Monthly Archives: March 2021

When the Wind is From the South

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Dennis Etchison

Today, March 30, is the birthday of Dennis Etchison (1943-2019). Etchison was primarily a short fiction writer, but today’s story, “A Wind From the South”, was Chapter 2 in Etchison’s novel California Gothic. I liked it enough to want to read the novel.

A woman named Evie who lives in a California suburb is about to get in the shower when the doorbell rings. Her husband is out, and her son is visiting a friend, so she foolishly answers the door.

A young woman is standing there asking how to get to – no, not Sesame Street – the local elementary school. Evie invites her visitor in, her second mistake. The young woman begins to describe the life she hopes to have in the neighborhood. A life that sounds frighteningly like Evie’s.

I’ll refrain from saying any more about the story. Which may not be fair, since it isn’t currently in print. I read it in The Death Artist.

It tired some of Etchison’s work years ago. It didn’t seem to be my cup of tea at the time. But given the high regard in which he’s held by a number of authors who work and opinions I respect, even if I don’t always agree with, I’m going to give him another try.

 

Ruminations on William Morris

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William Morris

William Morris (1834-1896) was born today, March 24. Morris was active in a number of creative endeavors throughout his life, but the one that concerns us here is his writing.

Morris has a reputation today, when he’s remembered at all, of being difficult to read. And while there is some justification for that, I think it’s largely undeserved. I’ve read one of his novels, The Wood Beyond the World, which I reviewed some years ago at Black Gate, when I was reading through the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. There’s a cadence to Morris’s work. Once I got into that rhythm, it was fairly easy going. Continue reading →

“There’s Nothing I Enjoy More Than Discussing These Old Scoundrels.” Robert E. Howard on Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, Two Texas Gunfighters

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Today’s guest post is by John Bullard. Take it away, John.

Robert E. Howard loved the history of the American Southwest, and greatly enjoyed talking about it with and teaching it to his famous Eastern writer friends. For a while there in his correspondences with Lovecraft and Derleth, Howard could barely let a letter go by without talking about Billy the Kid or John Wesley Hardin’s exploits. However, two famous Texan gunmen that Howard talked about have been all but forgotten today, and with the anniversary of their violent deaths having just passed, I thought it would be interesting to talk about them again, just as Howard did. Continue reading →

Remembering Novalyne Price Ellis

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Today, March 9, marks the birthday of Novalyne Price Ellis (1908-1999). She is remembered today for her memoir One Who Walked Alone. It was based on the diaries she kept while she dated Robert E. Howard during the final two years of his life.

One Who Walked Alone provides the best account of what Howard was like. She wrote the book, which was published by Donald M. Grant in 1986, in order to counter some of the things said in L. Sprague de Camp’s biography of Howard, Dark Valley Destiny.

If you are interested in Robert E. Howard, and really, who around this blog isn’t, then you should really read One Who Walked Alone.

Revisiting William F. Nolan

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Today, March 6, is the birthday of William F. Nolan (b. 1928), best known as the coauthor of Logan’s Run and two sequels.

Nolan is primarily a short story writer, and when I picked up the volume shown on the right last week at the Friends of the Library sale, I thought it would be time to revisit some of his works. It’s been a few years since I ready much by him. That’s a photo of the actual book I bought. It was the library’s copy that was taken out of circulation. You can see the edge of the sticker that says “Fiction” on it down on the lower left.

But I digress.

This isn’t going to be a review. I’ve not had much chance to read the book. I’m probably going dip into it from time to time rather than try to read it straight through. But I did want to acknowledge Nolan’s birthday. He’ s 93, and that in itself is an accomplishment.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

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Theodore Geisel, AKA Dr. Seuss, was born on this day, March 2 in 1904. He passed away in 1991. He wrote and illustrated many of my favorite and my son’s favorite books from early childhood.

Yes, I know he’s being canceled. Or at least some of his books are. Some people have decided that they have racist content.

Really? Dr. Seuss?

Whatever.

I don’t really care they claim about his books. I’m getting really tired of people saying I shouldn’t have access to reading material (or movies, or…) because they don’t approve of it or it isn’t woke enough. And don’t get me started on the recent attempt to get Baen Books deplatformed.

I don’t need someone to tell me what I can’t read. Or what I should read. I’ll read whatever I please, and it’s no one’s business what I read. If someone objects to it, that’s only going to make me read more of it. *Looks at shelves containing Kipling, Haggard, Howard, Lovecraft, and Uncle Remus.* That includes Dr. Seuss. What I’m going to read even less of than I already do is what’s coming out of the major publishers or anything promoted because it’s woke.

If that last paragraph offends you, go screw yourself.