The Art of Frank Kelly Freas

One of my favorite artists, Frank Kelly Freas, was born on this date, August 27, in 1922. We lost him in 2005.

Freas painted a number of covers for paperback books, in addition to covers and interior illustrations for pulps and later digest science fiction magazines. He had a easily recognizable style.

Sadly, we never attended a convention together. I would have loved to have met him. I picked up a signed print of his painting of Skylab at an American Space Society meeting about 15 years ago that proudly hangs in my bedroom. You can see it below.

Here are some samples of his work. Continue reading →

The Art of Earle Bergey

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Artist Earle Bergey was born this date, August 26, in 1901. He passed away on September 30, 1952. Bergey’s covers for pulp magazines established the trope of the scantily clad girl (often in a brass bra) being menaced by a BEM (Bug Eyed Monster) while a square-jawed hero comes to her rescue. In other words, stuff that would be considered 100% politically incorrect by certain of today’s standards.

What I want to know is why the men had to wear full spacesuits while the women wore bikinis and fishbowl helmets. I guess the women were just made of tougher stuff back then.

Enough philosophizing. Let’s enjoy some of Earle Bergey’s art. Continue reading →

A New Series of Posts in Honor of Ray Bradbury

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Ray Bradbury was born on this date, August 22, in 1920. We lost him in 2012. Bradbury was one of the first science fiction and fantasy writers I read. A friend of our reading teacher came to class one day and read “The Screaming Woman” to us from the collection S is for Space. I was hooked.

The public library in Wichita Falls had a number of Bradbury paperbacks in the children’s section, mostly the editions that had a drawing of Bradbury on the cover. I’d seen them but didn’t really know what they were about. After the man read the story, I checked out every one of them. And when I read all of those, I tracked down the rest over the next few years. I was fortunate because not only were they all in print at the time, but new editions were being published. Those were the days.

A few weeks ago, something came across my twitter feed about the influence Henry Kuttner and Leigh Brackett had on Bradbury. They both mentored him, and Bradbury had written about his friendship with the two writers.

So I decided I could do a series of posts on those. They’ll start sometime in the next month. I’ve already got the first one planned. I just need to reread the stories I’ll discuss in it and then write the post. That will be after classes start next week.

Reflections on H. P. Lovecraft

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As I promised in the previous post, here’s one devoted to someone who has had an important role in my life and who has a birthday today. My mother-in-law. Happy birthday, June.

Wait, what? Oh, sorry about that. Got confused for a minute.

I want to talk about H. P. Lovecraft on his birthday (August 20). I’m gong to vent my spleen a bit.

A day or two ago a link came across my Twitter feed to an article ranting about Lovecraft’s racism. Yeah, that again.

Let me make something clear for everyone who didn’t quit reading at the last paragraph. I do not condone, subscribe to, or approve of Lovecraft’s views on race. Period. Full stop.

That does not mean I don’t enjoy his work. Do certain aspects of it bother me? Sure. But I’m a big boy. I can handle viewpoints that aren’t the same as mine. I can even handle viewpoints I find offensive.

What I get tired of are people who continually judge writers from other periods in history by today’s standards. For some reason those writers are always found wanting. If you don’t want to read an author because of their views on race/politics/religion/how they pronounce tomato, that’s fine. Just don’t tell me I can’t or shouldn’t read those authors. There’s a tendency to go beyond that and try to shame people who enjoy certain authors whose views aren’t politically correct. And people who do this have been awfully loud lately.

I’ll read what I damn well want to, and I don’t need anyone’s approval to do so. Certainly not the approval of some shrill scold, regardless of whether I agree with their point or not. If the fact I like Lovecraft, or Haggard, or Howard, or Burroughs, or any other writer offends you, then you can go pound sand.

Me, I’m going to read some Lovecraft in honor of his birthday. Hmm… “The Dunwich Horror” is looking pretty good. I think I’ll try that one.

Two Birthdays

The Art of Darrell K. Sweet

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Artist Darrell K. Sweet was born on this date, August 15, in 1934. He passed away in 2011. When I was in junior high and high school, if book had cover he’d done, I always picked it up and gave it a look. I didn’t always buy the book, but based on positive experiences with some of the first books I read that he’d done the cover art for, I always gave it a look. I had the privilege of meeting him a couple of times, and I had the opportunity to tell him that at the 2006 WFC.

Rather than continue to blather, I’m going to post some examples of his art. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Brennan’s Nine Horrors and a Dream

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Nine Horrors and a Dream
Joseph Payne Brennan
paper $9.95
ebook $7.96

If you’ve hung around here long, you know I’m a fan of Joseph Payne Brennan. Someone out there has reprinted a collection of his that has been long out of print, Nine Horrors and a Dream.

Here’s some of what you’ll find in this short collection: Continue reading →

Ghosts, Heroic Fantasy, the Shaver Mystery, and Some Really Groovy Illustrations

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If the birthdays and the day job both slow down at the same time, I’ve got a review of a Joseph Payne Brennan collection to run. Until then, let’s look at four birthdays that fall on this date (August 1).

M. R. James

We’ll start with M. R. (Montague Rhodes) James (1862-1936). He’s the master of the classic English ghost story. His only potential rivals to that title might be H. R. Wakefield or E. F. Benson. (What is it with these English ghost story writers and initials, anyway? Must have been something in the water.) Many of James’s s stories dealt with antiquarians who stuck their noses in places they shouldn’t and disturbed things best left alone. Full of atmosphere, the ghost stories of M. R. James are worth reading. Most anthologies of classic ghost stories will have one of his tales, and there are a number of electronic and print editions available.

David Gemmell

David Gemmell (1948-2006) is no stranger to these parts. The now defunct David Gemmell Awards were established in his honor. Gemmell’s first novel, Legend, is now a classic in the field of heroic fantasy. Gemmell is someone I’ve only read bits and pieces of, coming to his work only in the last couple of decades. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the 2000 World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi. I got to listen in on him and Jane Lindskold discuss Louis L’Amour and his influence on their own writing.

Richard Shaver (r.) with Ray Palmer

Our editor for today is somewhat problematic. As the discerning blog reader will discern from the title of this post, I’m talking about Raymond A. Palmer (1910-1977). (No, he was named after the DC Comics superhero, The Atom. It was the other way around.) Palmer was the editor of Amazing Stories, founded the short-lived Other Worlds Science Fiction (which published Eric Frank Russell’s classic “Dear Devil”), and later became the editor of Fate a publication which specialized in UFO’s and other pseudo-scientific phenomena.

Palmer receiver a piece of fiction from Richard Shaver in which Shaver claimed to have knowledge of an ancient and malevolent civilization hiding in caverns deep under the surface of the Earth. Palmer published it, and many other stories soon followed. Sales skyrocketed. The thing is, Shaver actually believed this tripe, and apparently so did many of the readers. I’m not sure if Palmer ever completely bought into what came to be called The Shaver Mystery or if he was cynically doing whatever he needed to in order to boost sales. Doesn’t really matter at this late date. Palmer and Shaver did a lot of damage to the science fiction and fantasy fields with their insistence that all of this was real.

Finally, we come to one of my favorite artists, Edd Cartier (1914-2008). Cartier’s work graced the pages of Astounding and Unknown during John Campbell’s tenure as editor. He had a distinctive and whimsical style that was really unique and fun. Here’s some of his work.