Rhodomagnetic Digest 1949-1951

A recent seller of antiquarian items posted this index (and notes) for the first 2 years of Rhodomagnetic Digest. Many notables contributed letters, comments, and essays.

The first six issues of the fanzine RHODOMAGNETIC DIGEST (Being the Proceedings of The Elves’, Gnomes’ and Little Men’s Science-Fiction Chowder and Marching Society - A Society Dedicated to the Purpose of: bringing together people with an interest in Science-Fiction and Fantasy for mutual enjoyment and enlightenment), edited by George T. BLUMENSON (Berkeley, CA.) and published in 1949-50

JULY 24, 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 1)
Editorial: To Hell with ‘Fanzines’ (George BLUMENSON); On The Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); The Basic Science-Fiction Library (a discussion conducted by Anthony BOUCHER); Fifteen Best Science-Fiction Shorts (J. Francis MCCOMAS); About a Story from Nowhere About a Monster from Nowhere (J. Lloyd EATON); Lost and Found (George STALEY); Book Reviews (Gladys FABUN, W.W. WAGNER); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Letters. * slight age-darkening, minor wear. Unpaginated.

AUGUST 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 2)
Editorial: Science-Fiction an Hollywood (George BLUMENSON); The Monster from Everywhere (H.H. HOLMES, pseudo. Anthony BOUCHER); The Comic in Fantasy Fiction (Annette MCCOMAS); Pseudonyms in Fantasy Fiction (Anthony BOUCHER); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Book Reviews (Don L. FABUN and W.W. WAGNER); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Letters. * slight age-darkening. Unpaginated.

SEPTEMBER 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 3)
Editorial: Fantasy is Fun (George BLUMENSON); The Passing of the Six Gun (George HERSH); And Still the Monster (Anthony BOUCHER); Recent Thiotimoline Research (W.W. WAGNER and J. PENSKY); Pseudonymia Revisited (H.H. HOLMES, pseudo. Anthony BOUCHER); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); Book Reviews (Don L. FABUN); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Letters. * slight age-darkening. 18 pages.

DECEMBER 1949 (Vol. 1 No. 4)
The Mind of Man (George BLUMENSON); Science Without Fiction (Wm. BRIGHT); Stuff & Supermen (Karl BOYER); So Help Me…! (J. Lloyd EATON); In Defense of Other Worlds (John BASINSKI); Your Fantastic IQ (Hazelle HERSH); Book Reviews (Don L. FABUN); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN); Apologia (Addressed to Sam MERWIN by a ‘little man’ - ANON); Letters. * slight age-darkening. Unpaginated.

MARCH 1950 (Vol. 1 No. 5)
The Reprint Rocket (George BLUMENSON); The Road to El Dorado (Fred BROWN); Man and Superman (H.T. GORDON); What About the Flying Saucers? (Don L. FABUN); Casual Thoughts on Random Subjects (Yancy WADSWORTH); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); The ‘Irrelevant’ Controversy (Leland SAPIRO); Book Reviews (R.N. SHIRAS); On the Newsstands (Donald Baker MOORE); Reports and Announcements (George FINIGAN). * slight age-darkening, faint staining and bumping to top corners, shallow chip to front top corner. Unpaginated.

MAY 1950 (Vol. 1 No. 6)
Editorial: Reprints, Rubbish, and Rackets (George BLUMENSON); The Monstrous Innovation (Don L. FABUN); On Dianetics (John W. CAMBELL, JR.); On the Fogging of Photographic Film (George P.S. FINIGAN); Fantasy in Music (George KELLEY); An Evaluation of Poul Anderson (Paul H. FINCH); Trends in Science Fiction (George EBEY); So You’re Going to Be An Editor? (Anthony BOUCHER); The Ending of ‘The Humanoids’ (Jack WILLIAMSON); Science in Science Fiction (Donald Baker MOORE); A Few Notes on ‘The Martian Chronicles’ (Ray BRADBURY); The ‘Irrelevant’ Controversy (conc., Leland SAPIRO); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * slight age-darkening, faint staining to top corners. 40 pages.


Six consecutive issues (comprising Volume 2) of the fanzine RHODOMAGNETIC DIGEST (Being the Proceedings of The Elves’, Gnomes’ and Little Men’s Science-Fiction Chowder and Marching Society - A Society Dedicated to the Purpose of: bringing together people with an interest in Science-Fiction and Fantasy for mutual enjoyment and enlightenment), edited by Donald Baker MOORE (v2 n1-4) and Don L. FABUN (v2 n5-6) (Berkeley, CA.) and published in 1950-51

AUGUST 1950 (Vol. 2 No. 1)
Editorial: ‘The Evil That Men Do…’ (George BLUMENSON); Recent Rocket Research (George P.S. FINIGAN); A Norwescon Preview (Don DAY); Literature and Science Fiction (Norman SIRINGER); On Communication with Extra-Terrestrials (David B. KOBLICK); ‘…Nor a Lender Be’ (Gladys FABUN); ‘Rocketship X-M’—A Review (The Staff); Letters (from ASIMOV, DERLETH, BRADBURY, et al.); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); Index of Volume 1; and Other Articles, Reviews, and Features. * slght age-darkening. 42 pages.

SEPTEMBER 1950 (Vol. 2 No. 2)
Editorial: In Commemoration—Man! (George BLUMENSON); The Case of the Man Who Could Do Everything (David G. SPENCER); Norwescon Report (George P.S. FINIGAN); Apparent Precognition in ESP Tests (Don FABUN); Destination Moon Promotion, Part 2 (Don FABUN); The McMinneville Photos (Bob CONNELL); Letter from London (Fred BROWN); Letters; An English Fan (Ken F. SLATER); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); and Other Articles, Reviews, and Features. * light soiling to wrappers. 44 pages.
1950 (Vol. 2 No. 3)


How Long Is the Past? (P. Ray TERIT); Flight Instruments in Insects (Raymond WALLACE); The ‘Gadget’ Story in Science Fiction (Leland SAPIRO); The Journail of the B.I.S. (Don FABUN); In Memoriam—Olaf Stapleton (Fred BROWN); Letters; A Little Plain Speaking (Marion Z. BRADLEY); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON); and Other Articles, Reviews, and Features. * slight age-darkening, light age-wear. 40 pages.
FEBRUARY 1951 (Vol. 2 No. 4)

Straddling (Donald Baker MOORE); Sweeney’s Big ‘Jump’ (Don FABUN); Planetary Research Teams (William A. ERWIN, JR.); Sina Lamittaa minua kun tulen takaisin? (J.R. EMMETT); Winding Up the ‘Gadget’ Story (Leland SAPIRO); Letters; Five Atomic Age Books (Green Vaughn RIVERS); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * two small pieces of transparent tape reinforce spine. 40 pages.

MARCH 1951 (Vol. 2 No. 5)
Editorial (George BLUMENSON); The Whiskey Drinking Mathematician (Bill MURR); Corn Becomes Callous (Walter A. WILLIS); The Perils of Completism (Bob SILVERBERG); Down in the Dumps (Don FABUN); Book Reviews (The Staff); On the Newsstands (The Staff); Letters; In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * light wear to spine. 40 pages.
APRIL/MAY 1951 (Vol. 2 No. 6)

The Astounding Affairs (John W. CAMBELL, JR.); Science Ficton and the New Cosmology (Don FABUN); Element 121 (Mark HARRIS); Sapiro’s Last Stand (Leland SAPIRO); Flying Saucers—a new speculation (Vaughn Greene RIVERS); Book Reviews (The Staff); On the Newsstands (The Staff); In My Opinion (J. Lloyd EATON). * slight age-darkening, light soiling to front, light wear to spine. 40 pages. One-page typewritten letter (with Society letterhead) from (and SIGNED by) Gladys FABUN, to fan Ted ENGEL (dated August 7, 1951), regarding subscription and back issues, Laid In.

circa 1960 Catch Trap

Catch Trap 109
(Marion Zimmer-Bradley)
Circa 1960
{selected portions}

This is CATCH TRAP 105, dedicated to comments off the FAPA mailing numbered 105, and planned for appearance … there are some new members… who may like to be reminded that CATCH TRAP refers to my firm conviction that writing mailing comments for an organization like FAPA is roughly analogous to working the catcher's positing in a trapeze act - - you have to keep things swinging, you have to be ready to grab and throw back anything that comes your way, or else they are apt to fall to the ground with an unpleasant thunking sound … the writer of these mailing comments is Marion Zimmer Bradley …

By Moskowitz

One of the most neglected fantasy-s-f authors today is Robert W. Chambers. I don't know why some enterprising paperback publisher doesn't put out the two volumes of THE KING IN YELLOW and THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE. ++ Last semester I did a paper on the historicals of Chambers, and while examining book review sources for commentary on Chambers, discovered that during his lifetime he was regarded, first as a great writer, later as a hack; but that in the thirties, most authorities felt that "No collection of the American short story will hereafter be complete without a selection of the works of Chambers." He began to seem old-fashioned in the forties, but the critics who are now re-discovering Kipling, after a couple of decades of thinking him ridiculous and jingoistic, may soon re-discover Chambers. Speed the day …

Alien Critic 1974 #9

1974 Letter - Robert Bloch, Ted White from H. Ellison

Alien Critic #2
Letter from Harlan Ellsion
4-12-74

If you run this letter in the next issue, and I hope you will, please include the date above (a safety factor, AKA truth-in-publishing, policy I urge you to adopt for all published correspondence.)

((Good advice. It shall be done.))

"I've come back tot his issue (38) of IAC maybe fifty times since it arrived here, dipping into it briefly, recoiling In horror, putting it away, coming back to it, starting to write a note, slapping my hands, going away from it again, and … inexorably … being drawn back again and again, knowing, I suppose, that I'd eventually say a few words.

I've gained about eight potbelly pounds in the last two years from a constitution of sitting on my ass writing too much of the time, not exercising, acting like a gourmand, and developing what my doctor calls a classic case of out of control triglycerides; for the first time in my almost forty years, I'm on a diet, and it's hard going without my diabetic delights which for many years have provided the necessary chlor –ls{?} and sugars I needed to keep my sugar-hungry hyperthyroid engine racing. Occasionally, I cheat on myself.

Answering the writing in IAC is a –rry {?} parallel. I know I shouldn't, try like hell not to, but eventually do it. Beyond that point the parallel –{?} there is nothing sweet or energy-producing about responding to the IAC correspondents. I can only get in trouble.

Friend Dick, I love your magazine, but so help me, every time I open the covers, I hear the tumult of a lung-{?} lynch mob. That one of the most virulent {?} voices in that mob is mine own, {--?} depresses and frightens me the {most?}.

((That's odd: when I open the covers of IAC I hear it go MMMMM… And when I open other fan magazines I hear TA-{}-PICKETA-POCKETA…))

So I'll make this brief and then {?} you, if you get any other letters from me, that from this date forward, that even remotely seem contentious … please deep six them! If, through madness, I write such letters, to vent my fury, accept them, read them, answer me personally if you feel inclined, but for God's sweet sake, don't publish them. Stop me before I kill again.

((You write such marvelously phrased sentences, Harlan, such delightful invective, that your letters are a kind of art form, and Ellison on a rampage is high entertainment; it almost doesn't matter what you say, it's how you say it. I suspect that most of those you smite hip and thigh are more flattered than outraged or demolished. Your last sentence up there might better be penned, "Stop me before I overkill again.

((But - - I hear and obey, even though it likely means you'll rarely appear in these pages in the future.))

Since the St. Louiscon, when I vowed I'd have nothing further to do with fandom, fans, or fanzines, I've tried valiantly to maintain my resolve. But old habits and roots die hard. And in the past year I've allowed myself to be drawn into nasty, demeaning exchanges with several fanzines and their letter-hacks. Those exchanges have served no commendable end. They've brought into print my utterly negative feelings about the majority of fans, that were better left unspoken.

Yesterday, something called LAUGHING OSIRIS found its way into my mailbox, and I leafed through it as I would a bulk rate mailing catalogue from a novelty house. There tucked away in a paragraph about other things, was a sentence of three by the magazine's editor saying pful to me because Id said the biggest drawbacks sf has to contend with these days are the antics of media-attractive fans acting like nerds. The editor went on to compare my attitude (taken from Cover's interview with me in VERTEX and a position I still maintain despite the pful) with that of Bob Bloch, who had stretched his time and effort to give them an interview.

I don't put that editor down for his reaction, I suppose he's entitled, but he ain't where I am, and he doesn't have to put up with fan impositions the way I do. (I won't even try to cop out by saying I've spent easily as many hours as Bob, doing by-mail interviews with fanzines such as the one published by the U. of Wisconsin, which was published this week. Bloch is a much kinder, much nobler person than I'll ever be, and he's been a certifiably saintly pro where fans are concerned since I was fanning, and long before that time. I'll only say I have very little interest in fmz {fan magazines?} these days, don't want to receive them, and try to be polite when turning down invitations to write for them. And when I do contribute, for whatever dim motivation, I apply myself as I would when writing a piece for a professional journal.)

Nonetheless, that St. Louiscon embroglio {sic} ad fandom's general attitude toward me since that time have left their mark. I'm negative about fandom in the main, and really would be happiest if they'd leave me alone. But I'm like Ted White in the way I leap to the bait. And when I do – as I've recently done in OUTWORLDS and the fmz of the British Columbia SF Society - -I find myself coming off in the manner of a person I wouldn't care for, if I encountered him in the pages of an amateur publication. I find myself snarling, insulting, howling, slicing … and in general acting like the people I despise.

All I ask is that fans leave me alone. Please. Let me do my work. Let me write in peace. I can't stand the waste of time, the burn off of adrenaline, the futile snarling and screaming. I've got too much I want to do, too much love that's been turned sour and cynical, too few years in the machine, to continue this way.

If fans wish to discuss me, let them discuss my work. Let them say yay or nay to what I;'ve written, but leave me alone. I will respond in kind by staying away from fan doings and fan problems, and we'll all be the more content for it.

Thus does the war criminal beg for mercy. If there is a strain of sanity out there, please let it serve to convey the sincerity with which this is written.

1941 Forest Ackerman's Extra-terrestrials.

The seller (jimvanhise books) states: When the movie E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL was released in 1982, some fans objected that the title was warping the single word extraterrestrial into two words for abbreviation's sake. But here in this 1941 art folio published by Forry Ackerman, he not only called the folio "E.T." but credits L. Sprague de Camp with inventing the abbreviation for the word "extra-terrestrial." // Folio is 5 pages printed on one side of each sheet. Art is in color as shown below with a top sheet of text written by Forry Ackerman giving background on the art (it was drawn by his grandfather when Forry was a child in the 1920s) and the print run was 200. In fine condition.