As I’m writing this, it is December 18. I just did a Christmas ghost story post. I usually don’t do two posts a day. Buy there were enough birthdays, I wanted to mention some of them.  Murphy has been with me this week, and I’ve not gotten as many posts done as I had intended. So to make up for the derth of posts, here are some birthdays of authors I like and recccomend.

Saki (H. H. Munro) 1870-1916: Saki was a short story writer. His work was often ironic and involved a twisted ending. I think of him as being similar to O. Henry in that regard. A number of his stories involved fantasy elements or hosts.

Alfred Bester 1913-1987: Bester was one of the most innovativescience fiction writers of the middle Twentieth Century at both novel and short lengths. He spent a number of years as a magazine editor in which he published little fiction. After he retired, he returned to science fiction, but his writinig wasn’t the same.

Sterling E. Lanier 1927-2007 :Lanier wasn’t a prolific writer. He only published a handful of novels and a few collections of short stories. I suggest the Brigadier Ffellowes short stories if you can find them. They are fantastic tall tales. I’ve not read his novels, although I have them. The two Hiero novels are well regarded and are easily available on the secondary market.

Michael Moorcock b. 1939: The only living person on this list, Moorcock should need no introduction to you.

Jack C. Haldeman II 1941-2002: Although not as well known as his brother Joe, Jack was a sceince fiction writer who had a small but impressive body of work.