Tiffany Thayer, founder of the Fortean Society, was often criticized for his novels, which tended to the trashy. Nobody could say, however, that he couldn’t bring one to a glorious close. His Dr. Arnoldi (1934) is a memorably disgusting piece of science fiction about what happens when people stop dying. The terminally ill remain ill […]

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I posted earlier about the death of Ionel Talpazan, devoted painter of UFOs. I couldn’t find a small ceramic tile I once bought from him, but I just came across it, tucked away in a bookcase. Here it is, along with the back, showing the price and his signature. It’s small, only 4 1/4 inches […]

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The Hollow Hassle was a newsletter devoted to the idea that the earth is hollow, published by Mary J. Martin in the 1970s and ’80s. I don’t know how long it lasted, but I note that a collection has been published. There weren’t many hollow earth newsletters; it’s a fascinating glimpse of a curious subculture. […]

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The success of Fate, started in 1948 by Ray Palmer and Curtis Fuller, inspired many imitations. Among the trashiest was Beyond, which put out its first issue in September 1968, published by Bernard S. Adelman and edited by Keith Ayling. It began as a digest, changing to a larger format in September 1969. I don’t […]

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Falling frogs are particularly associated with Charles Fort, who collected many reports in his 1919 book The Book of the Damned. Frog falls, however, have been reported for centuries, and I always enjoy spotting a reference. I was, therefore, gratified to find a frog fall depicted by the curious 17th century philosopher and nonpareil, Robert […]

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The Fortean Society was founded by writer Tiffany Thayer in 1931, to promote the work of Charles Fort. By sheerest coincidence, two of its founding members, Ben Hecht and Alexander Woollcott, contributed to the same anthology, Nonsenseorship, back in 1922. They both wrote essays decrying censorship, and were duly caricatured by Ralph Barton. Here, then, […]

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Scott Nearing became an Honorary Founder of the Fortean Society, replacing Alexander Woollcott.  Woollcott had left early in 1942, presumably because he liked Fort, but didn’t get along with Thayer.  Thayer’s attacks on Roosevelt may have nettled him too, as he was an FDR fan.  Nearing was a very different kind of character, a life-long […]

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T. Swann Harding replaced Harry Elmer Barnes as a Founder of the Fortean Society.  As usual, I don’t know how active he was.  His papers, now in the Library of Congress, contain correspondence with Thayer, and he did contribute to Doubt, so I assume he was involved more than some of the others. I haven’t […]

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I’ve posted the Little Blue Books of Theodore Dreiser, Ben Hecht, and John Cowper Powys.  None of the other Founders (Tiffany Thayer, Harry Leon Wilson, Burton Rascoe, Alexander Woollcott, J. David Stern, Aaron Sussman, Booth Tarkington) wrote for Haldeman-Julius — except one.  That was Harry Elmer Barnes. Barnes quickly disappeared from the Founders’ roster.  He […]

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John Cowper Powys was a Founder of the Fortean Society, and professed himself delighted with Fort’s work.  Although remembered today mostly for his fiction, his contributions to the Little Blue Book catalog were all essays.  His first was #112, The Secret of Self Development; it was followed by #414, The Art of Happiness, and #435, […]

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