Forgotten Book: Night of the Jabberwock by Fredric Brown (1950)

Nick of the Jabberwok is fast, fun and full of surprises.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 171st in my series of Forgotten Books.

As I mentioned in the last Forgotten Book column, I recently discovered a cache of old Unicorn Mystery Book Club books at the local Half Price. I bought six volumes while I was there. The Memoirs of Solar Pons was in one of the volumes. But the one that really pushed me over the edge was Night of the Jabberwock by Fredric Brown — not that it took much of a push.

There was a time when I had a very nice collection of Fredric Brown’s work. I had hardback firsts of all his science fiction, including a nice, signed Space on My Hands and much of his mystery work. I believe I had all the mystery novels and most of the short stories. I did not have The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches, but I did have the original pulp that the story had appeared in. And I had read most of his work. Somewhere along the way, I did an article about Ed and Am Hunter that appeared in a non-fiction work about 100 great detectives, and I had read all those novels.

At his worst, Brown was always worth reading. And at his best, he was fantastic. Here, in Night of the Jabberwock, he was at the top of his form.

It’s a novel with a lot of stuff going on. The hero is Doc Stoeger, the editor and publisher of a small town weekly newspaper. He has a PhD and his dissertation was on Lewis Carroll. He is nuts for Lewis Carroll. But no one in the town really cares. He has one or two friends he can play chess with, but no one to really discuss the things he loves most. And after 23 years running the paper, he is down. Just once, he would love something to happen on Thursday night so that when the paper came out on Friday morning it would have real news.

Well, Doc soon discovers you should be careful what you wish for. In the course of one night, he has many adventures. There’s a messy divorce case, the bank is broken into, several men are murdered, Doc and his friend Smiley are kidnapped by gangsters, there’s an explosion in the Roman candle department of the local fireworks factory, there’s an escapee from the local loony bin. Oh, and Doc is the prime suspect in two of the murders and is involved in a manhunt in his small town. Doc sees and witnesses all of these and yet, he cannot write about them.

The series of events begins with a man named Yehudi Smith who asks about the Vorpal Blades, a Lewis Carroll appreciation society. That society wants Doc to meet them at a nearby haunted house to discuss the possibility that Lewis Carroll was writing about real worlds in the Alice books.

This is fast paced like a Cornell Woolrich novel and, at times, just as unbelievable. But the prose is lean and clean, and the reader has the adventure of a lifetime.

I read this book many years ago and had forgotten most of it, so it was wonderful to sit back in my reading chair and renew my friendship. I ran across a passage that I loved on the original reading and again last night:

“Two walls of my living room are lined with them (books) and they overflow the bookcases in my bedroom and I even have a shelf of them in the bathroom. What do I mean, even? I think a bathroom without a bookshelf is as incomplete as would be one without a toilet.”

Can I get an “Amen”?

It’s a quick and wonderful read and, while it used to be impossible to find when I first started looking, there are plenty of editions and copies around online or in eBooks now. You have no excuse. Go forth and slay the jubjub bird and have some fun.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Moment of Wonder: Up Close With a Monster of the Deep

On Christmas Eve, a Japanese diver caught the most recent — and what may be the most vivid — video footage of one of Earth’s monsters of the deep: the giant squid.

Akinobu Kimura swam alongside the 12-foot creature after it was spotted in Toyama Bay, northwest of Tokyo. The footage below captures what the New York Times poetically describes as the massive invertebrate’s “ballet of pink and white tentacles.”

The giant squid, or Architeuthis, can grow more than 40 feet in length, so this specimen — impressive as it is — is merely a runt. Until 2005, no one had even captured still photos of the elusive cephalopod in the wild. Kimura’s footage is courtesy of Reuters.

Forgotten Films: White Pongo (1945)

White Pongo: Sometimes you're in the mood for a one-take ape flick.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 148th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

It’s been a while since we did a good ape film here in the Forgotten Films. (And with this week’s choice, it will still be a while before we have a “good” ape film.) Whenever I am in desperate need of a short, interesting film to review, I go to my collection “Beyond Kong,” which contains eight ape movies. Over the years I think I’ve seen and reviewed four of them, including this one.

White Pongo will never be confused with anything other than a quick B film made cheaply and designed to bring some dollars into the studio coffers. The studio in question being Sigmund Neufeld Productions, headed by Sigmund who produced the film and was the brother to its director, Sam Newfield. Sam is legendary in Hollywood for having turned out somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 pictures in a 30-year career. Turn them out fast and cheap was his mantra.

White Pongo fits that mantra quite well. It has a flimsy story, an expedition trying to find an albino gorilla that might be the missing link, as well as a forced love story/triangle. But the one thing it does have is Ray “Crash” Corrigan in the title role.

Ray Corrigan was one of the best of the Hollywood Gorilla Men who worked in all the B flicks and comedies playing apes and gorillas. Corrigan owned his own suits and worked as a gorilla man early in his career, starting with 1932’s Tarzan the Ape Man with Johnny Weissmuller. Mark Finn could wax poetic for several pages here on the subtleties of Corrigan’s gorilla work. Let’s just say, he was among the best. When he finally retired from stunt work and the gorillas in 1948, he sold his suits to Steve Calvert. His suits lived on longer than he did.

Back to White Pongo. Captured scientist Gunderson (Milton Kibbee, the brother of actor Guy Kibbee) receives help and escapes from a Congo tribe intent on sacrificing him. Their attention is turned when the White Pongo (apparently Pongo is their word for gorilla) kills some of the tribesmen. Gunderson escapes with some scientific journals and manages to make it back to civilization, but in a bad physical state. He is delirious, but the journals interest Sir Harry Bragdon (Gordon Richards). Sir Harry organizes an expedition with his daughter Pamela (Maris Wrixon), his secretary Clive Carswell (Michael Dyne), a friend Baxter (George Lloyd) and guide Hans Krobert (Al Eben). Kobert has a native guide working for him named Mumbo Jumbo (Joel Fluellen). Among the safari workers is Bishop (Richard Fraser). Pamela takes an interest in Bishop, to the annoyance of Carswell, who has his own plans for Pamela. This leads to a confrontation when Pamela, at one of their rest stops, whips out her fanciest cocktail dress and entices Bishop to kiss her. Of course, this happens just as Carswell enters. One quick punch and Carswell is down, but Sir Harry does not like the help associating with his daughter.

There’s a lot of stock footage of animals and rivers. Apparently much of the film was shot at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanical Garden. The plot meanders with a double cross, a kidnapping, murder, mad monkey kung-fu fighting and more. One of those items may have been a hallucination.

Anyway, if you like gorillas, you want to see this. If you don’t, you should probably stay away. It makes less sense than an episode of Jungle Jim. But there is a fight between a black gorilla and the albino. You get to see the girl slung over the shoulder of Corrigan. Ray shambles through the jungle as only he can.

IMDB points out a weird inconsistency that I noted as the film went on. “Pongo” is apparently the native word for Gorilla. But the natives all say “Ponga,” not “Pongo.” Newfield was noted for being a one-take director so you can guess how many retakes he made here.

Anyway, I had fun. My wife stayed in the other room, so I know how much she would have enjoyed this one. Not. You should check it out, but be aware; mileage on gorilla films has been known to vary widely. And objects in the rear view mirror are really a lot closer than you think.

Have a great new year and we will see you in 2016.

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Book: The Memoirs of Solar Pons by August Derleth (1951)

Mystery fans shouldn't ignore Derleth's Solar Pons books just because they're pastiches.

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 170th in my series of Forgotten Books.

Not long ago I was in Half Price Books looking to see what might be malingering for me to find, when I ran across a stack of old Unicorn Mystery Book Club titles. If you are not familiar with the Unicorn Mystery Book Club, it was a club similar to the Mystery Book Club that published omnibus volumes with four titles in each volume. The Unicorn Mystery Book Club was generally edited by Hans Stefan Santesson (according to an article I read) and frequently they contained unusual entries. The volumes I picked up had Fredric Brown and Anthony Boucher in them, so I know I got some solid stuff.

This week’s book had The Beautiful Stranger by Bernice Carey, Fish Lane by Louis Corkill, Hangman’s Hat by Paul Ernst and The Memoirs of Solar Pons by August Derleth. I have had the Derleth Solar Pons books at various times in my collection, but they’d slipped from my fingers by the time I ran across this book. I picked it up and decided to read.

August Derleth is a puzzle to me. I love him as an editor and publisher of Arkham House and for preserving (with Donald Wandrei) the legacies of Lovecraft, Smith and Howard. As a horror writer, I find him pretty close to unreadable, particularly when he takes on the Lovecraft Mythos.

The Solar Pons books, however, I enjoy. Partly because they are somewhat formulaic. Solar Pons is Sherlock Holmes. No one even remotely tries to deny it. His assistant, Dr. Lyndon Hardy, is Dr. Watson (the Doyle Watson, not the movie one). Derleth’s pastiches are good, very relaxing and enjoyable. Not near the equivalent of the originals but better than many things which followed Doyle and Derleth.

Derleth wrote more Solar Pons stories than Doyle ever did for Holmes — eight volumes of short stories and one novel. The collection in question this week contains 12 stories and is chronologically the second volume published.

The stories included are all pretty clever, especially “The Adventure of the Broken Chessman,” which features Russian spies in London during the 1920s, and “The Adventure of the Six Silver Spiders,” which references some of the famous occult volumes such as The Necronomicon and Unausprechlican Kulten, which are familiar to Lovecraftian fans. I also really enjoyed “The Adventure of the Proper Comma,” which features Pons’ Praed Street Irregulars and “The Adventure of the Five Royal Coachmen,” which combines politics, spies and trout fishing.

Some stories were easy to figure out, such as “The Adventure of the Circular Room” and “The Adventure of the Paralytic Mendicant,” while others were not as easy. And how could you not love a title like “The Adventure of the Tottenham Werewolf”?

Each story ran about 20 pages for a quick and easy read. This was not my first encounter with Mr. Pons and Dr. Parker nor will it be my last. Paperback copies exist of most of the Derleth titles, since Pinnacle did a reprint series in the 1980s, as well as including the four volumes Basil Copper continued with the character after Derleth’s death. I have not read those, but I may have one or two hanging around. I’m not sure, but perhaps I will check around and see.

Online book marketplace AbeBooks has quite a few of the paperbacks for under $5, plus shipping. EBay has also has a large number for various prices, including some of the original hardcover published by Arkham House’s mystery imprint Mycroft and Moran.

There are never enough great detective short stories. These may be very good. I don’t know if I’d call them great, but I enjoyed the collection all the way through.

As usual, depending on your fanatical devotion to the canon, your mileage may vary. Don’t ignore them just because they are pastiches.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Films: The Thing From Another World (1951)

The Thing From Another World: the first and arguably the best

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 147th my series of Forgotten, Obscure or Neglected Films

As mentioned in the previous column, it is time to come to The Thing From Another World. I don’t know if this is “forgotten.” Certainly when I was in college or earlier, it was quite well known. But tastes have changed over the years and the two re-makes (both called The Thing) are much better known, and this one has fallen by the wayside.

But I have a backstory with this film. While in college around 1973, I worked a variety of jobs. At one of them I worked with a very nice college student named Marcia. We went out a few times but nothing really clicked. She knew I liked science fiction, and one day she told me about the science fiction club at the University of Texas. They were making a trip to Enchanted Rock on the upcoming Sunday. Since I worked retail, she suggested I might go. The flyer she saw said everyone was welcome.

That Sunday, I showed up and met some of the best friends I ever had. Among them were Bill Wallace, Dianne Kraft, Bud Simons, Bruce Sterling and more (my memories have faded quite a bit since then). We all made the trip and had a great time and some great food at the Salt Lick afterwards.

I was invited to some more events they had and became a member. Not too much later, we all decided to attend AggieCon 4. The guests were Jack Williamson, Chad Oliver and fan guest Bob Vardeman. This weekend changed my life! Seriously! It was my first SF convention (or first convention of any sort, other than high school Math and German conferences, which had only day meetings and I attended as part of school functions). Again, I met many more interesting people and had the time of my life!

Among the things that happened there were my first trip to a dealer’s room and first collectible SF purchases, which included an old Famous Fantastic Mysteries pulp, an Arthur C. Clarke galley and a paperback. I saw my first Arkham House books (though Bill Wallace would later show me his collection, which was virtually complete at that point and was later completed). And I found the film room.

I saw Barbarella on a big screen. Not the big screen at Texas A&M in Rudder Tower (that was not complete then, but I still saw the movie a big screen). There was a war film called The Best of Enemies, if I recall correctly and I am really not sure about this one. And someone brought in a bootleg 16mm copy of The Thing From Another World.

I had read the John W. Campbell story “Who Goes There” prior to this, and I knew it had been filmed, but I had never seen it. It was late at night, so no questions about the origin of the print would be asked. But I sat there with other fans and new friends and watched a glorious film.

The story is pretty basic. A team of scientists led by Doctor Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) see something crash land near their station and request that the military send some troops to check it out. Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) arrives with a few men and a bored newspaper reporter, Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer). Carrington shows the group photographs that prove something odd has happened and, using science, they triangulate where the crash took place.

On the snow they see strange markings and an area of fused ice which is different from their surroundings. Through the ice, they see a craft, and using the men, determine that it is large and circular. They have found a flying saucer. The men try to use thermite charges to deice the object but that backfires and the saucer is destroyed. A Geiger counter reveals a radioactive presence, and a large figure (presumably the pilot of the craft) is found encased within a block of ice.

Not sure what else to do, they return to the scientific base. Weather prevents them from returning to Anchorage, where they have more facilities. Carrington wants to see what is in the ice, but Hendry is opposed to fooling with something they do not understand. Tension arises at the base and the men form sides. Dr. Carrington’s assistant/secretary/recorder Nikki (Margaret Sheridan) knew Hendry previously and is interested in seeing him some more.

And this wouldn’t be a good film if accidents did not happen. The block of ice thaws and the “thing” (James Arness – Marshall Matt Dillon, his ownself) escapes. As alien attacks the group, they are able to escape and it is sent outside into the way sub-zero storm where it encounters sled dogs. They later find that the dogs have removed an arm from the beast. Carrington and the scientists examine it and find that the creature is not even an animal. It is a vegetable (an intelligent carrot).

While others try to find the creature and protect the group, Dr. Carrington begins some experimentation and finds out the thing thrives and regenerates with human plasma. There follows a long discussion on what the duties of a scientist are in such a threatening situation like this as opposed to the military point of view. Then the creature begins sabotaging the heating system and everyone sees that they must work together to survive.

I’ll let you watch it (if you have not done so before) to see how they escape. I really enjoyed this film. I like it more than the two color John Carpenter films which are both very good horror films. This one is an atmospheric, moody piece with slow building suspense as opposed to the action effects-reliant later films. All are good. But this is my favorite.

The film is available from the usual outlets online and is not very expensive. If you have not seen it (or it’s been a while) you might check it out again. If your only exposure via John Carpenter, give this one a try.

But, as always, your tastes and my tastes are probably different, and your mileage may vary.

Oh, yeah, “Watch the skies!”

Series organizer Todd Mason hosts more Tuesday Forgotten Film reviews at his own blog and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Haunting Question: What’s your favorite holiday-themed sf/fantasy/horror

Alex Ross' Justice League Christmas was one contributor's holiday fave.

From Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol to the recently released horror movie Krampus, the holiday season has long been a fertile source of material for creators of the fantastic.

Of course, many of us have favorite holiday-themed sf, fantasy and horror we turn to this time of year. As I posted on Monday, mine’s “The Chimney,” a 1975 short story by Ramsey Campbell that zeros in on childhood fears with chilling alacrity.

I decided to put the question to other authors and fans to see what books, stories, comics, movies and TV episodes bring them holiday cheer. While the results include a number of tried-and-true classics, many were new to me. I hope the list holds some surprises for you as well.

Happy holidays — and keep reading!

Patrice Sarath: Patrice Sarath is an author and editor living in Austin, Texas. Her novels include the fantasy series, Books of the Gordath (Gordath Wood, Red Gold Bridge and The Crow God’s Girl) and the romance The Unexpected Miss Bennet. She has been published by Penguin in the US and Robert Hale Ltd. in the UK. She is the author of numerous short stories that have appeared in magazines and anthologies.

The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe when Narnia is under the White Witch’s thrall, and it’s always winter and never Christmas. I grew up in New England and used to go skating on a small pond in the woods, about a mile hike from the house. In the winter the pond would freeze and you could skate in and out among the trees, and the snow lay in billows on the ground. The only thing missing was a lamppost.

John Picacio: John Picacio is a two-time Hugo Award-winning illustrator of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His works have illustrated the covers of books by Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Dan Simmons, Joe R. Lansdale, Jeffrey Ford, Frederik Pohl, James Tiptree, Jr., Mark Chadbourn and many more.

DC Comics’ Justice League of America at Christmas / Artwork by Alex Ross. I’m not sure where this Alex Ross artwork first appeared, but it’s one of my favorite things he’s ever done. He’s illustrated more epic pieces, but I love the compact storytelling here. It’s Ross doing Norman Rockwell, and he’s doing it well. The circular composition moves your eye through the characters’ interactions. I’m not sure what Aquaman’s problem is, but he’s not the star here. Batman frames the composition and his outsider view tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about that character in one glance. Factor in his origin story and the image tugs your heart strings a bit — or at least mine. Even better yet — add in the way Superman is inviting him to join the merriment. It’s a hinge moment, framed by that mullion that cuts across the circle. Your imagination plays out whether Batman pops in for some eggnog or slips back into the shadows, spending another Christmas Eve bereft and alone atop a Gotham skyscraper.

A Christmas Carol scored high for several contributors — both in written and celluloid form.

Renee Babcock: Renee Babcock is an avid reader who has been active in Texas fandom since 1999. She has chaired or co-chaired 4 ArmadilloCons, was the co-chair of the 2006 World Fantasy in Austin, and is the co-Chair of the 2017 World Fantsy to be held in San Antonio. She’s also currently on the Board of Directors of FACT, Inc.

I love the Dr. Who A Christmas Carol. I love the story for it’s theme of redemption, and this adaption is so wonderful, with its use of music, its pathos, and the joyful ending for him. For some reason I really connect with this adaptation on an emotional level.

Don Webb: Don Webb has written horror, science fiction and mysteries professionally since 1986. He was born in a hospital that was on Route 66. He has only been in one documentary about weapons grade plutonium (Youtube it: Plutonium Circus).

Ramsey Campbell’s “Christmas Present” is an unending grind. It begins harsh — just gets grimier. This shouldn’t work in a tale, but in Campbell’s masterful hands it does.

Nicky Drayden: Nicky Drayden is a Systems Analyst who dabbles in prose when she’s not buried in code. She resides in Austin, Texas where being weird is highly encouraged, if not required.

The Stupidest Angel has to be my go-to Christmas themed Horror-Comedy. I ran across it while browsing at Half Price Books, saw the title and the cute image on the cover, and was like “I need to read this!” It was my first introduction to Christopher Moore, and he has me hooked. What’s more fun than an angel who is so absolutely horrible at his job that he accidentally raises zombies and causes a Christmas party massacre? And I have to note, while we’re on the subject of Christopher Moore, Lamb is one of my all-time favorite reads, holiday themed or not. It chronicles the early life of Jesus as told by his best friend Biff. Not exactly genre, but if you ever thought the Bible could be spiced up by a generous helping of hilarity and sprinkling f-bombs on every other page, then this one is for you! Plus you get to find out what the H in “Jesus H. Christ” stands for.

Lee Thomas: Lee Thomas is the Lambda Literary Award and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of more than 20 books, including The Dust of Wonderland, In the Closet, Under the Bed, The German, Torn, Ash Street, Like Light for Flies and Butcher’s Road. Writing as Thomas Pendleton and Dallas Reed, he is the author of the novels Mason, Shimmer and The Calling from HarperTeen. He is also the co-author (with Stefan Petrucha) of the Wicked Dead series of books for young adults.

Every couple of years as Christmas approaches, I revisit Peter Straub’s Ghost Story. Though not technically a holiday-themed novel, the contemporary timeline of the book spans the holiday season. Brief scenes revealing the behavior of Milburn’s townsfolk in the days leading up to Christmas emphasize the desperation and claustrophobia of an isolated populace under siege by supernatural forces. The book is a wonderful read any time of the year, but particularly so when the nights are long and cold.

Some like their holiday-themed lit darker than others, and Straub’s Ghost Story is very dark indeed.

Patrick Sullivan: Patrick Sullivan is a published short story author. A screenwriter who has been a finalist in AFF and Final Draft competitions, semi-finalist in many more. An abuser of software. A martial artist. A fanboy who has met Harlan Ellison several times and has not been yelled at once.

The first movie that comes to mind besides the obvious Gremlins, which is far darker than people might remember, is Rare Exports. First, Rare Exports is a Spielbergian horror/kids adventure set in Lapland, so it isn’t something you’ve possibly seen before. Second, it is satisfying and has a real sense of joy to it. The filmmakers clearly had a good time which makes it so fun for the audience.

Lawrence Person: Lawrence Person is a science fiction writer living in Austin, Texas, and owner of Lame Excuse Books.

I think I’m going to have to go with Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star.” Which is ironic, since it’s more an anti-Christmas story. But nothing else has stuck in my memory nearly as well, with a true gut-punch in the final line.

Benjamin Cartwright: Benjamin Cartwright lives in Spokane, WA. His writing has appeared in Sentence, The Stinging Fly, Midwestern Gothic, Prick of the Spindle, and other fine places. He teaches at Spokane Falls Community College, though his past haunts include Tianjin (China), Topeka (Kansas), Lawrence (Kansas), Moscow (Idaho) and the underside of various railroad bridges.

Nothing recreates my abject, early-childhood terror of Santa Claus quite like the “Xmas Story” episode of Futurama. What strikes me, on re-watching the episode for about the 1,000th time this year, is how plausible it all still seems. Of course a robotic Santa Claus would turn murderous because of faulty programming. Of course the human population of the future would live in fear. The movie poster for Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) I saw when I was seven created the nefarious Santa of my imagination, but the creators of Futurama gave it its best, most memorable, tangible form. Also, I love that John Goodman does the voice for the robotic Santa Claus. Ever since Barton Fink, his voice has given me chills when he’s playing an unhinged character.

The Stupidest Angel was a new one on me.

Scott A. Cupp: Scott A. Cupp is a writer from San Antonio who has been associated with the science fiction community for more than 40 years. He has been a regular reviewer at Mystery Scene magazine, where he reviewed western and horror novels, and at Missions Unknown blog, where he did columns on Forgotten Books and Forgotten Films. His most recent fiction, “Monikins of the Montgolfiers,” appeared in July 2015 in Story Emporium magazine.

This was a lot harder to answer than I initially thought. Would I go with music? I have bad memories of hearing the Bing Crosby Christmas album for many listens with my folks. Nope! Not going to be it. How about a film? I saw White Christmas when I was eight and loved it but that’s not going to be it. Other films – I could go all geek and say it isn’t Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off of Nakatomi Towers. Good choice or even the second Die Hard is also a Christmas film, and it has the wonderful scene where Bonnie Bedelia zaps William Atherton on the plane. Or I could talk about Santa Claus vs. the Martians. But, let’s not. How about comics? There’s the Batman story “Santa Claus: Wanted Dead or Alive,” which featured Frank Miller’s first Batman. No, that’s a little schmaltzy. How about the classics “Christmas on Bear Mountain,” which introduced the world to Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge McDuck. That’s pretty good. Or even the follow-up, “A Christmas for Shacktown,” which has great heart. Good choices both. But how about in the SF world? Connie Willis has done several great Christmas pieces. But, after much thought, it can only be Mr. Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The original Scrooge finds the spirits of Christmas in a great ghost story that is so well done that everyone knows the story and still watches it. Instantly adaptable to whatever universe you work it into – the Muppets, Mr. Magoo, every cartoon or drama ever! “Marley was dead, to begin with!” Some of the most famous words ever written. And powerful too. So, for Christmas, go to the Dickens.

Joe McKinney: Joe McKinney, a two-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, is an author in many genres, including horror, zombie apocalypse tales, ghost stories, virus thrillers, crime and science fiction. He has written 17 novels, developed two collections of short stories, created a tale for a comic book, and been both published in and edited numerous anthologies.

Well, I was going to say Die Hard, but you went and specified horror, science fiction or fantasy. Grrrr. I guess my second favorite would be a toss up between Henry James’ Turn of the Screw and the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol. Of the two, A Christmas Carol is obviously a Christmas themed tale, while Turn of the Screw is simply a frame story told on Christmas Eve, so I guess A Christmas Carol would have to win out. There have been lots of fine versions of the Charles Dickens classic, but George C. Scott brings is basically the human version of Grumpy Cat, and his screen presence is just perfect for the part of Scrooge. Also, and this is really what makes it, Scott is able to convey the essence of Scrooge’s redemption. He brings to life the fact that the book is not so much about fear of the grave, but fear that the heart may never love again. That’s why I like that version of the story so much.

Eugene Fischer: Eugene Fischer is a writer living in Austin, Texas. His latest novella, “The New Mother,” was named a best story of the year by io9, and has been optioned for television by Plan B Entertainment.

The two things that come to mind for me are both short stories. One is “Santa Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R.” by Harlan Ellison, a late 60s superspy romp that happens to star Kris Kringle as the free world’s most deadly secret agent. The other is “In The Late Decemeber” by Greg van Eekhout, a story that takes the grand human tradition of celebrating our resilience in the face of a long, cold winter to its logical conclusion by showing Santa’s struggle to spread cheer in an old, tired universe consumed by entropy.

 

Cocktail Hour: The Black Santa, inspired by Ramsey Campbell’s “The Chimney”

The Black Santa promises a merry Christmas to all, and to all a terrifying night.

To my mind, there may be no better writer of horror short stories than Britain’s Ramsey Campbell.

Beyond his beautiful — sometimes oblique — prose, Campbell is a master at tapping into the subconscious fears we all carry from childhood. His stories are full of shadows that stalk us, frightening figures watching from a distance and unknowable things that slither in the dark.

His Christmas-themed short story “The Chimney” is a perfect example.

Its 12-year-old protagonist is a sensitive soul, afraid of the strange noises that lurk in the darkness of his family’s house. Among the scariest are those from the drafty chimney in his bedroom. In Campbell’s hands, the boy’s nightly lights-out becomes a surreal trip into a tunnel of horror — and likely similar to ones we experienced in our own childhoods as we awaited slumber.

"The Chimney" is available in Campbell's Alone with the Horrors collection.

“The shadows moved things,” Campbell writes. “The mesh of the fireguard fluttered enlarged on the wall; sometimes, at the edge of sleep, it became a swaying web, and its spinner came sidling down from a corner of the ceiling. Everything was unstable…”

Of course, the boy’s parents are no help. He’s coddled by his smothering mother, while his fear becomes an embarrassment for his no-nonsense father. Both are unable, for their own reasons, to break the news to him that Santa Claus doesn’t exist — even though he’s quickly drawing his own conclusions.

With his imagination left to wander, the young protagonist frets that Father Christmas — or some dark version of Father Christmas — is the source of the mysterious noises. While Campbell could take the theme in a campy direction, he never does. He lets our imaginations fill in the blanks, and the dark figure that finally appears to crawl from the flue is truly terrifying.

Campbell is a master of gut-punch endings, and “The Chimney” packs one. Don’t worry, I won’t give it away. Suffice to say you won’t see it coming, but when it arrives, it works within everything he laid out in plain view during the story’s set-up.

“The Chimney” is a great, gruesome antidote for forced holiday cheer, and precisely the kind of story that warrants reading with a good cocktail in hand. May I suggest the Black Santa, which combines the mystery of black vodka with seasonal flavors.

Black Santa

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/2 ounces Triple Sec
1 1/2 ounces black vodka, such as Blavod, or make your own
Rosemary sprig, for garnish

Shake the juices and strain into a glass. Using the back of a spoon, pour black vodka slowly into a glass so it rests menacingly atop the juice mixture. Carefully slip the rosemary sprig into the glass for a garnish.

Tune in Monday when I ask other writers, fans and artists to sound off on their favorite holiday-themed horror, fantasy and sf stories.

 

 

Forgotten Book: Harry O. Morris by Harry O. Morris (2015)

Harry O. Morris

By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 169th in my series of Forgotten Books.

Years ago I first encountered the force of nature that is Harry O. Morris in the pages of the long gone and deeply missed fanzine Nyctalops. I received an issue for my birthday and it was filled with more information and visual stimulation than you should legally be allowed to have. The issue I got was devoted to the work of Clark Ashton Smith, though Lovecraft was the fanzine’s primary focus.

Then I saw some of his art at the World Fantasy Convention in Ft. Worth in 1978. It was so wildly different from everything else on exhibit there that, broke person which I was, I ended up buying two photo collages for my personal collection. I know that I still have one of them and maybe the second too.

I later met Harry in person at ArmadilloCon and he was every bit as weird and cool as you could expect. Eventually he married my friend Christine Pasanen and they were a lovely match. I visited them once in Albuquerque and it was great!

Recently, Jerad Walters, the madman behind Centipede Press, published this amazing artbook/biography of Harry. Filled with literally hundreds of photos of artwork from fanzines and book covers. And the introduction from Thomas Ligotti, a writer I first encountered through Harry’s work, is worth the price of admission alone.

One of Morris' book covers

I’m not going to talk much about the book. It is extraordinary and out of print from the publisher, though a few copies are still floating around out there in Webland. It’s a little expensive (not really) because it is filled with lots of heavy paper and color pictures. I’m going to post a photo of Harry and some of his work. This does not really begin to give you an idea of its brilliance. He works with pens, ink, colors, collage, photo emulsions and maybe magic.

If you are looking for the perfect present for that weird friend (who may even be yourself), give them this book. Offer a double or nothing deal if they don’t like it. You won’t have to pay up.

Happy Holidays to everyone out there. And remember, if it ain’t weird, you’re not trying hard enough.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.


 

Moment of Wonder: A selfie on the surface of Mars

NASA’s Curiosity Rover shot this “selfie” on the surface of Mars, where the robotic vehicle’s drill collected samples from Mount Sharp.

The photo is the result of NASA editing together dozens of images taken earlier this year by a camera mounted at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. The arm itself was edited out of the shot to allow a better view of the rover and its Red Planet surroundings.

The Pahrump Hills outcrop surrounds the rover and the upper portion of Mount Sharp is visible on the horizon. The darker patches on the ground in the upper right and lower left is the result of ripples of wind-blown sand and dust.

Click the photo for a bigger view.