Blogging Northwest Smith: Juhli

With "Juhli", C. L. Moore returned to the formula that had been successful in her first few Northwest Smith stories.  The previous installment, "Dust of Gods", was mostly a straight-forward adventure tale, with little of the weird science fantasy elements in prior stories, and certainly none of the erotic imagery. 

The opening paragraph discusses Smith's myriad scars, focusing on one particular scar over his heart.  The next paragraph finds Smith waking up in a dark room with no idea where he is or how he got there.  He manages to find a wall and put his back to it.  This is a good thing because there's something else there with him.  Whatever is there touches him, delivering a strong electric shock.  When he wakes up, the thing is still there somewhere, but there's a young girl as well.

Blogging Northwest Smith: Dust of Gods

"Dust of Gods"  was the fourth Northwest Smith story, and it was the last of the series published in 1934.  The picture on the left accompanied the story in its original publication in Weird Tales.  I scanned it from the only reproduction I'm aware of, the anthology Weird Tales:  32 Unearthed Terrors (Dziemianowicz, Weinberg, and Greenberg, ed., Bonanza Books, 1988).  The book was printed on paper not much higher grade than the original pulp, and it's yellowed with lines of text bleeding through from the other side of the page.  But at least you can get a feel for what it would have been like to read the story in its original appearance.  (What, you didn't think I could actually afford copies of Weird Tales from the 30s, did you?)

Anyway, this installment in the series is a departure from the earlier tales.  For one thing, Smith is not off by himself getting into trouble.  His partner Yarol the Venusian is with him.  In other words, Smith has company when he gets into trouble.

Secondly, there isn't any exotic feminine menace in this one, and there certainly isn't any of the sexual imagery that we saw in "Shambleau", "Black Thirst", or "Scarlet Dream". While there isn't any sexual content or theme, there is still an exotic menace. But compared to the earlier ones, it's not that great of a menace.

The menace this time is more of a science fictional nature.  The previous stories were science fantasy.  "Dust of Gods" is essentially science fiction, although not of the hard science, nuts and bolts variety.

Blogging Northwest Smith: Scarlet Dream

"Scarlet Dream"
C. L. Moore

This post contains content of an adult nature and is not suitable for younger readers.  You have been warned.

"Scarlet Dream" is the third Northwest Smith story.  In terms of sexually charged imagery, it's the most explicit of the ones so far, hence the warning above.  (My discussions of "Shambleau" and "Black Thirst" can be found here and here.)  There will be spoilers, as well.  You've been doubly warned.

Blogging Northwest Smith: Black Thirst

"Black Thirst"
C. L. Moore

SPOILER ALERT - You've been warned.

"Black Thirst" is the second Northwest Smith story, published  in the April 1934 issue of Weird Tales shortly after "Shambleau".  Upon rereading, I found this story lacked the power of its predecessor.  It may have been that I wasn't able to get to the story until late at night, and therefore was fighting fatigue.

The story begins with Smith casing a warehouse along the waterfront of the Venusian city of Ednes one night when a woman walks by and asks him if he'd like to make a gold coin.  This isn't any ordinary woman, but a Minga woman.

When the first settlers landed on the shore, they found a giant castle ruled by a being, apparently a man, called the Alendar.  He had a small entourage of the most beautiful women, which he began selling to the traders and settlers.

Over time, the Minga women, renowned for their exquisite beauty and chaste bodies, have been the prizes of kings, sultans, and chieftains throughout the solar system.  They are never allowed to walk the streets at night alone and unescorted.  But this one is.

She recognizes Smith, although they've never met, and raises her offer to one hundred gold coins.  To receive it, all he has to do is come to a particular gate at the Minga castle in one hour, give her name, and enter.

Other men have died for lesser offenses against the Alendar.

Smith decides to take her up on the offer.

Blogging Northwest Smith: Shambleau

"Shambleau" is the first of the Northwest Smith adventures, and the first published story by C. L. Moore.  According to Lester del Rey, in his introduction to The Best of C. L. Moore (1975), she had been writing for 15 years before she submitted anything for publication.  I'd like to know where he got that information, but I'm not questioning it.  Since he'd known Moore personally for decades, I'm inclined to believe him.  Of course, what I'd like even more is to get my hands on some of those unpublished stories.  I suspect they've long since ceased to exist.

I don't remember if "Shambleau" was the first story I read by C. L. Moore, but it certainly made the strongest impact on me.  Here's a synopsis of what happens (spoiler alert):

Happy Birthday, C. L. Moore

Moore with husband Kuttner

Today marks the 101st anniversary of the birth of C. L. Moore.  Moore was an innovative writer who got her start in Weird Tales with the classic story "Shambleau", which introduced the Han Solo prototype Northwest Smith.  She also created Jirel of Joiry, one of the pioneering heroines of sword and sorcery.  After her marriage to Henry Kuttner, most of her output was collaborative and mainly science fiction.

I wrote a more extensive tribute last year, albeit a day late. I'll not repeat myself this year, except to say, go read her.  Right now.  Turn off the computer, put down the tablet, and go read her.  Okay, you can leave the tablet on if you download one of her stories.  She's too important a figure in the field to be forgotten.  While I'm sure others have written tributes today, I haven't seen any.  Of course the best tribute you can pay authors is to read their works.

A Summary of Grand Masters

Christopher Heath has written a great post over at Home of Heroics about heroic fantasy grand masters and who they've influenced him.  His assessment is insightful and informative.  Check it out.  The only one I'd add (at least off the top of my head) would be C. L. Moore.  Her Jirel of Joiry series, while barely enough to fill a book, are powerful and eerie.  Jirel was one of the first warrior women, and created in a time when science fiction and fantasy was a male dominated field.  Moore's stories brought an emotional depth to the field that had been lacking in the bulk of the work published up to that point.  Heath credits Lovecraft for atmosphere.  While Moore's writing was certainly atmospheric, I would have to say one of the techniques at which Moore excelled was imagery.  I've been wanting to take a detailed look at her Northwest Smith series, which is really fantasy in a science fictional setting, for a while now. Imagery will be one of the things that series will focus on.  Hopefully those will start appearing by the end of the summer.