The Amazing Ebert

I was just leafing through Amazing Stories, Vol. 30, No. 6, June, 1956, and found a letter from Roger Ebert of Urbana, Illinois. Roger writes:

"Dear Mr. Browne:

  The 30th Anniversary issue of AMAZING STORIES was superlative. The artwork was masterful, the predictions spellbinding, the stories themselves classics, and the overall issue the finest ever published by you..."

The issue Roger refers to would be that of April, 1956, which features "John Jones's Dollar" by Harry Stephen Keeler! Apparently Roger read it, granted it a place among the classics, enjoyed the masterful Visaphone illustration, and was spellbound by the predicted rise of the Psycho-Erg, all at the age of 13.

Read the story, if you haven't:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26867/26867-h/26867-h.htm

Oh, and here's the story Roger didn't like so much:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27053/27053-h/27053-h.htm

[Thank you, Clark, for the pulp magazines!]

And here's another letter to "Amazing Stories," from August, 1957, discovered by Ian Schoenherr!

Coming Soon: 30th (arguable) Anniversary Issue!

(Above: White Buffalo Gazette Vol. Frim Fram Sauce, No. Gib Can Vote, May 1997. Drawing by Eric Schaller.)

Maximum Traffic is preparing a new issue of the White Buffalo Gazette.

Bruce Chrislip published the first City Limits Gazette in November of 1980. So, if you consider CLG and WBG to constitute a continuum (consideration being a basic human right), this will be the thirtieth anniversary issue.

And that's not all you have to celebrate. Harry Stephen Keeler was born November 3, 1890. Mark your calendar.

Twitter.com/HarrySKeeler



Cover by Chad Woody. My colored pencils.