H'ard Starts: The Early Waldrop

World Fantasy Life Achievement Award winner Howard Waldrop's career highlights include classic stories like "Night of the Cooters," "Mary Margaret Road-Grader," "Heirs of the Perisphere," the Nebula-winning "The Ugly Chickens," and dozens of other fantastic tales that have delighted readers for over fifty years.

But where did he come from? Did Howard Waldrop spring forth fully formed, as if from the forehead of Zeus, with his first professional story in 1972? Or were his origins more arcane,...