ne other magazine. That
automatically excludes all those who have not been constant
Readers of that one magazine. In the second place, the
average Reader of your magazine is under twenty-one (I am
eighteen myself). When the science classics were published,
we were anywhere from four to ten years of age. In the third
place, relatively few of these stories were published in
book form, and these few have for years been out of print.
Try to buy "The Moon Pool," the greatest Science Fiction
story ever written, in book form. In the fourth place, even
those who were old enough to understand them did not become
interested in Science Fiction until several years ago. In
the fifth place, the few who have read them--and they are
very few--would welcome the chance to re-read them. In the
sixth place, and this is the most important reason of all,
not one of the stories you have published is worth
re-reading, or is even a sixteenth as good as some of the
old stories.

Take a sporting offer. If you don't, I won't think much of
you. Publish just one of the Science Fiction classics,
preferably A. Merritt's "Through the Dragon Class," which so
many of your Readers have clamored for and see how
gratifying is its reception. If it does receive their
acclaim, you could reprint one story in each issue.--J.
Vernon Shea, Jr., 1140 N. Negley Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa.

"_Right Formula_"

Dear Editor:

I have been a satisfied and silent reader of your magazine,
and while I'm still satisfied, I wish to break my silence.

A letter by C.E. Bush, of Decatur, Ark., in the January
issue has caught my attention. Miss Bush apparently does not
care whether the stories contain science or not. I believe
she wants the author to leave out the scientific
explanations of the various machines and forces used in the
story. To me, an "improbable" story is much more interesting
if the author succeeds in making it seem perfectly
plausible. The author needs to give technical explanations
now and then to do this; and a good author can weave these
facts into the fiction in such a manner that they are not
dry.

For some reason, the letter by M. Clifford Johnston, of
Newark, N. J., antagonizes me. I am willing to admit that
there are--or were--one or two storie