Born on this day – Tania Weber:

Tania Weber

Actress

August 18, 1926 – November 20, 2009

Born on this day – Brian Aldiss:

Brian Aldiss

Writer

Artist

August 18, 1925 – August 19, 2017

Credits:

Books:

50 x 50: The mini-sagas (2012); A Book of Contemporary Nightmares (1977); A Brian Aldiss Omnibus (1969); A Century of Science Fiction (1962); A Prehistory of Mind / poems (2008); A Rude Awakening (1978); A Science Fiction Argosy (1972); A Science Fiction Omnibus (2007); A Soldier Erect (1971); A Tupolev Too Far (1986); Affairs at Hampden Ferrers (2004); Alpha 3 (1972); Alpha 4 (1973); Alpha One (1970); An ABC of Science Fiction (1966); An Exile on Planet Earth (2012); An Island Called Moreau (1981); And the Lurid Glare of the Comet (1986); Andromeda 1 (1976); Anticipations (1978); Antigrav (1975); Art After Apogee The Relationships Between an Idea, a Story, and Painting (2000); Astounding Analog Reader, Book 1 (1972); Astounding Analog Reader, Book 2 (1973); At the Caligula Hotel / poems (1995); Backdrop of Stars (1968); Barefoot in the Head (1969); Best Fantasy Stories (1962); Best Horror Stories 2 (1965); Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian W. Aldiss (1965); Best SF 2 (1956); Best SF 7 (1970); Best SF Stories from New Worlds (1969); Best SF Stories of Brian W Aldiss (1988); Best SF: 1967 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 1 (1968); Best SF: 1968 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 2 (1969); Best SF: 1969 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 3 (1969); Best SF: 1970 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 4 (1971); Best SF: 1971 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 5 (1972); Best SF: 1972 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 6 (1973); Best SF: 1973 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 7 (1974); Best SF: 1974 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 8 (1975); Best SF: 1975 / aka The Year's Best Science Fiction 9 (1976); Beyond Reality (1979); Beyond Singularity (2005); Beyond Tomorrow (1977); Billion Year Spree (1973); Blue Motel (1994); Book of Mini-Sagas (1985); Book of Mini-Sagas II (1988); Brothers of the Head (1977); Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith's (1990); But Who Can Replace Man? (1958); Catastrophia (2010); Celebration (2008); Christmas Stars (1992); Cities and Stones (1966); Cities of Wonder (1966); Collected Essays (2013); Comfort Zone (2013); Comic Inferno / aka The Book of Brian Aldiss (1972); Constellations (2005); Cracken at Critical / aka The Year before Yesterday (1987); Creations (1983); Creatures from Beyond (1975); Cretan Teat (2001); Cryptozoic! / aka An Age (1967); Cultural Breaks (2005); Dangerous Visions (1967); Dangerous Visions 1 (1967); Dante's Disciples (1996); Dark Fantasies (1989); Dark Stars (1969); Daw 30th Anniversary Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology (2002); Daw 30th Anniversary Science Fiction Anthology (2002); Decade the 1940's (1975); Decade the 1950's (1976); Decade the 1960's (1977); Dimension X (1970); Dinosaurs! (1990); Dracula Unbound (1991); Earth Is but a Star (2001); Earth is the Strangest Planet (1977); Earthworks (1965); Elemental (2006); Elsewhere X 3 (1974); Enemies of the System (1978); Epoch (1975); Equator (1973); Evil Earths (1975); Factions (1974); Farewell to a Child (1983); Farewell, Fantastic Venus! / aka All About Venus (1968); Final Stage (1974); Finches of Mars (2012); First Voyages (1981); Flotsam Fantasique (2013); Foreign bodies (1981); Forgotten Life (1988); Four For Fantasy (2013); Four for the Future (1969); Frankenstein Unbound (1973); Galactic Empires 1 (1976); Galactic Empires 2 (1976); Galaxies Like Grains of Sand / aka The Canopy of Time (1959); Gaslight and Ghosts (1988); Gateways (2010); Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century (1987); Greybeard (1964); HARM (2007); Helliconia Spring (1982); Helliconia Summer (1983); Helliconia Winter (1985); Hell's Cartographers (1975); Home Life with Cats (1992); Hothouse / aka The Long Afternoon of Earth (1961); Immortals (1998); In the Field of Fire (1987); In the Twinkling of an Eye (2015); Infinite Jests (1974); Intangibles Inc. (1969); Interpreter / aka Bow Down to Nul (1960); Introducing Science Fiction (1967); Invaders! (1993); Isaac Asimov's Mars (1991); Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Treasury (1988); Isaac Asimov's Solar System (1999); Jocasta (2004); Lambda I (1964); Last Orders (1977); Lemistry (2011); Life in the West (1980); London Tales of Terror (1972); Man in His Time (1989); Mars Probes (2002); Masterpieces (2001); Men and Machines (1970); Mind in Chains (1970); Mind to Mind (1971); Mini Sagas (1997); Mini Sagas 1999 (1999); Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction (1994); Modern Science Fiction (1974); Moon Shots (1999); More Penguin Science Fiction (1963); Moreau's Other Island (1980); Mortal Morning / poems (2011); Mutants! (1974); Neanderthal Planet (1969); Nebula Award Stories 1 (1966); Nebula Award Stories 2 (1966); Nebula Awards Showcase 2001 (2001); New Arrivals, Old Encounters (1979); New Worlds (1997); New Worlds 1 (1991); New Worlds 2 (1992); New Worlds 3 (1993); New Worlds 7 (1974); New Worlds 9 (1975); New Worlds: An Anthology (2004); New Writing 4 (1995); New Writings in SF 1 (1964); New Writings in SF 10 (1966); New Writings in SF 22 (1973); New Writings in SF 23 (1973); New Writings in SF 24 (1974); New Writings in SF 25 (1975); New Writings in SF 27 (1975); New Writings in SF 28 (1975); New Writings in SF 29 (1976); New Writings in SF 30 (1977); No Time Like Tomorrow (1959); Non-Stop / aka Starship (1958); Not the Only Planet (1998); Nova 1 (1970); Nova 2 (1972); Nova 3 (1973); Nova 4 (1974); Now We Are Sick (1994); On Our Way to the Future (1970); One Hundred Years of Science Fiction (1968); Orbit 12 (1973); Orbit 15 (1974); Orbit 2 (1967); Other Edens (1987); Other Edens II (1988); Other Edens III (1989); Outwards from Earth (1974); Penguin Science Fiction (1961); Perchance to Wake (2016); Perilous Planets (1978); Perpetual Light (1982); Pile / poems (1979); Plutonian Monologue On His Wife's Death (2000); Remembrance Day (1993); Report on Probability A (1968); Robert Silverberg's Worlds of Wonder (1969); Rooms of Paradise (1979); Ruins (1986); Sanity and the Lady (2005); Science Against Man (1970); Science Fiction A to Z (1982); Science Fiction Art (1975); Science Fiction as Science Fiction (1978); Science Fiction Blues (1988); Science Fiction Horizons No. 1 (1968); Science Fiction: The Best of 2002 (2003); Seasons in Flight (1984); Sense of Wonder (2023); Sex and the Black Machine (1988); Sightlines (2001); Somewhere East of Life (1994); Songs from the Steppes / poems (2014); Songs from the Steppes of Central Asia Selected Poems of Makhtumkuli (1995); Souls in Metal (1977); Space 2 (1974); Space Gladiators (1989); Space Odysseys (1974); Space Opera (1974); Space, Time and Nathaniel (1957); Spectrum 2 (1962); Spectrum 3 (1963); Stars of Albion (1979); Starswarm (1954); Strange Orbits (1976); Strangeness (1977); Super-State (2002); Supertoys Last All Summer Long (2001); Supertoys Trilogy (2014); Tales from the Forbidden Planet (1987); Tales from the Planet Earth (1986); Tales in Space (1995); Tales in Time (1997); Tales of Science Fiction (1964); Tales of Terror From Outer Space (1975); Tales of Unease (1966); The 1977 Annual World's Best SF (1977); The 1990 Annual World's Best SF (1990); The Airs of Earth (1963); The Amis Story Anthology (1992); The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 12th Series (1963); The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 17th Series (1968); The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 8th Series (1959); The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 9th Series (1959); The Best Horror Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1988); The Best of British SF 2 (1977); The Best of Crank! (1998); The Best of Interzone (1996); The Best of Modern Horror (1989); The Best Science Fiction Stories (1977); The Brightfount Diaries (1955); The British Fantasy Society - a Celebration (2006); The City 2000 A. D. (1976); The Complete Short Stories: The 1950s (2013); The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s (2015); The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s Part 1 (2015); The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s Part 3 (2015); The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s Part 4 (2015); The Dark Light Years (1964); The Dark Sun Rises (2002); The Daymakers (2014); The Detached Retina (1988); The Drabble Project (1988); The Eighty-minute Hour (1974); The Furthest Horizon (2000); The Future in Question (1980); The Future Makers (1968); The Golden Age of Science Fiction (1981); The Good Old Stuff (1995); The Great SF Stories 19 (1989); The Great SF Stories 20 (1990); The Great SF Stories 23 (1991); The Hand-Reared Boy (1970); The Ides of Tomorrow (1976); The Inner Landscape (1969); The Invention of Happiness (2013); The Magic of the Past (1987); The Malacia Tapestry (1976); The Male Response (1961); The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction (2002); The Mammoth Book of Tales from the Road (2002); The Moment of Eclipse (1970); The New Improved Sun (1975); The New Nature of the Catastrophe (1993); The New Tomorrows (1971); The Night Fantastic (1991); The Pale Shadow of Science (1986); The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973); The Penguin World Omnibus of Science Fiction (1977); The Primal Urge (1961); The Road to Science Fiction 3 (1979); The Road to Science Fiction 5 (1998); The Saliva Tree (1966); The Science Fictional Dinosaur (1982); The Secret of This Book / aka Common Clay (1995); The shape of further things (1970); The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction (2007); The Starry Messenger (2006); The Traps of Time (1968); The Twinkling of an Eye or My Life as an Englishman (1998); The Ultimate Frankenstein (1991); The Umbral Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry (1982); The Unfriendly Future (1965); The Wizards of Odd (1996); The World Treasury of Science Fiction (1989); The Year 2000 (1970); The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Sixth Annual Collection (1993); The Year's Best Science Fiction Eleventh Annual Collection (1993); The Year's Best Science Fiction Ninth Annual Collection (1992); This Side of Infinity (1972); This Way to the End Times (2016); This World and Nearer Ones (1979); Three Types of Solitude (2019); Time Travelers (1997); To Follow a Star (1977); Top Science Fiction (1984); Trillion Year Spree (1986); Tropical Chills (1988); Twelve Tomorrows 2013 (2013); Twenty Houses of the Zodiac (1979); Universe 2 (1992); Universe 3 (1994); Universe 6 (1976); Universe 7 (1977); Vanguard from Alpha (1959); Visions of Wonder (1996); Walcot (2009); Weird Shadows from Beyond (1965); Weird Tales from Shakespeare (1994); Welcome to the Greenhouse (2011); Werewolf! (1979); When The Feast is Finished (1994); White Mars / aka The Mind Set Free: A 21st-Century Utopia (1999); Who Can Replace a Man? (1966); World's Best Science Fiction 1967 (1967); World's Best Science Fiction 1968 (1968); World's Best Science Fiction 1969 (1969); xo Orpheus (2013); Year's Best SF 5 (2000); Year's Best SF 7 (2002); Yet More Penguin Science Fiction (1964); Zenith (1989).

Movies and television:

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001); Arena (1994); Brave New Worlds: The Science Fiction Phenomenon (1993); Brothers of the Head (2005); Crawlspace (2009); Did You See..? (1984); Drug-Taking and the Arts (1993); Everyman (1986); Frankenstein Unbound (1990); John Wyndham: The Invisible Man of Science Fiction (2005); Let's Imagine (1962); Natural History of an Alien (1998); New Nightmares (1993); Omnibus (1973); On Reflection (1971); On the Edge of 'Blade Runner' (2000); Panorama (1969); Prisoners of Gravity (1991–1994); Read All About It (1976); Right to Reply (1995); Sacrificial Sheep: The Novel vs. the Film (2007); Speaking Volumes (1991); Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001); The Book Programme (1975); The Electric Dreamer: Remembering Philip K. Dick (2007); The Martians and Us (2006); The Real History of Science Fiction (2014); The Ultimate Survivor (2011); The War of the Worlds: Great Books (1994); Time Out of Mind (1979); Timeshift (2006).

Born on this day – Shelley Winters:

Shelley Winters

Actress

August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006

Born on this day – Laura Wood:

Laura Wood

Actress

August 18, 1901 – May 9, 1982

Credits:

77 Sunset Strip (1959); General Electric Theater (1958); Gomer Pyle: USMC (1966); Highway Patrol (1956); How I Became a Nudist (1968); Medic (1955); My Three Sons (1968); Official Detective (1957); Six She's and a He (1963); Star Trek (1966–1967); Sweet Bird of Aquarius (1970); The Rebel (1960); This Sporting House (1969).

Recommended reading - The Barbarous Coast (1956):

The Barbarous Coast

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Published 1956.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0307279030

ISBN-13: 978-0307279033

Description:

“Ross Macdonald writes like a son of a bitch.” – Anthony Boucher.

“Not since the novels of Nathanael West has the theme of American innocence grinding to a stop at the polluted waters of the Pacific so consistently reverberated through a body of writing.” – Detroit News.

The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and murder on every pricey silk shirt. Beset by dirty cops, a bumptious boxer turned silver screen pretty boy, and a Hollywood mogul with a dark past, Archer discovers the secret of a grisly murder that just won't stay hidden.

Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad.

“Macdonald makes a routine story of ocean-side murder among the rich take on a hard-edged, glistening solidity.” – AudioFile.

Wally Lamb, on writing:

I like to be surprised.

The best writing is when it defies me, when it starts going a different way than I had planned.

- Wally Lamb.

On this day in movie history - Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground (1997):

Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground

aka SUBWAYstories,

was released in the United States on August 17, 1997.
Directed by Bob Balaban, Patricia Benoit, Julie Dash, Jonathan Demme, Ted Demme, Abel Ferrara, Alison Maclean, Craig McKay, Lucas Platt, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld.
Written by Adam Brooks, John Guare, Lynn Grossman, Angela Todd, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Albert Innaurato, Danny Hoch, Julie Dash, Marla Hanson, Joe Viola, Rosie Perez.
Music by Mecca Bodega.

Story segment titles:

Fern's Heart of Darkness
The 5: 24
Honey-Getter
The Listeners
Love on the A Train
Manhattan Miracle
The Red Shoes
Sax Cantor Riff
Subway Car from Hell
Underground

Cast:

Bill Irwin, KRS-One, Tina North, Paul Lazar, Andre B. Blake, Anthony S. Calypso, Robert W. Castle, Marlon Cherry, Carl J. Ferrazza, Daniel Freedman, Marc Mueller, Paul Mueller, Simon Seven, Joe Toutebon, Daniel Wolff, Mari Danzi, Lara McFarlane, Angie Utt, Audrey Meyers, Denis Leary, Christine Lahti, N'Bushe Wright, Kevin Corrigan, Marie Barrientos, O.L. Duke, Ellen Gould, John C. Vennema, Sixto Ramos, Erika Greene, Steve Zahn, Jerry Stiller, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Spore, Mekhi Phifer, José Ramón Rosario, Nancy Ticotin, John Ford Noonan, Lili Taylor, Michael Rapaport, Israel Horovitz, Mercedes Ruehl, Zachary Taylor, Peter Sarsgaard, Jeremy Jordan, Bruce Smolanoff, Rob Clasen, Jay Bailey, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Ari Parker, Ajay Naidu, Danny Hoch, Steven Randazzo, Gi Shen, Kenny Garrett, Sam Rockwell, Sol Frieder, Tammi Cubilette, Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier, Bruklin Harris, Taral Hicks, Daniel Rous, Will Hare, Rosie Perez, Michael McGlone, Gretchen Mol, Gregory Hines, Anne Heche, George T. Odom, John D. Bair, John Bryant, Christopher Del Gaudio, Mark Robert Gordon, Stacie Johnsen, Adrian Lee, Bonnie Monaghan, Steve Nuke, Frank Turek, Chris White.