One of the things I try to do on a daily basis is check the Internet Speculative Fiction Data Base to see what birthdays are today.  Most of the names I don’t recognize, and many of the ones I do elicit a “Why the heck are they listed here?” response.  I mean, Toni Morrison?  C’mon, gimme a break.

Eric Frank Russell with Bea Mahaffey

But I also see a lot of names I recognize that most people probably wouldn’t.  I grew reading a lot of the older stuff from the 30s and 40s.  Reprint anthologies were abundant.  DAW’s Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF series was being published in those days, Those, the Del Rey Best of series, and the Robert Silverberg edited anthologies in the school library were where I first became aware of a number of writers such as Ross Rocklynne, Margaret St. Clair, Chan Davis, Harry Bates, Charles L. Harness, Cleve Cartmill, Rog Phillips, Judith Merrill, Malcolm Jameson, Tom Godwin, Miriam Allen de Ford, Eric Frank Russell, and others. Continue reading →