Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs?

[fjeronimo]

Hi all,

I wonder if you could recommend any good biographies/autobiographies/memoirs of science-fiction/fantasy writers.

Thanks in advance,

fjeronimo

 

[Pyan]

Grumbles from the Grave - the autobiography of Robert A. Heinlein edited by his wife Virginia, and published after his death.


Grumbles from the Grave by Robert Heinlein

Oh, and Welcome to the Chrons!...

 

[The Judge]

Yes, Welcome fjeronimo. I can't offer any suggestions myself, but I think if I move this over to General Book Discussion you might get more responses to build on pyan's.

 

[j d worthington]

Asimov had a three-volume autobiography: In Memory Yet Green, In Joy Still Felt, and I, Asimov (published relatively soon after his death; the final portion was by his wife Janet about his last days). Connected to that would also be his anthologies, Before the Golden Age and The Early Asimov, which collects together stories which influenced him (the first) and many of his very earliest tales (second), along with much autobiographical material.

And speaking of RAH, there is also the volume Requiem, which brings together some pieces by Heinlein himself as well as tributes, memoirs, and estimates from his peers.

J. G. Ballard wrote a lovely autobiography shortly before his death, titled Miracles of Life, while Brian Aldiss' first novel, The Brightfont Diaries, is a fictionalized account of some of his experiences working as a bookseller. Michael Moorcock's Letters from Hollywood may also be of interest, being a series of letters about his experiences written to Ballard when Moorcock was working in Hollywood for a time; and Colin Greenland's interview/overview of Moorcock's life, work, and career, Death is No Obstacle, may be as well.

Charles Platt's Dream Makers volumes, which are comprised of a series of interviews with various sf writers (complete with brief overviews of their career), is worth looking into; while Fred Pohl's The Way the Future Was is a wonderful book about the early days of sf fandom and professional writing, and Harry Warner, Jr.'s All Our Yesterdays is also very informative on those topics.

Despite flaws, L. Sprague de Camp's book, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers, is quite enjoyable and often informative, providing brief looks at several of the major lights of fantasy:

Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

His biography of Lovecraft, titled simply Lovecraft: A Biography, has some more serious faults, but also has things to recommend it, though the biography of Lovecraft would be the forthcoming I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft, by S. T. Joshi, which restores a huge amount of text to the previously abridged version, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life... also well worth reading, especially if you can't afford the new edition. Memoirs of HPL abound, the best single collection of them being Lovecraft Remembered, edited by Peter Cannon:

Lovecraft Remembered - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are more books on him than could possibly be squeezed into a single post, but these would be a good place to start.

Robert E. Howard has had two biographies, one by L. Sprague de Camp and his wife Catherine, in conjunction with Jane Whittington Griffin: Dark Valley Destiny, which has received a fair amount of adverse criticism for various errors and misinterpretations, etc.; and Mark Finn's Blood & Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, written by a Howardian scholar, but in extremely accessible prose.

Clark Ashton Smith has yet to receive a full-length biography (to my knowledge), but you may want to look into The Sorcerer Departs: Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961), by Smith scholar and editor (and a notable poet in his own right) Donald Sidney-Fryer, as well as The Freedom of Fantastic Things: Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith, as well as his volume of Selected Letters, as well, of course, as the introductory essays to Night Shade's 5-volume Complete Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith.

Then there is Humphrey Carpenter's biography Tolkien, as well as his book on The Inklings (dealing especially with Tolkien, Lewis, and Williams).

 

[K. Riehl]

James Tiptree Jr., The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips. It's a very interesting read, nominated for the non fiction Hugo award.

 

[Pyan]

Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography by Neil McAleer gets good reviews on Amazon.
It was published in 1992, but second-hand copies seem to be found quite easily.

 

[Rodders]

I have only read Philip K. Dick's biography and "Skywalking" (George Lucas's biography). It has to be said that dead people do make for better bios.

Edit: I have read William Shatner's memoires which were pretty interesting.

 

[fjeronimo]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies and for the warm welcome.

Some interesting choices in there, many of whom I didn't know about. My 'To buy' list has just increased.

On my end, I've recently read a man without a country by Kurt Vonnegut (sort of memoirs) and I have Poe by Peter Ackroyd (not exactly a science-fiction/fantasy writer but not too far of a stretch) as one of my next reads.

Thanks again and let me know if you remember anything else,

fjeronimo

 

[j d worthington]

Oh, I'd say Poe fits in well enough, as he is often considered one of the progenitors of science fiction; he certainly wrote fantasies enough (both horrific and otherwise -- cf. "The Island of the Fay", etc.). There have been quite a few good biographies of Poe over the years, from what I understand (I've only read one or two, but there have been bushels of the things). For a good in-depth study of Poe, you might look up the writings of Prof. Thomas Ollive Mabbott, one of the greatest Poe scholars of all... he also was one of the first academics to write in praise of H. P. Lovecraft....

I also dimly recall an autobiography by Jack Williamson, a sf writer whose career spanned at least seven decades, though I'm afraid I can't recall the title at the moment, and haven't the time to look it up right now....

 

[fjeronimo]

I also dimly recall an autobiography by Jack Williamson, a sf writer whose career spanned at least seven decades, though I'm afraid I can't recall the title at the moment, and haven't the time to look it up right now....

Could this be it?
http://www.amazon.com/Wonders-Child-Life-Science-Fiction/dp/1932100571/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281983600&sr=1-1

 

[fjeronimo]

I also dimly recall an autobiography by Jack Williamson, a sf writer whose career spanned at least seven decades, though I'm afraid I can't recall the title at the moment, and haven't the time to look it up right now....

Could it be Wonder's Child: My Life In Science Fiction?

Ps - I would post a link but I can't since I don't yet have 15 messages.

 

[Pyan]

Yes it is - I've fixed the link in the post above.

 

[fjeronimo]

Thanks pyan.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, there is Piers Anthony's Bio of An Ogre, which is ... interesting ... in a sort of awful way.

 

[j d worthington]

Mmmm... yes; definitely the right way to describe that one. Of related interest would be his Letters to Jenny:

Letters to Jenny - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

fjeronimo: Yep, that's the one, though I recall a different cover for it.

 

[fjeronimo]

Hi,

I've found a few more interesting titles as I browsed the web. I haven't read any of them yet, but I'm curious enough to try to get them...

Again, I'm posting without links (still that 15 post limitation) but they shouldn't be too hard to find at online bookstores (e.g. Amazon).

The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury by Sam Weller

Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews by Ray Bradbury and Sam Weller

Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve (Part 1 of 2 - Second one is not yet out I think) by William H. Patterson Jr.

C. S. Lewis: Images of His World by Douglas R. Gilbert and Clyde S. Kilby

Philip K. Dick: Revised and Updated by Andrew M. Butler

The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick (6 volumes) by Philip K. Dick

Starclimber: The Literary Adventures and Autobiography of Raymond Z. Gallun by Raymond Z. Gallun

C.M. Kornbluth: The Life and Works of a Science Fiction Visionary by Mark Rich

The Twilight and Other Zones: The Dark Worlds of Richard Matheson by Stanley Wiater, Matthew Bradley and Paul Stuve

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Neil Gaiman

Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert by Brian Herbert

The Vonnegut Effect by Jerome Klinkowitz

Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks

Anne McCaffrey: A Life with Dragons by Robin Roberts

Slightly off topic:

An Unlikely Prophet: A Metaphysical Memoir by the Legendary Writer of Superman and Batman by Alvin Schwartz

The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange by Mark Barrowcliffe


j. d. worthington - I ended up buying Miracles of Life this weekend. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[j d worthington]

You're welcome. I think you'll find it a very easy and interesting read, full of Ballard's often quirky humor and approach to life, but also quite moving at times.

That's quite a list you have there, and several of them pique my interest. I'm especially curious about the one by Raymond Z. Gallun... a name not often mentioned these days, but one of the lights of the early days of sf, and not at all a bad storyteller. His "Old Faithful" was one of the earliest sympathetic portrayals of an alien visitor, and is quite touching in its own way. I'm also curious about the books on Bradbury, as he remains one of my personal favorites. Matheson is an intriguing man and a writer of considerable skill as well; I may have to look into that one at some point, too.....

 

[fjeronimo]

I'm also curious about the books on Bradbury, as he remains one of my personal favorites.

I couldn't agree more. Bradbury is a really enjoyable writer.

If you ever end up reading any of the above books, please let me know what you think.

Hopefully, I'm going to buy some of them in the (near) future. Unfortunately, a few seem to be out of print and are probably harder to find here in the UK.

On a side note, I'm cursed with the terrible 'reader's greed affliction', where I end up buying a lot more than I actually can manage to read. I'm trying to restrain myself in that domain, but it has proven quite difficult so far...

 

[fjeronimo]

Well, there is Piers Anthony's Bio of An Ogre, which is ... interesting ... in a sort of awful way.

I must admit that now I'm quite interested. From the quick browse I did on some of the book's comments (trying to avoid spoilers along the way), I can begin to understand the remark...

Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[fjeronimo]

Well, I've just ordered :

James Tiptree, JR.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
Grumbles from the grave by Robert A. Heinlein
Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert by Brian Herbert
Twilight and Other Zones, The: The Dark Worlds of Richard Matheson by Stanley Wiater
Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews by Ray Bradbury and Sam Weller
Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howardby Mark Finn
The Brightfount Diaries by Brian W. Aldiss

Unfortunately, some of the other books are pretty hard to come by, at least here in the UK.