Avon Fantasy Reader No. 5
Edited by Donald A. Wollheim
Avon Book Company
1947
1^st Printing

     Five months after issue 4, the fifth issue of the Reader appeared with a number of changes. The magazine was no longer squarebound, but folded and stapled, and the covers were no longer laminated.
     The biggest changes, however, were in the interior content and the covers themselves. Gone are the older mainstay authors of the first 4 issues (Lovecraft, Dunsany, Howard, and Merritt) and authors of more recent vintage are in their place. This cover is also the beginning of the trend towards more salacious paperback style covers, with more unclad women and less impressionism. Most likely, these changes were due to financial considerations and an attempt to increase sales.
     This issue again features a good mix of stories. Moore's story "Scarlet Dream" features Northwest Smith, this time in a gauzy sort of SF tale, while Moore's husband, C.M. Kornbluth delivers a story, "The Words of Guru" that cannot be tied to any one genre. Stephen Vincent Benét and Robert Bloch contribute their own brand of horror and Frank Owen offers another Oriental fantasy.
     The most notable tales of the issue are worth mentioning, not so much because of the stories themselves, but because of their rarity. "The Miracle of the Lilly" by Clare Winger Harris first appeared in 1928 (making it the oldest piece in the issue) and is a good, if a bit dated, read that I have never seen anywhere else. W.F. (William Freyer) Harvey, best known for "The Beast with Five Fingers" pens the story "Sambo" that deals with voodoo dolls and, again, is another author who has disappeared from the public consciousness.
     Rounding out the issue are Carl Jacobi with the new story for the issue and another turgid chapter from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers.