Most people know Willis Conover (1920 – 1996), if they know him at all, as one of the great impresarios of jazz: co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival, jazz DJ on the Voice of America for decades (and one of the reasons Eastern Europe’s vibrant jazz scene managed to survive the Cold War), a collector who owned more than 60,000 (no, there’s not an extra zero in there) recordings at the time of his death.
Even when I was writing a lot of music journalism, jazz was never a special passion of mine (oh sure, enough of a passion for me to bring that enthusiasm to Gabriel’s Trumpet, but not the kind of visceral connection I have with blues, country, or punk). So why, you might rightly ask, is Willis Conover showing up on this blog?
Before of all of that, Willis Conover had another life. As a teenager in 1930s Maryland, he got into science fiction (or “scientifiction,” a portmanteau of Gernsback’s still in wide use at the time) and, to a lesser extent, fantasy (then spelled with a “ph” as often as an “f”). Deeply into. With the same methodical thoroughness he would later apply to studying jazz and collecting jazz records, he began studying science fiction and collecting both pulps and fan magazines. At the age of 16, he began publishing a fan magazine of his own, The Science Fantasy Correspondent. In an era when many fan magazines made modern ‘zines look like papers-of-record, Correspondent stood out for the quality of both its production and content.
Cover Images from the Willis Conover Collection: University of North Texas
In fact, Correspondent drew the attention of a certain Weird Fiction author from Providence who contacted Conover, telling him how much he liked the publication. The ensuing correspondence between Conover and Lovecraft would continue throughout the rest of Lovecraft’s life and has been compiled into Lovecraft at Last: The Master of Horror is His Own Words, a complete (or nearly so) collection of their letters. Lovecraft’s friendship and patronage opened doors for Conover to correspondence and friendship with other authors, publishers, and major figures of 1930s fandom.
The public aspects of Conover’s enthusiasm for science fiction and fantasy faded after a couple of years, excluding a secondary period of activity in the 1970s, as his focus turned toward his meritorious service to jazz. He never, however, ceased his correspondence or collecting.
So, why am telling you this?
Unsurprisingly, Conover’s papers ended up at the University of North Texas, one of the country’s better jazz schools (yes, really, look it up), which happens to be located in the town where I live. Among that collection’s 300 boxes, primarily of Conover’s jazz records, interviews, correspondence with musicians, and so forth, are 30 boxes, more or less, connected to his earlier enthusiasm.
Even with briefest examinations of some of those boxes, I am left wondering to quote Pinhead (“We have such sights to show you.”) or Roy Batty (“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe”).
To give a little teaser, inside one obscure Lovecraft volume in the Conover collection, I found the following inscription:
(Photo: Jess Tucker)
To Willis – so you can complete your collection of Lovecraftiana! All the best –
Arthur Clarke
I had no idea Arthur C. Clarke was even a fan of Lovecraft. Compared with that, For Willis Conover, with the hope that we may have an immersive moment or two. Cordially, August Derleth, seems rather prosaic.
Over the coming months, and even years, I expect many of my posts here to focus on things I’ve encountered (I hate the phrase “discovered” when used in connection with archives. The items were, after all, there all along – often listed plainly on the finding aid) in that collection. Things that have inspired me, surprised me, or broadened my horizons. Hell, I might even do some actual research.
One of the SF fan magazines from Conover’s collection.
I’ve spent the past week scrutinizing two boxes containing 175 discrete issues of 46 different science fiction and fantasy fan magazines from the 1930s — full of fiction from names you know, editorials and non-fiction from names you should know, and amazing art that while not always masterful is powerful and evocative — as well as related materials. I would expect my next few Conover-related posts to focus on those.
And just so nobody goes away disappointed, Willis Conover did have a few secrets. One of the first things I encountered was a letter from a young woman who wrote to Conover while both of them were in the army during Word War Two. Her salutation to him was “Daddy Dear,” and the letter gets more interesting from there. It’s not the only thing like that I’ve found…
(Special thanks to Maristella Feustle, Music Special Collections Librarian, and Jess Tucker, University Archivist, both at the University of North Texas, for facilitating my access to the Willis Conover collection)
Most of my readers will be familiar with Madeleine D’Este, a frequent guest poster who is always happy to feed my hunger for ‘official playlists’ for authors’ new works. With Madeleine riding high on her recent mystery novella, Radcliffe, with one award, another nomination outstanding, and great buzz, I thought it was time to invite Madeleine to join me for a deep-dive Q&A.
Q: Thanks for joining us. Most of my readers are familiar with you, but I don’t think I’ve ever asked a “background” question. Tell us about Madeleine D’Este. Who are you?
A: I’m a writer, reviewer and podcaster from Melbourne who spent her formative years in Tasmania. To date, I’ve written steampunk, historical fantasy, supernatural mysteries and psychological horror. I like to write dark complex women, the paranormal and a juicy plot twist. When not writing, I knit socks, I run and I read…a lot.
I started writing seriously about ten years ago, despite always wanting to be a writer. Before that I’d dabbled, done a bunch of courses, completed Nanowrimo a number of times and got distracted by career crap, until I decided I HAD to do it. And I’ve been lucky enough to be nominated for an Australian Shadow Award (in 2019) and an Aurealis Award (in 2023).
Q: Your novella Radcliffe, has been nominated for an Aurealis Award, congratulations. I know there’s already been some buzz about Radcliffe, including the award for Best Mystery Novel in the international Critters Readers Choice competition. So, tell us about Radcliffe?
A: Thank you, it’s super exciting. Radcliffe is a gothic tale of a weird building full of weird women during a Melbourne heatwave. When Tamsin follows a Voice telling her that ‘death is coming’ to the doors of a tumbledown apartment building named Radcliffe, she knows she has to save someone. But who?
Q: Radcliffe is really driven by its six characters, whom I find wonderful and horrible all at once. Tell us a little bit about each of them and how they took shape in your mind along with the story itself?
A: Wonderful and horrible’ … I’m so glad!
Accountant Tamsin is a seeker – someone who’s life has been dull, full of spreadsheets and Netflix, until one day she hears a voice. No one believes her but she is determined that she has been given a gift.
The other residents of Radcliffe are Bunty, Cecily, Riko, Defne and Gail. Retired ballerina Bunty is flamboyant but sometimes confused. After a life of drama, is she manifesting more strife to keep boredom away? Student Cecily is curious but with the false confidence of youth. Bunty’s granddaughter, she takes a clinical interest in the weird women of Radcliffe. Musician Riko is stand-offish and carries a burden of shame. Bunty dislikes her, but why? Unpredictable photographer Defne finds solace from her disappointing divorce in making grotesque art. Romance writer Gail is rarely seen and her background is the source of wild speculation by the other residents. But when the police come looking for her, is the gossip true?
Tamsin takes a flat in Radcliffe to try to find which of the complicated women ‘death is coming’ for.
The opulence of gold-rush era Melbourne.
Q: Radcliffe showcases your gift for settings which are simultaneously quirky and believable. You’ve done this on scales as large as the steampunk Melbourne of Antics of Evangeline and Women of Wasps and War’s Duchy of Ambrovna to as small as the single eponymous building of Radcliffe or the high school of The Flower and the Serpent, somewhere in between is the rural Victorian town of Ludwood in Bloodwood. I’m curious about your process for conceptualizing settings and bringing them to life.
A: The ‘place’ is always a main character in my writing and it gets as much attention as all the people. Ever since reading The Hobbit or The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge as a child, I’ve adored lush descriptions of the surroundings, and I enjoy writing them too. I’ve also made a conscious effort to take existing tropes and put them into an Australian setting e.g. vampires in the Victorian bush (Bloodwood), steampunk in Marvellous Melbourne (Antics) and gothic in an inner city rundown building during a heatwave (Radcliffe).
Q: I’ve been reading your work since lucking into a copy of The Flower and the Serpent. In that time, I’ve noted some recurring themes, motifs, and tropes in your work. Can you talk about some of these?
A: You might be able to answer that better than I can! I tend to write about women seeking redemption, with a burning desire to prove themselves and people who struggle to fit in. The return of sins of the past is a recurring theme, and I always love to add in descriptions of food. And all my works contain some type of folklore or Fortean element from alchemists to mummies to witches, sigils, demons, vampires and auditory psychics in an Australian setting.
Q: I have a fondness for your YA series, The Antics of Evangeline. In addition to its other qualities, Melbourne during the Victorian gold rush is such a natural setting for steampunk, I can’t believe I’d never seen it done before. Talk a little bit about Antics and how it fits into your overall body of work.
A: Evangeline started out as an ‘amuse bouche’ when I was writing something more serious (which is now languishing on old hard drives). Inspired by Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula and Gail Carriger, I wanted to bring steampunk to my home city with a thick layer of silliness and adventure. Evangeline is a seventeen-year-old ex-urchin, acrobat and inventress during the Gold Rush days of Melbourne. Along with her father, the Professor and her best friend Mei, she faces off against an Alchemist, a Bunyip and other foes. And she loves cake.
Q: Compared with much of your work, I see relatively little discussion of The Women of Wasps and War. Yet this is a very powerful, if unsettling, story and one that explicitly voices some themes of your work which are usually a little more implicit. To give that novel a little more spotlight, talk to us about it.
A: Women of Wasps and War is a historical fantasy novel, inspired by a true story following WW1, where a group of women were disappointed when their horrible husbands came back from war. And so they took justice into their own hands. This is my most political piece to date.
Agata, the Duchess of Ambrovna, was never meant to take the throne. In a land where men rule, her sole purpose was to smile and curtsey. However, when war left her land leaderless, the Fatherhood religion begrudgingly allowed a first; a woman to rule. Now the war is over the men have returned more arrogant and cruel than ever, and the Duchess is shoved back into a life of needlework and silence.
But with her new thirst for justice, Agata is reluctant to allow her country to return to its old ways. Without her position of power, Agata and her circle of women look to the taboo wisdom of the Wasp Women for answers. But this ancient knowledge comes with consequences, and with death and treachery on the horizon, Agata must decide whether it is worth the risk.
Q: I know you contribute to the speculative fiction community in ways other than writing. Let’s hear about your involvement there.
A: As I mentioned I love to read and I host a weekly (very short) book review podcast on Art District Radio called ‘Dark Mysteries’, focusing on crime, thrillers and mysteries (with the occasional horror snuck in).
From 2017-2020, I hosted and produced ‘Write Through The Roof’, a podcast for writers who want to improve their craft where I interviewed a bunch of interesting writers on their process and works. You can find both podcasts on most podcasting platforms.
Writers, Ernest Hemmingway and Madeleine D’Este have bad news for you about first drafts…
Q: What advice would you give to young authors, just now starting out – especially those who look at your work and say, “I’d like to do something like that.”
A: Unfortunately, it’s a lot of hard work and there’s no short cuts. I’d suggest to work out what motivates you. For example, are you a nerdy Capricorn like me who is internally motivated? Then you can set yourself targets e.g. 500 words per day. Or are you someone who needs to work with others? Then you might benefit from a writing group or regular write-ins to keep you on track.
And just write. Oh, and remember ‘first drafts are always shit’. I think Hemingway said that.
Q: What are you currently working on?
A: I have three works-in-progress at the moment, in various stages of polish; a dual timeline historical fiction (shock horror with nothing supernatural!), a psychological thriller set in a commune and an ‘undercover cop in a cult’ thriller.
Jon Black Writes 