R.A. Lafferty: The Cranky Old Man from Tulsa on R.A. Lafferty

LaffCon 5

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 16:33:05 +0000

LaffCon 5 was held on June 12, 2021, in an online format that departed from the usual meetup in New Jersey. Although the Zoom conference was a temporary health and safety precaution, the web experience gave fans from California, the UK, and elsewhere a chance to attend. Organizers hope to return to in-person meetings in the future while continuing to offer an online alternative. About 50 were logged in for the morning opener and 121 registered to cycle through a day of talks and audience discussion (when not otherwise diverted by the tending of children and petting of neglected cats).

LaffCon 4

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 23:44:33 +0000

G.L. McDorman, 2019, photo by Yakov Varganov

This year’s LaffCon was again held in Lawrenceville, New Jersey on June 8, 2019. Organizers from the Northeast Lafferty League (NELL) supplied convention goers with buttons, as well as a pamphlet containing short essays and the winners of the limerick-like “bagarthach” contest. On display in the lobby was an all new gallery presented by the always prolific band of Laffertian artists.

LaffCon 3

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 23:21:57 +0000

Andrew Ferguson, 2018, photo by Yakov Varganov

The third annual gathering of the Northeast Lafferty League (NELL), LaffCon 3 was held in Lawrenceville, New Jersey on June 9, 2018. The event built on foundations laid last year by tracing themes carrying over into this year’s selected texts. Artists submitted an all new collection of paintings and illustrations for display in a gallery.

Gregorio Montejo, 2018, photo by Yakov Varganov

Andrew Ferguson got the ball rolling with some writing advice on why you should never begin a paper with a dictionary definition or: “Since the beginning of time.” That is unless you are Lafferty, to whom the rules simply do not apply. Among much else, Ferguson conveyed Lafferty’s belief in a latent genius within all people. A genius that may be unpredictable, dependent on context, and often unrecognized, but any person allowed to pursue their enjoyments may in so doing express that brilliance, whatever their acknowledged cognitive disability.

The Reefs of Earth Is Back in Print!

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 23:46:50 +0000

We know this has been a long time coming, and appreciate so much all of your patience with the process. Our first of Lafferty’s novels back in print is The Reefs of Earth (Locus Press 978-0978621025, 154pp, tp) which is now available in trade paperback and kindle versions. Our huge thanks to everyone who helped get this going, especially James Northcutt.

The Dulanty family can pass for human, but they’re actually alien Pucas, stranded on the remote backwater planet Earth in the tiny (and corrupt) Appalachian town of Lost Haven. The six Dulanty children (seven, if you count the disembodied Bad John) get tired of being spurned, scorned, and scapegoated by the townsfolk, and hit upon the obvious solution: they’ll murder every human in the world, using hatchets, rifles, and the otherworldly killing verses known as Bagarthach, and transform the planet into a paradise for the Dulantys alone. Fortunately for the human race, the Dulanty children aren’t very adept at murder, but their attempts at wholesale homicide make for a read that’s alternately harrowing, hilarious, and heartwarming. Come visit the Reefs of Earth, and experience the incomparable imagination of visionary author R.A. Lafferty, a writer Jo Walton called “very weird, very clever, and impossible to forget.”

Photos

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 21:29:19 +0000

Photos owned by the LSFF may be licensed for use via locus ( at ) locusmag.com. We can also forward requests to Beth Gwinn.

R.A. Lafferty, 1983
Photo by Charles N. Brown ©LSFF

Photo by Beth Gwinn.

Photo by Charles N. Brown. ©LSFF

R.A. Lafferty, Cactuscon 1987 ©Charles N. Brown/LSFF

Fan Art – Through Other Eyes

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 21:07:58 +0000

Lissanne Lake

Since it was Lafferty’s stories that long ago caused her to choose a career in illustration, it was always an especial honor when chosen to paint his book covers. Among the 200 or so covers are included Sinbad: The Thirteenth Voyage, Lafferty in Orbit, and recently the first three Feast of Laughter covers. These and more of her work, covers, and otherwise (and more Lafferty) can be found on her Facebook page, the Fantastic Art of Lissanne Lake <www.facebook.com/LissanneLakeart>.

Gallery Update

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 21:03:54 +0000

Check out the updated gallery of fan art to see Lafferty’s works “Through Other Eyes” with a collection of book covers and fan art that showcase the wildly diverse creative visions inspired by Ray’s writings.

LaffCon 2

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 16:32:53 +0000

Kevin Cheek, 2017 Photo by J. Northcutt Jr. ©LSFF

Gregorio Montejo, 2017 Photo by J. Northcutt Jr. ©LSFF

Members and friends of the Northeast Lafferty League (NELL) gathered in Lawrenceville, New Jersey for the second annual celebration of the life and works of R.A. Lafferty on June 10, 2017. Attendees were encouraged to read the novel Fourth Mansions, as well as the short stories “Pani Planet” and “Thieving Bear Planet” in advance, preparing them for a series of in-depth lectures and panels.

"Seven-Day Terror" by R.A. Lafferty

Thu, 25 May 2017 21:38:01 +0000

First published in If, Mar. 1962

✦

“Is there anything you want to make disappear?” Clarence Willoughby asked his mother.

“A sink full of dishes is all I can think of. How will you do it?”

“I just built a disappearer. All you do is cut the other end out of a beer can. Then you take two pieces of red cardboard with peepholes in the middle and fit them in the ends. You look through the peepholes and blink. Whatever you look at will disappear.”

"Aloys" by R.A. Lafferty

Wed, 24 May 2017 21:11:42 +0000

First published in Galaxy Magazine, Aug. 1961

✦

He had flared up more brightly than anyone in memory. And then he was gone. Yet there was ironic laughter where he had been; and his ghost still walked. That was the oddest thing: to encounter his ghost.

It was like coming suddenly on Halley’s Comet drinking beer at the Plugged Nickel Bar, and having it deny that it was a celestial phenomenon at all, that it had ever been beyond the sun.

"The Weirdest World" by R.A. Lafferty

Tue, 23 May 2017 21:30:30 +0000

First published in Galaxy Magazine, Jun. 1961

✦

As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer. Nine long days of bickering! But the decision is sure. The crew will maroon me. I have lost all control over them. Who would have believed that I would show such weakness when crossing the barrier? By all tests I should have been the strongest. But the final test was the event itself. I failed.

"Through Other Eyes" by R.A. Lafferty

Mon, 22 May 2017 21:37:26 +0000

First published in Future Science Fiction, No. 47, Feb. 1960

✦

“I don’t think I can stand the dawn of another Great Day,” said Smirnov. “It always seems a muggy morning, a rainy afternoon and a dismal evening. You remember the Recapitulation Correlator?”

“Known popularly as the Time Machine. But, Gregory, that was and is a success. All three of them are in constant use, and they will construct at least one more a decade. They are invaluable.”

"The Six Fingers of Time" by R.A. Lafferty

Sun, 21 May 2017 21:38:01 +0000

First published in If, Sep. 1960

✦

He began by breaking things that morning. He broke the glass of water on his night stand. He knocked it crazily against the opposite wall and shattered it. Yet it shattered slowly. This would have surprised him if he had been fully awake, for he had only reached out weakly for it. Nor had he wakened regularly to his alarm; he had wakened to a weird, slow, low booming, yet the clock said six, time for the alarm. And the low boom, when it came again, seemed to come from the clock.

"The Wagons" by R.A. Lafferty

Wed, 17 May 2017 21:42:19 +0000

First published in the New Mexico Quarterly Review, Spring 1959

✦

“But when did they have them first? Did they always have them? Who were the first ones to have them?”

“To have what?”

“The wagons. Did they always have wagons?”

“I guess they almost always had them. They had them a long time.”

“Did the Indians have them?”

“No. Not at first. They didn’t have the horse or wagon either at first. But they had the one almost as soon as the other.”

Links

Wed, 10 May 2017 21:48:04 +0000

Barbara Mott, R.A. Lafferty, 1988. Photo by Dave Clark.

For additional information about R.A. Lafferty’s life and works, here are more links to explore…

ralafferty.org: An exhaustive, dedicated fan-site created by Rich Persaud in October 2014, with author quotes, tributes, interviews, obituaries, and links to all things Lafferty.

ISFDB: Comprehensive bibliography.

Centipede Press: This independent press is publishing the complete collected short fiction by Lafferty, released annually in limited edition hardcovers.

Contact

Wed, 10 May 2017 21:38:41 +0000

All queries regarding the licensing of R.A. Lafferty’s work should be directed to the Lafferty agent Lisa Rodgers of the JABberwocky Agency at 917-388-3010 or lisa (at) awfulagent.com.

The literary estate of R.A. Lafferty is owned by the Locus Science Fiction Foundation. The LSFF can be reached at locus (at) locusmag.com.

Bibliography

Wed, 03 May 2017 21:51:17 +0000

Novels

Science Fiction

Past Master, 1968, Hugo Award nominee, Nebula Award nominee (amazon)
The Reefs of Earth, 1968 (amazon)
Fourth Mansions, 1969 (amazon)
The Devil is Dead (The Devil is Dead, book 2), 1971, Nebula Award nominee (amazon)
Arrive at Easterwine: The Autobiography of a Ktistec Machine, 1971 (amazon)
Not to Mention Camels, 1976 (amazon)
Archipelago (The Devil is Dead, book 1), 1979 (amazon)
Aurelia, 1982, Phillip K. Dick Award nominee (amazon)
Annals of Klepsis, 1983 (amazon)
Serpent’s Egg, 1987 (amazon)
East of Laughter, 1988 (amazon)
How Many Miles to Babylon?, 1989
Sindbad: The 13th Voyage, 1989 (amazon)
Dotty, 1990
More than Melchisedech (The Devil is Dead, book 3), 1992

Bio

Wed, 03 May 2017 20:02:00 +0000

R.A. LAFFERTY by Andrew Ferguson

Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (November 7, 1914 – March 18, 2002) was an American idiosyncrasy: an Oklahoman autodidact who spent the first half of his life listening to others swap tall tales and the latter half channeling that liar’s aesthetic into a string of wild science-fiction, fantasy, and uncategorizable tales. Over a career of about three-and-a-half decades, Lafferty wrote 36 novels and 260-odd short stories, plus boxfuls of essays and verse. He was nominated for nearly every award within the field, winning most notably the 1973 Hugo for his short story ‘‘Eurema’s Dam’’.