The First Historian
Sam Moskowitz: This year I tackled the first of three books by Sam Moskowitz. One concentrates on early writers of fantastic fiction, one concentrates on later writers (centering around many of the people who wrote for Astounding) and the third is an overview of fandom. Moskowitz was often derided by others (well after he stopped writing) as being a sloppy historian, but if it were not for him, there may have been no later science fiction studies. Certainly a lot of fandom's history would have been lost. I'm treating two of these books as short story/essay collections as I read many of these installments as separate articles either in collections or even magazines. The first of these will be Explorers of the Infinite.
So far, I've enjoyed the profiles. I see nothing here to complain about. Heck, in a John W. Campbell collection that I'm reading now, the introduction by Barry Malzberg makes extensive references to the profile that Moskowitz did. Malzberg complains about the scholarship, but then hinges his introduction on one of the key items that Moskowitz used. Go figure!
If there are any weaknesses, it is because the collection is from the early 1960's at the latest, so misses a lot of development in these writers. For example, the essay on Clarke was written before 2001: A Space Odyssey or even several of his collections which thrust him into the public eye. The same for Clifford D. Simak; the entry on him was written too early to catch the burst of writing that appeared in various magazines such as Galaxy, or in books such as The Goblin Reservation, The Werewolf Principle and many others. Another problem is that these essays appear to have been written for magazine publication and were not re-written for book publication. So there is a fair bit of repetition between entries (for example, the essays on Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore repeat information about their collaborations). The book could have also benefited from some title and spell checking. For example, during one two-page sequence, the Kornbluth/Pohl collaboration Gravy Planet (more popularly known as The Space Merchants) is named Gravy Planet a couple of times, than named Gravy Train, and then named Gravy Planet again!
Moskowitz shows a lot of knowledge about what may or may not have influenced various authors and a more wide-ranging history of science fiction, especially the magazines, would have been an invaluable resource from him (the best we have is Isaac Asimov's Before the Golden Age, for which Asimov drew heavily on Moskowitz's collection of books and magazines as well as his memory of science ficiton trivia).
Made up of: Introduction; E.E. Smith; John W. Campbell; Murray Leinster; Edmond Hamilton; Jack Williamson; Superman; John Wyndham; Eric Frank Russell; L. Sprague de Camp; Lester del Rey; Robert A. Heinlein; A.E. van Vogt; Theodore Sturgeon; Isaac Asimov; Clifford D. Simak; Fritz Leiber; C.L. Moore; Henry Kuttner; Robert Bloch; Ray Bradbury; Arthur C. Clarke; Philip Jose Farmer; Starburst; Epilogue.
Counts as twenty-five (25) entries in the 2006 Short Story Project.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Tales of Lovecraft
H.P. Lovecraft: Tales (edited by Peter Straub, Library of America, ISBN 1-931082-72-3).
This is certainly one of the odder collections to have come out from The Library of America. I mean, H.P. Lovecraft? The guy that keeps getting classed as a literary hack? When I look at this collection, I get the same feeling of having slipped into an alternate reality as I do when I hear various cultured personalities singing the praises of somebody like Philip Glass. I mean, I like Glass, but when did he become mainstream?
With this collection (and it is a nice hardcover) you'll have the majority of Lovecraft's works (mostly in the Cthulhu Mythos "series"), sans his Dreamlands tales (hopefully there will be a companion volume). That's the good news. The bad news is that along with such classics as At the Mountains of Madness (Lovecraft had no "internal heating controls"; a winter in New England could kill him, so he really writes this tale of polar wastelands effectively!) and The Shadow Out of Time, you'll have to work through such better-forgotten tales as Herbert West: Reanimator or He. For a hardcover, and for the amount of material, you're getting a great bargain here. Curl up on a stormy night and read The Music of Eric Zann or Pickman's Model. Wait for that winter storm and tackle At the Mountains of Madness. Sip a cool drink and thrill to The Shadow Out of Time. There are some real gems here, and I hope that this edition brings us more fans of Eich Pee Ell.
Made up of: The Statement of Randolf Carter, The Outsider, The Music of Eric Zann, Herbert West: Reanimator; The Lurking Fear; The Rats in the Walls; The Shunned House; The Horror at Red Hook; He; Cool Air; The Call of Cthulhu; Pickman's Model; The Case of Charles Dexter Ward; The Colour Out of Space; The Dunwich Horror; The Whisperer in Darkness; At the Mountains of Madness; The Shadow Over Innsmouth; The Dreams in the Witch House; The Thing on the Doorstep; The Shadow Out of Time; The Haunter of the Dark.
And might I also recommend...
The Shadow Out of Time (H.P. Lovecrft, edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, corrected text version. Hippocampus Press, ISBN 0-9673215-3-0).
At the Mountains of Madness (H.P. Lovecraft, introduction by China Mieville, The Modern Library, ISBN 0-8129-7441-7). Also contains: Supernatural Horror in Literature.
Skip the introduction by China Mieville, go right to the story. Sometimes, Mr. Mieville, a tentacle is just a tentacle...
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (H.P. Lovecraft, edited and introduced by S.T. Joshi. Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-118234-2).
Made up of: Introduction (S.T. Joshi); Suggestions for Further Reading (S.T. Joshi); A Note on the Text (S.T. Joshi); Dagon; The Statement of Randolph Carter; Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family; Celephais; Nyrarlathotep; The Picture in the House; The Outsider; Herbert West—Reanimator; The Hound; The Rats in the Walls; The Festival; He; Cool Air; The Colour Out of Space; The Whisperer in Darkness; The Shadow Over Innsmouth; The Haunter of the Dark; Explanatory Notes (S.T. Joshi).
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories (H.P. Lovecraft, edited and introduced by S.T. Joshi. Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-218003-3).
Made up of: Introduction (S.T. Joshi); Suggestions for Further Reading (S.T. Joshi); A Note on the Text (S.T. Joshi); The Tomb; Beyond the Wall of Sleep; The White Ship; The Temple; The Quest for Iranon; The Music of Erich Zann; Under the Pyramids; Pickman's Model; The Case of Charles Dexter Ward; The Dunwich Horror; At the Mountains of Madness; Explanatory Notes (S.T. Joshi).
The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories (H.P. Lovecraft, edited and introduced by S.T. Joshi. Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-243795-6).
Made up of: Introduction (S.T. Joshi); Suggestions for Further Reading (S.T. Joshi); A Note on the Text (S.T. Joshi); Polaris; The Doom That Came to Sarnath; The Terrible Old Man; The Tree; The Cats of Ulther; From Beyond; The Nameless City; The Moon-Bog; The Other Gods; Hypnos; The Lurking Fear; The Unnamable; The Shunned House; The Horror at Red Hook; In the Vault; The Strange High House in the Mist; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath; The Silver Key; Through the Gates of the Silver Key; The Dreams in the Witch House; The Shadow Out of Time; Explanatory Notes (S.T. Joshi).
Counts as 59 entries in the 2006 Short Story Project.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Larger Than Worlds (Two)
Gregory Benford and George Zebrowski (editing, introduction, notes): Skylife: Space Habitats in Story and Science (Harcourt, Inc., ISBN 0-15-100292-4)
This is another collection that every science fiction fan (especially fan of "hard" science fiction) ought to have on her or his bookshelf. The introduction (by the editors) and the Selective Bibliography (by tireless SF commentator Gary Westfahl) are worth the price of admission alone.
The End of the Beginning (Ray Bradbury): A nice little tale about the launching of the first ship to build a space station. An amazing contrast to the grumpier Bradbury that we saw in later years.
Bigger Than Worlds (Larry Niven): A non-fiction contribution by Niven outlining various schemes for living in space, ranging from the "small" (expanded and hollowed out asteroids) to the very, very, very large (a Dyson Sphere around an entire galaxy, anyone?). Niven drops enough hints and scenarios for a dozen or more stories in the course of this essay, it is too bad that they were never followed up on (his idea for a gothic-style SF setting is one I would love to see!).
The Other Side of the Sky (Arthur C. Clarke): At the dawn of the space age (and some, like me, think we're still in the dawn phase) Clarke wrote a series of short linked stories about the building of the first space stations. Wildly optimistic in some ways and wildly off base in others, they are still excellent in terms of style, ideas presented (some mined again by Clarke and others) and brevity (a skill that many authors do not practice!).
Tank Farm (David Brin): A relatively near-future scenario in which a private consortium has been harvesting the external fuel tanks from the NASA space shuttle and putting them to use as habitats, storage and even fuel and other expendables until the government decides to put the squeeze on them. There's a fair bit of hard science used, in a very clever fashion. It's a tale worthy of the likes of Robert L. Forward! The plot resembles, to my memory, the novel The Descent of Anansi by Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes. I'll have to re-read that at some point to see how much of the resemblance is memory vs. reality. It makes me wish Brin would get back to writing fiction!
Breakaway, Backdown (James Patrick Kelly): A somewhat strange little narrative, written as if you can hear only half a conversation. During the course of the narrative, you learn a bit about those (Breakaways) who live in orbit and why the narrator chose to return to earth (Backdown). Also somewhat disturbing. It's nice to be disturbed by fiction, on occasion.
The Wind from a Burning Woman (Greg Bear): A woman takes revenge upon the murder of her grandfather (and the crew of an asteroid ship) by aiming it at Earth. More poetical than most of Bear's writings. One amusing bit is the fact that the Earth is run by the "Naderites". One puzzling bit, the technical or scientific "class" are called "Geshel". Ring a bell with anybody?
View from a Height (Joan D. Vinge): Vinge is somebody I wish would write more science fiction. I first encountered her shorter works in Analog, with the stories of Heaven's Belt. She has produced three collections (Fireship, Eyes of Amber and Other Stories and Phoenix in the Ashes) and several longer works. A long-expected new edition of the Heaven's Belt stories seems to be in limbo (going on several years now). (She was married to what's-his-name and is currently married to prolific editor James Frenkel. Am I being sexist by mentioning that? Probably not, the first marriage is the one everyone thinks of!)
Phew! Long introduction to a short story! View is a diary-type narrative told by a woman living in exile. She has no resistance to nature, she was a "bubble girl" (instead of the famous "bubble boy"). Pursuing a career in astronomy, she volunteered for a long-duration mission to be sent beyond the edges of our Solar System to enable parallax studies of distant astronomical objects. She lives the live of an astronomical monk, cut off from all other direct human contact (she is so far away that it takes many hours for messages to travel back and forth). The crisis in the story revolves around the revelation that a cure is found for her condition, but far too late for her to benefit from it. Could such a mission exist? Perhaps. Given a large enough instrument (which is what is depicted in the story), adding on a life habitat would not add much to the vehicle. Having a human there would allow for better decision-making, repairs and the like than a robot. But could a person survive such a long period (a life long period) of isolation? Despite the hard SF trappings, a good human interest story.
The Voyage That Lasted Six Hundred Years (Don Wilcox): If you can get past some of the silliness, you'll find a story that still influences science fiction today. For example, "tired old chestnut" is the story of the plodding generation ship making the long voyage only to be beaten to its destination by FTL ships. You read it here first. Hibernation? Used here. A generation ship slipping into savage conditions? See it here! Some silly moments, but some excellent writing and thinking as well.
Redeemer (Gregory Benford): See my review here.
Bindlestiff (James Blish): This story is part of Blish's longer Cities in Flight sequence (They Shall Have Stars; A Life for the Stars; Earthman, Come Home; The Triumph of Time). It is probably the one part of the story that you are most likely to encounter. It's interesting to see how much thought Blish put into these tales. The cities must eat, they must trade, they must do repairs. Actions have reactions. This is a long story in the book and tells of the adventures of New York City in a galactic rift, doing a little planetary "engineering", fighting bindlestiffs and (as usual) scraping by. I'm really going to have to pull out the whole sequence one of these days, I don't think I've read them since college and it is high time for a re-read!
Open Loops (Stephen Baxter): This definately shows the influence of Olaf Stapledon on Baxter (I could say the influence of Arthur C. Clarke, but given that Stapledon's influence was found there as well...). The story is a series of snapshots dealing with astronaut Oliver Greenberg and his life on a near-Earth asteroid called Ra-Shalom. Each snapshot covers a greater and greater span of time, as humanity evolves and spreads throughout the galaxy. Baxter ties the tale into the explorations of Fermi's Paradox that he used in his Manifold trilogy as well as the collection Phase Space. You definately get the feeling of deep time with this one.
Spomelife: The Universe and the Future (Isaac Asimov): A non-fiction contribution by the late Good Doctor. Asimov gives a nice general overview of "spomes" (space homes), ranging from asteroids and ships to planets. The collection would have been nicer if they had included his Strikebreaker short story (quoted in the essay).
Reef (Paul J. McAuley): Life in vacuum? No, not people living in tin cans in outer space, but life in vacuum? Folks like Freeman Dyson have talked about it in the past, Paul J. McAuley presents it in a great story. Is there any more in this literary universe of yours, Mr. McAuley?
A Dream of Time (George Zebrowski): An excerpt from Zebrowski's ground-breaking novel Macrolife. I'm way overdue for a re-read of this novel. The excerpt is from the end of the book, where humanity has spread into the galaxy and beyond and must now grapple with the end of the known universe. Here's a recent look at the book from the folks at SF Signal (it'll do for a review of the whole novel until I can re-read it.)
Space Stations and Space Habitats: A Selective Bibliography (Gary Westfahl): A very comprehensive (even if it is "selective") listing. An excellent jumping-off point to explore the concepts in fact and fiction.
Made up of: Introduction: We All Live in the Sky (Gregory Benford and George Zebrowski); The End of the Beginning (Ray Bradbury); Bigger Than Worlds (Larry Niven); The Other Side of the Sky (Arthur C. Clarke); Tank Farm (David Brin); Breakaway, Backdown (James Patrick Kelly); The Wind from a Burning Woman (Greg Bear); View from a Height (Joan D. Vinge); The Voyage That Lasted Six Hundred Years (Don Wilcox); Redeemer (Gregory Benford); Bindlestiff (James Blish); Open Loops (Stephen Baxter); Spomelife: The Universe and the Future (Isaac Asimov); Reef (Paul J. McAuley); A Dream of Time (George Zebrowski); Space Stations and Space Habitats: A Selective Bibliography (Gary Westfahl).
Addendum (June 30, 2006): The idea of moving out into space is still being discussed!
Counts as sixteen entries in the 2006 Short Story Project.
Gregory Benford and George Zebrowski (editing, introduction, notes): Skylife: Space Habitats in Story and Science (Harcourt, Inc., ISBN 0-15-100292-4)
This is another collection that every science fiction fan (especially fan of "hard" science fiction) ought to have on her or his bookshelf. The introduction (by the editors) and the Selective Bibliography (by tireless SF commentator Gary Westfahl) are worth the price of admission alone.
The End of the Beginning (Ray Bradbury): A nice little tale about the launching of the first ship to build a space station. An amazing contrast to the grumpier Bradbury that we saw in later years.
Bigger Than Worlds (Larry Niven): A non-fiction contribution by Niven outlining various schemes for living in space, ranging from the "small" (expanded and hollowed out asteroids) to the very, very, very large (a Dyson Sphere around an entire galaxy, anyone?). Niven drops enough hints and scenarios for a dozen or more stories in the course of this essay, it is too bad that they were never followed up on (his idea for a gothic-style SF setting is one I would love to see!).
The Other Side of the Sky (Arthur C. Clarke): At the dawn of the space age (and some, like me, think we're still in the dawn phase) Clarke wrote a series of short linked stories about the building of the first space stations. Wildly optimistic in some ways and wildly off base in others, they are still excellent in terms of style, ideas presented (some mined again by Clarke and others) and brevity (a skill that many authors do not practice!).
Tank Farm (David Brin): A relatively near-future scenario in which a private consortium has been harvesting the external fuel tanks from the NASA space shuttle and putting them to use as habitats, storage and even fuel and other expendables until the government decides to put the squeeze on them. There's a fair bit of hard science used, in a very clever fashion. It's a tale worthy of the likes of Robert L. Forward! The plot resembles, to my memory, the novel The Descent of Anansi by Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes. I'll have to re-read that at some point to see how much of the resemblance is memory vs. reality. It makes me wish Brin would get back to writing fiction!
Breakaway, Backdown (James Patrick Kelly): A somewhat strange little narrative, written as if you can hear only half a conversation. During the course of the narrative, you learn a bit about those (Breakaways) who live in orbit and why the narrator chose to return to earth (Backdown). Also somewhat disturbing. It's nice to be disturbed by fiction, on occasion.
The Wind from a Burning Woman (Greg Bear): A woman takes revenge upon the murder of her grandfather (and the crew of an asteroid ship) by aiming it at Earth. More poetical than most of Bear's writings. One amusing bit is the fact that the Earth is run by the "Naderites". One puzzling bit, the technical or scientific "class" are called "Geshel". Ring a bell with anybody?
View from a Height (Joan D. Vinge): Vinge is somebody I wish would write more science fiction. I first encountered her shorter works in Analog, with the stories of Heaven's Belt. She has produced three collections (Fireship, Eyes of Amber and Other Stories and Phoenix in the Ashes) and several longer works. A long-expected new edition of the Heaven's Belt stories seems to be in limbo (going on several years now). (She was married to what's-his-name and is currently married to prolific editor James Frenkel. Am I being sexist by mentioning that? Probably not, the first marriage is the one everyone thinks of!)
Phew! Long introduction to a short story! View is a diary-type narrative told by a woman living in exile. She has no resistance to nature, she was a "bubble girl" (instead of the famous "bubble boy"). Pursuing a career in astronomy, she volunteered for a long-duration mission to be sent beyond the edges of our Solar System to enable parallax studies of distant astronomical objects. She lives the live of an astronomical monk, cut off from all other direct human contact (she is so far away that it takes many hours for messages to travel back and forth). The crisis in the story revolves around the revelation that a cure is found for her condition, but far too late for her to benefit from it. Could such a mission exist? Perhaps. Given a large enough instrument (which is what is depicted in the story), adding on a life habitat would not add much to the vehicle. Having a human there would allow for better decision-making, repairs and the like than a robot. But could a person survive such a long period (a life long period) of isolation? Despite the hard SF trappings, a good human interest story.
The Voyage That Lasted Six Hundred Years (Don Wilcox): If you can get past some of the silliness, you'll find a story that still influences science fiction today. For example, "tired old chestnut" is the story of the plodding generation ship making the long voyage only to be beaten to its destination by FTL ships. You read it here first. Hibernation? Used here. A generation ship slipping into savage conditions? See it here! Some silly moments, but some excellent writing and thinking as well.
Redeemer (Gregory Benford): See my review here.
Bindlestiff (James Blish): This story is part of Blish's longer Cities in Flight sequence (They Shall Have Stars; A Life for the Stars; Earthman, Come Home; The Triumph of Time). It is probably the one part of the story that you are most likely to encounter. It's interesting to see how much thought Blish put into these tales. The cities must eat, they must trade, they must do repairs. Actions have reactions. This is a long story in the book and tells of the adventures of New York City in a galactic rift, doing a little planetary "engineering", fighting bindlestiffs and (as usual) scraping by. I'm really going to have to pull out the whole sequence one of these days, I don't think I've read them since college and it is high time for a re-read!
Open Loops (Stephen Baxter): This definately shows the influence of Olaf Stapledon on Baxter (I could say the influence of Arthur C. Clarke, but given that Stapledon's influence was found there as well...). The story is a series of snapshots dealing with astronaut Oliver Greenberg and his life on a near-Earth asteroid called Ra-Shalom. Each snapshot covers a greater and greater span of time, as humanity evolves and spreads throughout the galaxy. Baxter ties the tale into the explorations of Fermi's Paradox that he used in his Manifold trilogy as well as the collection Phase Space. You definately get the feeling of deep time with this one.
Spomelife: The Universe and the Future (Isaac Asimov): A non-fiction contribution by the late Good Doctor. Asimov gives a nice general overview of "spomes" (space homes), ranging from asteroids and ships to planets. The collection would have been nicer if they had included his Strikebreaker short story (quoted in the essay).
Reef (Paul J. McAuley): Life in vacuum? No, not people living in tin cans in outer space, but life in vacuum? Folks like Freeman Dyson have talked about it in the past, Paul J. McAuley presents it in a great story. Is there any more in this literary universe of yours, Mr. McAuley?
A Dream of Time (George Zebrowski): An excerpt from Zebrowski's ground-breaking novel Macrolife. I'm way overdue for a re-read of this novel. The excerpt is from the end of the book, where humanity has spread into the galaxy and beyond and must now grapple with the end of the known universe. Here's a recent look at the book from the folks at SF Signal (it'll do for a review of the whole novel until I can re-read it.)
Space Stations and Space Habitats: A Selective Bibliography (Gary Westfahl): A very comprehensive (even if it is "selective") listing. An excellent jumping-off point to explore the concepts in fact and fiction.
Made up of: Introduction: We All Live in the Sky (Gregory Benford and George Zebrowski); The End of the Beginning (Ray Bradbury); Bigger Than Worlds (Larry Niven); The Other Side of the Sky (Arthur C. Clarke); Tank Farm (David Brin); Breakaway, Backdown (James Patrick Kelly); The Wind from a Burning Woman (Greg Bear); View from a Height (Joan D. Vinge); The Voyage That Lasted Six Hundred Years (Don Wilcox); Redeemer (Gregory Benford); Bindlestiff (James Blish); Open Loops (Stephen Baxter); Spomelife: The Universe and the Future (Isaac Asimov); Reef (Paul J. McAuley); A Dream of Time (George Zebrowski); Space Stations and Space Habitats: A Selective Bibliography (Gary Westfahl).
Addendum (June 30, 2006): The idea of moving out into space is still being discussed!
Counts as sixteen entries in the 2006 Short Story Project.
The Compleat Conan
Robert E. Howard: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (illustrated by Mark Schultz, Del Rey Books, ISBN 0-345-48385-5).
As with last year's reading of Howard's tales of Solomon Kane and my reading of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, what I'm getting in this collection is not what I expected. I thought I "knew" Conan. Heck, didn't I see the movies with the Terminator? How wrong you can be. Although "pulp", these are an excellent set of tales so far (haven't quite finished it yet!). Del Rey is doing a great job with this series, bringing Howard's works out the way he wrote them, providing drafts and fragments so we can see what else was there, etc.
So far, in this collection, the stand-out stories are The Tower of the Elephant with its tortured (and very sympathetic character) of an alien/god and Queen of the Black Coast with a very strong female character (so much for the myth that pulp fiction never featured strong female characters). Either, especially Queen of the Black Coast, would have made a far, far, far better feature film than the dribble we got. Ah well. Maybe somebody will do it right some day!
Thoughts upon concluding the book: Very enjoyable read. Conan, as Howard wrote him, is far different from Conan as he has been depicted in other media, just as Tarzan, as depicted by Burroughs is vastly different than how he has generally been depicted in other sources. Sure, Conan seems to slip into a rage at least once per story, but he also plans, saves his fellow man (mostly woman), thinks, considers and even gets scared. These stories show the influence of Howard's fellow fantasy writers, especially Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft. The miscellaneous material is excellent, especially the essays. This shows that Howard designed a world to make Conan more real, he just isn't plopped down into the middle of a cardboard fantasy kingdom. Some of the story fragments were fun, and it is a shame Howard never finished them.
An excellent collection and I'm looking forward to continuing my exploration of Robert E. Howard in these new Del Rey editions.
Made up of: Foreword (Mark Schultz); Introduction (Patricia Louinet); Cimmeria (poem); The Phoenix on the Sword; The Frost-Giant's Daughter; The God in the Bowl; The Tower of the Elephant; The Scarlet Citadel; Queen of the Black Coast; Black Colossus; Iron Shadows in the Moon; Xuthel of the Dusk; The Pool of the Black One; Rogues in the House; The Vale of Lost Women; The Devil in Iron; The Phoenix on the Sword (first submitted draft); Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age; The Hyborian Age; Untitled Synopsis (one); Untitled Synopsis (The Scarlet Citadel); Untitled Synopsis (Black Colossue); Untitled Fragment (one); Untitled Synopsis (two); Untitled Draft (one); Hyborian Names and Countries (notes); Hyborian Age Maps (drawings); Appendices: Hyborian Genesis (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Original Howard Texts (not indicated); Sketches (Mark Schultz).
Counts as 29 entries in the 2006 Short Story Project.
Robert E. Howard: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (illustrated by Mark Schultz, Del Rey Books, ISBN 0-345-48385-5).
As with last year's reading of Howard's tales of Solomon Kane and my reading of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, what I'm getting in this collection is not what I expected. I thought I "knew" Conan. Heck, didn't I see the movies with the Terminator? How wrong you can be. Although "pulp", these are an excellent set of tales so far (haven't quite finished it yet!). Del Rey is doing a great job with this series, bringing Howard's works out the way he wrote them, providing drafts and fragments so we can see what else was there, etc.
So far, in this collection, the stand-out stories are The Tower of the Elephant with its tortured (and very sympathetic character) of an alien/god and Queen of the Black Coast with a very strong female character (so much for the myth that pulp fiction never featured strong female characters). Either, especially Queen of the Black Coast, would have made a far, far, far better feature film than the dribble we got. Ah well. Maybe somebody will do it right some day!
Thoughts upon concluding the book: Very enjoyable read. Conan, as Howard wrote him, is far different from Conan as he has been depicted in other media, just as Tarzan, as depicted by Burroughs is vastly different than how he has generally been depicted in other sources. Sure, Conan seems to slip into a rage at least once per story, but he also plans, saves his fellow man (mostly woman), thinks, considers and even gets scared. These stories show the influence of Howard's fellow fantasy writers, especially Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft. The miscellaneous material is excellent, especially the essays. This shows that Howard designed a world to make Conan more real, he just isn't plopped down into the middle of a cardboard fantasy kingdom. Some of the story fragments were fun, and it is a shame Howard never finished them.
An excellent collection and I'm looking forward to continuing my exploration of Robert E. Howard in these new Del Rey editions.
Made up of: Foreword (Mark Schultz); Introduction (Patricia Louinet); Cimmeria (poem); The Phoenix on the Sword; The Frost-Giant's Daughter; The God in the Bowl; The Tower of the Elephant; The Scarlet Citadel; Queen of the Black Coast; Black Colossus; Iron Shadows in the Moon; Xuthel of the Dusk; The Pool of the Black One; Rogues in the House; The Vale of Lost Women; The Devil in Iron; The Phoenix on the Sword (first submitted draft); Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age; The Hyborian Age; Untitled Synopsis (one); Untitled Synopsis (The Scarlet Citadel); Untitled Synopsis (Black Colossue); Untitled Fragment (one); Untitled Synopsis (two); Untitled Draft (one); Hyborian Names and Countries (notes); Hyborian Age Maps (drawings); Appendices: Hyborian Genesis (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Original Howard Texts (not indicated); Sketches (Mark Schultz).
Counts as 29 entries in the 2006 Short Story Project.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Hugos
Following some discussion at SF Signal (which led to more discussion at mabfan, Michael A. Burstein's site), I've decided to add a reading (or re-reading, as appropriate) to the winners in the short works category for the Hugo Awards to the 2006 Short Story Project. Now, even if I were to stick to published Hugo-only anthologies, this would be a fairly large pile of words, so this may stretch into and beyond the 2007 Short Story Project.
To start...here's the Wikipedia entry on the award. The official Hugo site, with awards by year and by category. Some Hugo history. Locus magazine on the award. Pictures of various Hugos. One famous appearance of a Hugo.
The anthologies that I either have or are aware of are:
The Hugo Winners (edited by Isaac Asimov, published by Nelson Doubleday & Co.). Available for years through the Science Fiction Book Club as a massive hardcover, this was also also split into two smaller volumes (as both hardcover and paperback). I have the single volume hardcover, so I'll be reviewing that version. The overall collection covers the period 1963 to 1970, with the individual first volume covering 1963 to 1967 and the individual second volume covering 1968 to 1970.
Made up of: Introduction and narrative material (Isaac Asimov); The Darfsteller (Walter M. Miller, Jr.); Allamagoosa (Eric Frank Russell); Exploration Team (Murray Leinster); The Star (Arthur C. Clarke); Or All the Seas with Oysters (Avram Davidson); The Big Front Yard (Clifford D. Simak); The Hell-Bound Train (Robert Bloch); Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes); The Longest Voyage (Poul Anderson); The Dragon Masters (Jack Vance): No Truce with Kings (Poul Anderson); Soldier, Ask Not (Gordon R. Dickson); "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (Harlan Ellison); The Last Castle (Jack Vance); Neutron Star (Larry Niven); Weyr Search (Anne McCaffrey); Riders of the Purple Wage (Philip Jose Farmer); Gonna Roll the Bones (Fritz Leiber); I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream (Harlan Ellison); Nightwings (Robert Silverberg); The Sharing of Flesh (Poul Anderson); The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (Harlan Ellison); Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones (Samuel R. Delany)
Walter M. Miller, Jr.: The Darfsteller: Miller's award-winning story is the tale of a former actor who just can't move far enough away from the stage. Theatre is now done by robots, controlled by a computer that is fed tapes of the abilities of various actors and actresses. While Miller may have missed the mark by putting robots on the stage, I wonder if this story will start to feel all too familar to the folks who are getting their body motions digitally captured for films such as the forthcoming Beowulf! (Re-read in 2008...)
Eric Frank Russell: Allamagoosa: Russell's winner is a comedic bit about the military and the silliness of spit-and-polish inspections on field units. I'll leave the definition of the title up as an exercise for the student. (Re-read in 2008...)
Murray Leinster: Exploration Team: If memory serves, this was part of a series of tales, but it has been too darn long since I read them to place the book title. (Hey! An excuse to read more Murray Leinster!) A man involved in an illegal colonization effort has to reveal himself in order to rescue a group of legal colonists on the planet he is settling. A bit pulpish here and there, it makes up for it in the rather unique exploration team of the title. (Re-read in 2008...)
Arthur C. Clarke: The Star: While some point to this story as proof that SF is not religious, I see the opposite. Clarke has declared himself to be at least non-religious at various times, but he writes a moving story with a well defined main character who is deeply religious. (Re-read in 2008...)
Avram Davidson: Or All the Seas with Oysters: Ever wonder why your desk has a ton of paperclips one week and a whole bunch of rubber bands the next? Davidson has the explanation! A great example of the kind of story that F&SF excelled in during the 1960's. (Re-read in 2008...)
Clifford D. Simak: The Big Front Yard: Reviewed previously here. So I read it again! Big deal! Get your own blog! It remains one of my favorite stories by one of my favorite authors. (Re-read in 2008...)
Robert Bloch: The Hell-Bound Train: A horror/fantasy story with a nice humorously evil twist.
Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon: Still packs a lot of impact. The tale of a mentally "challenged" (is that the term of the day?) man who is given (at first) normal and then greater than normal intelligence after an operation. Unfortunately it does not last. This version is better, in my opinion, than the expanded novel-length version.
The Hugo Winners, Volume 3 (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers 1969 to 1974. Don't own this one...yet (update: copy located, on order!).
The Hugo Winners, Volume 4 (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers 1975 to 1978. Don't own this one...yet (update: copy located, on order!).
The Hugo Winners, Volume 5 (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers 1979 to 1981. Don't own this one...yet (update: copy located, on order!).
(I don't know why I never picked up those three volumes. I was a member of the SFBC for a long time as a kid through high school and then for several years after first getting married. The period of that gap was during the first, but it is possible that I got the books out of the library and never bought them through the SFBC. Time to haunt various second-hand shops, real and virtual, to fill in these gaps!)
The New Hugo Winners (edited by Isaac Asimov, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-72081-3). Covers 1982 to 1984.
Made up of: Souls (Joanna Russ); Firewatch (Connie Willis): Melancholy Elephants (Spider Robinson); Cascade Point (Timothy Zahn); Blood Music (Greg Bear); Speech Sounds (Octavia E. Butler); Press Enter (John Varley); Blood Child (Octavia E. Butler); The Crystal Spheres (David Brin).
The New Hugo Winners, Volume II (edited by Isaac Asimov, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-72103-8). Covers 1985 to 1987.
Made up of: 24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hokusai (Roger Zelazny); Paladin of the Lost Hour (Harlan Ellison); Fermi & Frost (Frederick Pohl); Gilgamesh in the Outback (Robert Silverberg); Permafrost (Roger Zelazny); Tangents (Greg Bear); Eye for Eye (Orson Scott Card); Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight (Ursula K. Le Guin); Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers (Lawrence Watt-Evans).
The New Hugo Winners, Volume III (edited by Connie Willis, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-87604-X). Covers 1988 to 1990.
Made up of: Kirinyaga (Mike Resnick); Schrodinger’s Kitten (George Alec Effinger): The Last of the Winnebagos (Connie Willis); Boobs (Suzy McKee Charnas); Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another (Robert Silverberg); The Mountains of Mourning (Lois McMaster Bujold); Bears Discover Fire (Terry Bisson); The Manamouki (Mike Resnick); The Hemingway Hoax (Joe Haldeman).
The New Hugo Winners, Volume IV (edited by Gregory Benford, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-87852-2). Covers 1991 to 1993.
Made up of: A Walk in the Sun (Geoffrey Landis); Gold (Isaac Asimov); Beggars in Spain (Nancy Kress); Even the Queen (Connie Willis); The Nutcracker Coup (Janet Kagan); Barnacle Bill The Spacer (Lucius Shepard); Death on the Nile (Connie Willis); Georgia On My Mind (Charles Sheffield); Down in the Bottomlands (Harry Turtledove).
The Super Hugos (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers both short and long works from 1955 to 1979.
(Wow. So the most recent "official" anthology ends with 1993. That's quite a few years of shorter works that could be anthologized. Hopefully they are all collected in the other annual collections that I have access to.)
Hmmmm...once I get through the Hugo winners, I should tackle Nebula winners that aren't covered by Hugo awards! Then there's the John W. Campbell award.
Nine stories towards the 2006 Short Story Project.
Remainder counts towards the 2007 Short Story Project.
Six stories towards the 2008 Year in Shorts.
Following some discussion at SF Signal (which led to more discussion at mabfan, Michael A. Burstein's site), I've decided to add a reading (or re-reading, as appropriate) to the winners in the short works category for the Hugo Awards to the 2006 Short Story Project. Now, even if I were to stick to published Hugo-only anthologies, this would be a fairly large pile of words, so this may stretch into and beyond the 2007 Short Story Project.
To start...here's the Wikipedia entry on the award. The official Hugo site, with awards by year and by category. Some Hugo history. Locus magazine on the award. Pictures of various Hugos. One famous appearance of a Hugo.
The anthologies that I either have or are aware of are:
The Hugo Winners (edited by Isaac Asimov, published by Nelson Doubleday & Co.). Available for years through the Science Fiction Book Club as a massive hardcover, this was also also split into two smaller volumes (as both hardcover and paperback). I have the single volume hardcover, so I'll be reviewing that version. The overall collection covers the period 1963 to 1970, with the individual first volume covering 1963 to 1967 and the individual second volume covering 1968 to 1970.
Made up of: Introduction and narrative material (Isaac Asimov); The Darfsteller (Walter M. Miller, Jr.); Allamagoosa (Eric Frank Russell); Exploration Team (Murray Leinster); The Star (Arthur C. Clarke); Or All the Seas with Oysters (Avram Davidson); The Big Front Yard (Clifford D. Simak); The Hell-Bound Train (Robert Bloch); Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes); The Longest Voyage (Poul Anderson); The Dragon Masters (Jack Vance): No Truce with Kings (Poul Anderson); Soldier, Ask Not (Gordon R. Dickson); "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (Harlan Ellison); The Last Castle (Jack Vance); Neutron Star (Larry Niven); Weyr Search (Anne McCaffrey); Riders of the Purple Wage (Philip Jose Farmer); Gonna Roll the Bones (Fritz Leiber); I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream (Harlan Ellison); Nightwings (Robert Silverberg); The Sharing of Flesh (Poul Anderson); The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (Harlan Ellison); Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones (Samuel R. Delany)
Walter M. Miller, Jr.: The Darfsteller: Miller's award-winning story is the tale of a former actor who just can't move far enough away from the stage. Theatre is now done by robots, controlled by a computer that is fed tapes of the abilities of various actors and actresses. While Miller may have missed the mark by putting robots on the stage, I wonder if this story will start to feel all too familar to the folks who are getting their body motions digitally captured for films such as the forthcoming Beowulf! (Re-read in 2008...)
Eric Frank Russell: Allamagoosa: Russell's winner is a comedic bit about the military and the silliness of spit-and-polish inspections on field units. I'll leave the definition of the title up as an exercise for the student. (Re-read in 2008...)
Murray Leinster: Exploration Team: If memory serves, this was part of a series of tales, but it has been too darn long since I read them to place the book title. (Hey! An excuse to read more Murray Leinster!) A man involved in an illegal colonization effort has to reveal himself in order to rescue a group of legal colonists on the planet he is settling. A bit pulpish here and there, it makes up for it in the rather unique exploration team of the title. (Re-read in 2008...)
Arthur C. Clarke: The Star: While some point to this story as proof that SF is not religious, I see the opposite. Clarke has declared himself to be at least non-religious at various times, but he writes a moving story with a well defined main character who is deeply religious. (Re-read in 2008...)
Avram Davidson: Or All the Seas with Oysters: Ever wonder why your desk has a ton of paperclips one week and a whole bunch of rubber bands the next? Davidson has the explanation! A great example of the kind of story that F&SF excelled in during the 1960's. (Re-read in 2008...)
Clifford D. Simak: The Big Front Yard: Reviewed previously here. So I read it again! Big deal! Get your own blog! It remains one of my favorite stories by one of my favorite authors. (Re-read in 2008...)
Robert Bloch: The Hell-Bound Train: A horror/fantasy story with a nice humorously evil twist.
Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon: Still packs a lot of impact. The tale of a mentally "challenged" (is that the term of the day?) man who is given (at first) normal and then greater than normal intelligence after an operation. Unfortunately it does not last. This version is better, in my opinion, than the expanded novel-length version.
The Hugo Winners, Volume 3 (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers 1969 to 1974. Don't own this one...yet (update: copy located, on order!).
The Hugo Winners, Volume 4 (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers 1975 to 1978. Don't own this one...yet (update: copy located, on order!).
The Hugo Winners, Volume 5 (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers 1979 to 1981. Don't own this one...yet (update: copy located, on order!).
(I don't know why I never picked up those three volumes. I was a member of the SFBC for a long time as a kid through high school and then for several years after first getting married. The period of that gap was during the first, but it is possible that I got the books out of the library and never bought them through the SFBC. Time to haunt various second-hand shops, real and virtual, to fill in these gaps!)
The New Hugo Winners (edited by Isaac Asimov, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-72081-3). Covers 1982 to 1984.
Made up of: Souls (Joanna Russ); Firewatch (Connie Willis): Melancholy Elephants (Spider Robinson); Cascade Point (Timothy Zahn); Blood Music (Greg Bear); Speech Sounds (Octavia E. Butler); Press Enter (John Varley); Blood Child (Octavia E. Butler); The Crystal Spheres (David Brin).
The New Hugo Winners, Volume II (edited by Isaac Asimov, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-72103-8). Covers 1985 to 1987.
Made up of: 24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hokusai (Roger Zelazny); Paladin of the Lost Hour (Harlan Ellison); Fermi & Frost (Frederick Pohl); Gilgamesh in the Outback (Robert Silverberg); Permafrost (Roger Zelazny); Tangents (Greg Bear); Eye for Eye (Orson Scott Card); Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight (Ursula K. Le Guin); Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers (Lawrence Watt-Evans).
The New Hugo Winners, Volume III (edited by Connie Willis, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-87604-X). Covers 1988 to 1990.
Made up of: Kirinyaga (Mike Resnick); Schrodinger’s Kitten (George Alec Effinger): The Last of the Winnebagos (Connie Willis); Boobs (Suzy McKee Charnas); Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another (Robert Silverberg); The Mountains of Mourning (Lois McMaster Bujold); Bears Discover Fire (Terry Bisson); The Manamouki (Mike Resnick); The Hemingway Hoax (Joe Haldeman).
The New Hugo Winners, Volume IV (edited by Gregory Benford, Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-87852-2). Covers 1991 to 1993.
Made up of: A Walk in the Sun (Geoffrey Landis); Gold (Isaac Asimov); Beggars in Spain (Nancy Kress); Even the Queen (Connie Willis); The Nutcracker Coup (Janet Kagan); Barnacle Bill The Spacer (Lucius Shepard); Death on the Nile (Connie Willis); Georgia On My Mind (Charles Sheffield); Down in the Bottomlands (Harry Turtledove).
The Super Hugos (edited by Isaac Asimov). Covers both short and long works from 1955 to 1979.
(Wow. So the most recent "official" anthology ends with 1993. That's quite a few years of shorter works that could be anthologized. Hopefully they are all collected in the other annual collections that I have access to.)
Hmmmm...once I get through the Hugo winners, I should tackle Nebula winners that aren't covered by Hugo awards! Then there's the John W. Campbell award.
Nine stories towards the 2006 Short Story Project.
Remainder counts towards the 2007 Short Story Project.
Six stories towards the 2008 Year in Shorts.
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