But Hawthorne left no well-dined literary posterity. His mood and attitude belonged to the age which closed with him, and it is the spirit of Poe--who so clearly and realistically understood the natural basis of the horror--appeal and the correct mechanics of its achievements--which survived and blossomed. Among the earliest of Poe's disciples may be reckoned the brilliant young Irishman Fitz-James O'Brien (1828-1862) who became naturalized as an American and perished honourably in the Civil War. It is he who gave us "What Was It?" the first well-shaped short story of a tangible but invisible being, and the prototype of de Maupassant's "Horla;" he also who created the inimitable "Diamond Lens," in which a young microscopist falls in love with a maiden of an infinitesimal world which he has discovered in a drop of water. O'Brien's early death undoubtedly deprived us of some masterful tales of strangeness and terror, though his genius was not, properly speaking, of the same titan quality which characterized Poe and Hawthorne. (Discontinued At This Point) * * * * * GLEANINGS by Louis C. Smith I promise to write an article about that Great High God among fantasy authors, M. P. Shiel; much of the best science-fantasy, from a literary standpoint, has been written by him. Anyway, when you read "The Purple Cloud," "Dr. Krasinski's Secret," "This Above All," or any of the other two score novels penned by him, such little matters as scientific accuracy never enter your head (which does not by any means imply that his science is not correct to the N'th degree). A hypnotist with words is M. P. Shiel. And he is--and has been--almost as much a Heaven-born genius as some of the characters he weaves through the pages of his novels. He is fluent with a half-dozen languages, is literally a master of all sciences, writes in a blinding, complicated style no one else on Earth could imitate--much less create!--and has written as many books as Haggard, Burroughs, and a few others combined. At 12 he wrote a novel; at 13, printed a newspaper; and at 15, wrote novels for serialization in large public papers. * * * * * Lester Anderson, fantastiac extra-ordinary of Hayward, California, is fortunate enough to count himself a very good friend and correspondent of the lexicographical (hah!) Clark Ashton Smith. Speaking of whom: Smith and H. P. Lovecraft are great friends, by correspondence. Lovecraft refers to C.A.S. as "My good old friend and correspondent, Klarkash-Ton, Hierophant of Atlantis and High-Priest of Tsathoggua." * * * * *