Category Archives: birthday

Happy Birthday, Farnsworth

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Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940) was born on this date, July 29.

He was the editor of Weird Tales during what is regarded as the best years of the magazine. He was the greatest fantasy editor of the first half of the Twentieth Century, if not the whole century. The only other editor who even came close was John W. Campbell, Jr., who was the editor of Unknown/Unknown Worlds. And  as a general rule, Campbell didn’t publish the same type of fantasy as Wright.

One can argue that Dorothy McIlwraith, who tooks Farnsworth Wright’s place at the helm of Weird Tales was a more significant editor than Campbell. But that’s an argument for another post. Continue reading →

Jacobi and Others

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Today is July 10 as I’m writing this. It’s late, though, so most of you probably won’t see it for a day or two. But there are half a dozen birthdays I want to highlight. I’m going to start with the person who was probably the most significant in terms of the coverage of this blog. That’s Carl Jacobi. Continue reading →

Robert Anson Heinlein

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Today, Julyl 7, is the birthday of Robert Heinlein (1907-1988). Heinlein when I was growing up was considered one of the top science fiction writers working. As in the top two or three writers, if not holding the number one spot.

In the years since his death, his star has faded a good deal. Some of this is natural after an author dies, especially if there isn’t a perdon or organization that works to keep that author’s works in print.

You can still find his work in bookstores, although there are only a few titles on the shelf. Stragner in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mitsress, Time Enough for Love, and I Will Fear No Evil. That list is based on memory. I don’t live near a bookstore anymore, so it’s been more than a month since I looked. Continue reading →

Cleve Cartmill

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June 21 is the birthday of Cleve Cartmill (1908-1964). Cartmill wrote science fiction in the nineteen forties. He cointinued to write into the middle fifties, although his output slowed significantly.

Robert Heinlein hosted an informal group of writers at his house in California in the early forties before the war. Cartmill attended. Heinlein introduced Cartmill to John Campbell, and most of Cartmill’s work appeared in with Astounding or Unknown.

Cartmill is best remembered today for the story “Deadline”. One could argue that he is only remembered today because of that story. Continue reading →

Remembering Kage Baker

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Kage Baker

I promise I will write up this year’s Robert E. Howard Days, but it will be later in the week. Tonight, I want to pay tribute to one of my favorite writers, a lady who is no longer with us and whose work should be remembered.

I’m talking about Kage Baker (1952-2010), who was born today, June 10. I had the pleasureof meeting her at Armadillcon 25, but I had been reading her work for several years prior to that.

And no, that’s not a typo, nor is this a post about another Carolynn Catherine O’Shea. Kage was a combination of the names Kate and Genevieve, which were her middle names

Kage broke into the science fiction and fantasy scene in the late nineties and early two thousands with a series of short stories and novellas, most of them published in Asimov’s.

These stories concerned an ensemble group of operatives of an organization referred to as simply The Company. The series ran to seven novels and three collections of short fiction. The operatives of the Company are immortal time traveling cyborgs.

It doesn’t get much better than  that. Continue reading →