Tag Archives: Eric Frank Russell

Bea Mahaffey at 98

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Eric Frank Russell and Bea Mahaffey. Photo by Norman Shorrock.

Bea Mahaffey was born on August 24, 1926.  She passes away in 1987.  Ms. Mahaffey was active in early fandom and was an assistant editor for Ray Palmer after he left Amazing Stories to from Clark Publications.

I realize it may come as a shock to some people that there were female editors in the early 50s.   They seem to think women didn’t become involved in science fiction and fantasy and smash The Patriarchy until [insert arbitrary recent date here].  I spoke to that issue in this post. Not that it did a lot of good.  Some people just don’t listen.  Not regular readers of this blog, of course.  They’re on top of things.

Mahaffey worked with Palmer on Other Worlds, where she is credited as being the person who actually purchased Eric Frank Russell’s classic story “Dear Devil”.  If she had done nothing else in the field, she should be remembered for this.  Mahaffey is also credited as being co-editor with Palmer on Science Stories, Universe Science Fiction, and Mystic Magazine.  Financial considerations forced Palmer to end her employment in 1956.

Bea Mahaffey was quite popular with the male fans of the day.  Legend has it that both male and female attendance at fan gatherings increased when she was there.  The men attended to keep an eye on Bea, and their wives attended to keep an eye on them.  That may or may not be true, but I’m inclined to think it is to at least some extent.  Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg got in trouble a few years ago when they wrote favorably about Bea Mahaffey’s looks in the SFWA Bulletin.  Personally, I think beauty and achievement should be recognized.

In conclusion, Bea Mahaffey had a impact on the field of the fantastic.

An Ode to the Ballantine Best of Series and Why We Need it More Than Ever

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The original Star Wars came out when I was in elementary school, and it was a mind-warping experience.  I had come to science fiction and fantasy through comics, but it was the sense of wonder and excitement this movie generated that turned me from reading mystery books to reading science fiction books checked out from the school library.  As I read above grade level, I was soon searching out science fiction in the adult section of the public library and in book stores.  Like a second hand book store at the flea market.

This place sold second hand paperbacks for a quarter, IIRC.  The covers were stripped, which meant the books had been reported to the publishers as having been been pulped and the covers returned for credit.  In other words, they were technically stolen.  I didn’t know that then.  There were a number of titles I recognized, such as some H. P, Lovecraft.  I picked up The Best of Jack Williamson there, and later The Best of L. Sprague de Camp.

The Williamson volume started with stories from the 30s and went up to the 70s.  There was an introduction by Frederik Pohl and an afterward by Williamson.  This was the pattern of the series.  An introduction by an author or editor associated with the writer of the book, and if the author was still living (most were but not all) he or she contributed an afterward.  My mind was blown.  David Hartwell once said the golden age of science fiction is thirteen.  I was, and it was. Continue reading →

Kuttner Unkollected

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9630457No, that’s not a typo, it’s a deliberate misspelling.  It’s a weisenheimer attempt at alliteration.

About a decade ago, give or take a year, I had a little extra money from summer teaching.  So did I save the money or invest it wisely?  No, I didn’t.  I decided to try and obtain as many copies of Henry Kuttner stories that had never been reprinted at that time that I didn’t have, along with a few other unreprinted stories by people such as Eric Frank Russell.  Except for some copies of Weird Tales which were out of my price range, I managed to get most everything I didn’t have copies of.  Haffner Press has reprinted the Weird Tales material.  When pursuing a project like this, eBay is not your bank account’s friend an invaluable tool.   Continue reading →