Today is September 19. It is the birthday of Damon Knight (1922-2002) and Tanith Lee (1947-2015). To my mind, it’s hard to imagine two more different writers. Both were h ighly regarded in their lifetimes. They still cast long shadows over the field of the fantastic, although not for the same reasons.

Damon Knight was a science fiction writer, critic, and editor. His greatest impacts on the field probably weren’t his fiction, although he wrote some classic short stories.

Knight was one of the founders of SFWA (the Sciencde Fiction Writers of America, since renamed the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). That organization still exists, although it retains only a shade of its former glory.

Knight also founded the Milford Writer’s Workshop and Calrion. The number of writers who went through those programs and had major careers must number in the dozens, if not the hundreds. He was also a mentor to a number of writers outside of those formal workshops.

Knight edited a number of anthologies, but as an editor his most well-known achievement was the twenty-one volume original antholgy series Orbit.

Knight was not what you could consider prolific, not compared to other writers of his generation (He was a member of the Futurians, although not a founding member.) I’ve read some of his novels, and I tend to prefer his short fiction. Knight didn’t write stories with a lot fo physical action. His worked was idea oriented.

He wrote two stories that went on to become one of the classic episodes of the original twilight Zone, “To Serve Man”.

Tanith Lee wrote some science fiction, but she built her reputation on fantasy. She was prolific at both short and novel lengths. I’ve not read a great deal of her work, but I’ve liked most of what I’ve read. She is another one of the list of writers I have whose work I want to do a deep dive into.

I’ve got the Flat Earth series, as well as several collections. Her retelling of fairty tales are a good introduction to her work if you haven’t erad any of it.