Today (april 14) is the birthday of two writers, one whose work I really like (Jack McDevitt) and the other I’ve never been a fan of (James Branch Cabell). I’ll start with the latter, since he was born first. Continue reading
Today, as I’m writing this, it’s January 13. Or to put it another way, it’s the birthday of Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961). I’ve been on the road since I got off work this morning, and only got home about forty-five minutes ago, which is why I’m posting this so late. Most of you probably won’t see it until tomorrow.
I say all that to say that I’ve not had a chance to read anything by Smith today, so I’m going to do something different. I’m going to take a brief look at the four CAS collections Lin Carter put together for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. That’s the Ballantine I reference in the title of the post. I’m not going to put “Adult Fantasy” in the title.
As an aside, do you have any idea what comes up if youtype “Ballantine Adult Fantasy” into a search engine? Hint: Don’t try this at work.
James Stoddard, photo swiped from his web site.
James Stoddard was born on this day, August 13. What year? I don’t know.
So how do I know it’s his birthday? Because we are in the same writer’s group, and he wasn’t at today’s meeting. When I asked at lunch if anyone knew where he was, someone (waves at Dan) said that James had told him that he (James) wouldn’t be there because it was his birthday.
So Happy Birthday, James!
James is the author of five novels and ten short stories. If you are a fan of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, you need to read his Evenmere series, which was inspired by them. Start with The High House. It’s been a while since I read them, so a reread is probably due on my part.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, again, James.
William Morris
William Morris (1834-1896) was born today, March 24. Morris was active in a number of creative endeavors throughout his life, but the one that concerns us here is his writing.
Morris has a reputation today, when he’s remembered at all, of being difficult to read. And while there is some justification for that, I think it’s largely undeserved. I’ve read one of his novels, The Wood Beyond the World, which I reviewed some years ago at Black Gate, when I was reading through the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. There’s a cadence to Morris’s work. Once I got into that rhythm, it was fairly easy going. Continue reading
Sir H. Rider Haggard
Today, June 22, marks the birth of Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925). Haggard was one of the premier adventure writers of the 19th Century. Best known for his character Allan Quatermain, H. Rider Haggard wrote many other novels.
His work has has a major influence on many writers, from his friend and contemporary Rudyard Kipling to such fantasy giants as Robert E. Howard.
These days he’s fallen out of favor because he wasn’t woke enough. I don’t care. I’m smart enough to not judge people from previous centuries by today’s shifting standards. Continue reading
Lin Carter was born on June 9, 1930. He passed away in 1988. I’m not going to review any of his fiction for this birthday post. It’s been one of those days. I’m going to try to read something by Keith Laumer for Futures Past and Present.
Lin Carter
Today I want to discuss what was arguably his greatest contribution to the field of fantasy. No, I’m not talking about his involvement with L. Sprague de Camp and the Conan revival of the 1960s. I mean, of course, the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.
BENE NOTE: If you want to do a web search, type “Ballantine Fantasy” in your search engine. Don’t say “Ballantine Adult Fantasy” unless you want to set off all kinds of bells and whistles. Especially at work. Continue reading
A few years back, I was writing a series of posts for Black Gate in which I was reviewing each volume of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (mostly) in order. The reasons why I stopped are several, and I’m not going to get into them here. Nor do I plan to restart that series here, at least not without getting John O’Neill’s blessing. He’d asked for the series, IIRC, and as a courtesy, I would want to make sure he was okay with me moving the series to my blog. I’ve got too many irons in the fire right now, though, to pick up another project.
For those not in the know, or stumbled upon this post because of the word “Adult” in the title, Ballantine published a series of books under the editorial direction of Lin Carter of fantasy aimed at grown-ups. If you’re in the latter group, this isn’t going to be that type of “adult” post. And the type of fantasy you’re probably looking for isn’t what we deal with here.
Zothique was the first of four collections of Clark Ashton Smith’s short fiction that appeared in the BAF series. The wrap-around cover is by George Barr. (One of the best things about this line of books was their covers.)
Zothique is the last continent on a far future Earth in which much science and history has been forgotten, and magic has returned. If this reminds you of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth, keep in mind Smith did it first. Some of the stories are better than others, but all are well-done. Here are a few of my favorites. Continue reading
Yesterday, November 25, was Poul Anderson’s 92nd birthday. I was traveling and didn’t get a chance to post anything.
This year I want to briefly mention to of his fantasy novels. The first is The Broken Sword. I read this one a few years ago, back when I was doing the posts on the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series over at Black Gate. For the most part, I was reading the series in order of publication, and The Broken Sword was the next on the list. For a number of reasons, not the least of which was time, I never wrote the post.
I’ve thought from time to time about restarting those posts here, but time constraints aside, it would just be too much like work.
I do intend to reread The Broken Sword next year and blog about it here. When exactly that will happen, I don’t know. Things should slow down, as the faculty members who have been out with health problems this semester will be back, meaning I won’t be teaching the load I’ve had this semester. On the other claw, I’ve just been added to two committees by the new department chair, so I hesitate to make any predictions or commitments I might not be able to keep.
I will say that I really enjoyed The Broken Sword, although I found it to be quite dark. Since it’s inspiration was Norse legend, that was quite fitting. It’s got that tragic tone to it that’s found in so much of the Northern folklore. I’m looking forward to reading it again.
The other work is one I don’t know a whole lot about and haven’t read. It’s Three Hearts and Three Lions. This is another fantasy, one in which, a modern man finds himself in medieval times or at least a medieval world in which the creatures of fantasy are real and magic works. What little I’ve heard about it has been positive. It’s another one I’m looking forward to reading.
Anderson also wrote some other novels and short stories set in the viking era. I’ll try to work those in as I can.
H. Warner Munn was born on this date, November 5, in 1903. Munn passed away in 1981. He is largely forgotten today, but he wrote for Weird Tales. Near the end of his life, he returned to writing.
Munn is best known for writing a series known as the Merlin saga. The first two installments, King of the World’s Edge and The Ship From Atlantis were first published Merlin’s Ring was to have been published in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, but the imprint was canceled. Ballantine still published the book along with its sequel, Merlin’s Godson. The latter book combined King of the World’s Edge and The Ship From Atlantis.
Neither of these books (Merlin’s Ring and Merlin’s Godson) are currently available in electronic format in English. My understanding is that there were other books planned in this series, but Munn died before he could write them. King of the World’s Edge was favorably compared to the works of Robert E. Howard when it was serialized in Weird Tales.
Munn’s other series involved werewolves. It was also started in Weird Tales. When he returned to writing, Munn was convinced by Robert Weinberg to write more stories, which Weinberg published. These are available in electronic format.
I have to confess I’ve not read much of Munn’s work. I need to correct that.
Earlier today I was reading a post on a site I don’t normally read these days (I was lured by the temptation of a free ebook). The post made the argument that John Campbell was the greatest editor the science fiction and fantasy fields have seen.
That got me to thinking, which usually gets me in trouble. I began wondering who would be the greatest editor, greater being defined as having the most impact over time. The original post didn’t include fantasy other than a passing reference to Unknown. So I thought I’d throw the question open to anyone who wanted to voice an opinion. Below is a list I compiled off the top of my head. I didn’t include any living editors. If I had, Ellen Datlow would be on it. My rationale is that the impact of living editors on the can’t be accurately assessed because they are still having an influence and their greatest influences may still be to come.
So in alphabetical order are ten editors. I’ll provide a brief explanation as to why they have been included. Some will be quickly eliminated. Others, not so much. Continue reading