Monthly Archives: November 2024

Black Friday: Two by Fritz Leiber

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I’ve been in the habit for the last few years of doing a post of Black Friday featuring stories with the word “black” in the title. This year, I’m looking at two stories by Fritz leiber in The Black Gondolier and Other Stories.

This collection was first published by Midnight House in 2000. An electroinc version was realeased in 2014.

The title novelette is, in my opinion, a bit long. Leiber spends much of the first half of the story giving a detailed description of Venice, Californiz and the Los Angeles area at the time the story was written. It first appeared in the Arkham House anthology Over the Edge in 1964.

Leiber does a good job of establishing the setting, to the point that the setting is almost a character. The environmental movement was jsut getting going at this time, and that’s reflected in the details. Continue reading →

Ruminations on L. Sprague de Camp

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Today, as  I’m writing this, is November 7, the birthday of L. Sprague de Camp (1907-2000).. As I mentioned in the post on Poul Anderson two days ago, de Camp was one of the writers from the pulp era who was equally adept at both science fiction and fantasy.

One of the favorite things among Howard fans is to discuss, if that isn’t too light a word, his impact on Robert E. Howard’s legacy. That isn’t going to be the point of this post.

Rather, I want to comment on his own fiction. L. Sprague de Camp was a prolific writer at both novel and short story lengths. He started out in the pulps, so much of his early fiction was of shorster lengths. Near the end of his career, most of his fiction was in the form of novels. The market had changed. Continue reading →

From Poul to Pohl

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Yesterday was Poul Anderson’s birthday. Today (November 26) is Frederik Pohl’s. Unlike Anderson, Pohl (1919-2013) wrote science fiction pretty much exclusively.

Pohl was a little older than Anderson, so he began writing for the pulps before World War II. He started out writing for the lower-end pulps and went on to become editor of two pulps, Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories in 1940 and 1941, The war put an end to that.

Pohl was a member of the fabled Futurians. He was involved in some of the more famous (or infamous, if you prefer) fan fueds of the time. That topic deserves its own post. Continue reading →

Poul Anderson, Master of Science Fiction, Master of Fantasy

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Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was born on this day, November 25.

I ahven’t had time to read anything to review for his birthday, and I was wondering what to write about that I haven’t said before in a previous birthday post.

Anderson was a master of both science fiction and fantasy. Sometimes blending the two genres together.

Aanderson first began seeing his work in print in the late nineteen forties. He lived in the same rooming house as Gordon R. Dickson while they were in college. (And he collaborated with Dickson on the Hoka stories later.)

Anderson came in at the end of the pulp era. Witihin a decade, the pulps would be gone, replaced by the digests and paperbacks. And that got me thinking. Continue reading →

E. R. Eddison

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Today is November 24, and that marks the birth of Edward Rucker Eddison (1882-1945).

E. R. Eddison wrote only six novels. The Worm Ouroborous (1922), Styrbiorn the Strong (1926)  Egil’s Saga (1930), and The Zimianvian Trilogy, consisting of Mistress of Mistresses (1935). A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941), and The Mezentian Gate (1958). The trilogy shares a setting with Worm, if my understanding is correct.

I’ve only read The Worm Ouroborous. That was back in my undergraduate days. I enjoyed it and hope to reread it and the trilogy at some point. It’s not light reading. Eddison came from a more, shall we say, verbose period in literature.

But he also wrote fantasy before the current tropes had been well established, which gives his work a different feel and tone. That’s a good thing.

This type of thing isn’t for everyone. But if you like older styles and things being strangely different yet familiar, then Eddison might be someone whose work you might want to sample.

Be advised, these aren’t short books, which is why I haven’t read them yet.

 

William Hope Hodgson

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Today, November 15, is the birthday of William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918). Hodgson isn’t as well remembered today as he should be, but he isn’t forgotten, either.

Hodgson is best remembered for his tales of Carnacki the Ghost Finder and the novels The Night Land and The House on the Borderland.

He wrote a number of short stories, many of them with nautical themes.

Night Sahde Books did a five volume set of his collected fiction in the early 2000’s. Copies go for a pretty penny these days.

Hodgson came from a time when short fiction markets were much more abundant than they are today. Lately I’ve been finding myself drawn to works from that period. Not that I’ve had a lot of  time for reading or writing (Note to self: October Writing report). But the thought of sitting back for a few hours and reading well-written short fiction has been very appealing.

Anyway, if you’re so inclined, raise a glass to Hodgson’s memory tonight, and if you have the time, read something by him.

 

Ben Bova

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Ben Bova image courtesy ISFDB

I don’t normally do two separate birthday posts on  one day, but Bram Stoker and Ben Bova (1932-2020) were such different writers that I didn’t want to mix them.

Bova was a hard science practitioner. I read a juvenile version of The Winds of Altair in fifth or six grade.  Bova had the unenviable job of editing Analog after the death of John W. Campbell, Jr. He succeeded.

He also went on to become the editorial director of Omni if my memory isn’t failing me.

Bova’s greatest achievement, though, is probably The Grand Tour. This is a series of novels that takes place (mostly) within the solar system, with novels focusing on single planets. There were also other books that didn’t  focus on a single planet. The Asteroid Wars was a set of four books in this universe.

Version 1.0.0

He was working on a trilogy set in that unvierse called  the Outer Planets Trilogy. Uranus was publsihed before he died. Neptune was released after his death. The third volume concerns Pluto. Bova’s website, which has been maiintained after his death, has announced that Les Johonson has completed the novel.

Other series include Orion, Sam Gunn, Kinsmen, Voyagers, and Exiles.

Bova wrote short fiction all his life. He never left it to solely focus on novels the way some authors do. Baen published a three volume Best of Bova collection that is still available.

There aren’t many writers of pure science fiction, especially near future, solar system oriented science fiction writing anymore. At least, I’m not aware of many. Fortunately, Bova left a large body of work.

Bram Stoker

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One of the people who has cast the longest shadow over the genre of the dark fantastic is Bram Stoker (1847-1912). Today, November 8, is his birthday. He wrote this novel about a vampire, see, and it made a big splash. He also wrote soem short fiction and a handful of other novels.

But it’s Dracula he’s known for. Dracula the character has become such a cornerstone of popular culture that if Stoker had never written anything else, he wouls still be remembered. Writers of vampire lore are to Dracula what epic fantasy writers are to The Lord of the Rings. They tend to imiitate or be as different as possible.

It’s hard to overstate the impact Dracula has had on popular culture. I’m not even going to try and find out how many movies have been made where he is either  the central character or one of the other major players. And let’s not even get into comics or books.

It’s getting later in the year. The nights are coming sooner. The leaves are falling. Perhaps that’s them making the scittering sound as they blow along the sidewalk.

Or maybe not.

Perhaps its something else.

If you hear a tapping on  the window pane, feel free to check it out. It might only be that branch you forgot to trim the last time you did yard work.

Or it could be someone wanting in.

It if is, don’t open the window.

 

R. A. Lafferty

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Among the short fiction writers of the Twentieth Century, there were  few like R. A. Lafferty (1914-2002). He was born on this day, November 7. Centipede Press has been reprinting his collected short fiction. It’s been a while since I read his work, so there aren’t any stories that come to mind.

I read his Hugo Award winning novel Past Master when I was in (I think) the ninth grade. I enjoyed it at the time. I’m not sure I was old enough for it. Not that it had anything that would be considered adult content. It didn’t. But it concerns Thomas Moore, about whom I knew little. I would probably have a different opinion of the book today because I would understand a lot of the subtext that I missed as a teenager.

Like Avram Davidson and to a lesser degree Robert Sheckley, his reputation rests on his short fiction. He had a unique vision. I’m hoping I can take some time when the semester is over and do some reading. Lafferty will be on the list.