Today is August 16. This will be a short post because I was in new faculty orientation all day, and my brain is tapioca. I do want to point out the birthdays of two people, Hugo Gernsback and Diana Wynne Jones. Continue reading
Today, August 8, is the birthday of Jerry Pournelle (1933-2017). He was one of the people, along with David Drake, who helped make military science fiction popular.
There were others before him, of course, but Pournelle’s anthology series There Shall Be War and War World helped push the genre to higher popularity. His CoDominium series set a high standard, and he was working on his Janissaries series when he died.
Additionally, he was a frequent collaborator with Larry Niven. Together they wrote such books as Lucifer’s Hammer, The Mote in God’s Eye, and Footfall.
I admit I’ve read very little of Pournelle’s solo work. I read King David’s Spaceship years ago and liked it. Other than a few short stories, most of his work that I’ve read was in collaboration with Larry Niven. I’ve got msot of his books, but I haven’t gotten to them yet.
He was an important figure in the field for many years and deserves to be remembered.
Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988) was born on this date, August 3. He is one of my favorite writers. I was planning on reading one of his stories, but I’ve been busy with other things. So I’m going to offer some reflections on one of the things he wrote about a lot.
Robots.
Robots are a trope that was once almost ubiquitous in science fiction. You don’t see them much anymore. At least I haven’t seen any new stories about them. To be fair, though, I’ve not read much science fiction in the last few years. I’ve mostly been reading mysteries and thrillers.
Anyone who has read robot stories (I’m thinking primarily short fiction here), please drop a line in the comments. Continue reading
August 2, today as I’m writing this, is the birthday of F. Marion Crawford (1854-1909).
Crawford wrote a number of stories about the supernatural, but he his brest remembered for two that have become classics, “For the Blood is the Life” and “The Upper Berth”.
Although an American, Crawford lived most of his life in Italy. He began his career as a novelist. Of his novels, the only one I’m aware of that has fantasatic elements is Khalid, which was reprinted in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.
I took a look at “For the Blood is the Life” a few years ago. Today, I’ll look at “The Upper Berth”. M. R. James considered it one of the best ghost stories and defnitely Crawford’s best tale. Continue reading
Today kicks off August. There are some significant birthdays on August 1, I’ll look at two writers, and editor, and an artist. I’m talking about M. R. James, Raymond Palmer, Edd Cartier, and David Gemmell. Continue reading
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
Today is July 23. There are five birthdays I want to make note of. I’ll cover the authors and editors in chronological order and save the artist for last.They are Raymond Chandler, Alden H. Norton, C. M. Kornbluth, Gardner Dozois, and Virgil Finlay. Continue reading
Two more birthdays, both for writers who are fading into obscurity. But shouldn’t be. James E. Gunn and Donald Westlake. Continue reading
I’ve got three people I’m going to mention for birthdays on July 11. Hugh B. Cave, Cordwainer Smith, and Roy G. Krenkel. Continue reading
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