Hal Clement, real name Harry Clement Stubbs, was born on this date, May 30, in 1922.  He passed away in 2003. He attended Conestoga the last few years of his life, and I was privileged to meet him on those occasions. Once I was walking through the dealer’s room, and someone was following along behind me whistling. I turned around and saw that it was Hal Clement.

Clement was very much a John Campbell type of writer, which is not surprising since he was a high school science teacher (chemistry and astronomy) for most of his adult life. Regarded as one of the hardest of hard science writers, he was often criticized for what some perceived as weak character development. I’ve never had a huge problem with his characters, but then that’s not the reason I read Clement.  Clement started writing in the early 1940s, and while his output wasn’t prolific, it was consistent.  After all, he had a full time day job teaching high school.

“Technical Error” was first published in the January 1944 issue of Astounding and is currently available in the ebook edition of The Best of Hal Clement. That’s the Del Rey edition shown. I like the cover better than the one on the ebook.

Seven men are stranded on an asteroid when the atomic engine melts down. They find another ship which strangely has an almost identical design. Only it quickly becomes apparent that it wasn’t built by humans. They begin to figure out how to use it to get rescued.

There’s a lot logic that deals with the design in this story. That was the type of tale Clement specialized in, the puzzle story. The setup was intriguing. Especially some of the mysteries about the ship.

Sadly, I found the ending to be a bit of a letdown. It was highly technical, and I have to question how many people would follow it.  I’m not sure I completely did. And while the ending might be logical from an internal consistency standpoint, I also felt that it didn’t play fair with the reader because of the way it left some questions unanswered. YMMV.

Hal Clement

That doesn’t mean I won’t read more Clement. I will. I liked this story. I was also tired and dozed off, not because it wasn’t holding my interest, but because I was wiped out from everything that’s gone on this week.That had an effect on how well I picked up on some of the details.

It’s been a while since I read a good puzzle story. I think the last one was by Jack Williamson. I enjoy this type of story, partly because it’s so hard to do well. Clement might not be to everyone’s taste, but I like him.  If you’re into hard science and puzzle stories, check him out.