Today marks the anniversaries of two favorite writers, men who are no strangers to readers of Adventures Fantastic or fans of classic pulp and adventure literature. They are Rafael Sabatini and Jack Williamson. Plus a third pulpster whose work I’ve not read much of yet. Continue reading
Tales From the Magician’s Skull
Howard Andrew Jones, ed.
Goodman Games
Bedsheet size magazine, $14.99
If you’ve followed this blog, you may remember me mentioning the Kickstarter for this publication. Well, it’s out now, and the second issue is in production.
I think the editor Howard Andrew Jones and his team have set the bar pretty high with this inaugural issue. It’s modeled after the old pulp magazines. I think this approach is a success. The illustrations, fan club index, and the editorial by Jones all complement the most important aspect of the magazine, the stories. Continue reading
In the comments of this year’s Henry Kuttner birthday post, Sara mentioned the story “Design for Dreaming”, published in the February 1942 issue of Unknown Worlds. I thought I had read that story. I hadn’t, as it turned out. I was thinking about a different story. “Design for Dreaming” has never been reprinted.
Fortunately, about 19 years or so ago, I bought a ten issue run on Unknown/Unknown Worlds in a single, library-bound volume. One of the best investments I’ve ever made.
That issue is included in the run. So I read “Design for Dreaming”.
It’s pretty darn good story. Continue reading
The shortlist for the 2018 David Gemmell Awards went live overnight. Here are the finalists:
The Legend Award – presented to the best fantasy novel of the year.
The Fall of Dragons, Traitor Son Cycle Book 5 by Miles Cameron
Assassin’s Fate, Book 3 of Fitz and The Fool by Robin Hobb
Red Sister, Book 1 of The Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence
Scorched Shadows, The Hellequin Chronicles Book 7 by Steve McHugh
Oathbringer, The Stormlight Archive Book 3 by Brandon Sanderson
The Morningstar Award – presented to the best first novel of the year.
Age of Assassins, Book 1 of The Wounded Kingdom by RJ Barker
The Tethered Mage, Book 1 of The Swords and Fire Trilogy by Melissa Caruso
Kings of the Wyld, Book 1 of The Band by Nicholas Eames
Blackwing, Book 1 of The Raven’s Mark by Ed McDonald
The Court of Broken Knives, Book 1 of The Empires of Dust by Anna Smith-Spark
The Ravenheart Award – presented to the artist(s) responsible for the best cover of the year. (Note: these are for the British editions which are often different from the US editions. Images can be seen on the voting page)
Richard Anderson for Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames (Orbit) and designed by Lisa Marie Pompilio
Kerem Beyit for The Fall of Dragons by Miles Cameron (Gollancz) and designed by Sidonie Beresford-Browne, Abi Hartshorne, Sue Michniewicz and Jamie Tanner
Sam Green for Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Gollancz) and designed by Tomas Almeida
Jackie Morris and Stephen Raw for Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb (HarperVoyager) and designed by Dominic Forbes
Kerby Rosanes for Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff (HarperVoyager) and designed by Micaela Alcaino
Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate all the nominees on the final balllot. Voting is open until Friday, June 1.
So last Friday, April 6, I decided to play hookey take a personal day from work and attend the Jack Williamson Lectureship in Portales, NM. This was the 42nd annual Lectureship. Jack Williamson was a Professor of English at Eastern New Mexico University. The Lectureship was established in 1977, when he retired.
I had always wanted to go, especially since I moved out to this part of Texas. Portales is just under two hours from my house. I needed the break, so I went.
Boy, am I glad I did. I didn’t realize until i got there just how badly I needed the getaway. It was like visiting a home I hadn’t realized existed and being united with family I never knew I had. I will be returning next year. By the time I left for home, the Williamson Lectureship became second only to Howard Days on my calendar. (Those who know me will understand the significance of that statement.)
I’d like to thank Betty Williamson, Jack’s niece, for her hospitality and generosity during my visit. Betty oversees the Lectureship and has done a remarkable job of keeping Jack Williamson’s legacy alive. Jack was one of the most original and innovative science fiction writers of all time, and much of his work is sadly unavailable these days outside of second hand bookstores. Continue reading
On this date, April 7, in 1915, Henry Kuttner entered the world. He left it far too soon.
Posts commemorating Kuttner’s birthday have been pretty standard around here for a number of years. I’m not going to try to come up with something brilliant and original to say. I’m too snowed under with the day job. But I have been thinking about what to write, mostly while I was driving to Portales yesterday for the Jack Williamson Lectureship. (It was awesome! I’ll write about it, I promise.)
Kuttner seems to be getting some attention these days. At least I keep coming across mentions of his name in various places.
A few years ago I started a series of posts on Kuttner’s works that haven’t been reprinted, at least not in book form. I’m going to revise that series, which like many of my projects has gotten buried by Real Life obligations.
Later this year, namely when the semester ends in about six weeks, I’m going to try to read some of those stories and tell you about them. Kuttner wrote what at the time were considered novels, at least in the pulps. Today they would be considered novellas. Because of their length, most weren’t reprinted. As we saw with “A God Named Kroo“, many were just as good, if not better, than what made it into books.
I don’t know what I’m going to start with, but it will be something most of you probably haven’t read before. Stay tuned.
Today, April 5, is Robert Bloch’s birthday. He was born in 1917. For those of you who are poor at math, not sure what day/year it is, or didn’t read the title of the post, that would make him 101 today if he were still alive.
Bloch was one of the most influential writers of horror, crime, and science fiction of the last century. He wrote a number of novels, the most famous being Psycho. And while the Hitchcock film is deservedly considered a classic, you should give the book a try if you haven’t read it. There are some differences. Bloch’s written sequels have nothing to do with the film sequels.
In my mind, though, Bloch was better as a short story writer. The reason I think that may be in part because I’ve a fondness for short fiction. He started writing for Weird Tales when he was just 17, IIRC. While is early stuff is pretty rough around the edges, it was no worse that what Farnsworth Wright was buying at the time, and soon became better than much of the stuff by authors long forgotten. Bloch was an earlier correspondent of Lovecraft. Much of his early work was lovecraftian pastiche. He soon developed his own voice and went on to write some great horror and dark fantasy fiction, such as “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, “The Man Who Collected Poe”, and the Hugo Award winning “The Hell-Bound Train”. If Bloch had any faults, it was that he couldn’t stand Robert E. Howard’s Conan. (That’s a pretty big fault, if you ask me, but Bloch’s body of work is sufficiently good that I’m willing to overlook it.)
Over the last few years I’ve gotten into the habit of blogging about an author’s work on their birthday. At the moment, I’m swamped with the day job and slowly going under. That’s why it’s been like a ghost town around here lately. I’ve either not had the time to write (blog posts or fiction) or not had the energy when I had the time. So, no, I’m not dead. (Sorry to disappoint some of you.) I’ve just been dealing with Real Life.
I’m hoping to read something short this evening. If so, I’ll try to post about it here once I get this mountain of exams graded. I hope to do that, but I may not be able to pull it off.
But don’t let that stop you from raising a glass is Robert Bloch’s memory and celebrating his work by reading a short story or two.