And right here I'd like to say that a good deal of my doubt as to Onya's
sincerity is because I'm fairly certain of the fellow's real identity.
The general tone of his article, and several clues he divulged, convince
me I'm right. And if I AM right, I can assure you, Brad, and any other
readers who nay have been picqued at Onya's tone, that he shouldn't be
taken seriously, and the less attention paid to his rantings, the
better. I'm sure Onya would feel flattered if he thot someone took his
article so seriously as to answer it. Yet here I am answering it, and
damned if I know why, except that I think I took some of Mr. Onya's
phrasing personally, almost. I don't think he should have gone to the
extent of calling names and using words such as "moronic", "arrogant",
etc.
Aside from this his piece seemed to me a conglomeration of
contradictions, inconsistencies, praises here, derisions there, pats on
the back, exaggerations, sneers and scorn, and, oh yes, a book review.
Yes, I liked and appreciated and mostly agreed with Onya's comments on
BRAVE NEW WORLD. It's a book which I'm sure sure many of the _moronic_
sci-fic fans appreciated as well as Mr, Onya. But here's where Mr.
Onya's and my tastes differ slightly, for I _also_ liked PLANET OF THE
KNOB HEADS in the Dec. issue of SCIENCE FICTION, whereas Mr. Onya
probably wouldn't deign to read it because it's in one of the pulp mags.
that he so deplores; thereby Mr. Onya would be missing a really
entertaining and meaningful piece of writing, but that's all right,
since Mr. Onya's own words said: "There is so much else of importance
that has been written--".
You know, somehow I cannot bring myself to be as vitriolic against Mr.
Onya as he was against sfn at moments. He tried hard to work up a case
against sfn, poor fellow, and became (to me at least) amusing instead of
convincing. Do you know what I saw? I saw a person who is temporarily
_satiated_, as he said, with sfn,--but more than that, a person who is
merely trying to persuade _himself_, more than other people, that sfn is
as bad as he painted it! Naturally every fan has his likes and dislikes
of the various stories, authors and magazines. Some have more _dislikes_
than likes. I think even I do. But it must be admitted that every once
in a while, usually unexpectedly, there pops up a story which is a
delectable gem and a masterpiece, either of ingenuity or writing or
both. Then one is exultant, and one continues reading sfn, even some
trite and bad sfn, knowing that regularly he will encounter one of the
gems which he wouldn't have missed reading for the world! Meanwhile we
have with us Clark Ashton Smith, C. L. Moore, Stanton Coblentz
(delightful sometimes, not always), A. Merritt, and an occasional few
others, whose work I doubt if even Mr. Onya could glibly pronounce as
ordinary pulp. And we did have Lovecraft, Weinbaum, Howard, and others
of whom the same thing can be said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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