by Julius Schwartz
It is a peculiar, but nevertheless well-founded fact, that there is
something magnetic in fantastic fiction that will attract the reader
as no other type of fiction can. One of the consequences resulting
from the reading of this absorbing and fascinating type of fiction is
that the fantasy fan feels the urge to save and collect fantasy
stories, and will, indeed, go to extreme ends to make his collection
complete as possible.
But how is he to go about accumulating a good, worthy collection?
The first rule is simple: collect all the fantastic fiction that is
appearing in the current magazines. Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories
and their quarterlies, and Science Fiction are the current magazines
that specialize in the printing of science fiction, probably the most
popular type of fantastic fiction.
However, without a shadow of a doubt the foremost magazine that
specializes in fantastic fiction is Weird Tales. Its editor,
Farnsworth Wright, insists that the stories appearing there be of high
literary quality, and thus we find that many stories have copped
honorable mentions in O'Brien's list of the best stories of the year
and in the O'Henry Memorial Prize list. The range of Weird Tales
comprises every type of fantastic fiction: from the occult to science
fiction, from ghost stories to the supernatural, from voodoo thrillers
to vampire tales, from werewolf yarns to reincarnation, and from the
mystic to the physic.
Other current magazines may occasionally print fantasyarns. Keep an
eye on Argosy, Blue Book, Magic Carpet, Ten Detective Aces, Dime
Detective, Thrilling Adventures, Doc Savage, the Science Fiction
Digest, and The Fantasy Fan, and, in truth, any of the detective, air,
and adventure magazines.
(Next month Mr. Schwartz takes up the more difficult tasks in the
collecting of fantasy fiction. No collector should miss this series.)
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