Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

Chinese fingernail holder which she could be 'snooty' about. He wrote of his frustration about his
work, the constant shortage of money ('I still wonder how much money we owe in incidental bills.
It's grave, I know . . .') and the need to spend so much time in New York, away from her and the
children.
Then he turned to the subject which was clearly in the forefront of his mind: 'Sooner or later
Excalibur will be published and I may have a chance to get some name recognition out of it so as
to pave the way to articles and comments which are my ideas of writing heaven.
'Living is a pretty grim joke, but a joke just the same. The entire function of man is to survive. The
outermost limit of endeavour is creative work. Anything less is too close to simple survival until
death happens along. So I am engaged in striving to maintain equilibrium sufficient to at least
realize survival in a way to astound the gods. I turned the thing up so it's up to me to survive in a big
way . . . Foolishly perhaps, but determined none the less, I have high hopes of smashing my name
into history so violently that it will take a legendary form even if all books are destroyed. That goal is
the real goal as far as I am concerned . . .
'When I wrote it [Excalibur] I gave myself an education which outranks that of anyone else. I don't
know but it might seem that it takes terrific brain work to get the thing assembled and usable in the
head. I do know that I could form a political platform, for instance, which would encompass the
support of the unemployed, the industrialist and the clerk and day laborer all at one and the same
time. And enthusiastic support it would be. Things are due for a bust in the next half dozen years.
Wait and see.'
Ron was clearly worried that he would be hampered by his reputation as a pulp writer: 'Writing
action pulp doesn't have much agreement with what I want to do because it retards my progress by
demanding incessant attention and, further, actually weakens my name. So you see I've got to do
something about it and at the same time strengthen the old financial position.'
Towards the end of the letter he wrote about strange forces he felt stirring within him which made
him feel aloof and invincible and the struggle he had faced trying to answer the question 'Who am
I?' before returning to the theme of immortality: 'God was feeling sardonic the day He created the
Universe. So it's rather up to at least one man every few centuries to pop up and come just as close
to making him swallow his laughter as possible.'
Ron's nickname for Polly was 'Skipper' and hers for him was 'Red'. The letter finished with a single
encouraging line: 'I love you, Skipper, and all will be well. The Redhead.'
While Ron's philosophical work languished for want of a publisher, his literary endeavours in other
fields continued to find wide favour. Apart from marking his début in science fiction, 1938 was the
year Ron rode the range of Western adventure. His name appeared in Western Story magazine
almost every month with a series of two-gun titles designed to set the pulse racing - 'Six Gun
Caballero', 'Hot Lead Payoff', 'Ride 'Em Cowboy', 'The Boss of the Lazy B', 'The Ghost Town Gun-
Ghost', 'Death Waits at Sundown', etcetera.
Campbell thought Ron was wasting his time with Westerns and told him so in a letter dated 23
January 1939: 'I don't, personally, like Westerns particularly, and, in consequence, haven't read your
Western stuff. But I'm convinced that you do like fantasy, enjoy it, and have a greater gift for fantasy
than for almost any other type. The fact that editor after editor has urged you to do that type seems
to me indication that you always have had that ability, and that, in avoiding it heretofore, you've
suppressed a natural, and not common, talent. There are a lot of boys that run out readable