Monthly Archives: April 2019

Jack Williamson’s Eleventy-First Birthday

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Jack Williamson

There are a number of birthdays today that I could write about, but I want to focus on three, in no other order than their importance to me.

Legendary science fiction and fantasy author Jack Williamson was born 111 years ago today.  That would be April 29, 1908.  He passed away in 2006.

Williamson got his start in the pulps in the late 1920s with his first story, “The Metal Man”, being published in Amazing Stories.  His final novel, The Stonehenge Gate, was published in 2005.

My project to read and compare the magazine and book versions of Darker Than You Think got sidetracked last year.  I’ll try to get it restarted in the summer.

I’ve written about Williamson’s impact on me several times before, so I’ll keep my comments short.  I came across a stripped copy of The Best of Jack Williamson for a quarter at the flea market in Wichita Falls, Texas, when I was in the seventh grade.  (Stripped means the cover had been stripped off and the book had been reported to the publisher as having been pulped.  It was stolen, IOW, although I didn’t know that then.)  My favorite story in the collection at the time, and still a favorite today, is “With Folded Hands”.  It’s a chilling story about robots who protect us from ourselves, whether we want them to or not.  If you haven’t read it, it’s worth tracking down a copy. Continue reading →

“Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall” by Frank Belknap Long

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Frank Belknap Long was born on this date, April 27, in 1901.  Long was friends with H. P. Lovecraft, and he’s best remembered today as a member of the Lovecraft circle.  Long contributed a number of  stories to the Mythos over the years, my personal favorite being “The Hounds of Tindalos”.

But Long wrote in multiple genres, including Gothics mostly under his wife’s name.  Today I want to look briefly at one of his science fiction stories.  “Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall” was first published in the November 1948 issue of Startling Stories.   Continue reading →

Mundy and Davidson

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Just a quick birthday announcement of two great writers of the previous century who were born on this date (April 23).

Talbot Mundy

First, Talbot Mundy (1879-1940).  Mundy wrote adventure stories for the pulps.  Mundy worked in India and Africa after graduating from university, and these experiences informed much of his later fiction.  Some of his work  contains fantastic elements, but much was real world adventure fiction.  He was an influence on a number of science fiction and fantasy writers.

Much of his fiction is available in both print and electronic formats.

Avram Davidson

Second, Avram Davidson (1923-1993).  Davidson wrote his best work at short lengths, although he wrote a number of novels as well.  Davidson had a unique voice, and I once attended a panel where the moderator asked the panelists what writers they thought people would be reading in a hundred years.  Neil Gaimen was on the panel, and if memory serves, named Davidson.

Davidson isn’t light bedtime reading, but his work rewards the effort.   (It doesn’t require a great deal of effort, you slackers.)  His collection of essays, Adventures in Unhistory, is worth seeking out.

Beagle and Wandrei

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About four years ago, there was a showing of The Last Unicorn at the local Alamo Drafthouse.  The is of course based on the novel by Peter S. Beagle.  I had seen it in the theater years ago upon its release.  I took my son, who at the time was about the same age I had been when I saw it.  He got to meet Peter, whom I had met on several previous occasions.  My son and I both had a great evening.  If you’re interested, you can read about that here.

Today (April 20, 2019) marks Peter’s 80th birthday.  I’d like to wish him a very happy birthday.  Beagle is a true gentleman and one of the best stylists working in the field.  His work is filled with warmth and humor, and I highly recommend it.

The other birthday I want to acknowledge is that of Donald Wandrei, who was born in 1908.  In addition to writing for the pulps, including Weird Tales and Black Mask, Wandrei co-founded Arkham House with August Derleth.  There are no electronic collections of Wandrei’s fiction, but Fedogan and Bremer have brought out several nice hardcover collections of his short fiction.  I’ve read a little of his work, and I intend to read more.  Anyone who can hit both Weird Tales and Black Mask is a writer I want to read.

Requiescat in Pace, Gene Wolfe (1931-2019)

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No sooner had I posted the previous update than a notice that Gene Wolfe had died came across my feed.

He passed away yesterday, April 14, at the age of 87 after a long battle with heart disease.  It’s early enough that many of the genre news outlets haven’t posted the news.  Here’s the only one I’ve seen so far, from Tor.com.  As more tributes become avaialbe, I’ll post links in the comments as they become available.  Feel free to post them as you come across them.

I met Gene Wolfe once, at the World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi in 2000.  He was a true gentleman.  I’ve not read a great deal of his work, but I’ve liked everything I’ve read by him.

I may have to stay up late after everyone has gone to bed, but I’ll be reading something he wrote tonight and raising a glass in his memory.

Spring Fever (or is That Hay Fever?)

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Just a quick update.

Things are in bloom.  I don’t usually have trouble with the pollen in the spring here, but with all the rain, I’m having a few minor issues.

My wife was having issues with her hand going numb before the cancer diagnosis put that put on hold.  Now that she’s essentially done with all but a few followup visits, she’ll be having surgery later this month to move a nerve from one side of her elbow to the other.  They’ll also do a carpal tunnel procedure at the same time.  It will be an outpatient treatment.

Things are starting to wrap up as far as my semester is concerned.  I’m looking forward to a break.  It’s been a hectic semester.  I had an interview at a different university a few weeks ago.  I’m not looking for a different job, but a friend/former student pushed me to apply for this one.  I ultimately applied because it would put me just over an hour away from my parents.  They are still in good health, but they are getting on up there in years.  This would have involved a slight change of direction, including running a planetarium, something I’ve not done before.  After all the interviews were done, the administration there made a decision to split the position into two lower level positions to be fill a year from now and just have a visiting instructor for the coming year, which meant I was out.  I’m under no pressure to leave where I am, and the change in the job made it a bad move on my end.

I’m hoping to get some reading and writing done and up my blogging over the next few weeks.  That’s how things stand here.  How are ya’ll?

A Visit to the Jack Williamson Lectureship

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Jack Williamson and Your Intrepid Blogger gazing into the future.

Last Friday I made a trek to the Jack Williamson Lectureship at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.  Even though the GoH wasn’t someone I was familiar with (film maker Alex Rivera), I wanted to make sure I went this year.  I’d had an interview at a different university the previous week and felt I had a good shot at the position.  (I learned a few days ago the dean and the provost decided not to fill the position but to split it into two positions next year.Oh, well.  I’m under no pressure to leave where I’m at.  The other position would have put me closer to family, which was the main reason I applied.) Continue reading →

Kuttner at Longer Lengths

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Henry Kuttner was on born on this date, April 7, in 1915.  Anyone who has spent any time around this blog knows that Kuttner is one of my favorite authors.  It’s been one of those weeks where I haven’t had much time to read, so I don’t have a review of anything he wrote ready to go.  (I did manage to make it to the Jack Williamson lectureship again, so there will be a report on that within a few days.)

Much of Kuttner’s work in the middle to late 1940s was at what was considered novel length at the time, but most of these stories would be considered novellas today.  Thrilling Wonder and Startling Stories were the two most common magazines for Kuttner’s longer works.  And most of them have never been reprinted.  There are some exceptions.  I’ve read most of Kuttner’s short stories that I can get my hands on.  The longer works are next on my agenda. Continue reading →

Lost Robert E. Howard Manuscript Found

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Workers doing repairs at the Robert E. Howard House in Cross Plains made a startling discovery last week.  While replacing a portion of an outer wall damaged in a  thunderstorm, they found an envelope containing an unknown manuscript.

The manuscript is a rough draft of a Conan story, making it the second novel length Conan yarn.  According to those who have read the manuscript, Conan is robbing a tomb in Stygia when he runs into the sorcerer Thoth-Amon.  They are both after an amulet sacred to the snake god Set.  During the ensuing battle, Thoth-amon casts a spell on Conan that hurls him millennia into the future.  The spell causes Conan to lose his memory.  He wanders Africa, having various adventures, until he runs into Solomon Kane.  With Kane’s help, he returns to the Hyborian Age and defeats Thoth-Amon.

Reaction among Robert E. Howard scholars has been varied.  Rusty Burke says this is the best thing by Howard he has ever read.  Bill “Indy” Cavalier says the discovery will be a game-changer in Robert E. Howard studies.  Mark Finn was speechless.  Speaking by phone from France, Patrice Louinet could only babble excitedly in French.  Jeff Shanks began writing a grant proposal for further archaeological work at the Howard House.  Dave Hardy, on the other hand, is convinced the manuscript is a forgery and has hired retired ADA John Bullard to investigate.  A special edition of The Cromcast will be devoted to the manuscript in the near future.