Today, February 26, is the birthday of Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985).
Sturgeon was one of the most highly regarded writers of his day, especially his short fiction. I read “Thunder and Roses” today when I had a few minutes free from work and traveling.
“Thunder and Roses” is a postapocalyptic story in which the United States was attacked by unnamed enemies from both the east and the west.
Instead of retaliating, the government chose to not respond. Continue reading
Today’s birthday post (February 25) features Edgar Pangborn (1909-1976). Pangborn isn’t well remembered today, This is due in part because he didn’t leave a large body of work behind when he died. He wrote several novels, not all of them genre, and a smattering of short fiction. I’ve seen Pangborn compared favorably to Theodore Sturgeon.
The novel he is best remembered for is Davy, a postapapolyptic tale of a young boy. I haven’t read it yet, but I do have a copy of the Ballantine (later Del Rey) edition with the Boris Vallejo cover that has an image of Davy and two nude young women about to have sex in the background. This book is part of a series. The rest of the series is comprised of short stories. Some of these are collected in Still i Persist in Wondering, which is where I got the title of this post.
Another novel is A Mirror for Observers, which I read in college. Unfortunately, I had an outpatient procedure before I finished it, and when I went to finish it, not much of it stuck with me. I enjoyed the book, at least until I had to put it down, and I enjoyed the rest of it. I just wasn’t really recovered enough to jump back into it. I’ll give it another try one of these days.
The third novel, Pangborn’s first, actually, is West of the Sun. It’s about a group of colonisits on a planet that turns out to have hidden dangers. This novel is iinclulded in The Edgar Pangborn Megapack, along with three pieces of shosrt fiction and two other novels that are nongenre.
Pangborn wrote enough short stories to fill a hefty collection. Maybe NESFA could put one together. It would be a good fit for their line.
Yesterday, February 24, was the birthday of Augusts Derleth (1909-1971). I was on the road all day, mostly with work, and didn’t have a chance to post anything.
Entire books could be written about Derleth, and have been. I’m not going to try to get that detailed, I’ll let other writers talk about Derleth and Lovecraft and whether Derleth harmed or helped Lovecraft with his “posthumous collaborations”.
Derleth wrote more than just Lovecraftian fiction. He wrote a number of novels and stories set in his native Wisconsin at a location named Sac Prairie. He also wrote a number of Solar Pons stories. Those works are outside the scope of this blog.
What some people forget, and many don’t know, is that Derleth also wrote a number of fantasy and horror stories that aren’t Lovecraftian. He also wrote poetry, but I’m not familiar with any of his poetic works. Continue reading
Richard A. Lupoff Source: Open Library
I was going to write this post for RIchard A. Lupoff’s (1935-2020) birthay (February 21), which was yesterday, but I didn’t have time to read anything by him. Then I saw the news about Steve Miller and wrote that post. Which I didn’t hit Publish on until earlier today because it was late, and I was tired.
Lupoff isn’t as well-known as he probably shoulde be because he didn’t confine himself to one genre but wrote horror, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery. He also tended to write at shorter lengths rather than novels. He is probably best remembered for the novel Lovecraft’s Book, which mixes fiction with fact and features several real-life pulp writers. He was also known as a writer who could provide a short story for an anthology or magazine on short notice. He should be considered another writer whose work deserves to be remembered.
Lupoff wrote a number of Lovecraftian stories. I’m going to look at one of them today. Continue reading
Today, February 20, is the birthday of Richard Matheson (1926-2013). Matheson was one of the great fantasy writers of the Twentieth Century. I doubt he needs any introduction here.
But why should I let that stop me?
His first published short story, “Born of Man and Woman”, appeared in the Summer 1950 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It was a chilling look at what happens when a child is born with grotesque mutations. With this story, Matheson set a high standard for himself, as well as other writers. It’s considered by many to ba a classic. Continue reading
Margaret St. Clair (1911-1995) was born on this date, February 17. She only wrote eight novels, most of them published the the 1960s. She did, however, write a number of shorter works, starting with “The Perfectionist” in 1946. In the 1950s, she published a number of stories under the byline of Idris Seabright. Most of the Seabirght stories were published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. She was still publishing as St. Clair at the same time. The fifities were her most prolific time.
“The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles” (1951), which was originally F&SF under her Seabright pseudonym, was the first story fo hers I read. I think it was in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology in the school library, but I’m not sure which one. It’s been too long. I do know that it was reprinted under her real name.
She continued to write into the 1960s, but her output dropped off by the middle of the decade. She only published four stories in the seventies, and two in the eighties.
St. Clair was once one of the leading women writers in the field, especially when writing as Idris Seabright. These days she’s not very well-known. That’s a shame, since she had an impact on the field.
But that seems to be the way of literature and publishing. Crtically-acclaimed today, forgotten tomorrow. But that’s another post for another day. Maybe.
Artist Ed Emshwiller (1925-1990) was born today, February 16. He signed his work Emsh.
Emshwiller was best known for his covers for Galaxy in the 1950s and for F&SF in the early sixties. That’s one of my favorites there ont he left. He also did a series fo Christmas covers for Galaxy. Mush of his work for Galaxy had a a whimsical flavor to it.
His covers for F&SF and other magazines tended to be more serious and even dark at times.
In the 1970s his interests moved to film. Here are som of his covers. Continue reading
Jo Clayton (1939-1998) was born on this day, January 15.
In a post earlier this year, I asked what writers should be remembered. One of the suggestions was Jo Clayton.
I’ve never read her work, although based on some of the covers, they look like a lot of pulpy fun. The Diadem series was publiished back in the days when DAW was still being run by Donald A. Wolheim. And old Don, he did love him some pulp.
I have most of this series in a box (or boxes) somewhere that I haven’t unpacked yet. I picked most of them up at the Friends of the Library sale on the cheap.
They are on my radar and have been for q while. I just haven’t worked them in. I’ll be unpacking boxes when I get the new bookcases next week, and I’ll keep an eye out for them.
This isn’t the only series Clayton wrote, but it is the one I’ve seen most associated with her. I’m not familiar with her other work.
DAW covers back in the 1970s really made the books look like fun. Those yellow spines were an eye-catching thing in a bookstore when the books were shelved spine out.
If any of you have read Clayton, what do you think of her work in general and this series specifically?
January 12, today as I write this, is the birthday of Terry Bisson (1942-2024). We lost Terry last month.
He was a critically acclaimed writer. I hate to say that I’ve not read much of his work. Maybe a few short stories over the years.
If any of you have read much of his work, what would you suggest I read?
Frank Frazetta (1928-2010) was born on this date, February 9. He changed the fantasy art landscape. Here are a few of his paintings.
