Tag Archives: birthday

Eddison

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Today, November 24, marks the birth of Eric Rucker Eddison (1882-1945). E. R. Eddison was one of the giants of the fantasy field in the early 20th Century and enjoyed a brief resurgence in the 1960’s and 70’s when Ballantine reprinted four of his novels, The Worm Ouroboros and the Zimiamvia Trilogy, consisting of Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and The Mezentian Gate. These books are not light reading.Eddison’s style is suited to contemporary tastes. I’ve only read Worm, and that was in my undergraduate days (or high school. I forget.) I liked it and would read it again, as well as the others, if I can get a large block of time.

Bond and Tucker

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Today, November 23, marks the birth of two writers whose work I have enjoyed and intend to read more.

First is Nelson S. Bond (1908-2006). Bond wrote mostly short fiction in the 1940s and 1950s, although he had a few novels serialized. Arkham House published several collections of his work in the mid-2000s. He is best remembered for the Lancelot Biggs, Spaceman series.

The other is Wilson Tucker (1914-2006). Tucker wrote both novels and short fiction. His best known novel was The Year of the Quiet Sun. He wrote a short story about a man on death row who claimed he would escape by walking through the wall. I loved the twist on the end of that one.

Both of these men wrote entertaining science fiction and fantasy and deserve to be rediscovered.

“The Roll-Call of the Reef”

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Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

Today, November 21, is the birthday of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944). Quiller-Couch wrote ghost stories. The last time a collection of his was in print was when Ash-Tree Press published The Horror on the Stair and Other Weird Tales. That was back in 2000. I’m somewhat surprised that some other publisher hasn’t come out with a collection since. “The Roll-Call of the Reef” is currently available in The Third Ghost Story Megapack.

Tonight’s selection is a nice little tale about a friendship between the trumpeter of a cavalry unit and the drummer boy from the British marines. They were the only survivors of their respective ships, both wrecked on the same night. The trumpeter is unable to return to his duties because of his injuries. The drummer boy recovers and goes back to the service. But not before they become the best of friends who play their instruments together whenever they can.

The drummer boy isn’t heard from for a few years. When he does return, he’s now a young man. He and the trumpeter have one final duty to perform.

I’ll not say anymore about the ending except to say I rather liked it. The roll-call aspect was a nice way to handle things, I thought.

Ghost stories at Christmas aren’t really an American tradition (yes, I know it’s not Thanksgiving yet), but I’m going to try to read more through the rest of the year. I have a collection that has an E. F. Benson story in it that hadn’t been reprinted since its original publication.

A Birthday Post and a Sneak Peak at Coming Attractions

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Today, November 19, marks the birth of Mary Elizabeth Counselman (1911-1995). She died on November 13, six days shy of her 84th birthday. She wrote short fiction with much of her early stories appearing in Weird Tales. “The Three Marked Pennies” is probably her best known story.

I haven’t had time to read any of her work today, but I have two books sitting on my shelf from Valancourt Press that are on the docket for the holidays. Monster, She Wrote is a nonfiction book full of brief biographies of women who wrote horror and science fiction. It has launched a series of collections under that title, the second of which is The Women of Weird Tales. Several of Ms. Counselman’s stories are included.

I wrote a post a few years ago about women in the early days of the fantasy and science fiction fields, so the reviews of these books will act as followups to that one.

Benson and Foster

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Yes, this is a new post. No, I’m not dead. I’ve just been very busy trying to wrap up parts of this semester from Hell before Thanksgiving and participate in NaNoWriMo. There hasn’t been much time for blogging or reading.

I do want to make note of two birthdays. The first is Robert Hugh (R. H. ) Benson (1870-1914). While not as prolific as his better-known brother E. F. Benson, Robert did write a few ghost stories and a couple of novels. Sadly, most of these aren’t available in electronic editions or at least reasonably priced electronic editions.

The other birthday is Alan Dean Foster (b. 1946). I was introduced to his works through Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. I soon was reading his original novels such as The Tar-Aiym Krang, Icerigger, Orphan Star, and The End of the Matter. His Humanx Commonwealth remains one of my favorite futures.

I’ve not had a chance to read anything by either of these gentlemen, but I did want to acknowledge their birthdays.

A Pair by Hamilton

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Today, October 21, is the birthday of Edmond Hamilton (1904-1977).  He’s a favorite around these here parts. In observance of his birthday, I’m going to look at two stories from What’s It Like Out There?. I snagged a copy in great condition for a song last weekend, so this was the book I went to. This is a break from my usual practice of reviewing stories that are easily available. Copies of What’s It Like Out There? aren’t too hard to come by, though.

The back cover copy of What’s It Like Out There? says this is a collection of Hamilton’s best stories. The publication date is 1974, and the publisher was Ace, so this collection predates the Ballantine collection The Best of Edmond Hamilton by roughly three years.  It’s interesting to note that What’s It Like Out There? has a dozen stories from the 1940s and 1950s, with one story from the early 60s, with the majority from the 40s. The Best of Edmond Hamilton has 21, from the 1920s to the late 60s. The title story of the Ace collection, “What’s It Like Out There?”, is the only duplication between them.

Hamilton is best remembered as a science fiction writer, but he wrote his share of fantasy and weird tales. In fact both of the stories we’ll look at are from Weird Tales. Neither are major works, but they are both entertaining. Continue reading →

R. H. Malden’s “The Dining-Room Fireplace”

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Today, October 19, marks the birth of R. H. Malden (1879-1951). Malden was a friend of M. R. James. He only published one collection of stories, Nine Ghosts, in 1943, but it was a popular seller, even with World War II raging.

Tonight’s story is a little chiller about a group who rent an old Irish house. The owner is an officer in the army who is single.

The sitting room, dining room, and billiard room compose the rooms on the south side of the house. Portraits of family members going back a couple of centuries line the walls. In the dining room there is one picture over the fireplace that isn’t of a family member.  It’s a menacing picture showing a man astride a chair with his back to the viewer and facing the fireplace. He’s turning to look over his shoulder, but it looks like his neck is twisted more that is should be.  The man’s neck doesn’t appear to be broken because in the painting, he’s very much alive.

There are dark family secrets, strange winds coming from and blowing into the fireplace, a mysterious figure in a dream, and a secret society that came to a bad end in some way.

If that sounds like a lot, it is, although when I read the story, it didn’t seem that way. Malden did an excellent job with his tale, and I found reading it to be an entirely satisfying experience. I’ll be reading the rest of this book.

Remembering Dorothy McIlwraith

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Dorothy McIlwraith

Dorothy McIlwraith (1891-1976) was born on this date, October 14. She was the editor of Weird Tales from 1940-1954, when the publication died its first “death”.

Most fans of the Unique Magazine don’t consider her tenure at the editorial helm to be as good as that of Farnsworth Wright. I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison. By the time Ms. McIlwraith took her position, the greatest three writers were gone: Howard and Lovecraft were dead, and Clark Ashton Smith had pretty much stopped writing fiction. Other writers from the 20’s and 30’s had also passed on, such as Henry S. Whitehead.

But other regulars continued to publish there, such as Seabury Quinn and Carl Jacobi. And look at some of the names that graced the covers and tables of contents in those years. Ray Bradbury. Manly Wade Wellman. Robert Bloch. August Derleth. Theodore Sturgeon. Plus Lee Brown Coye illustrated many of those issues.

Of course the tone and contents of the magazine changed with the passing of the Big Three, but things were changing anyway. That can be seen in the other pulps as well. I, for one, like what McIlwraith published in the magazine. Bradbury’s stories from Weird Tales were some of the first dark fantasy and horror that I read as a kid. There’s a lot noise these days about how women weren’t welcomed in the fields of the fantastic before [insert current Year Zero here].

As I’ve stated elsewhere in more than one place (such as here and here),  there were women in the field in the early days, and they and their achievements need to be remembered.

Wandering with Melmoth

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Today, September 25, is the birthday of Charles Maturin (1782-1824). Maturin was the author of Melmoth the Wanderer. Karl Edward Wagner was influenced by the book when creating his character of Kane.

Published in 1820, Melmoth isn’t light reading but can be rewarding if the reader is diligent. The structure of the book is one of nested stories, or flashbacks within flashbacks. The book opens with John Melmoth being summoned to his dying uncle’s bedside. There he learns of a mysterious figure named Melmoth the Wanderer.  The Melmoth of the title sold his soul to the devil for an extra 150 years of life. His time is about up.

There are several spooky passages, such as early in the book when John Melmoth is waiting for his uncle to die and the Wanderer opens the door, looks into the room, and then shuts the door. No one but John sees him. Or the wedding officiated by an undead priest towards the end.

The flashback within flashback structure can be a bit hard to follow at times. Another feature that might make this challenging to modern readers is that in a modern novel a new paragraph starts if the character speaking changes. Not so in Melmoth. The paragraphs run long and can contain several changes of speaker without any breaks or indentations

All of which is to say, don’t read this book at bedtime or when you’re not alert. Not that it isn’t worth reading. It is. It’s just not going to be a quick, light read that you can daydream your way through. Melmoth the Wanderer is one of the important novels in the development of the Gothic. I enjoyed it. It won’t be for everyone, but if you like Gothics, give it a try.