Algis Budrys: The Iron Thorn
Everything, you see, was going beautifully. So then, guess what AJ did next. I’ll tell you what he did next. Basically, he quit writing. I haven’t played quite fair with you because, actually, those...
View ArticleKathy Keeton: The Best-Looking SF Editor Ever
(And One of the Smartest) In the spring of 1978, I was doing a book-promotion tour in the general area of Boston, Massachusetts. That sort of thing was usually scheduled to take advantage of the fact...
View ArticleBen Bova: From Nuts and Bolts to Eternity
In the beginning of his career, young Ben Bova had a good job writing about the hardware his employer, Avco-Everett Research Laboratory, dealt with, but a yearning to write something less confining,...
View ArticleI Warned You!
I said I was going to put advertising in the blog, and I am doing it. Only I think I’ll limit it to advertising my own books — and so here is the first ad! Now Available as an Ebook! The Best of...
View ArticleKeith Laumer
Who Bashed People With His Wit, Then His Cane The first manuscript by Keith Laumer that I remember seeing was about an interstellar diplomat named Retief, which caused me to stop reading manuscripts...
View ArticleEarly Editors
The development of a professional writer is marked by a number of stages, each identified by a particular event. My own development was accelerated by the fact that by the time I was 14 or so I had...
View ArticleArrival, Part 2: Heinlein Stories
Marty Greenberg and a couple of the others who were clustered in the Kansas City hotel lobby were coaxing me to stay, and one of those (apparent) teen-age graduate students nailed me down with a...
View ArticleArrival, Part 3: KC in the GOP’s Wake
By the time the dozen or so of us hungry MidAmeriCon-goers got desperate about food we learned that the Kansas City Rot had spread through the whole city. The hotel’s own coffee shop would take no...
View ArticleArrival, Part 4: The Party Plan
Visiting the SFWA suite at MidAmeriCon seemed worth a try, so we tried it. Unfortunately giving it a try meant quite a lot of walking, which meant a lot of competition for body space as the eager mobs...
View ArticleThe Manuscripts That Wouldn’t Die
Years and years ago—I would say maybe about the 1970s—I happened to think of a mystery novel I would like to write. So whenever I got tired of working on the current piece I was writing for Horace L....
View ArticleJack Vance: A Wonderful Writer Has Left Us
Starting early yesterday morning, my computer’s little warning bell has been ringing. Just one ring each time, because there is only one news item it wants me to know about: Jack Vance died yesterday....
View ArticleWanna Publish a New Sci-Fi Mag?
If you’re among that large and growing fraction of our blog readerrs who never miss anything in the blog and never forget anything you haven’t missed, you may recall an occasional musing from me about...
View ArticleObituaries and Tributes to Frederik Pohl
Fred’s death was reported and mourned all over the world. Here are excerpts from just a small selection of the remembrances from fans, friends and the media. “Grand master passes through the final...
View ArticleThe Story of The Space Merchants, Part 2
Over the next few years I gave most of my thinking time to other matters. I finally could not make myself stay on at a 9-to-5 job in advertising, so in spite of pleas to stay and the offers of still...
View ArticleThe Story of The Space Merchants, Part 3
Cyril Kornbluth and I had collaborated on a few not very good (but sold and published anyway) stories before the war changed everything. He wasn’t doing a lot of writing now, because he had determined...
View ArticleThe Story of The Space Merchants, Part 4
One by one, I showed the tearsheets of Gravy Planet, to every publisher in America who had ever published a science-fiction book or given any sign that some day he might. One by one, they turned it...
View ArticleWindycon Honors Frederik Pohl’s Contributions to SF
By Elizabeth Anne Hull Windycon 41 was a lot of fun for me this year, especially the session dedicated to Frederik Pohl and his impact on science fiction. Some highlights: We opened with a solemn...
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