Category Archives: The Writing Life

Posted on

A 1968 Letter from Damon Knight to Hayden Howard

by

I’m holding a letter typed 56 years ago, signed by Damon Knight (1922-2002.) It was sent from The Anchorage, in Milford PA, to author John Hayden Howard.

Image of Damon Knight’s home called The Anchorage. It burned down in 1979, according to the Times Herald-Record.

Damon Knight was a science fiction author who wrote over seventy stories and twenty novels. He edited the Orbit anthology series (see Knight in the Oregon Encyclopedia). Knight also founded the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association) and was later inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

He and his sci-fi writing wife Kate Wilhelm co-founded the Milford Science Fiction Writer’s Conference, and hosted workshops in their big aging Victorian home, The Anchorage.

One of his Knight’s stories, written in 1950, became an episode of The Twilight Zone. In “To Serve Man,” men find an alien cookbook with a recipe titled by the same name. They think it’s about how to feed humans. Spoiler Alert: it becomes apparent that they are the meal. I’ve seen that episode, which makes it even more fun having his signature in front of me.

Knight also wrote for the Captain Video television show. (Incidentally, Hayden Howard was later asked by his agent Scott Meredith to audition to write for Captain Video. However, that would have involved a move to New York, so he didn’t go for that. He loved living in Santa Barbara!)

Back to Damon Knight’s letter:

At first glance, Knight’s letter to Hayden Howard looks like a simple a rejection letter. Those always sting for writers. Wrote Knight:

I return this one with regrets. I grok some of it, but am not sure what the story as a whole is intended to mean.”

Grok?  I see now that means grasped. Yay, a new fun word to use. You grok that?

But then Knight followed that comment up with thoughtful questions about Howard’s plot and characters in the story he was rejecting, The Brave Candidates.

I have an original copy of that. It’s interesting, yet agree that it’s not one of his best (unlike the other 17 stories I chose for the Reawakened Worlds anthologies). The Brave Candidates is a political story set on a planet where aliens (Earthmen) intrude.

Howard had better success throughout his writing career with publishing other politically themed stories, so remember authors: no writers bat a thousand! In 1971, Hayden Howard’s political story To Grab Power was published by Isaac Asimov in one of his anthologies. It’s now being included in Reawakened Worlds Book 2, coming soon. So that one hit it out of the ballpark.

On serialized stories vs. stand-alones:

Knight mentioned that the story felt incomplete, “. . . as if it were one of those segments of novels Fred Pohl keeps printing.”

Ironically, before Knight wrote this letter in August of ’68, Hayden Howard’s works had actually been serialized by Pohl, in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. One novelette in that series was nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards. The resulting novel, The Eskimo Invasion (1967, Ballantine) was also nominated, for best novel.

Back to Fred Pohl: Frederick Pohl–in the same writing groups as Knight–was the 12th recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, awarded by SFWA. Pohl also was later inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. So I suspect what Knight was saying (referring to Pohl’s segments of novels) was that he (Knight) was seeking standalone stories instead.

A redeeming final comment from Knight:

In Damon Knight’s letter to John, he revealed openness to more of Howard’s work:

If I have missed the point, please forgive–and send me some more.”

That makes this letter– in my opinion, one Holy Grail of a rejection! Any writer should feel fortunate to get such an intriguing and affirming rejection–as well as honest advice–from a future Hall-of-Famer.

Fast-forwarding to the future, you can now download some stories by both Knight and Howard for free here, to read online or via Kindle, at Project Gutenberg.

READ MORE ARTICLES ABOUT VINTAGE SCIENCE FICTION & HAYDEN HOWARD by Laurie Winslow Sargent

Posted on

In 1954, John Hayden Howard sold a story to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine for $400

by

The Dipping of the Candlemaker was one of 18 mystery and detective stories Hayden Howard had published in the US, UK, and Australia.

Later in the 1960s, he became a popular science fiction author.

In 1954, the average pay for teachers was around 4K per year. A short story author, selling at least ten stories a year, could at least earn the meager pay of a teacher. (Howard in his later years also became a teacher, in Santa Barbara CA.)

Scott Meredith was John’s literary agent at the time. Here’s a letter from Scott about the sale of John’s Candlemaker story.

Interesting facts: 1) Ellery Queen was a pseudonym for the writers/publishers Fred Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee. 2) It may interest science fiction fans that Scott Meredith also represented Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick.

In the letter above, written 70 years ago, Scott asked John to give the story more “stature” before publication. I haven’t the foggiest idea what that meant! But perhaps John did: it was published/republished five times.

Now I wonder even more what “stature” meant in 1954, so I can “get me some of that good stuff” for my own writing!

What’s especially interesting to me is that this particular story is a quirky one, compared to everything else Hayden Howard wrote. He set The Dipping of the Candlemaker in a 1600s colonial village. His characters spoke in 17th century English.

How did Hayden know how to write that? Back in ’54, did he peruse vintage documents in a library, to get the hang of 1600s lingo?

It’s especially hard to imagine the Candlemaker story was by the same author who wrote the sci-fi stories I compiled for the new Reawakened Worlds anthologies!

Then again, in his elder years, Hayden, AKA John, AKA Jack wrote poetry, including love poetry to his wife. So he was certainly a versatile writer, and full of surprises. He lived until his eighties, but was only in his twenties when he wrote The Dipping of the Candlemaker.

Here’s a list of 18 detective, mystery, and sea stories written by Hayden Howard.

Blood on the Medicine Arrows: The Saint Detective Magazine, December 1956; The Saint Detective Magazine, (Australia) July 1957; The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) September 1957

City in the Bottle: The Saint Mystery Magazine, April 1959; The Saint Detective Magazine, (Australia) June 1959; The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) August/September 1959; The Saint Mystery Library #2, 1959

Dead Beat: Manhunt, October 1960

Denny: Popular, 1954

Down Among the Rock Cod: Tales of the Sea, Spring 1953

Finger in the Trough: The Saint Mystery Magazine, April 1960; The Saint Mystery Magazine, (UK) June 1960

Hellwater Run: Adventure, March 1953

Murder on El Capitan: Keyhole Mystery Magazine, April 1960

Murder on San Afer: The Saint Detective Magazine, October/November 1953; The Saint Detective Magazine, (Australia) October 1954; The Saint Detective Magazine, (UK) December 1954

Murder Without Tears: Fifteen Detective Stories, August 1953

Pass the Bottle: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine #123, February 1954; Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Australia) #82, April 1954

Shark: Jack London’s Adventure Magazine, December 1958

The Amateur Assassin: The Saint Detective Magazine June 1957, The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) April 1958; The Saint Mystery Library #1, 1959; Great American Publications, Inc. August 1959

The Big Word: Trapped Detective Story Magazine, June 1956

The Dipping of the Candlemaker: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, October 1954; Ellery Queen’s Awards: 9th Series ed. Ellery Queen, Little Brown, 1954; Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (UK) #21, October 1954; Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Australia) #90, December 1954; the hardcover book Mystery and Murder in Boston, W.W. Norton and Company Inc. 1987

 The Dummy and the Death Web: New Detective Magazine, April 1953

 The Housemother Cometh: Manhunt, December 1954; Giant Manhunt #5, (var.1), #5 (var.2) 1955

The Old Man’s Last Case: Popular Magazine, abt1954.

The Wrong Man: The Pursuit Detective Story Magazine #4, July 1954; Pursuit—The Phantom Mystery Magazine, May 1955

With His Back Turned: The Saint Detective Magazine August/September 1953; The Saint Detective Magazine (Australia) March 1955; The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) May 1955

NOTE: Friends, if you come across copies of any of these magazine issues, let me know! I have collected some but not all. As for you fans of Hayden Howard’s sci-fi: does it surprise you that he wrote mysteries, too?

Posted on

Grandpa and the Maharaja of Jaipur

by

The book The Henna Artist (by Alka Joshi) includes scenes set in the Indian palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur. That brings alive a 1920s invitation in my possession–from that maharaja to my American grandfather, J.K. Pearce.

This is an invitation to my grandfather from His Highness the Maharaja of Jaipur. The location and time: At Home (the palace) June 1st at 4 P.M. (most likely a year between 1923 and 1926.) The event was a Gymkhana (featuring races and competitions) on the Horse Show Lawn.

While this seems a huge departure from my recent blog posts on vintage sci-fi and Reawakened Worlds, it’s not quite the stretch you imagine. Yes, 1920s historical nonfiction and 1960s science fiction are different genres. But what they have in common is the past.

The connection between the two genres is an abundance of artifacts inherited from my own family. They surround me in my home office.

On one hand, I possess vintage science fiction manuscripts, author-agent letters, and magazines (Galaxy, IF, and others) with short stories written by my stepfather in the ’60s.

Yet I’m also surrounded by 1920s ephemera. That includes photos, film reels, diaries, letters, and unusual objects from my maternal grandparents’ time in British Raj India (1923-1933.)

Sometimes I can’t recall which time period I’m in, particularly 2024!

But back to how Grandpa met the Maharaja of Jaipur, and why a young American man from Washington State was in India to begin with…

Grandpa studied Forest Engineering at the University of Washington, then as an associate professor attended the Pacific Logging Conference. There he met a man who was working in the logging industry in India. That man encouraged my grandfather Ken (J. Kenneth Pearce) to apply for, take over, and expand his position.

So at about age 26, Ken was hired by government of India (then under control of the British.) He assumed a position of high authority in South India which he held for ten years. His job was to oversee elephant logging camps, introduce machine power into the camps, and help establish sawmills. At times he also functioned as a district magistrate.

In India, Ken he was called Sahib and Master Pearce, and Grandma Gladys was his Memsahib.

That felt awkward to them at times. There was great pressure for them to hire many servants. Yet both of my grandparents were highly industrious, hard-working people. They often simply wanted to do the work themselves.

Grandpa worked from sunup to sundown, often shoulder-to-shoulder with his Indian laborers (most who were ex-convicts.) Grandma sewed clothes for herself and Ken. As a physical education teacher, she was hired to evaluate physical education programs in schools in Madras and other cities.

As for the Maharaja of Jaipur–I believe this particular invitation was for just Ken, before Grandma Gladys sailed to marry him in 1926. Then Ken and Gladys lived in Tamil Nadu region until 1929, primarily in Madras (Chennai) and Ooty. (1930-1933 they lived in the Andaman Islands.)

Ken managed logging camps throughout South and Southwest India. The University of Washington archives hold artifacts related to the forestry work of J.K. Pearce in India. However, I hold all his personal mementos from that time and place, plus additional logging ephemera.

Grandma also met a maharaja: the Maharaja of Mysore, who had a summer palace in Ooty (the Fernhills Palace.)

Gladys wrote of a funny (or disconcerting?) event that took place on the palace lawn. Before moving to India, she had saved money from her job as a junior high physical education teacher. On the steamship ride over, during a stop in Asia, she bought her first set of pearls and treasured them.

At the palace, a young child (one of the princes) approached her bedecked with jewels. He pointed at her pearls and demanded to have them. As you can imagine, she clutched them, and gave him a firm “No.” She had worked too hard for those!

Posted on

Hayden Howard: his creative wordplay in Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ

by

In his fun short stories including Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ, John Hayden Howard used creative wordplay and unique characterization in 1940s to 1960s historical settings.

The Oxford Language Dictionary defines wordplay as “the witty exploitation of the meanings and ambiguities of words.” My own definition might be “describing settings and characters in an unusually creative way that make me laugh, or say a-hah!”

In John Hayden Howard‘s short story Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ (in REAWAKENED WORLDS: Vintage Dystopian and Sci-Fi by a Master Storyteller) note what I mean about his wordplay and characterization:

Kindle Quote from the story Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ, in the book Reawakened Worlds: Vintage Dystopian and Sci-Fi by a Master Storyteller, John Hayden Howard.

When I see words like speed graphics and box brownies, I get the gist of them while knowing I’ve a bit to learn about old-timey camera equipment. Since Hayden wrote this story between 1951-’52 (based on the address on his original manuscript, written in St. Augustine FL) and set the story in the 1940s, there was no need for him to explain what kind of equipment this was to his readers back then.

But for the curious 2020s crowd, this is what those historic cameras looked like:

Graflex Speed Graphic camera (Creative Commons)
Kodak Brownie camera

Also note the way Hayden describes the appearance of the reporters: “Country, with bowl-head haircuts, pants don’t break on their shoe-tops, one still with a price tag on his coat.” So much imagery there! Those words also reveal the opinions and personality of the main character, The Champ, telling his story in first person.

Also in this same story, Hayden drops breadcrumbs about time travelers. Pay close attention to those breadcrumbs, as they greatly impact what happens at the end of the story. Who, exactly, is the champ fighting?

Some strong yet subtle clues come in near the end of the story, for example: “You were my hero when I was a kid.” Don’t miss those clues! The last few lines of the story are especially subtle reveals. If you aren’t already familiar with Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, and Jack Johnson, see their biographies.

Here are hints though: these were the time periods in which these 3 boxers were champions—Joe Lewis (1934-1951), Jack Dempsey (1919-1926), and Jack Johnson (1908-1915). Galento fought Joe Lewis in 1931. There’s a fun Wikipedia article on Galento, who was said to have boxed a kangaroo and then a bear, as publicity stunts. And as you keep all these dates in mind, remember that the boxing match in Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ was set in the late 1940s. I wish I’d known all this before I read this story, as it makes it twice the fun.

I must be honest though that Hayden fooled me. When I realized all the previously mentioned boxers were real, I assumed Redhead must be too. I spent an hour searching the internet for a famous boxer named Taylor in 1951. I felt like a dummy later, realizing it was impossible, because Hayden wrote this story when he was only 26 years old. Meaning–all boxers he knew of had to be alive then or before that. Any future boxers would still be babies or not born yet. If this still puzzles you, or if you get it, tweet me @LaurieSargent. I’m just hoping not to introduce a story spoiler here if you intend to read Reawakened Worlds.

The story is especially fun to read in the print editions, as the ten rounds are laid out neatly, and the collectable hardcover is a delight to hold. Can you tell that I’m one of Hayden Howard’s greatest fans? Volume Two will be out in 2024 and hopefully a boxed set. Also, the audiobook makes the The Champ’s boxing match exciting.

I admit that I’m biased, but I never would have compiled and edited his works had I not loved his stories and creative characters. I must add too that I’m not the kind of person who likes to watch boxing, so this story drew me in specifically by the characters, historical references, and surprise ending.

Laurie

See my posts on other sci-fi short stories in Reawakened Worlds, Vol 1:

We Specialists (a dystopian reality check about following assigned roles)

Gremmie’s Reef (a CA teen surfer makes an unusual underwater discovery)

The Tragedy of Henry Diddoh (a Frankenstein-ish story about a professor)

Ten Rounds for the All-Time Champ (a 1940s boxer meets a time-traveling opponent)

Mutiny in the Orbit of Uranus (an anti-gravity space battle)