futuria fantasia Spring 1940 vol. 1. no. 4. Ray D. Bradbury editor ten cents [Illustration: _CONTENTS_] COVER Hannes Bok 3 GOLGONO AND SLITH Ray Bradbury 4 HEIL! Lyle Monroe 7 THE PHANTOMS J.E. Kelleam 8 THOTS ON THE WORLD STATE Hank Kuttner 9 WOULD YOU? J.H. Haggard 10 THE PIPER Ron Reynolds 14 THE ITCHING HOUR Damon Knight 15 THE FLIRTENFLOG Hannes V. Bok 16 BOKARICATURE Hannes V. Bok 17 NINEVAH J.E. Kelleam 18 advertisements 19 ART: CREATURES FROM LORELEI Hannes V. Bok FUTURIA FANTASIA IS PUBLISHED IRREGULARLY AND GESTATED AT THE DOW-JONES BUYING LEVEL OF TEN CENTS AN ISSUE. THE FIFTH ISSUE WILL BE SCARING YOU AROUND ABOUT HALLOWEEN--SEND YOUR DIME TO EDITOR BRADBURY AT #3054 1/2 W. 12th St. Los Angeles, Calif. CONTRIBUTIONS WILL BE HAPPILY FONDLED AND SEWED UP IN A GREEN VELVET SACK. ALL STORIES SUBMITTED MUST BE SHAVED AND IN THE COMPANY OF ADULT MARTIANS. [Illustration] gorgono _and_ slith-- "Let us, by all means, be lucid," said Gorgono to Slith. Slith fluttered his reptile tongue and turned his morbid eyes to me. "Yes," he said, "let us, certainly be lucid, Bradbury. From now on use a contents page in Futuria Fantasia." And he spanked his tail slickly on my typewriter. I don't mind Slith so much, he's only a little anachronistic reptile, a descendent of happier days in dinosaurial dawndom. I never feared Slith. But Gorgono! Gorgono pierced me with his slanting green, clear eyes, heavy-lidded, extending one claw and attempting to keep it from shaking while his pointed ears stood up straight. A moment before he had been hunting fleas in the fertile hair that clothed his muscular limbs, but now he was serious; so very serious it frightened me. And when the thunder-voiced, evil-eyed, shaggy haired and monstrous Gorgono reclined on the shelf over my head, saliva drooling with silent precision from his pendulous lips, and gave orders I hastened to obey them. Gorgono was the voice of the critics--the ogre of opinion, the harsh guttural commandment of style and fashion. And now Gorgono had grumbled, "Number your pages from now on, MISTER Bradbury or else YOUR number'll be up. Why, Gad, man, the last issue of Futuria Fantasia I didn't know if I was coming or going, the way you heiroglyphed the sheets. And I might add, you're going to use even margins from here on in."