Category Archives: birthday

Belated Birthday: Fritz Leiber, Jr.

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Fritz Leiber, Jr., was born on Christmas Eve in 1910.  I was spending the day with family and didn’t get a post up.  Although considering it was Christmas Eve, I’m not sure how many people would have seen it.  And since I’m writing this while Christmas dinner is being prepared, this is going to be a short post.

But I digress.  Leiber was one of the greatest writers of fantasy, horror, and science fiction of the 20th Century.  He’s best known among fans of Sword and Sorcery as the creator of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.  It’s a landmark series in the genre.

But if that’s all you know about Leiber, then you’ve missed out.  Leiber was a leading figure in the trend to bring horror into contemporary settings.  He was also an accomplished science fiction writer.  Other than a few short stories and a some Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, it’s been a while since I read any of his work.  So later today, I’m going to work in a few of his short stories.  There are a number of his works available in electronic format, so if you would like to do the same and don’t have any of his print books handy, you can still download some (after paying for them, of course.)

We Need a Joseph Payne Brennan Retrospective

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Today, December 20, marks the centenary of the birth of Joseph Payne Brennan.  Brennan only wrote  one novel, which was published by a small press.  Most of his output was in the form of short fiction and poetry.   Several volumes of both have been published, and are readily available on the secondary market.  They ain’t gonna be cheap.

For example, The Shapes of Midnight, a paperback published by Berkley in 1980 shows eighteen copies available under a search on ABE.  They cheapest is $27.63.  The prices rise from there to a high of $176.04.  That is not a typo.  Someone is asking one hundred seventy-six dollars and four cents for a paperback.  I don’t remember how much I paid for my copy, but it wasn’t anywhere near $27, let alone $176.

Brennan was a good writer.  He was one of the last writers to write for the original incarnation of Weird Tales.  I’ve liked everything I’ve read by him, which, granted, isn’t much.  But that’s mainly because his work hasn’t been collected in a readily accessible form.  Most of his books were published in limited print runs by small presses.  It would probably be easier and cheaper to track down his stories in their original publications than to buy some of his books.

I would hope that Wildside or Centipede Press would do a large retrospective.  While Centipede would do Brennan Justice by putting his work inside some very nice hard covers, the book would probably be out of nearly everyone’s reach due to the price.  Not that I wouldn’t try to scrape the cash together.  On the other hand, a couple of Megapacks of his work from Wildside would be great.  There aren’t any electronic versions of Brennan’s work.  Maybe one of these publishers will put something together soon.  I would love to read some of Brennan’s poetry.

Three Quick Birthday Notices

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Today is December 18, and I want to point out three birthdays of significance.  Because today is going to be one of those days, at least schedule-wise, this will be short.

Alfred Bester (b. 1913) is better known as a science fiction writer, but he did publish some stories in Unknown, so I’ll use that as an excuse to include him here rather than at Futures Past and Present.  Besides, I have another post for FPaP this evening if I can get to it.  Bester is remembered primarily for the novels The Stars My Destination (which I haven’t read yet) and The Demolished Man (which is awesome).  Bester also wrote some really good short fiction, especially “Fondly Fahrenheit“.

Of the three authors whose birthdays I’m mentioning today, Sterling E. Lanier (b. 1927) is probably the most unfamiliar to modern writers.  There’s been some interest in his apocalyptic sf novel Hiero’s Journey online lately.  I’ve not read that one or its sequel.  I have read some of the Brigadier Ffellowes stories, which are tall tale club style stories.  They are currently available in electronic form, although the price ($9.99) is a bit high in my opinion.

And finally we come to the writer born today who has cast the longest shadow across the genre, Michael Moorcock (b. 1939).  I’m not sure what I can say about Moorcock that others haven’t said, and said better.  He’s still with us, and I’m glad to have had the privilege to have met him a few times.  I’ve not read a great deal of his work, but that’s partly because he’s so prolific.

I’m not sure which of these writers I’ll read something by today.  Like I said, it’s going to be busy.  But I’ll try to work one of them in and report back.

Hey! It’s Leigh Brackett’s Birthday Again

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Leigh Brackett was born on this date, December 7, in 1915.  I’m not sure what I can say about her that I haven’t said before.  Today is the first day of final exams and I just sent the last of over 2000 lab grades to the lecture instructors, so I haven’t  had a chance to read anything by her or come up with a good angle for a birthday tribute.

Or to put it another way, consider this post a placeholder.  I’ll try to read a Brackett story I haven’t read before or reread since I was a teenager and post a review sometime in the next week or so.

Until then, lift a glass in her memory and read one of her stories.  You’ll be glad you did.

Wagner and Woolrich

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Today has been…a day.  I’ll go into detail later when I have actual information.  Because of some personal things, I almost missed two birthdays today.

Karl Edward Wagner was born on December 4, 1945.  He’s no stranger around these here parts.  Creator of the legendary Kane, a first tier horror author, and an editor who strove to make Robert E. Howard’s Conan available in affordable editions rather than the bowdlerized stories that were available in the late 70s, editor of the Year’s Best Horror anthologies for DAW, and cofounder of Carcosa Press, Karl Edward Wagner casts a long shadow over the field.

I need to read more Wagner.  There’s still quite a bit out there that I haven’t read, including some Kane.

The other author, Cornell Woolrich, didn’t write much in the way of the fantastic, but he’s still a writer you’re going to want to read.  Born in 1903, Woolrich wrote mysteries and suspense, a number with macabre overtones.  The first Woolrich novel I ever read, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, is about a millionaire who is told by a gypsy fortune teller that he will die at the mouth of a lion.  And then a lion escapes from a circus…

Both of these men should be in your libraries.  Check them out.

Another Inkling, with a Birthday

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Tolkien was the subject of yesterday’s post.  He was a member of the famed group of writers known as the Inklings.  Another Inkling was Tolkien’s close friend C. S. Lewis, who was born this day, November 29, in the year 1898.  In light of yesterday’s post, I thought the above quote was quite appropriate.

Clive Staples Lewis was the author of The Chronicles of Narnia as well as The Space Trilogy and a few shorter works of the fantastic.  Most of his writing was nonfiction and dealt with theology.

Like Tolkien, Lewis has been a target of criticism for years, albeit for his nonfiction as much as for his fiction.  Damn these dead white heterosexual men for letting their worldviews influence the fiction they wrote.  Unless of course it’s this week’s approved worldview.

I’m getting really sick of that type of attitude.  I’ve not read all of the Narnia books.  After I finish reading Tolkien that I haven’t read yet or rereading Tolkien that I have, I think I’ll read the rest instead of something published recently.  Just to show how woke I am.  Besides, simiply from a craft perspective, Tolkien and Lewis were better stylists than most writers working today.

When de Camp Sends Serpents

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“A Sending of Serpents”
First Published in Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1979
Collected in The Purple Pterodactyls

L. Sprague de Camp was born today, November 27, in 1907.  Today would have been his eleventy-first birthday.

Rather than rehash biographical details, you can see last year’s post for that, I thought I would take a look at one of de Camp’s short stories.  Last year I looked at three of de Camp’s short pieces the day after his birthday, but this year I’ve only got time for the one.

In the mid to late 70s de Camp published a series of short stories about W. Wilbury Wilson, a middle aged banker who has a number of fantastic adventures.  Many of them were published in Fantasy & Science Fiction.  It may be nostalgia, but I think that period in F&SF‘s history was one of its high points.  I found about a seven year run covering that time period in a second hand shop when I was in high school, but that’s a post for another day. Continue reading →

Poul Anderson’s Birthday, Belated

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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.

 

Eddison and Ouroborus

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On this day, November 24, in 1882, E. R. Eddison was born.  I did a post on him, plus T. O’Connor Sloane, Evangeline Walton, and Forrest J. Ackerman last year.  This year I’m just going to focus on Eddison.

Eric Rucker Eddison was a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Others who have praised his work include James Branch Cabell, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Robert Silverberg, and Clive Barker.

Eddison’s Zimiamvian Trilogy (Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and The Mezentian Gate) plus The Worm Ouroborus is available in an electronic omnibus edition (currently $7.99).  These books aren’t light reading.  I read The Worm Ouroboros when I was in college or maybe high school.  I don’t remember much of it, other than it was complicated and densely written and that I enjoyed it.  I’ve not read any of the other books, although I’ve had copies for years.

I bought the full set in electronic format earlier today.  I’m going to try to read all of them over the next year, probably one a quarter.

Eddison also wrote two vikings inspired books, Styrbiorn the Strong and Egil’s Saga.