Frank Belknap Long

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Frank Belknap Long (born April 27, 1901 in New York , † January 3, 1994 ) was an American author of horror , science fiction and fantasy literature as well as poems and comics .

Life

Frank Belknap Long was born in New York City and grew up in the Harlem District of Manhattan . He lived in New York all his life. As a boy he was fascinated by natural history and dreamed of running away from home to explore the vast tropical rainforests of the Amazon . As a teenager, he was an active member of the United Amateur Press Association , an association of young amateur writers. His short story The Eye Above the Mantel , published there, earned him the attention of author HP Lovecraft . A friendship and letter correspondence developed between the two that lasted until Lovecraft's death in 1937.

In 1920 Long began studying journalism at the University of New York. In 1921 he fell ill with severe appendicitis , which led to a ruptured appendix and life-threatening complications. He was sent to Roosevelt Hospital in New York for a month. Long's contact with death led him to decide to leave university and work as a freelance writer.

In 1923, at the age of 21, he sold his first short story, The Desert Lich, to Weird Tales magazine. For the next four decades, Long wrote regularly for Weird Tales and Astounding Science Fiction magazines . His first volume of poetry, Man from Genoa and Other Poems , was published in 1926.

Since Long was "partially fit for military service", he was spared World War II and wrote throughout the 1940s . In the 1950s he was the associate editor of Satellite Science Fiction , Short Story , and Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine . He has also written comics and horror stories for Adventures Into the Unknown and scripts for the superheroes Superman , Green Lantern and Captain Marvel .

Long was a versatile writer who later turned to science fiction and Gothic novels . The latter he wrote under the pseudonyms "Lyda Belknap Long" (the name of his wife) and "Leslie Northern". He has also published collections of his short stories (e.g. The Hounds of Tindalos and Night Fear ) and poems (including In Mayan Splendor ), a biography on Lovecraft ( Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side ) and his own autobiography, Autobiographical Memoir (Necronomicon Press, 1985).

In 1960 he married Lyda Arco. The two stayed together until his death. The marriage remained childless.

Although Long was an author of the fantastic, he described himself as an agnostic . He once wrote that he shared HP Lovecraft's skepticism about all unproven supernatural phenomena and what is commonly referred to as "the occult ."

Long died in 1994 at the age of 92. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. Despite having worked as a successful writer for over seven decades, he died impoverished. His fans contributed over $ 3,000 so that his inscription could be engraved on the family grave.

The friendship with HP Lovecraft

HP Lovecraft was a close friend of Frank Belknap Long. The two saw each other regularly, especially between 1924 and 1926 when Lovecraft was living in New York, and wrote a lot. Long reported that he and Lovecraft exchanged more than a thousand letters, some of which were as long as 80 handwritten pages. Some of their correspondence was later published by Arkham House as part of the Selected Letters series.

During the 1930s , Long and Lovecraft were members of the Kalem Club (named after the initials of the first names of the founding members - K, L, M). Long was also a member of the "Lovecraft Circle", a loose association of fantasy authors such as Robert Bloch , August Derleth , Robert E. Howard , Henry Kuttner , Clark Ashton Smith and Donald Wandrei , who regularly corresponded with one another, influenced one another or criticized their works.

Long and Lovecraft's friendship is the subject of a 1985 novella by Peter Cannon entitled Pulptime: Being a Singular Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, Lovecraft, and the Kalem Club as if Narrated by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.

plant

Frank Belknap Long wrote 25 novels , 150 short stories , 3 collections of poetry and numerous articles and scripts for comics in the course of his life .

Long penned some early narratives on the Lovecraft-born Cthulhu myth , including The Hounds of Tindalos , The Horror from the Hills, and The Space-Eaters .

The Hounds of Tindalos is Long's most famous work. "The Hounds" are a band of disgusting aliens who emerge from a distant corner of non- Euclidean space and pursue travelers through time. This material was the model for a number of authors, including Ramsey Campbell , Lin Carter and Brian Lumley , who wrote similar narratives. Some metal bands and composers of electronic music, including Epoch of Unlight , Edith Byron's Group , Beowulf , Fireaxe / Brian Voth and Univers Zero took up the topic and put it into music.

The well-known author Ray Bradbury once summed up: “Frank Belknap Long had seen almost the entire science fiction era in the USA, he knew most of the authors personally or corresponded with them. With his own works he prepared the ground for it, while most of us were almost children. "

Awards

bibliography

John Carstairs (short story series)
  • Plants Must Grow (1941)
  • Snapdragon (1941)
  • Plants Must Slay (1942)
  • Satellite of Peril (1942)
  • The Ether Robots (1942)
  • The Heavy Man (1943)
  • Wobblies in the Moon (1943)
  • The Hollow World (1945)
  • John Carstairs: Space Detective (1949, collection)
Novels
  • Space Station 1 (1957)
    • German: Die Marsfestung. Moewig (Terra # 51), 1959.
  • Woman from Another Planet (1960)
  • The Mating Center (1961)
  • The Horror Expert (1961)
  • Mars Is My Destination (1962)
  • The Horror from the Hills (1931, 1963)
  • Three Steps Spaceward (1963)
  • It Was the Day of the Robot (1963)
  • Mission to a Star (1958, 1964, also as: Mission to a Distant Star )
  • Mission to a Distant Star (Complete Novel) (1958)
  • The Martian Visitors (1964)
  • So Dark a Heritage (1966)
  • This Strange Tomorrow (1966)
  • Lest Earth Be Conquered (1966, also as: The Androids )
  • Journey Into Darkness (1967)
  • The Three Faces of Time (1969)
  • To the Dark Tower (1969, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • Monster from Out of Time (1970)
  • Fire of the Witches (1971, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • Survival World (1971)
  • The Witch Tree (1971, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • The Shape of Fear (1971, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • The Night of the Wolf (1972)
  • House of the Deadly Nightshade (1972, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • Legacy of Evil (1973, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • Crucible of Evil (1974, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • The Lemoyne Heritage (1977, as Lyda Belknap Long)
  • Operation: Square Peg (1957, 2011, with Irving W. Lande)
  • Operation: Square Peg (Complete Novel) (1957)
Collections
  • A Man from Genoa and Other Poems (1926)
  • The Goblin Tower (1935)
  • The Hounds of Tindalos (1946, also as: The Dark Beasts and Eight Other Stories from the Hounds of Tindalos , 1964, also as: The Black Druid and Other Stories , 1975)
  • Odd Science Fiction (1964, also as: The Horror From the Hills , 1965)
  • The Rim of the Unknown (1972)
  • The Early Long (1975, also as: The Hounds of Tindalos , 1978)
  • In Mayan Splendor (1977)
  • Night Fear (1979)
  • Escape from Tomorrow: 3 Previously Unreprinted Weird Tales (1995)
  • The Eye Above the Mantel & Other Stories (1995)
  • The Man Who Died Twice (And Three Others) (2009)
  • Frank Belknap Long (2010)
  • Mission to a Distant Star: Science Fiction Triple Feature (2012)
  • The Frank Belknap Long Science Fiction MEGAPACK® (2016)
  • The Frank Belknap Long Science Fiction Novel Megapack (2016)
  • The Third Frank Belknap Long Science Fiction Megapack (2016)
  • The 8th Golden Age of Weird Fiction Megapack: Frank Belknap Long, Volume 1 (2016)
  • The 9th Golden Age of Weird Fiction Megapack: Frank Belknap Long, Volume 2 (2016)

German compilation:

  • with HP Lovecraft: The horror of the mountains. Festa (HP Lovecraft's Library of Secrets # 2630), 2013, ISBN 978-3-86552-234-4 .
Short stories
  • Dr. Whitlock's Price (1920)
  • The Eye Above the Mantel (1921)
  • In the Tomb of Semenses (1921)
  • The Desert Lich (1924)
  • Death Waters (1924)
  • The Sea Thing (1925)
  • The Were-Snake (1925)
  • Men Who Walk Upon the Air (1925)
  • The Devil-God (1925)
  • The Ocean Leech (1925)
  • The Dog-Eared God (1926)
  • The Man with a Thousand Legs (1927)
    • German: The man with a thousand legs. In: Kurt Singer (Ed.): Horror: Horror stories from old and new times. Gutenberg Book Guild , 1971, ISBN 3-7632-1522-0 .
  • The Man Who Died Twice (1927)
  • You Can't Kill a Ghost (1928)
  • The Space Eaters (1928)
    • English: The space eater. In: The horror of the mountains. 2013.
  • The Hounds of Tindalos (1929)
    • English: The dogs of Tindalos. In: Frank Festa (ed.): The Cthulhu Myth: 1917–1975. Festa (HP Lovecraft's Library of Secrets # 2611), 2003, ISBN 3-935822-51-0 . Also in: The horror of the mountains. 2013.
  • The Red Fetish (1930)
  • The Thought Materializer (1930)
  • The Black Druid (1930)
  • A Visitor from Egypt (1930)
  • The Horror from the Hills (1931)
    • German: The horror of the mountains. In: The horror of the mountains. 2013.
  • The Rajah's Grandmother (1931)
  • The Pearl Robber (1931)
  • The Malignant Invader (1932)
  • The Horror in the Hold (1932)
  • The Brain-Eaters (1932)
  • In the Lair of the Space Monsters (1932)
  • The Black, Dead Thing (1933, also as: Second Night Out )
  • The Dark Beasts (1934)
  • The Beast-Helper (1934)
  • The Last Men (1934)
  • A Dangerous Experiment (1934)
  • The Vapor Death (1934, also as: The Robot Empire )
  • Lost Planet (1934)
  • The Body-Masters (1935, also as: The Love-Slave and the Scientists )
  • Green Glory (1935)
  • The Great Cold (1935)
  • The Blue Earthman (1935)
  • Exiles of the Stratosphere (1935)
  • Sky Rock (1935)
  • The Lichen from Eros (1935)
  • The Challenge from Beyond (1935, with CL Moore, A. Merritt, HP Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard)
    • English: The threat from outer space. In: Frank Festa (Ed.): The Lovecraft Circle. Blitz (HP Lovecraft's Library of Secrets # 2603), 2000, ISBN 3-932171-89-6 .
  • Black Demons Dance (1936)
  • Cones (1936)
  • The Roaring Blot (1936)
  • Harvest of Death (1936)
  • Red Storm on Jupiter (1936)
  • The Flame Midget (1936)
  • Invaders from the Outer Suns (1937)
  • Spawn of the Red Giants (1937)
  • The Snake God Kills (1937)
  • The Black Vortex (1937)
  • Temporary Warp (1937)
  • Carnival of Crawling Doom (1937)
  • We, the Invisible (1938)
    • German: The Invisible. In: Kurt Singer (Ed.): 13 horror stories. Heyne (Heyne Anthologies # 36), 1972.
  • Mind Out of Time (1938)
  • Dark Vision (1939)
  • The Creeper in Darkness (1939)
  • White Barrier (1939)
  • The Elemental (1939)
  • Giants in the Sky (1939)
  • The Dweller in Outer Darkness (1939)
  • Flame of Life (1939)
  • The Corpse's Alibi (1939)
  • Courtship of the Vampire (1939)
  • Escape from Tomorrow (1939)
  • Johnny on the Spot (1939)
  • A Stitch in Time (1940)
  • Red Moon (1940)
  • The Man from Nowhere (1940)
  • Fisherman's Luck (1940)
  • Woman Out of Time (1940)
  • The Horizontals (1940)
  • The Vibration Wasps (1941)
  • Two Against Neptune (1941)
  • Brown (1941)
  • The Sky Trap (1941)
  • Long, Long Ago (1941)
  • Prisoners in Flatland (1941)
  • The Plague from Tomorrow (1941)
  • The Mercurian (1941)
  • The Refugees (1942)
  • Census Taker (1942)
  • Grab Bags Are Dangerous (1942)
  • Step Into My Garden (1942)
  • Destination Unknown (1942)
  • It Will Come to You (1942)
  • To Follow Knowledge (1942)
  • Circle of Youth (1943)
  • The Glory Flight (1943)
  • Star Comrades (1943)
  • Son of His Father (1943)
  • Return of the Undead (1943) with Otis Adelbert Kline
  • The Stellar Vampires (1943)
  • Willie (1943)
  • Alias ​​the Living (1944)
  • He Came at Dusk (1944)
  • Spawn of the Further Dark (1944)
  • The Peeper (1944)
  • Bridgehead (1944, also as: The Temporal Transgressor , 1954)
  • Beyond the Vortex (1944)
  • Golden Child (1945)
  • Dark Command (1945)
  • Skyrover (1945, as Leslie Northern)
  • Castaways in Two Dimensions (1945)
  • They Sculp (1945, as Leslie Northern)
  • Filch (1945)
  • The Trap (1945)
  • Fatal Thoughts (1945, as Leslie Northern)
  • The Purple Dusk (1945, as Leslie Northern)
  • The Shadow Dwellers (1945)
  • The Critters (1945)
  • Atomic Station (1946)
  • A Guest in the House (1946)
  • Shadow Over Venus (1946)
  • Collector's Item (1947)
  • And We Sailed the Mighty Dark (1948)
  • The World of Wulkins (1948)
  • The House of Rising Winds (1948)
  • Galactic Heritage (1948)
  • Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall (1948)
    • English: Fall from the Wall. In: Walter Spiegl (Ed.): Science-Fiction-Stories 7. Ullstein (Ullstein 2000 # 9 (2833)), 1971, ISBN 3-548-02833-0 .
    • German: Humpty Dumpty. In: Walter Ernsting (Ed.): Utopia Science Fiction Magazin, # 7. Pabel, 1957. Also as: Jürgen vom Scheidt (Ed.): Good morning the day after tomorrow. Ellermann, 1975, ISBN 3-7707-6144-8 .
  • Time Trap (1948)
  • Fuzzy Head (1948)
  • Maturity Night (1949)
  • The Timeless Man (1949)
  • Two Face (1950)
    • German: The two faces. In: Kurt Singer (ed.): Horror 2: Classic and modern stories from the realm of demons. Heyne (Heyne General Series # 841), 1971.
  • The Miniature Menace (1950)
  • Invasion (1950)
  • Prison Bright, Prison Deep (1950)
  • If You Don't Watch Out (1950)
  • Museum (1951)
  • Martian Homecoming (1951)
  • The Mississippi Saucer (1951)
  • The Unfinished (1951)
  • Lake of Fire (1951)
  • The Timeless Ones (1951)
  • And Someday to Mars (1952)
  • Lesson in Survival (1952)
  • Throwback in Time (1953)
  • Little Men of Space (1953)
  • The Spiral Intelligence (1953)
  • Night Fear (1953)
    • English: The fear of the dark. In: Ivan Howard (Ed.): Man and the Universe and Other Stories. Moewig (Terra # 551), 1968.
  • The Man the Martians Made (1954)
  • The Man from Time (1954)
  • Manhunt (1954)
  • The Calm Man (1954)
  • Mr. Caxton Draws a Martian Bird (1954)
  • The Cottage (1954)
  • Two Way Destiny (1954)
  • A Lion in Your Lap (1954, as Frank Doty)
  • Man of Distinction (1954)
  • Giant in the Forest (1955)
  • Good to Be a Martian (1955)
  • Rebirth (1955)
  • Preview (1956)
  • Young Man With a Trumpet (1956)
  • The Spectacles (1956)
  • Made to Order (1957)
  • The Golden Calf (1957)
  • Riddle of the Deadly Paradise (1958, as Charles Long)
  • When the Rains Came (1964)
  • ... And Others Shall Be Born (1968)
  • Cottage Tenant (1975)
  • Dark Awakening (1980)
  • Woodland Burial (1981)
  • The Autumn Visitors (1982)
  • Diploma Time (1983)
  • Problem Child (1983)
  • Homecoming (1983)
  • The Necronomicon, John Dee's Translation (1984)
  • Gateway to Forever (1984)
  • Discovery Time (1985)
  • Love in the Wildwood (1986)
  • The Soaring (1987)
  • Sauce for the Gander (1988)
  • John Dee's Necronomicon: A Fragment (1996)
  • Rehearsal Night (2010)
  • The Horror at Cut-Off Cove (2010)
  • The Infants from Hell (2010)
Non-fiction
  • Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side (1975)
  • Autobiographical Memoir (1985)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Long, Frank Belknap
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Belknap, Frank (alternative spelling); Doty, Frank (pseudonym); Long, Jr., Frank B. (alternate spelling); Long, Frank B. (alternative spelling); Long, Jr., Charles (pen name); Long, FB (alternative spelling); Long, Jr., Lyda Belknap (pen name); Long, Frank (alternative spelling); Northern, Leslie (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1994