Tom Purdom (1936-2024) has died. He passed away on January 14.
Purdom began writing science fiction in the late 1950s. He took a break from writing in the early 1970s and then returned in the 1990s. His most recent publication was “Exit Contract” in the May 2023 issue of Asimov’s.
Purdom’s name was one of the ones suggested when I asked what writers needed more exposure. I’ve always enjoyed his short fiction, and I intend to read some of it over the next few months. I’ll report on it here.
Kenneth Bulmer (1921-2005) was born on this day, January 14. A prolific science fiction adventure author, you probably know him better as Alan Burt Akers, author of the long-running Dray Prescott series of sword and planet adventures.
These are basically Burroughs pastiches in which the hero, Dray Prescott, is tranported to a planet orbiting the star Antares in the constellation Scorpio, where he falls in love with a princess, gets separated from her, and tries to return to her. There are fifty-two novels in the series, which is divided up into cycles. Continue reading
Today, as I’m writing this, it’s January 13. Or to put it another way, it’s the birthday of Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961). I’ve been on the road since I got off work this morning, and only got home about forty-five minutes ago, which is why I’m posting this so late. Most of you probably won’t see it until tomorrow.
I say all that to say that I’ve not had a chance to read anything by Smith today, so I’m going to do something different. I’m going to take a brief look at the four CAS collections Lin Carter put together for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. That’s the Ballantine I reference in the title of the post. I’m not going to put “Adult Fantasy” in the title.
As an aside, do you have any idea what comes up if youtype “Ballantine Adult Fantasy” into a search engine? Hint: Don’t try this at work.
Today, January 12, is Jack London’s birthday. London (1876-1916) was one of Robert E. Howard’s favorite authors.
I confess, I haven’t read much London. I’m slightly familiar with White Fang and The Call of the Wild because they are so well known.
Of course, decades years ago, I read “To Build a Fire” in one of my high school English classes. I don’t recall which one, nor do I remember much about the story. From what I’ve seen, it’s the obligatory Jack London story to include in high school literature books.
I have read a couple of other Londond stories.
“A Relic of the Pliocene” concerns an encounter with a mammoth. It’s a good adventure story. It’s been quite a while since I read it. I’ll have to give it a reread.
The other story, which I read as a kid and have reread at least once, is “Moon Face”. The details of this one have stuck with me better, maybe because I read it while I was young and the story imprinted itself on my memory.
One man hates another man. The hated man loves to fish using dynamite. So the man who hates him gets a dog, trains the dog to fetch sticks, then gives the dog to the man he hates. You can probably figure out the rest.
London isn’t a writer you hear a lot about these days. I think that’s a shame, but then I can say the same about a number of writers who have passed from the scene.
I can certainly see how Jack London’s works would have resonated with Robert E. Howard. London’s themes, as I understand them, deal with man’s survival in a wilderness environment. I have been wantiing to read London, more than the little I have.
So, those of you out there who have read London, what do you reccommend? Where should I start? I’m open to suggestions of short stories or novels.
Image bhy FantArt
Jerome Bixby was born on January 11, 1923. He passed away on April 28, 1998.
Bixby was a short story writer who did most of his work in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best remembered for his short story “It’s a Good Life”, which was filmed as an episode on the original Twilight Zone and starred Billy Mumy.
If Bixby wrote any novels, the ISFDB doesn’t list them.
Four collections of Bixby’s work were published, two in his lifetime, one in 2011, and the final one in 2014. A number of his stories haven’t been collected.
Bixby went on to become a screenwriter and wrote four episodes of the original Star Trek: “Mirror, Mirror”, “The Day of the Dove”, “Requim for Methusaleh”, and “By Any Other Name”. He also wrote westerns.
In addition to being a writer, Bixby also edited a few pulps before they died. He was editor of Planet Stories (1950=1951) and Jungle Stories (1949-1951).
Just a quick update on the writing front.
There’s bad news and good news. First the bad news. Continue reading
The inspiration for this post came from Randy Stafford’s comment on my post about entering 2024. To quote: “The writers I feel most guilty about not reviewing are those who have done good work, have sort of been forgotten, and are nearing the end of their lives.” Continue reading
I mentioned in my post on New Year’s Day that I was going to be doing challenge to write on average 2,024 words a day in 2014. How’s that going? Continue reading
One of the things I’ve been wanting to do for a while is read more nonfiction. As I slowly (very slowly) unpack and sort through the library, I’m going to organize the books so that they are actually organized. This will be new and different, but I should have the shelving a space to be able to find things I’m looking for.
At the top of the list is history. While I like history in general, there are some topics/time periods I’m particularly interested in.
First, there’s the history of the science fiction and fantasy fields. I’ve picked up pretty much every book on the field, especially the pulps, that I can get my hands on. There are a few biographies I’ve not read, and the ones I have are on the list to try to get to. Of course, the pulps were much bigger than just sf/f, and anything pulp related tends to make its way to my shelves sooner or later.
When it comes to biographies, I have several about Edgar Allan Poe sitting on the shelves. Will Oliver is finishing up a biography of Robert E. Howard, and it will move to the top of the list as soon as it comes out.
As for historical time periods, ancient history on just about any topic is on the list, with special interest in Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and pre-Norman invasion histories of England. Vikings are a must. I want to know more about Russian history as well as Byzantine. Pre-Revolutionary and Pre-Civil War history, Gilded Age, and the Roaring Twenties are areas of US history I want to dig deepr into, although pretty much anything related to US history will be of interest. Note: If I can remember it, I don’t consider it to be history. That doesn’t mean I won’t read about it. General histories and biographies fall under this category.
True crime is an interest. There have been more books on Jack the Ripper out in recent years than I’ve been able to keep track of. Some I’ve got, and some I’ve missed. Lizzie Borden is another true crime topic of interest, but I don’t see how much new can be written about that case. (And yes, I think she did it even though she was acquited.)
Books on writing are on the list. I’m always open to trying to improve my craft.
Business and leadership and general personal development are areas I read in as well. The business is for writing, because wriiting is a business. I want to one day have enough writiing income to make a living at it. That will take time, and things are changing in the business world. The leadership and professional development are carry-overs from when I was in academia and supervised a few dozen graduate teaching assistants.
Finally, I used to read a lot of religious and spiritual books. I’ve not read much in this genre for a few years and am wanting to get back to it.
What areas do you read in when you read nonfiction?
J. R. R. Tolkien was born on this date, January 3, way back in 1892. I’ve done a number of birthday posts on him, so I’ll not rehash those.
Today, I want to ruminate a bit, if you’ll allow a bit of self-indulgence. Tolkien has been on my mind some lately. I’m not really sure why. It may have something to do with having heard a Led Zeppelin song on the radio the other day, but I don’t think that was it. He was on my mind before that. Continue reading