Today, November 23, is the birthday of two writers who are pretty much forgotten today. Nelson S. Bond (1908 – 2006) and Wilson Tucker (1914-2006). Two thousand six was not a particularly good year.

Nelson S. Bond

Nelson S. Bond began pblishing short fiction in 1937. His last story was published in 1999. Whjile I said he was mostly forgotten, that’s not strictly true. Project Gutenberg has republished a number of his stories in the last year or two.

Bond wrote short fiction almost exclusively. His productivity dropped off after the early to mid nineteen fifties, and onlyl a handful of tales had his byline on them in the last decades of his life. My understanding is that he was a full time bookseller.

Arkham House publilsed two large collections of hsi fiction in the early two-thousands, The Far Side of Nowhere (2002) and Other Worlds Than Ours (2005).

The only novels he wrote were what were considered novels in the pulps. They wouldn’t be considered novels by contemporary publishing standards. That’s fine with me. I like stories taht can be read in one evening.

Bond had work published in the top markets of the time, such as Unknown and Astounding. But he also had a number of stories that appeared in The Blue Book Magazine. The Blue Book was a more general fiction magazine that published science fiction and fantasy on a regular basis. My understanding is that it was a higher paying market than the genre magazines. The higher paying markets tended to have better fiction in terms of writing, although there were plenty of exceptions.

An aside: I would love to get my hands on a set of The Blue Book. I suspect there are a number of lost gems hidden in its pages. Failing that, I wish someone (with time and money I don’t have) would put together an anthology or series of anthologies of stories from its pages. I’m sure there is some good reading there.

Bond was one of those writers who never wrote anything that went on to be considered a classic. But he was a consistent writer who regularly turned out an entertaining product.

Wilson Tucker

Wilson “Bob” Tucker was also a writer who produced quality work on a cosistent basis.

Tuckler wasn’t nearly as prolific at short lengths as Bond was, but he wrote a handful of novels that were full-length novels by today’s standards, even if  they would be considered short.

Among them are The Year of the Quiet Sun (probably his best known work), The Lincoln Hunters, and Ice and Iron. The Year of the Quiet Sun was on the final ballot for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1971 (given for works published in 1970). It lost both to Larry Niven’s Ringworld.

Two of the stories in The Best of Wilson Tucker (1982) have stuck with me for years. They are “My Brother’s Wife” and “Exit”. The first concerns a man who discovers a disturbing secret about his borther’s wife. The second is about a condemned criminal on death row who plans to escape just before his execution by walking through the prison walls.

Tucker’s most lasting contribution isn’t his fiction, though. Tucker active in early fandom. He coined the phrase “space opera” as a perjurative about space adventure stories. The name stuck.

Only not as an insult.

Space opera has become one of the most popular subgenres of science fiction. It’s one of my favorite to read.

Both Neslson S. Bond and Wilson Tucker were consistent writers who could be relied on to produce qualitiy fiction. If you get a chance to read any of their work, check it out.