H. Warner Munn
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Harold Warner Munn (November 5, 1903-January 1981) was an American writer of fantasy, horror and poetry. He was an early friend and associate of authors H. P. Lovecraft and Seabury Quinn. He has been described by fellow author and Seattle resident Jessica Amanda Salmonson, who interviewed him in 1978, as "the ultimate gentleman" and "a gentle, calm, warm, and good friend." He was known for his intricate plotting and the careful and voluminous research that went into all his stories, a habit he traced back to two mistakes made when he wrote his early story "The City of Spiders."
In addition to writing, Munn collected books and classic pulp magazines, including Air Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories, Astounding and other science fiction titles, along with Argosy, Argosy All Story, Cavalier, Weird Tales to the end of the Wright run, and others. Also in his library were self-manufactured books consisting of serialized stories extracted from magazines, notably works by George Allen England such as Darkness and Dawn. About three fourths of his collection was ruined by exposure to weather during a move and had to destroyed.
In his last years Munn lived in Tacoma, Washington in a house he built himself. He did his writing either in his living room or in the attic room that constituted his library. During this time he was working on an additional volume of the Merlin series to be called The Sword of Merlin, which he did not live to finish.
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[edit] Early career
Munn was a prominent early contributor to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s under the editorship of Farnsworth Wright. A resurgence of interest in his work occurred in the 1970s due to its appearance in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series and the successor fantasy line appearing under the imprint of Del Rey Books.
The two series of works he is best known for, his Merlin saga and the Tales of the Werewolf Clan, were both started during the Weird Tales period. King of the World’s Edge, the first Merlin novel, was written as early as 1925. On publication it was favorably compared to the stories of Robert E. Howard, of whose fiction he confessed to being a great admirer. The first werewolf stories were written at the encouragement of H. P. Lovecraft. Both series were truncated by the change of editors at the magazine from Farnsworth Wright to Dorothy McIlwraith; McIlwraith brought in different writers, eliminating the market for Munn’s work.
[edit] Later career
After Weird Tales was essentially closed to him , Munn as a rule did not seek out new outlets for his work, and his post-Weird Tales output was slim, most of it either self-published in small press editions or issued haphazardly by publishers who sought him out. While he had already completed The Ship from Atlantis, the second installment in the Merlin Saga, it only found a publisher years later, when Donald A. Wollheim contracted to publish King of the World's Edge in book form and also accepted the sequel.
The publication of his last great work of fantasy, Merlin's Ring, was also the result of a publisher seeking him out. Reprising Wollheim’s role, Lin Carter, editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, learned of it on enquiring about the availability of the first two Merlin books. In the event, it was issued by Ballantine Books shortly after the end of Carter’s connection with the publisher, in the interregnum between the Adult Fantasy series and Ballantine’s new Del Rey Books fantasy imprint. Del Rey later followed through on Carter’s original intention by reissuing both of the first two books in a single volume under the title of Merlin's Godson.
Similarly, Robert E. Weinberg was responsible for the revival and completion of the Werewolf Clan stories when he expressed an interest in reprinting them in his periodical Lost Fantasies. Munn had originally written eight werewolf stories for Weird Tales before its change in editorship; he now wrote two more to fill in gaps in the sequence, and the whole series appeared in three parts in Lost Fantasies, nos. 4-6, 1976-77, as "Ten Tales of the Werewolf Clan." Afterward Munn wrote and self-published three additional stories to finish the series. The complete series was issued by Donald M. Grant as Tales of the Werewolf Clan, Volumes 1-2 (1979-80).
Some of Munn’s late horror stories were published in anthologies like Best Horror Stories of the year and Daw Books’ Year's Best Horror.
[edit] Recognition
Merlin’s Ring brought Munn some long-delayed but limited recognition, being nominated for the 1975 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Munn himself was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1977, 1979, and 1980, and the Balrog Award for Professional Achievement in 1981. His poetry collection The Book of Munn was nominated for the 1980 Balrog Award in the categories of Collection/Anthology and Professional Publication, and his last novel, The Lost Legion, was also nominated for the 1981 Balrog Award for Novel. In every instance, however, Munn and his works fell short of actually attaining the award. He was, however, guest of honor at the 1978 World Fantasy Convention, and did win the Balrog Award for Poet in both 1980 and 1981.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Series
[edit] Merlin's Godson
- King of the World's Edge (1939, 1966)
- The Ship from Atlantis (1967)
- Merlin's Ring (1974)
The first two novels were also issued together as Merlin's Godson (1976). A projected final volume of the series to be called The Sword of Merlin was never finished.
[edit] Tales of the Werewolf Clan
The listing is incomplete; the titles of two early tales and two late ones have not yet been identified. (See discussion page).
- "The Werewolf of Ponkert" (1925)
- "The Return of the Master" (1927)
- "The Werewolf's Daughter" (1928)
- "The Master Strikes" (1930)
- "The Master Fights" (1930)
- "The Master Has a Narrow Escape" (1931)
- In the Hulks: A Lost Tale of the Werewolf Clan (1979 - chap.)
- The Transient: A Lost Tale of the Werewolf Clan (1979 - chap.)
- In Regard to the Opening of Doors: A Lost Tale of the Werewolf Clan (1979 - chap.)
"The Werewolf of Ponkert" and "The Werewolf's Daughter" were issued together as:
- The Werewolf of Ponkert (1958)
All the tales were collected as:
- Tales of the Werewolf Clan, Volume 1, In the Tomb of the Bishop (1979)
- Tales of the Werewolf Clan, Volume 2, The Master Goes Home (1980)
[edit] Historical novels
- The Lost Legion (1980)
[edit] Short stories
- "The City of Spiders" (1926)
- "The Chain" (1928)
- "A Sprig of Rosemary" (1933)
- "The Wheel" (1933)
- "Dreams May Come" (1939)
- Christmas Comes to the Little House (1974 - chap.)
- "The Black Captain" (1975)
- The Affair of the Cuckolded Warlock (1975 - chap.)
- "The Merlin Stone" (1977)
- "The Well" (1977)
- "The Stairway to the Sea" (1978)
- What Dreams May Come (1978 - chap.)
- "The De Pertriche Ring" (1979)
- The Transient (1979 - chap.)
- The Baby Dryad: A Fanciful Christmas Tale (1980 - chap.)
- "The Wanderers of the Waters" (1981)
[edit] Poetry Collections
- The Banner of Joan (1975) (epic poem)
- Twenty Five Poems (1975)
- Seasons Greetings with Spooky Stuff (1976 - chap.)
- To All Amis (1976 - chap.)
- There was a Man (1977)
- The Pioneers (Part One) (1977)
- Dawn Woman (1979 - chap.)
- Fairy Gold (1979 - chap.)
- On Life and Love and Loneliness (1979 - chap.)
- The Book of Munn: or "a recipe for roast camel" (1979)
[edit] Poems
- "Cradle Song for an Abandoned Werewolf" (1973)
- "Fairy Gold" (1976)
- "Dante Returns from the City" (1976)
- "Limbo" (1976)
[edit] Nonfiction
- "HPL: a reminiscence" (1979)
