Today I want to look at two writers who did much to advance the field of science fiction. John W. Campbell, Jr. (1910-1971) is best remembered as an editor, but before he became an editor, he was first a writer. Kate Wilhelm was one of the strongest female voices in science fiction. Her work should not be forgotten. Continue reading
Today, June 7, marks the birth of three women who wrote in the field of the fantastic and are primarily known for their short stories, at least among fans of the weird tale. This post will be a little different than the usual birthday post in that I won’t be reviewing any of their stories. I spent the afternoon trying to video myself doing labs for this week’s classes.
First is Amelia B. Edwards. (1831-1892) Best known for “The Phantom Coach”, Mrs. Edwards wrote enough stories of the supernatural to fill a collection.
Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) wrote a number of what would be called mainstream or literary novels today, but she was also a note author of ghost stories. You would expect that, with her being Irish. Robert Aickman thought highly of her work.
Kit Reed‘s (1932-2017) work was primarily science fiction, with much of it published in F&SF. Although it’s been enough years that details have faded from memory, I read her collection Other Stories and…The Attack of the Giant Baby either in high school or as an undergrad and enjoyed it quite a bit.
I apologize for not presenting an example of each lady’s work, but I did want to post something today if for no other reason than to counter the nonsense that women didn’t write science fiction and fantasy before the 21st Century. All three of these women were highly regarded when they were actively writing. Check their work out if you get a chance.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch Photo stolen from the ISFDB, who got it from Amazon
Today is Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s birthday. Where I come from, it isn’t polite to ask a lady her age, so I’m not going to say what year she was born. And, yes, she’s very much alive and still writing, so this is another exception to my informal policy of birthday posts for writers who are no longer with us.
I’m hoping Kris is with us for a long time. She writes science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery, and she’s outstanding at all of them. She also writes romance, but I’ve not read much of her work in that field because it’s genre I’ve never really been able to get into. I have enjoyed the few romance stories she’s written that have been in some of the Fiction River volumes, so if you like romance, by all means check out her work.
Kris is a consummate pro who writes consistently. I met her and her husband Dean Wesley Smith at (I think) a Galaxy Fair in Dallas back in 19[redacted]. She asked the audience at a panel if they had written. When most of the audience raised their hands, she added “today”. Most of the hands went down. That’s the kind of professionalism I’m talking about.
Kris has been writing a business blog for several years now, with new posts appearing every Thursday. Here’s today’s post on book promotions. If you’re a writer, you’ll want to check it out. All of her business posts are on her site for free, or if you want to read them in book form, they are available, just check the sidebar on her website.
Normally, I would review a story by the author who is the subject of a birthday post, but my son is graduating tomorrow morning (outside, at the football stadium). I have to get the house cleaned for incoming family and go to work this afternoon. So I’m going to leave you with an encouragement to read something of Kris’s and an anecdote.
Kris was editing F&SF when I met her, and I started submitting stories. (I stopped when my advisor suggested I change the genre in which I was writing to “dissertation”.) Although she never bought one(and looking back, I can’t blame her), I do have several personal rejection letters from her, not simply form rejections.
Happy birthday, Kris! May there be many more.
Judy Lynn and Lester Del Rey at Minicon 8 (1974)
Today, June 2, is the birthday of Lester del Rey (1915-1993). He and his wife Judy-Lynn founded the Del Rey imprint at Ballantine. I never had the privilege of meeting Lester, and I wish I had.
Del Rey wrote both science fiction and fantasy (my science fiction birthday post is here), but I think fantasy was more his first love. I was at a convention years ago when I heard someone (I didn’t know the man, and I have no idea who he was at this late date) say he’d seen a list of things that would result in a successful fantasy line. The gentleman said these things would lead to a successful fantasy line, and that he disagreed with everyone one of them. If anyone knows what this list is and where I can find it, I would appreciate your letting me know. Continue reading
Today,, May 27, marks the births of two of my favorite writers, Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) and Harlan Ellison (1934-2018). We’ll take a quick look at one of their stories each. Continue reading
So I did a birthday post on Talbot Mundy not long ago which generated a side conversation on Twitter about this series. The end result of which was I decided to give it a try.
Based on that conversation and an email exchange with someone who is too smart to be on Twitter (waves at John), my opinion seems to be in the minority on this one.
The general consensus was that these books are slow. I have to agree; they don’t move as quickly as most books of this type would if published today, nor do they have the pace of the story I reviewed for Mundy’s birthday, “For the Salt he Had Eaten”. The style is an older style of adventure story writing where things move at a more sedate pace. But the first volume, Lud of Lunden held my interest all the way to the end. Continue reading
A few years back, I was writing a series of posts for Black Gate in which I was reviewing each volume of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (mostly) in order. The reasons why I stopped are several, and I’m not going to get into them here. Nor do I plan to restart that series here, at least not without getting John O’Neill’s blessing. He’d asked for the series, IIRC, and as a courtesy, I would want to make sure he was okay with me moving the series to my blog. I’ve got too many irons in the fire right now, though, to pick up another project.
For those not in the know, or stumbled upon this post because of the word “Adult” in the title, Ballantine published a series of books under the editorial direction of Lin Carter of fantasy aimed at grown-ups. If you’re in the latter group, this isn’t going to be that type of “adult” post. And the type of fantasy you’re probably looking for isn’t what we deal with here.
Zothique was the first of four collections of Clark Ashton Smith’s short fiction that appeared in the BAF series. The wrap-around cover is by George Barr. (One of the best things about this line of books was their covers.)
Zothique is the last continent on a far future Earth in which much science and history has been forgotten, and magic has returned. If this reminds you of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth, keep in mind Smith did it first. Some of the stories are better than others, but all are well-done. Here are a few of my favorites. Continue reading
Manly Wade Wellman
Today, May 21, marks the birth of Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Wellman is best remembered for his stories of the John the Balladeer, set in the Appalachian mountains. But he wrote a lot of other things, as well.
I first discovered Wellman’s short stories in the pages of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He had a number of stories published there in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Someone who had had a subscription had sold an almost complete run to the local second hand bookstore when I was in high school. Wellman’s stories were among the first I read when I picked up an issue with his name on the cover.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, Wellman is a favorite around these here parts, so in honor of his birth, in addition to raising a glass in his honor later this evening, I’m going to look at three of his stories that feature the same character, Sergeant Jaeger. Continue reading
There are a number of birthdays today of writer’s whose names I recognize, but I’m gong to focus on what, in my mind, are the two most prominent, Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) and Stephen R. Donaldson (b. 1947). Continue reading
Anyone who hangs out around here for any length of time and doesn’t know that Lewis Padgett is one the the pen names used by Henry Kuttner and his wife C. L. Moore clearly hasn’t been paying attention. Written under the Lewis Padgett by-line, “When the Bough Breaks” was first published in the November 1944 issue of Astounding.
The spring before I started high school, my parents gave permission for me to join the Science Fiction Book Club. So I had a source of hardcover science fiction and fantasy to read that summer. This was in the days before science fiction was regularly published in hardcover. Most books were mass market paperbacks.
At the time, the SFBC offered a number of titles from Ballantine’s Best of series. This was a way I could discover new writers, and I took full advantage of it. I mean, if these writers weren’t good, why was there a volume entitled The Best of followed by their names? I was making money mowing lawns, so I had the funds to afford to buy some books. I was already familiar with the series because I had found The Best of Jack Williamson at a flea market about eighteen months earlier, and I bought every one the SFBC offered at the time. (For some reason, they never offered The Best of C. L. Moore while I was a member, although they had published such a volume a year or three earlier.) Continue reading