It seems that this is spring cleaning week. Here’s another piece that I wrote some time ago and simply never got around to publishing. Isaac Asimov’s introduction to “Segregationist”: In the spring of 1967, I received an interesting request. It seems there is a periodical called Abbot tempo, supported by Abbott Laboratories, a respected pharmaceutical … Continue reading Segregationist
Fiction
Fictional Morality
I usually write a bunch of posts ahead of time and save them for those occasions when I might be working on a longer series and don’t have the time to write the daily post, or when I’m pressed for time for other reasons. Sometimes those posts get pushed down in the unwritten and half-written … Continue reading Fictional Morality
The Unicorn, the Univac, and Mary Lou
Back in high school I was a very avid reader of the science fiction magazines, and in the fall of 1964 I came across this in the December issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction: A contest with a hundred dollar cash prize! I had dreams of becoming a professional writer in those … Continue reading The Unicorn, the Univac, and Mary Lou
O Little Town of Bethlehem II
As promised, here is the second part of my O Little Town of Bethlehem two-parter. Part I can be found by clicking the link on this sentence. Robert F. Young (June 8, 1915 – June 22, 1986), note the middle initial, was a science fiction writer whose career spanned thirty years, although his day job … Continue reading O Little Town of Bethlehem II
The Cheaters
Quote of the day: We're all not quite as sane as we pretend to be.—Robert Bloch When Thriller debuted on NBC in 1960, I couldn't watch it because it came on at 9 PM on Tuesday nights, which was a school night, and so I had to get to bed by 9:00 or 9:30 at the … Continue reading The Cheaters
What’s the Matter with Rachel Bennette?
“I like a good detective story, but, you know, they begin in the wrong place! They begin with the murder. But the murder is the end. The story begins long before that—years before sometimes—with all the causes and events that bring certain people to a certain place at a certain time on a certain day. … Continue reading What’s the Matter with Rachel Bennette?
What’s the Matter with Robert Graves?
Quote of the day: Very few of us are what we seem.—Agatha Christie Robert Graves, the writer of the novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, which were turned into the successful BBC TV series I, Claudius, became friends with Agatha Christie and her husband during World War II when they found themselves neighbors. Although they dwelt in … Continue reading What’s the Matter with Robert Graves?
The Mother of the Detective Novel
Quote of the day: The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.—Voltaire Everett Raymond had been a junior partner in the law firm of Veeley, Carr & Raymond for about a year when a young man appeared at the office in the temporary … Continue reading The Mother of the Detective Novel
The Feeling of Power
Quote of the day: I am prejudiced against religion because I know the history of religion, and it is the history of human misery and of black crimes.—Isaac Asimov According to an article in Time Magazine, a new study suggests that using AI made doctors less skilled at spotting cancer. Huh. Why the hell were … Continue reading The Feeling of Power
The Satanic Illusion
Quote of the day: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.—Bertrand Russell I’ve previously mentioned L. Sprague de Camp and his story “A Gun for Dinosaur” that was published back in the 1960s. It revolved around a safari … Continue reading The Satanic Illusion