On June 14th, Roosevelt ordered the freezing of all German and Italian assets, which led to those countries immediately expelling US consuls, while on the 17th the RAF revealed that "radio location" had been Britain's key weapon against German bombers, the first public acknowledgement of the existence of radar.

The big news in June however was Hitler breaking the Nazi-Soviet pact and, on the 22nd, launching a massive invasion of Russia with 100 army divisions along a 1,800 mile front that stretched from the Arctic to the Black Sea.

Distributed with this issue:

THE GENTLEST ART #8 - ed. Douglas Webster - 6 pages
TIN TACKS #5 - ed. Don Doughty - 2 pages
STAR PARADE #4 - ed. Ken Bulmer - 8 pages

First item to report this month is news of James Rathbone, who has been wandering round the near East. His letter gives as address c/o Imperial Communications, Durban, South Africa; but is postmarked from London, England - so he has arrived home again. However, he is at present in hospital with some sort of nervous trouble . We wish him a speedy recovery; especially as he and the girl he left behind, Miss Rita Pitman, are waiting anxiously to get married:

Incidentally a round-about item of news about Harold Gottliffe via the ordinary press, was that his hospital. ship was unsuccessfully bombed during the affair round Crete. No casualties was the report. Two changes of address: Hugh John Ellis of Barrow-in-Furness joins the gallant ranks of the bombed-out; new address is Berkune Cottage, Lindal- in-Furness, Lancs. And S.A.Beach leaves Aberystwyth for 18 Coychurch Rd, Bridgend, Glamorgan. More Service news: William Frederick (Woof) Temple, after spending a leave with wife and family in Cornwall, is now in a Field Regt in Monmouth "not doing at all badly; Mostly Scots, Hoots, What's ma haggis". And Signalman E. C .Williams has now arrived in Llandudno for the nonce. The visiting season has commenced. Eric Needham of Manchester & Eric Hopkins of London had a minor convention of their own, wandered all round the metropolis, discussed everything under the sun and made an unsuccessful call on Arthur Williams. Eric Williams (this is getting a bit confusing) did manage to find both Arthur Williams (no relationship) & Ken Bulmer in during his recent leave in London and all three had a grand free-for-all discussion. "Renny" Rennison of Blackburn visited Bert Lewis in Preston & spent a day investigating Bert's beautiful collection. Both enjoyed the exchange of views. Ron Lane and Harry Turner, both of Manchester, met for the first time recently - there is a possibility of an stf. club (very informal) for Manchester, being formed. Ron Holmes appeared before his local C.O. tribunal this month. Verdict land work, ambulance or civil defence.

________________________________________ L o n d o n l e t t e r As a result of a chain-letter recently sent around to them, half-a dozen London fans are now in touch with one another. Tom Dovey; new fan-find of Sidney Bounds, reveals himself an enthusiastic cave-explorer, and met myself and two other cavers last week. Raises query; any other fans interested in speleology? Over Whitsun I visited deserted lead mine workings in Mendip Hills, source of Roman pipes in baths of Bath, reputably Phoenician in origin. Am going to spend a seven days leave caving In South Wales. Sidney L. Birchby _____________________________________ FORT'S BOOKS REPRINTED !!! The Fortean Society of America announces that in collaboration with Henry Holt & Co., they have reprinted all of Charles Fort's epoch- making books, in a single volume together with a complete & exhaustive index. The price is 4 dollars post- paid anywhere in the world. The four books in question are "The Book of the Damned", "New Lands", "Lo!", "Wild Talents" and all try to show Fort's ideas of the incorrectness of modern science's interpretation of the universe. We hope that this edition will be available in Britain. Other Booknews A new series-of shilling paper- backs has been issued by Messrs Methuen. The first 12 numbers contain two widely differing fantasies, namely "The Jovial Ghosts" by Thorne Smith, which is one of the Topper series, a hilarious Rabelaisian farce: and "The Wind in the Willows" by K. Grahame, a childrens book of the Alice-in-Wonderland school.

Stf. it appears, has worked this wonder, by hammering home the lesson that "Machine warfare has done one notable thing already. It has killed off the possibility of isolation for a nation, and made the invasion of far-off lands almost as easy as those nearby". This he quotes from "Wonder Stories" for March '32. Brer Henderson cites story after story from Astounding, Wonder, and Amazing featuring war and invasion and destruction, from "The Death Cloud" (Astounding, May '31) to "The Invisible Invasion" (Amazing, April'39).

Its really quite a nice little boost for stf. especially in such an unexpected place. Such sentences as "These stories are a riot of undisciplined imagination, and only rarely have the slightest literary value" are probably a concession to the readers of Chamber's Journal. His sympathetic interest in stf. in reasonably plain. Rather a pity he didn't manage to work in a reference to Tales of Wonder .....R. G. Medhurst

Since the appearance of this article we have been in touch with Mr. Henderson who says, "My approach to the subject is perhaps rather different from yours. I am a historian, and primarily interested in foreign policy; But of latter years public opinion has played a greater and greater part in moulding foreign policy; and I am therefore necessarily interested in the various things that influence public opinion - including Science Fiction. This influence has, of course been much greater in the U.S.A. than here. It is not a topic in which, so far as I know, any work has yet been done; and I wrote my little essay to try to persuade some American student to get on to the subject."

This certainly opens up an interesting vista worthy of some thought on our part. Incidentally Mr Henderson would be pleased if anyone could inform him of some good stf collections which could be accessible to him the neighbourhood of Glasgow, where he lives.

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MAGAZINE REVIEW

There are three books of note for my review this month tho' I'm afraid this is a little delayed owing to pressure of my own work; all these books however are quite worthy of note.

The first is by Rex Warner, many of you will, no doubt, remember his "Wild Goose Chase", his latest effort is of a different type and quite topical in a way. The book is called "The Aerodrome" (Bodley Head 7/6) and tho' sub-titled "a love story, bears no resemblance to the kind of romance those three words usually describe. It is much more than a love story; it is a grim fantasy and a grimmer warning of what might happen in this country, were a Fascist regime to seize power. It bites deep and possesses a rare individuality, it is not a comfortable book, some of it will shock, with its cold sincerity and colder logic and demands, for its author's place amongst the present day writers who are producing something really new. It centres in a typical English village, where the "enemy" Air Force takes over the local aerodrome in its ruthlessly efficient way and the village is reduced to something like slavery.

The second story by Morchard Bishop is "The Star Called Wormwood" (Gollancz 8/-), is a fantastic satire directed against all wars. This also is a book which may well make some people feel uncomfortable, as the author sets about his task, not hesitating to bring in the ecclesiastical as well as human affairs. The result is a curious compound of Wellsian adventure and caustic commentary, during which an unlettered rustic from early Victorian days, finds himself transported to the world of A.D. 2839, in the company of shades of Coleridge and Blake, being gradually made aware of the, to him, almost incredible stupidities of modern man at war.

The third book is only reviewed in brief as, up to the time of writing only little in known of the contents, here it is for what it is worth; "Invasion" by Henrik Van Loon (Harrap 5/-) the book is supposed to have been written by Van Loon, who, in 1960, discovers his old manuscripts of a Nazi invasion of the United States in the early 1940s, the story in written contemporarily, its place in S.F. lists is very obvious.

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WE WANT TO SAY that this issue is respectfully dedicated to Mr Douglas Webster of Aberdeen, who so kindly provided Fido's rapacious maw with 2 reams of paper which we are using for this issue.

We must apologise for unwittingly conveying inaccurate information last month in the momentous question of chain-letters. Apparently the idea was originated by Ego Clarke, who discussed it by post with several other people, whereupon Hal Chibbett brought out the "Probe" letter on the idea that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
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The elegant and elite periodical publication you are now perusing is entitled FUTURIAN WAR DIGEST and is devoted to fantasy fiction. Generally known as "FIDO", it is published monthly from 4 Grange Terrace, Leeds 7 by & J. Michael Rosenblum; @3d. per copy, 3/- per year post free. Americans can remit promags to the value of 75 cents in lieu of cash. Thanks are due to those worthy souls who are responsible for the accompanying "litter.
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1. When did Street & Smith take over Astounding from Claytons?
2. The principal theme of H. G. Wells book "Wheels of Chance" is --?
3. Give three feminine authors who have written for either Ast. or Amazing
4. Fort's "Lo!" was serialised in Astounding some years ago. What are his other books?
5. Who is the British Secretary of the Fortean Society of America?
6. What degree does Stanton A. Coblentz hold?
7. When did Astounding first publish: i. In Time to Come, ii, Mutants?
8. When was an editorial from The New York Times reprinted in an SF mag?
9. What day did the great Stanley G. Weinbaum die?
10. S.G.Weinbaum wrote a story under a pen-name. Title & pseudonym please.
11. What Astounding stories featured a.Billiards, b.Baseball, c.American football?
12. Bill Temple's first published fantasy story was --?
13. What are the following by profession 1. Willy Ley, 2. L. Sprague DC Camp, 3. John A. Clark ?
14. An author invented a fictitious character only to be informed later that there was a person of that name actually engaged on the work the author depicted. What was 1.Author 2. Story 3. Occupation 4. Character
15. Chan Corbett wrote a story called "When Time Stood Still". Another author used the same title?