In North Africa in July, the Eighth Army finally halts and turns back the German desert offensive at El Alamein. Mussolini had flown to Africa expecting a triumphal entry into Cairo at the head of Germany's Italian allies. He returns to Italy with this expectation unfulfilled.

In an echo of their response to the Heydrich assassination, the Nazis slaughter 700 in Yugoslavia in reprisal for the killing of the Zagreb Gestapo chief.

Distributed with this issue:

BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY BULLETIN #2 - ed. D.R.Smith - 1 page
DELERIUM TREMENS #4 - ed. Dennis Tucker - 6 pages
GALAXY #1 - ed. Terry Overton - 2 pages
SANDS OF TIME #6 - ed. Ted Carnell - 2 pages
TRIVIA #2 - ed. J.Edward Rennison - 2 pages

OVERSEAS MAIL

From Sigmn Eric Williams, 2359768, No 2 Coy, 3 GHQ Signals, M. E. F.

"I expect you would like to know the position of SF out here, well, believe it or not, it has a terrific sale New SF mags appear in the shops one day and the next you have to take a rifle with you if you want to make the wog shopkeeper hand over the last copy that he has been saving for his own use. I've seen hundreds of soldiers on and off carrying their copy of FUTURE or AMAZING and nearly everyone who sees me with a copy of ASTOUNDING asks me for a loan, and it returns after several days the printing almost read off. Last thing I bought was SCIENCE FICTION QUARTERLY No 4 with Cummings' "Tarrano the Conqueror''. Let me voice my vote for Cummings being SF's worst big-name writer. I hop-skipped and jumped my way through "Tarrano" and cursed the impulse that made me splash out 6 piastres for the mag. The supporting stories were quite good.

Your multi-publication is extremely interesting to read, especially the bits about the boys. Isn't it amazing and significant the number of fans who are joining up in the Signals? Guess it must be the high level of intelligence and keenness needed to become a Signalman. Also interesting and pleasing to read is Medhurst's "Bibliophan". I like his style and the really new information he discloses. Glad to see Ted Carnell active once more. This idea of a sheet on S&S has been eating his brain away for a long time. Through the medium of your mag I'd like to say 'ooyeedah' to Bill, Maurice, Ted, Johnny, Dave, Sid, Arthur and all those folks I used to know but to whom I have been too lazy and forgetful to write to. Tell them I will be seeing them in a year or two."

And about a week later came an airmail card from Sigmn Eric Moss, 2582712, 6 IBHQ, 1 Section, A.S.P.O. India, - yes that's where the laddie has got to.

"Just a few lines to let you know I have arrived safely at my destination which as you can see is India. We spent about seven weeks uneventful journeying going across the sea, spending a few days at Capetown where I had a great time. I also spent a day in Bombay but wasn't very keen on the place. At present we are somewhere in the interior, miles away from civilisation with the exception of a bazaar and a cinema which shows ancient films. The weather is hot and very wet seeing it is the monsoons season, and yet nothing seems to grow around here - all I can see are a few trees and a patch of grass now and then."

So that adds yet another country on to those to which FIDO is already being sent, viz. England, Scotland, Wales, USA, Canada, Egypt, Palestine, and now India, oh and Australia of course. What a far flung publication we now have!

ALL THE DIRT we can shove in... commiserations to Erik Needham who managed to drop off the tailplane of an aircraft just a few days before a long-awaited leave, and had to miss the aforesaid leave due to the repairs necessary. And he is still being moved merrily around the country, averaging some two or three weeks per station...to Arthur Busby of Birmingham go our congratulations on the birth of a son...and to Arthur Clarke on the attainment his LACship... and to Eric Moss who will be having his 21st birthday just about the time you in England are reading this...and to Jack Banks who has now been in and out of jail, his second appeal being successful, so that we hope to have him taking an active part in fandom in the near future... some service moves... John Morgan is in Hammersmith, London now, Julian Parr has landed at Calne, Wiltshire, not very far from Ego Clarke - mebbe they've met by now, Ted Carnell is still in the wilds of Troon, Ayrshire and after a brief stay at North Berwick, Maurice Hanson will be moved again... our cover artist this month is Bob Gibson who was so kind as to cut us a few stencils recently, next month we have another artist new to stencil work, Ron Bradbury of Manchester, followed the issue after by our old standby Art Williams. Isn't it nice to be able to plan ahead?

This calling up business should provide a nice break to answer all those letters that have just had to be ignored for so long: I daren't enumerate all the folk that might receive letters soon as it'd take up too much space! Then again I hope to got more chances for sketching which should produce an improvement in my work, which will, I hope be reflected in future Zenith drawings. Still, that all remains to be seen.

In the meantime, au revoir comrades! Hope to be presenting an extra-special number of Z soon. And to you, Michael, my thanks for the usual duplication & distribution; I shall use my: influence to got you awarded a "Hero of Labour" medal after the revolution.

Harry Turner

LongliveFanarchy!Downwithallfanorganisations!Arise ye Fanarchists from your slumborsthedayofreckoningisnearathand!Woo-hooghublessU!

Which is pretty well self explanatory, says JMR butting in. We weep at the loss of a fine fanzine and hope that a method of carrying on its production will be discovered. Harry will be a sad loss to actifandom as since the reawakening of his interest in fannish affairs some eighteen months ago, he had forged rapidly into the position of one of Britain's leading fans and fandom's leading artist anywhere. So all best wishes from us all, Harry, on the start of your double new career - in the forces and as a staid married man. Congratulations and best wishes to you too, Marion.

A-Visiting We Will Go

Fans have been all hither and thither this last month or so, and here is a briefish catalogue of several engagements. During a trip to Barrowford in Lancashire your editor met Renny for the second time, sundry PPUers in the background made the visit a trifle hectic! Renny hoped to be visited later in the month by Messrs Bradbury, Lane, and Ellis from Manchester, whilst he himself was off to Blackpool for a holiday. To round off this busy period Bob Gibson, our tame Canuck fan, wandered in on the Rennison household during his latest leave. He left there to spend the weekend with me & hoped to pay a flying visit to the Turner menage en passant whilst returning to his unit.

( continued overleaf )

BSFWRS

During the month of July 15 people in all took advantage of the special offer of John M Cunningham's to accept subscriptions to US prozines. As my time is severely limited will those people please accept a mention of their names here as the only acknowledgement of their money which has been passed on to Mr Cunningham and any future matters concerning it will be dealt with by him. They are Messrs. J. Morgan, R. Folkes, R. Silburn, E. Macdonald, J. E. Gillott, S. Bounds, D. Gardiner, E. A. Thompson, H. K. Bulmer, J. Gibson, R. Orme, T. Overton, A. Skeel, R. Lane, and A. Gascoigne.

THIS ISSUE

seems to be a throwback to the good old days with some 12 pages of "litter" attached. But lets hope we can keep this standard up. But puleese. will all sheet perpetrators do their utmost to get their stencils into my hands at least a fortnight before publication date. I gotta lot to do, you know! Thanks go to Doug Webster for typing the address labels for me. New subscribers are L. Moffatt, Elwood City Pa; Walter Capers, Warwick; Lee Stronge, Colwyn Bay; & John Greenfield, Gainsboro', Lincs. Subscriptions expiring with this issue are those of D. Slack, J. E. Gillot, R. Lane, A.Skeel, D. Houston, R. G. Medhurst, S. C. Hopkins, and H. J. Ellis. Send that sub now.

"FANTASY FICTION FIELD" the illustrated news weekly fanzine published by Julius Unger intends to issue an as-complete-as-possible bibliography of fantastic literature in the very near future. Plans have been made to publish it in sections with the fanzine, and, says Julie Unger, you'll find all details ironed out to the smallest degree - a complete and reliable introduction - so that every initial figure and abbreviation will be completely understood. You'll find such items mentioned as: no. of pages, type of book, where published, kind of story (in most cases), whether English, American, or German issues have been published, date, etc. We've also arranged through the able help of friend and author Willey Ley to list all the foreign titles available, so that nothing will be missing to make this bibliography the one and only.

IF a tall burly laddie with an American accent knocks at your door sometime soon it may be Mr Mark Reinsberg (Midwest Marky) of Chicago dropping in to pay his respects. For after working a trip to South America and back by sea Mark expressed his desire and intention to work his way across the Atlantic too - he is a member of the Seaman's Union - and try to see some of us over here. Since when he has disappeared into the blue.

RECEIVED RECENTLY

Another bumper issue of THE FANTAST duly made its appearance during July and was as usual cram full of good things. Accompanying it came a peculiar affair entitled CTHULU in which dear Douglas the Web lets himself go on anything that please him. Naturally extremely interesting tho definitely off the beaten stfical track and only meant for a limited audience. Fay itself (herself?) is notable for the conclusion of Ego Clarke's ''History of Fantocracy" and an informative article on Poltergeists by H. Chibbett of "The Probe" and Swine tackles the British Fantasy Society (& the SFA) with truly swinish logic.

Amongst quite a large batch of American offerings were three first issues differing extensively in style. TYCHO (J. L. Gergen, 221 Melbourne Ave, S. E., Minneapolis, Min.) is a more-or-less "normal" type of 'zine with perhaps an emphasis on fiction and art. Not outstanding but shows distinct promise. Helen Finn of Los Angeles attempts to fill the place of the defunct DAMN THING with her STENCH and makes a gallant effort indeed. While FAN EDITOR AND PUBLISHER (H.Jenkins, 2409 Santee Ave, Columbia, S.C.) is something new - a fanzine for fanzine producers. Bigger fleas have smaller fleas would seem to be an adequate comment. Still a little help and advice comes not amiss to even the best and most experienced in the field, whilst tyro editors can be helped over some of their nastiest stiles. Special mention of the second issue of the super-fanzine NOVA is essential.

Magazine front: Amazing and Fantastic Mysteries are still mystifying everyone by putting out huge issues of two hundred forty and two hundred seventy pages. They seem to be about the only healthy ones left. Astounding and the Standard group seem to go along as usual, but I detect signs of difficulty; Norton's remain quarterly; Famous Fantastic Mysteries signed its death warrant by going monthly, adding sixteen pages to its size and ten cents to its price. Wollheim put out one issue of Stirring Science several months ago, and it promptly was suspended temporarily again. Nothing else new to report, except that there has now been an interval of some twelve or fourteen months without a single new title. That is the longest stretch since 1938 when Marvel started all the trouble.

Nothing much from the fighting fronts either. No more prominent fans were drafted. Donn Brazier was one of four out of more than one hundred applicants to enter an officer training school in the air force. Chris Mulrain is now on the West coast, dangerously close to Los Angeles and practically next door to J Harvey Haggard. Fred Shroyer is in the air corps and now married. As I said before, I'm still safe until the first part of next year.

Harry Warner Jr, Hagerstown, Maryland, USA

Doc Smith's new book was slowed down for a while for he has gone to work for a big munitions firm as a Chemical Engineer, and since his work for the past twenty years or so has been Cereal Chemistry, and he had to do a little "boning up" on his explosives at first. But he expected to get at it soon the last time I saw him. so perhaps he is already working again in his spare time. The whole story is plotted fully and I think I told you the whole first quarter had been written, and parts of the second and fourth sections. I firmly think it is the best thing he has written to date and certain has a lot of scope, excitement and stuff to think about deep down underneath, as all his is stuff has. You can't possibly get all that he puts into a story in just one reading as the great majority of his readers try to do. After all the many times I have read the three Lensman stories; and all that we have talked and discussed them, I still got more stuff on each re-reading. Doc really writes TWO stories in ONE; the "bang-bang" story for the casual reader, and the deeply-plotted, carefully worked out psychological story for the deeper reader and thinker. That is why so many of his readers kicked about his third Lensman story -- they do not realise that it was necessary in the final development of what is to come next, and thought it did not have enough "new" stuff or enough "gadgets" in it. But it was all absolutely necessary for the final denoument that will be in the fourth book, which is what he wanted to write in the first place, and had to write the first three books in order to write the fourth.

E Everett Evans, Battle Creek, Michigan, USA

Generally Speaking I am quite new to the ranks of Stfandom, only coming into the foreground with my work on Science Fiction War Relief. My hobbies are few; stamp collecting, corresponding, Stfandom. Of recent months I have devoted most of my time to S-F War Relief work. Being of sound mind, sturdy body, but nevertheless weak eyes -- I am prepared to do all in my power to aid the speedy destruction of the menaces to civilization, one Adolphous Hitler & Hirotio whatzizzname. My age is 20, having come into the world on October 7th 1921. First became interested in S-F in reading works by Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and others of the oldtimers. I took a more passive interest when I started reading the Astounding which my elder brother took a delight in reading, he having been an interested reader since the first Amazings... It is my firm hope and belief that after this war, S-F will attain a new height in perfection and understanding, and its facts and theories which were presented yesterday, will become realities today. This can only be attained by a strong unity today. So let us all unify our efforts and thus help to realize our dreams into realities.

Sciencerely yours, John M. Cunningham.

DEREK GARDINER

who is responsible for the innovation of Fido photographs and to whom this issue is hereby dedicated. Derek informs......

I am 18 and 5ft 10ins tall, a long, lanky individual with arms that show my simian ancestry by their length, and have hair of indeterminable colour and uncontrollable nature. I work in my father's photographic business and hope with lots of luck to get into the RAF photographic section when I join up. My first meeting with s.f. was in a twopenny blood called the "Wizard" in a story named "Raiders from the Red World" about 10 years ago. Then followed Verne, later Wells and finally four years ago I saw my first American promag, a copy of T.W.S. I made the acquaintance of Fandom and fanmags in March 41 following an advert by JMR in Tales of Wonder and have been steadily going nuttier ever since. My favourite authors are Stapledon, Stuart, Campbell, Heinlein, Merritt, and for fantasy Dunsany.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Book Review____________________________________________________________Recently Published

A new slant on fantasy "books" has just been issued; its one of the present-war stories by Erroll Collins, "The Secret of Rosmerstrand" (Lutterworth Press 6/-) in which the author shows an imaginative gift which may well prove prophetic. The breathless action of flying officer Jerry Karslake's duels with the Luftwaffe and his skilful bluffing of the German army, moves swiftly towards the culminating episodes on board a Nazi troop-carrier, in a mid-channel "lobster-pot", and finally to the grim cavern, where a brilliant and fanatical scientist controls the destiny of the strangest fighting force on earth -- Hitler's Untersee-Pantzer Division (Undersea tanks if you don't get the German lingo)!!

Bert Lewis

Non-fiction of interest

If your book review section is not exclusive I should like to recommend the following — '''Tertium Organum" by P. D. Ouspensky. Although written in 1921 it is by no means out-dated. The first part is devoted to a study of the fourth dimension. By really ingenious reasoning the author proves that animals live in a world of two dimensions only. So do humans visually (Have you ever seen a cube from all sides simultaneously?). The second part of the book tackles the psychological aspect of the fourth dimension and arrives at the same conclusion as Stapledon in "Starmaker" namely that what to us seem inanimate objects the Earth, stars etc. all have a psyche of their own. The end of the book tails off into Theosophy and suchlike mysticisms. Chacon a son gout. For its novel presentation of dimensions it is entrancing to read.

Arthur Busby.

This magazine is still on the upward surge with a good selection of stories, four interesting and fannish departments, art by Bok, Giunta, Morey and Mussachia and a Finlay cover to round off the good things. Six tales herein, three each novelettes and shorts. "Out of the Sea" by Leigh Brackett is typical hack and somewhat boring but E E Smith's "Storm Cloud on Deka" and Hank Kuttner's "The Crystal Circe" are thoroughly enjoyable. The "The Unseen Blushers" by Alfred Bester is grand and "The Band played On" - C. Shook is a little gem of fantasy with its sheer other-worldliness. The bill is rounded off by "The Impossible Invention" - R. M. Williams. Orchids for the intriguing department "Fantasy Circle" in which worthwhile excerpts from the fanzines of today and yesterday appear. Just the thing to attract the type of newcomers we require to the fan field. Doing fine Mr Norton, doing fine.

Your Editors collection of Stf magazines has some aching voids which he would very much like to see filled so has anybody got any of the following 'zines for sale or exchange...

Astounding Oct, Nov, dec 1930; July 1932; Oct, Dec 1934; Mar, June 1935; Amazing, Apr, May, June, 1926; Mar, Apr, May, June, July, Sept, 1927; June 1928; Wonder Stories Feb, Oct 1930; June, Sep, Nov 1931; Air Wonder Stories April 1930. And please don;t forget that I collect fantasy books and there are quite a few I am short of, particularly older works. Tata for now.

The following members have joined since the date of the last Bulletin:-

Briston, John; Busby, Arthur W.; Banks, Jack; Cunningham, John M.; Doughty, D.J.; Gardiner, Derek W.; Gardner, Arthur William; Giles, Frederick V.; Gibson, Jack; Gottliffe, Harold; Hughes, Tom; Hawkins, Peter; Knott, Peter; Skeel, A.G.; Stronge, T.L.; This makes total memberships to date 38.

Library

A catalogue of books and magazines available for loan will be circulated to all members with this. Application for books should be made to the librarian Mr Jack Gibson, 7 Belmont Road, Parkstone, Dorset. postage must be paid both ways by the borrower.

Contributions to the library of any form of fantasy will be most gratefully received. It is felt, however, that many members who would not wish to part with books or magazines from their collections would be willing to loan these direct to fellow members, thereby considerably extending the scope of the Library Service with the least inconvenience to individuals. Will all members who are prepared to make such loans please give the Librarian a brief summary of the books they have available? If we cooperate in this manner it should be possible to cover the whole field of fantasy, with considerable benefits to everyone.

Members may from time to time want to borrow non-fantasy books which are not obtainable at their local libraries, in which case they may advertise their requirements in this Bulletin, and it is hoped that any member who may happen to possess the book in question will respond to the appeal. Here again the sincere cooperation of all will make this service very valuable.

The value of such cooperation between members in general cannot be too strongly stressed. Quite apart from the mutual benefits directly achieved it is the only way in which each and every member can feel that he is really a part of a united body of people working together for their common good. Lack of this common active interest on the part of members has been responsible for the discord, decay, and general futility of all fan societies of the past. The British Fantasy Society is at the mercy of its members more so than any previous body in this respect, it is hoped that all who have joined will sincerely give their best to further the common good.

Advisory Board.

Mr D.W.L.Webster has asked to be excused from accepting the position as Co-ordinator owing to pressure of other affairs. Nominations for this office, and for members of the Board in general are urgently required, as it has not yet been possible to form this important body.

Activities

It has been decided to issue membership cards, and to make available BFS notepaper with a printed heading for those who desire to purchase this. These should be ready in time for the next Bulletin. The Executive Committee regret the somewhat tardy progress of these affairs, which slowness is unavoidable as all its deliberations have to be by means of correspondence.

D. R. Smith (Secretary)

2) Thanks go to Robert Lichtman for supplying a copy of BFS Bulletin #2.