Lovecraft Comes to Australia

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By 1952, the Australians had their first SF conference, but the Weird Tales Gang still had a lot of strength. In 1952, Lovecraft had been gone nearly 15 years, but was not a dim memory. The booklet (see image above, and text of the seller below) was dedicated, in part, to HPL.

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FIRST AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION"
March 22, 1952 - Edited & Published by Nick Solntseff
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Science Fiction has always been extremely popular in Australia, but it wasn't until well after WWII - March 22, 1952 in Sydney - that the "Auzzies" realized their 1st Convention. The SF Commitee consisted of Chairman William D. Veney, Secretary Graham B. Stone, Treasurer Nick Solntseff, Auctioneer Arthur Haddon, and Film coordinator Lex Banning. The Convention extended over three days and included films, an auction, various programs of what is Science Fiction and The Futurian Society meeting. This program booklet also contains many congratulatory pages from fellow enthusiasts in America - Forrest Ackerman, Roy A. Squires, Mel Korshak, Lloyd Eshbach and the booklet was dedicated in memoriam to H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Abraham Merritt, and Stanley Weinbaum.

Fantasy Magazine June 1935

FANTASY MAGAZINE, June, 1935 Edited by Julius Schwartz This copy of "Fantasy Magazine", features the excellent four-page - "An Autobiographical Sketch of Stanley G. Weinbaum" - "I don't like Science Fiction ...there's one general weakness & one universal fallacy in the material today...most authors, even the best, seem inbued with the idea that science is a sort of savior. That's wrong; science is utterly impersonal"..........Then read why he "does" like Science Fiction. Ray Cummings is present with his very interesting revelation of "How I Came to Write Science Fiction" - "I saw an ad for Quaker Oats...." . Sorry but you'll have to win the item to get the punch line! Also Forrie Ackerman's commentary & news on SF & Fantasy in the media and as always, lists of books to read that may have eluded you from various contributors.Excellent copy printed upon pulp paper with slick paper covers.

June 1935 Fantasy Magazine

"FANTASY MAGAZINE - June , 1935 // Copy of the June, 1935 issue of one of the best fanzines of its time - "Fantasy Magazine". This issue contains autobiographical articles of one of the SF giants - Stanley G. Weinbaum, and "How I Came to Write Science Fiction" by Ray Cummings.

Fantasy Magazine: September 1935 (Challenge From Beyond)

ULTRA RARE Fantasy Magazine Sept. 1935 THE CHALLENGE FROM BEYOND This is one of the grails of ROBERT E. HOWARD and H.P. LOVECRAFT collecting. This is the original appearance of the ONLY story to which these giants of weird fiction BOTH contributed -- THE CHALLENGE FROM BEYOND. Very few of these exist, and they almost never turn up for sale.The story was written by five weird fiction authors "round-robin" style -- besides H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, three other masters of weird fiction contributed -- C.L. Moore, A. Merritt, and Frank Belknap Long. Supplied with only the title of the story, each author wrote a chapter, each picking up where the last left off.This copy is in very nice shape and is hand signed by it's editors, the legendary Julius Schwartz and Forrest J. Ackerman.Also in this issue, five giants of science fiction also take a crack at THE CHALLENGE FROM BEYOND. Stanley G. Weinbaum, Donald Wandrei, Edward E. Smith, Harl Vincent, & Murray Leinster.

The image on the cover indicates that there are 2 Challenges: One for weird fiction, and the other for scientifiction. Ackerman later cointed the term "SciFi", probably after the abbreviation "HiFi", high fidelity sound.