Today isi March 30. It is the birthday of Chad Oliver (1928-1993) and Dennis Etchison (1943-2019).
Chad Oliver was a member iof hte California School for a brief time while he was in graduate school. Chad landed at the University of Texas in Austin where he lived until his death. Austin, that is, not UT, although some faculty do live in their offices.
Chad was an anthropologist, and his fiction reflects that. NESFA collected much of his short fiction in two omnibus volumes along with an omnibus of his novels.
I met Chad back in the early nineties at a couple of Armadillocons. Unfortunatley, he passed away before I had a chance to get to know hiim.
Dennis Etchison was also from Califoronia. He took a writing class from Charles Beaumont, but I’m not sure if he is considered a member of the California School. Membership wasn’t exactly formal and tended to be somewhat fluid.
Etchison was primarily a short story writer of horror and dark fantasy, although he did write a handful of novels. I listened to The Dark Country on audiobook a few years ago while I was driving back and forth during our extended move. Etchison is a writer I’ve grown to appreciate more as I’ve gotten older.
I’m about to call it a night, but before I do, I’ll raise a glass in these two men’s memory.
Etchison adapted the original TV scripts for the fine radio adaption of “The Twilight Zone” a few years back. Improving on some of the flawed ones and making the great ones shine. You can hear some of them on You Tube. Two of Charles Beaumont’s stories that weren’t done on the TZ original show were adapted, possibly by Etchison, for the radio series.
Thanks, Jeff. I wasn’t aware of that. I’ll have to check those out.