REH and The Californian
Apr 8, 2016 18:01:24 GMT -5
Post by bobbyderie on Apr 8, 2016 18:01:24 GMT -5
This apparently came to the surprise of a few folks when I mentioned it in my article this week, so I figured I might go into a bit greater detail here. Despite corresponding with H. P. Lovecraft, who was rather heavily involved in national-level amateur journalism with the National Amateur Press Association, Robert E. Howard never appeared to have any association with NAPA or any other national-level amateur organization - except for a brief brush-against in 1935.
In a letter dated 28 June 1935, H. P. Lovecraft wrote to Natalie Wooley:
Letters to Robert Bloch and Others, 205:
Wooley and Robert E. Howard are not known to have corresponded, but are sure to have known each other's names, since they both had material published in The Fantasy Fan and Marvel Tales during those fanzines' brief runs, and it appears that Wooley at least was a fan of Howard's fiction. In the Fall 1935 issue of The Californian, Natalie Wooley published a brief essay: "The Adventure Story."
Letters to Robert Bloch and Others, 440-441:
The Californian was edited and published by another of Lovecraft's correspondents, Hyman Bradofsky, who mailed Howard a copy of the magazine. The Texan replied with a brief letter, which was published in the Summer 1936 issue, and is republished in the Collected Letters 3.463
In a letter dated 28 June 1935, H. P. Lovecraft wrote to Natalie Wooley:
Letters to Robert Bloch and Others, 205:
Yes—Robert E. Howard is a notable author—more powerful & spontaneous than even he himself realised. He tends to get away from weirdness toward sheer sanguinary adventure, but there is still no one equal to him in describing haunted cyclopean ruins in an African or Hyperborean jungle. He has written reams of powerful poetry, also—most of which is still unpublished. Just now REH is travelling amongst the antiquities of New Mexico & sending me a great deal of valuable pictorial matter.
Wooley and Robert E. Howard are not known to have corresponded, but are sure to have known each other's names, since they both had material published in The Fantasy Fan and Marvel Tales during those fanzines' brief runs, and it appears that Wooley at least was a fan of Howard's fiction. In the Fall 1935 issue of The Californian, Natalie Wooley published a brief essay: "The Adventure Story."
Letters to Robert Bloch and Others, 440-441:
The Adventure Story
"Velannus shuddered. Turning, he walked to a casement and stared silently out over the river, black and shiny under the glint of the stars. Beyond he river the jungle rose like an ebony wall. The distant screech of a panther broke the stillness. The night pressed in, burring the sounds of the soldiers outside the blockhouse, dimming the fires. A wind whispered through the black branches, rippling the dusky water. On its wings came a low, rhythmic pulsing, sinister as the pad of a leopard's foot."
-Excerpt from "Beyond the Black River," by Robert E. Howard
There, my friends, is writing. A paragraph of less than a hundred words, yet combining description, menace, and a hint of action to come. Each word is carefully cosen. Note the artfully worded last sentence, with its intimation of impending conflict; sustaining the reader's interest through what otherwise might be a rather colorless bit of description. Mr. Howard, well known adventure-fiction story writer, is one of the few who do not sacrifice beautiful narrative style for the action demanded in such stories, but combines the two masterfully.
The formula for the adventure story is simple. A brave superbly-physiqued hero, preferably American; A hitherto unexplored country, A white goddess ruling over: (a) natives, (b) apes, (c) your imagination is the limit here. Follow with conflict, capture, escape, more conflict, and then victory, clinch, fadeout. No clever, intricately worked out plots, such as the mystery and detective magazines demand, is necessary. But, good writing is essential. The author must keep his action from lagging, at the same time injecting necessary bits of description here and there, as a background, or tapestry, against which the drama is played. The day is past when a writer could begin his story with a half-column of information. Today, the writer must jump into action with the first hundred words, preferably dialog, to catch the reader's interest and intrigue him into reading further.
While the adventure field is not as large as others, for the writer who would combine good writing with imagination, it offers a highly paying market. Besides the better known magazines using adventure tales, such as Adventure, Top-Notch, Argosy, and Blue Book, there are many smaller markets using this type of fiction, and should a story fall s[h]ort of the former, it may rate a check from the latter.
Comment from the 1935 Writers' [and Artists'] Year Book:
"Good adventure stoires [sic] are in brisk demand ... prefer that stories be laid in foreign countries, although American heroes are desired. Out-of-the-way places like Borneo, Tasmania, Afghanistan, Burma haven't been written about much, and good stories laid in those countries will be bought eagerly. Good character work is essential in adventure stories."
"Velannus shuddered. Turning, he walked to a casement and stared silently out over the river, black and shiny under the glint of the stars. Beyond he river the jungle rose like an ebony wall. The distant screech of a panther broke the stillness. The night pressed in, burring the sounds of the soldiers outside the blockhouse, dimming the fires. A wind whispered through the black branches, rippling the dusky water. On its wings came a low, rhythmic pulsing, sinister as the pad of a leopard's foot."
-Excerpt from "Beyond the Black River," by Robert E. Howard
There, my friends, is writing. A paragraph of less than a hundred words, yet combining description, menace, and a hint of action to come. Each word is carefully cosen. Note the artfully worded last sentence, with its intimation of impending conflict; sustaining the reader's interest through what otherwise might be a rather colorless bit of description. Mr. Howard, well known adventure-fiction story writer, is one of the few who do not sacrifice beautiful narrative style for the action demanded in such stories, but combines the two masterfully.
The formula for the adventure story is simple. A brave superbly-physiqued hero, preferably American; A hitherto unexplored country, A white goddess ruling over: (a) natives, (b) apes, (c) your imagination is the limit here. Follow with conflict, capture, escape, more conflict, and then victory, clinch, fadeout. No clever, intricately worked out plots, such as the mystery and detective magazines demand, is necessary. But, good writing is essential. The author must keep his action from lagging, at the same time injecting necessary bits of description here and there, as a background, or tapestry, against which the drama is played. The day is past when a writer could begin his story with a half-column of information. Today, the writer must jump into action with the first hundred words, preferably dialog, to catch the reader's interest and intrigue him into reading further.
While the adventure field is not as large as others, for the writer who would combine good writing with imagination, it offers a highly paying market. Besides the better known magazines using adventure tales, such as Adventure, Top-Notch, Argosy, and Blue Book, there are many smaller markets using this type of fiction, and should a story fall s[h]ort of the former, it may rate a check from the latter.
Comment from the 1935 Writers' [and Artists'] Year Book:
"Good adventure stoires [sic] are in brisk demand ... prefer that stories be laid in foreign countries, although American heroes are desired. Out-of-the-way places like Borneo, Tasmania, Afghanistan, Burma haven't been written about much, and good stories laid in those countries will be bought eagerly. Good character work is essential in adventure stories."
The Californian was edited and published by another of Lovecraft's correspondents, Hyman Bradofsky, who mailed Howard a copy of the magazine. The Texan replied with a brief letter, which was published in the Summer 1936 issue, and is republished in the Collected Letters 3.463
Thank you very much for the copy of The Californian. I feel greatly honored that Miss Wooley should have quoted an excerpt from my serial “Beyond the Black River” in her article in your fine journal.