Today is November 8. It is the birthday of Bram Stoker (1847-1912) and Ben Bova (1932-2020). Continue reading
Bram and Ben
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R. A. Lafferty’s “The Six Fingers of Time”
Today is November 7, and it is the birth day of Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (1914-2002). Lafferty was one of the most unique voices in the field of science fiction. Centipede Press is slowly releasing his collected short fiction in nice, matching hardcover editions. Wildside Press has published some of his work in their Megapack series, the ebook collections they do.
I managed to read “The Six Fingers of Time” today in The R. A. Lafferty Fantastic Megapack.
Despite the title, it is not a time travel story. Rather it is the tale of a man who discovers he has the ability to shift himself so thata his sense of time stay normal but he is really moving much faster than everyone around him. They seem frozen, as though they were statures.
Then he meets another man, one whose face he can never see. Lafferty implies this man might be a demon. They are going to make him an offer once he learns to control his abiity and use it to learn anumber of other things.
Unlike a typical deal with the devil story, he doesn’t take the deal.
Things still don’t work out well for him.
It’s been a number of years since I read Lafferty. He was primarily a short story writer. He did write novels. Past Master won the Hugo Award. I read it in high school. It was…different. I think I woujld have a greater appreciation for the book if I read it today. I’ve dipped into a few of his collections over the years. I’ve found him to be unpredictable. Lafferty is going to be one of those writers I think will always have a small following. He had a unique voice and is worth reading.
Ed Gorman
Today is November 2, the birthday of Ed Gorman (1941-2016). Gorman mostly wrote in the mystery and dark suspense genres, but he also wrote fantasy and science fiction, usually under the name Daniel Ransom.
Gorman wrote at short lengths as well as novels. For an excellent sampling of his shorter dark fantasy stories, check out the collection The Dark Fantastic. As much as I like his novels, I like his shorter work even better.
Gorman wrote series novels as well as stand-alones. His best-known series is probably the Sam McCain novels. They start at the end of the nineteen fifties and end in the sixties. All of the titles are song titles from the fifties and sixties.
My personal favorite series, though, are the four Robert Payne books. They are more traditional detective stories than the McCain books.
If you haven’t read Gorman, check him out.
Lansdale and Williams
Today, October 28, is the birthday of Joe Lansdale (b. 1951) and Walter Jon Williams. These birthday posts are usually reserved for people who are no longer with us. Relax. Both of these men are still with us and still writing.
I’m making an exception because I’ve met both Lansdale and Williams multiple times. Lansdale at science fiction conventions in Texas and Oklahoma. Williams in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
I enjoy the wriing of both, although I’ve not been the target audience for everything Joe has written. They are both open and friendly. They are always appproachable at their public appearances. The times I’ve seen both of them, whether on panels, in the dealer’s room, or sitting around talking in a hotel lobby or con suite, have always been enjoyable.
I wish them both a very Happy Birthday.
Mark Clifton’s “Clerical Error”
Today is October 24, the birthday of Mark Clifton (1906-1963). Clifton was a well-regarded science fiction writer in fifties and early sixties. He has fallen into obscurity today. He is best remembered as the author of They’d Rather Be Right, the most obscure Hugo Award winner.
But he also wrote some short fiction that was included in several year’s best anthologies. For this post, I read “Clerical Error”. It was first pusblished in the February 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.
It was reprinted in Isaac Aximov Presents the Great SF Stories 18, which covered 1956. That was where I first read this story years ago.
I didn’t remember anything about it.
The story concerns a psyschiatrist, Dr. Kinstong, working on a government base in what was then the near future. Thsi was written duriing the Cold War, and the future is a , well, not really a police state, but there are loyalty boards that make sure everyone is loyal to the government.
There is no fancy technology in this story, unlike most of the stories John W. Campbell published.
KIingston doesn’t want to approval a lobotomy on a scientist who is in the high security ward. Kingston dowsn’t have clearance to see the patient himself due to not having his security clearance yet. He’s new on the job.
So in order to find out what is really wrong with the patient, he makes a clerical error and gets himself committed and put in the same cell as the patient.
In his introduction to the story, Asimov said the ending was weak. I have to agree. I think this story was included because of some of the arguments about psychiatry and the government at the time.
This wasn’t an excitiing story. I’ve read several of Clifton’s other short stories in this Great SF series. That was long ago. I don’t recall them. I’ll probably reread them at some point. Clifton is hhighly regarded among historians of the field.
Schmitz, Tubb, Puzo, and Hunter
Today is October 15. It is the birthday of James H. Schmitz (1911-1981), E. C. Tubb (1919-2010), Mario Puzo (1920-1999), and Evan Hunter (1926-2005). Here’s a brief bit about each.
James H. Schmitz wrote other kinds of science fiction, but mostly he wrote space opera. The bulk of his stories were set in The Hub, what human space is called. The main character was Telzy Amberdon, and the second most used character was Trigger Argee. There were other recurring characters, and they tended to show up in each other’s stories. That’s the Frak Kelly Freas cover of The Lion Game, minus the wording.
The Hub stories are a lot of fun. About twenty-five years ago, Baen (finally!) collected nearly all of Schmitz’s fiction. Isaid finally, becaue I had been trying to find copies of some of the earlier collections for years. Copies should be available online for reasonable prices. If you haven’t read Schnmitz, check him out.
E. C. Tubb wrote other things, but he will always be remembered as t he creator of Dumarest of Terra. The premise is fairly stragiht forward. Dumarest is searching for the planet of his birth, a place called Earth, which is now a legend. The series ran for thirty-one volumes. In each book, Dumarest gets a little more information.
Of course, there is an organization opposing him. I read the first one years ago, liked it, and have collected all but one or two. I want to fill in the gaps and then start the series, reading straight through.
Mario Puzo wrote about the intersection of Italian life and the Mafia. He burst onto the scene with The Godfather. Although he wasn’t prolific, he left his mark on literary crime novels.
Evan Hunter is better known as Ed McBain. Neither of those was his real name. That would be Salvatore Albert Lombino. It was under the Hunter byline that he wrote The Blackboard Jungle, based on his experience teaching in a New York vocatioinal high school. That book was the basis of a highly controversial film in 1954. Hunter also wrote a little science fiction under that name. He is best known, however, under the Ed McBain name as the author of the 87th Precint police procedurals. They have a central cast, but the protagonist rotates from one book to another. While there are changes in the characters’ lives, the plot are mostly stand-alone and can be read in any order.
Piserchia, Edmondson, and the Stellar Anthologies
Today is October 11. It is the birthday of Doris Piserchia (1928-2021) and G. C. Edmondson (1922-1995). We’ll also take a look at the Stellar series of anthologies, with a focus on a story by Edmondson. Continue reading
More Than Just Dune
Today is October 8. It is the birthday of Frank Herbert (1920-1986). He was only sixty-five years. We lost him way too soon.
He will always be remembered as the author of Dune and its sequels. Dune, if not the sequels, is one of the must-reads of science fiction. I’ve read it twice and plan to listen to the audiobook later this year or early next year.
But Herbert wrote much more than just the Dune books.
Those works are in danger of fading into obscurity.
There is the Pandora Sequence which starts with Destination Void. (Herbert rewrote this one to update the science.)
There’s Under Pressure. And Whipping Star. The Dosadi Experiment. The Santaroga Barrier.
These are all solid science fiction works. There is also a massive collection of Herbert’s short fiction.
If your only experience with Frank Herbert has been Dune, you’ve missed some good sicence fiction.
What non-Dune works by Herbert have you read?
St. John and Wollheim
Just a quick post to acknowledge two birthdays today (October 1). J. Allen St. John (1872-1957) and Donal A. Wollheim (1914-1990).
I’ll start with Wollheim. A member of the famed Futurians, Wollheim had his greatest impact as an editor, first at Ace Books and later under his own imprint, DAW. Those yellow spined paperbacks were a sure sign of pulpy goodness. Wollheim also edited the Avon Fantasy Reader, which kept the works of many fo the pulp fantasy authors in front of readers, not the least of which was Robert E. Howard.
J. Allen St. John was an artist who didi many of the classic covers for Weird Tales that weren’t done by Margaret Brundage. Some of his more noted covers illustrated tales from Otis Adelbert Kline and Jack Williamson. Here are some samples of his work.
Hiding with Wilmar H. Shiras
Today, September 23, is the birthday of Wilmar H. Shiras (1908-1990). She wasn’t prolific, but what she lacked in quantity, she made up for in quality.
Her first published story was “In Hiding” in the November 1948 issue of Astounding. It concerned a mutant child who was much more intelligent that other children who was trying to hide his abilities.
Two sequels followed. All three stories were incorporated into the novel Children of the Atom. That’s the Science Fiction Book Club edition on the left.
This was the, for lack of a better term, golden age of nuclear mutation stories. The late forties and early fifties saw a number of stories about the harmful effects of nuclear radiation on humanity. Rumor, never confirmed, was that this book was, at least partially, the inspiration for the X-Men.
I read this in high school and could identify with the isolation the main character in “In Hiding” felt. I’m not sure how I would relate to it now. The book’s reputation has faded in the decades since it was written. It was still well known back in the year [REDACTED] when I read it. The world has moved on. Mutatns aren’t one of the things we fear as a culture. At at least they aren’t high on the list.
Have any of you read it?