7 votes

The tragic story behind The Eye of Argon, the worst fantasy book ever written

1 comment

  1. Algernon_Asimov
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    That was sad and eye-opening. I've never heard of this story before, or the history behind it. I can only wonder at the motivations of the editor who originally published Theis's story. If it's...

    That was sad and eye-opening. I've never heard of this story before, or the history behind it.

    I can only wonder at the motivations of the editor who originally published Theis's story. If it's that bad, then any editor worth their salt would have recognised its flaws. Even though OSFAN was a fan magazine of the Ozark SF Society, the editor was under no obligation to publish everything sent in by their members and readers. The editor could have sent young Theis's story back to him, with some words of thanks for his efforts, and a diplomatic apology that they just couldn't fit it into the magazine ("So sorry! But please try again!"). Instead, they published it for all to see, almost certainly knowing how bad it was. That's disappointing.

    2 votes