Two more birthdays, both for writers who are fading into obscurity. But shouldn’t be. James E. Gunn and Donald Westlake.

James Gunn. Photo by Fantascienza

James Gunn (1923-2020) wasn’t the most prolific of authors. That was probably becasue being a university professor took up a lot of his time.

But he contributed a small but significant body of science fiction, both as a writer and an editor. His most well-known work was probably The Listeners. It concerned a SETI-like program, only it was written years before SETI started. A thoughtful work of science fiction, it examines the personal and familial cost of being a dedicated scientist.

Gunn also collaborated with Jack Williamson on Star Bridge. He continued writing until a few years before his death, completing the Transcendental Trilogy in 2017. A career retrospective is long over due. NESFA Press, are you listening?

As an editor, Gunn edited the four volume hsitorical anthology series, The Road to Science Fiction. These books contained some of the most important science fiction published  up until then. The original four were publsihed from 1977 to 1982. In 1998, two additional volumes were added to the series, one focusing on British science fiction and the other on the rest of the world. They are an essential addition to the serious science fiction fan or scholar’s library. Unfortunately, they are long out of print.

I was fortunate to meet James Gunn twice. Once was in the summer of 1991, when the Science Fiction Research Association held its meeting on the campus of the University of North Texas. I got both him and Jack Williamson to sign my copy  of Star Bridge.

The second time I met him was at the 2013 Worldcon. I had to look up the date. It was 2013. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but it was over a decade. He was one of the guests, and there was a private reception in his honor. I was sharing a room with Adrian Simmons, who had an invitation for him and a guest. So I was Adrian’s date. (Thank you, again, Adrian.)

Donald E. Westlake Image by Open Library

The second birthday of significance is that of Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008). Westlake is best remembered as a mystery writer, but he did start out writing for the science fiction digests in the 1950s. Mysterious Press did publish a collection of his science fiction stories. I have a copy of it, It is currently, all together now, “In a box somewhere!”

Westlake was an excellent crime writer, both humorous and serious. Much of his humorous fiction involved the burglar Dortmunder. But Westlake  had a darker side. He wrote under the name Richard Stark, Most of these concerned an amoral criminal named Parker, although some of the titles under this byline feature Parker’s associate Grofeld. There are lots of double crosses and betrayals, and the books tend to have a high  body count.

Both of these men wrote excellent fiction. Hard Case crime has occasionally been reprinting some of Westlake’s books, especially the nonseries ones that ahve been out of print for a while. Gunn is fading from the reading public’s mind. This is a shame, because he mentored a number of writers.