The Clients of Virginia Kidd

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When Megan and I started dating, I made the trip from Vermont to Pennsylvania. It's around eight hours, covering four states. On one such trip, I decided I really didn't want to endure New Jersey, and took an early exit off of I-87 toward the alluring sign 'Delaware Water Gap'. It didn't take me much longer to cut through the two-lane road, perfect for driving a Mini Cooper on, and it took me through a quiet, quaint looking town of Milford. Since Megan and I have married, we make the trip frequently, crossing through Milford a couple of times a year. I like the town, even though I've never stopped.

While writing this column, I've come across the name 'Milford Method' a number of times, but it wasn't until I started reading up on Virginia Kidd that I realized that the Milford that I'd been reading about was the very same quiet town that I'd been driving through for the last five years! Milford, PA, sitting right on the intersection of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, became a hub of activity for the science fiction world for decades, and is still home to the Virginia Kidd Literary Agency.

Virginia Kidd isn't necessarily a recognizable name to anyone from outside of the genre's walls: she worked behind the scenes, and appears between a number of pivotal figures within the genre. While authors get most of the credit, it's important to see the influence of major editors and agents can play in shaping the direction of the arts world.

Go read The Clients of Agent Virginia Kidd over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Transformations / Gateways to Forever, Mike Ashley. Kidd pops up briefly here and there in Ashley's books, mainly around her short fiction.
  • The Futurians, Damon Knight. This book contains a wealth of information about Kidd on her life and influence within the Futurians group, and after.
  • Science Fiction after 1900: From the Steam Man to the Stars, Brooks Landon. This book has a good couple of notes on Kidd and her anthology, especially with how it fits into the feminist movements during the 1970s.
  • Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, by Judith Merril and Emily Pohl-Weary. Merril was close friends with Kidd, and there's some great letters and background information on their interactions.

There's a number of online sources that I found helpful:

Also, many thanks to Ursula K. LeGuin for answering some questions for me about Virginia.

The Big Ideas of James Blish

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The first Blish story I read was Surface Tension in Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthology. While there's certainly some issues with the anthology, it's a solid collection of short fiction. Blish isn't an author I've read extensively, but I remember him popping up frequently in the various anthologies I read over the years.

We're getting to a transitional phase in the history of SF following the 'Golden Age' period smack-dab in the middle of the century. Now, we're starting to get into the early 1960s and beyond, which will have some interesting things happen.

Go read The Big Ideas of James Blish over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources

  • Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss. Aldiss has some good things to say about Blish and his influence
  • The Scribner Writer's Series: Science Fiction Writers, 2nd Edition, edited by Richard Bleiler. John Clute has a great section on Blish's works and career, particularly about his Cities in Flight and A Case of Conscience stories.
  • Age of Wonders: Exploring The World of Science Fiction, David G. Hartwell. Hartwell mentions Blish a couple of times, with some good points about the political undertones to his stories.
  • The Futurians: The Story of the Great Science Fiction "Family" of the 30's That Produced Today's Top SF Writers and Editors, Damon Knight. Blish shows up quite a bit in Knight's book (they were fairly close friends), and there's some good information about his career.
  • Better To Have Loved, The Life of Judith Merrill, by Judith Merrill and Emily Pohl-Weary. Merrill and Blish didn't get along, to say the least, and there's a couple of good points about Blish's politics.
  • The Way the Future Was: A Memoir, Frederik Pohl. Pohl bought Blish's first story, and has some good rememberences in his memoir.
  • American Science Fiction: Five Classic Novels, 1956-1958, edited by Gary K. Wolfe. I love the Library of America books. They're beautiful to physically behold, and they include some great little biographical thumbnails that are great as starting points for this column.

Arthur C. Clarke, Proselytizer Of Space

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There were two authors I read extensively when I first started reading science fiction. The first was Isaac Asimov, because, well. Robots. Foundation. Reasons. The other was Arthur C. Clarke. The first story I really remember reading from him came from a thick anthology cultivated by Asimov, with one fantastic story by Clarke in it: Who's There? I then ran through a bunch of his books: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, 2061 and 3001 are the ones I checked out over and over again. Later, I dug into Rama and even later, Childhood's End.

A while ago, I had some grand idea of doing a parallel column for another website on the history of SF film, but quickly found that I didn't have the time or background to really get into it. I started writing an inaugural piece on - you guessed it - 2001: A Space Odyssey, before quickly realizing that I was really writing a column about the book.

There's a lot out on Clarke, more than most of the authors I typically write about. As a result, this column's quite a bit longer than what I usually put together.

There's a lot of tie-in novels out there, from all the major franchises, but typically, the books come as a result of the film, or there's a film based on the book. Far less common is when the book and film are created simultaneously, as is the case with Clarke's book. It's not his best work, but it's probably his most visible.

Go read Arthur C. Clarke, Proselytizer Of Space over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

Billion / Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss. Aldiss comes out of the British scene, and has some interesting and good notes on Clarke's works, although not as much on 2001 specifically. Science Fiction Writers: Second Edition, Richard Bleiler. This book has a good section on Clarke and his life, which works as a good thumbnail for his life and where everything fits. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke. I have two editions of this book: a special release from 2001, and an original Signet Paperback from 1968. The latter has a good forward with some helpful details. The former is also neat, and it's helpful to hold something one's writing about in one's hands. Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Biography, Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke wrote a short autobiography of his time at Astounding, which helped with some of his earlier moments as a writer. This is pretty limited, only going up to the 1950s, but it's a neat look at Astounding. The Lost Worlds of 2001, Arthur C. Clarke. Not merely content to write a book to have a movie based on it, Clarke also did a book on how the movie came about. This has some particularly good details on the writing process, repent with dates and neat details. (Asimov's 3 Laws in the movie? Think of how it could have changed!) Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future, Robert Crossley. Stapledon was a major influence on Clarke's works, and this book recounts his encounter with Clarke, who invited him to a BIS meeting. Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography, Neil McAleer. This book is a very good biography. Detailed and interesting, it provides a great amount of detail into how Clarke and Kubrick came up with the story. History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts. Clarke makes an appropriate appearance here, and Roberts has a good discussion of his works.

The Fantastic Foresight of Katherine MacLean

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Over the last year, I've been trying to write more about the women who wrote SF throughout its history. We've seen a bunch: Francis Stevens, Margaret St. Clair, Judith Merrill, Leigh Brackett, C.L. Moore, and Mary Shelley. While fewer in number than their male counterparts, they were all pretty influential. Recently, there's been quite a bit of talk over the role of women who write genre fiction, and a common argument that women simply don't write hard science fiction. Katherine MacLean counters this argument, adapting well to the world of magazine fiction from the 1950s through about the 1980s. For me, it was an introduction to a new author whom I have never come across before, and it was a delight to read up on some stories that really should be read more widely. 

Also, go wish her a happy birthday - she turns 89 today.

Go read The Fantastic Foresight of Katherine MacLean over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources

  • Science Fiction Writers, 2nd Edition, edited by Richard Bleiler. Part of the Scribner Writers series, this volume has an excellent section on Katherine MacLean's life and works.
  • Interview, Katherine MacLean. Katherine is the first subject which I've directly interviewed for this, and she provided quite a bit of detail for this piece.
  • The Diploids and Other Flights of Fancy, Katherine MacLean. This is an excellent collection of 8 short stories - in particular, read Incommunicado.
  • An Interview with Katherine MacLean, Darrell Schweitzer. This interview appeared in the New York Review of Science Fiction's July 2013 issue, and it's an excellent, in depth chat about her life and works, conducted at the 2012 ReaderCon in Burlington MA. It's worth a read.

 

 

Hugo Nominations Period

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The nominations period for the Hugo Awards are now open! This year's World Science Fiction convention will be held in London. Nominations are open through March 31st.

If anyone's so inclined to nominate my column for Kirkus Reviews, you're welcome to do so - the posts can be considered for Best Related Work. I'm very proud of the work I did this year, covering an interesting range of science fiction, fantasy and horror authors. For reference, here's the segment of columns eligible this year:

In the meantime, there's a couple of books that I really want to recommend for Best Novel:

  • Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie: I'm confident that this one will end up on the final ballot, and I really hope that it wins. It's a stunning book, my favorite of the year.
  • The Violent Century, Lavie Tidhar: Tidhar's latest is another stunning novel, one that's an excellent story in and of itself, but also a fantastic, critical look at our own culture.
  • The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes: Beukes novel is a great, engaging read. Great characters, wonderful time travel narrative.
  • NOS4A2, Joe Hill: Hill's latest reminds me of Beukes in a lot of ways. This one is masterfully written.
  • Love Minus Eighty, Will McIntosh: I'm a huge fan of McIntosh's books, and this is certainly an interesting and emotional take on technology.
  • Abaddon's Gate, James S.A. Corey: It's an Expanse novel: that means awesome. The first missed out on a Hugo, but this one should be considered.
  • You, Austin Grossman: Like Tidhar, Grossman's fantastic at penning a great tale while looking deeply at our own culture.
  • The Golem & the Jinn, Helene Wecker: Currently reading this one. Wonderfully written, great characters and story.

For Best Semiprozine, I'd highly recommend Lightspeed Magazine, where I work, as well as John Joseph Adams for Best Editor, Short Form.

So, go, nominate!

Reading up on SF History

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Jo Walton What Makes This Book So Great

While I'm working on plotting out the rest of the year for this column, I figured it would be interesting to look at a small portion of the books that I use to support this column. There's a lot out there, and if you look at back entries, you'll see that I do a more comprehensive bibliography for each post here.

My habits for supporting this column involve a small research library at my home, one that's continually growing. It started with a couple of books before I started - biographies and a couple of others - and I've since quickly run out of space on one shelf (I need a new one soon) to house it. I also utilize my local university library's own collection (which is pretty extensive), and their connections to the Interlibrary Loan network.

But, I do like to have my own copies of the ones that I use the most. Inevitably, the ILL system takes a couple of days or weeks to get books in, and I'm somewhat impatient when I'm researching, especially when I'm stuck waiting for a volume.

This coming year, I have a feeling that I'll be doing more interviews - I've got one out right now - as I move into eras where there's more people who are still alive. Predominantly, I've been researching the pulps and early golden age. It'll be an exciting new thing to do.

Go read Reading up on SF History on Kirkus Reviews.

The Influential Pulp Career of Francis Stevens

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Over the course of writing this column for Kirkus Reviews, I've found that the early women authors writing in the genre were some of the most influential, producing some incredible stories over their careers. I've looked at quite a few who were incredibly influential: Margaret St. Clair, Judith Merrill, Leigh Brackett, C.L. Moore, and Mary Shelley. This week, we finally get to the woman who was considered one of the very first professionals in the pulp field: Gertrude Barrows Bennett, who wrote under the name Francis Stevens. She only wrote for a couple of years, but proved to be an incredible influence on the authors who followed her.

Go read The Influential Pulp Career of Francis Stevens over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965, Eric Leif Davin - Stevens' active publishing period falls before this time, but she does get some good mentions throughout this book, which poists that discrimination in the SF world wasn't entirely accurate on an industry level, which runs counter to current perceptions of SF's roots. It's an interesting theory, one which he breaks down quite a bit. Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of the "Science Romance in the Munsey Magazines, 1912-1920, Sam Moskowitz - This is a fantastic hybrid of anthology and history. Moskowitz is to be handled with care, but in this instance, he seems to be mostly accurate (he does continue the idea that Augusust Swift was H.P. Lovecraft - he wasn't), but presents a nice history of the Munsey Magazines along with some solid biographical information on Stevens. American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps, edited by Peter Straub - Like all other Library of America volumes, this contains a short, updated biography, alongside her story Unseen-Unfeared. The Nightmare, and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy, edited by Francis Stevens, Gary Hoppenstand - You can read the introduction here, and it's an interesting read with some good biographical points about Bennett/Stevens and her life that don't show up in many other places. Stevens, Francis, SF Encyclopedia - There's a short entry on Stevens here, with some notes about her impact.

The Unauthorized Lord of the Rings

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I bought my first copy of The Hobbit at a library sale in Quechee, VT when I was a kid. At the time, I remember noticing that the cover was graced with an 'The Authorized Edition', and it's been something that I've noticed over the years. A couple of months ago, I wrote a column on Ace Books and their double novels, and came across the reason for the words: Ace had published an unauthorized version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, citing a publishing loophole and sparking a publishing row that had some pretty profound implications on the fantasy publishing field.

There's the common narrative that the book was stolen outright, but digging a little deeper finds that there's quite a bit more to the story than Ace's edition.

Go read The Unauthorized Lord of the Rings over on Kirkus Reviews.

  • Trillion Year Spree, Brian W. Aldiss - Aldiss recounts this incident briefly, and notes that the impact that it had on fantasy: that it generally heightened the profile of the fantasy trilogy.
  • J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, Humphrey Carpenter - Carpenter's biography comes out of Tolkien's camp, and it's understandably tilted more towards Tolkien's views of how this happened, but it does provide some good details as to what his reactions and motivations where here.
  • J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography, Wayne Hammond and Douglas A. Anderson - This book is a detailed look at the publication history of Tolkien's works, and they provide a good look at the Ace and Ballantine editions.
  • The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien - My recent copy of Fellowship of the Ring (the hardcover boxed set with art from Alan Lee) contains a note that talks a bit about the text of the books, including (but not naming Ace) and their editions.
  • The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien - My 1966 edition of the Hobbit features the 'Authorized Edition' and a note from Tolkien in the back of the book.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Tale of a Text, Pat Reynolds - This site has some good additional information on the incident.
  • Betsy Wollheim: The Family Trade, Locus - Wollheim's daughter, Betsy, now the president of DAW books has a couple of good quotes on just how her father came to the decision to publish his own version of Lord of the Rings.
  • Donald Wollheim, Betsy Wollheim - Betsy was an invaluable help here, pointing me to her father's side of the argument, which was largely overlooked. She provided me with a copy of her essay about her father that provided some very helpful insights into his character and personality.
  • Eisen, Durwood & Co., Inc. v. Tolkien: This is the 1993 court ruling that ruled on the legality of Wollheim's actions many years after this happened.
  • ISFDB Bibliography - The Internet Speculative Fiction Database provides a comprehensive listing of the releases for Tolkien's books, along with dates, which was very helpful.

Tom Swift and the Stratemeyer Syndicate

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I never read the Tom Swift novels as a kid; I was always more obsessed with the Hardy Boys series. Over the years, I've read bits and pieces about Edward Stratemeyer, the man who was behind the long-running book series, as well as those of Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins (a favorite of my mother's), The Rover Boys and Tom Swift. He conceived of a character, put together a formula, and had a freelancer ghost write the novel before editing it. The process has always fascinated me, but when it came to looking into his background, an entire segment of early science fiction comes to light: the Dime Store novels, which created entire subgenres in their own right. More than that, they carried with them some real kernels of thematic material which have since propagated far into the future, which surprised and delighted me.

Another fun fact? TASER isn't a word: it's an acronym that stands for Tom A Swift's Electric Rifle.

Go read Tom Swift and the Stratemeyer Syndicate over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here's the sources that I used:

  • Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss - Aldiss talks about the edisonade stories briefly, noting the larger movement and announcing it as the first real American SF.
  • Science Fiction: The Early Years, Richard Bleiler - This book contains some biographical information on Victor Appleton (Howard R. Garis), as well as plot summaries of a number of the Tom Swift books.
  • Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, James Gunn - Gunn provides some small bits about Tom Swift here and there, which helped me connect the dots, but what's more interesting is how the character and juvenile fiction is largely overlooked.
  • Science Fiction after 1900: From the Steam Man to the Stars, Brooks Landon - This was a very interesting book that talked quite a bit about the early SF, especially when it comes to Dime novels and where Tom Swift fits into all this.
  • Cultural History of Literature: Science Fiction, Robert Luckhurst - Luckhurst has some good contextual information on Tom Swift, mainly backing up Aldiss and Landon's texts.
  • Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak - This was a particularly good read when it came to Stratemeyer himself, recounting his early life and how he came to become a major publisher.
  • Edisonade, John Clute - this article on the SF Encyclopedia is a good summary of Edisonade and an overview of some of its history.

War Stories: Funded!

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Last night, War Stories officially tipped over the 100% mark and officially funded. As of this morning, we've reached 104% of our goal, and with 33 hours left to go, we're hoping to hit a couple of additional goals above and beyond that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every one of our 323 backers who've pledged thus far. This is going to be an excellent book, and it's because of all of our backers that we're able to produce it.

Here's where we want to go next:

Stretch Goal target: $12,000: Additional Art unlocked. We'd like to break the stories into thematic sections, and provide art for each section.

Stretch Goal target: $13,000: 20,000 words unlocked. This will allow us to include several additional stories we have under consideration at the moment, which will make this book all the better.

So, if you've been holding off, rest assured that this is now a pre-order for the book. Backers at the $15 level and above will receive a copy of WAR STORIES! You've got until November 14th at 6:00 pm to back it!

Pledge here.

America's First Fantasist: Washington Irving

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A couple of years ago, I came across an article about Washington Irving that noted his campaign against the piracy of his works during the 1700s. Somewhere else, I came across a mention of how he used startlingly modern methods to help promote his book - posting notices in newspapers, in a clever campaign that helped make his first book a resounding success and helped to cement his status as America's first professional writer.

I've long enjoyed Irving's New York stories,and I love his Dutch Catskills (and the feeling of driving through them in the fall), someone who really helped bring fantastic literature to America, and bridged the gap between some of the earlier works of Gothic fiction into a new era and a new world.

Irving is someone I've wanted to write about for a while now, and with the release of Fox's latest television show, Sleepy Hollow, the time seems right. The show itself is pretty ridiculous, but over the top fun. But beyond the timing of a popular television show, he's an author that should be remembered, studied and read widely.

Go read America's First Fantasist: Washington Irving over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

The Original Knickerbocker: The life of Washington Irving, by Andrew Bernstein: I've had this book for a couple of years now, and I've read parts of it off and on. It's a dense, but very interesting biography on Irving, going into great detail on his life and work. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, volume 4, Frank N. Magill: This volume has a fantastic essay on Irving's short fiction and a good critical analysis of his work and how it fits into the fantastic canon. American Gothic Tales, edited by Joyce Carol Oates: This is a fantastic anthology of Gothic fiction that I've been picking away at over the years. This book contains Irving's famous 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow', a good read for this time of the year. American Fantastic Tales, edited by Peter Straub: I've long been a fan of the Library of America's collections, and this volume (the first of two) contains a short blurb on Irving's life, as well as a story of his, 'The Adventures of a German Student', which is quite an interesting read.

The Troubled History of Weird Tales Magazine

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File:Weird Tales October 1934.jpg When the fall arrives, I get into the mood for darker fiction, particularly H.P. Lovecraft. I've written about Lovecraft before, but I didn't quite realize how important the magazine was, despite its general flaws in quality, to the genre. Authors such as C.L. Moore, and quite a few others passed through its pages, and it's clear that it's a publication that's just as important as Astounding or Amazing Stories.

Go read The Troubled History of Weird Tales Magazine over on Kirkus Reviews. Sources Used:

The Time Machines: The Story of science-fiction pulp magazines from the beginning to 1950, Mike Ashley: Ashley's fairly comprehensive history touches on Weird Tales, and provided some excellent details on the operations of the magazine, in context with the rest of the pulp magazine market. Lovecraft: A Look Behind the 'Cthulhu Mythos', Lin Carter: Carter's book talks about Lovecraft's interactions with the magazine, which provided some crucial details. The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction, Paul A. Carter: This book is another history of speculative fiction magazines, and it provided some good details and context on Weird Tales' place in the market. The Pulps, edited by Tony Goodstone: This is actually a neat anthology of stories from the pulp era, prefaced with a blurb about the magazines. Weird Tales has a whole section, along with stories from Tennessee Williams, Page Cooper, Frank Belknap Long Jr., Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Malcom Jameson, Virgil Finley, Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft. A Dreamer and a Visionary: H.P. Lovecraft in His Time, S. T. Josti: Another book on Lovecraft that shed some interesting details on Lovecraft's interactions with the magazine. The Man from Mars: Ray Palmer's Amazing Pulp Journey, Fred Nadis: This is a recent biography that talked a bit about Fransworth Wright, one of the major editors at the magazine. Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle, John Pelan: This astonishing book is a tome, with an impressive, excited survey of Weird Tales authors and editors (although interestingly, Dorothy McIlwraith is missing.) with a lot of primary source information. This was particularly helpful with Wright, but also with primary source impressions from the authors who wrote for the magazine. The Weird Tales Story, Robert E. Weinberg: This book is an exhuberant, editorialized history of the magazine, which helped put some of the major events into place.

War Stories Anthology

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The War Stories Anthology Kickstarter launches in an hour from now. Thank you to everyone who's gotten excited about this project, spread the word, submitted stories and generally put up with us blabbing about it for so long. After a year of planning, it's finally coming together!

I'll be posting up a link to the Kickstarter once it's live. The project is now live!  If you like Military Science Fiction, or just science fiction in general, please consider taking a look, and sharing word of this with people you know. We have a ton of excellent authors lined up with stories for this book, and it doesn't happen without support of friends, family, fans and the crowd as a whole.

Both my co-editor (Jaym Gates) and I feel that Military SF is an important conduit for readers: there's a real lack of understanding between the military and civilian worlds, and we hope that science fiction will be a good way to bridge the gap, and provide some understanding for the real complicated nature of warfare and its impact on the rest of the world.

The Fantastic Worlds of Lord Dunsany

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It's fall, and I've been once again shifting from the usual topic of science fiction to horror and fantasy. Last year, I wrote about H.P. Lovecraft, and in my last column, I wrote about Robert E. Howard. As I've researched these guys, I continually came up with a common name: Lord Dunsany, and I've been looking to write about him and his works.

Dunsany's not an author that I'd come across before, and until I picked up a copy of The King of Elfland's Daughter I hadn't read or owned any of his works. Digging into his past helps to shine a real light on some of my own gaps in the fantasy side of my knowledge. He was an interesting, dramatic figure, intersecting with a number of other authors, and influencing a ton of others.

Go Read The Fantastic Worlds of Lord Dunsany on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources Used:

Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss: Aldiss points to Dunsany's influence briefly here. Lord Dunsany: A Biography, Mark Amory: This is a detailed, somewhat dense biography of the author, going into great depth on his life. Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers, L. Sprauge de Camp: I've had some issues with de Camp's work at history, but this book has a decent section on Dunsany, which served as a good guide. The King of Elfland's Daughter, Lord Dunsany: My copy of Dunsany's well known book is an interesting read, but for these purposes, it has a very good quote from Lovecraft about the author. Lord Dunsany, S.L. Joshi and Darrell Scheitzer: Comprehensive bibliography that was helpful for figuring out the timing of some of Dunsany's books and stories. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, Volumes 2 and 3, Frank Magill: These two volumes contain several detailed reviews of Dunsany's collections, novels and short fiction. Pathways to Elfland: The Writings of Lord Dunsany, Darrell Schweitzer: This book is a good literary analysis on Dunsany's works. The Hills of Far Away: A Guide to Fantasy, Diana Waggoner: Waggoner's book is a good overview of notable fantastic works, and this one served as a good guidepost.

Lord Dunsany also wrote a 3-volume autobiography, but sadly, I wasn't able to get a copy.

Short Story Sale: Fragmented, to Galaxy's Edge Magazine

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I'm pleased to say that I've just made my first pro fiction sale! My story 'Fragmented' will appear in the new magazine Galaxy's Edge, which has featured authors such as Nancy Kress, Robert J. Sawyer, Kij Johnson, Jack McDevitt, James Patrick Kelly, Mercedes Lackey, Ken Liu, and quite a few others.

Fragmented has garnered the usual round of rejections, and I'm happy that this one is my first. Anyone who attended the Geek Mountain State / Renegade Writer's Collective Reading in September heard me read it, and that reading was a crucial element in getting the story properly edited and into the right shape. It's short: around 2700 words, and is about a soldier deployed on a devastating campaign.

Galaxy's Edge Magazine is published on a bi-monthly schedule. Stories from the current issue are displayed online, while print and digital copies can be purchased from various online retailers. I'll post links and a bit of background on the story when it's available - I don't know when that is just yet.

In the meantime, back to work. Hopefully, this will be a repeatable experiment.

The Untimely Death of Robert E. Howard

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Back in April, I had been doing some reading on the Lovecraft Circle, and came across an interesting fact about one of the authors, Robert Howard. At the age of 30, he killed himself upon learning that his mother was in a coma and would never wake up again. It was interesting, because before that time, he had created a couple of well known characters, namely, Conan the Conqueror one of the pulp era's defining heroes. A couple of weeks ago, I came across one of his more Lovecraftian stories, The Black Stone, and was reminded of his short life and influence. Beyond just Conan, he helped to influence an entire subgenre of fantasy, Sword and Sorcery.

Go read The Untimely Death of Robert E. Howard over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction Paperback, Paul Allen Carter. This source had mentioned Howard at points, but what was really helpful was some information about Weird Tale's cover artist, and the general (split) attitudes towards Howard's stories and the artwork that accompanied them.
  • Dark Valley Destiny: The Life of Robert E. Howard, by L. Sprague de Camp. This is the first definitive biography of Howard, although I've been told that there's points where it's to be taken with a grain of salt. There's some factual information that's apparently wrong, and de Camp spents a lot of time speculating on Howard's psyche, chiefly towards his sexuality and the role in which his mother played in his life. I'm sure there's some Freudian things going on here, but I don't know how much to buy it completely.
  • American Fantastic Tales, Poe to the Pulps, edited by Peter Straub. As with other Library of America books, there's a short bio about Howard, as well as his story, The Black Stone.
  • Echoes of Valor II, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. This anthology contains both fiction and some lengthly introductions. This particular one has some good information on Howard's stories.

Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers & The Cold War

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I make it no secret that I really enjoy Military Science Fiction. It's been on my mind lately, as I'm in the middle of preparing an anthology of Military SF stories for launch. When I was in college, I studied History and eventually earned my master's in Military History, and I've found that the sub genre has been an interesting place to read and rant about.

Starship Troopers, for all of its issues, remains a favorite story of mine, and as I've been reading a number of stories from new authors about warfare, I was interested in seeing where the modern sub genre came from. Unsurprisingly, it's the product of both the 2nd World War, the Cold War and the style of American politics that emerged from that era.

I think that it would be safe to say that Starship Troopers and Heinlein have rather poor reputations at the moment within certain circles of SF Fandom. The very nature of war is very decisive, and Heinlein's novel has been the center of criticism since its publication. I don't want to defend the novel against those criticisms: it certainly deserves them. However, I think that it's an important novel to read at least once: if anything, it's an interesting take on what motivates a large number of people. Examination of one's motivations, even if they don't line up with one's own politics, I think is a good thought exercise.

Regardless of the politics, I've found Starship Troopers a novel that holds up rather well when it comes to military hardware and action. It's an exciting, over the top and straight-up read.

Go read Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers & The Cold War over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources Used:

  • Trillion Year Spree, by Brian Aldiss: Aldiss doesn't have much good to say about Starship Troopers, but his opinion is a good representation of the book's reception.
  • Grumbles from Beyond the Grave, edited by Virginia Heinlein: A collection of letters from Heinlein to his agent were particularly helpful here, especially with his motivations for publishing the book.
  • Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 5, edited by Frank Magill: This volume contains an excellent review and summary of Starship Troopers.
  • Seekers of Tomorrow, by Sam Moskowitz: Moskowitz talks at length about Heinlein's life. As always with Moskowitz, handle with care.
  • Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue With His Century, by William H. Patterson Jr.: This book is a fantastic biography on the man, and sadly, wasn't entirely helpful when it came to Starship Troopers: volume 2, which should be out at the end of this year or sometime next year, will likely cover this period of Heinlein's life in more detail. However, this one was helpful in the pre-1948 years.
  • The History of Science Fiction, by Adam Roberts: Like Aldiss, Roberts doesn't have much to say, but it's interesting to see the updated critical reaction to the novel and some of the philosophical underpinning.
  • American Science Fiction and the Cold War: Literature and Film, by David Seed: This book has some good references to the novel and its historical context.
  • Fights of Fancy: Armed Conflict in Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by George Slusser and Eric Rabkin: For a book examining Warfare in Science Fiction, this collection only has Starship Troopers mentioned three times. Still, it's an interesting read, although it was marginally helpful here.

Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, Space Merchants

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Earlier this week, Grandmaster Frederik Pohl passed away at the age of 93. He's the last of a major generation in the genre, and was a legendary contributor to science fiction from every possible direction. It's a great loss for Science Fiction.

I'd been wanting to write about Pohl and Kornbluth's novel The Space Merchants ever since I picked up the book a couple of years ago. I blew through it, and loved every word - it, for the most part, holds up just as well in 2013 as it seems to have back in 1953.

Go read Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, Space Merchants over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources used:

  • Trillion Year Spree: Brian Aldiss: Aldiss's work has some good contextual information in brief about The Space Merchants, its publication and its reception.
  • New Maps of Hell, Kingsley Amis: Amis writes that TSM is one of the best SF novels written to date, and talks a bit about the story in his genre survey.
  • Science Fiction Writers: Second Edition, Richard Bleiler: This book has a good overview of C.M. Kornbluth's life, and it helped me fill in some details about his participation.
  • The Futurians: The Story of the Great Science Fiction Family of the 30's That Produced Today's Top SF Writers and Editors, Damon Knight: This book focuses on the Futurians as a whole, and there's some good details about these two authors here.
  • The Way the Future Was, Frederik Pohl: When in doubt, primary sources are good, and Pohl talks extensively about the subject here.
  • The Way the Future Blogs, Frederik Pohl: Pohl's blog provided some good information on his military service, and a bit on Kornbluth.
  • Survey of Science Fiction Literature, Frank Magill: This volume provides a good summary and critical review of TSM.
  • The Faces of Science Fiction, Patti Perret: I've been waiting to use this book: it's a photography book about SF authors, and I found Pohl's quite particularly enlightening.
  • American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels, 1953-1956, edited by Gary K. Wolfe: And, of course, the source book. The LOA books also provide an excellent biographical thumbnail.

Donald Wollheim and the Ace Double Novel

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In my last Kirkus column, I took a look at A.E. van Vogt, and talked a little about how authors in the 1950s began to adapt to changes in the publishing industry. By 1952, the publishing industry had shifted to paperback novels. One of the more memorable types of publication was Ace Books with their double novel series, which paired up two short novels in a single book. Futurian founder Donald Wollheim was behind this move, and helped to cement science fiction literature in the new paperback field.

Go read Donald Wollheim and the Ace Double Novel over on Kirkus Reviews!

Sources Used

  • Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss. This book has some good information on the state of the publishing industry during the 1950s and 1960s, which helped with the background of this piece.
  • Double Your Pleasure: The Ace SF Double, James A. Corrick. This short pamphlet is a source that provided quite a few good details on the history of the Double novel series, from beginning to end. It's not terribly well organized or written, but it's an interesting source that provides some good data.
  • The Futurians: The Story of the Great Science Fiction "Family" of the 30's That Produced Today's Top SF Writers and Editors, Damon Knight. This title certainly fits the description here: Wollheim, a founding member of the Futurians, was behind the Double novels, and this book recounts some of the minutia and problems that Ace faced.
  • John Brunner (Modern Masters of Science Fiction), Jad Smith. This book is a new volume on John Brunner, and details some of his experiences behind the double novel series.

A.E. van Vogt and the Fix-Up Novel

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In the mid-50s, there was some major changes going on in the publishing industry: readership for pulps and magazines were declining, and it was rising for novels. Authors had an interesting way to respond to this: take a couple of existing stories, rewrite bits and package them as a novel. A.E. van Vogt actually coined a term for this: We call it a 'fix-up' novel, and a number of authors throughout the 50s (and to a lesser extent, to the present day) engaged in this practice as dedicated novel chains were founded. (More on that soon).

van Vogt is an interesting case here. I remember reading a bunch of his stories when I was in high school, and revisited Voyage of the Space Beagle a couple of years ago. It wasn't really my thing, but it was entertaining and fairly TV-like in structure.

Go read A.E. van Vogt and the Fix-Up novel over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources Used:

  • Science Fiction Writers, Second Edition, edited by Richard Bleiler. This volume provides a decent biographical sketch of the van Vogt.
  • Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerald Jones: This book provided a couple of key details on the nature of the early magazine culture.
  • It's a Fix-Up, David Langford: This essay by Langford provided a really neat nugget: van Vogt was the one who coined the term 'Fix-Up', and pointed me to the connection between the novel and the film Alien.
  • Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 5, edited by Frank Magill. There's a good critical review of Voyage of the Space Beagle in this volume.
  • Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction, Sam Moskowitz. Moskowitz's book is to be handled carefully, but the entry on Van Vogt provides some good information on his earlier works and introduction to the science fiction world.
  • Brave New Worlds: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff Prucher. This provided the definition for the 'fix-up' novel.
  • The History of Science Fiction,  by Adam Roberts: van Vogt gets a brief mention in Robert's book, but it provides a good look into his critical reception.
  • A Requiem for Astounding, Alva Rogers: This book is a good look at van Vogt's story placement in Astounding - 3/4s of the stories in VOTSB were first published there.