Tag Archives: Hal Clement

Hal Clement

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Today is May 30, and it is the birthday of two writers I want to highlight. Because they wrote such different types of fiction, I’m going to do two separate posts.

Hal Clement, Photo courtesy of Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

The first of these is Hal Clement (1922-2003). Clement wrote what is generally regarded as hard science fiction, and he was among the hardest of hard sf writers. Clement taught high school chemistry and astronomy at Milton Academy in Milton Massachusetts.

His work has sadly fallen out of print.

It was while he was an undergraduate at Harvard majoring in astronomy that he sold his first short story, “Proof”, to John W. Campbell, Jr. It was published in the June 1942 issue of Astounding.  Three more stories appeared in 1942

After graduating in 1943, Clement was a pilot in World War II and flew 35 combat missions. He would go on to earn master’s degrees in education and chemistry.

I had the privilege of meeting him at Conestoga. He attended in 2001 and caem back every year until his death. Continue reading →

An Ode to the Ballantine Best of Series and Why We Need it More Than Ever

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The original Star Wars came out when I was in elementary school, and it was a mind-warping experience.  I had come to science fiction and fantasy through comics, but it was the sense of wonder and excitement this movie generated that turned me from reading mystery books to reading science fiction books checked out from the school library.  As I read above grade level, I was soon searching out science fiction in the adult section of the public library and in book stores.  Like a second hand book store at the flea market.

This place sold second hand paperbacks for a quarter, IIRC.  The covers were stripped, which meant the books had been reported to the publishers as having been been pulped and the covers returned for credit.  In other words, they were technically stolen.  I didn’t know that then.  There were a number of titles I recognized, such as some H. P, Lovecraft.  I picked up The Best of Jack Williamson there, and later The Best of L. Sprague de Camp.

The Williamson volume started with stories from the 30s and went up to the 70s.  There was an introduction by Frederik Pohl and an afterward by Williamson.  This was the pattern of the series.  An introduction by an author or editor associated with the writer of the book, and if the author was still living (most were but not all) he or she contributed an afterward.  My mind was blown.  David Hartwell once said the golden age of science fiction is thirteen.  I was, and it was. Continue reading →