Hugh B. Cave | |
|---|---|
 Hugh B. Cave, date unknown | |
| Born | (1910-07-11)11 July 1910 Chester, England |
| Died | 27 June 2004(2004-06-27) (aged 93) Vero Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Pen name | Justin Case, John Star, Geoffrey Vace |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | British and Jamaican |
| Genre | Science fiction,Horror |
| Subject | Horror |
Hugh Barnett Cave (11 July 1910 – 27 June 2004) was an American writer of various genres, perhaps best remembered for his works ofhorror,weird menace andscience fiction.[1] Cave was one of the most prolific contributors topulp magazines of the 1920s and '30s, selling an estimated 800 stories not only in the aforementioned genres but also in western, fantasy, adventure, crime, romance and non-fiction. He used a variety ofpen names, notably Justin Case under which name he created the antiheroThe Eel. Awar correspondent duringWorld War II, Cave afterwards settled inJamaica where he owned and managed acoffeeplantation and continued his writing career, now specializing in novels as well as fiction and non-fiction sales to mainstream magazines.
Starting in the 1970s Cave enjoyed a resurgence in popularity whenKarl Edward Wagner's Carcosa Press publishedMurgunstrumm and Others, the first hardcover collection of Cave's pulp stories. Cave relocated to Florida and regularly published original material until about the year 2000, and won aWorld Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 1999.[1]
Born inChester, England, Hugh B. Cave relocated during his childhood with his family toBoston, Massachusetts, soon after the beginning ofWorld War I. His first name was in honor ofHugh Walpole, a favorite author of his mother, a nurse, who had once knownRudyard Kipling.[1]
Cave attendedBrookline High School.[2] After graduating, Cave attendedBoston University on a scholarship but had to leave when his father was severely injured. He worked initially for aself-publishing press, the only regular job he would ever have. He quit this position at age 20 to write for a living.[1]
From 1932 until his death in 1997, Cave corresponded extensively with fellow pulp writerCarl Richard Jacobi. Selections of this correspondence can be found in Cave's memoirMagazines I Remember. During the 1930s, Cave lived inPawtucket, Rhode Island, but he never metH.P. Lovecraft, who lived in nearbyProvidence. The two engaged in a debate by correspondence (non-extant) regarding the ethics and aesthetics of writing for the pulp magazines. At least two of Cave's stories are associated with Lovecraft'sCthulhu Mythos – "The Isle of Dark Magic" and "The Death Watch".
DuringWorld War II Cave travelled as a reporter around the Pacific Ocean area and in Southeast Asia.[2] Soon after the war he relocated to the Caribbean area, spending five years in Haiti, after which he rebuilt and managed a successful coffee plantation in Jamaica. He returned to the United States during the early 1970s after the Jamaican government confiscated his plantation.
Hugh Cave was married twice, first to Margaret Long in a union that produced two sons before the couple began living apart, and to Peggy (or Peggie) Thompson, who died during 2001.
Cave was 93 when he died inVero Beach, Florida, on 27 June 2004.[1] His remains werecremated.
A biography of Cave entitledPulp Man's Odyssey: The Hugh B. Cave Story by Audrey Parente was published by Starmont House (Mercer Island, WA) in 1987.
Sources differ as to when Cave sold his first story: some say it was "I Name Thee, Cave" while he still attendedBrookline High School,[2] others cite "Island Ordeal", written at age 19 during 1929 while still working for the self-publishing press.
During his early career he contributed to such pulp magazines asAstounding,Black Mask, andWeird Tales. By his own estimate, during the 1930s alone, he published approximately 800short stories in nearly 100 periodicals using various pseudonyms, such as James Pitt and Margaret Hullinwall. Cave was noted especially for his horror fiction:Stefan Dziemianowicz wrote in theSt. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers, that Cave "transformed rural American towns into Gothic landscapes, local powerbrokers into megalomaniacal fiends."[1] Of particular interest during this time was his series featuring an independent gentleman of courageous action and questionable morals known simply asThe Eel. These adventures were published during the late 1930s and early 40s with the pseudonym Justin Case. Cave was also one of the most successful contributors to theweird menace or "shudder pulps" of the 1930s.[1]
During 1943, drawing on his experience as a war reporter, he authored one of his best-regarded works,Long Were The Nights, telling of the firstPT boats atGuadalcanal. He also wrote a number of other books about the war in the Pacific area during this period.[1]
During his post-war sojourn inHaiti, he became so familiar with the religion ofVoodoo that he publishedHaiti: High Road to Adventure, a nonfiction work acclaimed critically as the "best report on voodoo in English." HisCaribbean experiences resulted in his best-selling Voodoo-themed novel,The Cross on the Drum (1959), aninterracial story in which a white Christianmissionary becomes enamored of a black Voodoo priest's sister. ReviewingThe Cross on the Drum,forThe New York Times Book Review,Seldon Rodman noted, ittreats both the country and its African religious cult with profound sympathy.[1]
During this midpoint in his career Cave advanced his writing to the "slick" magazines, includingCollier's,Family Circle,Ladies' Home Journal,Redbook, and theSaturday Evening Post. It was in this latter publication, during 1959, that"The Mission," his most popular short story, was published—- issued subsequently in hardcover format byDoubleday company, reprinted in textbooks, and translated into a number of languages.
According toThe Guardian, during the 1970s, with the golden era of pulp fiction now in the past, Cave's "only regular market was writing romance for women's magazines." He was rediscovered, however, byKarl Edward Wagner, who publishedMurgunstrumm and Others, a horror story collection that won Cave the 1978World Fantasy Award. Other collections followed and Cave also published new horror fiction.
His later career included the publication during the late 1970s and early 1980s of four successful fantasy novels:Legion of the Dead (1979),The Nebulon Horror (1980),The Evil (1981), andShades of Evil (1982). Two other notable late works areLucifer's Eye (1991) andThe Mountains of Madness (2004). Moreover, Cave adapted to the internet, championing thee-book to such an extent that electronic versions of his stories can be purchased readily online.
During his entire career he composed more than 1,000 short stories in nearly all genres (though he is remembered best for his horror and crime pieces), approximately forty novels, and a notable body of nonfiction. He received thePhoenix Award as well as lifetime achievement awards from theInternational Horror Guild, theHorror Writers Association, and theWorld Fantasy Convention.[3]
