H. Warner Munn

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H. Warner Munn 1978

Harold Warner Munn (born November 5, 1903 in Athol , Massachusetts ; died January 10, 1981 in Tacoma , Washington ) was an American author of fantasy and horror literature .

Life

Munn's parents were the painter Edward Emerson Munn and the musician Jessica Anne, nee Lemon. Since he lost his mother when he was two years old, he grew up with his grandmother, a piano teacher and artist who corresponded with Jules Verne and HG Wells and who knew how to convey the sense of the wonderful to the boy Munn. Munn was an avid reader from an early age and by the age of seven claims to have read over 100 books, including titles such as Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy and Hugo's Die Elenden in addition to the Bible , whereby Munn asks himself what the boy was able to gain from these books.

After attending high school in Athol, Munn worked in various professions, including as a salesman, worker in a sawmill and on a river boat on the Hudson . In 1930 he married Malvena Ruth Beaudoin. He and her had four sons (born in 1930, 1936, 1942 and 1947).

An avid reader - and collector - of Pulp Magazine and especially of Weird Tales , Munn took up a suggestion from Lovecraft in the letters to the editor to tell a werewolf story from the perspective of the werewolf. The result was the story The Werewolf of Ponkert , which then appeared in Weird Tales in February 1925 and was followed by a series of sequels in which the story of the werewolf and his descendants is expanded into a dark family saga. Persecuted through the centuries by the curse of the werewolf's blood, the members of the werewolf clan also have to deal with a dark figure reminiscent of Charles Robert Maturin's Melmoth . The werewolf tales appeared in 1979 and 1980 as Tales of the Werewolf Clan, collected in two volumes.

The end of Farnsworth Wright's editorial board at Weird Tales and the hiring of Unknown marked the beginning of a lengthy break in Munn's productivity, and he was also forced to ensure the material security of his growing family. It would be almost thirty years before the fantasy novel King of the World's Edge , which had appeared in sequels in Weird Tales , finally progressed to the trilogy. In 1965 he began to write an epic poem about the life of Joan of Arc for his pleasure , which was published in 1975 under the title The Banner of Joan , and from 1967 Munn's further stories appeared and the werewolf cycle was continued again. Merlin's Ring , the third volume in the Merlin's Godson trilogy, which can be considered Munn's main work, was published in 1974. In 1979 the historical novel The Lost Legion was finally published .

In 1980 and 1981 he was named best poet at the Balrog Awards .

Munn died in 1981 at the age of 77.

bibliography

The series are arranged according to the year of publication of the first part.

Tales of the Werewolf Clan (short stories)
  • The Werewolf of Ponkert (1925)
    • English: The werewolf of Ponkert. Translated by Lore Straßl. In: Kurt Singer (Ed.): Ice cold is the dead hand. Pabel (Vampir Taschenbuch # 16), 1974. Also called: The werewolf of Ponkert. Translated by Annegret Groß-Hermanns. In: Carl Dreadstone: The Wolf Man. Pabel (Vampire Paperback # 69), 1979.
  • The Return of the Master (1927)
  • The Werewolf's Daughter (1928)
  • The Master Strikes (1930)
  • The Master Fights (1930)
  • The Master Has a Narrow Escape (1931)
  • The Werewolf of Ponkert (1958, collection)
  • Tales of the Werewolf Clan, Volume I: In the Tomb of the Bishop (1979, collection)
  • Tales of the Werewolf Clan, Volume II: The Master Goes Home (1980, collection)
  • In the Hulks (1980)
  • In Regard to the Opening of Doors (1980)
  • The Transients (1980)
  • Tales of the Werewolf Clan (2015, collection)

Ten Tales of the Werewolf Clan (short stories):

  • 1 The Cat Organ (1976)
  • 2 blow! Blow! Huguenots! (1976)
  • 3 The Wreck of the Santa Ysabel (1976)
  • 4 The Bug-Wolves of Castle Manglana (1976)
  • 5 In the Tomb of the Bishop (1976)
  • 6 The Leather Cannon (1977)
  • 7 Achsah Young - of Windsor (1977)
  • 8 The Master Meets a Worthy Foe (1977)
  • 9 The Diary (1977)
  • 10 The Master Goes Home (1977)
Merlin's Godson (novel trilogy)
  • 1 King of the World's Edge (1939, 1966)
    • German: A king on the edge of the world. Translated by Joachim Pente. Heyne SF&F # 3696, 1980, ISBN 3-453-30616-3 .
  • 2 The Ship from Atlantis (1967)
    • English: The ship of Atlantis. Translated by Joachim Pente. Heyne SF&F # 3741, 1980, ISBN 3-453-30644-9 .
  • 3 Merlin's Ring (1974)
    • German: Merlins Ring. Translated by Joachim Pente. Heyne SF&F # 3826, 1981, ISBN 3-453-30728-3 .
  • Merlin's Godson (1976, collective edition of 1 and 2)
Harold Lamont (short stories)
  • The Merlin Stone (1977)
  • The Stairway in the Sea (1978)
  • Wanderers of the Waters (1981)
novel
  • The Lost Legion (1980)
Poetry collections
  • Christmas Comes to Little House (1974)
  • The Banner of Joan (1975, epic)
  • Twenty Five Poems (1975)
  • Seasons Greetings with Spooky Stuff (1976)
  • To All Amis (1976)
  • There was a man (1977)
  • The Pioneers (Part One) (1977)
  • In Regard to the Opening of Doors (1979)
  • Dawn Woman (1979)
  • Fairy Gold (1979)
  • Of Life and Love and Loneliness (1979)
  • The Book of Munn: or A Recipe for Roast Camel (1979)
Short stories
  • The City of Spiders (1926)
  • The Green Porcelain Dog (1927)
  • The Chain (1928)
  • The Wheel (1933)
  • A Sprig of Rosemary (1933)
  • Dreams May Come (1939)
  • Out of the Night (1968)
  • Return of the Spy (1969)
  • The Beautiful Morning (1971)
  • Deposition at Rouen (1973)
  • The Black Captain (1975)
  • Sharan and Sharanna (1975)
  • I Want a Girl (1977)
  • The Monster & The Saint (1977)
  • The Well (1977)
  • The De Pertriche Ring (1979)
  • The Caves of Stygia (1997, chapter 15 in Ghor, Kin-Slayer , a collaborative completion of an unfinished story by Robert E. Howard)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Reginald: Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. Detroit 1979, p. 1012.
personal data
SURNAME Munn, H. Warner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Munn, Harold Warner (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author of fantasy and horror literature
DATE OF BIRTH 5th November 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Athol , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1981
Place of death Tacoma , Washington