Kevin's Watch

Sorry to stick you with such a dilemma Murrin, it's hard to tell where this list should go; here, Vespers or The Library. They've combined musicians, directors, cartoonists, playwrites (you name it) with fiction, sci-fi and fantasy authors.

The first person I looked for on this list was, of course, H. P. Lovecraft. Frank Zappa is one songwriter that, clearly, should have made the roster...

DOUGLAS ADAMS
CHARLES ADDAMS
LAURIE ANDERSON
J.G. BALLARD
NICK BANTOCK
CLIVE BARKER
ART BELL
BJÖRK
DAVID BOWIE
RAY BRADBURY
MARGARET BRUNDAGE
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
TIM BURTON
KATE BUSH
OCTAVIA BUTLER
ANGELA CARTER
NICK CAVE
LON CHANEY SR.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
JOEL & ETHAN COEN
ALICE COOPER
DAVID CRONENBERG
R. CRUMB
ROALD DAHL
SALVADOR DALI
SAMUEL R. DELANY
PHILIP K. DICK
STEVE DITKO
HARLAN ELLISON
M.C. ESCHER
VIRGIL FINLAY
CHARLES FORT
NEIL GAIMAN
TERRY GILLIAM
EDWARD GOREY
GUNTHER VON HAGENS
JIM HENSON
ROBERT E. HOWARD
SHIRLEY JACKSON
FRANZ KAFKA
FRIDA KAHLO
ANDY KAUFMAN
STEPHEN KING
STANLEY KUBRICK
MADELEINE L’ENGLE
GARY LARSON
TANITH LEE
THOMAS LIGOTTI
H.P. LOVECRAFT
DAVID LYNCH
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
DAVE MCKEAN
RAND & ROBYN MILLER
MICHAEL MOORCOCK
ALAN MOORE
CATHERINE L. MOORE & HENRY KUTTNER
GRANT MORRISON
JOYCE CAROL OATES
MERVYN PEAKE
PENN & TELLER
BILL PLYMPTON
THOMAS PYNCHON
ANNE RICE
ROD SERLING
DR. SEUSS
ALICE SHELDON, a.k.a. JAMES TIPTREE JR.
CHUCK SHEPHERD
CLARK ASHTON SMITH
STEPHEN SONDHEIM
REV. IVAN STANG
OSAMU TEZUKA
HUNTER S. THOMPSON
KOOL KEITH THORNTON, a.k.a. DR. OCTAGON
KURT VONNEGUT
TOM WAITS
ALICE WALKER
KARA WALKER
ANDY WARHOL
SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER
JOHN WATERS
ROGER WATERS
WIM WENDERS
THORNTON WILDER
ROBERT ANTON WILSON
WARREN ZEVON

Since it's connected to Weird Tales, I'd say it fits in here.


Interesting list. Not quite what I was expecting when I first heard about it (I was expecting it to be all writers), and I'm not sure I would have thought of some of the names they've included. Although admittedly I'm not as familiar with these artists' work as those making the poll will have been. I look forward to seeing how they feature the people on the list in the 85th anniversary issue, when it finally arrives (I'm still waiting for the previous issue to show up).

I'm familiar with 59 of these people's work...

It's got both Dali and Dick, so it gets my thumbs up.

The first person I looked for on this list was, of course, H. P. Lovecraft. Frank Zappa is one songwriter that, clearly, should have made the roster...

Him, and Beefheart. I am severely disappointed...

I'm familiar with 59 of these people's work...

I am shamed to say I only recognize 42 of them Guess I need to follow more weird stuff.

If it's supposed to be weirdest to least weird, then I'm surprised Doug Adams was at the very top.

It's alphabetical. I recognise a lot of the names, but there's not a single one I could say I've seen or read enough of their work to be particularly familiar with it.

DOUGLAS ADAMS

CLIVE BARKER

RAY BRADBURY

WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
TIM BURTON

ALICE COOPER

ROALD DAHL
SALVADOR DALI
SAMUEL R. DELANY
PHILIP K. DICK

HARLAN ELLISON
M.C. ESCHER

NEIL GAIMAN
TERRY GILLIAM

FRANZ KAFKA

STEPHEN KING
STANLEY KUBRICK

GARY LARSON

H.P. LOVECRAFT
DAVID LYNCH
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ

MICHAEL MOORCOCK

ANNE RICE

DR. SEUSS

HUNTER S. THOMPSON

KURT VONNEGUT

ANDY WARHOL

ROGER WATERS

ROBERT ANTON WILSON

That's everybody on the list that I know enough of their work to have an opinion on. I recognise a couple more, and a few others are vaguely familiar. What strikes me though is that every name I recognised, and every one I named here, has produced things that I like. Often that I like a lot. Makes me think I should find out who the rest of them are.

--A

Does it mean anything if almost all my favorite film directors are on this list?

That you're as weird as the rest of us?

I recognized 56 names and am familiar with the work of with a somewhat smaller number, maybe 40. Most are among my favorites.

They forgot Richard Brautigan, too.

FYI, the Weird Tales website is posting feature on one of these people every day for 85 days; the first few are:
Franz Kafka
Terry Gilliam
Laurie Anderson

These are the same pieces that will be published together in the 85th anniversary issue of the magazine.