The (Unspeakable) Thing
This zine was published by two Americans living in Japan following World War II. The addresses listed in this issue include one at the General Headquarters Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ SCAP) and the General Headquarters Army Forces in the Pacific (GHQ AFPAC). SCAP was the administrative group headed by General Douglas MacArthur, who oversaw American military operations in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. Following the war, the American armed forces along with civilians occupied Japan until 1952 in an effort to rebuild the country with more American-centric governmental and economic policies.
Burton Crane and Helen Wesson.
The (Unspeakable) Thing #3. Summer 1946.
This issue was published entirely by Helen Wesson in the United States. Despite this change of venue, this issue is published in the Japanese style of being bound on the right side, meant to accommodate text read from right to left. By this time, Burton Crane was a journalist with the New York Times and located at the General Headquarters Far East Command (GHQ FEC). In the introduction, Wesson mentions that Japanese fantasy “has taught me more of the people and their way of life, from daily living to government, than any amount of textbooks could do.” She also notes that all of the art contained in the zine is “copied from native Japanese sources.”
Burton Crane and Helen Wesson.
The (Unspeakable) Thing #4. January 1950.
A version of this text has been digitized and is available through The FANAC Fan History Project.