Today, August 28, marks a number of birthdays in the fields of the fantastic. I’m going to focus on four of them. This was the first week of classes, and things have been hectic to a greater degree than normal. That is to say, I haven’t slowed down long enough to read anything by any of these folks. In spite of that, I would like to recognize them.

Le Fanu

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of weird fiction and ghost stories. He’s probably best remembered for “Carmilla”, a vampire tale with, IIRC, strong lesbian overtones. I could be wrong about that. I read it when I was either in high school or college. It’s regarded as one of the best vampire stories both pre- and post-Dracula. Le Fanu isn’t as well known today as he was once was, but since his work is in the public domain, it’s not hard to come by.

Jack Vance (1916-2013) needs no introduction here. I mentioned in a recent post on Ray Bradbury that he was one of six authors who have their own dedicated shelves in my library. By dedicated I mean all of their works are together regardless of hardcover, paperback, etc.; I tend to shelve by format, hardbacks with hardbacks, paperbacks with paperbacks, signed copies on certain shelves, and so forth. Those writers with dedicated shelves are REH, Bradbury, Kuttner & Moore, and Brackett & Hamilton. The reason Jack Vance doesn’t have his own shelf is simply because I haven’t gotten organized enough to track down all his books that I have.

Jack Vance

Vance was a master of both science fiction and fantasy, and sometimes it’s hard to tell which is which, he was so good at blending the two. Although much of his output was at novel length, because novels sell better and pay better, he was more than accomplished at short fiction. Fortunately his work isn’t hard to find, as much of it still in print. The older I get, the more I appreciate Vance as both a reader and an aspiring writer.

Jack Kirby (1917-1994) is often regarded as a comic artist, but I prefer to think of him as a storyteller whose primary medium was visual. There’s very little I can say about Kirby’s work that hasn’t been said better by those who knew him. I’m not even going to try to summarize his contributions to the field of comics. He created or co-created, to name only a few, Captain America, the Hulk, the New Gods, the Fantastic Four, Mister Miracle. The list goes on.

Vonda N. McIntyre (1948-2019) wrote science fiction. While not prolific, she had a reputation for high quality work in the 1970s and 1980s. I don’t think I have read any of her work, at least not since I was a teenager, when I didn’t always pay attention to who the author was. I’ve got her collection Fireflood and Other Stories, as well as a novel or two. I’m hoping to get to them them soon.  The post on Tiptree the other day put me in the mood to read some of the stories by women writers of the 1970s.