Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 20:05:41 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Talking SF, oh my;
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

>
>Michael Walsh wrote:
>
>> Sam Lubell cut a swath with this:
>>
>> >At 10:43 AM 3/21/02 -0500, Lee wrote:
>> >>      The book itself is innocent.  The author is guilty of arborcide.=

>> >>
>> >>-----Original Message-----
>> >>From: Michael Walsh [mailto:MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu]
>> >>
>> >>Sword of Shanara is not an innocent book.
>> >>
>> >>mjw
>> >
>> >Actually Sword of Shanara is responsible for the birth of the modern
>> >fantasy genre.
>> I would suggest two different names: Donald Wollheim and Lin Carter
>>
>> DAW for taking advantage of the strangeness of US Copyright law =
which
>cast =
>> the LOTR into the public domain (this was changed with a court ruling I =
=
>> believe), thereby forcing the hand of JRRTs US & UK publishers to =
finally =
>> authorize a lowly mass market edition of the books.
>>
>> Lin Carter for his Adult Fantasy series which showed that there was a =
=
>> market for good solid fantasy, a lot of classics, plus some new =
writers.  =
>> In general a set of carter's Adult Fantasy novels is a fine selection =
of =
>> fantasy.  Carter himself could barely write himself out of a wet =
paperbag, =
>> and it's bizarre to know that posthumous sequels to the Thongor books =
are =
>> being planned.
>
>I completely agree with you right up to your last sentence -- where I =
stop.  Lin
>was in fact a skilled writer who for the most part did not avail himself =
of that
>skill -- part of the Essential Contradiction of the man.  His Thongor =
stories
>were often silly -- I think in one I published in FANTASTIC Thongor used =
three
>hands to accomplish his purpose at one point -- but I was happy to =
publish his
>Conan collaborations with Sprague.  They usually jacked the sales of an =
issue
>up
>by at least 10,000.
>
>I got to know Lin circa 1961, '62, and we became pretty good friends.  In =
those
>days he wrote direct-mail letters for Prentice-Hall (and coined the =
word/name
>"Psychocybernetics" for the book of that name, which he heavily rewrote). =
 For
>a
>time he hosted the Fanoclasts in the early '60s.  We drifted apart over =
the
>years, but remained friendly.  I recall seeing him at a Unicon (U of MD) =
one
>year where he was, by all reports, acting MCPiggishly -- and his last =
years and
>death were ugly and horrible.  I think of him as a wasted talent, but he =
did
>leave behind some good stuff, and the Adult Fantasy series is one.  =
(Another is
>his unpublished Oz book.)
>
>--Ted White

The Thongor books which I read as a Mere Youth I though silly, really =
silly.  And the thought of reading the Callisto or Green star books was =
not a pleasant thought.  Though his novel "The Man Who Loved Mars" I =
recall through the mists of time to be a delightful homage to the Mars of =
Leigh Brackett.

Unpublished Oz novel?  How . . . interesting.

mjw