{"id":63366,"date":"2024-02-29T22:37:08","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T22:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/?p=63366"},"modified":"2024-03-11T12:33:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T12:33:35","slug":"brian-stableford-as-editor-and-scholar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/2024\/02\/29\/brian-stableford-as-editor-and-scholar\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Stableford as editor and scholar"},"content":{"rendered":"

The venerable British SF author Brian Stableford has passed away. I can’t speak to his fiction, though I recall reading his SF books in the early 1980s and I know his range later included Lovecraftian Mythos tales (The Innsmouth Heritage and Other Sequels<\/em>, etc al), fantasy tales (collected in Fables & Fantasies<\/em> from Necronomicon Press) and acclaimed genre pastiche and mash-ups (Sherlock Holmes and others). Here I try to piece together a very basic overview of his scholarly works. Others will doubtless do a far better job in time, for one of the most prolific British writers. One hopes they’ll also say a word or two about the fine cover-artists he must have enjoyed having from time to time…<\/p>\n

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In 1979 he made his name as a critic with a study of the works of fellow SF author James Blish, A Clash of Symbols: The Triumph of James Blish<\/em>. So far as I can tell, he never wrote on Lovecraft but a taste of his wide range of interest can be found in the contents list for his Slaves of the Death Spiders and Other Essays on Fantastic Literature<\/em> (2017). With essays on H.G Wells and Dracula<\/em>, SF of the 1980s, and also the infamous British 1990s censorship case of Lord Horror<\/em>, plus his musings on the modern profession of science-fiction writing as a profession. He wrote at length on the latter topic in Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction<\/em>. Several other essay collections on the craft, and DIY guides to writing SF, can also be found.<\/p>\n

He was most interested in the deep roots of science-fiction, and became the authority of seminal but forgotten figures in the early ‘scientific romance’ such as Birmingham’s Sydney Fowler Wright (Deluge<\/em>, The World Below<\/em> and others), writing introductions to new editions, collecting and publishing S. Fowler Wright’s Short Stories<\/em>, and editing books with a wider scope such as Scientific Romance: An International Anthology of Pioneering Science Fiction<\/em>, the multi-volume scholarly book-series Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950<\/em>; plus the later New Atlantis: a narrative history of the scientific romance<\/em>. <\/p>\n

He was also interested in the intersections with decadence, with historical collections such as Decadence and Symbolism: A Showcase Anthology<\/em>, and at least two volumes of the Dedalus Book of Decadence<\/em>. Exemplary early drug literature he collected in Snuggly Tales of Hashish and Opium<\/em>. Recently he produced the representative collection Weird Fiction in France<\/em>, and The Dedalus Book of British Fantasy<\/em> (19th century).<\/p>\n

He collected sea tales of alluring sirens in The Snuggly Sirenicon<\/em> and Fays of the Sea<\/em>, made an anthology of early femme-fatalle<\/em> stories, and in Tales of Enchantment and Disenchantment<\/em> wrote a history of faerie as a lead-in to “exemplary anthology” of such early tales and with a focus on the female ‘fay’.<\/p>\n

In his later years he produced anthologies of proto-science fiction such as News from the Moon<\/em>, and volumes of translations of early French science fiction such as Nemoville<\/em>. His translations of early French imaginative authors would fill a small library, and his The Plurality of Imaginary Worlds: The Evolution of French Roman Scientifique<\/em> provides the guide-book. Side-interests included early proto-robots, evidenced by the book Automata<\/em> which collected stories from the 19th century featuring such ‘automata’ devices.<\/p>\n

I see he had bibliographic articles published in the Book & Magazine Collector<\/em>, introducing collectors to the likes of R.E. Howard and M.P. Shiel.<\/p>\n

One can also find his name as editor (and probably also writer) on volumes such as The A to Z of Fantasy Literature<\/em>; Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia<\/em>; the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature<\/em>; Dictionary of Science Fiction Places<\/em>, and others.<\/p>\n

Being British he was also interested in our own SF history, as seen in pieces such as “A Brief Economic History of British SF magazines” (in Space, Time, and Infinity: Essays on Fantastic Literature<\/em>, 2007). Possibly there are more such out there.<\/p>\n

That’s it for a brief survey. Doubtless I’ve missed a lot, but hopefully I’ve also given others some clusters to build on. Or just titles to read. He wrote a lot, but was not publicised a lot — and so you may well find titles above that you had no idea existed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The venerable British SF author Brian Stableford has passed away. I can’t speak to his fiction, though I recall reading …<\/p>\n

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