Chapter XXIV: The Return

I think that there is little I should add. Tugh's last purpose had been to hurl himself and Mary past the lifetime of our world, wrecking the cage and flinging them into Eternity together. And Tugh was luring our cage and us to the same fate. But Mary, to save us, had watched her opportunity, seized the main control lever and demolished the vehicle by its instantaneous stopping.

We left the shell of Tugh lying there in the red sunlight of the empty, dying world, and returned to Tina's palace. We found that the revolt was over. The city, with help arrived, was striving to emerge from the bloody chaos. Larry and Tina decided to remain permanently in her Time. They would take us back; but the cage was too diabolical to keep in existence.

"I shall send it forward unoccupied," said Tina; "flash it into Eternity, where Tugh tried to go."

Accompanied by Larry, she carried Mary and me to 1935. With Mary's father, her only relative, dead, she yielded to my urging. We arrived in October, 1935. My New York, like Tina's a victim of the exile of Time, was rapidly being reconstructed.

* * * * *

It was night when we stopped and the familiar outlines of Patton Place were around us.

We stood at the cage doorway.

"Good-by," I said to Larry and Tina. "Good luck to you both!"

The girls kissed each other. Such strangely contrasting types! Over a thousand years was between them, yet how alike they were, fundamentally. Both--just girls.

Larry gripped my hand. In times of emotion one is sometimes inarticulate. "Good-by, George," he said. "We--we've said already all there is to say, haven't we?"

There were tears in both the girls' eyes. We four had been so close; we had been through so much together; and now we were parting forever. All four of us were stricken with surprise at how it affected us. We stood gazing at one another.

"No!" I burst out. "I haven't said all there is to say. Don't you destroy that cage! You come back! Guard it as carefully as you can, and come back. Land here, next year in October; say, night of the 15th. Will you? We'll be here waiting."

"Yes," Tina abruptly agreed.

We stood watching them as they slid the door closed. The cage for a moment stood quiescent. Then it began faintly humming. It glowed; faded to a spectre; and was gone.

Mary and I turned away into the New York City of 1935, to begin our life together.

(_The End_)

TO THE MOON

The prediction that man will fly to the moon within the next 100 years was made by John Q. Stewart, associate professor of astronomical physics at Princeton University, in a recent address at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.

The first obstacle to be overcome is that of developing a speed of 25,000 miles an hour, the professor said, which means production of fuels more powerful than coal, gasoline, dynamite or any other source of energy now available. Such remarkable progress has been made in the speed of passenger carrying vehicles in the last century that scientists believe that a speed of 1,000 miles per hour will be reached in 1950 and 50,000 an hour will be surpassed before the year 2030, a century from now.

The one theoretically feasible method of making the journey to the moon, Stewart believes, is a vehicle propelled on the principle of the rocket. He visions a ship built in the form of a large metal sphere--110 feet in diameter, weighing 70,000 metric tons and carrying a crew of sixty and a dozen scientists. A dozen or more cannon would protrude slightly from the surface, shooting material the rate of 200 miles a second.

A half hour or so before noon and about three days before a new moon, Stewart would head his ship toward the sun, expecting it to rise twelve miles in the first six minutes and to soar out of the earth's atmosphere at 200 miles per hour.

Two hours and 29 minutes after the take-off the firing from the lower cannon would be stopped with the ship going upward, the professor estimates, at 190 miles per minute and having reached a height of 13,200 miles. Seventy hours later, crossing the moon's orbit, Stewart would fire the forward cannon and the ship would coast around the moon, becoming the temporary satellite of a satellite.

"The rest would be easy," said Stewart, "owing to the lesser gravity of the moon. The cannon would be fired to cushion the fall to the moon as the ship was gradually sucked toward the satellite.

"The moon is airless, waterless and lifeless, days and nights are two weeks long, temperatures range from that of boiling water at noon down perhaps to that of liquid air at midnight. The men of the ship would walk on the moon clad in diving suits. Gravity being only one-sixth that of the earth, a man would carry several hundred pounds of apparatus for providing air and for regulating the temperature.

"To leave the moon the ship would fire her rear cannon and coast back to earth. By firing its forward cannon it would cushion its landing on the earth, which would have to be made on a desert, because of the tremendous charges the cannon would fire."

_A Meeting Place for Readers of_ Astounding Stories

_The Author Explains_

Dear Editor:

Am very much puzzled by the several apparent mistakes in two
of the stories in the April issue of Astounding Stories. In
"The World Behind the Moon," Mr. Ernst makes an error so
obvious that it almost makes me believe that it isn't an
error. Like doing a math problem and finding it so easy that
you're sure that you have it wrong. Anyway, here is my
problem; this is taken verbatim from the story: "At two
thousand miles from the Earth there had still been enough
hydrogen traces in the ether to give purchase to the
explosions of their water-motor." Does the author mean to
say that the explosions of the tubes have to have something
to push against to have any action? (a) Has it not been
proven actually and mathematically that the explosions of
rockets and expanding gases are even more powerful in space?
The space ship in this story was equipped with both bow and
stern tubes; why not fire them to slow the ship down instead
of waiting to run into some resistance?

(b) Also, when they landed they took some air-guns which
shot bullets containing a liquid which exploded when heated
by the passage of the shell through the barrel; then the
author goes ahead and tells us that the planet was about as
hot as the tropics. Such heat should explode the bullets,
but it didn't. Why?

Mr. Ernst has his heroes do a lot of running around on that
little planet.

(c) Since the planet is smaller than the moon, it hasn't
much gravity and therefore can't retain a very heavy
atmosphere, or one very thick. Anyone doing all that violent
exercise would probably die of exhaustion before many
minutes of it.

"Four Miles Within" was a good story, but I am unable to
understand why they did not find a lot of stagnant air. Air
that had lain stagnant for the time that cavern must have
been closed would have killed the person who breathed it.
Also, I would imagine that it wouldn't be safe to handle a
chunk of radium like the characters in the story did; it's
liable to burn. However, it probably wasn't pure radium,
just pitchblende-bearing rocks.

The rest of the stories were fine. I especially like the
stories of the Special Patrol Service which S. P. Wright has
created. Let's have some more stories of Commander John
Hanson and his crew.

"The Exile of Time" has started off quite well and I look
forward to the next installments. Cummings is always good
for a batch of thrills and some swell adventure, to say
nothing of the enjoyable way he introduces science into the
story.

Wish you would publish this, as I would like to get in touch
with some other Science-Fiction fans.

By the way, some of the readers seem to want the mag
changed, but don't you do a thing to it. All the
suggestions, if followed, would make "our" mag like the
other S.-F. mags on the market, and I read Astounding
Stories because it is DIFFERENT, and I mean every one of
those capitals!--Ben Smith, Box 444, Billings, Mont.

Mr. Ernst's Answers:

(a) No, it has not been actually proved. It has been
indicated mathematically (by formulae based on conjecture),
but never actually solved--for the very good reason that it
is impossible to reproduce spacial conditions in earthly
laboratories. Know how an explosive force would react in
space? We don't even know positively what space is, let
alone how our chemicals and instruments would behave in it.

The majority theory is that explosive charges would propel a
rocket or space ship more effectively in the (theoretical)
emptiness of space, than in our atmosphere. But to my mind
it is quite possible that an explosion--a violent expansion
of gases causing rapid increase of pressures--would be
ineffectual where there are no pressures to be increased.
Might not the violently expanding gases fly forth from an
exhaust vent to expand instantly, frictionlessly and
impotently to the ends of the universe? In my story, "The
World Behind the Moon," I assumed that would occur. And no
man living is in a position positively to disprove it.

And, as a corollary, if a propulsion explosion cannot have
effect in empty space, as presumed in the story, the space
ship must enter atmosphere before it can stop by firing its
bow tubes. Otherwise, with the bow tubes shooting their
expanding gases futilely into nothingness, you could go into
"reverse" till the cows came home and the ship would hurtle
forward just the same.

(b) Friction of a bullet through a rifle barrel produces a
temperature considerably higher than "tropical."

(c) Again, no one knows spacial or planetary conditions. It
seems reasonable to assume that a planet's mass may have a
fairly direct bearing on the density of its atmosphere.
However, Venus, a smaller globe than Earth, is supposed to
have a denser atmosphere. For all we know to the contrary,
meteors no larger than pebbles may carry about with them
microscopic films of "atmospheres" of varying
densities.--Paul Ernst.

_Hitting Our Stride_

Dear Editor:

The more I read Astounding Stories, the more I like it.
You're just getting your stride this, the second year. But
why not foresee the demand of your Readers and have a few
stories by R. F. Starzl? You have other top-notchers such as
Ray Cummings, Murray Leinster; and Tom Curry is another good
writer. "Monsters of Mars" would have been better if it were
boiled down to about two thirds as many pages. It reads
"stretched."--W. P. O'Toole, Parker, S. Dak.

"_This Missile_"

Dear Editor:

Congratulations! Your magazine--excuse me, "our"
magazine--is going over big!

However, there are a few things I would like to suggest.
First, why not take a vote on the quarterly idea? Second,
give us more stories and illustrations. Increase the price
if you have to, but keep up the good work and I'm your
steady buyer. So far I have not missed a copy, and my only
regret is that I didn't have sense enough to keep the first
six or seven instead of throwing them away.

By the way, didn't I notice a rather heated argument going
on in "The Readers' Corner" about reprints? And what is the
matter with reprints? Nothing, except that they are
reprints. That is hardly an argument, but if you value my
monthly twenty cents please give us at least one reprint to
a volume, which I see comprises three copies of
your--pardon, "our" magazine. If the rest of the Readers
acquiesce I think we ought to have a reprint in the near
future. If they object, well, the world will roll on.

Your time is precious, and besides there are more Readers
waiting to say the same things I have just said, so I will
close this missile--er, missive.--Eugene Benefiel, The
Pioneer, Tucson, Arizona.

_From the Antipodes_

Dear Editor:

As a regular Reader of your magazine, Astounding Stories, I
thought I would write and tell you how I appreciate the
stories contained in it. I am a heavy Reader and have always
had a soft spot for stories unusual and bizarre. Until I
happened to see your magazine at a bookshop in Perth, I had
to be content with occasional Science Fiction stories by
Wells, Burroughs, and a few others which I picked up in my
browsing in various bookshops and libraries. Now that I get
Astounding Stories regularly, I have a monthly feast of good
things that I read and reread until the next issue arrives.

You ask us Readers to criticize the magazine. Well, I have
no complaints worth mentioning, except that some of the
illustrations do not tally sufficiently with the text of the
story. Some of the stories, in my opinion, are weak and not
worth reading. But, as tastes differ, I take everything as
it is, and say you have a first-class publication.

Will you thank your Authors for me for the very many hours
of interesting reading they have given me during the past
twelve months? Later I intend to get my Astounding Stories
bound in cloth covers, each twelve months' issue in a
volume.

If any Reader sees this letter--of course, should you think
it worth while to publish it--and can spare the time to
write to me here in Australia, I would be very grateful.
Perhaps we could exchange snapshots of various places of
interest. Every part of America interests me, so a Reader
need not back out because he thinks his district would not
be interesting enough.

Here's hoping Astounding Stories grows and prospers as the
years go by, so as to give more entertainment to me and my
fellow-readers. A rather selfish wish, you may think, but
you will forgive me when I say that I look forward with
great pleasure to each month's issue.--Claude J. Nanley, 65
Forrest St., Mt. Lawley, Western Australia.

_Note to Ray Cummings_

Dear Editor:

I have just started Ray Cummings' latest story in the April
issue. Although I wish Cummings would lay off this type of
story, I am willing to read anything by him. Jack
Williamson's "The Lake of Light" ranked second in this
issue. He is another Merritt. "The Ghost World," by S. P.
Wright, came third. Edmond Hamilton was better than he has
been of late.

If anyone wants to read "Through the Dragon Glass," "The
Girl in the Golden Atom," etc, and writes to me, I will tell
him where they can be obtained. (This is not an attempt at
free advertising.) I know several places where it is
possible to secure works of this kind and will be glad to
assist anyone who doesn't.

Cummings brought me to your mag. He is keeping me there. So
hold on to him. But, please tell him to forget all about
time and probe the mysteries of the infinitely large and
small, of interplanetary space, of future civilization and
future warfare.--Dale Mullen, 611 West Fifth, Topeka,
Kansas.

_The Effects of Cannabis_

Dear Editor:

I have sold magazines, written for magazines, and, now that
I have just concluded your April issue, I am editing
one--for myself. Specifically, one story, "Four Miles
Within." Inside of a radium mine! Chased by an amoeboid
body! Ooh!

Several years ago when I was a clinical chemist in hospital
service, the Roentgenologist, also a young chap, and a
surgical nurse and myself were so badly burned with three
grains of the substance enclosed in a lead capsule that we
were crippled for nearly a month. [No fair. Your experience
was with pure radium. It was only radium ore in the
story.--_Ed._] Imagine being four miles inside of the earth
exposed to radium "ore"!

And chased and pursued by a gigantic amoeba! Oh, oh! That
must have been my pet mother-of-vinegar that escaped. She
was hard to herd. She took after my dad's pet fish which
fell through a crack in a bridge and was drowned.

In passing, it is interesting to note that persons can
vanish "into" a plane surface; say, "into" a fifth
dimension. My instructor in trig. must have been all wet.

And Dr. Bird catches a man withdrawing "menthium" from human
brains with a "needle," without the use of either x-ray or a
trephine!

And then low forms of life such as crabs and alligators with
very highly developed scientific knowledge! A few issues ago
octopi were in the lead!

And those "space" ships! Mars must be an interesting spot.
And those Martians! Sometimes they are ant-like, and other
times worms, and again human freaks! (I still prefer the
silver-green messenger I saw on the stage twenty years ago.
He was a gentleman and a scholar and no one yet has improved
upon him.)

And those radio waves that can vibrate matter in a straight
line! One Jackson Gee vibrates it in two straight lines.
(Rather funny at that.)

And people disappear into an atom by taking pellets! They
take the pellets into their system and that shrinks or
expands them. How does the author calculate that in "Beyond
The Vanishing Point"? The pellets must contain cannabis
indica (hashish) I guess. Once upon a time I was suffering
from an acute attack of colic and was obliged to use an
anti-spasmodic. I took cannabis, and in the delirium that
followed I shrunk small enough to walk into a mouse-hole
into which I had seen a mouse disappear a few hours
previous. The mouse was there and looked like an elephant. I
awoke in a sweat.

Maybe all your stories won't be weird and full of
monstrosities. Science is full of beauty and culture, you
know.--Arthur H. Carrington, Seaside Heights Pharmacy,
Seaside Heights, N. J.

_Where Fantasy Meets Science Fiction_

Dear Editor:

I have purchased many of the issues of your magazine, and
have read everything in them, including the letter columns,
with great interest. I have particularly enjoyed certain
stories, such as "The Forgotten Planet," "The Jovian Jest"
and "The Planet of Dread," in which genuine imaginative
quality was combined with good writing. Many other tales,
not so well written, I have enjoyed for their fantasy, their
suggestive ideas.

In following "The Readers' Corner" I have noted the
objection to so-called "impossible" stories, voiced by some
of your Readers. Stories thus classified, one would infer,
are tales dealing with the marvelous and the mysterious in
which the author has not attempted to give a naturalistic or
scientific explanation of his wonders and mysteries. In
other words, he has not rendered them in terms of the
test-tube. He has admitted the inexplicable, the
"supernatural."

Personally, I enjoy stories of this type, as well as those
that are written with the purely scientific approach. I
suspect that those who condemn them are suffering from a
rather amusing--and also pathetic--sort of unconscious
hypocrisy. I think that people who read your magazine, as
well as Science Fiction magazines in general, are people
with the ingrained human love for wonder and mystery; but
some of them are afraid to accept and enjoy anything--even a
fairy tale--that is not couched in the diction of modern
materialistic science, with a show of concern for verified
credibilities. Probably, in most cases, they would like and
prize the very stories that they condemn if the writer had
used a different terminology, and had offered explanations
that were even superficially logical according to known
laws.

Please do not think that I am decrying, or even criticizing,
Science Fiction. I consider it a highly important and
significant branch of present-day writing, and have hopes of
contributing to it myself. I am merely advocating an open
attitude of mind and imagination. For those who think that
the "impossible" requires justification--or cannot be
justified--I would suggest that the only impossible thing is
to define and delimit the impossible. In an infinite,
eternal universe, there is nothing imaginable--or
unimaginable--which might not happen, might not be true,
somewhere or sometime. Science has discovered, and will
continue to discover, an enormous amount of relative data;
but there will always remain an illimitable residue of the
undiscovered and the unknown. And the field for imaginative
fiction, both scientific and non-scientific, is, it seems to
me, wholly inexhaustible.--Clark Ashton Smith, Auburn, Cal.

_Heroes Too Heroic?_

Dear Editor:

I wrote you a letter last month. I'm writing you a letter
this month, and I'll write you a letter next month. In fact,
I'm going to write you a letter every month just as soon as
I finish the latest issue of Astounding Stories, so you
might as well have a special department installed in
Astounding Stories right away entitled "Letters from the Sap
Who Thinks He Is So Smart," or something else equally
appropriate.

Have you ever noticed that 99% of Edmond Hamilton's stories
have the same plot as "Monsters of Mars"? The plot I mean is
this:

A group of men, preferably three, get into enemy territory.
As to the enemy (if the enemy are not lizards or some other
repulsive form of life), Mr. Hamilton has them wear
repulsive clothes, live in ugly buildings, etc., to make the
reader dislike them at the start. An old, old idea, and
quite a commonly used one, is to have these creatures about
to declare war and conquer the hero's country with the
enemy's super-weapons; and after capturing our brave, bold,
and heroic heroes, proceed to tell the heroes the way the
weapons work, the zero hour set for attack, and the line of
march of the enemy's armies (as if prisoners are told all
these things!). Our heroes then cleverly escape and grab an
enemy machine. About two thousand of the enemy close in to
the kill, but (Mr. Hamilton simply loves "buts") our brave
heroes glance over the strange controls of the captured
craft and without hesitation pick out the right levers and
hold the enemy at bay. After annihilating most of them, and
after the zero hour has come, the heroes prevent the great
invasion and return to their native land.

It is interesting to note that the heroes, though greatly
outnumbered and with strange weapons, always down many of
the enemy while they themselves escape unscathed. Also, Mr.
Hamilton loves narrow escapes, and phrases such as these
appear frequently in his story: "But even as he raised his
deadly ray-tube, I leaped and knocked it from his hand. They
charged, but I was too quick and dodged as the foremost
hurtled at me."

These incidents are supposed to get the reader all excited,
but after a while they grow monotonous.

The second story in the April issue, "The Exile of Time,"
promises to be excellent in every way. It would be
interesting if George Rankin, in his time-traveling, should
witness the signing of the Declaration of Independence or
the Battle of Bunker Hill.

"Four Miles Within" was good also, save that the heroes'
escape from being marooned and James Quade's death savored
unpleasantly of Edmond Hamilton.

Sewell Peaslee Wright's adventures of the space patrol are
always fascinating, and "The Ghost World" is a splendid
example of this.

On the whole, your magazine is practically perfect.--Robert
Baldwin, 359 Hazel Ave., Highland Park, Ill.

_Likes 'Em to Seem Real_

Dear Editor:

I've been reading Astounding Stories since the November
issue, and I think that, on the whole, it is a very good
magazine. It is of a handy size, convenient price, and O.
K., except that you might cut the edges of the pages
smoother. Wesso is an excellent artist.

I think your best authors are Harl Vincent, Ray Cummings and
Capt. S. P. Meek. I like Capt. Meek's Dr. Bird stories
immensely. Also among your best authors are Charles W.
Diffin aid Murray Leinster. And now about the stories
themselves.

I've noticed that quite a few in "The Readers' Corner" are
all for fiction and no scientific explanation. I like
fiction, too, but anybody can make up a pretty good plot
about a girl, a lover, and a villain, and have a wild theory
of super-science for a basis, and then not explain it. What
I like most is when an Author--who uses such a theory as,
for instance, making matter invisible by bathing it with a
ray, the color of which is beyond the range of the spectrum,
as in "Terrors Unseen," by Harl Vincent--backs up his idea
with a clear explanation and makes it plausible and
convincing. It makes his tale seem more possible, and hence
more real. I like it much better when the writer doesn't
even suggest a theory in his plot--to say nothing of trying
to prove it--than when he gives you the invention of a
professor in the year 2431, and lets you imagine how and why
it works.--T. Caldwell, 912 Moreno Road, Santa Barbara, Cal.

_Covers Too Imaginative?_

Dear Editor:

For crying out loud, why can't everyone be satisfied! One
person says "our" mag is too small, another says it's O. K.;
one wants so-and-so's work, someone else doesn't, etc. Why
can't Readers be reasonable? They'll continually admit A. S.
is the best Science Fiction mag on the market (with which I
thoroughly agree) and then they'll start complaining. As if
anything can be 100% perfect--though A. S. comes awfully
near it!

Then for some of the complaints, I recall but two sensible
ones. I have read every issue of A. S. except the first two,
and several times I have been tempted to write to you about
them.

1--Too imaginative a cover gives the narrow-minded
non-Science Fiction reader an idea that "our" mag contains
trash. I refer to such covers as those on the August,
September, October, 1930, issues, and the March, April, and
especially May, 1931, issues. These people's opinions
reflect rather harshly on the faithful A. S. Readers. Can't
the covers be more like those on the March, May, June and
July, 1930, issues? (All those stories themselves, however,
were great, as usual.)

2--Please hold down on "The Readers' Corner." Isn't an eight
and nine-page section a bit too much? A short story has been
suggested--good idea. Why not limit it to a maximum of, say,
five pages?

I shall not complain of any of the stories, because I
realize that others probably enjoyed what very few I may not
have. I must, however, say that Ray Cummings' "Brigands of
the Moon" holds first place, in my opinion. It was great!
Please keep up the excellent work.--Meredith L. Evons, 4001
Cedar Lane, Drexel Hill, Pa.

"_Evenly Divided_"

Dear Editor:

Although I missed the first few issues of Astounding Stories
due to the fact that I was not aware of its publication, I
have become a regular reader.

In glancing through your "Readers' Corner," I became aware
of the fact that most of the letters therein praise
Astounding Stories to the skies, and put it far ahead of any
other Science Fiction magazine. I will not go quite so far,
as it is my belief that most magazines of this type are on
the same level. In fact, it seems absurd to me to state
otherwise, as the authors who write for you one month
publish stories in another magazine the next month. Of
course, these authors put out, once in a while, stories that
are much better than their usual offering, but, taken over a
fairly long period of time, these periodic occurrences will
be about evenly divided among various magazines. I have the
conceit to believe that I know what I am talking about, as
my observations are based on five years of Science Fiction
reading.

Of course, while I believe that there are other magazines
equally as good, Astounding Stories is certainly not
inferior to any. There is always room for a Science Fiction
magazine of the same caliber as Astounding Stories, but
unfortunately for the public there are too few of
them.--James M. Kennedy, Ithaca, N. Y.

_Machine or Beast?_

Dear Editor:

Having read about every issue of Astounding Stories to date,
I have decided that it is the best of the three Science
Fiction magazines that I have read.

The best story that you have published yet, in my opinion,
is "Brigands of the Moon," by Ray Cummings. Sewell Peaslee
Wright and Victor Rousseau are also very good writers. The
only two stories that I did not like were "Murder Madness"
and "Earth, the Marauder." The former belonged in a
detective magazine, and the latter in the waste basket. It
was too far-fetched for even my imagination.

Now a word about your cover illustrations. The first issue
that I bought convinced me that your artist was a genius,
but my opinion of him is steadily decreasing. That
illustration that I speak of was a scene from "Brigands of
the Moon." It certainly was good. Lately, I am ashamed to
show the magazine to my friends because of the gaudily
painted and repugnant creatures on the cover. A picture of a
machine is much more appropriate than a beast of some kind.
Wesso seems to be able draw a picture like that which is on
the March or April, 1930, numbers better than those of late.

I would like to communicate with Science Fiction Readers of
about my age, which is 15. I will answer any or all letters
that are written to me.--William D. Crocker, Ashfield, Mass.

_Expert Opinion_

Dear Editor:

May I express my pleasure and gratification in your worthy
magazine? I read two other Science Fiction publications
beside yours, but Astounding Stories is by far their
superior, especially as there is a human interest to your
stories that is sadly lacking in others. They also contain
too much technical detail. Your magazine is just right. The
paper is easy on the eyes and the type is distinct and
doesn't blur or tire the eyes.

The cover illustrations leave nothing to be desired. The
edges, size, number of pages, etc., are of no concern to me.
I have read every issue of Astounding Stories since it was
published and can find no fault with it whatever. If those
soreheads who howl incessantly about minor details would
only try to get out a paper of their own they would soon see
what a wonderful work you are doing. The May 1931, issue,
which I have just finished, is really the best collection of
Science Fiction stories I've read in many a day, and I've
read quite a bit.

I wish you every success in the world.--C. P. Binsford. M.
D., 604 Pearl Street, Huntsville, Ala.

_A Satirical Drama--Complete_

Dear Editor:

One Act Play of the Future

Time-traveler from the Twentieth Century: "So this is the
year 24,000 A.D.?"

Sulsu-D-9: "Yes, Visitor from the Past."

Time-Traveler: "Say, Sulsu-D-9, has Astounding Stories
brought out a Quarterly yet?"

Sulsu-D-9: "No, Man from the Long Ago, but it looks like
we'll have one within the next five years!"--Forrest J.
Ackerman, 530 Staples Ave., San Francisco, Cal.

_An Employment Non-Solution_

Dear Editor:

Owing to the fact that I have been a constant Reader of
Astounding Stories since the first day it appeared on the
news-stands, I think that it is about time for me to drop a
few lines to you to show my appreciation for the many, many
good stories that you have given the Readers of Science
Fiction in the pages of your mag.

I agree very strongly with Mr. Sager of Bessemer, Ala.,
about the paper in the book. If the stories are interesting,
why in the name of Seven Kinds of Hades should anyone worry
about the kind of paper as long as the print is readable.
What is that old saying about the best articles not being
always in the best wrapped parcels? I am here to say that
Astounding Stories is the best of its kind.

What I have to say now is by no means a criticism. I am
merely asking for an explanation. I have no regard for those
people who are continually looking for flaws to peck about
in various stories.

In the May, 1931, issue my choice of all the fine stories
was "Dark Moon." That was a super-story and I enjoyed it
from start to finish, even the third or fourth time I read
it. If a story is worth reading once it is worth reading
several times, is my belief. But now comes the question.
Will some other kind Reader endeavor to explain it to me?

How could the intrepid explorers on the Dark Moon see the
light of Earth and the other planets if the light from the
Dark Moon could not pass the gaseous formation to Earth,
etc.? And how could the Dark Moon receive the light that it
did? [Mr. Diffin did not explain that; perhaps he intends to
do so in a sequel. Who knows?--_Ed._].

One main fault I have to find with Astounding Stories is
that it is not published twice a month, if not oftener. By
the way, would that not be a plan to help out unemployment.
It would put more men to work and I am sure that all of us
Readers could scrape up 20c more a month for this wonderful
magazine. How about it? [But this, I think, would _increase_
unemployment!--_Ed._].

I would like to hear from some of the Readers in the near
future. Best wishes for the continued prosperity of the
magazine.--Christen G. Davis, 531 South Millard, Chicago,
Ill.

_Doggoned If He Didn't!_

Dear Editor:

The stories, being the most important part of the magazine,
come first:

"Dark Moon," by Charles W. Diffin, is the best novelette you
have yet published, and that's saying a lot for it, isn't
it?

Next comes "The Exile of Time," by Ray Cummings, another
impossible time-traveling story, but nevertheless
interesting.

Welcome to Astounding Stories, Mr. Schachner and Mr. Zagat.
Your story "The Death Cloud" was great. I hope you'll favor
us with another story very soon.

And if here isn't Capt. Meek with another Dr. Bird story!
Captain Meek, if you stop writing them, I'll never read
another of your marvelous stories.

The moon turned green, and I'll be doggone if Hal K. Wells
didn't go and write a nice little story telling us all about
it. That was nice of you, Mr. Wells; I enjoyed it very, very
much.

Now let's take a look at the cover. Mr. Wesso, you certainly
have a marvelous imagination. You are an excellent cover
artist. It isn't everyone that can illustrate Science
Fiction stories, I do wish that you will illustrate Science
Fiction stories only, as that is where you are at your best.
Almost any artist can illustrate detective story magazines,
so don't waste your talent on them.

Ha! Here we are at the "In the Next Issue" page.

Hurrah! Hurrah! Arthur J. Burks is back again! Can't you
manage to get next month's issue out a little earlier, Mr.
Bates? R. F. Starzl's also back again; and there's to be
another story by Charles W. Diffin. Isn't this a grand old
world?

I will close with this suggestion. Let's have more
illustrations. At least two for each installment of the
serials and two for each long novelette. Make the extra
illustrations full page ones.--Jack Darrow, 4225 N.
Spaulding Ave., Chicago, Ill.

"--_And Amusing_"

Dear Editor:

I have just finished the May issue of A. S. and I want to
tell you that "Dark Moon," by Charles W. Diffin, was fine.
Let's have more stories like that. Your "The Readers'
Corner" sure is interesting--and amusing. I like to read
letters from Readers.

A bouquet: A. S. is a really fine magazine. I think it's one
of the best of its kind. Of course, it can be improved--but
what can't? There's no sense in criticizing a magazine as
some Readers do. I think if the Editor could make his
magazine any better, he would do it without
hesitation.--Charles Strada, 503 Olive Street, Kansas City,
Mo.

_Cummings and Wagner_

Dear Editor:

Astounding Stories is in my estimation the best magazine on
the market. Words are feeble when an accurate description of
the pleasure that I receive from every issue of Astounding
Stories is needed. However, I will say that next to my
extreme appreciation of classical music, I rate Astounding
Stories as being the best outlet of my emotions. As in the
music of that great German composer, Richard Wagner, whom I
rate as the greatest of all composers, so do I find an
outlet of my emotions by reading a novelette by Cummings,
Vincent, Leinster and many other of your excellent Authors.

For example, I shall take the overture to "The Flying
Dutchman." In the beginning of this overture we hear the
opening call played by the trombones with the string section
accompanying this principal motive with wild crescendo. This
excites the brain so that a taste of the supreme motives is
like an appetizer at dinner. So, taking the novel by Ray
Cummings entitled "Beyond the Vanishing Point," we find that
in the opening paragraphs there is also an "appetizer" to
the rest of the story which is to follow.

Now, returning to our "Flying Dutchman" overture, we find
that after the introduction by the wild calls by the
trombones and the string accompaniment, we gradually drift
into a somewhat pensive mood; so in the story, for the next
few pages we find more or less quiet reading. Gradually,
however, this quiet mood in the music gives way to rolls on
the kettle-drums announcing a grand climax; finally the
music becomes wilder and wilder until at last the storm
breaks and we actually picture this ghost-ship riding over
the waves in a terrific storm. Lightning flashes, thunder
roars, huge waves sweep over the deck of the ship as we see
the Dutchman at the wheel laughing out his defiance in
diabolical fury.

And so in the story we are finally led up to a grand climax
which actually grips anyone with an ounce of red blood in
his veins.

And now I would like to ask the following questions:

Is there some Reader of Astounding Stories who no longer has
any use for the old issues of Astounding Stories and would
be so kind as to send me these? From the first issue up to
the November, 1930, issue and also the December, 1930, issue
are the magazines that I should like to have.

Leave your magazine as is, only have one good long
novelette, not two fairly good ones as in your April issue,
which was not up to the standard set by your previous
magazines.--Walter G. Diehl, 145-38 Eighth Ave., Malba, L.
I., N. Y.

_This Time-Traveling Traffic_

Dear Editor:

Many times during the past months, while reading your really
remarkable magazine, I have come across contradictions in
explanations throughout the stories, which, while not very
serious, tend to give me the impression that the Authors
either did not care about or did not see through the errors
they committed. I did not complain about them, considering
them but minor mistakes.

But in Ray Cummings' latest current novel, "The Exile of
Time," there exists such a monstrosity as I believe calls
for an explanation.

Mr. Cummings' story, you know, centers around his
time-traveling machine. If such a thing were possible, would
it not be reasonable to believe that a holder of the secret
of time-traveling could go back into the past and prevent
some catastrophe or tragedy as his historical knowledge of
the event would make possible?

According to this theory then, a person could go back into
the past and divert the hand of Wilkes Booth on April 15,
1865, about to assassinate Lincoln.

But this shows its own impossibilities: that of two
contradicting absolute truths for the world to believe.

Likewise, a person could travel into the future, learn of
his own death, go back into his own time and take measures
to prevent it. In the same way, this could not be. [But Mr.
Cummings explains that these things are impossible.--_Ed._]

I do not mean to be critical, but it would lend much more
interest to the story if the authors would be a bit more
careful.--Robert W. Conrad, Rush City, Minn.

_Tripe?_

Dear Editor:

In the short time your mag. has been out, it has already
established itself as the best in the field. I got a real
kick out of most of your stories.

In the May issue, two yarns are outstanding: Charles W.
Diffin's splendid "Dark Moon" and Nat Schachner and Arthur
L. Zagat's especially fine "The Death Cloud." These two are
as thrilling stories as I have ever read. Mr. Diffin I've
read before and always enjoyed; but Messrs. Schachner and
Zagat are new to me. I am looking forward to seeing more of
their stuff.

But what has happened to Cummings? He used to be aces up,
but now comes this tripe of his called "The Exile of Time";
especially the current installment with its long-winded rot
about mysticism and theosophy and the Lord knows what. Where
was the Editor when this blew in? Surely there are plenty of
Swami sheets for that truck; it has no place in Astounding
Stories.

Give us more of Diffin, Leinster, Schachner, Zagat and
Rousseau, and you'll keep us all satisfied.--D. Kay,
Standish Arms, Brooklyn, N. Y.

_For Rocket Fans_

Dear Editor:

It may interest your Readers to know that the American
Interplanetary Society has just completed its first year of
existence, and looks forward to a most energetic second year
in pursuing its aims.

The Society has practically completed the first lap of its
research on the possibilities and limitations of the rocket,
and intends to continue this research for another year
before publishing a complete report which shall be the first
extensive survey of the rocket in English.

We plan also to extend the size and scope of our monthly
Bulletin, to make of it a real magazine that shall publish
all the news, both of America and abroad, dealing with
developments in astronautics and rocketry. It will also
contain the reports of the Society's members on the rocket,
as well as interesting general articles on the various
phases of interplanetary travel.

Plans are also maturing for a campaign of mutual
experimentation on the rocket which we shall be ready to
carry out before the end of this year. The Society is also
completing plans for the formation of an International
Interplanetary Commission which shall coordinate the work of
the national societies and plan to solve the problems of
astronautics on a world-wide basis.

While the growth of the Society during the past year was
very promising we hope to extend during this year the scope
and field of our activities and membership. We have members
now in thirty-six states, in Canada, Mexico, France and
Russia. To your readers we offer our active and associate
memberships, giving to lovers of Science Fiction a chance to
assist in the bringing to realization the dream of all
interplanetary travel.

Information about the Society and the classes of membership
can be obtained by writing to the secretary at the address
below.--Nathan Schachner, Sec., American Interplanetary
Society. 113 West 42nd St., New York City.

"_The Readers' Corner_"

All readers are extended a sincere and cordial invitation to "come over in 'The Readers' Corner'" and join in our monthly discussion of stories, authors, scientific principles and possibilities--everything that's of common interest in connection with our Astounding Stories.

Although from time to time the Editor may make a comment or so, this is a department primarily for _Readers_, and we want you to make full use of it. Likes, dislikes, criticisms, explanations, roses, brickbats, suggestions--everything's welcome here; so "come over in 'The Readers' Corner'" and discuss it with all of us!

_The Editor._

* * * * *

End of Project Gutenberg's Astounding Stories, July, 1931, by Various