Monthly Archives: March 2019

Gemmell Awards Closing

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It is with a heavy heart I share with you the press release I received earlier today regarding the closing of the Gemmell Awards.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GEMMELL AWARDS TO CLOSE AFTER TEN YEARS

Over the last decade, the David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy have honoured the best in fantasy fiction and artwork as chosen by the readers.  With a roll of honour taking in current genre luminaries such as John Gwynne, Robin Hobb, Mark Lawrence, Peter Newman, Brandon Sanderson, Andrezj Sapkowski, Brent Weeks and many more, with all of these winners chosen by a public vote, the awards have brought focus to some of the most exciting books, authors and artists in recent times.

Unfortunately, after ten years, the Gemmell Awards will draw to a close with immediate effect.  With a lack of suitable volunteers to take on current committee roles, and insufficient manpower to deliver the wide range of tasks involved, the present team has been left with no choice but to wind up the awards.

The remaining members of the team would like to thank everyone who has supported the awards, including the publishers that have worked with us, our past committee members and volunteers, all the authors and artists who have offered their support, the events and venues who have hosted our ceremonies, everyone who has ever voted on the awards over the last decade and all the fans who have helped share and spread the word on the awards.

Departing Gemmell Awards Chair Stan Nicholls said: ‘This is a decision that has not been taken lightly, and indeed is one that myself and my committee members make with a heavy heart.   It was always important to us to do things to a high standard, and in the current situation I don’t think that we could deliver something befitting the reputation the Gemmell Awards has. I hope that the awards will be remembered for the good work they have done in supporting and championing the cause of fantasy fiction over the last ten years, and that we’ve left a legacy behind that people can look at fondly in years to come.’

An Important Message Regarding the Robert E. Howard Foundation and Amazon Smile

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The Amazon Smile program is a way to donate to your favorite charities when purchasing items from Amazon.  The Robert E. Howard Foundation is now one of the available charities to which you can contribute.  All you have to do is add it to you list of charities.  It only takes a couple of clicks.  You can access smile from your Amazon account.  I’ve added the Foundation to my account.

A Post on Representation in Which I’m Crankier Than Usual

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There was a post on a major genre blog a few days ago that rankled a bit when I read it.  I’m not going to link to it because I don’t want anyone to think I’m attacking the author.  I’m not.  I’d never heard of this person, although a search showed they had written some reviews I hadn’t bothered to read, mainly because the books they were reviewing were either not of interest to me or were in my TBR pile and I didn’t want to deal with spoilers.  To put it another way, I don’t know the author of the post, I bear the author no ill will, and I have no interest in personal attacks on the author.

Attacks on the author’s ideas, though, well, that’s another thing all together. Continue reading →

Remembering Steve Tompkins

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Steve Tompkins (b. 1960) passed away on this date, March 23, ten years ago, i.e., 2009. He was a leading scholar in Robert E. Howard studies, but his interests extended beyond Howard to fantasy in general.  He was Managing Editor of the now defunct The Cimmerian blog at the time of his death.  That being the case, I’m sure he influenced me, indirectly if not directly.  I was a regular reader of The Cimmerian in those days, although I didn’t always pay close attention to who wrote what.  It was the closure of The Cimmerian that motivated me to start blogging myself.  I simply couldn’t find anything similar on the web.

I don’t know if I ever met Mr. Tompkins.  I may have at either Howard Days or the 2006 World Fantasy Convention.  Steve was there.  Regardless, his writing lives on as does his memory.  Howard Andrew Jones and Scott Oden have both posted tributes today.

The following are links to some of Steve’s writings (thanks to Deuce Richardson for the links):

All of his TC posts:
 His REHeapa stuff. Scroll WAY down, links on the left:
This thread has transcriptions of several of his intros etc:

Novalyne’s Birthday

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Novalyne Price Ellis was born on this day (March 9) in 1908.  She passed away in 1999 on March 30.  Novalyne was the author of One Who Walked Alone, a memoir of her relationship with Robert E. Howard during the last two years of his life.  It was based on her diary.

Novalyne Price moved to Cross Plains to teach English in 1934,  She soon met Robert E. Howard, and a tempestuous relationship started.  They had broken up by the summer of 1936, and Novalyne had left Cross Plains to attend graduate school in Louisiana.  She was there when she got the news of Robert’s death.

She wrote One Who Walked Alone as a rebuttal to L. Sprague de Camp’s biography of Howard, Dark Valley Destiny.  If you’ve not read her book, you should.  It’s one of the main sources of information we have about Bob.

The book was filmed in the mid-1990s and starred Vincent D’Onofrio as Robert and Renee Zellweger as Novalyne.

Haffner Press Announces Unpublished Manly Wade Wellman Story

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If you’re on the mailing list for Haffner Press, you got this in your inbox a little while ago.  If you aren’t and are a Manly Wade Wellman fan, you’ll want to see this.

Haffner Press Cat Chair logo
 In This Issue: March 7, 2019
 
•  •  •  PRESS RELEASE  •  •  •
 
“Not All a Dream”
 
An unpublished Manly Wade Wellman story
to be shipped with preorders of
THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER

Haffner Press is pleased to announce the upcoming release of an unpublished story by Manly Wade Wellman. Originally commissioned for the never released anthology The Last Dangerous Visions, “Not All a Dream” opens with poet/politician Lord Byron (1788-1824) musing over the status of his literary canon in years to come. Admiring the lasting legacy of John Milton, Byron accepts an offer to learn the truce place of his works in centuries hence—a nightmare vision gained by traveling into a dangerous future . . .

How can you get a copy of this story? Well, if you’ve placed a preorder for Manly Wade Wellman’s two-volume omnibus  THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER, then you’re already set to receive it! (Congratulations, you wise, prescient reader!)

Otherwise, you have between now and the release of THE COMPLETE JOHN THE BALLADEER on October 31, 2019 at the World Fantasy Convention in Los Angeles to place a preorder and receive “Not All a Dream” as an exclusive 32-page chapbook at no additional charge.


Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman’s
 
“Not All a Dream”


A 32-page chapbook shipping
exclusively with preordered copies of:


THE COMPLETE
JOHN THE BALLADEER
Two 600+ page Smythe-sewn Hardcovers
Cover art by Raymond Swanland
Release Date: October 31, 2019


 Pre-Order price: $90

Stories:
“O Ugly Bird!”
“The Desrick on Yandro”
“Vandy, Vandy”
“One Other”
“Call Me from the Valley”
“The Little Black Train”
“Shiver in the Pines”
“Walk Like a Mountain”
“On the Hills and Everywhere”
“Old Devlins Was A-Waiting”
“Nine Yards of Other Cloth”
“Then I Wasn’t Alone”
“You Know the Tale of Hoph”
“Blue Monkey”
“The Stars Down There”
“Find the Place Yourself”
“I Can’t Claim That”
“Who Else Could I Count On”
“John’s My Name”
“Why They’re Named That”
“None Wiser for the Trip”
“Nary Spell”
“Trill Coster’s Burden”
“The Spring”
“Owls Hoot in the Daytime”
“Can These Bones Live?”
“Nobody Ever Goes There”
“Where Did She Wander?”

Novels
The Old Gods Waken (1979)
After Dark (1980)
The Lost and the Lurking (1981)
The Hanging Stones (1982)
The Voice of the Mountain (19
That’s it for now. To ensure that you continue to receive this newsletter, be sure to add haffnerpress@sbcglobal.net and info@haffnerpress.com to your email reader’s “safe list.” And, remember, shipping is FREE in the continental United States. Alaska, Hawaii and International orders should email us at info@haffnerpress.com for shipping rate quotes. You have been warned!

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•  Keep Watching the Skies!  •

William F. Nolan at 91

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William F. Nolan

William F. Nolan was born this day (March 6) in 1928.  Best known as the coauthor of Logan’s Run, Nolan is, AFAIK, the last living member of what became known as the California School or California Group.  Other members included but were not limited to Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, Charles E. Fritch, Richard Matheson, and Nolan’s collaborator on Logan’s Run, George Clayton Johnson.

I enjoyed Logan’s Run when I was a kid, and I’ve got the two sequels Nolan wrote somewhere around the house.  I’ve not read Johnson’s sequel.

But what i enjoy most about Nolan’s work are his short stories.  They tend to have a bite to them.  It’s been a while since I read any.  I’m going to try to work one in some time today if I can.  Just as soon as I finish the Henry S. Whitehead story I started yesterday.

Henry S. Whitehead

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Today (March 5) marks the birth of Henry S. Whitehead.  He was born in 1882 and passed away in November of 1932.  Whitehead was a contributor of Weird Tales and a correspondent of H.P. Lovecraft.  The year before Whitehead died, Lovecraft visited him at his Florida home and quite liked him.  Had he not died so young, Whitehead would have been a major author of the weird and fantastic.  I consider him to be so, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

Whitehead served for a time as the Archdeacon for the Episcopal Church in the Virgin Islands.  This posting would become a major influence on his fiction, as most of it dealt with voodoo and other fantastic aspects of Caribbean life.

Whitehead wrote no novels, but his short fiction is worth seeking out.  I reviewed “Seven Turns in a Hangman’s Rope” a few years ago.  Fortunately, his work is available in electronic format.  If I get a chance, I’ll try to read something else by him.

Quick Update

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Here’s a quick update on what’s been going on in my neck of the woods.

My wife had her first week of radiation this week.  It went well.  Hopefully, the next five weeks will go as smoothly.

The second week of March is going to be something of a challenge.  The sewer line under the house is cast iron and has corroded away in places.  We’re getting a new line installed, which means breaking through the slab.  The fun never stops at Casa Keith.  My brother-in-law is loaning us his camper, so we’ll be living in it that week.  Fortunately we’re on Spring Break that week, so school won’t be an issue.  My wife’s radiation treatments are in the middle of the day, so they will continue without interruption.

Things are settling into a routine.  I’m hoping to get back to writing fiction on a semi-regular basis this week.  I got two rejections, one yesterday and the other this morning.  Yesterday was from a small press publication.  The editor liked the story but liked others better and encouraged me to submit the next time they are open for submissions.  This morning was from a major publication in a different genre than I usually write.  The rejection letter was from the editor, not a form rejection.  She liked the story but didn’t think it would be a good fit for that particular magazine.  However, she did ask me to submit again.  I must be doing something right.

Blogging has slowed down, and that probably won’t change a lot for the next month or so.  I want to spend what little free time I can wrench from my schedule to devote to reading and fiction writing.  I’ll post a review from time to time, but it will be of something I’ve been reading for pleasure, not anything by request.  The only exceptions will be stuff I had previously committed to review that I haven’t yet.