Letter

by John Thiel

A very nice letter from one of our regulars about issue 52. John kindly re-sent us a bio; he is now safely in our Bewildering Bios department and has a “welcome” note appended in issue 52, as well.

A very fine anniversary issue, it made a satisfying read. It was nice also to see more editorial matter. I see some bemoaning of the lack of circulation but would remind you that all sf magazines have probably had a small, exclusive, elitist cult as their readership when their magazines were first on the stands, and their various lures had not had time to accumulate large readerships. You'll keep going... who could doubt it?

I appreciated the linguistic aids provided the reader. Would you believe it, I wanted verification that the word "fact" was Latin... you've genuinely helped a reader out! And the news that "story" is French is interesting and worthy of discussion with people who are used to Bavarian and Creole by way of German and French. And thanks also for reiterating the fact that English takes in words from other languages.

Glad to see a work by the metaphysical Deep Bora. I have a piece by him coming up in Surprising, "Mars Accelerates," does it draw your attention to the forthcoming issue? I met him on a Yahoo science discussion board where he was promoting his writing, an experience a bit like When Worlds Collide. I think he fits in nicely with American sf.

I thought you wanted bios for the Annish? I sent you mine, but nowhere do I find it. Only the newcomers are bio'd. Well, well. And for awhile I thought the bio was the only thing I'd be sending.

Best wishes,
John Thiel

“Story” is really quaint. The word is pronounced in today’s English very much as it was in the original Old French. And don’t get me started on “tennis”: the word has bounced back and forth like tennis ball !