tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post5740427946775074892..comments2024-01-21T11:22:28.211-08:00Comments on The Ants Of God Are Queer Fish: Introductions to Lafferty in anthologies and magazinesDaniel Otto Jack Petersenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-26657205646894530192011-09-16T05:14:48.229-07:002011-09-16T05:14:48.229-07:00Thanks, I may post some more after the weekend. Fo...Thanks, I may post some more after the weekend. For the moment, here is Terry Carr, from Universe 8, introducing "Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies":<br /><br />"There are no secrets in science, but history is a somewhat different field of knowledge: facts are continually lost in the deepening silt of time. Trust R. A. Lafferty to dig them out. (One of his characters in the novel "Past Master" escaped from prison by walking through walls. "It isn't difficult", he said. "I believe that it has been insufficiently tried.")<br /><br />Consider this history of the first great series of television dramas, produced in 1873 by Aurelian Bentley and starring the remarkably resourceful actress Clarinda Calliope. Till recently these dramas have been lost but Lafferty has gone to great expense (one hundred and thirty-five dollars) to resurrect them. Due to the peculiar nature of their recording, he may also have discovered some darker secrets behind the making of those dramas. ..."Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-492028750502854372011-09-16T04:11:14.582-07:002011-09-16T04:11:14.582-07:00Ah, thanks for these very excellent contributions,...Ah, thanks for these very excellent contributions, Philip.Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-77196501532102349882011-09-15T23:28:42.858-07:002011-09-15T23:28:42.858-07:00Two from the dust jacket of "Lafferty in Orbi...Two from the dust jacket of "Lafferty in Orbit":<br /><br />"R. A. Lafferty is unique, in the old, unspoiled sense of the word. A genius as wild and joyful, delightful and unpredictable as his comes along but once in a lifetime - <i>this</i> lifetime. Cherish him. If there were no Lafferty, we would lack the imagination to invent him". Michael Swanwick.<br /><br />"No true reader who has read as much as a single story by Raphael Aloysius Lafferty needs to be told that he is our most original writer. In fact, he may not be just ours, but the most original writer in the history of literature". Gene Wolfe.<br /><br />The dj also has a long quote from A. A. Attanasio and the book has an introduction by Damon Knight.<br /><br />Also, by Bryan Cholfin from "The Best of Crank":<br /><br />"I became a publisher so there would be more R. A. Lafferty books in the world. I am not alone in this distinction. He's one of the most original voices in contemporary American fiction. His many books and stories proclaim a distinctive vision of the world and his style is not an amalgam or adaptation of established techniques but a reconstruction of the language of storytelling from the bottom up. The adventurous reader is advised to hunt down one of his several excellent collections to get the full effect. But beware: it is a strong draught and habit forming"<br /><br />According to wikipedia, Cholfin also wrote an appreciation of Lafferty called "And They Took the Sky Off at Night" but their link does not work.Philipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-55710261344412851072011-08-31T19:22:31.052-07:002011-08-31T19:22:31.052-07:00course. go for itcourse. go for itJayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02025642622351905163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-67601205502952398472011-08-31T14:58:04.361-07:002011-08-31T14:58:04.361-07:00Thanks, Gregorio. Another great intro.Thanks, Gregorio. Another great intro.Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-11304184863470846042011-08-31T08:47:37.624-07:002011-08-31T08:47:37.624-07:00I have to agree that some of these folks had an in...I have to agree that some of these folks had an instinctual grasp of the importance of what Lafferty was doing. For example, from the intro to Walker’s interview:<br /><br />Reading an R.A. Lafferty story has the same effect as a prolonged stare into a slightly distorted mirror. Since the early sixties, Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, Catholic conservative, free-lance historian, philosopher, theologian, electrical engineer, and incredibly prolific author has confounded us all with his chuckling enigmas. He has become a standard feature on the Hugo and Nebula ballots, in original and reprint anthologies, and in those strings of adjectives that begin: ‘among the best SF writers of today are –’ Presently his fame rests on the dozens of short stories he has produced since 1960 and this morning such as “Snuffles,” “Name of the Snake,” “Narrow Valley,” “Continued on the Next Rock”. . . His allegedly less successful novels include: Space Chantey, Past Master, Fourth Mansions, The Devil is Dead, and Arrive at Easterwine, as well as at least four more by the time you read this.<br /><br />And Daniel, I greatly appreciate your invite to post here. I'll continue to visit the site and throw in my observations when I think they will be helpful.Gregorionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-79452278173277593362011-08-31T00:56:23.725-07:002011-08-31T00:56:23.725-07:00Oh, and Gregorio, please feel included on the invi...Oh, and Gregorio, please feel included on the invitation to guest blog here that we've been talking about in the comment thread to 'From Drunken Binges to Wine Tasting: Reading and Re-reading Lafferty's Short Stories':<br /><br />http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.com/2011/08/from-drunken-binges-to-wine-tasting.htmlDaniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-87744272721785868422011-08-31T00:20:10.122-07:002011-08-31T00:20:10.122-07:00It's fascinating to see that some of the most ...It's fascinating to see that some of the most interesting and insightful critical comment on Lafferty is buried away in these little introductions. I think a lot of these guys immersed in the s.f. industry had a good nose and tongue for sniffing out what was really distinct about Lafferty and verbally crystallising it with punch and pungency.Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-4157443935174174952011-08-31T00:17:17.816-07:002011-08-31T00:17:17.816-07:00People, keep 'em comin'! I've got eno...People, keep 'em comin'! I've got enough now that I'll think I'll do a separate post made from the contributions from other people's collections and link to it as a 'see more' in the original post. (Assuming it's ok to use the brilliant intros you've added as well, Jay.)<br /><br />Thanks, Gregorio. That interview sounds amazing. I'll have to see if I can obtain it.<br /><br />I don't where the New Terrors guy gets 'theological reassurance' from Chesterton's Man Who Was Thursday - it ends very nightmarishly and ambiguously. I don't think Chesterton had even really become a Christian yet. Sure, it's definitely on a certain trajectory (like Lafferty's works), but it has to be followed out consciously by the reader and will need the aid of more than that one story (like Lafferty's work).Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-75713786370640918172011-08-30T15:11:01.867-07:002011-08-30T15:11:01.867-07:00I have a couple more (although Gregorio beat me to...I have a couple more (although Gregorio beat me to "Smoe and the Implicit Clay," which I thought was great). Also, I was somewhat lukewarm on "The Great Tom Fool" compared to a lot of the other lonely Lafferty short stories. <br /><br />Short intro to "Three Shadows of the Wolf": One of science fiction's most colorful and distinctive writers treats a classic fantasy theme; the result is both gripping and unusual. <br /><br />Intro to Chrysalis 3, containing both "Bright Flightways" and "The Man Who Walked Through Cracks": The two Lafferty stories, like virtually all Lafferty stories, sting and tickle at the same time. There is nobody, there has never been anybody, who writes like Lafferty. Under the puckishness, the color-bursts, the wild, weird, and wonderful characterizations, the tumble and sparkle of language, is an undercoat of sharp and serious observation--observation of human motivations, of human institutions (universities, for example, or rituals that have lost their reason-for-being) so that, like Gulliver's Travels, almost all Lafferty can be read as enchanting entertainments, or as sharply-etched political cartoonery, or as analogs of superbly thought-out philosophy concerning human nature and human conduct. In other words, you get out of Lafferty, as out of Swift, whatever you're equipped to bring in.<br /><br />I love this intro because I've been making the Gulliver's Travels comparison ever since I started reading Lafferty.<br /><br />Intro to New Terrors II, "The Funny Face Murders" (which I believe is my favorite Austro story): <br /><br />R.A. Lafferty is quite inexplicable, but here are a few facts. He was born in 1914 and worked most of his life in the electrical wholesale business. "The most interesting part of my life was the four and a half years in the US Army in WW II, mostly in the South Pacific. I began to write in 1959, at the age of forty-five, at a time when most writers are about finished. I quit work except writing in 1970. I have never written very hard and I loaf a lot. I am a Catholic, a political Independent, a fiscal conservative. My hobbies are history, geology, languages, writing, and travel." <br /><br />Never written very hard? Why, besides a hundred and sixty stories (some of them collected into three books) he has written at least twelve novels, including The Reefs of Earth, Okla Hannali, Fourth Mansions, Arrive at Easterwine, and The Three Armageddons of Enniscorthy Sweeny. But then he suggests in an interview that the stories chose their author rather than anything resembling the reverse. <br /><br />Perhaps "The Funny Face Murders" is comic relief, or perhaps not. It reminds me (very slightly) of one of Chesterton's nightmares, say The Man Who Was Thursday, without the theological reassurance. Beyond that, you're on your own.Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02025642622351905163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-55780590677133885472011-08-30T10:58:17.177-07:002011-08-30T10:58:17.177-07:00Daniel,
Yes, please add them to your original pos...Daniel,<br /><br />Yes, please add them to your original post. I particularly like Campbell's intro because it quotes from an interview Lafferty had with Paul Walker back in the early 1970s, which in my opinion may be the best Laff ever gave. Among other things, the interview delves quite deeply into R.A.L.'s theological/religious views. It's very interesting, and goes into all sorts of other topics as well. It was first published in The Alien Critic 6 (1973).Gregorionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-7420156872595858522011-08-30T08:47:20.365-07:002011-08-30T08:47:20.365-07:00Gregorio, thank you! Those are stellar introducti...Gregorio, thank you! Those are stellar introductions! Do you mind if I go ahead and add them to my original post with their book covers?Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-41785042813869752612011-08-30T08:21:13.763-07:002011-08-30T08:21:13.763-07:00A couple of more introductions…
R.A. Lafferty is ...A couple of more introductions…<br /><br />R.A. Lafferty is an Oklahomian gnome with the imagination and erudition of ten distinguished futurologists on a drunk, and he writes the damnedest stories in this or any other genre. It is always dangerous, though, to dismiss any of Lafferty’s nuthatch futures—often they have more truth to them than their more sober brothers, and stand a disquieting chance of coming true. <br />Here he gives us a ringside seat for a battle between the sentient, cigar-smoking computer Epikt, and—a planet full of invisible Indians and buffalo hokey. <br />This story may be read, if you so wish, as a demonstration that even all the technological gimmickry of a scientific Inquisition might not prevail against us if we were of sufficient mettle—or of sound enough clay. <br /><br />“Smoe and the Implicit Clay” in Future Power (1976), edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois (p.39).<br /><br />Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (1915[sic, actually 1914] -) and his work are impossible to summarize here. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For most of his life he worked as an electrical engineer; now he writes full-time. His extraordinary books include Past Master, The Reefs of Earth, Fourth Mansions, Arrive at Easterwine, and the collection Nine Hundred Grandmothers. His short story ‘Eurema’s Dam’ won a Hugo Award; he has been several times short-listed for Nebula Awards by the Science Fiction Writers of America, and nominated for Hugos.<br />Interviewed in The Alien Critic, Lafferty tells how the ‘disorders’ of his personality are tied together by his Catholicism: ‘the inescapable logic, the complete clarity . . . however much I stumble and fall short of it, I know it is there and what it is.’ There is apparent disorder in his work, but look again: he juggles the products of his wild imagination with great skill – his inimitable style unites them. Thus, despite what looks at first like zany humor, this story is dreadfully terrifying. <br /><br />“Fog in my Throat” in Superhorror (1976), edited by Ramsey Campbell (p.31).Gregorionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-24571762620507536802011-08-30T08:02:33.550-07:002011-08-30T08:02:33.550-07:00Heh heh, yeah, I think Lafferty's well-hidden ...Heh heh, yeah, I think Lafferty's well-hidden enough without encoding his name. Story any good?Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-1214057767536143872011-08-30T07:27:04.182-07:002011-08-30T07:27:04.182-07:00"Great Tom Fool" is in Asimov's anth..."Great Tom Fool" is in Asimov's anthology "Speculations," in which the author's names are concealed by a code, and it's up to you to crack it. The code is relatively simple, with each letter converted to a two-digit base five number, but how am I supposed to know there's a Lafferty story in the anthology when the author list isn't readily available?Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02025642622351905163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-60145176894265330512011-08-30T04:36:36.996-07:002011-08-30T04:36:36.996-07:00Oh, and as you probably remember, 'In Deepest ...Oh, and as you probably remember, 'In Deepest Glass' is one of my very faves. But 'Crocodile' I only remembering being 'ok', though now, no doubt, I'd probably enjoy it much more thoroughly even if it didn't end up being one of his best.Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-29693331984434567642011-08-30T04:33:11.682-07:002011-08-30T04:33:11.682-07:00Ha, ha! I'm no fan of Asimov either! (I'...Ha, ha! I'm no fan of Asimov either! (I'm going to post this great essay by Brian Aldiss someday called 'The Plumber and the Wizard' where he sets Asimov as the former and C. S. Lewis as the latter, quietly laughing at the 'hard work' Asimov has to put in for 'ok' results compared to Lewis always just magically pulling 'gold' from out of nowhere, as Aldiss puts it.)<br /><br />'Great Tom Fool' is a Lafferty story in an Asimov anthology or magazine?Daniel Otto Jack Petersenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07278782665152906956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904298510069073946.post-24423431552222245682011-08-29T20:20:01.513-07:002011-08-29T20:20:01.513-07:00Great stuff. I really need to find and read "...Great stuff. I really need to find and read "In Deepest Glass" and "Crocodile," among others. I should go check and see if any of my random anthologies have much in the way of introduction. <br /><br />I know that Asimov is a bastard though, and this kept one out of my possession for quite some time. "The Great Tom Fool" will surely have no introduction.Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02025642622351905163noreply@blogger.com