Tag Archives: birthday

Thoughts on Jack Vance

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Today, as I’m writiing this, is August 28. There are several notable birthdays today. Joseph Shridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) wrote some excellent ghost stories. Then there’s comic great Jack Kirby (1917-1994). Science fiction author Vonda N. McIntyre (1948-2019).

The the one I want to focus on is Jack Vance (1916-2013).

Vance was a master of both science fiction and fantasy, and much of his work was a blend of both. He also wrote a few mysteries, which Subterranean Press collected in an omnibus about a decade or so back.

Vance’s crowning achievement was The Dying Earth, a sequence of stories set in the far future, where the sun had become a red giant. The physical laws of the universe have changed, and magic works. Continue reading →

The Versatility of Ray Bradbury

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There were a lot of birthdays yesterday, but I was up late getting things ready for the first day of class today and wasn’t able to get a post up. Fortunately, I don’t have to do that tonight.

And that’s a good thing because today, August 22, is the birthday of Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

I had seen some of Bradbury’s paperbacks in the children’s section of  the public library in Wichita Falls when I was in fourth grade. They were the editions with a sktech of Bradbury in front of a horzontal illustration of something in the book. They were on a spinner rack  with some Twilight Zone collections, James Blish’s Star Trek novelizations, and other books. I remember that was the rack I found Planet of the Apes on.

But I digress. Continue reading →

The Enduring Legacy of H. P. Lovecraft

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Today is August 20 as I write this. It’s H. P. Lovecraft’s birthday. It’s also my mother-in-law’s, but I’m sure that’s just coincidence.

Lovecraft (1890-1937) is a legendary figure in the horror and weird fiction fields. I doubt he needs much  introduction here.

It took me a while to warm up to Lovecraft. His brand of fiction didn’t appeal to me when I was a teenager.

Before you pick up stones to stone me, know that he is now one of my favorites. I’ve not read all of his works, but I’ve read quite a few. And the more I read, the more impressed I am with the fictional universe he created. Continue reading →

Jerry Pournelle

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Today, August 8, is the birthday of Jerry Pournelle (1933-2017). He was one of the people, along with David Drake, who helped make military science fiction popular.

There were others before him, of course, but Pournelle’s anthology series There Shall Be War and War World helped push the genre to higher popularity. His CoDominium series set a high standard, and he was working  on his Janissaries series when he died.

Additionally, he was a frequent collaborator with Larry Niven. Together they wrote such books as Lucifer’s Hammer, The Mote in God’s Eye, and Footfall.

I admit I’ve read very little of Pournelle’s solo work. I read King David’s Spaceship years ago and liked it. Other than a few short stories, most of his work that I’ve read was in collaboration with Larry Niven. I’ve got msot of his books, but I haven’t gotten to them yet.

He was an important figure in the field for many years and deserves to be remembered.

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 →