The Survivors
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Survivors |
| Author(s): | Sam Youd, John F. Burke |
| Date(s): | May 1940-March 1941 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | Science Fiction |
| Fandom: | Science fiction fandom RPF |
| External Links: | |
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The Survivors was a two-part story published in The Fantast #8 and 9. The first half was by Sam Youd writing as Fantacynic, and the second was by John F. Burke. It was inspired by the American round robin Six Against the Past.
The Survivors was supposed to be an ongoing round robin that sent readers of The Fantast 100 years into the future, where they discover that the rest of humanity was wiped out in a war. There was a long break between issues 8 and 9, with both zines being slightly misdated as February 1940 and March 1940 respectively.
Summary
In part 1 (The Fantast #8 pp 3-8), Sam Youd wakes up to find himself in a post-apocalyptic landscape that reminds him of Things to Come. He realizes that an article by D.R. Smith in The Fantast sent him into a long period of sleep. Smith had suggested that widespread fan boredom with authors like Edmond Hamilton would lead to them falling into suspended animation. After reading a Hamilton story called Worms of Eros, Youd did in fact fall asleep. Seeing two sparrows, he thanks Ghu that life still exists, and sets about gathering the surviving readers of The Fantast--as the editor, only he knows who exactly subscribed.
Youd finds a library containing a book explaining that after Hitler's invasion of Poland, a world war broke out in the summer of 1940. A French chemist invented a poison gas that wound up contaminating Earth's atmosphere. He manages to locate D.R. Smith, who doesn't recognize him as they've never met in person. He suggests fans David McIlwain, John F. Burke, Arthur C. Clarke, William F. Temple, G. Ken Chapman and Maurice K. Hanson before placing Youd. They assume that American readers of The Fantast probably saw Hamilton's Worms of Eros before Smith's article and thus died instead of falling asleep.
Smith says that he's been reading one of E. E. Smith's Skylark books (much to Youd's horror), saying that he prefers it to H.P. Lovecraft. They locate the Flat, an apartment shared by several members of the old Science-Fiction Association, where they find Eric Hopkins, Ted Carnell, William F. Temple and Harold Kay. Suddenly a clarinet splits the air from some distance away.
In part 2 (The Fantast #9 pp 3-5), John F. Burke awakens and comes to the same realization as Youd. He plays his clarinet to cheer himself up. He locates Dave McIlwain, who's been hard at work on another issue of Gargoyle, believing that the surviving fans will be desperate to see any kind of fanzine. The pair head to the Liverpool Reference Library, where they hear voices. Learning that one is Ron Holmes, Burke drops a heavy book on his head, knocking him out. He does the same to Leslie Heald, to which McIlwain objects as Heald could have been useful.
Burke and McIlwain go to D.R. Smith's house, where they find a box of wire staples, but discard the idea that American fan Bob Tucker could be around. They realize the staples must be Sam Youd's, and track the other fans down to the Flat, where Arthur C. Clarke knocks McIlwain down the stairs by opening the door and then throws a jug in Burke's face for ruining one of his articles.
Part 3 was supposed to be written by William F. Temple, but in the space between issues 8 and 9 Sam Youd had been drafted into the RAF. Issue 8 (meant for February 1940) was published several months late and issue 9 was delayed for a year. When The Fantast returned it was edited by Douglas Webster. The Survivors went unfinished.
Reviews
"The Survivors" is another of the especial reasons why I hope that Fantast's revival will be permanent. If successive contributors can live up to the promise of the first instalment it has a future, though at the same time the merit of the first instalment depends to a certain extent on the following instalments because it contained so muchh that was introductory. The description of your noble self was interesting, if accurate, and it will be still more interesting if anyone tries to describe me, especially as I do not exist if Burke is to be believed. (Hanson was a bit doubtful the last time he wrote, even though I do write to him which is more than some people do apparently!) I am grateful for the idea that I saved the world, though I have my doubts as to my pen ever rising to the heights attributed to it.D.R. Smith: letter printed in The Fantast #9 pg. 19 (Mar. 1941; letter written May 1940)
The humor in Burke's section of The Survivors is lovely.Milton A. Rothman: letter printed in The Fantast #9 pg. 19 (Apr. 1941)