Jack Williamson (1908-2006) was born on April 29, which would be etoday as I’m writing this. I wasn’t able to go to the Williamson Lectureship in Portales this year. Instead of living two hours away, it’s more like five. Plus, I didn’t have the cash or the time off from work.

Maybe next year.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t indulge in reading some Williamson and singing his praises (figuratively, not literally, nobody wants to hear that) here on the blog. Aplogies if I’ve said some of this before in previous posts.

Jack Williamson was born in Bisbee in Arizona Territory. Yes, kiddies, before Arizona was a state. He came to New Mexico, if I recall correctly, in a covered wagon. He sold his first story, “The Metal Man”, to Amazing Stories in 1928. He was still writing into the 2000s. I don’t know if he was workiing on anything at the time of his death. Stephen Haffner, if you read this and know the answer to that question, please let us know in the comments. Thanks.

Williamson wrote across mulitple genres. He started out  with pulpy science fiction, but he also wrote fantasy, such as Golden Blood. After getting his Ph. D. in English, he went on to teach ast Eastern New Mexico State University, now Eastern New Mexico University. His office is still there. If you ever get a chance to go visit, you should. There’s a lot of sciencd fiction hisotry in that office. And the science fiction in the special collection is amazing. I could stay there for days brwosing the stacks. And they also have a selection of books about the Lincoln County War for those whose interests include that bit of history.

Williamson created a number of terms we take for granted these days, such as “genetic engineering.”

Probably the most important thing he wrote was the story “With Folded Hands” along with its sequels the novels The Humanoids and The Humanoid Touch. Isaac Asimov is credited with creating the Three Laws of Robotics, the first of which is that a robot cannot allow a human being to  come to harm. (That’s a paraphrase, not an exact quote. You get the idea.)

I don’t know the history of the story well enough to know if Williamson wrote the story in response to Asimov. The robot series had been appearing in Astounding in the early forties. “Wtih Folded Hands” made its first appearance in the July 1947 issue of Astounding.

Williamson takes the First Law to its ultimate, and terrifying, conclusion. It’s about robots, the humanoids, that take their moto “To Serve and to Obey and to Guard Men From Harm” a little too far. They only consider physical harm, not the psychological harm that comes with being overly protected.

It’s a masterpiece of what science fiction can do. If you haven’t read it, do yourself a favor and track down a copy. It’s been reprinted many times and adapted for one of the science fiction radio shows.

Williamson also engaged in a number of collaborations, most notably with Fred Pohl, although he also collaborated with James Gunn.

By all accounts, Williamson was a generous menotr to  younger writers. I only met him once, when the Science Fiction Research Association had a meeting at UNT. He was there along with Pohl, the de Camps, James Gunn, Brad Denton, and Jim Frenkel. If there was anyone else at that meeting, I don’t recall them. It was the first time I had ever gotten to meet anhy of the writers from the Golden Age fo Science Fiction. It was the only time I was able to meet Williamson and Pohl. I wish I had inflicted myself on them and talke to them more. I did make sure I got as many books as possible signed by them.

Williamson was one of the first science fiction writers I read. I still have the copy of The Best of Jack Williamson with the missing cover that I bought for a quarter at the flea market in Wichita Falls in the summer or autumn of 1979. Maybe it was early 1980. I don’t recall excactly. I just remember being blown away by the stories, espeically “With Folded Hands”. (I didn’t realzie at the time that stripped books were stolen.)

It may have been this volume that made me look for the other Ballantine Best of series. Most were still in print in those days.

I also tracked down all the Jack Williamson books I could get my hands on. It’s been so long since I’ve read some of them that I’ve forgotten most of the contents.

That sounds like a good reason for a reread. I’ve always preferred Jack’s pulpier early work to his later. I’m not sure why that is. But I might just dive into The Legion of Space before the end of the year.