Tag Archives: Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson’s “Dead Star Station”

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Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson (1908-2006) was one of the greatest science fiction writers of the 20th Century, and I would argue he was at least as important as Heinlein or Asimov.  The reason Williamson might not be as well known as he should be is because he was quieter than the other two.  His ideas, though, they were the things other writers built upon.

The Williamson Lectureship was postponed  until later in the year.  It would have taken place the first weekend of this month (April).  If it’s been canceled, I don’t want to know right now.

But I digress. Jack Williamson was born on this date, April 29.  He was one of the first science fiction writers I ever read.  I picked up stripped copy of The Best of Jack Williamson at a flea market bookstore for a quarter, not realizing at the time that the book had technically been stolen.  I was in 7th grade.  I won’t say what year that was.  (I can too remember the year! It was the winter of…ha, I see what you did there.) I’ll just say that the paperback was still in print at the time.  I’ve since upgraded my copy to one, well,… several, actually, with a cover. Continue reading →

Astounding/Analog 90th Anniversary: F. Orlin Tremaine

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Editor F. Orlin Tremaine was born on this date, January 7, 1899. He passed away at the age of 57 in 1956.  Tremaine worked at the Clayton pulp company, although he had no editorial duties with Astounding.  He left to pursue other publishing ventures which didn’t pan out and returned to Clayton in 1932. When Clayton went belly-up, Street and Smith bought the company. It was this time Tremaine was editing responsibilities for Astounding along with other titles. Tremaine edited Astounding from 1932 until late 1937, at which time he hired John W. Campbell, Jr to edit the magazine. Tremaine was promoted to Editorial Director.

Among the authors Tremaine published were H. P. Lovecraft (At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time), L. Sprague de Camp, Raymond Z. Gallun, Jack Williamson, Murray Leinster, and Eric Frank Russell. Oh, and some guy named Campbell.

The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology, Part 1

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So, as part of Astounding/Analog’s 90th anniversary, I’m going to be reading through The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology over the few months.  I’ll read one or two stories, and post on them here, mostly in order.

Edited by John W. Campbell, Jr., the anthology was first published in 1952 by Simon and Schuster.  For more on the backstory behind the anthology, see this excellent post at Black Gate.  The stories are presented in the book roughly in the order of publication, beginning with Heilein’s “Blowups Happen” from 1940 and ending with “Protected Species” by H. B. Fyfe, which was published in 1951. The complete table of contents is listed in the picture below. Click to enlarge. Continue reading →

RIP, Frederik Pohl (November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013)

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Fred PohlOne of the last living links to the early days of science fiction has died. Frederik Pohl entered the hospital yesterday morning with respiratory distress and passed away yesterday afternoon.

Pohl started out as a fan and moved to become an editor, agent, and writer. His first editing job came when he was just 19, taking the helm at Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories. He was also a founding member of the Futurians.  He served in World War II, and after the war briefly became a literary agent.

He collaborated with a number of writers throughout the decades, including Lester Del Rey (Preferred Risk as by Edson McCann), Jack Williamson (The Starchild Trilogy, Farthest Star, Wall Around a Star, Land’s End, The Singers of Time) and Arthur C. Clarke (The Last Theorem).  His most famous and successful collaborations were with fellow Futurian C. M. Kornbluth, beginning with the classic The Space Merchants, and including Search the Sky, Gladiator-at-Law and Wolfbane as well as a number of short stories.

Pohl edited Ballantine Books’ Star Science Fiction series in the 1950s, introducing the  concept of the original (nonthemed) anthology.  In the 1960s, he was the editor of Galaxy and If magazines.  During the 70s he was an editor at Bantam.Gateway

Like his collaborator Jack Williamson, Pohl continued to write novels almost until his death.  His most recent was All the Lives He Led (2011).  His Heechee saga is one of the landmarks of modern science fiction, especially the first volume, Gateway.

I had the privilege of meeting Pohl once in the summer of 1991, when the Science Fiction Research Association held a meeting on the campus of the University of North Texas.  Among those in attendance were Pohl, Jack Williamson, L. Sprague de Camp, and James Gunn.  Pohl was very friendly and chatted with me for a bit about what he was working on.  The books he signed for me at that event are among the most prized in my library.

I can’t help but feel like an era has ended.  I grew up reading science fiction by people like Pohl.  In fact, one of the first, if not the first, book I ever bought from the Science Fiction Book Club was The Best of Frederik Pohl.  I bought almost every SFBC edition of his work until I graduated high school.

platinum pohlHe will be missed.  As cliched as it sounds, we shall not see his like again.  Many of his novels are still in print, and his best short fiction was collected a few years ago in Platinum Pohl, which contains a number of stories written after The Best of Frederik Pohl was published.