Quo Vadis

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Title:	Quo Vadis
Creator:	Douglas W.F. Mayer
Date(s):	August 1938
Medium:	Print
Fandom:	Science Fiction
Topic:	The current state of science fiction fandom and the prozines
External Links:	Hosted online. Novae Terrae #25 pp. 5-10. Aug. 1938.
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Quo Vadis was a 1938 essay by science fiction fan Douglas W. F. Mayer. He discussed the current state of science fiction fandom, which he felt was on the verge of starting a new cycle. A Science-Fiction Association had been created after the 1937 Leeds Convention, and there was revolution brewing in America, mostly at the hands of forward-thinking fans like Donald A. Wollheim and John B. Michel, who last year had delivered the speech Mutation or Death! and founded the FAPA.

Excerpts

Last year, 1937, saw the birth of a progressive science-fiction era. The first British Conference had been held in January, and had resulted in the formation of an influential, reliable, world-wide, non-commercial organisation, The Science-Fiction Association. In science-fiction circles, a new world had been called into being to redress the sins of the old. And, inspired by the example of their united, co-operating European colleagues, the American fans began to set their own house in order. The International Scientific Association, which for some time had been in danger of decomposing through internal intrigues, was brought to a dignified conclusion, and several of its retiring officers launched a noble campaign to clear up this dreadful mess of American fan mags by rounding most of them up into the corral of the Fantasy Amateur Press Assocation, leaving the main field clear for three or four comparatively worth-while publications.

Fans soon began to realise that science-fiction was worthy of being more than a battlefield for petty rivalries, and month old bickerings and "staple-wars" gradually died away into obscurity. Conferences were organised; new groups were formed on saner lines than their predecessors; various evils of the science-fiction realm, such as the remainder and back-number profiteering, were exposed and discussed.

At last some of the more thoughtful fans decided to take stock of their position. Why were they spreading science-fiction? After much thought and argument they reached their conclusions, and "Michelism" was born. Science-fiction fans drifted into two groups. One group went on collecting every scrap of science-fiction it could lay its hands on, pestering editors, authors, and publishers, and religiously arguing the merits of Brown or Wesso, of Winterbotham or Kuttner. The other group realised that science-fiction was more than an entertaining narcotic--it was a stimulant; and thus stimulated, they wanted to set out and change the world. Such was the 1937 era, which may be said to have come to a close with the London Conference this April. And just as the Leeds Conference had started one era, so, I believe, has the London Conference started another.

Shortly before the Conference, ASTOUNDING STORIES was taken over by John W. Campbell, Jnr., and changed its name to ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION. Furthermore, after nine years of sober survival in the hands of T. O'Coner Sloane, AMAZING STORIES was sold to the Ziff-Davies group. Despite the fact that the magazine was now edited by fan and author Raymond A. Palmer, fans looked upon the metamorphosis and the "human story" policy with suspicion. Then came the biggest surprise of all - the appearance of MARVEL SCIENCE STORIES, with a superb novel by Arthur Burks and sizzling stories by Henry Kuttner. Finally, to round things off, came the announcement of FANTASY for Newnes, and of a companion to THRILLING WONDER STORIES.

I think the time has come for us to ask ourselves, "Where is science-fictin going?" Science-fiction , the editors tell us, is marching on. But they omit to tell us where it is marching to. And though I have no intention of taking on myself a Wellsian mantle and trying to help them out - since science-fiction, like female fashion, is a fickle thing - I am willing to go as far as sketching the main trends, and thus leaving the reader to form his own conclusion.

There is no doubt that the increase of the number of science-fiction magazines to seven will have a large effect on the destiny of science-fiction. It is too much to expect that many fans will regularly buy all seven, and Donald Wollheim's estimate of 30,000 people who regularly subscribe to all three American magazines will certainly suffer a severe drop when applied to the two new ones.

In England, for the time being at any rate, most fans will support both British publications, and the effect on the American sales in this country will not be too great, though it is possible that there may be a reversion to remainder buying. Should the British magazines begin to appear bi-monthly, it is probable that American sales will suffer severely, and should the magazines ever take to appearing monthly, then it is probable that some readers, unable to afford purchasing both, will desert one in favour of the other.

A similar thing will happen in America. Apart from a few collectors and casuals, the English magazines will be completely neglected. For a time, most of the 20,000 "regulars" will struggle with all five.

But of course, there is another aspect of the magazine increase to be considered, and that is, the drain on the authors. In the "good old days" authors used to average about one story a year. Now, many of them average one a month. Judging from the latest ASTOUNDING editorial, this magazine is already feeling the pinch. In England, at present, the position is pretty bad, though it would be much worse if the magazines appeared more often. we have at present less than a dozen authors to draw upon, but matters will no doubt get better as new authors are attracted to the new field. Whether many new authors will come to light in America remains to be seen.

Next to ASTOUNDING in America there is the unknown quantity MARVEL SCIENCE STORIES. Although making a "shocking" start with its sexy stories, there is no doubt that "Survival" was a real gift from the gods, and the announcement of a sequel to this, of stories by Williamson, Keller, and Coblentz, of a cover illustrated by Paul, and of interior illustrations by Paul, Wesso, and Binder, suggest a very promising future for the magazine.

I cannot wax very optimistic over THRILLING WONDER STORIES, or over its companion, which will probably be of a very similar nature. The use of "thrilling" in the title, the type reminiscent of the old Clayton "blood and thunder" ASTOUNDING, and the incorporation of the Zarrak strip gave the magazine a very poor start, from which it has never satisfactorily recovered. Although at times it has appeared to be on the up grade, it has never progressed far. Unless some radical changes take place within the next two or three years, T.W.S. will probably be entirely ignored by science-fiction fans, and will be relegated to the level of some of the super-scientific detective or horror mags.

AMAZING is another uncertain magazine. Unless the editor realises that all good stories are not necessarily good science-fiction, this will probably be also relegated out of the science-fiction field, and will become something almost akin to MODERN WONDER. Slap-bang adventure with stereotyped characters is not "human interest." It is the "Rebirth", "Survival", or M. Schere type of story that combines human interest and good science-fiction. It is this type of story that ASTOUNDING and MARVEL will no doubt try to feature, though it is, unfortunately, not a type that can be churned out overnight by "hack" authors. Apart from this, and possibly numerous imitations of the "Ra for the Rajah" story, and the M. Schere type of tale, I do not forsee any other outstanding developments within the next year or so, as far as themes are concerned.

Responses

In the August issue of NOVAE TERRAE Douglas W. F. Mayer gave us a long article on science-fiction in which he said we were just on the verge of a new cycle. I don't think anyone can disagree with this —- the sudden publication of so many more magazines cannot be passed by. We are definitely reaching a new cycle —- and I submit that it will be poor. With more science-fiction magazines than ever before, with the SFA gaining strength all the time, science-fiction is going down unbelievably. In the past year I have read three good stories, "The Flight of the Dawn Star", "The Master Shall Not Die" and "Who Goes There?" and even these cannot compare with the old masterpieces. There is not as much good material in all the modern publications put together as there was in one issue of the old Gernsback "Wonder Stories".

I am not by any means one of the "those were the good old days" sort of person but I am quite sincere when I say that modern science-fiction is nearly all trash. We have two types of story: the "thought-variant" in which nothing is impossible, and in which everything is incredibly boring except to those young folk who think descriptions of space warps and speeds faster than light all too, too thrilling; the other sort of story is the equally contemptible "sugar-pill" type as dished out in large quantities by "Thrilling Wonder Stories". An idea so simple or old-fashioned that a two-year old could understand it, a blushing heroine and a lot of blether. I will not cite any particular stories -— just take a pin and jab it in the contents page of TWS, and you're pretty certain to get something.

This may discourage some of you -- discourage you so much that you'll say I'm talking nonsense, and delude yourselves that you really like modern scientifiction very much indeed. I hope you won't, because a moment's thought will show you that I am right. Why don't we hear from Taine, Hyatt Verrill these days? Is it because editors won't pay them enough, when science-fiction today is more popular than it ever was? Or is it that they write good stuff, and don't think it worth while wasting their talents on a lot of children who get just as much intellectual uplift from a Wild West magazine? Isn't it significant that Clark Ashton Smith, Williamson, Edmond Hamilton and many other old science-fiction writers, are writing more for "Weird Tales" nowadays, for people who understand good literature, and only turning out an occasional hack story for the science-fiction magazines? (Williamson's "Legion of Time" was a glorious accident to which the above remarks do not apply.)

What are we coming to when people start to rave over such a piece of over-written, illogical nonsense as "Galactic Patrol"?

Any of you reading this and agreeing are automatically enrolled as members of the SPISMDSWISTF -- The Society for the Prevention of the Introduction of Sex, Mad Doctors and Space Warps Into Scientifiction. Come on, you demented modernists, let's hear from you.

John F. Burke: The New Cycle Needs Brakes. Novae Terrae #26 pp 6-7. Sept. 1938.