tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post5303658131892025222..comments2024-03-27T22:39:08.396-04:00Comments on Sweet Freedom: FFB: DANCING NAKED: THE UNEXPURGATED WILLIAM TENN, V. 3, by Philip Klass (aka WT), edited by Laurie Mann (NESFA Press)Todd Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-47486181960194567102011-12-13T16:42:42.156-05:002011-12-13T16:42:42.156-05:00In a nebulous way...bobble-headed caricatures have...In a nebulous way...bobble-headed caricatures have never been my favorite, either...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-37546433114315962602011-12-13T09:27:02.762-05:002011-12-13T09:27:02.762-05:00But can I add that I find the cover disturbing...But can I add that I find the cover disturbing...K. A. Laityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05983280397279864583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-17762387782640555682011-12-12T20:45:55.807-05:002011-12-12T20:45:55.807-05:00Indeed. I decided against buying either the REQUIE...Indeed. I decided against buying either the REQUIEM FOR ASTOUNDING or the GALAXY/D&L volumes, as they seemed less engaging than simply enthusiastic. I'll probably eventually pick them up. The GALAXY/30 YEARS and companion IF volumes, or F&SF's THE EUREKA YEARS, are in several ways much more compelling books...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-51014646898531210772011-12-12T07:44:30.172-05:002011-12-12T07:44:30.172-05:00In fact I just reread GALAXY THIRTY YEARS and I hi...In fact I just reread GALAXY THIRTY YEARS and I highly recommend it not only for the excellent stories but also for the interesting memoirs that many of the authors wrote concerning their memories of GALAXY and H.L.Gold. It has an author index to the magazine also.<br /><br />Another book is from Advent Publishers titled, GALAXY MAGAZINE, THE DARK AND THE LIGHT YEARS by David L. Rosheim. It's a detailed history of the magazine from 1950-1980.Walker Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16089880902426182100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-87951728421316773292011-12-11T19:16:35.926-05:002011-12-11T19:16:35.926-05:00They to some extent, and certainly the introductio...They to some extent, and certainly the introduction to his story in the GALAXY: 30 YEARS volume, which I'm sure you already have.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-10130240426067025932011-12-11T00:26:51.776-05:002011-12-11T00:26:51.776-05:00I just ordered the Tenn third volume from amazon.c...I just ordered the Tenn third volume from amazon.com. Hopefully the interviews explore his relationship with H.L. Gold.Walker Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16089880902426182100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-1453662136531557502011-12-10T12:51:13.208-05:002011-12-10T12:51:13.208-05:00I think you'll find some evidence in this book...I think you'll find some evidence in this book for both John Campbell and Horace Gold being serious spurs to Klass, Walker, as well as his primary sources of income...but I think also you'll find both that he was so happy and engaged as a professor in the '60s onward, and also that he was one of those writers, like Algis Budrys, who preferred to do as few stories Exactly So (when financially possible, at least) rather than the kind of writer who enjoys the working out of themes through multiple stories and multiple approaches to similar materials (as do those impressive Syracuse U classmates, Barry Malzberg and Joyce Carol Oates...as did the most frequent contributor to Gold's GALAXY, Robert Sheckley). Klass repeatedly mentions how much happier he is with such a late example of his fiction as "Bernie the Faust" than with nearly all the earlier material of his most fiction-productive decade-plus...Klass, like Alfred Bester (another Campbell/Gold writer...who, perhaps significantly, published much of his best work in F&SF), was excessively modest about his fiction, despairing its flaws and not quite crediting its success sufficiently. (And, unsurprisingly, most of his major nonfiction seems to have been written since he slowed his production of fiction.)<br /><br />And, in a real sense, I think Gold was perhaps all but done editing GALAXY and IF even earlier than '60, though I think he was on the masthead for another year or so...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-38466916202385114202011-12-10T08:12:59.789-05:002011-12-10T08:12:59.789-05:00I have the first two volumes which collect Tenn...I have the first two volumes which collect Tenn's short stories. He's always been a favorite of mine because of his humor and satire. He is certainly one of the writers that made GALAXY such an excellent magazine in the 1950's. In fact after H.L. Gold left the magazine around 1960, except for a few stories, Tenn just about stopped writing. I think Gold encouraged, nagged, and almost forced Tenn and other GALAXY writers to contribute their best work.Walker Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16089880902426182100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-66276425324661983582011-12-09T19:59:09.619-05:002011-12-09T19:59:09.619-05:00George: well, Laurie Mann and NESFA have given him...George: well, Laurie Mann and NESFA have given him some of the platform he's deserved, at least...I can make this small, hurriedly-written recommendation, and hope it helps. Glad it's spurred you to purchase...I doubt you'll be the slightest bit disappointed.<br /><br />Kate: Yup...I forget who first noted that we're often happiest when we find ourselves doing something slightly to the side of what we thought we would do for our life's work, but certainly it seemed to be true in Klass's case. I think you'd find his take on Twain's YANKEE particularly amusing.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-61702569725333046872011-12-09T16:40:13.021-05:002011-12-09T16:40:13.021-05:00I didn't know he was a medievalist until you t...I didn't know he was a medievalist until you told me, but there seem to be two types of medievalists: those who do nothing else and those who do everything else as well. Restless minds. As an English professor with no degrees in English, I can relate.K. A. Laityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05983280397279864583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-36382047534329895162011-12-09T15:51:56.329-05:002011-12-09T15:51:56.329-05:00I have the first two NESFA volumes of Tenn's w...I have the first two NESFA volumes of Tenn's work, but not this one. Time to order! Philip Klass is a drastically underrated writer. It's good of you to give him the platform he deserves!Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04546161337366365635noreply@blogger.com