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Letters from Viewers
all for the purpose of commenting on our most recent issue
A lot of the commentary on our last issue ended up on various forum boards instead of here, likely due to a certain shyness about things; they'd been peering at our issue through their fingers because the light from it was too bright, and besides they didn't want to be seen all that much. Well, before getting to the letters, we'd like to do a rundown of what was said elsewhere. But from now on, just click right here to send your e-mail message across.
On the SciFi Com message board, StoryFan said “Thanks for the heads-up! I checked it out, and it looks great. So many stories, so little time.” True, true, the sands of time run fast, while the moving hand hath writ. On the Analog forum board Red Bugeyes said “Interesting reading, John. Looking forward to reading it again. I'm planning an extensive New Year's celebration so I will look again after I recover—perhaps some time in my next Cicadian Cycle.” Well, Red, knock on wood, I hope you did get to reading it in more detail. On F&SF 's discussion area there was quite a lot of discussion, including the magazine's editor. Somebody wrote, “What does P.M. Fergusson have to say about anything? Is this a joke? In fact, is this entire magazine a joke? It is terrible. How does P.M. Fergusson manage to stay a ‘professional SF writer' without, according to what I can google, having published a story since the 80s?” Well, this should have been a letter of comment since it has questions about the magazine that want answering. Fergusson made the grade and is in that category if he cares to write anything more, if anybody can find him. He used to live in my state and then moved to Canada and then his address there became non-reactive. Now, as to whether the magazine's a joke, it may seem that way to the Chinese, who, as has been said, don't meet the Western world on all matters, such as sugar, which tastes different to them, or kitchen utensils; so it may be that humor is being seen where none is present. Those were rather depressing comments, but I did receive better in the same “area.” P.M. Fergusson was occasioning the most controversy. Another writer said “I scanned P.M. Fergusson's tips for new writers, and while most of the advice is certainly sound (read other people's writing, show don't tell, control your style) some of it was a bit odd. ‘Stay away from first-person stories. They are the easiest of all to make boring.' That's just stupid. So write an un-boring first person story. ‘Once you've written a story, remove every third word and every fourth sentence; they're probably unnecessary.' Umm, okay.” Probably nothing is more controversial than advice on how to write. But it makes interesting reading, anyway. Matt Hughes cited the same piece of advice, letting it speak for itself, and added “but most of Ferguson 's advice is useful for beginners.” Gordon Van Gelder said, “Nice to see a piece by Steve Utley in the issue, especially one that shows the value of being nice to an editor. . .As someone who got busted once for making the same error in print, I'll point out that the first name of the back-cover artist isn't spelled with a ‘u' in it. I don't mean to carp, but the typo jumps out at me nowadays.” There IS controversy about the spelling of the name. Actually probably the “o” should have been left out. In a later posting, Mr. Van Gelder said, “I meant to say that the second ‘o' in ‘Hieronymous' should be removed. It's an error I see so often—like seeing Edgar Allan Poe's middle name spelled with an ‘e'—that I unthinkingly ‘corrected' the mistake incorrectly. D'oh.” Utley's article seemed to have popular approval—maybe we'll see him back here some time in the future. Dave said, “Thanks for posting the link. I enjoyed ‘Aquinas and the Robot.' THE AWESOME LAVRATT was fascinating but I was disappointed to find out that it is a serial. As a reader, I prefer to know before I start reading if the story isn't complete.” I agree that the story attracts the attention. T. Andrews said “I enjoyed Gary Every's ‘Apache Bats.' Nice use of artwork throughout the site, Mr. Thiel. Always nice to find some poetry as well. Steve Utley's piece was interesting. Thanks for the free reading.” Thanks, Mr. Andrews, you seem equipped to enjoy the magazine. Edwin O'Malley said, “Regarding the assertion in the editorial that Kris Barton's ‘Revelations SF' site (which was much maligned in this here forum) was retired due to a computer crash, I find that to be a little ridiculous considering that the site was hosted on Angelfire—no matter what happened to Kris' computer, it wouldn't have affected the AF servers. I don't know what the reasons for pulling it down were, but to attribute it to mysterious and uncontrollable external forces is a self-serving lie.” Well, I just take Kris' word on what happened to his magazine. And Marc L says, “Utley gives the title of Lance Hogben's popular book as MATHEMATICS FOR THE MILLION, with million being the accepted (to Hogben) plural form of ‘millions'…at least, when by ‘the Million' you mean ‘a Multitude' or ‘the Masses.' In the same way, MATHEMATICS FOR THE FISHES ought properly to be MATHEMATICS FOR THE FISH, and not just any old fish, but all of them. I know because that title used to drive me friggin nuts, and I wanted to know where the final ‘s' had gone to on ‘Million.' But these old British mathematicians do have their ways, and I'm sure his original audience had no trouble at all with it. (I'm also sure that Hogben would have taken exception to Utley's spelling of what ought to be properly spelled ‘aluminium.'[My spell-check doesn't agree.-ed]) I'm still waiting to read the more colorful MATHEMATICS FOR THE VERMILLION.”
Now, to get to the mail that came in here:
L.A. Hood: I was over at Surprising Stories the other day and was pleasantly surprised by how good that monster poem of mine looked on the net. I don't think I ever said it but I really appreciate getting that poem on the net.
Very glad to hear it, L.A. —I'm not always sure the writers who appear here are happy to have done so. But I like to see them that way.
Deep Bora: There is no writer or author born who can write on so many subjects. As a matter of fact, a few of my friends even went to the extent of commenting that my stories were actually representing an assorted group of writers! One such friend's message…well, I had sent his e-mail excerpt to you last year. Later on he did accept graciously that I wrote all those stories. So copy writing apart, let us leave this subject aside for the time being. I simply understand that you have published my stories and I feel proud to tell my friends about your website.
You have been a fabulous encouragement, always insisting I am a great writer and you have publicly written in my favor in Bewildering Stories . Well, John, Thank you very much indeed! I shall surely acknowledge your interest and appreciation of my writing ability. Soon.
I would also like to inform you that “Extrasensory perception revealed (part one)” is simply a part one of the story. There are several inter-connected stories to follow. That all the stories combined form an e-book titled “Mental Combat. The power of the human mind.” This is an e-book of about 175 pages in ms word. The only addition is “Force fields activated.”
Thank you for all you have done. I shall surely contribute to Surprising Stories in the future. Cheer up.
I'm cheerful just thinking about it. Readers who pay serious attention to your work will, I believe, be able to see that they are true originals.
Lester, the Spirit of Trufandom: “When well-written science fiction is written again, it will appear in a magazine named Surprising Stories.” Surely this has come to pass. The writing in Surprising is of the highest quality, putting all but the “golden age” of sf to shame.
I don't mean to shame them, Lester.
Bob Bolin: The quality of Surprising Stories has improved significantly during this year and the last. In fact, Surprising Stories is really a stellar production. Keep up the good work.
I intend to.
Steve Sneyd : I have not had the chance to get to the library and access the Net in a while, but will have a look at the review section of Surprising Stories next time I do.
Fantastic, here's a fellow who doesn't have a home computer. Michael Hailstone doesn't either, nor does Chester Cuthbert. Well, I'll see how long it takes you to read this message.
Here's a comment on computers I thought it would be worthwhile printing:
JOE NAPOLITANO, California : You know Windows ME reminds me of a cult, it has wizards, gurus, arcane knowledge, rituals which are called protocols, etc. And it's a big moneymaker for the people who own it just like a religion. It's a type of magic. And of course it has disciples. It just goes on and on. It also has some fans, although not many. So what do you think?
As to what I think, that may be expressed by my inclusion of the feature on Mr. Gates in this issue. It seems to me his public image and writings have something to do with cultism in the computer world. His book THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY encourages this type of approach.