
Size:
Fandom:	Science Fiction
Language:	English
External Links:	University of Iowa Hevelin Fanzines
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Controversy; 2 Reviews; 3 Contents 3.1 Issue 1; 3.2 Issue 2; 3.3 Issue 3; 3.4 Issue 4; 3.5 Issue 5; 3.6 Issue 6; ; 4 References;

Fan-Atic was a science fiction zine that ran for six issues in 1941, with a seventh unnumbered issue. Assistant editor Yehudi was responsible for the copy-editing and proof-reading, per a note from Beling in Issue 2^[1]. The zine was first produced by hektograph and following the (rumoured and ultimately brief) closure of Sun Spots, Beling purchased their mimeo machine and Issues #4 onwards were produced by mimeo instead^[2].

Controversy

Fan-Atic's first issue accused Robert A. W. Lowndes and Donald A. Wollheim of being Communists. The second issue contained an letter from L.R. Chauvenet admonishing them for the snipe and directing them to his longer comment in his own zine Detours. Its third issue printed a retraction and an apology based on a letter from Lowndes: "Our only excuse being that we thought that you were Communists, and we don't like anybody who is a Communist. However since you aren't comrades we wish to extend our sincere apologies."^[3]

Reviews

Sun Spots has been dropped — not flopped, mind you — dropped from stfandom due to a distinct boycotting from a popular froup of fans. This should be done to other select fmz. Namely? Well, Fan-Atic and Fantaseer for starters... [They are] are disgustingly worthless in format and material...
Hell Fire. Fantasite #5 pg. 17 (Sept. 1941)

The March FAN-ATIC came in yesterday and I enjoyed it, really did. The greatest improvement of this issue over the previous one is not the format or the legibility, or anything like that that are looked for in second issues (altho these are improved). No, the improvement I speak of is in the downright interest in the material....... and interesting articles such as you have presented here are such stuff as real fanzines are made of! It has been quite a while since I have enjoyed an issue of a newer fanzine.
Bob Tucker: Letter printed in Fan-Atic Vol. 1 #3, pg. 23. May 1941.

New Year's Resolutions for any fan or fanmag

1. Always publish on time. (That means you, Studley and Madle)

2. Put out a DENVENTIONEER issue of your mag (To please poor Martin).

3. Get some (decent) material this year for your mag. (That's you, Sun Spots)

4. At least try to stop feuding. (are you listening, Moskowitz?)

5. Boycott all Futurian Communist propoganda. (How about it Alchemist?)

6. Join the Colorado Fantasy Society (More members are badly needed.)

7. Also join the National Fantasy Fan Federation. (Widner and knight.)

8. Buy "Dawn, le moderne annual". (Write Wright for this.)

9. Buy boosterads in various Anniversary Issues (There're enough of 'em.)

10. Write nasty letters to all Communist pro-eds. (Wollheim and Lowndes)

11. Come to the Denvention (July 4 and 5.)
^[4]

Issue 2

Issue 2 (v. 1) was released in March 1941 and contained 18 pages.

Pg 1... Front cover

Pg 3... "Thanks Depresh" by Forrest J Ackerman - article on the rise in popularity of science fiction during the Great Depression.

Pg 4... "Thanks Depresh" continued; "Too Many Fanmags" by Art Widner Jr - article on the impact of "too many fanmags" on the fandom.

Pg 5... "Too Many Fanmags" continued

Pg 6... "Too Many Fanmags" continued; Fanzine Reviews by Yehudi: Fantasite, Centaur, Southern Star, The Damn Thing, IFA Review, Voice of the Imagi-Nation, Polaris, Specula, FFF Illustrated News Weekly; Announcement: publishing date in The Comet of the short story "Devil's Asteroid", which was previewed in Issue #1.

Pg 7... Compliments and Otherwise - LOCs from Marvis Manning (editor of Pluto), L. R. Chauvenet (editor of Detours), Harry Warner Jr. (editor of Spaceways and Horizons), D.B. Thompson (well known fan and letter writer).

Pg 8... Compliments and Otherwise continued, LOCs from D.B. Thompson (well known fan and letter writer), Art Widner Jr (co-editor of Fanfare), Earl Singleton (editor of Nepthene, co-editor of Fanfare)

Pg 9... Compliments and Otherwise continued, LOCs from P.A. Schumann (editor of Centaur), Phil Bronson (editor of Fantasite), Tom Wright (editor of The Comet, co-editor of Dawn), James Laichas.

Pg 10..."Keep That Light Burning" by J. Edward Davis - poem

Pg 11... Editorial by Charles Beling

Pg 12... "As the Wind Listeth, So Wandereth My Thoughts" by D.B. Thompson - article dispelling the belief in the "good old days" being the height for sci-fi.

Pg 13... "As the Wind Listeth, So Wandereth My Thoughts" continued; Random Shots - collection of short observations, announcements, quotes from other zines and a reminder about Devention 1.

Pg 14... "Vitons, Vitamins and Vitaphones" by Clipping Bureau... H.P. Pong - reprinted with permission from Starlight Publications.

Pg 15... "Vitons, Vitamins and Vitaphones" continued; "Concentration" by Phillip A. Schumann - thoughts on the ability to concentrate and what it could mean.

Pg 16... "Concentration" continued; "Dirge for Dead Mags" by Archer Cusp - poem; "Villanelle" by Earl Singleton - poem

Pg 17... Book Review "Seven Famous Novels by H.G. Wells".

Issue 3

Issue 3 (v. 1) was released in May 1941 and contained 26 pages. It also included, for the first time, a table of contents providing credits for each article/piece.

Pg 1... Front Cover by Yehudi

Pg 3... Table of Contents; Editorial by Charles Beling

Pg 4... Comic Strip ad for Voice of the Imagi-Nation by Moore

Pg 5... STF Quiz by Hyman Tiger and Scott Feldman.

Pg 7... Quiz continued; Fanzine Review by Yehudi: Futurian War Digest, FMZ Digest, CFS Review, Eclipse, Deventioneer

Pg 8... "As the Wind Listeth, So Wandereth My Thoughts" by D.B. Thompson - regular article, thoughts on fandom

Pg 9... "Scientifun Way to Esperanto" by Forrest J. Ackerman

Pg 10... "Magic" by David G. Miller - article on magic as a plot device in sci-fi

Pg 11... "Magic" continued; "Fantasy and Science Fiction" by Donn Burtum - poem

Pg 12... "As the Wind Listeth, So Wandereth My Thoughts" continued

Pg 13... "As the Wind Listeth, So Wandereth My Thoughts" continued; Editorial continued; "A Few Feckless 'Forty Fantasy Flickers" by Bob Tucker - review of films released in 1940.

Pg 15... "Hell's Corner" by Harry Warner Jr - new regular article on editor fails. This one is on editors who don't answer their mail.

Pg 16 - "Quick Watson, The Straight-Jacket!" by Archer Cusp - poem

Pg 17... Retraction by the Editors - retraction of comments made in Issue 1 calling Wollheim and Lowndes Communists and apologising; due to a formatting/layout error, Lowndes' letter in response to the allegations was not printed.

Pg 18... The Ultimate - Joe Gilbert - story

Pg 22... Quiz Answers by Tiger and Feldman; Publishing details and price rates.

Pg 23... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by Joe Gilbert and Bob Tucker

Pg 24... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by Bob Tucker and J.J. Fortier

Pg 25... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by J.J. Fortier and D.B. Thompson; "The Ultimate" continued.

Issue 4

Issue 4 (v. 2, n 1) was released in July 1941 and contained 16 pages. The first 40 issues contained a supplement, "The Bulletin of the Un-intellectual Brotherhood of Anti-Scientists"

Pg 1... Front Cover by Roy Hunt

Pg 2... Table of Contents; subscription information by Charles Beling

Pg 3... Editorial by Charles Beling.

Pg 4... "Visitations to Bloomington" by Bob Tucker - article about various fan visits to Bloomington with Tucker.

Pg 6... "Visitations to Bloomington" continued; "Hell's Corner" by Robert W. Lowndes - regular article on editor fails, this one about letter writers who write long letters with unclear praise of the contents of a zine; "Can Cusp Can Cons?" by Archer Cusp - poetry

Pg 7... "CAB, Amachoor Detective" by Charles A Beling - article on the "Mystery of the Gag Letters' following Denvention 1.

Pg 8... Fanzine Review by Yehudi - Wavelength, Bonfire, Starlight, Fantaseer, Scorpio and Snide.

Pg 9... "Scientifun Way to Esperanto" by Forrest J. Ackerman

Pg 9a-9b... Added supplement "The Bulletin of the Un-intellectual Brotherhood of Anti-Scientists" - satire [TW: contains a racist slur]

Pg 10... "As the Wind Listeth, So Wandereth My Thoughts" by D.B. Thompson - regular article, thoughts on fandom

Pg 12... "Interference" by Robert A Lowndes - article in response to one written by Conway and published in FMZ.

Pg 13... "A Dissertation" by Yehudi - article on how to pronounce "Beling"; "Two Little Jingles" by Archer Cusp - poetry

Pg 14... "Dam' Yankees" by Southern Star - advertisement; "As I'm A Sinner" by Archer Cusp - poetry

Pg 15... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by Pogo (Mary C. Gray) and Robert W Lowndes

Pg 16... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by D.B. Thompson and Joe Gilbert.

I'd rather have science than fiction,

I'd rather have plots than have diction
And I'll be a fan
Just as long as I can,

And that's till I'm caught by conscription!
^[5]

Issue 5

Issue 5 (v. 2, n 2) was released in September 1941 and contained 18 pages.

Pg 1... Front Cover by Yehudi

Pg 3... Table of Contents; subscription information by Charles Beling

Pg 4... Editorial by Charles Beling.

Pg 5... "The Life of a Sun-Spot" by Roderick Gaetz - article providing a biography and history of Sun Spots

Pg 6... "The Life of a Sun-Spot" continued; Fanzine Review by Yehudi - Fanart, Sun Spots, Pacificon News, and X (The Futurian Review)

Pg 7... "A Study in Shadows" by Philip S. Schumann - poetry

Pg 8... "The Ballad of the Three Bold Fans" by Archer Cusp - poem about Widner, Tucker and Doc; The Sentinel - advertisement

Pg 11... "The Ballad of the Three Bold Fans" continued; "Dam' Yankee" by Southern Star - advertisement

Pg 10... "Bug-Eyed Monsters for Britishers" by Harry Warner Jr - article on sci-fi resources for the benefit of countries cut-off from zines by WWII (Canada, Australia and England)

Pg 12... "As the Wind Listeth, So Wandereth My Thoughts" by D.B. Thompson - regular article, thoughts on fandom

"Interference" by Robert A Lowndes - article in response to one written by Conway and published in FMZ.

Pg 14... "The Quest That Failed" by Oscar J. Stumble - article on a stymied attempt to join a fan meeting by members of the Columbia Camp.

Pg 16... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by Philip A. Schumann, Harry Warner Jr

Pg 17... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by Harry Warner Jr (continued), Harry Jenkins Jr

Pg 18... Compliments and Otherwise - Letters of Comment by Harry Jenkins Jr (continued), Gerry de la Ree.

Issue 6

Issue 6 (v. 2, n 3) was released in November 1941. It was the final issue of the zine, although a one-page "swan song issue" was released the same month.

References

^ "The assistant editor of Fan-Atic is Yehudi. He is also the guy who pulls all the boners and makes all the mistakes; so if you don't like anything in here, blame it on Yehudi, not Beling. Yehudi won't mind." - Issue 2, page 8
^ Editorial, Fan-Atic #issue 4 July 1941
^ Charles A. Beling: Retraction. Fan-Atic #3 pg. 17. May 1941.
^ Issue 1, page 8
^ Poem by Archer Cusp, published in Issue 4

[1] "The assistant editor of Fan-Atic is Yehudi. He is also the guy who pulls all the boners and makes all the mistakes; so if you don't like anything in here, blame it on Yehudi, not Beling. Yehudi won't mind." - Issue 2, page 8

[2] Editorial, Fan-Atic #issue 4 July 1941

[3] Charles A. Beling: Retraction. Fan-Atic #3 pg. 17. May 1941.

[4] Issue 1, page 8

[5] Poem by Archer Cusp, published in Issue 4

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Zine
Title:	Fan-Atic
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Charles A. Beling, assistant editor Yehudi
Type:
Date(s):	1941
Medium:	Print
Size:
Fandom:	Science Fiction
Language:	English
External Links:	University of Iowa Hevelin Fanzines

Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
Contents 1 Controversy 2 Reviews 3 Contents 3.1 Issue 1 3.2 Issue 2 3.3 Issue 3 3.4 Issue 4 3.5 Issue 5 3.6 Issue 6 4 References