That Time When Hamill, Fisher & Ford Hung Out At Bakka

It's been a long time between blog posts, as I've been focused these past few months on researching and writing my new book, The Great Fright North. However, since I've uncovered many interesting examples of Canadian supernatural tales (and other horrors), I hope to blog more this summer in order to hint at the kind of things you'll read about in the new book!

In the meantime, I thought I'd post about that time when Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford hung out at Bakka books in Toronto, for an up-close-and-personal autograph session in June, 1977 promoting their new independent feature, Star Wars.

Alienation by Clark Ashton Smith

As part of researching Canadian fanzines for my upcoming book The Great Fright North, I've been delving into Supramundane Stories, which was Canada's first SF fanzine created by this country's first true genre fan, Nils Helmer Frome. He only published two issues, which primarily contained science fiction content; yet some of the work bled into the realm of weird fiction, the supernatural, and the macabre.

The second issue (Spring 1938) includes "Alienation," a 12-stanza poem by Clark Ashton Smith. Smith was a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, and is well-known for his short stories and poems that ran the gamut of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.