The Eye of Argon, by Jim Theis
Transcriber's note:
No mere transcription can give the true flavor of the
original printing of The Eye of Argon. It was mimeographed with stencils cut on an elite manual typewriter. Many letters were so faint as to be barely readable, others were overstruck, and some that were to be removed never got painted out with correction fluid. Usually, only one space separated sentences, while paragraphs were separated by a blank line and were indented ten spaces. Many words were grotesquely hyphenated. And there were illustrations -- I cannot do them justice in mere words, but they were a match for the text. These are the major losses of this version (#02) of TEoA.
Otherwise, all effort has been made to retain the full and correct text, preserving even mis-spellings and dropped spaces. An excellent proofreader has checked it for errors both ommitted and committed. What mis-matches remain are mine.
I shall endeavor to keep a copy of the original available for viewing, so it may be appreciated in all its fullness. But as a labor of love for those whose 3rd-generation copies have now suscummed to the bitter vicissitudes of time and entropy, worn away by the ravages of countelss re-readings before entralled audiances, yet who have found that the the heady flavor of its stylistic paragraphs has seeped into their soul and still grips it with a fervid grasp, I dedicate this machine-readable version of the inimitable The Eye of Argon.
Noder's Note:
In attempting to verify the status of the copyright on this work I came across the following:
This file is from the Sf-Lovers Archives at Rutgers University. It is provided as part of a free service in connection with distribution of Sf-Lovers Digest. This file is currently maintained by the moderator of the Digest. It may be freely copied or redistributed in whole or in part as long as this notice remains intact. If you would like to know more about Sf-Lovers Digest, send mail to SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU.
This is a fannish legend. It was discovered in an APA by
a SF Bay Area fan in approximately 1970, and has been
passed on, as the transcriber's note at the end mentions.
It has been the object of competitive readings. The
transcriber (not I) wishes to remain anonymous.
There are no copyright notices on the original, and it
pre-dates the current law, so it is NOT protected in any
way.
There is a transcriber's note at the end.
Well, it's on the internet, so it must be true! Seriously though, there are dozens of other web sites out there with this story on it so I think we're pretty safe. Also, I'm not sure if this notice is actually a
guerilla marketing technique of the sf-lovers digest (because I only found it on one web site) but I'll include it here anyway. Better safe than sorry.
Anyway, enjoy the story. It's really, really, bad, but in a really, really, good way. Now prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of hell, barbarian! :-)