December 18, as I write this. There are four birthdays I want to mention today. Alfred Bester (1913-1987),  Sterling E. Lanier (1927-2007), Michael Moorcok (b. 1939), and Jack C. Haldeman II (1941-2002).

Alfred Bester was one of the most innovative science fiction writers of his day. He wrote short fiction in the early nnineteen forties, publishing in Unknown and Astounding. He also wrote comics, which he later said helped him get a lot of bad writing out of his system.

Bester’s two main novels were published in the fifites, The Stars My Destination (1956) and The Demolished Man (1952). The latter concerned a group of telepaths. J. Michael Straczynski created a character in the television show Babylon 5 named Al Bester (played by Walter Koenig) who was the head of a group of telepaths.

Bester became editor of Holiday magazine and wrote little science fiction in the late fifties and sixties. His failing eyesight prevented him from writing much in his final years. Bester was never prolific, in part because of other pursuits and then his poor health. But he lelft a major impact on the field that. Sadly, he is fading into obscurity.

Bester’s short story “Fondly Fahrenheit” was included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame”..

Sterling E. Lanier is probably not a well-known author today. He only wrote four novels. Two of them concern a postapocalyptic world, Hiero’s Journey, published in 1973, and  a decade alter, The Unforsaken Hiero. Both books were well-received and are easy to find.

Lanier’s short fiction fell into two categories. There were seven nonseries stories. The rest of Lanier’s short fiction centered around Brigadier Ffellowes. These are very much in the tradition of the “club” story, where a group, usually at some sort of club or a similar setting are sitting around talking. One of the men, usually but not always the same one if the story is a part of a series, will tell a story about something that happened to him or someone he knew.

The club story doesn’t have to be fantasy or science fiction, but it is usually some type of tall tale. The Brigadier Ffellowes stories are clearly fantasy. There were thirteen of these, published between 1968 and 1986. They were collected into two volumes, The Peculiar Exploits of Brigadier Ffellowes (1971) and The Curious Quests of Brigadier Ffellowes (1986). Good luck finding affordable copies. They aren’t hard to come by. They just aren’t cheap.

Lanier is definitely a writer who has faded into obscurity.

Now we come to Michael Moorcock. Where the heck do I even start?

He’s one of the giants of the fantasy field. I don’t usually do birthday posts for living writers, simply to have some boundaries on how I select subjects.

But I do make exceptions. Moorcock is one of them.

I’venot read enough of Moorcock to speak intelligently about his work. I’ve read some, but not recently.

So, rather than putting my foot into my mouth, I’ll simply wish him a Happy Birthday.

Jack C. Haldeman  II was the brother of Joe Haldeman. He was a biologist. He only pbulished a few novels. His short fiction resume is fairly extensive. Sadly, he never had a short story collection published.

I doubt there will be one any time soon, either. Fortunately, I’ve got may of the magazines in which his short fiction was originally publsihed.