Category Archives: Uncategorized

Kelly Freas at 95

4 Replies

Frank Kelly Freas was born today, August 27, in 1922. He passed away in 2005.  Freas’s artwork graced the covers of magazines and books.  His style was unmistakeable. Some of his covers, such as “Martians Go Home”, are classics.  One of my most prized possessions is a signed print of Skylab that appeared as the cover of the June 1973 issue of Analog.

I never had the pleasure of meeting him.  There was a calendar of his art in the 1990s. I still have it. Unfortunately, there haven’t been any others that I know of.

Rather than write about him, here are some of the covers he did. These are all from my library that I could put my hands on quickly. I’d post images without the writing, but I don’t want to violate copyrights.

On Hymns and Pearls

6 Replies

The Hymn of the Pearl
Brian Niemeier
ebook $2.99

So my plans for the weekend have gone completely off the rails, but in a good way.  My son has spent the last week with my parents.  I drove over Friday evening to pick him up, and since it’s 3.5 hr drive, I planned on spending the night and returning home yesterday morning.  I hadn’t been here five minutes when my wife called and asked what I knew about my brother who lives out of state posting on Faceplant that they were coming to see my folks for the weekend.  Uhh…nothing.

Anyway, I’ve stayed over since I don’t often see this brother and his family.  What does that have to do with a book?  I purchased The Hymn of the Pearl yesterday morning and decided to read it while we were waiting for my brother to arrive.  Normally, it would go into the queue to be read when I got around to it.  I decided not to wait.

Good decision. Continue reading →

Stanley G. Weinbaum at 115

3 Replies

Stanley G. Weinbaum was born on this date, April 4, in the year 1902.  He had a brief career as a science fiction writer in the mid-1930s before dying of lung cancer.  While he is to a large degree forgotten today, he still casts a long shadow over the field.

His first story was “A Martian Odyssey”, in which he introduced aliens that were truly alien and not simply bug eyed monsters.  We’ll take a look at that story in more depth at a later date.

For now, suffice to say that the impact of that tale was significant.  Weinbaum followed it up with a sequel and then went on to write about a solar system populated with interesting and unique aliens.  Weinbaum had a unique voice.  I think in part that was because the tropes of the field hadn’t solidified, some would say ossified, into the more rigid standards they are now. Continue reading →

A Look at Theodore Sturgeon’s “It”

Leave a reply

“It”
Theodore Sturgeon
First published in Unknown, August 1940

After posting the birthday tribute on Theodore Sturgeon yesterday, I downloaded a copy of his Selected Stories (after paying for it, of course).  I thought I’ve got all of them in paper and wasn’t sure which one I wanted to get an electronic copy of.  So I went with the selected stories.  Some of my favorites are missing, such as “Shottle Bop”, but this volume contains some good stuff.

Like the horror classic “It”, which even though it seems to end on an upbeat note, has one of the most chilling last lines you’ll find anywhere. Continue reading →

Blogging Bran Mak Morn: “Men of the Shadows”

7 Replies

“Men of the Shadows”
First published in Bran Mak Morn, Dell 1969
written circa 1925-1926

The first of Howard’s tales of the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn, “Men of the Shadows” was rejected by Weird Tales in 1926.  Upon reading it, it’s easy to see why.

The story starts out strong.  Narrated by a Norseman in the Roman army, he and his companions are nearly cut down in a battle with the Picts.  Five of the Roman soldiers survive, but as they make their way back to Roman territory, they are one by one cut down until only the Norseman is left.

He’s taken captive by a group of Picts and taken before their chieftan, Bran Mak Morn.  (Bran is merely a chieftan in this story, not a king.)  None of the soldiers knew what their mission was except the commander, and he took that secret with him to his grave.  Bran introduces the soldier to his sister and tells him that a reward had been posted for whoever captured the girl and brought to a Roman merchant. Continue reading →

Guest Post by Bradley P. Beaulieu

Leave a reply

The good folks over at Ragnarok Publishing are running a Kickstarter for a new anthology featuring female protagonists, Hath No Fury, which ends in a few hours.  They asked me to help get the word out and offered suggestions that would help to do that, including possible guest posts by some of their contributors.  One of the authors with a story in the book is Bradley P. Beaulieu.  His contribution features the protagonist from his current series, The Song of the Shattered Sands.  I reviewed the first volume, Twelve Kings in Sharakai here.

So without further ado, here’s Brad:

I was recently at a convention—GenCon down in Indianapolis—and I was doing a short video interview where we got to talking about the state of the field and how quickly (or not) it changes. My basic take was that it’s a field, much like most of the entertainment industry at large, that’s pretty slow to change.

Why? Well, it’s complicated, but I think a lot of it boils down to how editors (and these days more and more, purchasing panels) decide what a publisher is (and isn’t) going to buy. For the purposes of this conversation, I’m just going to call these folks “editors”, but know that these days it’s almost never a single person that’s making the call, but rather a number of people, including sales, marketing, and other executives—especially if we’re talking about a hot author or property—but it all starts with the editors, so let’s be reductive for the time being. Continue reading →

Interspecies is a Great Shared World Anthology

4 Replies

Interspecies-final-v2-1-735x1024Interspecies
Ally Bishop, ed.
Kosa Press
ebook $0.99 until June 7, $4.99 thereafter
Print edition forthcoming

Normally I would post this review on Futures Past and Present, my science fiction blog, since Interspecies is most definitely science fiction and not fantasy.  However, I’m making an exception for a couple of reasons.  First, my friend Woelf Dietrich is a contributor, and I want the book to do well.  This blog is the one that gets the most traffic.  I’d also like to thank Woelf for sending me the review copy.  Interspecies doesn’t go on sale until the 27th, so keep your eyes peeled.  I’ll post an update here with pricing information and links when it does.

Second, Kosa Press (long “o”; I’m not sure how to get the bar over the “o”) is an interesting publishing venture, and I want to give it some exposure just on general principles. I’m a big fan of innovative publishing strategies, especially those that cut out a lot of the middle men.  The authors get more money per sale that way.  Kosa Press is a group of writers who have gotten together to publish not only their works but other writers as well.  Interspecies is their first anthology.  What’s different about this group is that some of the writers are in San Francisco, and (at least) one is in New Zealand, making this an international collaboration.

I can hear you now saying, “That’s all well and good, but what about the book?”

I’m glad you asked that. Continue reading →

Dragoncon Announces the Dragon Awards

6 Replies

I don’t normally do two posts so close together, but I wanted to make those of you who haven’t heard aware of a new award.  Dragoncon is one of the largest sff conventions in the world.  They’ve just announced a new set of awards, called the Dragon Awards.  Unlike the Gemmell, which focuses on written fantasy (and is IMNSHO the best in the field), the Dragon Awards will award science fiction, games, comics & graphic novels, horror, alternate history, YA, and other categories.  It’s open to anyone.  You don’t have to shell out $50 just to vote.

For further information, go here.

Richard Matheson Turns 90

2 Replies

Richard MathesonRichard Matheson, one of the greatest fantasists of the 20th Century, entered the world 90 years ago (February 20, 1926) in Allendale, New Jersey. When we lost him (June 23, 2013), I paid tribute to him, as did many others.

Matheson is best known for scripting some of the best Twilight Zone episodes, horror movies for Roger Coran, and his novels The Shrinking Man and most especially I Am Legend.  I read that book about 35 years ago, give or take a year.  I really need to revisit it.

But it was Matheson’s short stories that really caught my attention.  He was a master of the short form, and it broke my heart that he quite writing them later in his life.  He could take an idea, usually a one with a dark twist, and punch you in the gut with it.  And you would enjoy it and want another.

There’s a tendency, which seems especially prevalent these days, for writers to drop out of print shortly after their deaths.  This is true even of writers who were considered giants in their fields while they were alive.  A number of writers come to mind:  Asimov, Heinlein, MacDonald (John D. and Ross).  These guys all have some titles in print, but good luck finding the bulk of their work in new additions.

I sincerely hope that Matheson (who is still in print) doesn’t suffer such a fate.