Today, July 24, marks the birth of three writers and one artist who have not only been major figures in the fields of fantasy and science fiction but also personal favorites of mine. In order of the years of their births, they are

E. F. Benson (1867-1940). The best known of a trio of brothers who all wrote tales of the supernatural, Edward Frederick was also the most prolific the trio. Benson wrote some of the best ghost stories. Although he is best remembered among the general public as the author of the Mapp and Lucia novels, it’s his ghost stories that will insure his reputation as a writer of importance. As a general rule, Benson’s ghost aren’t friendly. They are malevolent. Not all of his spooks, as he called them, are ghosts. He wrote several excellent vampire tales.

Lord Dunsany (1878-1957). Lord Dunsany is probably the second best remembered author whose birth I am observing. Although he isn’t widely read these days outside fans of older work of fantasy and some hardcore Lovecraft fans (Lovecraft was a great admirer of Dunsany), he wrote some great fantasy, much of it a short lengths. I suggest you give The King of Elfland’s Daughter a try. It’s one of the best fantasy novels of the previous century. Dunsany was one of the most influential fantasy writers of the pre-Tolkien era. There was a reason Lin Carter published six volumes of Dunsay’s work in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.

Lee Brown Coye (1907-1981) is the artist on the list. Coye’s work included covers for Weird Tales as well as covers for books by some of the greatest authors of weird fiction. Much of Coye’s work is noted for having patterns of sticks somewhere in the illustration. You can see some on the cover of Manly Wade Wellman’s Worse Things Waiting (slick on image to enlarge). Coye said he came upon an abandon house while hiking in a remote area. The house was surrounded by sticks tied together. This became the inspiration for Karl Edward Wagner’s classic story “Sticks”, which in turn is believed to be the inspiration for The Blair Witch Project.

John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) is the final person I want to highlight today. Although MacDonald focused on crime thrillers for most of his career, he wrote a respectable body of science fiction for the pulps as well as three novels, including The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything, which was filmed starring Pam Dawber of Mork and Mindy fame. Other Times Other Worlds, a collection of MacDonald’s short sf was published in 1978, but there are many more stories yet to be collected.