THE NUTMEG POINT DISTRICT MAIL

the Avram Davidson electronic newsletter

Vol. VI No. 1

8 May 2001

ISSN 1089-764X


Published bimonthly by whim and fancy for the Avram Davidson Society.
Contents copyright 2001 The Nutmeg Point District Mail and assigned to
individual contributors. All rights reserved.

Henry Wessells, Editor.
Cooper Wessells, Honorary Secretary.

All correspondence to:
TEMPORARY CULTURE
Post Office Box 43072, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043-0072
Electronym: wessells@aol.com

Use this electronym for requests to be added to or dropped from the
mailing list. Back issues are archived at the Avram Davidson Website,
URL : http://www.avramdavidson.org/

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THE ORIGINATING ADDRESS

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

THE OTHER NINETEENTH CENTURY

A new collection of stories by Avram Davidson will be published by Tor Books
in the fall of this year.  The Other Nineteenth Century, edited by Grania Davis
and Henry Wessells, will contain alternate histories and stories that shed new
light on some well-known episodes of our own history.  A full list of the book's
contents will be released in an upcoming issue of the District Mail.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

AVRAM DAVIDSON SOCIETY MEETING

A quorum of directors of the Avram Davidson Society met on the occasion
of Avram's 78th birthday, on Monday 23 April 2001 in New York City.  The
sun was shining, the conversation was scintillating, and a  proof of the
next publication of the Avram Davidson Society was shown to those in
attendance (see next item).  Your presence is requested at the next meeting.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

THE BEASTS OF THE ELYSIAN FIELDS

The third publication of the Avram Davidson Society will be issued in late June.
The Beasts of the Elysian Fields by Conrad Amber reprints one of Davidson's
pseudonymously published tales from the mid 1960s (from the typescript
in the Special Collections of the Library of the California State University,
Fullerton ). The story is notable as being the first appearance of "Jack Limekiller"
in print.  The setting, "the 'forgotten colony' of British Caribbea," bears a strong
resemblance to British Honduras, which Davidson had visited for the first time
in December 1965 and January 1966, and to British Hidalgo, the setting
of the later, canonical Limekiller stories.

The Beasts of the Elysian Fields by Conrad Amber will be printed in an
edition of approximately 75 copies ( 6 x 9 inches, iv + 12 pp., paper wrappers,
$26.00 postpaid).  Orders can be made by e-mail to wessells@aol.com and will
be held pending arrival of a cheque payable to Henry Wessells, P.O. Box 43072,
Upper Montclair, New Jersey, 07043-0072).  Trade discount available.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

AND ONE MORE FORTHCOMING . . .

"No Fire Burns" by Avram Davidson (Playboy, July 1959), a science
fiction tale of applied psychology, will be reprinted on the SciFiction website
in early June. << www.scifi.com/scifiction/ >>
The same site has already reprinted "The House the Blakeneys Built"
<< http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/davidson/ >>

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

 A VERY OLD CUSTOM

Richard A. Friedman provides the source for the following quotation that
serves as one of the titles for the story Avram Davidson sold to the Last
Dangerous Visions anthology, "The stone which the builders rejected,
the same is become the head of the corner."

"It is from the 118th Psalm. Observant Jews say it at the beginning of
each  Jewish month and on Passover, Sukkos (Tabernacles), and Shavuous
 (Pentecost)."

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

FROM THE FILES (An Occasional Series)

"Death of a Damned Good Man" is a curious tale concerning the relations
among neighbors in a Pacific coastal town, the accumulations of travellers,
and the dangers of curiosity.  Davidson catches the rhythms of ordinary
speech and evokes the depth of friendship in the series of incidents that make
up the story.  Bits of travel and historical lore appear in conversation salted
with rural Western hostility to the East Coast political establishment; a rich
catalogue of smells and strange objects; and a sudden, violent climax.  The
famous reptilian couplet from H. P. Lovecraft's "The Nameless City" appears
with a coy musing on its source: was it from an English translation of Pliny?
And there are other clues to the nature of the horror that lurks underneath
Lawson's house.  "Steuart had a poor memory for names, Lawson collected
bugs and lizards and things. Hughes couldn't jump. There you have it all."
The narrator, himself an old man describing the fate of three of his
contemporaries, goes into shock at the sight of the gore, but retains a
detached clarity of observation and recalls his own experience as a
medic in a combat zone.  Everything about this story rings true.
("Death of a Damned Good Man" appeared in Asimov's in January 1991.)

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

PUBLICATIONS OF THE AVRAM DAVIDSON SOCIETY

The Last Wizard with A Letter of Explanation.
Publications of the Avram Davidson Society, number one.
Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, xii pages. Second printing, May 1999.
Single copies, $10.00 (postpaid).

El Vilvoy de las Islas.
Publications of the Avram Davidson Society, number two.
Size: 6 x 9 inches, viii + 32 pages. June 2000.
Trade issue of twenty-five copies hand bound in quarter green linen with

paper-covered boards, numbered 1-25. SOLD OUT
Issue of 100 copies in paper wrappers : single copies, $13.00
(postpaid).
To order, send a cheque in U.S. funds, payable to Henry Wessells, to :
P.O. Box 43072, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043-0072, USA
Orders by e-mail to wessells@aol.com will be held until payment is
received.

Trade discount available.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Next Issue Date : July 2001

The editor of The Nutmeg Point District Mail invites contributions on
any topic pertaining to the life and work of Avram Davidson.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

[Next Issue]