July 3 brings us more than one birthday to celebrate, so we’ll start with July 2, because I didn’t make it to the computer yesterday. Then we’ll move on to the ones from today.
Hannes Bok (1914-1964) was born on July 2nd. He wrote poetry and a few novels, including finishing The Black Wheel after A. Merritt dies. Bok is probably best rememebered as an artist. He met Ray Bradbury in Los Anmgeles. Bradbury helped him to break into the business. He went on to illustrate for Weird Tales.
Moving on to birthdays for today (July 3, in case you hadn’t figured it out), we’ll start with Charlotte Perkiins Gilman (1860-1935). Gilman wrote the early feminist utopian novel, Herland, in 1915. But it is her short fiction I want to focus on today, in particular the story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” I read this one a few years ago in an anthology entitled In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe. It’s a harrowing story dealing with mental illness. I’ve not read any of her other short stories, but based on “The Yellow Wallpaper”, I’m going to look them up.
E. Hoffman Price (1898-1988) was probably the only member of the Lovecraft Circle to meet all the other members in person. He met Robert E. Howard twice if my memory serves me right. He was also an accomplished pulpster in his own right. Wildside Press has collected a number of his stories in their Megapacks series. Carcosa published a collection of his weird fiction, Far Lands, Other Days. I happened to buy the copy Price had inscribed to L. Sprague de Camp without realizng it at the time. Whoever processed the de Camp collection at Half Price Books missed the inscription (so did I until I got home with the book), or it would have been locked in a display case. I’ve read a little of his work and have found it to be enjoyable. Price didn’t limit himself to weird fiction. He also wrote adventure stories set in exotic locales. Price traveled extensively throughout his life and included much of what he experienced in his fiction.
Last, but certainly not least, we come to Michael Shea (1946-2014). Shea is one of those authors whose work I will buy when I come across it on the strength of his reputation alone. I’ve got most of his books, although I’ve never read them. I am going to. It’s just a matter of time. Shea is someone I’ve been looking forward to reading.
So those are the birthdays from today and yesterday. If you have any suggestions about what to read by any of these people, please drop them in the comments below.
I need to read The Yellow Wall Paper.
I read most of the Nift the Lean stories. They were highly imaginative but I did not click with Shea’s style. That said I definitely think they are not bad.
Monday is the birth of the Belgian writer Jean Ray. He’s considered the the Francophone equivalent to Poe or Lovecraft. I have a post about him on DMR books on Monday.
Unfortunately, I’ve noticed Shea’s books are going for a pretty penny since he died.
I wanted to finish the Nift books, but even the audiobooks disappeared.
Nift stories are quite different in that the monsters are gigantic. I could see the influence on Dungeons & Dragons from that angle.
THE COLOUR OUT OF TIME was a pretty decent sequel to “The Colour Out of Space.”
I need to read more of his horror. At least Hippocampus were able to put out a collection, THE AUTOPSY. I see that his wife was involved. I hope more is to come.