Category Archives: birthday

Raising a Glass to Ray

Today as I write this is August 22. Ray Bradbury was born on this date in 1920. I’m not going to look at any of his stories. As I said on this year’s Lovecraft birthday post, I’ve been kind of busy.

But I did want to take a moment to acknowledge him and the impact his work has had on my life. Bradbury was one of the greatest short story writers the world has ever produced. There are still a number of his stories I’ve not read.

Yet.

Especially from the last couple of collections. I was busy trying to keep up with a toddler when they came out. I’m hoping to do a deeper dive later this year when things slow down. Until then, I’ll raise a glass tonight in his memory.

A Brief H. P. Lovecraft Birthday Post

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Just a quick post in recognition of H. P. Lovecraft’s birthday. I’ve been swamped with too many projects, writing and otherwise, to have read anything by him this year. I hope to rectify that omission in the next few weeks.

One of the projects I’m working on, which has taken a back seat to more immediate deadlines and concerns, is a Lovecraftian story set in Mississippi in the 1950s. It will be the centerpiece of a collection I have planned.

Once things settle down, I hope to get back to it.

But I couldn’t let today pass without a tip of the hat to the Gentleman from Providence. Now, I’ll go and tip my glass to his memory and literary legacy.

Jesting with Kuttner

A Collaboration Between Poe and Bloch

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Today, in observance of the birthday of Robert Bloch (1917-1994), we’re going to look at a “collaboration” between Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Bloch, “The Lighthouse”..

I put the word “collaboration” in quotes because what this really is, is a completion of a fragment Poe left unfinished. Not entirely unlike the “posthumous collaborations” of Derleth and Lovecraft, except that Bloch acknowledges he finished this story at the urging of the leading Poe scholar at the time.

“The Lighthouse” was first published in the January-February 1953 issue of Fantastic. I read it in the paperback collection Pleasant Dreams – Nightmares. (Note: the contents of this volume differ from the Arkham House collection of the same title. Of the four stories blurbed on the back cover, only one is actually in this book.) Continue reading →

Blogging Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry: “Quest of the Starstone”

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C. L. Moore

Today, January 24, is the birthday of C. L. Moore (1911-1987). She was one of the best practitioners of the weird tale, and later, mostly with her husband Henry Kuttner, of science fiction.

Today for her birthday, I’m going to look at “Quest of the Starstone”, in which Northwest Smith and Jirel meet. This story was a collaboration with her future husband, Henry Kutner. This story was originally published in the November 1937 issue of Weird Tales. Catherine and Hank didn’t marry until 1940.

His his introduction to the story in Echoes of Valor II, Karl Edward Wagner says it was a collaboration by mail. I’m going to rely heavily on that volume and a couple of others when I look at the two remaining stories in the Northwest Smith series. “Quest of the Starstone” is the final Jirel story. Continue reading →

Robert E. Howard Guest Birthday Post by Will Oliver

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Today, January 22, is the birthday of Robert E, Howard (1906-1936). I’ve done a number of birthday posts on Howard over the years. This year I decided to do something different and post an article by Will Oliver.

Will sent me this article a couple of months ago. We’ve gone back and forth on some of the words Howard uses in it. One particular racial term, actually. Will quotes Howard directly. I consider the word in question offensive. Most people do. But I also find whitewashing the past (no pun intended) offensive as well. If we don’t know the past with all its inherent ugliness, we risk repeating it.After some discussion, we’ve decided that I’m going to use the first letter of the word and replace the other letters with asterisks.

Consider this your trigger warning. If even Continue reading →

A. Merritt – Ruminations on His Birthday

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Well, this is a bit embarrassing. I’ve been swamped lately and up to my ears in writing projects, travel, and preparing for classes and labs to start. So when I logged on a few minutes ago to do this post about A. Merritt, I was surprised to see the birthday post on Tolkien (what birthday post on Tolkien, you ask), was still in draft and hadn’t been posted.

Must have failed to hit the PUBLISH button. I also didn’t realize it had been nearly three weeks since I had posted. There wasn’t much to it, more filler than anything of substance, so I deleted it.

So getting on to today’s post. I’ve written about Merritt before. He’s sadly fallen out of favor in recent years.

But that is changing. Centipede Press just published Burn Witch, Burn! and my copy arrived the other day. I haven’t even had a chance to break the shrink wrap on it.

As you may know, Centipede Press titles aren’t cheap. This was $50. On the other pseudopod, though, Centipede Press books are some of the highest quality publications around.

I haven’t read this particular title yet. I’m going to try to work in as soon as possible. Both Robert Bloch and Karl Edward Wagner held it in high regard. With endorsements like that, I’m going to make the book a priority.

Now to make sure I hit the PUBLISH button.

Leigh Brackett and Eric John Stark

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Today is December 7 as I write this, and on this day in 1915, Leigh Brackett was born.

Brackett is a major favorite here at Adventures Fantastic. I’m not going to let her birthday go by unacknowledged.

Normally for these birthday posts, I read and review something by the author in question. I’m up to my armpits in alligators, writing deadlines, and trying to get ready for final exams (which start tomorrow).

So, that’s clearly not going to happen this year.

I also have been thinking about what to review. I’ve reviewed most of the short fiction that I consider to be my favorites. I’m not going to repeat myself. Also I don’t have time to comb through the rest of Brackett’s work and find something.

So I’m going to cheat. Continue reading →

Singing the Body Electric

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Let’s talk about cycles and rhythms of life, shall we? If you are fortunate to have enough stability in your life, then life will begin to develop cycles and rhythms. For example, it’s August. Summer classes are over, but the fall semester hasn’t started yet.

For a number of years now, I’ve read something by Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) and posted about it on this date, August 22, in honor of his birth. The fact that the high temperatures for the last couple of days have been in the 70s (in Texas in August!!), making me think of fall and October and Bradbury. Continue reading →

The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Del Rey vs. the SFBC

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August 20 (today as I write this) is the birthday of H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). I’ve not had a chance to read anything by him, so I’m going to do something different. There have been two different collections claiming to representative of his best fiction. I’ll survey them here, discussing what stories each contain, where they overlap, and where they differ. Continue reading →