One of the icons of fantasy art, Frank Frazetta, was born on this day, February 9, 1928. I’m having some issues with the blog this evening, so I’m going to keep this one short. Here are a few of his covers to enjoy.
I’m sure you’ll recognize them. Frazetta illustrated some of the biggest names in fantasy.
We’ve got another guest post by John Bullard for you today:
Robert E. Howard’s final Conan story, “Red Nails”, relates how Conan and his fellow adventurer Valeria come upon a giant, totally enclosed city, Xuchotl, where the inhabitants have divided up into two factions and are in a deadly war to wipe each other out. As is well known, Howard used a lot of real life historical incidents and places as inspiration to write many of his stories. Howard’s two trips to New Mexico in 1934 and 1935 with his good friend Truett Vinson provided ideas for his stories. Patrice Louinet, in his essay1 on Howard’s writing of the Conan tales argued that the feud of the inhabitants of Xuchotl was inspired by Howard’s June 1935 trip to New Mexico, when he and Truett Vinson stopped at the town of Lincoln, home of the famous Lincoln County War, to see the sites of the notorious conflict. Howard had a great interest in the Lincoln County War and its most famous fighter, Billy the Kid, and wrote of the events in many letters to H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth. Howard also wrote a travelogue of the 1935 New Mexico trip in two letters to Lovecraft and Derleth. His letter to H.P. Lovecraft in July 1935 contains a long, extensive narrative of the trip, and that letter’s sections dealing with Howard’s experiences and impressions of Lincoln definitely show its influence on his conception of the deadly feud in Xuchotl as well as the atmosphere of the city itself.
But, did Howard draw upon a place or places in the real world which inspired his creation of the physical description of Xuchotl itself? It is my belief that Howard did indeed draw upon real life places for creating Xuchotl, and that it was on this 1935 trip that he found that inspiration. These two letters reveal the clues as to what those places in New Mexico were, with two in particular probably being the real-life inspirations for the layout of the incredible city of Xuchotl.
The Letters
Howard traveled with Vinson to New Mexico in June, 1935, as Vinson wanted to visit people in Santa Fe. Along the way, the pair stopped to visit Lincoln to see the buildings where much of the action in the Lincoln County War took place. They then continued on to Santa Fe. Howard hoped to continue traveling on into Colorado and Arizona, but Vinson wanted to end the trip and return home to Texas quickly after they had reached Santa Fe. It was while they were in Santa Fe, that Howard writes in the two letters the clues of what led to his creating the physical layout of the doomed city of Xuchotl: Continue reading
C. L. Moore (1911-1987) was born on this date, January 24. Shen was one of the greatest writers of the fantastic in the 20th Century.
For today’s post, I’m going to continue the series I’ve been doing on her character Northwest Smith. Smith is frequently regarded as a Han Solo prototype.
In “The Tree of Life” he’s on his own, without his Venusain partner Yarol.
The opening of the story could have been written by Leigh Brackett, and I had to remind myself that this story is set on a different Mars than the one Brackett wrote about. Continue reading
So for Howard’s birthday (January 22), I thought I’d look at a story I haven’t read in a long time, “Worms of the Earth”. This is one of the Bran Mak Morn tales. There aren’t a lot of them. Some weren’t published in Howard’s lifetime, but this one was, in the November 1932 issue of Weird Tales.
The opening is one of Howard’s best. A Roman governor, Titus Sulla, is showing a Pictish ambassador Roman justice by executing a Pict by crucifixion. The ambassador watches stoically without saying anything. The ambassador is of course the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn in disguise.The dying man provokes one of the guards into killing him, which angers the Sulla. It was the quickest death the Pict could experience, and the governor wanted him to suffer. The guard is sentenced to jail. Continue reading
Abraham Merritt (1884-1943) was born on this date, January 20.
Writing under the byline of just his first initial and surname, A. Merritt was at one time one of the most respected and influential fantasy authors in the country, if not the world. Sadly he has lapsed into obscurity.
Part of the reason for that, I think, is that his output was small, something that makes his reputation even more impressive. Merritt was an editor at The American Weekly, first as an assistant (1912-1937) and then editor until his death.
I’ve read some of his short stories and one novel, Dwellers in the Mirage, which I need to reread and do a post about it. I really liked it and am looking forward to fitting more of his work into my reading.
If you’ve not read Merritt, give him a shot.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was born today, January 19. There are few writers who have had the influence of Poe. He cast a long shadow over his contemporaries, as I discussed here. He was one of the greatest scribes of darkness. And his work is dark.
But it’s also very, very good.
So many of his tales, poems, and stories are classics. “The Raven”. “The Fall of the House of Usher”. “The Pit and the Pendulum”. “The Cask of Amontillado”. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. “The Gold-Bug”. The Masque of the Red Death”. “The Premature Burial”. “The Black Cat”. “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
So let me throw this question out. If you were going to put together a collection Poe’s best works, a greatest hits collection, if you will, what would you include, and why?
Today, January 13, is the birthday of one of the greatest writers of fantasy of the Twentieth Century or any other. Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was one of the big three in what many consider to be the best years of Weird Tales. The other two are Robert E Howard and H. P. Lovecraft.
I last looked at some of Smith’s work last summer when I reviewed Zothique from the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. I had started Hyperborea, which was the next volume Lin Carter published in that line, but summer school started. Trying to figure out how to teach online in a summer session was time consuming, and I never got back to it. I’m going to try to get back to in sometime in the next few months.
Smith doesn’t seem to be as well-known these days as REH and HPL. Part of that, I think, is because his writing isn’t light and breezy. Neither are Howard’s nor Lovecraft’s, but Smith used a vocabulary that was extensive. As a result reading him can be something of a challenge. You see, kids, back in the day, we had these things called dictionaries, and anytime we didn’t know what a word, meant, well, we just looked ’em up. Now git off my lawn.
I’m not sure what story of Smith’s I’m going to read tonight. Maybe I’ll reread “The City of the Singing Flame”. It was the first story by CAS I ever read. I was in the seventh grade, and the junior high library had a nice collection of Robert Silverberg anthologies. It was in one of those.
Regardless, I’ll raise my glass to Clark Ashton Smith and enjoy some of his fiction this evening.
Jack London (1876-1916) was born today, January 12. London was one of Robert E Howard’s favorite writer, which is why he is of importance to this blog.
I must admit I haven’t read much by London. Of course I read “To Build a Fire” in school. I mean, who hasn’t? I’ve also read “A Relic of the Pliocene” and “Moonface”. I’ve enjoyed all of them, but beyond that I don’t think I’ve read any of his other works. I think I may have read a little bit of The Call of the Wild when I was a kid, but if I did, I didn’t get very far into it. I have vague memories that it was a bit beyond my reading level at the time.
So I’m going to try to read more London this year. I want to have a better understanding and appreciation of the writers who influenced my favorites.
John Myers Myers (1906-1988) was born on this date, January 11. He is best remembered as the author of Silverlock. If you haven’t read it, you should. Poul Anderson, Jerry Pournelle, and Gordon R. Dickson number among its fans.
But that’s not the book I want to talk about today.I had seen copies of The Harp and the Blade floating around when I was in high school, but I didn’t know much about it. I was more into science fiction at the time and didn’t read it. (I didn’t read Silverlock until I was in college.) Deuce Richardson recommended it to me recently. So I read it for this post.
I wish I had read it years ago. I started and finished the book in under 24 hours. It’s a great medieval fantasy. Finnian is a wandering Irish bard making his way through France. The book indicates the year is about 950 or so. After watching a local warlord murder a young man in a tavern, he goes on his way. Later that night a Druid curses him by making him anyone in need as long as he stays in the druid’s land.
Soon the curse begins to take effect. Finnian finds himself aiding another man named Conan, who is trying to establish his own domain. No, not that Conan. This story is set in France, not Aquilonia. Finnian only wants to go on his way. It’s not going to be that easy. Every time he thinks he is free to move on, someone needs his aid.
The story moves briskly, with more action and character development than many fantasy novels twice the length. There are battles and personal feuds, songs and poetry, and romance. Not everything ends well.
If you like historical fantasy, with likeable characters, dastardly villains, and lots of action, check this one out.
Mirage Man
Trace Conger
paper $12.99
ebook $0.99
This post is a better fit over at Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams, but that blog isn’t very active at the moment. I’m posting this review here so more people will see it. I’d like to thank Trace Conger for providing me with a review copy.
Mirage Man is a crime novel that’s fast, engaging, and extremely violent.
I loved it.
Conger wrote three novels about PI Finn Harding, which I reviewed here, here, and here. Mirage Man deals with Finn’s brother Conner. It’s the first of a series, and I’m going to be along for the ride. Continue reading