Author Archives: Keith West

A Lovecraft Birthday Post Plus a Couple of Others

3 Replies

Today is August 20, the birthday of H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). It’s also my mother-in-law’s birthday, but that’s just a coincidence, I’m sure. Nothing nefarious about that at all.

I’ve spent a lot of time in a car over the last few years, and I’ve listened to a number of audio books. One of those was the complete works of Lovecraft. It was quite a good listening experience. This particular audio book was produced by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. The production values are top notch. I’m partly through his collaborations, also produced byt he HPLHS. I took a break to listen to the March Upcountry series by  David Weber and Jonh Ringo (highly recommended.)

There are two other birthdays of note  today, as well. Continue reading →

The End of Summer

3 Replies

Summer is over, at least for me. Forget about the autumnal equinox and the one hundred degree days that we’re still having.

Classes start tomorrow. Summer is over.

The second summer session ended a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been recovering ever since.

But this fall doesn’t look too terrible. I’ve actually got a day when I don’t have classes. And I don’t have any that get out after 6:15. That means I won’t be getting in around ten after a late lab. (I have a drive of at least 1.25 hours, one way.)

So I should be able to get back to writiing and blogging on  a regular basis.

That’s the plan.

Yes, I’m Still Here

2 Replies

Just a quck note to say I’m still here and this blog hasn’t gone dormant.

Well, not completely.

I’ve been teaching summer school. right now I’m teaching an online physics coulrse and putting it together as I go. It’s been taking up most of my time. I have two weeks of class left, then I get a quick break before the fall semester starts. The rest of the time I’ve been working on writiing fiction. I’ll post a writing update after the first of August.

I’ll also post a report on Howard Days. It was a good one this year.

That’s all for now. I just wanted to let you know that I’m still around. Just dealing with responsibilities and adulting and other “fun” things.

John Bullard Reviews Will Oliver’s New REH biography

11 Replies

Note From Keith: John sent me this review a month ago. I apologize to him for taking so long to get it up. I was busy with school and family things. Since he wrote this review, there have been some other reviews that make the same or similar points. Know that John isn’t cribbing from other reviews. 

I assume if you’re a Howard-fan, you know about this new biography that Dr. Willard Oliver has just produced. (Robert E. Howard: The Life and Times of a Texas Author} I just finished my read of it and will give my thoughts on the book, if you’re interested. In full disclosure, I have become good friends with “Will” through our love of Robert E. Howard and Howard Days activities, and also gave some very minor help to Will in his researches for the book, and will do my best to not let any bias show up in my review. Continue reading →

Manly Wade Wellman, A Birthday Tribute

3 Replies

Today (May 21) is the birthday of Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Wellman is best remembered for his stories of John the Balladeer.

Wellman’s work reflects the beliefs and people of the Appalachian Mountains. He found rich inspiration in their folklore and legends, of which the John the Balladeer stories are only part of that body of work. Wellman truly found his authorial voice with these stories.

Wellman also wrote some stories that featured Ntive American characters. They are a small portion of his output. I like the Appalachian stories better than the ones that focus on Native American folklore.

Most of Wellman’s output was short stories and novellettes. He didn’t write many novels. Five of those featured John the Balladeeer.

What Wellman stories are among your favorites?

RIP, George Barr, (1937-2025)

1 Reply

Locus magazine is reporting that art Geroge Barr passed away on April 19. He hadn’t been active as an artist for a number of years. Barr’s work graced a number of paperback covers in the 1960s and 1970s.  Much of his work was for DAW or Ace.  That’s the cover of The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories: 2 there on the left.

Barr had a easily recognizable style. I remember when it was pretty common to see his artwork both on covers and on the interiors of various publications, such at the late 80s/early 90s incarnation of Weird Tales. 

There hasn’t been a collection of his work for nearly fifty years, which is a shame.

Jack Williamson, Master of Science Fiction

2 Replies

I’m writing this on April 29. It’s the birthday of Jack Williamson (1908-2006). Williamson was one of the first sceince fiction writers I read in middle school when I was transitioning from the kid’s section in the library to the adult section. I found a copy of The Best of Jack Williamson at the flea market in Wichita Falls for a quarter. The cover had been ripped off.

I didn’t realize at the time that it was a stolen book. Bookstores stripped the covers off books when they took them off they sent the covers back to the publisher for credit and supposedly pulped the books. As far as I know, this is still the practice. Some unscrupulous boosellers would then sell the stripped copies, which the publishers consider to be theft.

But I digress. I was blown Continue reading →

Frank Belknap Long

2 Replies

Today, April 27, is the birthday of Frank Belknap Long (1901-1994) .It’s the end of the semester, and I’ve been slammed the last couple of weeks. (Apologies to those who commented on earlier posts for the delay in approving the comments. I just did that.) I hadn’t realized it had been about three weeks since the last time I posted something. I’ve been busy grading exams and wokring on a cople of fiction proojects.

Long was a protege of H. P. Lovecraft. In a way, he never completely got out of Lovecraft’s shadow. He was a fine writer in his own right.Fortunately, Wildside Press had published at elast three Megapacks of his work.

He wrote under a variety of pen names. I want to read some of the gothics he wrote in the late sixites and early seventies under the name Lyda Belknap Long. Has anyone read those.?

Kuttner’s Time Travel

8 Replies

Today, April 7, is the birthday of Henry Kuttner (1915-1958). Kuttner is one of my favorites. I’ve been doing birthday posts on his work for years. As long as this blog is active, I’ll keep doing them.

For today’s post, I want to look briefly at some of his time travel stories. He wrote a number of them, the best in collaboration with his wife C. L. Moore.

I haven’t read all of his time travel, but these three are some of his best and among my favorites of all his work. Continue reading →

Bloch’s “Hungarian Rhapsody”

3 Replies

Today, April 5, is the birthday of Robert Bloch (1917-1994). Valancourt Books has begun reprinting a number of titles by Robert Bloch. Today’s story is from Pleasant Dreams. This was one of Bloch’s first collections that moved away from Lovecraft pastiche.

This is a great collection and one that is worth checking out. If you’ve read much Bloch, you’ll frecognize a number of the tales therein, but Bloch is always worth rereading.

“Hungarian Rhapsody” was originally published in the June 1958 issue of Fantastic. It’s about a retired gangster who is liviing in an isolated house on a lake when a gorgeous woman moves in next door. She paid for the house in antique gold coins.

The gangster desires both the cons and the woman. As the story goes on, he moves from being a sympathetic character to a total creep. When he gets his  comeuppance, What happens to him isn’t a huge surprise, but Bloch handles it well.

It has a twist, and that’s in the last line. I won’t spoil it for you. Bloch was well-known for his sense of humor and his love of puns. That tenddency is on full display at the end of the story.

One thing I want to note. Pleasant dreams was originally published by Arkham House in 1960. There was a mass market paperback of the same title published 1979.

That book was a different book, although there was a great deal fo overlap. That’s the cover there on the left. Four stories were removed from the Arkham House edition (“Mr.Steinway”, “Catnip”, “that Hell-Bound Train,” and “Enoch”) and three were added (“TheMandarin’s canaries”, “Return tot he Sabbath”, and “One Way to mars”).

Why these substitutions were made, I don’t know. I have always found it annoying that the paperback lists three of the deleted stories on the back cover.

So Robert Bloch is being brought back into print thanks to Valancourt Books. They are available in electronic editions as well. Reading (or rereading) some of his stories is a great way to celebrate bloch’s birthday.

Finally a big thank you to John Bullard who picked up for me a couple of older Bloch books at Windy City yesterday that I didn’t have. Another great way to celebrate bloch’s birthday.