by Bob Tucker
Of late, quite a number of English 'penny dreadfuls,' or known to
others as 'blood and thunders' are finding their way into this
country, from London.
These small magazines have very lurid covers. Almost every one of
these publications run science fiction, or what could be termed
science fiction by a very broadminded person. The plots are
scientific, even though some of the tales contain very little science.
The Wizard Magazine is running a serial named "The End of the World,"
and in the same issue, another story, "Vengeance of the Incas," tells
of the Incas overcoming their enemies with a huge Sunray, which burns
up everything in its path. Another mag by name of Boys' Magazine is
running a thriller "The 1933 Dragon Killer" and two others, "The House
of Mocking Shadows," and "Tiger Boy," which, you may guess, is on the
same plot as Tarzan, Kaspa, Tam, and Jan. Still another pub., The
Skipper, is running "The Moon Men," and is about those gentlemen
visiting the Earth, intent on its capture, as usual. One of the weird
type is in this issue; "The Ice Pirates."
A fourth mag, The Rover, is running a serial that is amazingly like a
story that was in an American mag last spring. The story is "The
Flaming Avenger," and the author has his hero do the very same thing
the American did, and copied the idea completely, even down to the
invention the hero made, and used the invention to do the same work
with, that the American did. Of course, locale, names, and situations
are different, but outside of that, the two plots are similar.
Plagiarism?
In some cases, the authors do put some good science into their
stories, although, for the most part, they write the stf stories, and
forget to explain the method of science used. Others put some science
in, but make it as brief as possible. And in no case, is the author's
name given in the magazines. Evidently they believe in playing safe,
because there ARE copyright laws in that country!