There are three birthdays today that I want to look at, one briefly, one not so briefly, and one at a bit more length.

J. Francis McComas (1911-1978) was one of the two founding editors of The Magazine of Fantasy in 1949which became The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction beginning with the second issue. Raymond J. Healy was the other founder. They had edited Adventures in Time and Space  in 1946. This was the first majjor science fiction anthology. Many of its stories still hold up today and are worth reading.

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction was one of two new publications in 1950 which challenged John W. Campbell’s Astounding as the top market for science fiction. Horace L. Gold’s Galaxy was the other.

McComas stepped down as editor in 1954 but stayed on as a consulting editor until 1961.

Keith Laumer (1925-1993) wrote adventure science fiction, much of it with a military tone, if not outright mililtary sciencde fiction. He created the BOLO tanks, which have become a small subgenre. Laumer also wrote a number of stories about the diplomat Retief. These satrize the government bereaucracy. Laumer worked in the diplomatic service for a time before becoming a writer.

Time travel was another popular theme in Laumer’s work.

In 1971, he suffered a stroke. He wasn’t able to write for several years, and when he returned to writing, his work wasn’t up to its previous quality.

And now we come to Lin Carter (1930-1988). Of the three people I’ve profiled today, he is probably of the most interest to regular readers of this blog.

Where to start?

I just got back from Robert E. Howard Days this morning, so his role in the Lancer paperbacks is obviously at the forefront of my mind. I’m a big fan of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. And he edited, among other things, the Flashing Swords anthologies and six volumes of DAW’s The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories.

Then there was Carter’s own fiction. I’ve not read any of it, so I can’t comment directely on it. I know some people really like it. Others don’t. I heard someone on a panel at a convention year’s ago describe Carter’s writing as being so bad it could kill bugs at twelve feet. Or some distance.

That’s harsh. I suspect his writing isn’t that bad.

I’m not going to discuss Carter’s writing. Like I said, I’ve not read any of it. Nor am I going to get into his work with L. Sprague de Camp on the Conan pastiches. That’s a topic that is too long for this post, and besides, I need to go to bed soon. I can’t stay up that late tonight.

I want to talk about Carter as an editor, specifically the two series he edited that I’m the most familiar with. Those would be the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series and the DAW Year’s Best Fantasy.

The two series could not be more different in their focus as far as time was concerned. The Ballantine series printed primarily older works, although there were some new writers introduced, most notably Katherine Kurtz. The first three Deryni novels were part of the series. Carter’s knowledge of fantasy was unbelievably thorough. He published some very obscure works. The Shaving of Shagpat, anyone?

On the other hand, the DAW Year’s Best series reprinted stories that were published in the previous calendar year.

But they really weren’t too different. Carter’s sensibilities were such that the stories he selected were very much in the vein of the older works he selected for the Ballantine series. Fritz Leiber. L. Sprague de Camp. Jack Vance. Charles Saunders. Karl Edward Wagner. Tanith Lee.

Just to name a few.

Compare the type of fantasy they wrote to much of what is being published today. Cozy fantasy. Romantasy.

I’m not sure Carter would have been too  fond of some of the directions the field has taken today.

But maybe he would have embraced those directions. He had pretty wide ranging tastes after all.

Just as an aside, it is fun to read Carter’s essays in those books and see what he got right and wrong in his predicetions of where the field was going to go.

So, what are you thoughts on any of these three? Is Adventures in Time and Space still a must-read anthology? How does Reitef hold up to the BOLO books? Is it worth my time to read any of Carter’s fiction?