Category Archives: birthday

Leigh Brackett and the Starmen

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Today is December 7, which is the birthday of Leigh Brackett (1915-1978).  I was planning on reading and reviewing her novel The Starmen of Llyrdis. I read it in high school and haven’t reread it since, although I’ve planned on rereading it for the last few years.

Unfortunately, I’m in the middle of final exams and only got one -third of the way through the book. I’ll do a detailed review when i get a chance to finisht he book.

The Starmen of Llyrdis was originally published in the March 1951 issue of Startling Stories.

The plot and themes are familiar to regular readers of Brackett’s work. The loner who doesn’t fit but is looking for a place to belong is at the core of the novel.

This book isn’t set in the same solar system as most of her work up to this time. The solar system of Eric John Stark, Loreli of the Red Mist, and the ancient cities of Mars. At least, if it is, there’s no evidence of it that I’ve seen so far. The story concerns a galactic civilization.

I said I read this book in high school. I won’t say how many decades ago that was. I have very little memory of the story. I just know I enjoyed it at the time.

The Starmen of Llyrdis was one of the last long pieces of scieince fiction Brackett would write. There were the Skaith novels in th e seventies, as well as The Long Tomorrow, which was set here on Earth.

Brackett was’t idle, though. She was busy writing screenplays for such films as Rio Bravo. That one starred an obscure actor named John Wayne. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.

I’ll finish the book as soon as I get finals out of the way. I’ve got one set to grade and a second set to write and grade. That will all be done by the end of the week.

Of Martians and Attics and Fred Pohl

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Today, November 26, is the birthday of Frederik Pohl  (1919-2013).  Pohl was many things in science fiction. Futurian. Writer. Editor. Collaborator (with other writers, not out countires enemies), Agent.

Keeping with the theme from yesterday, Pohl, like Anderson, was once one of the biggest names in science fiction. While not as  prolific as Anderson (who AFAIK, was never an editor or agent), Pohl had a consistent work ethic and wrote pretty much up unitl his death.

Anderson wrote in the hard sciences, while Pohl tended to write more in the social sciences and satire. He could do rigor when he wanted to, though.

I did manage to read one of his stories today. “The Martian in the Attic” originally appeared in the July 1960 issue of IF, and it has onlhy been reprinted twice in english. First in the collection Turn Left at Thursday and in The Best of Frederik Pohl, which is where I read it. Continue reading →

Poul Anderson and the Vagaries of Publishing

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Today, November 25, is the 99th birthday of Poul Anderson (1926-2001). Anderson was once a major name in both science fiction and fantasy. Today, he is out of print and rapidly fading into obscurity.

He’s one of my favorites. I’ve not read anywhere near all of his works. There are a number I’ve not read.

I’ve not had time to read anything of his for this post. I try to do that for birthday posts, but I’m wrapping up a rough semester.

So I want to ramble or rant or ruminate, not sure which it will be, on something that’s been on my mind off and on for the last few months.

And that’s publishing and how one author is remembered and others are forgotten. This is not soemthing that is limited to the literature of the fantastic. Continue reading →

A Lovecraft Birthday Post Plus a Couple of Others

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Today is August 20, the birthday of H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). It’s also my mother-in-law’s birthday, but that’s just a coincidence, I’m sure. Nothing nefarious about that at all.

I’ve spent a lot of time in a car over the last few years, and I’ve listened to a number of audio books. One of those was the complete works of Lovecraft. It was quite a good listening experience. This particular audio book was produced by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. The production values are top notch. I’m partly through his collaborations, also produced byt he HPLHS. I took a break to listen to the March Upcountry series by  David Weber and Jonh Ringo (highly recommended.)

There are two other birthdays of note  today, as well. Continue reading →

Manly Wade Wellman, A Birthday Tribute

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Today (May 21) is the birthday of Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Wellman is best remembered for his stories of John the Balladeer.

Wellman’s work reflects the beliefs and people of the Appalachian Mountains. He found rich inspiration in their folklore and legends, of which the John the Balladeer stories are only part of that body of work. Wellman truly found his authorial voice with these stories.

Wellman also wrote some stories that featured Ntive American characters. They are a small portion of his output. I like the Appalachian stories better than the ones that focus on Native American folklore.

Most of Wellman’s output was short stories and novellettes. He didn’t write many novels. Five of those featured John the Balladeeer.

What Wellman stories are among your favorites?

Jack Williamson, Master of Science Fiction

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I’m writing this on April 29. It’s the birthday of Jack Williamson (1908-2006). Williamson was one of the first sceince fiction writers I read in middle school when I was transitioning from the kid’s section in the library to the adult section. I found a copy of The Best of Jack Williamson at the flea market in Wichita Falls for a quarter. The cover had been ripped off.

I didn’t realize at the time that it was a stolen book. Bookstores stripped the covers off books when they took them off they sent the covers back to the publisher for credit and supposedly pulped the books. As far as I know, this is still the practice. Some unscrupulous boosellers would then sell the stripped copies, which the publishers consider to be theft.

But I digress. I was blown Continue reading →

Frank Belknap Long

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Today, April 27, is the birthday of Frank Belknap Long (1901-1994) .It’s the end of the semester, and I’ve been slammed the last couple of weeks. (Apologies to those who commented on earlier posts for the delay in approving the comments. I just did that.) I hadn’t realized it had been about three weeks since the last time I posted something. I’ve been busy grading exams and wokring on a cople of fiction proojects.

Long was a protege of H. P. Lovecraft. In a way, he never completely got out of Lovecraft’s shadow. He was a fine writer in his own right.Fortunately, Wildside Press had published at elast three Megapacks of his work.

He wrote under a variety of pen names. I want to read some of the gothics he wrote in the late sixites and early seventies under the name Lyda Belknap Long. Has anyone read those.?

Kuttner’s Time Travel

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Today, April 7, is the birthday of Henry Kuttner (1915-1958). Kuttner is one of my favorites. I’ve been doing birthday posts on his work for years. As long as this blog is active, I’ll keep doing them.

For today’s post, I want to look briefly at some of his time travel stories. He wrote a number of them, the best in collaboration with his wife C. L. Moore.

I haven’t read all of his time travel, but these three are some of his best and among my favorites of all his work. Continue reading →

Bloch’s “Hungarian Rhapsody”

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Today, April 5, is the birthday of Robert Bloch (1917-1994). Valancourt Books has begun reprinting a number of titles by Robert Bloch. Today’s story is from Pleasant Dreams. This was one of Bloch’s first collections that moved away from Lovecraft pastiche.

This is a great collection and one that is worth checking out. If you’ve read much Bloch, you’ll frecognize a number of the tales therein, but Bloch is always worth rereading.

“Hungarian Rhapsody” was originally published in the June 1958 issue of Fantastic. It’s about a retired gangster who is liviing in an isolated house on a lake when a gorgeous woman moves in next door. She paid for the house in antique gold coins.

The gangster desires both the cons and the woman. As the story goes on, he moves from being a sympathetic character to a total creep. When he gets his  comeuppance, What happens to him isn’t a huge surprise, but Bloch handles it well.

It has a twist, and that’s in the last line. I won’t spoil it for you. Bloch was well-known for his sense of humor and his love of puns. That tenddency is on full display at the end of the story.

One thing I want to note. Pleasant dreams was originally published by Arkham House in 1960. There was a mass market paperback of the same title published 1979.

That book was a different book, although there was a great deal fo overlap. That’s the cover there on the left. Four stories were removed from the Arkham House edition (“Mr.Steinway”, “Catnip”, “that Hell-Bound Train,” and “Enoch”) and three were added (“TheMandarin’s canaries”, “Return tot he Sabbath”, and “One Way to mars”).

Why these substitutions were made, I don’t know. I have always found it annoying that the paperback lists three of the deleted stories on the back cover.

So Robert Bloch is being brought back into print thanks to Valancourt Books. They are available in electronic editions as well. Reading (or rereading) some of his stories is a great way to celebrate bloch’s birthday.

Finally a big thank you to John Bullard who picked up for me a couple of older Bloch books at Windy City yesterday that I didn’t have. Another great way to celebrate bloch’s birthday.

Novalyne and Howard

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Today, March 9, is the birthday of Novalyne Price Ellis (1908-1999). Novalyne dated Robert E. Howard during the last two years of his life.

She kept a diary while they were dating, and it was published under the title One Who Walked Alone. It was filmed in the nineties as The Whole Wide World. The movie starred Vincent D’Onofrio as Robert E. Howard and Renee Zelwegger as Novalyne.

Without Novalyne’s diary/book, our understanding of Howard’s final years would be must less complete than it is now.

I think she was in some ways  a stabilizing influence on his life, especially as Hester Howard’s health declined. Sadly, their relationship wasn’t stable enough for her to be there for him when his mother died.

I don’t mean that last sentence to be a form of blame for his suicide. I’m not sure that could have been avoided. And that sort of speculation isn’t a game I’m interested in playing tonight. So, raise a glass to Novalyne Price Ellis tonight if you’re so inclined.