tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post8089993903612237286..comments2024-03-08T17:55:48.308-05:00Comments on Sweet Freedom: FFB: FFSS: Stories Which Helped Shape My Thinking; FFM: Further Along with 4 Fantasy Magazines from 1952-54Todd Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-75643863306239177122011-02-22T00:17:08.900-05:002011-02-22T00:17:08.900-05:00"'Communist Chulpex ate my wife...'&q..."'Communist Chulpex ate my wife...'" remains one of the funniest lines that readily come to mind, though only given certain context in the Davidson novel, MASTERS OF THE MAZE. And then there's just, golly, so much more.<br /><br />No longer seem to be teaching 'cause you have too much in your plate, because you'd rather not, or because of tightening belts in these impecunious days?Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-28256336461744395252011-02-21T19:11:52.821-05:002011-02-21T19:11:52.821-05:00And I dislike lists so I'd never make one if I...And I dislike lists so I'd never make one if I could avoid it, but some good choices here that people would do well to pick up. "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" was one of the few stories I actually re-read every time I taught it in the creative writing class I seem to no longer teach.C. Margery Kempehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15910282257993793334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-20032036724997142752011-02-21T19:06:29.536-05:002011-02-21T19:06:29.536-05:00Thank you for the introduction to Avram Davidson. ...Thank you for the introduction to Avram Davidson. I can tell I am going to be glad I know him.C. Margery Kempehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15910282257993793334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-60613064085527939902011-02-19T23:13:33.248-05:002011-02-19T23:13:33.248-05:00Gold used a similar excuse not to publish Klass/&q...Gold used a similar excuse not to publish Klass/"Tenn"'s "The Liberation of Earth"...and that his, Gold's, own leftist past would be used against him. I strongly suspect that he overestimated the richness of his magazine as a target, but the times didn't encourage the worried nor the cautious (the Klass story ended up in SCIENCE FICTION, edited by the somewhat less worried ex-Communist Robert Lowndes). <br /><br />Odd if he was finding a paucity of markets...he won a readers' poll as the most popular contributor to GALAXY in the mid-'70s...but depending on publishers UPD to actually pay for the stories James Baen and his successors bought would be an unrewarding policy. I don't fault him, as particularly noting the kind of advances he would be seeing, but fluffing up the stories for book form is perhaps not the best way to further one's audience. Unless you're Stephen King, but some of shorter work is pretty effluvial, too.<br /><br />I remain sorry I didn't do more to finish my mid-'80s novel involving a bi-polar world, largely dominated by an insurgent China and India, with most of the rest of the world rather more in the observer rather than world-policing roles...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-77992491518109787672011-02-19T22:44:50.476-05:002011-02-19T22:44:50.476-05:00I certainly do not fault Mack Reynolds for expandi...I certainly do not fault Mack Reynolds for expanding his novellas into novels, especially as he had trouble finding magazines to serialize his stories after 1970. But I do think it is fair to note that the shorter magazine stories are superior.<br /><br />I began my Reynolds reading jag after reading his 1975 novel TOMORROW MIGHT BE DIFFERENT and being driven back to the source story "Russkies Go Home" in F&SF, which I had read when it first appeared in 1960. Everything of value was in the novelette. <br /><br />Later I found a Reynolds comment that the story had been written for Galaxy and H.L. Gold liked it so much he asked for an expansion.<br /><br />But when Reynolds turned in the story, Gold rejected it saying the relationship between the Soviet Union and the U.S. had reached the point that publishing the story was not possible. Reynolds said he thought the renewed tension with the US over the U2 incident was the reason. Gold wrote Reynolds that the story was a casualty of the Cold War.<br /><br />Thankfully, F&SF disagreed. In the story Russia has gotten its act together and is out competing the US in industry after industry, to the point that many are being put out of business by the Russians.<br /><br />True Reynolds guessed wrong with Russia but it you substitute China for Russia, the story is very, very accurate.Richard Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770090814220403413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-84010443063859533502011-02-19T16:07:04.921-05:002011-02-19T16:07:04.921-05:00Another danger of being a facile writer, Richard.....Another danger of being a facile writer, Richard...it's too easy, particularly when you're pulling down only a few thousand or so per book even in 1970s dollars, to expand the magazine stories to "book length" through bloviation. But you have to love a guy who not only had the nerve to rewrite Bellamy's LOOKING BACKWARD and EQUALITY for his times, but was the natural choice to do so.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-18715242393343601302011-02-19T14:04:42.911-05:002011-02-19T14:04:42.911-05:00Love your comments on Mack Reynolds. I am in the ...Love your comments on Mack Reynolds. I am in the midst of rereading the Reynolds stories that I have on hand and am 55 stories in and only in the middle of 1961. <br /><br />Not a stylist as a writer but brilliant in creating interesting societies and also very prophetic. His early work was either humorous or very pessimistic, hardboiled fare.<br /><br />I've learned that his stories are much better in their shorter magazine versions. He was a writer who thrived at the novella length but the stories suffered when padded out to novels.<br /><br />Richard MooreRichard Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770090814220403413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-77936828060327387302011-02-19T13:40:11.497-05:002011-02-19T13:40:11.497-05:00(and, thanks for the compliments! I'm always h...(and, thanks for the compliments! I'm always happy to see your comments, too, and not solely by any means for your generous egoboo.)<br /><br />wv: insitte...reminiscent of a collective zine project I was a part of, (in*sit)Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18104399586348314594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-80411998806082112742011-02-19T13:38:15.817-05:002011-02-19T13:38:15.817-05:00The FitzPatrick story sound familiar in that vague...The FitzPatrick story sound familiar in that vaguely irritating way that Whole Lots of Things sound familiar in middle age, but I will seek it out, thanks...and I haven't gotten as far as the Wyman Guin (my copy of his collection LIVING WAY OUT as well as the novel are in a box, awaiting rediscovery) or Zenna Henderson horror story in the BEYOND issue, nor refreshed my memory of Jackson's "Root of Evil" in the FANTASTIC yet, but I'm certainly not giving up on them...I hope to be wistful about whatever happened to Evelyn Goldstein (in the FU, that most ungallant of acronyms).<br /><br />And, you know, I wasn't thinking so much of fiction that had influenced me as a writer...Davidson and Borges and Budrys and Russ are all strong there, though I'm not even playing the same sport, much less in the league...as those who had actually challenged my thinking with a given work of fiction...and Sturgeon also has done so for me, though as with the more pointed stories of Jackson and Leiber and Bloch, I tend to find myself so much in agreement in advance...but the deftness with which, say, Sturgeon takes on several targets at once with "Affair with a Green Monkey" or slaps you with the likes of "A Way of Thinking" can't be discounted in this wise, no. <br /><br />Another underappreciated writer in this wise is Allen Kim Lang...his stories could be a visceral and challenging as anything by Ellison or Lansdale. Certainly "Thaw and Serve" was a hell of an introduction to him.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18104399586348314594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-48859934561766508082011-02-19T02:18:06.341-05:002011-02-19T02:18:06.341-05:00Todd, as usual, fascinating choices with great com...Todd, as usual, fascinating choices with great commentary. I don’t write (unless shopping lists count), so I can’t say which stories influenced me in that way. I love many of the authors mentioned – Ellin, Updike, Davidson, Collier. <i>The Green Hills of Earth</i> was the first book I ever stayed up all night reading. I would add Bradbury and, especially, Sturgeon and Salinger, who I think really did in some measure influence the way I think.<br /><br />Every time you write about short stories I want to comment on all of them, but I’ll restrain myself. Two of the stories in the <i>Beyond</i> that you don’t discuss are ones I like a lot, “Hush!”, one of Mildred Clingerman’s rare horror stories, and the Wyman Guin. I don’t think Guin every had a less than excellent short story published. (I do like his one novel, which nobody else seems to, but nothing like as much as the short stories.)<br /><br />One note about “The Meeting”: there is an earlier story called “Half a Loaf” by R. C. FitzPatrick (Analog, August, 1965) which deals with a similar theme but from a totally different perspective. It was evidently never reprinted, which is a pity; it is an excellent story.SteveHLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01745665231586422220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-46933908305540454372011-02-18T21:31:54.093-05:002011-02-18T21:31:54.093-05:00Yes, Dick, of course, I typed Brown while in brain...Yes, Dick, of course, I typed Brown while in brain idle - which seems to occur more and more often.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-52552248423005049452011-02-18T16:17:46.690-05:002011-02-18T16:17:46.690-05:00Well, that sentient Martian ostrich-oid sure did l...Well, that sentient Martian ostrich-oid sure did like to go rigid and plunge headfirst into the mother-planet...and one of the human scientists was named Putz (yes, Stanley, we get it)...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-14436149691381097122011-02-18T15:54:02.570-05:002011-02-18T15:54:02.570-05:00"sexually-charged Stanley Weinbaum"
......"sexually-charged Stanley Weinbaum"<br /><br />...That's a phrase I never thought I'd read.Jerry Househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-54116256781854451142011-02-18T14:28:47.876-05:002011-02-18T14:28:47.876-05:00And, of course, Bill, one of the great things abou...And, of course, Bill, one of the great things about "Desertion" is that ASTOUNDING editor John Campbell didn't like the implications of the story, and grew to hate them ever more, but couldn't Not publish that story--certainly, to that extent, no fool he.<br /><br />And, Rick, certainly Russell and to a lesser exent "Anvil" did do plenty of impressive to brilliant work, as well...and, Patti, the only shaker of yours I haven't encountered is the Updike...I'll have to give that a try.<br /><br />And, hell, John Varley was shaking up sf in the latter '70s in a way oddly similar to what Spillane did with crime fiction in the latest '40s and early '50s (with his brilliant short fiction, less so with his novels)...Spillane was a less stiff, extremely sexually charged Carroll John Daly, and Varley was rather akin to a latter-day, sexually-charged Stanley Weinbaum...Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-83299313531245167242011-02-18T14:20:37.862-05:002011-02-18T14:20:37.862-05:00Rick, I realized when I got to five that I was goi...Rick, I realized when I got to five that I was going to have entirely too much difficulty deciding which was going to be that last item...though my experience of "Desertion" was very much like Bill's. Inasmuch as I'd juet mentioned "Desertion" in another context earlier last night, it's sad that I failed to think of it in this context...memory is a funny thing. (I think you might be thinking of the Philip K. Dick story, "The Father Thing"...one of his brilliant straightforward horrors, along with "Upon the Dull Earth"...)<br /><br />Steve, your list is full of items that struck chords for me, too...though the Bester story that got to me the most is "5,271,009"...<br /><br />Patti, "The Lottery" was just a mark below my list here, perhaps in part because the folks as described didn't surprised questioning, atheist me. Monsters all around. "The Swimmer" one of Cheever's most clangorous, like "The Enormous Radio," but there are moments spread throughout his work that match those...the Ellin was excellent, but I'm interested that it really resonated thus with both of you, Patti and Jerry.<br /><br />Jerry, that "Charles" sounds more familiar as you describe it.<br /><br />George, thanks...Oates can still take you strange places, particularly as she's increasingly willing to embrace fantasy in the last couple of decades. Dallas McCord Reynolds wrote too much quickly, but his best work can turn anyone around if they let it...and to be a very grounded leftist in the midst of the default right-wing gaggle of Campbell's ANALOG...and Vance, particularly, always had something to say to me, too (as did Phyllis Eisenstein).Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-89075173606501490532011-02-18T13:52:33.563-05:002011-02-18T13:52:33.563-05:00perhaps my counter is off this morning, but in you...perhaps my counter is off this morning, but in your fist set of five there seem to be only four. ?<br /><br />Many great stories there, and I'll add one that really made an impact on me: "The Father Thing" by Fredric Brown. It scared the hell out of me. <br /><br />Also of note: the novelettes "Waldo" and "Magic Inc.", the stories in <em>The Green Hills of Earth</em>, Murray Leinster's "Exploration Team", many of the stories by Christopher Anvil (pseudonym of Harry C. Crosby) and Eric Frank Russell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-89417723261731653902011-02-18T12:20:46.728-05:002011-02-18T12:20:46.728-05:00A Good Man Is Hard to Find-Flannery O'Connor. ...A Good Man Is Hard to Find-Flannery O'Connor. the Distributor-Richard Matheson.Narrow Valley-RA Lafferty. The Question-Stanley Ellin.The Streets of Ashkelon-Harry Harrison.Fondly Fahrenheit-Alfred Bester.Many others by John Collier, Roald Dahl, Avram Davidson.Steve Oerkfitznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-23622060030184864182011-02-18T10:57:45.815-05:002011-02-18T10:57:45.815-05:00The Swimmer by Cheever, The Lottery, by Jackson, S...The Swimmer by Cheever, The Lottery, by Jackson, Specialty of the House, Ellin, Giving Blood, Updike, the Eudora Welty story Why I Live at the PO, The River, Flannery O'Connor. And about a million others.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-33149830625513303932011-02-18T10:13:15.170-05:002011-02-18T10:13:15.170-05:00Todd, "Charles" was one of the stories r...Todd, "Charles" was one of the stories reprinted in THE LOTTERY, as well as in THE MASTERPIECES OF SHIRLEY JACKSON and in the (to be released this month) THE TOOTH. <br /><br />I first read the story as a chapter in one of her humorous memoirs of family life -- either LIFE AMONG THER SAVAGES or RAISING DEMONS, can't remember which. It was one of the funniest stories I had ever read. Later I read it in THE LOTTERY and there it was one of the most chilling stories I had read. It was then I realized the true power a writer could have with words. For me, it's a greater accomplishment than "The Lottery" or "One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts."<br /><br />(BTW, in The Land of Coincidences Dept., after I had first replied to your post, my wife told me that she had taped an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode last night for me. And, yes, it was "The Specialty of the House", starring Robert Morley.Jerry Househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-85052156469569981622011-02-18T09:49:39.216-05:002011-02-18T09:49:39.216-05:00"Were there any short stories, particularly t..."Were there any short stories, particularly that helped change your perspectives on life, in specific or more sweeping ways?"<br /><br />I've never forgotten the impact on me of the last line of Simak's "Desertion." I was just a kid when I read it, and it floored me. Changed my perspective forever, for better or worse.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-59882141204543465532011-02-18T09:37:09.743-05:002011-02-18T09:37:09.743-05:00Another mind-boggling post, Todd! Where to begin?...Another mind-boggling post, Todd! Where to begin? You don't see Mack Reynolds name mentioned much any more, but like you, I'm an admirer of his novels and short fiction. Reading Barthelme's work was a big influence. Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Vance rocked my world. The early short stories of Joyce Carol Oates took me to some strange places.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04546161337366365635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-9952507711420706722011-02-18T09:02:27.442-05:002011-02-18T09:02:27.442-05:00Fredric Wertham and G. Legman tried to warn us, bu...Fredric Wertham and G. Legman tried to warn us, but did we listen? No...and now there's a Jerry House loosed upon the world!<br /><br />All pretty damned memorable stories for me, too, except I might've missed "Charles" or have misremembered its title.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-35838806194962648952011-02-18T08:25:01.197-05:002011-02-18T08:25:01.197-05:00Off the top of my head, the stories that influence...Off the top of my head, the stories that influenced me when I was young were Stanley Ellin's "The Specialty of the House", Roald Dahl's "Royal Jelly", Shirley Jackson's "Charles", and Fritz Leiber's "The Bleak Shore" and "The Rats of Limbo". Later on, I was in awe of Joe R. Lansdale's "The Night They Missed the Horror Show." All of which goes to explain how warped I have become.Jerry Househttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com