Vincentian 2

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VINCENTIAN TWO – an APAzine from A.Vincent Clarke, 16 Wendover Way, Welling, Kent, DA16 2BN, for the Mar. '95 mailing.

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Fandom turns up some outré characters (and I'm not picking aspersions and distributing them freely amongst members of this APA). But I've come across one of them who, at the same time, has raised what I regard as an interesting query.

Briefly, our friend 'X' likes lists, and, moreover, has ambitions to get them published. 'X' has spent some time on listing hundreds of SF, fantasy and even some horror books. On 'X's computer each one is data-based as : Title, Author, Date of Birth of same, US Publisher, US Publishing Date, UK Publisher, UK Publication Date, and a one or two sentence precis of the plot. There's also a provision for comparing each particular author with others which might appeal to the same reader.

When I received several hundred pages to look at (the list extended to letter 'K' at that time), the overwhelming query in my mind was "Who's it intended for?" To this old-timer, most of the stuff – well, up until the mid-'80s – was familiar to me, so it wasn't aimed in my direction. To the newcomer, it would be useful up to a point, tho' the form in which 'X' had put it – maximum three titles to an A4 page – would have to be thoroughly revised. Can't imagine a young fan taking a hefty volume along to the local library/book shop, just to check on. And what use were the publisher's names and dates? Not many bookshops around that put items on shelves under publisher's names.

'X' was rather vague on this point. It would be useful to librarians? 'X' had done a lot of work ferreting out these details and was reluctant to lose them.

But, I pointed out, if the opus was intended for Librarians (and ghod knows some of them could do with help), then this automatically restricts the list to those books currently available in whichever country it's being used.

For instance, 'X' wanted to know what I thought would be worth putting in by James Branch Cabell? Now, Cabell was a highly regarded fantasist in the '20s and '30s (the late James Blish was, in 1970, helping to run a Society devoted to his works), and he'd attained mundane fame when a fantasy of his, Jurgen, was banned in Boston for a time. He'd definitely be an entry on anyone's all-time list of Good Fantasy Authors.

But, as I pointed out to 'X', the last reprint of Cabell that I knew of was four titles in the American Ballantine series of Adult Fantasy, in the early '70s. There was a chance that they might be available, but it was pretty small, and this didn't take any account of the fact that Cabell wrote 10 or more books in one specific series, plus as many more not connected to it.

There were other omissions – Groff Conklin, one of the great anthologists, for instance, didn't get much of a mention, but here again was a name that was on old-timer's shelves but was generally not currently available. Edgar Rice Burroughs, with whom 50% of SF readers started, had a couple of entries, whilst William Burroughs had half-a-dozen. OK, OK, everyone to their own taste, but......

So at the time of writing I'm awaiting the arrival of the second half of 'X's opus, and wondering how much of it, in its present form, is worthwhile doing and, ultimately, if it could be made saleable. With literally thousands of SF etc. books available, it's a kind of 'what would I take to a desert island' set of choices, but on the grand scale.

Personally, through the years, I've kept an eye open for the out-of-the-way title when scanning bookshelves – anything with 'stars', 'galaxies', 'space', 'alien' in it was worth a glance. Doesn't have to be something that hits you in the eye, such as the junior anthology Mad Scientists, or Practical Demonkeeping. There's far gentler titles – Out Of The Silence, or Matters of Form, for instance. But it would have been helpful, many years ago before my shelves filled to overflowing, to have some sort of checklist. I suggested to 'X' that I'd like to see an entry on the lines of the following:

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LAUMER, Keith (US): Has a series of farcical SF books featuring an interplanetary diplomat, Retief (Retief's Ransom, Retief and the Warlords, etc.) and many stories involving time-travel paradoxes (Dinosaur Beach, Time Bender, etc.). Some space-opera – Worlds of the Imperium, Earthblood, etc. The Breaking Planet is unusual in being about earthquakes plus aliens, and having two small factual articles added by G.Harry Stine and Frederik Pohl. If you like Laumer you may like Eric Frank Russell, James Schmitz, Laurence Janifer, Poul Anderson.

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No messing about with publishers, dates, availability, you'll notice. On the other hand, it'd probably be not-much-good for librarians. You can't win.

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COMMENTS ON LAST MAILING: EUNICE: friendly as always, and interesting on the Olivetti – didn't realise that they came with the technobabble stuff you mention. Granddaughter was bought one of those elaborate (plastic) horse-'n'-carriage Barbie doll holders for Xmas (not by me) which I think was a mistake. Look at it but don't touch......SANDRA – Fascinating stuff; would I be in order in saying you haven't (intellectually) changed a bit? Except, perhaps, that the writing style is much improved. Welcome back to our small microcosm, anyway. Visit? STEVE – V. interesting history; sorry you had to abandon free-lancing. Present economics are a mess. Son-in-law is taking voluntary redundancy in April after 15 years with same local council – and that was the sort of job you were in for life, once. JOHN: Little Miss Muffett, Sat on a tuffet, By a Martian Canal cafeteria, When in walked a spider, Which sat down beside her, And frightened her into hysteria. (AVC, about '51). ALAN: Hooray – a modest man who thinks he should introduce himself. Nice one. Welcome.CHUCK: Fascinating stuff, especially on Rock modes and manners. More! More!

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And there I have to end. The copier's gone, replaced by another model which is still in the hands of Chuck Harris. He's bringing it down some day, but too late for this ish, so forward the electro-stenciller and duplicator! Wish me luck – seems like years since I used 'em both.

AVC