Today, January 2, is the birthday of Charles Beaumont (1929-1967). Beaumont was one of the writers of the original Twilight Zone. The reason Rod Serling asked Beaumont to write for him can be easily seen in Beaumont’s work.
One of Beaumont’s mentors was Ray Bradbury. Bradbury wrote in the introduction to Best of Beaumont (1982) that he and Beaumont lived in the same part of Los Angeles and used to pass a cemetery that had a sign advertising FREE DIRT. Continue reading
“The Causes”
Margaret St. Clair
First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1952
Currently available in The Hole in the Moon and Other Tales
Margaret St. Clair (1911-1995) was born on this date, February 17. Although she wrote eight novels, she is best remembered for her short stories, both under her own name and the pseudonym Idris Seabright. “The Causes” was one of the Seabright stories, most of which were published in F&SF.
Bar stories and the closely related club stories, which are often some type of tall tale, have a long history in the science fiction and fantasy fields. “The Causes” falls into this subgenre. It’s a fun and clever little story. 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