Monthly Archives: April 2024

Writing Update

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First, the good news. I think I mentioned this in a previous post but was vague because at the time I hadn’t signed the contract. But that has happened, so I feel free to announce that I have placed a story at Pulphouse fiction magazine. It will be the first story in next motth’s issue. It’s a little different from what I usually write. I’d like to thank editor Dean Wesley Smith for publishing it.

I’ve seen a cover mockup, but since it was prelimnary, I’ll not post it. I’ll post the cover and a link to the issue when it goes on sale.

As for the 2024 words a day in 2024, March started out strong. Then my son came home on Spring Break for a few days. I spent time with him rather than write. The last week of the month, I was on the road a bit and didn’t manage to get caught up. I finished the month with an average of 1,798 words per day. I’m in this challenge for a year, so I’ve got some time to catch up on that average. April has been more on the road than not, so I’m pretty far behind as I write these words.

There is still twenty days to go in the month, so I’ve got time to catch up. Fortunately, blog posts count for the challenge.

Other Blogs

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So when I put the link in for the review of “Nightfall” in the previous post, I realized the review wasn’t on this blog. It was over at Futures Past and Present, my sciencde fiction blog.  That got me thinking, especially since I saw there had been a couple of comments awaiting approval. For months.

At one time I was writing four blogs. This one, which focused on fantasy and pulp and was the main blog, Futures Past and Present, which focused on science fiction, Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams, my mystery and crime blog. Then there was Dispatches From the Lone Star Front. The subject of that one was Texas history and culture.

That last one went dormant at the end of 2016. It was intended to be a more scholarly blog, requiring research beyond what a book blog would. I just didn’t have the time for it with a son entering high school.

The other two went dormant during COVID. My original intentions, now part of the Second Circle Bypass in Hell, was to post on each one at least once a month. Time contraints at the time made keeping three blogs going impractical. As long-time readers know, I didn’t do much with this blog the last couple of years.

But now my circumstances have changed. (Boy, have they ever). I’ve been reading a lot more mystery and thrillers. I’ve probably read more in those genres in the last few years than I have in fantasy.

When I revilatized this blog, I thought at the time that I would include science fiction in this one. And I have to a great extent if you consider the birthday posts.

So after I looked at Futures earlier today, I got to wondering, should I revive them. I feel bad that I didn’t check Futures more often and those comments went unapproved for so long.

Your thoughts: Should I try to bring back one or more of the other blogs, or should I just make this one more widespread?

Solar Eclipse 2024

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I was on the road yesterday, or I would have had this post up already. I’m going to post several short posts today and maybe tomorrow to address a few things. I usually don’t do more than one post per day, but most of these topics aren’t really related.

This first post will be about the eclipse. I’ll tie it into my thoughts on a piece fo fiction. Continue reading →

Kuttner

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Henry Kuttner (1915-1958) was born today, May 5. He’s been my favorite science fcition and fantasy writer ever since I read “Mimsy were the Borogoves” in The Best of Henry Kuttner the summer before I started high high school.

I was going to read and review Lands of the Earthquake (thanks for sending me a copy, Deuce), but I’ve been on the road with one of the dayjobs most of the past week. It took me all week to read “The Brood of Bubastis” for the Robert Bloch post, and I was falling asleep over the keyboard as I wrote it. So, obviously, I didn’t get to it. I’ll try to read it and post something in the next few months. Continue reading →

Brooding with Bubastis

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For Robert Bloch’s birthday, I’m going to spend a few minutes looking at one of his early short stories, “The Brood of Bubastis”. It was published in the March 1937 issue of Weird Tales. It’s one of Bloch’s early Lovecraftian telas. That’s the cover to the right. Another amazing Margaret Brundage cover.

Bloch was born on April 5, 1917 and passed away in 1994. We was a prolific author in the horror, fantasy, mystery, and science fiction fields.

“The Brood of Bubastis” is your typical Lovecraft plot, although it’s better executed than most. Here’s the setup. Continue reading →

Weinbaum

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One of the brightest stars of the pre-Campbell pulp era was Stanley G. Weinbaum (1902-1935). His aliens were truly alien, and his stories often had a sense of whimsey to them that is missing in much of today’s fiction. He helped to break the mold of stories that were gadget stories with cardboard characters.

In other words, reading him was fun.

He could be serious. “Pygmalion’s Spactacles” comes to mind as an example. He was just beginning to stretc h himself as a writer when he died of cancer. Much of what he was writing at the end of his career was romance.

Weinbaum’s style is a little dated now, but his work is still enjoyable.

Remembering Carolynn Catherine O’Shea

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Carolynn Catherine O’Shea

One of the themes of the blog this year has been bringing attention to writers who have faded into obscurity and whose work has been forgotten. No other writer fits this description more than Carolynn Catherine O’Shea. Even many of the most knowledgeable pulp scholars know little about her. When I asked Mark Finn for information while researching this article, he told me he had never heard of her. That was when I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Lynn, as she preferred to be called, knew (and in some cases worked with) many of the major writers of the pulp era, and was an accomplished author herself. This was before she became a screenwriter in Hollywood. Blacklisted in the early 1950s, she turned to writng crime novels under a variety of male psuedonyms. Later in her life, she took bit parts in movies and television shows before withdrawing completely.

Unfortunately, hard facts about her life and writing are scarce and are mixed with a great deal of conjecture. I’ll try to separate the reality from the myths in this post. I’ll start with the facts I’ve been able to verify and then deal with the conjecture. I’ll list all my sources at the end of the post. Continue reading →