Difference between revisions of "Hugh B. Cave"

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(1910 -- 2004)
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(July 11, 1910 – June 27, 2004)  
  
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Hugh Barnett Cave was born in 1910 in Chester, England, and moved during his childhood with his family to [[Boston]], Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I. His first name was in honor of Hugh Walpole, a favorite author of his mother, who had been friends with [[Rudyard Kipling]].
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[[File:CaveHughB.jpeg|thumb|right|'''Hugh B. Cave''']]
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'''Hugh Barnett Cave''' was a [[UK]]-born [[American]] [[author]] of [[horror]], [[weird fiction]] and [[sf]], one of the most prolific [[pulp]] writers of the 1920s and ’30s, selling some 800 stories, also including [[fantasy]], adventure, westerns, crime stories, romances and nonfiction. During his writing career, he used many [[pen names]], including '''Allen Beck, Carey Burnett, Justin Case, J. C. Cole, Jack D'Arcy, William Decatur, Paul Hanna, Rupert Knowles, R. T. Maynard, Max Neilson, Maxwell Smith, Geoffrey Vace''', and''' John Wayne'''!
  
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Cave attended Brookline High School. After graduating, he attended Boston University on a scholarship but had to leave when his father was severely injured. Cave worked initially for a vanity press, the only regular job he would ever have. He quit this position at the age of 20 to write for a living.
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He [[corresponded]] extensively with fellow pulp writer [[Carl Jacobi]], from 1932 until Jacobi's death in 1997. Selections of this correspondence can be found in Cave's memoir ''Magazines I Remember''.  
  
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He corresponded extensively with fellow [[pulp]] writer [[Carl Jacobi]], from 1932 until [[Jacobi]]'s death in 1997. Selections of this correspondence can be found in Cave's memoir ''Magazines I Remember''. Relations with fellow pulp writers were not always so cordial. In the 1930s, Cave lived in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, but he never met [[H. P. Lovecraft]], who lived in nearby Providence. The two engaged in a heated exchange of correspondence, however, regarding the ethics and aesthetics of writing for the pulps. At least two of Cave's stories are loosely attached to [[HPL]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]]: "The Isle of Dark Magic" and "The Death Watch."
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Relations with other pulp writers were not always so cordial. In the 1930s, Cave lived in Pawtucket, [[Rhode Island]], but he never met [[H. P. Lovecraft]], who lived in nearby Providence. The two engaged in a heated exchange of correspondence, however, regarding the ethics and aesthetics of writing for the pulps. At least two of Cave's stories are loosely attached to [[HPL]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]]: "The Isle of Dark Magic" and "The Death Watch."
  
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Cave was married twice -- first to Margaret Long in a union that produced two sons before the couple began living apart -- and to Peggy Thompson, who died in 2001. Cave was 93 when he died in Vero Beach, Florida, in 2004. His remains were cremated.
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Cave wrote two stories for ''[[Astounding]]'': "The Corpse on the Grating" (February, 1930) and "The Murder Machine" (September, 1930).
  
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During his writing career, he used many pen names, including Allen Beck, Carey Burnett, Justin Case, J. C. Cole, Jack D'Arcy, William Decatur, Paul Hanna, Rupert Knowles, R. T. Maynard, Max Neilson, Maxwell Smith, Geoffrey Vace, and John Wayne! His publications were many and varied.
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Popular culture critic Lee Server wrote that Cave was "a valued contributor to the two most honored magazines of the [[pulp]] era, ''[[Weird Tales]]'' and ''Black Mask'' (a distinction in itself, as most contributors to those two magazines wrote only for one or the other)."
  
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Cave wrote two stories for ''[[Astounding]]'': "The Corpse on the Grating" (February, 1930) and "The Murder Machine" (September, 1930).
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One of his most remembered statements regarded writing: "Many of today's writers seem to think that obscurity is a virtue and have apparently decided that a reader who can't understand them will think them artistic.... The great writers of the past would not be remembered today had they fallen into this subtle trap."
  
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Popular culture critic Lee Server wrote that Cave was "a valued contributor to the two most honored magazines of the [[pulp]] era, ''[[Weird Tales]]'' and ''Black Mask'' (a distinction in itself, as most contributors to those two magazines wrote only for one or the other)."
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=Personal Life=
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Cave was born in 1910 in Chester, [[England]], and moved during his childhood with his family to [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], following the outbreak of World War I. His first name was in honor of Hugh Walpole, a favorite author of his mother, who had been friends with [[Rudyard Kipling]].
  
−
One of his most remembered statements regarded writing: "Many of today's writers seem to think that obscurity is a virtue and have apparently decided that a reader who can't understand them will think them artistic. . .The great writers of the past would not be remembered today had they fallen into this subtle trap."
+
Cave attended Brookline High School. After graduating, he attended Boston University on a scholarship but had to leave when his father was severely injured. Cave worked initially for a vanity press, the only regular job he would ever have. He quit this position at the age of 20 to write for a living.
  
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Among the awards Cave received during his lifetime were the World Fantasy Best Collection Award in 1978 (for ''Murgunstrumm and Others''), the [[Phoenix Award]] in 1986 (with [[Orson Scott Card]]), the [[Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award]] in 1990, the [[International Horror Guild "Living Legend" Award]] in 1997, and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was also a nominee in 1996 for the World Fantasy Best Collection Award (for ''Death Stalks the Night'').  He was [[special guest]] at [[DeepSouthCon 25]] and the [[1997 World Fantasy Convention]].
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Cave was married twice — first to Margaret Long in a union that produced two sons before the couple began living apart — and to Peggy Thompson, who died in 2001.  A war correspondent during [[World War II]], Cave afterward settled in Jamaica where he owned and managed a coffee plantation and continued writing, adding [[novels]] as well as fiction and non-fiction sales to [[mainstream]] magazines.  Cave was 93 when he died in Vero Beach, [[Florida]], in 2004. His remains were cremated.
  
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An article on Cave and his work appeared in Tightbeam #296, dated May, 2019, an N3F fanzine.
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===More Reading ===
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*[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jul/10/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries Obituary] by John Williams, The Guardian, July 9, 2004.
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*[https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Hugh_B._Cave Bibliography at ISFDB. ]
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* Article on Cave and his work in ''[[Tightbeam]]'' #296, May, 2019.
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*''Pulp Man's Odyssey: The Hugh B. Cave Story'' by Audrey Parente (Starmont House, Mercer Island, WA, 1987).
  
 
{{recognition}}
 
{{recognition}}
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* 1978 — [[World Fantasy Award]] Best Collection (for ''Murgunstrumm and Others''),
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* 1986 — [[Phoenix Award]]  (with [[Orson Scott Card]])
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* 1987 — [[special guest]] at [[DeepSouthCon 25]]
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* 1990 — [[Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award]]
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* 1997 — International Horror Guild "Living Legend" Award, [[special guest]] at [[1997 World Fantasy Convention]]
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* 1999 — [[World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award]]
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{{person | born=1910 | died=2004}}
 
{{person | born=1910 | died=2004}}
 
[[Category:pro]]
 
[[Category:pro]]
 
[[Category:US]]
 
[[Category:US]]

Latest revision as of 01:33, 4 November 2022

(July 11, 1910 – June 27, 2004)

Hugh B. Cave

Hugh Barnett Cave was a UK-born American author of horror, weird fiction and sf, one of the most prolific pulp writers of the 1920s and ’30s, selling some 800 stories, also including fantasy, adventure, westerns, crime stories, romances and nonfiction. During his writing career, he used many pen names, including Allen Beck, Carey Burnett, Justin Case, J. C. Cole, Jack D'Arcy, William Decatur, Paul Hanna, Rupert Knowles, R. T. Maynard, Max Neilson, Maxwell Smith, Geoffrey Vace, and John Wayne!

He corresponded extensively with fellow pulp writer Carl Jacobi, from 1932 until Jacobi's death in 1997. Selections of this correspondence can be found in Cave's memoir Magazines I Remember.

Relations with other pulp writers were not always so cordial. In the 1930s, Cave lived in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, but he never met H. P. Lovecraft, who lived in nearby Providence. The two engaged in a heated exchange of correspondence, however, regarding the ethics and aesthetics of writing for the pulps. At least two of Cave's stories are loosely attached to HPL's Cthulhu Mythos: "The Isle of Dark Magic" and "The Death Watch."

Cave wrote two stories for Astounding: "The Corpse on the Grating" (February, 1930) and "The Murder Machine" (September, 1930).

Popular culture critic Lee Server wrote that Cave was "a valued contributor to the two most honored magazines of the pulp era, Weird Tales and Black Mask (a distinction in itself, as most contributors to those two magazines wrote only for one or the other)."

One of his most remembered statements regarded writing: "Many of today's writers seem to think that obscurity is a virtue and have apparently decided that a reader who can't understand them will think them artistic.... The great writers of the past would not be remembered today had they fallen into this subtle trap."

Personal Life[edit]

Cave was born in 1910 in Chester, England, and moved during his childhood with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I. His first name was in honor of Hugh Walpole, a favorite author of his mother, who had been friends with Rudyard Kipling.

Cave attended Brookline High School. After graduating, he attended Boston University on a scholarship but had to leave when his father was severely injured. Cave worked initially for a vanity press, the only regular job he would ever have. He quit this position at the age of 20 to write for a living.

Cave was married twice — first to Margaret Long in a union that produced two sons before the couple began living apart — and to Peggy Thompson, who died in 2001. A war correspondent during World War II, Cave afterward settled in Jamaica where he owned and managed a coffee plantation and continued writing, adding novels as well as fiction and non-fiction sales to mainstream magazines. Cave was 93 when he died in Vero Beach, Florida, in 2004. His remains were cremated.

More Reading[edit]

  • Obituary by John Williams, The Guardian, July 9, 2004.
  • Bibliography at ISFDB.
  • Article on Cave and his work in Tightbeam #296, May, 2019.
  • Pulp Man's Odyssey: The Hugh B. Cave Story by Audrey Parente (Starmont House, Mercer Island, WA, 1987).

Awards, Honors and GoHships:


Person 1910—2004
This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names.

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