"Donald Alexander's letter caused me to reread carefully my own answer
to Forrest Ackerman's epistolatory critique. Since my one concern was
to meet Mr. Ackerman's arguments on their own ground, I am puzzled by
the assertion of Mr. Alexander that I had made a fool of myself by
descending to personalities. Offhand, I should have said that my
letter was about as free of that sort of thing as it could conceivably
have been. Perhaps there were a few mildly ironic touches; but
certainly nothing of an insidious nature was implied or even intended.
I do not think that any good purpose is ever served by abusive
personalities. If my letter was derogatively personal, I really wonder
how Mr. Alexander's should be classified."--Clark Ashton Smith
H. Koenig suggests that we missed a golden opportunity by not
supplying the debaters with gloves and entering them in the Golden
Glove Contests in Madison Square Garden!
"When you shout, pertaining to Smith stories, 'May the ink dry up in
the pen from which they flow!' you affect the refined and sensitive
minds of the admirers of beautiful things, and cause them to exclaim,
'Here, indeed, is one who endeavors to do something in words as
terrible as in actuality: cleave the head of a genius in twain!' Hence
our fitting denunciation of you, Mr. Ackerman, for attempting to
backbite one of the greatest writers America has ever produced."--Robert
Nelson
"When some well-meaning person says that Ackerman has more sense than
Smith and Lovecraft combined, he is just being ridiculous. If Clark
Ashton Smith has a diseased mind, as Mr. Alexander states, I would for
one like to be exposed to the germ."--Duane W. Rimel
"I have been following with interest the Ackerman adventures in
your pages. I am wondering if he ever wrote any stories, besides
criticizing then?"--Natalie H. Wooley
"The Ackerman-Smith debate amuses me. Of course, I am squarely on
Smith's side, and don't understand why you publish the more puerile of
the letters on the matter, such as the one by Lloyd Fowler."--August
W. Derleth
"The whole argument was caused by Ackerman claiming that Smith's
'Dweller in Martian Depths' should not have appeared in _Wonder
Stories_. Smith should have sent the story to _Weird Tales_, thus
avoiding a clash with Ackerman, who, I take it, has no use for weird
literature. Or the editor of _Wonder Stories_ should have foreseen
some catastrophe and promptly returned it to C. A. Smith, who I esteem
very highly, by the way."--F. Lee Baldwin
We stated last month that the Smith-Ackerman debate would end in this
issue--and so it has. Many of our readers have started to get bored
with it--and more than that, some ill-feeling has been aroused. We go
further to state that there will be no more department known as "The
Boiling Point." The name implies that everything contained therein
should be boiling hot--and these boiling hot arguments, as we have
found out, create an unpleasant atmosphere for many concerned. THE
FANTASY FAN is attempting to bind the lovers of science and weird
fiction tighter together with friendship, and not to separate them
thru dislike of each others ideas. However, to take the place of "The
Boiling Point" we are starting a new department next month entitled
"Your Views." This will not contain any debates, but the opinions of
you, the readers, on various subjects which we will nominate. So,
write in us immediately answering the following questions: "What is
there in the 'horror' story as associated with weird and fantastic
fiction? Is there any virtue to them? How can they be defended when
people will read them and say that they are distasteful to the well
and normal mind? Why does a person wish to read a sinister tale of
evil or monstrosities? Is it healthy reading? Is it not morbid?"
Forrest J. Ackerman has suggested this subject. Let's see what you
think about it.