Jerry Sohl wrote some good stuff back in the day both in sf and mainstream. Can't remember why exactly but toward the end of his life we exchanged three or four fairly long phone calls. Probably something with Mystery Scene or Five Star books. He was one hell of a nice guy. I remember Wilson Tucker saying that Damon Knight had written a review of a Sohl novel so savage that Sohl teared up in front of Tucker. Knight wrote some good short stories but he was an incompetent and phony critic, taking out his own lack of success on his betters. He should have been hanged for the many, many terrible things he said about Richard Matheson for instance, a writer so superior to Knight in every respect that Knight should not have been allowed to utter his name.
Sohl wrote a mainstream novel called THE LEMON EATERS that I remember and may have a copy of. I liked a lot of his SF when I was a kid, and of course I loved Matheson. I confess to liking Knight's work, too. I haven't read his criticism, except for a few book reviews. He was married to Kate Wilhelm, which shows me that he was pretty smart. I've met her only once, but she seemed like a wonderful person, and I like her writing.
I think Kate Wilhelm is a really fine writer and as I said I thought Knight wrote some excellent and memorable short stories.I learned some key things from studying a few of them. It was just when he disemboweled his fellow writers that he really pissed me off. I'm against that anyway, writers dumping on other writers. John D reviewed Richard Matheson and dumped on him and Robert Silverberg reviewed John D and dumped on him. The NY Times delights in handing books to writers who don't get along. There's very little if any of that in the mystery genre and that makes me happy. I sounded angrier about Knight than I meant too and I'm sorry.
A little anger is good for the soul. I didn't know that Silverberg and dumped on John D. and that John D. had dumped on Matheson. All those writers are among my favorites. I don't say bad things about other writers on the blog (usually), but I did have to let my feelings about TWILIGHT out. Otherwise, I'll tell you if you ask in private, but not on the blog. I just don't review books I don't care for.
5 comments:
I have fond memories of reading this book as a kid--both sides!
Jerry Sohl wrote some good stuff back in the day both in sf and mainstream. Can't remember why exactly but toward the end of his life we exchanged three or four fairly long phone calls. Probably something with Mystery Scene or Five Star books. He was one hell of a nice guy. I remember Wilson Tucker saying that Damon Knight had written a review of a Sohl novel so savage that Sohl teared up in front of Tucker. Knight wrote some good short stories but he was an incompetent and phony critic, taking out his own lack of success on his betters. He should have been hanged for the many, many terrible things he said about Richard Matheson for instance, a writer so superior to Knight in every respect that Knight should not have been allowed to utter his name.
Sohl wrote a mainstream novel called THE LEMON EATERS that I remember and may have a copy of. I liked a lot of his SF when I was a kid, and of course I loved Matheson. I confess to liking Knight's work, too. I haven't read his criticism, except for a few book reviews. He was married to Kate Wilhelm, which shows me that he was pretty smart. I've met her only once, but she seemed like a wonderful person, and I like her writing.
I think Kate Wilhelm is a really fine writer and as I said I thought Knight wrote some excellent and memorable short stories.I learned some key things from studying a few of them. It was just when he disemboweled his fellow writers that he really pissed me off. I'm against that anyway, writers dumping on other writers. John D reviewed Richard Matheson and dumped on him and Robert Silverberg reviewed John D and dumped on him. The NY Times delights in handing books to writers who don't get along. There's very little if any of that in the mystery genre and that makes me happy. I sounded angrier about Knight than I meant too and I'm sorry.
A little anger is good for the soul. I didn't know that Silverberg and dumped on John D. and that John D. had dumped on Matheson. All those writers are among my favorites. I don't say bad things about other writers on the blog (usually), but I did have to let my feelings about TWILIGHT out. Otherwise, I'll tell you if you ask in private, but not on the blog. I just don't review books I don't care for.
Post a Comment