Monthly Archives: July 2019

The Weird Tales Covers of C. C. Senf

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Farnsworth Wright (l.) and C. C. Senf, Chicago, late 1920s

Artist C. C. (Curtis Charles) Senf was born in this date, July 30, 1873. He passed away in 1949.  Senf did a number of covers for Weird Tales.  The ISFDB lists 45 covers between 1927 and 1932.  I’m not sure why Senf didn’t do any others.  His last cover was July 1932.  Margaret Brundage’s first cover was September 1932. She had already provided the covers for the Spring and Summer 1932 issues of Oriental Stories.  Maybe Farnsworth liked her covers better.

Or maybe Senf left to pursue other, more lucrative projects.  I don’t know.  I’ll do some checking, and if I find out anything interesting, I’ll report back.

Senf’s covers definitely have what I would call a 1920’s look to them, with Victorian overtones.  For more discussion of Senf’s technique and a more detailed biography, see these three posts at Tellers of Weird Tales.

Now, let’s enjoy some of his covers. Continue reading →

Farnsworth

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Today, July 29, marks the birth of legendary Weird Tales editor, Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940).  Modern fantasy would be very different without his influence.  It’s arguable whether we would have the works of Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, C. L. Moore, Seabury Quinn, Henry S. Whitehead, and many others if he hadn’t bought their stories and encouraged them.

I’ve enough to do for the rest of the day that I’m not sure I’ll be able to read anything he published in Weird Tales, but I’ll raise a glass in his memory sometime before I go to bed.

Remembering Bill

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We lost Bill Crider to cancer in February of last year.  February 12, 2018, to be exact.  Today (July 28) would have been his 78th birthday.

I took the picture on the left at the 2017 World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio. That’s Joe Lansdale on the left.  It was my last time to see Bill.  We didn’t get to visit much; his stamina was low.  I understood and was thankful for the time I did get to chat with him.

Bill Crider is best remembered as a mystery writer, and that’s as it should be.  He was good, very good at that genre.  Along with some westerns, he also wrote bit of fantasy and science fiction.  It would be great if someone could collect those stories.

I first became aware of Bill in 1999, when he was the guest at a writing symposium held at the university I was at.  We didn’t meet then, but I started watching for his books.  Then I moved to another part of the state.  About a year or two later, ConDFW got started.  Bill was a regular attendee there, as well as Aggiecon and Armadillocon, two other conventions I was attending at the time.  Although he didn’t write much fantasy and science fiction, Bill was a fan especially of the older, pulpier stuff.  We’d both grown up reading a lot of the same authors and stories, although he had read them in their original publications while I had read reprints.

We had some mutual friends, and I got to know Bill and and to a lesser extent his wife Judy by hanging with that group.  I tended to stay at the back of the crowd and just listen.  Bill was an accomplished raconteur, and when he and Joe Lansdale got going, well, you couldn’t find better entertainment than that.

Bill was always a gentleman, courteous, kind, approachable.  He was soft spoken, and he never failed to have something interesting to say.  I didn’t know him as well as Joe or Scott Cupp or James Reasoner did.  They knew him for far longer after all.  Still, he was my friend, and I miss him.

If you’ve not read Bill Crider, give his work a try.  He never engaged in literary pyrotechnics.  He just told good stories.

John D. MacDonald Makes Children Cry

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“A Child is Crying”
Originally published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1948

Even though he’s best remember as a writer of crime novels and the Travis McGee series of thrillers, John D. MacDonald was also an accomplished author of science fiction.  He only wrote three sf novels (The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything; Ballroom of the Skies; Wine of the Dreamers), but the ISFDB lists 70 short stories if I’ve counted correctly.  Not all of those are necessarily science fiction, but that’s more than enough for a retrospective collection or two.  (Stephen Haffner, are you paying attention?)  Some of his science fiction was collected in Other Times, Other Worlds.  That little paperback is long out of print, although copies can still be found.  I bought one at a secondhand bookstore in Colorado a few weeks ago.

MacDonald was born on this date, July 24, in 1916, and passed away during surgery in 1986.  In observance of his birth, I managed to read one of his tales.  “A Child is Crying” is one of his best-known sf short stories, and it’s easy to see why. Continue reading →

James A. Moore Could Use Our Help

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For those of you who may not have heard, James A. Moore has been diagnosed with cancer.  A GoFundMe page has been set up on his behalf.  I’ll let you read the details on the GoFundMe page.

I have never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Moore; I look forward to doing so.  The last time I attended World Fantasy, he was on the schedule but wasn’t able to attend. If you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know I’m a big fan of his work.  Type his name in the search box to see my reviews. He’s one of the best horror and fantasy writers working today.

Even though Jim has insurance through his dayjob, I can tell you from recent experience that cancer treatment ain’t cheap and insurance won’t cover deductables and copays, never mind lost income from not being able to write and meet his deadlines. So if you can help out, please do so.  Give what you can, even if it’s only a few bucks. If we all pull together, we can make a difference. And if you’ve been thinking of buying one of his books, now would be a good time.

Jim, hang in there. You’re going to beat this. If you happen to see this post, know I’m praying for you.

 

Remembering the Eagle

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Today, July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of a man walking on the Moon for the first time.  I don’t remember the landing, although I certainly remember the Apollo program and the later landings.  (Tang, anyone?)

I believe it was Jerry Pournelle who said he expected to live to see the first Moon landing but never expected to live to see the last.  I have to agree with him.  There’s talk of going back, but I’m skeptical we’ll do it.  At least I’m skeptical the US will do it within my lifetime, assuming I die of natural causes (formerly known as “old age” on death certificates) rather than an accident of some sort.

However, I’m not writing this post to be cynical.  (Yes, cynical would be an improvement.)  Going to the Moon is a major achievement.  And while I certainly believe that “because it’s there” is sufficient justification for exploring, there are added benefits.  The spin off technology alone has transformed society.  There’s something in the American psyche, and in humanity in general, that can be summed up as a need for frontiers.  It is part of the human condition to explore.

So I want to take a moment to thank Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and all those who paved the way before and followed after.  I only hope my children, grandchildren, and their progeny will not only follow in your footsteps but go beyond, to Mars, the asteroids, the moons of the outer planets, the Kuiper belt, and eventually the stars.  Thank you gentlemen for showing us the way forward.

I’m going to work my way through The Eagle Has Landed.  I’ve read about 25% of the stories here previously, maybe more.  Some of the titles are familiar, I’m not sure I’ve read them.

If I post any reviews, they will be over on Futures Past and Present.

And Still More Birthdays

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Before I look at several folks born on this date, please indulge me by allowing me to explain one of the reasons I do these posts.

No, it’s not because I have nothing else to say.  Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while should know that usually isn’t the case.  (Well, okay, maybe a little.)

One of the main reasons I do these posts are for historical reasons.  The fields of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and weird fiction have long histories. Aside from a few well-known authors such as Lovecraft, Howard, Asimov, Clarke, and a few others, most of the writers of the past are unknown to the general reading public.

Why does this matter, you ask?  Because every few years some new writer will write a novel/short story/screenplay/ransom note/etc that young readers, critics, and other writers will hail as original and groundbreaking.  Only it won’t be.  It will have been done years or decades before by someone else.  And usually done better, although YMMV as to how much better.  The new work will be shinier, have more up to date technology, and express the correct sociopolitical opinions du jour.  But the central conceit will be anything but original.

IOW, those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.  Case in point the undead myth that women weren’t represented in the field before [insert year of speaker’s birth here].  This is one of those myths that just won’t die, in spite of some of us trying to put a stake in its heart.

There was a conversation that came across my Twitter feed yesterday (and is probably still going on for all I know; I am on Twitter sporadically these days) in which someone stated that Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein came to dominate the science fiction field in their later years while many writers contemporary to the time these three did their most well-known work and were just as admired and respected became forgotten.  And while this topic is better suited for another post, part of what I’m trying to do with these birthday posts is to prevent some of these formerly well-respected but now obscure writers from being completely forgotten.

So, with that in mind, here are today’s birthdays. Continue reading →