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Post by dem bones on Feb 14, 2019 14:07:30 GMT
Forrest J. Ackerman (ed.) - Rainbow Fantasia; 35 Spectrumatic Tales of Wonder (Sense of Wonder Press, 2001) Anton Brzezinski. Colorization of still from the silent Soviet scienctifilm, AELITA, Queen of Mars (1924) Anne Hardin - Introduction
H. L. Gold - Black Absolute Arthur J. Burks - Black Harvest of Moraine Elmer Brown Mason - Black Butterflies Frederick Montefiore - Black Curtains Mary Elizabeth Counselman - The Black Stone Statue Bassett Morgan - Gray Ghouls Tigrina - Up In Smoke David Baxter - The Brown Moccasin H. Thompson Rich - The Purple Cincture Gustav Meyrink - The Violet Death Harl Vincent - Once in a Blue Moon Gordon Philip England - The Blue Room Margaret McBride Hoss - The Weird Green Eyes of Sari Arthur Macom - The Green Monster Eli Colter - The Man in the Green Coat G. G. Pendarves - The Eighth Green Man Nictzin Dyalhis - When the Green Star Waned Robert W. Chambers - The Yellow Sign Brad Linaweaver - Yellow Imagicide Eli Colter - The Golden Whistle Frank Gruber - The Golden Chalice Ray Cummings - The Girl in the Golden Atom Harl Vincent - The Golden Girl of Munan Brad Linaweaver - Executing a Pirouette in Orange Walter Glamis [Nat Schachner] - The Orange God P. Schuyler Miller - The Red Plague Donald Wandrei - The Red Brain Thorp McClusky - The Red God Laughed A. E. van Vogt - Discord in Scarlet C. L. Moore - Scarlet Dream Harold Lawlor - Lover in Scarlet Dorothy Quick - The White Lady Arlton Eadie - The White Vampire Sophie Wenzel Ellis - The White Wizard Gardner F. Fox - The Rainbow Jade
Forrest J. Ackerman - A Resumé of Rays (Verse) Blurb: - stories to cater to every whim ... true science-fiction with plenty of spaceships and Ak-blastors, time travel, love stories, spectres of demons, heroes and haunts who do their deeds from beyond the grave, stories of great irony and ... all with the power to dominate the world they inhabit ... After all, they match Forry's heart, which means they're good as "GOLD"
Ann Hardin from the introductionNo disputing Rainbow Fantasia's appeal to enthusiasts of a certain pulp publication. By my reckoning, of the thirty-five stories, twenty-three are derived from Weird Tales. For the most part, the J. Saville/ G. Glitter of Sci-fandom gives the usual suspects a miss in favour of rarely - if ever- anthologised stories by lesser known authors. Nice book, shame about the nominal (?) editor. Lee Brown Coye Harold Lawlor - Lover in Scarlet : ( Weird Tales, Jan. 1949). The supreme lover of them all whose path is marked with the redness of blood and whose retreat is along the dark byways of eternal night The Doctor reckons bedridden Uncle Ralph has a good many years left in him provided nobody tries to scare him to death. Grasping nephew Fred Kobley, desperate to get his hands on the old skinflint's lovely loot, speeds up the process by fabricating a phantom intruder. "I thought I saw something something flee down the stairs when it heard me. Something in a scarlet cloak. I caught the white flash of ... of bones, and there was a scarlet cowl that only partially hid a ... a skull!" Just Kobley's luck that this 'Lover in scarlet' develops a crush on him. The Coye image has since been used to illustrate C. M. Eddy's The Loved Dead in Weird Tales: 32 Terrors Unearthed. Margaret McBride Hoss - The Weird Green Eyes of Sari: ( Weird Tales, March 1925) He Lost His Soul to a Green-eyed Thing From the Sea. Phil Sanborne seems destined to marry Mary McKee - until he falls under the spell of a cruelly beautiful, soul-stealing mermaid. Andrew Brosnatch David Baxter - The Brown Moccasin: ( Weird Tales, Feb. 1925) Tragicomedy of Animal Life. Nature watch. A battle to the death between a full grown water-snake and a hapless salamander is not the one sided contest we might suspect. With both parties exhausted, a turtle alligator joins the fray. H. L. Gold - Black Absolute: ( Captain Future, Fall 1940). Dr. Hudson, Mad dentist, intends to deal his sworn enemy to a fiery death utilising his latest terrible invention - the absolute black machine .... To be continued ...
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Post by dem bones on Feb 15, 2019 12:57:45 GMT
C. C. Senf Sophie Wenzel Ellis - The White Wizard: ( Weird Tales, Sept. 1929): An eery tale of the jungles of South America and a scientist who robbed the dead brains of the world's master-minds. Deep in the Brazilian jungle, Phil West and Tim Bannon, young adventurers with a love of mystery, learn of a reclusive scientist reputedly capable of turning men into monkeys. Suitably intrigued, the friends resolve to pay a visit to this "white wizard," Dom Julian Mendoza. Things get off to a dicey start when, on approaching the mansion, they are bombarded with rocks by a talking ape named Mike. Mendoza, all apologies, invites them to remain indefinitely as his guests. The weary pair have decided to accept even before the host introduces his beloved niece, Inez, the most beautiful-charming-innocent-young-woman- they-have-ever-set-eyes-upon. She and Phil fall in love on the spot sending her father into a terrible rage. He grabs a violin and tortures them with a virtuoso solo as hellish as it is accomplished. Regaining his composure, Mendoza confides "I am the most learned man that ever lived. I have the key to every art and science in the world. The minds of the powerful and wise are at my command." This is no idle boast. Over the years he has removed the brains of twelve men of genius while their bodies were still warm. For variation's sake, he performed likewise on a variety of murderers and criminals. By means of a metal cap he can transfer the sum of their learning into his own mind - hence the alarming mood swings and spasms of sadistic violence. We also discover that Mendoza has repeated the experiment on Mike with the unhappy consequence that the ape is now more human than monkey with passions to match. He loves Inez, and is jealously protective of her. With Phil coming on all Romeo, it is only a matter of time before events spiral out of control .... Reads like a toned-down version of a Bassett Morgan brain transplant epic with added proper science ("I have discovered a new light ray which renders the opaque absolutely invisible," etc). C. C. Senf Tigrina - Up In Smoke: (July 1946). Carolynne Devereaux, Frightfully rebellious poor little rich girl, has taken up smoking to annoy her parents. Zelda Troyer, two years Carolynne's senior at nineteen, introduces her to an Egyptian acquaintance, Morloq, a trader in designer cigarettes and perfumes. Fatally for Miss Devereaux, Morloq is a High Priest of Og Amankh, "the imprisoner of souls," and Zelda, his devious accomplice. "A colourful and COLOR full fantasy by a Legendary Daughter of Bilitis and publisher of the world's first Sapphic zine, Vice Versa" - FJA.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 16, 2019 9:10:32 GMT
Virgil Finlay Mary E. Counselman - The Black Stone Statue: ( Weird Tales, Dec. 1937). The story of a weird desception practiced by an obscure sculptor. Intrepid explorer Paul Kennicott's plane crashes in the dense Brazilian forest. His co-pilot, McCrea, broken-legged and delirious, makes off into the trees before he can stop him. Kennicott tracks his friend to to an expanse of petrified forest where everything "glitters like soft coal". Along with several small animals, the injured man has been turned to stone by the touch of a slug-like entity. "It resembled nothing so much as a star-shaped blob of transparent jelly that shimmered and changed colour like an opal." Kennicott traps the creature in a black box and returns to New York incognito where he unwisely confides in a struggling sculptor ... Gustav Meyrink - The Violet Death: ( Weird Tales, July 1935). A brief story of Tibet and the gruesome power of a shouted word. Sir Hannibal Roger Thornton and his deaf servant Pompeius explore a ravine where, it is rumoured, a lost tribe in red pointed caps and sheepskin coats conduct Satanic ceremonies. A treacherous Tibetan leads them to the contaminated passage - the ground unleashes jets of carbon monoxide - and, having successfully negotiated the death trap, the two men advance into the forest. The hostile tribe keenly await the explorers as an opportunity to unleash the purple death epidemic across the entire globe! Andrew Brosnatch H. Thompson Rich - The Purple Cincture: ( Weird Tales, Aug. 1925). The Bite of Plague-stricken Spiders Accomplished a Frightful Revenge. The narrator finds a headless skeleton in a rock fissure. Beside it, a mouldering journal explaining how it came to be that way... A gloriously over the top study of obsessive jealousy, misplaced blame and a spectacular and hideously protracted death by 'germ poison' via a rare purple and orange-banded spider. Read it Here
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Feb 18, 2019 2:14:37 GMT
No disputing Rainbow Fantasia's appeal to enthusiasts of a certain pulp publication. By my reckoning, of the thirty-five stories, twenty-three are derived from Weird Tales. For the most part, the J. Saville/ G. Glitter of Sci-fandom gives the usual suspects a miss in favour of rarely - if ever- anthologised stories by lesser known authors. Nice book, shame about the nominal (?) editor. This is such a peculiar anthology--but, as you say, an excellent sourcebook for rare Weird Tales stories. Bonus points for including "The Eighth Green Man," which is an all-time classic. A warning: Brad Linweaver's "Yellow Imagicide" features a "five-hundred foot tall Forrest J Ackerman" who booms out "'Sci-fi is my high'"--an image I could've done without, particularly in light of later events. David Baxter - The Brown Moccasin: ( Weird Tales, Feb. 1925) Tragicomedy of Animal Life. Nature watch. A battle to the death between a full grown water-snake and a hapless salamander is not the one sided contest we might suspect. With both parties exhausted, a turtle alligator joins the fray. Quite possibly the worst WT story I've ever read--and that's counting E. W. Mayo's "Dream Justice" as well as the Nictzin Dyalhis story included this same anthology. I have no idea what Farnsworth Wright was thinking. Margaret McBride Hoss - The Weird Green Eyes of Sari: ( Weird Tales, March 1925) He Lost His Soul to a Green-eyed Thing From the Sea. Phil Sanborne seems destined to marry Mary McKee - until he falls under the spell of a cruelly beautiful, soul-stealing mermaid. On the other hand, I remember liking this one. Tigrina - Up In Smoke: (July 1946). Carolynne Devereaux, Frightfully rebellious poor little rich girl, has taken up smoking to annoy her parents. Zelda Troyer, two years Carolynne's senior at nineteen, introduces her to an Egyptian acquaintance, Morloq, a trader in designer cigarettes and perfumes. Fatally for Miss Devereaux, Morloq is a High Priest of Og Amankh, "the imprisoner of souls," and Zelda, his devious accomplice. "A colourful and COLOR full fantasy by a Legendary Daughter of Bilitis and publisher of the world's first Sapphic zine, Vice Versa" - FJA. Neat, and Tigrina sounds like a fascinating character herself.
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Post by helrunar on Feb 18, 2019 3:47:59 GMT
FJA was heavily involved with "weird" fandom at a young age, starting sometime in the early 1930s I believe. So I would not be surprised if he did choose the tales himself.
I've been reading a couple of volumes of HP Lovecraft's collected letters this winter. He despised Ackerman, who wrote some oddly pointed criticism of both his own tales and those of Clark Ashton Smith. I think Ackerman was maybe 17 or so when all this went down.
cheers, H.
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Post by ropardoe on Feb 18, 2019 9:05:40 GMT
FJA was heavily involved with "weird" fandom at a young age, starting sometime in the early 1930s I believe. So I would not be surprised if he did choose the tales himself. I've been reading a couple of volumes of HP Lovecraft's collected letters this winter. He despised Ackerman, who wrote some oddly pointed criticism of both his own tales and those of Clark Ashton Smith. I think Ackerman was maybe 17 or so when all this went down. cheers, H. Tolkien didn't think much of Forry either. They met when Forry visited him to discuss a then-planned Lord of the Rings film. If you think Peter Jackson messed about with the original, be grateful that Forrry's ideas never came to fruition. All this is mentioned in the published collection of Tolkien's letters.
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Post by David A. Riley on Feb 18, 2019 15:59:16 GMT
I didn't realise till today, when I read some of the posts here, that Forry Ackerman had been accused of sexual misbehaviour. That shocks and saddens me. His was an important name to me back in the 60s and 70s, when he edited Famous Monsters of Filmland. I even saw him once, though not to talk to, at Novacon, which he attended with his wife.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Feb 18, 2019 20:27:36 GMT
I even saw him once, though not to talk to A narrow escape. Brr!
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Post by cromagnonman on Feb 18, 2019 23:01:48 GMT
Reads like a toned-down version of a Bassett Morgan brain transplant epic with added proper science ("I have discovered a new light ray which renders the opaque absolutely invisible," etc). Hm! Now while I would never claim to have the scientific credentials of a brain box Weird Tales contributor I'm pretty sure that making something opaque invisible doesn't make it transparant; it just means that on top of not being able to see through it you can't even see that it is there. Not many practical applications for such a discovery, I would have thought.
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Post by helrunar on Feb 19, 2019 16:49:43 GMT
That's interesting, Rosemary. Even as a child I felt there was something "off" about Ackerman. As an adult, I vaguely wondered, when I thought about him which was not really that often, if he was somehow "stunted" in terms of his personality. It wasn't until recent revelations that I realized just what a horror show he was.
It's been interesting reading the Lovecraft letters how perceptive he was about people. At least, from the late 1920s till the end of his life. I don't read much of his work or letters before then because I don't find it all that worthwhile.
H.
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Post by helrunar on Feb 19, 2019 16:55:40 GMT
Oh, and I did meet FJA back in the mid 70s at a "Famous Monsters" themed horror movie convention (one sponsored by the magazine). He was very gracious and patient and I didn't see any louche or concerning behavior (I was around 17 or 18). He was wearing the ring worn by Karloff in the 1932 film THE MUMMY, which fascinated me, and the Lugosi Dracula ring which I think was a prop from ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. I have been told that the ring was also worn by Christopher Lee in one of his films--maybe TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA?
FJA was mobbed by fans and everyone wanted to snap photos of his hands with the rings, including me. The Vampirella thing was in full swing as there was a poster for a film Hammer was going to do from the comics, but I think there might have been at least one slender young woman in the Vampi costume but I did not really pay attention (hey, I was a gay teenager). I did find fascinating this woman dressed as the Black Queen (or Great Tyrant) from BARBARELLA. I hadn't seen the film at the time so I had no idea who she was supposed to be, but she was also patient and kind and posed for photos (which I may still have). No doubt she caught FJA's eye but she seemed quite self-possessed and very much in charge. But who knows just what was really going on.
H.
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Post by David A. Riley on Feb 19, 2019 18:02:16 GMT
I even saw him once, though not to talk to A narrow escape. Brr! Actually I regretted not having the guts to go up to him when I had the chance and tell him how much I liked his magazine - even more so, I regretted not knowing beforehand he would be there so I could have brought at least one of the copies from my collection for him to sign.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 19, 2019 19:46:00 GMT
FJA was heavily involved with "weird" fandom at a young age, starting sometime in the early 1930s I believe. So I would not be surprised if he did choose the tales himself. I'm sure you're right. He provides very brief intro's to each story; examples below. "I met Eli Colter late in her life. I don't know what her real name was but I seem to remember the Colter came from a gun, a colt."
"I met Bassett, then an elderly lady, toward the end of her life. My mother, about the same age, in her late 80's, accompanied me and the two practically fell into each others arms. I'll never forget their parting words. 'Well, before long we'll be seeing each other again .."
"I almost met the mysterious Ms. Quick in 1939. I rang her doorbell in Manhattan and she spoke to me through a tube but I never laid eyes on her, only ears."He seemed to like meeting authors toward the end of their lives, preferably on their deathbed. Robert Bloch being a case in point .... A warning: Brad Linweaver's "Yellow Imagicide" features a "five-hundred foot tall Forrest J Ackerman" who booms out "'Sci-fi is my high'"--an image I could've done without, particularly in light of later events. That explains it. I was wondering how come a contemporary author had wangled his way into a volume of reprints. Hm! Now while I would never claim to have the scientific credentials of a brain box Weird Tales contributor I'm pretty sure that making something opaque invisible doesn't make it transparant; it just means that on top of not being able to see through it you can't even see that it is there. Not many practical applications for such a discovery, I would have thought. Ah, but Mendoza has upward of fifteen brains, each of them liberated from the skull of a genius. The light ray enables him to obscure an unsightly wall around his life's-work - a new, super-improved Garden of Eden (!). Hugh Rankin Arthur Macom - The Green Monster ( Weird Tales, July 1928). Out of the shuddering dark of the university cloisters leapt the Green Monster, to turn at last on its creator. A simple experiment in hypnosis and auto-suggestion. The Professor projects a horrible entity into the minds of his volunteers, sits back and awaits the inevitable "sightings" over coming days. Sure enough, a terrified student reports an encounter with a fiery-eyed, throat-tearing green monster - our narrator, Boreau, is witness to the attack. The Professor is amused at the ensuing media frenzy, safe in the knowledge that a non-existent bogeyman poses no threat ...
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Post by helrunar on Feb 20, 2019 0:16:00 GMT
Those quotes are pretty funny. FJA was definitely an operator, in several sense of that word.
cheers, H.
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Post by ropardoe on Feb 20, 2019 9:13:25 GMT
Those quotes are pretty funny. FJA was definitely an operator, in several sense of that word. cheers, H. Quintessentially! My only contact with him was when he wrote to ask for free copies of all my available publications to add to his collection. I didn't respond!
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