Author Archives: Keith West

What Anthology Series Should I Review?

I’m involved in a conversation on Twitter in which the DAW Year’s Best Fantasy Stories series came up. The series was originally edited by Lin Carter followed by Arthur W. Saha. I’ve got most of them. I was thinking about reading through them and reviewing. Things should lighten up for a bit in about two weeks, once finals are over and I’ve gotten my grades in. I think I’ll have a little time.

But then I got to thinking. I’ve got several anthology series that might be of interest to readers of this blog. There’s the Swords Against Darkness edited by Andrew Ouffutt, Whispers (Stuart David Schiff), Shadows (Charles L. Grant), and Karl Edward Wagner’s Year’s Best Horror Stories from DAW.

I had been toying with the idea of reading through another DAW series, Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories when John O’Neill invited me to blog about the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. I haven’t ruled that one out, but it’s probably not one I want to tackle right now.

So what do you think? Would you like to see a series of posts on one of these anthology series? If so, which one?

Birthdays for a Pair of Favorites

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Today marks the anniversaries of two favorite writers, men who are no strangers to readers of Adventures Fantastic or fans of classic pulp and adventure literature. They are Rafael Sabatini and Jack Williamson. Plus a third pulpster whose work I’ve not read much of yet. Continue reading →

Tales From the Magician’s Skull Premieres

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Tales From the Magician’s Skull
Howard Andrew Jones, ed.
Goodman Games
Bedsheet size magazine, $14.99

If you’ve followed this blog, you may remember me mentioning the Kickstarter for this publication. Well, it’s out now, and the second issue is in production.

I think the editor Howard Andrew Jones and his team have set the bar pretty high with this inaugural issue. It’s modeled after the old pulp magazines. I think this approach is a success. The illustrations, fan club index, and the editorial by Jones all complement the most important aspect of the magazine, the stories. Continue reading →

A Look at Henry Kuttner’s “Design for Dreaming”

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In the comments of this year’s Henry Kuttner birthday post, Sara mentioned the story “Design for Dreaming”, published in the February 1942 issue of Unknown Worlds. I thought I had read that story. I hadn’t, as it turned out. I was thinking about a different story. “Design for Dreaming” has never been reprinted.

Fortunately, about 19 years or so ago, I bought a ten issue run on Unknown/Unknown Worlds in a single, library-bound volume. One of the best investments I’ve ever made.

That issue is included in the run. So I read “Design for Dreaming”.

It’s pretty darn good story. Continue reading →

2018 David Gemmell Awards Shortlist is Live

A Visit to the Jack Williamson Lectureship

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So last Friday, April 6, I decided to ~~play hookey~~ take a personal day from work and attend the Jack Williamson Lectureship in Portales, NM. This was the 42nd annual Lectureship. Jack Williamson was a Professor of English at Eastern New Mexico University. The Lectureship was established in 1977, when he retired.

I had always wanted to go, especially since I moved out to this part of Texas. Portales is just under two hours from my house. I needed the break, so I went.

Boy, am I glad I did. I didn’t realize until i got there just how badly I needed the getaway. It was like visiting a home I hadn’t realized existed and being united with family I never knew I had. I will be returning next year. By the time I left for home, the Williamson Lectureship became second only to Howard Days on my calendar. (Those who know me will understand the significance of that statement.)

I’d like to thank Betty Williamson, Jack’s niece, for her hospitality and generosity during my visit. Betty oversees the Lectureship and has done a remarkable job of keeping Jack Williamson’s legacy alive. Jack was one of the most original and innovative science fiction writers of all time, and much of his work is sadly unavailable these days outside of second hand bookstores. Continue reading →

Henry Kuttner at 103

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On this date, April 7, in 1915, Henry Kuttner entered the world. He left it far too soon.

Posts commemorating Kuttner’s birthday have been pretty standard around here for a number of years. I’m not going to try to come up with something brilliant and original to say. I’m too snowed under with the day job. But I have been thinking about what to write, mostly while I was driving to Portales yesterday for the Jack Williamson Lectureship. (It was awesome! I’ll write about it, I promise.)

Kuttner seems to be getting some attention these days. At least I keep coming across mentions of his name in various places.

A few years ago I started a series of posts on Kuttner’s works that haven’t been reprinted, at least not in book form. I’m going to revise that series, which like many of my projects has gotten buried by Real Life obligations.

Later this year, namely when the semester ends in about six weeks, I’m going to try to read some of those stories and tell you about them. Kuttner wrote what at the time were considered novels, at least in the pulps. Today they would be considered novellas. Because of their length, most weren’t reprinted. As we saw with “A God Named Kroo“, many were just as good, if not better, than what made it into books.

I don’t know what I’m going to start with, but it will be something most of you probably haven’t read before. Stay tuned.

Robert Bloch at 101

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Today, April 5, is Robert Bloch’s birthday. He was born in 1917. For those of you who are poor at math, not sure what day/year it is, or didn’t read the title of the post, that would make him 101 today if he were still alive.

Bloch was one of the most influential writers of horror, crime, and science fiction of the last century. He wrote a number of novels, the most famous being Psycho. And while the Hitchcock film is deservedly considered a classic, you should give the book a try if you haven’t read it. There are some differences. Bloch’s written sequels have nothing to do with the film sequels.

In my mind, though, Bloch was better as a short story writer. The reason I think that may be in part because I’ve a fondness for short fiction. He started writing for Weird Tales when he was just 17, IIRC. While is early stuff is pretty rough around the edges, it was no worse that what Farnsworth Wright was buying at the time, and soon became better than much of the stuff by authors long forgotten. Bloch was an earlier correspondent of Lovecraft. Much of his early work was lovecraftian pastiche. He soon developed his own voice and went on to write some great horror and dark fantasy fiction, such as “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, “The Man Who Collected Poe”, and the Hugo Award winning “The Hell-Bound Train”. If Bloch had any faults, it was that he couldn’t stand Robert E. Howard’s Conan. (That’s a pretty big fault, if you ask me, but Bloch’s body of work is sufficiently good that I’m willing to overlook it.)

Over the last few years I’ve gotten into the habit of blogging about an author’s work on their birthday. At the moment, I’m swamped with the day job and slowly going under. That’s why it’s been like a ghost town around here lately. I’ve either not had the time to write (blog posts or fiction) or not had the energy when I had the time. So, no, I’m not dead. (Sorry to disappoint some of you.) I’ve just been dealing with Real Life.

I’m hoping to read something short this evening. If so, I’ll try to post about it here once I get this mountain of exams graded. I hope to do that, but I may not be able to pull it off.

But don’t let that stop you from raising a glass is Robert Bloch’s memory and celebrating his work by reading a short story or two.

Jack Williamson’s “Wolves of Darkness”

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“Wolves of Darkness” was published in Strange Tales, probably the most successful of the rivals of Weird Tales, in January 1932. As you can see, it got the cover.

I read the story years ago, when I was either in high school or an undergraduate. I was expecting it to be an early version of Williamson’s novel Darker Than You Think. It’s not. While both deal with lycanthropy, they are very different stories. I remember I enjoyed the story and that it wasn’t anything like what I was expecting. Other than that, I didn’t recall any of the plot when I sat down to reread the story the other day.

The first two things I mentioned above, I enjoyed it and it wasn’t what I was expecting, were still true. While lycanthropy is a theme, this horror tale is more grounded in science fiction than the supernatural. Continue reading →

A Look at Jack Williamson’s Golden Blood

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Before he became a master of science fiction, Jack Williamson was a master of pulp adventure. He’s becoming forgotten these days, especially much of his early work. It doesn’t help that most of his books are not available in electronic format. Haffner Press collected all of his short fiction in a ten volume set. They’re pretty much out of print except for a couple of limited editions of the later volumes.

Williamson started writing for the pulps in 1928. His last novel was published in 2005. He passed away in 2006. I’ve always wanted to attend the Williamson Lectureship in Portales. It’s within driving distance, but the day job has always interfered.

But I digress. There’s a clear difference in Williamson’s early work compared to his later novels. As he said in the Tamerlane Press edition of Golden Blood (still available for a reasonable price online) as well as the introduction to the Phantasia Press edition of The Reign of Wizardry (also still available), these were works he probably wouldn’t be able to write as an older writer. (I’m paraphrasing here, of course.)

Golden Blood was first serialized in Weird Tales after being rejected by Argosy. If there is an electronic version, I’m not aware of it. It got the cover twice, with both covers painted by J. Allen St. John.St. John also did the interior illustrations shown below.

The first cover, from the April 1933 issue, is a near classic image in the field of fantasy art. Williamson had an opportunity to buy the painting at the time the story was published but had to decline due to lack of funds.

There have been two paperback reprints, one with a cover by Ed Emshwiller at the bottom of the post. The other was a large print edition from Lancer. My favorite cover is the one with the giant tiger on it. Continue reading →