Читать книгу Fool's Paradise - John Russell Fearn - Страница 5

INTRODUCTION, by Philip Harbottle

During World War II, there had been a boom in science fiction pulp magazines in America, but it wasn’t until after the war that hardcover book publishers began to take a serious interest in the medium. Specialist fan publishers like Fantasy Press had led the way, with first book editions of magazine serials and novels by the likes of E. E. Smith and Jack Williamson, Then Simon and Schuster published A. E. van Vogt’s The World of Null-A, and Doubleday and other major publishers also entered the field. The success (and quality) of Adventures in Time and Space, the 1946 landmark anthology edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas sparked other such collections of magazine science fiction. Amongst the earliest similarly sourced anthologies were A Treasury of Science Fiction (1948) edited by Groff Conklin, and My Best Science Fiction Story (1949) edited by Leo Margulies and Oscar J. Friend, which reprinted John Russell Fearn’s magazine stories “Wings Across the Cosmos” and “Wanderer of Time,” respectively.

Prior to these developments Fearn had ceased writing for the American sf markets in order to concentrate on British and Canadian publishers, but now he became a client of the leading American sf agency, Oscar Kline, helmed by Oscar J. Friend.

At Friend’s invitation Fearn wrote a new sf novel, Fool’s Paradise, aimed at American hardcover publication. Fearn put everything into it. As he wrote to his friend Walter Gillings, “I think the yarn is about one of the best I ever did. A world’s end story developed to its final inevitable conclusion and no last-minute handsome heroes saving things.…”

Eight months then went by, in which time Fearn had heard nothing from Friend concerning the novel, into which he’d put so much time and effort. In exasperation, he wrote to Friend, who replied that he had submitted it to several publishers, but without making a sale. He excused his long silence by merely saying that he didn’t write because “he’d had nothing to report.”

On 22nd October 1949 Fearn wrote to Gillings to say that he was withdrawing from Friend’s agency, and was transferring Fool’s Paradise and other material to the rival US Agency, Dirk Wylie (now being run by Frederik Pohl, for whom Gillings himself was the UK representative). “I’m writing Friend by airmail withdrawing from his agency. I can’t wait eight months between letters: it isn’t worth the candle.”

Pohl proved to be a much more active and enterprising agent than Friend, and quickly managed to place two Fearn novels in America, The Intelligence Gigantic and Liners in Time, and two unpublished novels to Ray Palmer’s planned new magazine, Other Worlds—A Martian Returns and Venusian Queen, only for all these deals to founder and fall through, without Fearn receiving any payment; nor did he accomplish anything with Fool’s Paradise.

As 1950 progressed and no payments arrived from America, Fearn became more and more involved with his UK publisher Scion Ltd, where quick and regular sales were assured. Initially he was selling Scion romances and westerns, but sensing an opening with them for science fiction, he tried them with his short novel, Venusian Queen. It was accepted immediately, with a request for more. Fearn promptly decided to rewrite Fool’s Paradise to the shorter length required by British paperback publishers. In June 1950 he wrote to Gillings: “Regarding Fool’s Paradise. This is now off the list. I sold it in a shorter version to Scion, under the new name of Annihilation.”

Following publication of Venusian Queen (retitled Operation Venus) under Fearn’s own name, Scion decided to issue Annihilation under their own chosen pen name of ‘Vargo Statten’, and when it quickly became a bestseller, their Managing Director travelled all the way from London to Fearn’s home in Blackpool to secure his services for Scion.

On 23rd October, 1950, Fearn wrote for the last time to Gillings:

“I have signed an agreement for the exclusive use of my work with a publisher (Scion) for the next 5 years, which rules me out with all other publishers henceforth (those contracted for earlier are still in being of course) but since all the writing is science fiction I need everything I can get.… I want all other outstanding sf MSS too, please. The boys over there have had their chance!”

Fearn’s contract with Scion would result in his writing nearly seventy sf novels with them, selling over five million copies, with worldwide translations. But, in the long run, Scion’s contractual insistence on his using pseudonyms would prove deleterious to his reputation, and if only Fool’s Paradise had been sold in America by either Friend or Pohl, under his own name, Fearn’s career would have been very different, and his reputation greatly enhanced.

Until now, the novel has never been published in America, and it is with some pleasure and satisfaction that I can now offer this Borgo Press first US edition of Annihilation under Fearn’s own name, and with his original title of Fool’s Paradise restored. It does, however, retain its original dynamic Ron Turner cover imagery, which was specially repainted for me by the artist.

Enjoy!