Lost in the Rentharpian Hills: Spanning the Decades with Carl Jacobi

by R. Dixon Smith

R. Dixon Smith has captured the enchanting story of the well known pulp writer Carl Jacobi. Jacobi wrote many fantasy and weird tales, while leading a somewhat bizarre yet magical life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Pulp, Writing

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Shawn]

Got this at work (duplicate copy) when we purchased the estate of Carl Jacobi and as we prep them for republishing, the book served as nice context for his fiction output. It's not really a traditional biography, more of a short bio wrapped around a bibliography / thorough accounting of Jacobi's own personal writing files - transcription of meticulous notes of submissions, rejections, title changes, letters from editors, commentaries, and payments (or lack thereof). I'd suggest it for those interested in what the day to day, month to month, year to year hardscrabble life of an actual working pulp writer was like (to keep his parents solvent, Jacobi worked a day job and wrote at night) - as opposed to glossy, fanciful versions of same. Interesting to note that Jacobi's approach was influenced by Somerset Maugham, how easily Jacobi could move through genres (as long as they interested him) and how much research he did. Sad to note how often he had the bad luck to sell to a magazine that then almost immediately went under, thus resulting in no publication and no payment.

[Steven]

Good (but not 100% engrossing) bio & bibliography of pulp writer Carl Jacobi; of interest to writers and fans of the pulp & horror genres but not a book I'd be pushing on too many others.