John F. Carr  05-23-2019
22:42 UT
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I thought I'd share this post that I recently posted up on Galactic
Journey's latest review of the June 1964 issue of Fantastic, which
contains "Testing" by J.J. McGuire:
The J.J. McGuire’s story is a
sad one. According to Anne McGuire, John’s wife, who I interviewed
extensively, John McGuire was drafted right after graduation at
Shippensburg State College in Pennsylvania, with a degree in English.
John had aspirations of being a professional writer, while Anne was
dreaming of performing on stage. (Even in her early 90s, when I spoke
with her, she had a wonderful voice.) Their hopes and plans were dashed
when WWII began and John was drafted.
Due to McGuire’s quick
reflexes and athletic background, he was selected out of Officers
Candidate School, to become a member of the new Office of Strategic
Services (OSS). After a short period of training, he was parachuted into
Germany to work behind enemy lines. His job was to disrupt the German
war effort and to assassinate targeted Nazis underlings and Gestapo
officials. He was quite good at his job and barely escaped capture and
execution several times. He also robbed a number of German banks in
order to disrupt the Nazi economy.
After the War, he remained behind
to testify at the Nuremburg Trials. The man who returned from Germany,
Anne told me, was not the same person she had married—a sensitive man
with courtly manners. He was suffering from Post-Traumatic Shock, which
was untreated and he typically used alcohol to “calm his nerves,” as he
put it. To support his new growing family, he went to work as a junior
high school teacher. In his spare time, he wrote short stories but was
unable to sell any of his works.
The family moved to Altoona,
Pennsylvania where he got a job at Keith Junior High teaching children
with special needs (behavioral problems) and met H. Beam Piper. Piper
was an already established pro and McGuire met him through mutual
friends. McGuire courted him since he believed that Piper could help him
attain his goal of becoming a published author. Piper, a lonely man who
lived with his elderly mother, soon became a beloved part of the
McGuire household. [Even 50 years after Piper’s death, the McGuire
children (Terry and John, Jr.) I talked with remembered their time with
H. Beam Piper as an idyllic interlude in and tumultuous childhood with a
father moved to drunken rages and unpredictable behavior.]
The
collaboration was a moderate success and they published a short novel,
Null ABC, in Astounding Science Fiction and several shorter works. By
the mid-1950s, they had fired their Agent, Fred Pohl, and McGuires heavy
drinking was beginning to interfere with both their work and
friendship. [When H. Beam Piper, recommends that someone join Alcoholic
Anonymous, you knew that person’s drinking is way out of control!] The
final break came when McGuire came over to Piper’s apartment and
“borrowed” one of his pistols, while Beam was in New York courting his
soon-to-be wife Betty. That was the end for Piper and he was openly
pleased about the break since McGuire was beginning to become a problem,
showing up unannounced with fellow drunks at odd hours.
Shortly
thereafter, John McGuire and family moved to Red Bank, New Jersey
(incidentally near Fred Pohl) where he taught at another school. He sold
a few more stories to John Campbell and several other markets such as
Fantastic. “Testing,” which appeared in the June, 1964 issue of
Fantastic was his last published story.
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Dave Eden 05-21-2019
15:59 UT
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Thanks for sharing those, David. We had the Muster this past Saturday.
Unfortunately, Dennis was sick. We appreciated his efforts the prior
evening to trim the grass around Piper's grave and blaze a trail through
the tall grass (even a city slicker like Leonard Kellogg could have
followed the trail).
We stopped at the transposition site you
showed in the link, as well as the scene of a battle from Great Kings
War, and finished the day at Piper's grave and the traditional dinner
destination in Altoona.
I'd like to personally say thank you to
Mark and Steve for driving, to Lisa for allowing my son and I to
monopolize John in the latter half (given vehicle arrangements), and to
John for providing an afternoon of fascinating stories and insights.
It was very nice meeting all of you.
Dave
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 05-19-2019
17:26 UT
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~
2019 Muster of Piper Irregulars
As the Irregulars prepare
for the annual Muster in Hostigos next weekend take a look at this
extensive visual tour of locations in ~Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen~
provided by Piper fan Dennis Frank:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080829175352...d_Kalvan/Tour01.htm
And here's a bit of our adventure during the first Muster--well, the second, actually--fifteen years ago:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080819174120...an/Hostigos2004.htm
And the Irregulars at the Waffle House at the beginning of the 2008 Muster:
http://www.zarthani.net/Images/irregulars_muster_2008.jpg
Smooth travels this year, Irregulars.
Down Styphon!
David
P.S. The first actual Muster--though it wasn't called that yet--occurred way back in 1988:
http://www.zarthani.net/hostigos_1988.htm
--
"Oh,
my people had many gods. There was Conformity, and Authority, and
Expense Account, and Opinion. And there was Status, whose symbols were
many, and who rode in the great chariot Cadillac, which was almost a god
itself. And there was Atom-bomb, the dread destroyer, who would some
day come to end the world. None were very good gods, and I worshiped
none of them.” - Calvin Morrison (H. Beam Piper), ~Lord Kalvan of
Otherwhen~
~
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David "PiperFan" Johnson 05-15-2019
03:27 UT
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~
2019 Irregulars' Muster
> I'd just like to confirm the meeting location
> for the Irregular's Muster on May 18. Is 1229
> N Atherton St, State College the correct address?
Dave
has gotten his confirmation off-line but for anyone else who's going,
the Irregulars will meet at the Waffle Shop on Atherton around 10am.
Cheers,
David
--
"I
have heard it argued that fandom tends to make a sort of cult of
science fiction, restricted to a narrow circle of the initiated. This I
seriously question." - H. Beam Piper, "Double: Bill Symposium"
interview
~
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Dave Eden 05-10-2019
22:18 UT
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Hello, I'd just like to confirm the meeting location for the Irregular's
Muster on May 18. Is 1229 N Atherton St, State College the correct
address? I'm looking forward to meeting whoever is there.
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Jon Crocker 05-04-2019
04:15 UT
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In Lord Kalvan, the timeline where Corporal Morrison emerged was on Aryan-Transpacific.
Here's
a link to a news item from a nearby sector, one Europo-American
timeline. A local reporter submitted this, photos of their own tribe
that didn't migrate.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190502-i...-last-of-the-aryans
I'm
not seeing any blondes. But, in a pinch, if we need a Willem Dafoe
lookalike, we could consider recruiting the older gent in the fourth
photo.
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