Category Archives: Uncategorized

Galaxy Science Fiction Is Back

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This was announced a couple of days ago, but I missed it.

Starship Sloane Publishing is reviving Galaxy Science Fiction.

A bit of history. Back in the 1940s, the top science fiction magazine was Astounding Science Fiction, edited by John W. Campbell, Jr., although arguments can be made that Thrilling Wonder Stories and perhaps Startling Stories were more entertaining. Planet Stories was still being published, but other than an occasional story by Leigh Brackett, it wasn’t publishing many stories of note. Amazing Stories was stumbling along, the Shaver Mystery not yet upon us.

All that changed at the end of the decade when two new magazines came on the scene. One was The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which appears to have ceased publication.

The other was Galaxy Science Fiction. Edited by Horce L. Gold, it was as different from Astounding as it was possible to be. Whereas Campbell focused on the science, wanting reigid adherence to known scientific principles as much as possible, Gold stressed soicology over physics, psychology over engineering.

Many of the classic stories by Fredril Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth were published there, as were stories by Robert Sheckley and Phillip K. Dick.

The first issue is free as a PDF download.

Starship Sloane Publishing also relaunched Worlds of If last year.

What Do You Mean, This is a Commercial Site?

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So all of a sudden, I can’t see traffic stats unless I upgrade to a paid subscription. Jetpack has decided this is a commercial site for some reason.

Also, Akismet, the spam blocker, thinks the same thing. At least with them, I have a way to appeal. I’m in the process of doing so.

Sounds like an extortion racket to me.

I have been planning something that will probably involve migrating to another platform later this year or early next year. Certain other ducks have to be in a row first. I may have to accelerate my plans.

Stay tuned.

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 →

Writing Update, January 2024

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Just a quick update on the 2024 Words per Day in 2024. I hit the target and averaged 2031 words per day in January.

So far, that’s a win for the year. I didn’t write anything yesterday because I was on the road, so I’m starting February behind. I’ll catch up.

Writing included blog posts, an article for REHUPA, which I’ll reprint here in a few weeks, and or course, fiction. I’m working on what started out as a short story but is heading into novella territory. I’ve got some otyher fiction I need to finish, as well.

So that’s  how things stand with the writng at the moment.

Onward to February.

RIP, Tom Purdom

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Tom Purdom (1936-2024) has died. He passed away on January 14.

Purdom began writing science fiction in the late 1950s. He took a break from writing in the early 1970s and then returned in the 1990s. His most recent publication was “Exit Contract” in the May 2023 issue of Asimov’s.

Purdom’s name was one of the ones suggested when I asked what writers needed more exposure. I’ve always enjoyed his short fiction, and I intend to read some of it over the next few months. I’ll report on it here.

What’s Up With Our Intrepid Blogger? Why Isn’t He Posting?

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Those are very good questions, questions that deserve answers.

Short answer: I’ve been busy.

Long answer: I’ve been busy with Real Life.

I mentioned a few months ago that my wife was going into the prison system.  Well, –

What’s that? What did she do?

She filled out the application, got an interview, and accepted the offer.

What, you thought she was going in as an inmate? If anyone in the family were going up the river, it would most likely be me. There is someone in a previous generation of my family named Chicken Thief Smith. (Really. I’m not kidding.)

We’re buying some property to keep the land in the family. I’m teaching for the summer to earn a little extra cash. (Very little, as it turns out, but every little bit helps.) Then it’s pack up and move.

Oh, and look for gainful employment so I’m not a burden on society.

In the meantime, most of my writing has been fiction or assignments for some online writing workshops I’ve been taking. Some of the workshops have novels as reading assignments, which we have to analyze for various things, depending on the topic of the workshops. I’m learning a lot, and I hope it shows in the writing.

I’ve got some things I need to publish, as well as a few stories to submit to markets. I’m hoping to have at least two collections and one novella up by the end of the summer. Part of that will involve how to do print books. I’ve gotten requests for some. (Waves at Will Oliver.)

In the meantime, I’m trying to pack (sooo many books, so few boxes), survive the heat (107 degrees yesterday), and look for a job. I’ll try to get a review or other post up from time to time.

Just so you know, I’m not dead and haven’t killed anyone whose body has been found yet. This blog isn’t dead, either, but it looks like it’s on life support. I’ll try to resuscitate it at least a little going forwards.

 

 

A Tribute to James Bama, Pulp Reprint Artist Extraordinaire by John Bullard

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James Bama

I received word from my friend Tony Tollin Sunday night that the artist James Bama passed away in his sleep. I never got a chance to meet him, although when I was going to be up in Wyoming in 2018, Tony offered to put me in contact with him to see if I could meet him in person, but I felt I would be too busy with other things, and mainly, I felt that I would be imposing on him, so I declined.

James Bama was a highly successful commercial artist, painting covers for magazines and paperback books from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. When he decided to retire, he moved to Wyoming and began painting incredible portraits of American West subjects. His style is of the school of photo realism. Continue reading →

A Belated Report on the 2022 Jack Williamson Lectureship

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Things have been crazy this past month, and I’ve been too busy with other projects and/or just wiped out to get this up sooner.

COVID killed the lectureship in 2020. Last year’s was all online. That was better than nothing, but everyone agreed it was less than satisfactory. Fortunately, this year’s event was held in person. It was good to be back in Portales again. I’d attended in 2018 and 2019 and had a fantastic time. Continue reading →