STALLIONS OF THE MOON
- STALLIONS OF THE MOON - A black ink and black color pencil drawing on 11 x 14 coquille board. It appears in the book, "In Mayan Splendor," by Frank Belknap Long, published by Arkham House in 1977.
I've always enjoyed reading Mr. Long's SF and fantasy stories. He wrote most of them during the "Golden Age" of pulp magazines, the 1930s and 1940s, but he barely managed to earn a living. When that period ended in the 1950s and there were no more pulp magazines being published, he struggled to survive as a writer as best he could, selling his stories to a paperback market that paid very little, unless you were a "best-selling" author. His few hardcover books sold in small numbers so I doubt there were any royalty payments. I saw Mr. Long at a World Fantasy Convention once, he was in the last years of his life. I'm sorry I did not go over and introduce myself, after all, I liked his work and I did illustrate his book!
Frank Belknap Long's career actually spanned seven decades during which he wrote some wonderful stories. His work was admired by his peers; In 1977 he was named to the "First Fandom Hall of Fame". In 1978 he was given a "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the World Fantasy Convention. And in 1987 he was given another "Lifetime Achievement Award'" by the Bram Stoker Society.
For all those years that he spent writing noteworthy stories, they gave him awards, but he did not earn enough money to live a decent life. And when he died in 1994 he had no money at all, so they buried him in a potters field for indigents.
The shame of it made his few friends gather enough money to move his remains to Woodlawn Cemetery in NY. His wife Lyda died shortly after, her ashes were spread over his grave.
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