tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post5310811616003615434..comments2024-03-12T12:38:23.542-04:00Comments on The Kind of Face You Hate: The Kind of Face You SLASH!!! - Day 12: A Movement of Dark Shapesbill r.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-65497814849767017212010-10-13T08:15:14.763-04:002010-10-13T08:15:14.763-04:00Otherbill - I've always been fascinated by the...Otherbill - I've always been fascinated by the pulp era, which all the guys you list would have been a part of, at least at the tail end. The idea of writing fiction as a 9-5 job, and writing horror, SF, Westerns, mysteries, romance (even porn, sometimes) at a penny to a few cents a word, every day, and that was your job...that's just crazy to me, and really admirable. I'd love for someone to put together a massive oral history of that era.<br /><br />Neil - Thanks. The first Beaumont work I was ever conscious of, in that I saw it and noted his name, was BURN, WITCH, BURN, which is a really great adaptation of Leiber's CONJURE WIFE that he co-wrote with Matheson.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-75707750814659875742010-10-12T22:25:11.770-04:002010-10-12T22:25:11.770-04:00I think I discovered Beaumont through his work wit...I think I discovered Beaumont through his work with Roger Corman, although possibly from "The Twilight Zone". I've been a fan for a long time. Nice write up.Neil Sarverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02832804229444976459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-70416858213381838792010-10-12T22:11:21.879-04:002010-10-12T22:11:21.879-04:00I have nothing insightful to add except "amen...I have nothing insightful to add except "amen". I'm lucky enough to have stumbled across a copy of that same edition at a library sale years ago. I've passed it around to alot of friends in the years since. <br /><br />I've always been fascinated by that California School of Ellison, Matheson, Beaumont, Nolan, etc. Something about banging out great little horror stories in between scripts for Serling and Corman with the Pacific crashing home in the background struck me as the best of all possible worlds for a writer. <br /><br />Word Verification: milfic. No comment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-28339778969012039592010-10-12T21:36:38.756-04:002010-10-12T21:36:38.756-04:00I do remember that status update, and also talking...I do remember that status update, and also talking about that episode with you, and others, over at C-Styles (as I call it, privately, to myself). That's one of the seminal episodes, no question.<br /><br />His ending was very sad. It all happened rather suddenly, from what I can tell, and I still can't get over the idea that he developed Alzheimer's in his 30s. I've never heard of that happening before. In THE HOWLING MAN (the book), there's a brief but very touching foreward by Beaumont's son Christopher, who was fairly young when his father passed away, but relates a strong memory of being a kid and falling asleep every night to the sound of his dad pounding away on his typewriter.<br /><br />The most striking thing about Beaumont is how timeless the prose is. Even the best of his peers, like Matheson and Bloch and so on, have a tinge of datedness to their stories -- I don't even mean that in a bad way, because for me that's part of the charm of that era of genre fiction. But Beaumont's stuff didn't reall have that. It was just pure -- he was a born writer, that guy.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-20660308978050034172010-10-12T19:57:36.794-04:002010-10-12T19:57:36.794-04:00I had no idea Beaumont died so young. That's ...I had no idea Beaumont died so young. That's awful. I watched <b>The Howling Man</b> episode of <b>The Twilight Zone</b> a few months back (you may or may not recall a status update I did on it) and it's just so good. I love Beaumont and Matheson's episodes of the show so much. Again, I'm unfamiliar with his written work for the book market but this is one collection I'd pick up based on his name alone.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730146625671701859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-82055417919705484962010-10-12T13:20:33.386-04:002010-10-12T13:20:33.386-04:00I think it goes without saying, or repeating, that...I think it goes without saying, or repeating, that if you have "The Hunger" in any of your Beaumont collections, I think you should read it.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-59186911850653011172010-10-12T13:13:10.664-04:002010-10-12T13:13:10.664-04:00Yep, just as you say, I can't recall if it was...Yep, just as you say, I can't recall if it was King or Ellison who got me to read Beaumont. I've got a couple vintage copies of his collections that I've read gingerly over the years. Used to see that Tor edition in used bookstores a lot before the internets but for some reason never bought it. Now it goes for collectors' prices. He's definitely an essential read for people who want to broaden their knowledge of the horror/fantasy/what have you genres.Will Erricksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16285306262078600804noreply@blogger.com