RIP The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction?

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Version 1.0.0

Before I start this post, I want to point out that the title ends in a question mark. It is not intended to be a statement of fact.

But it is a valid question.  The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF) hasn’t had a new issue in over six months.  Questions aren’t being answered. Last year some authors claimed they hadn’t been paid for their stories.
The  question has come up over the last week.

I saw a post from Sean CW Korsgaard on Sunday saying his enjoyment of GenCon had been dampened a little when he saw the news about F&SF and SFWA. (There seems to be some drama going on behind the scenes at SFWA, but I’m not going to address that here. I’m not a member. Not my circus, not my monkeys.)

Sean didn’t elaborate or answer any questions about what was going on. Continue reading →

Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In

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So says Al Pacino in The Godfather III.

I know the feeling, but I’m not complaining.

I’m going to be deliberately vague here and not names names of institutions or individuals. Partly for privacy/security reasons, but also because contracts haven’t been signed yet.

I left academia last year to buy some property from my parents to keep land in the family. That required a move that made staying where I was nonworkable. Since then, I’ve been delivering mail in the morning and bodies in the afternoon. (US Postal Service/funeral home).

A few weeks ago, I got a call from a former graduate school classmate. He’s the program head at a medium sized university not close but not too far from here.

He needed someone to fill a one year visiting faculty position. Would I be interested?

Yes, if I could teach afternoons and evenings and still work at the post office. I didn’t want to give up a permanent job, even a part-time one, for a one year appointment with no guarantee of extension. (The position could possibly be extended or converted to a permanent position, but he couldn’t guarantee it.)

I was a little surprised when he agreed to those terms. He fixed the schedule where I would have time to drive from the post office (It’s not in the town where I live) and still have plenty of time if I had to stay late at the post office.

I got an letter of offer today. Transcripts are in limbo. They have supposedly been sent, but they are most likely at HR. The department hasn’t gotten them yet.

Class start on August 22. I’m not sure what that will do to the writing. I’ll address those issues in a later post.

Simak’s Robots: An Alternative to Asimov

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Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988) was born on this date, August 3. He is one of my favorite writers. I was planning on reading one of his stories, but I’ve been busy with other things. So I’m going to offer some reflections on one of the things he wrote about a lot.

Robots.

Robots are a trope that was once almost ubiquitous in science fiction. You don’t see them much anymore. At least I haven’t seen any new stories about them. To be fair, though, I’ve not read much science fiction in the last few years. I’ve mostly been reading mysteries and thrillers.

Anyone who has read robot stories (I’m thinking primarily short fiction here), please drop a line in the comments. Continue reading →

F. Marion Crawford and “The Upper Berth”

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August 2, today as I’m writing this, is the birthday of F. Marion Crawford (1854-1909).

Crawford wrote a number of stories about the supernatural, but he his brest remembered for two that have become classics, “For the Blood is the Life” and “The Upper Berth”.

Although an American, Crawford lived most of his life in Italy. He began his career as a novelist. Of his novels, the only one I’m aware of that has fantasatic elements is Khalid, which was reprinted in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.

I took a look at “For the Blood is the Life” a few years ago. Today, I’ll look at “The Upper Berth”. M. R. James considered it one of the best ghost stories and defnitely Crawford’s best tale.  Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Farnsworth

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Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940) was born on this date, July 29.

He was the editor of Weird Tales during what is regarded as the best years of the magazine. He was the greatest fantasy editor of the first half of the Twentieth Century, if not the whole century. The only other editor who even came close was John W. Campbell, Jr., who was the editor of Unknown/Unknown Worlds. And  as a general rule, Campbell didn’t publish the same type of fantasy as Wright.

One can argue that Dorothy McIlwraith, who tooks Farnsworth Wright’s place at the helm of Weird Tales was a more significant editor than Campbell. But that’s an argument for another post. Continue reading →

Remembering Scudamore Jarvis

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Scudamore Jarvis (1879-1953) was born today, July 20.

And no, I’m not making this up. If I were going to do something like that, I would pick a more conventional name, such as, say, Carolynn Catherine O’Shea or something along those lines. With a name like that, I couldn’t pass up writing a post about him.

Claude Scudamore Jarvis was a member of the British colonial governor in the Middle East. He wrote a number of works of naturual history, history, and farming. As far as I know, “The Tomtom Clue” was his only work of fiction. This story was cowritten with Cecil Morgan. I haven’t been able to find out anything about him. Continue reading →