The Vortex is the dividing line between the science-fiction half of Stirring Science Stories and the fantasy-fiction half. It is also the readers' department wherein you who read our magazine are invited to tell us what you thought of our previous issues and what you suggest for future editorial actions. We shall endeavor to print as many letters as we can and to answer points which require answering. You are invited to write us your opinions on this issue. Our address is 366 Broadway, New York, N. Y.
With this issue, we shall attempt to take up where we left off in June. There has been an unavoidable lapse but we have succeeded in overcoming the technical difficulties which delayed our magazine. We are now monthly and looking ahead to a really lively future. But still there are a large number of letters on hand commenting on our last issue and we shall proceed herewith to present them. We open with a note from Virginia Combs of Crandon, Wisconsin:
When, at the tender age of seventeen, I put aside Grimm's Fairy Tales for the last time, I thought that never again could I recapture the tender fantasy of fairy tales. But on reading Cecil Corwin's twin masterpieces I found anew the enchantment and bewitchery of all the dear tales that childhood loves. And yet these are not fairy-stories, unless we who are grown up will admit it, which we won't, but the imagery and beauty of execution, and the gayety of the impossible are ours once more, and at those elfin fires we warm again the hands of childhood's forgotten spirit. If growing up locks us outside the realm of enchantment, then I, for one, shall never grow a day older. Amen.
Cecil Corwin was deeply touched by your note, Miss Combs, and would appreciate your opinion on the current novelette "The Golden Road." It is his first serious fantasy and we thought it very impressive. Another comment on his "Mr. Packer" comes from Stanley Wiseman of Denver, Colorado:
Greetings, gate, this is going to be short and sweet. Now personally I have nothing against Bok, but I didn't think that he read "Mr. Packer Goes to Hell." What makes me think this? Well, it's like this: on the first page of Cecil Corwin's fantasy Bok's illustration is positively screwy. It says in the story: "'Okay, whiskers,' she said, 'put me down.'" Now in the portrait of this, there aren't any whiskers on Almarish.
Otherwise, your June issue was wonderful and, not that it matters, Bok was tops on the cover illustration, along with such writers as Cecil Corwin, Basil Wells, and Kenneth Falconer. Whom we should have more of. Also, why don't you have a sequel to the sequel of "Thirteen O'Clock?"
We asked Bok about the whiskers business, too. He claimed that he had gotten so enthralled in the story that he had quite forgotten that little detail. "Anyway," he says, "maybe the whiskers got singed off in the hot place?" As for a sequel to the Packer tales, we've been under fire from all quarters for one. We're reluctant to give Corwin the go-ahead signal but we can be persuaded. Let those who think a sequel is desirable speak up.
Joseph Gilbert of Columbia, S. C., whom we are beginning to think of as a severe but reliable critic, comments:—
There's only one word to apply to the majority of shorts you use in SSS, and the word is: Clever! Especially does this go for Raymond's delightful "Spokesman For Terra." I dislike Wells' type of fiction more than I can readily express. But don't take that too seriously. I'm not at all anxious to detract from a really promising beginner and other people doubtless go for the sort of thing he writes. Winterbotham has never written a decent story in his life, and will die never having written a decent story in his life. Kubilius finishes the stf section off capably, however.
The fantasy section—Now you've really got something! Said something consisting of some of the best damn fantasy fiction I ever hope to read in one magazine. The only disappointing thing in the section was "Mr. Packer Goes to Hell." Oh, It was okay, but in comparison with the original the sequel is painfully inadequate.
Lowndes should stick to really good humor like "The Martians
