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A writer, Williamson wrote his first science fiction story in 1928 -- three years before the term "science fiction" was coined. Considered "the" father of science fiction, Williamson coined plenty of words of his own, such as android and terraforming; he was also the first to discuss genetic engineering in fiction. "If your father read science fiction," novelist Frederik Pohl wrote, "he very likely counted Jack Williamson high among his favorite writers." The amazing part of that quote: Pohl made it in 1953. "Science is the door to the future," Williamson liked to say, "and science fiction is the golden key." He wrote well into his 90s, including two novels and at least 10 short stories. Williamson won both Hugo and Nebula awards, as well as the Science Fiction Writers of America's Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. He died November 10 at his New Mexico home at age 98. From This is True for 12 November 2006 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Al FeldsteinWally WoodReed CrandallJohnny CraigGeorge EvansJoe OrlandoJack KamenAl WilliamsonJack Davis List Price: $49.95 Amazon Price: $32.97 Editorial Review: EC Comics were superior to other comics of the 1950s because of a higher quality of writing and artwork, and they were widely imitated by other comics publishers. The subject matter for EC Comics were horror, science fiction/fantasy, crime stories, war stories and stories with a social message that generally had a twist or "shock" ending. This volume reprints the second six complete issues (24 stories) of the comic book Shock SuspenStories, originally published in 1953, and features a mixture of horror, crime, war and social issue-based stories, characterized by ironic "O. Henry" type twist endings, and including the first attempts in the comics medium to teach moral lessons about racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, gang violence, corrupt officials, etc.  By: Eric Miles Williamson List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 Editorial Review: cclaimed novelist, editor, and critic Eric Miles Williamson, with the publication of his first book of nonfiction, establishes himself as one of the premier critics of his generation. There is no other book that resembles Oakland, Jack London, and Me. The parallels between the lives of Jack London and Eric Miles Williamson are startling: Both grew up in the same waterfront ghetto of Oakland, California; neither knew who his father was; both had insane mothers; both did menial jobs as youths and young men; both spent time homeless; both made their treks to the Northlands; both became authors; and both cannot reconcile their attitudes toward the poor, what Jack London calls "the people of the abyss." With this as a premise, Williamson examines not only the life and work of Jack London, but his own life and attitudes toward the poor, toward London, Oakland, culture and literature. A blend of autobiography, criticism, scholarship, and polemic, Oakland, Jack London, and Me is a book written not just for academics and students. Jack London remains one of the best-selling American authors in the world, and Williamson's Oakland, Jack London, and Me is as accessible as any of the works of London, his direct literary forbear and mentor.  By: Jack Williamson List Price: $6.99 Amazon Price: $6.99 Editorial Review: First Paperback, Contains the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning The Ultimate Earth When a giant meteor crashes into the earth and destroys all life, the small group of human survivors manage to leave the barren planet and establish a new home on the moon. From Tycho Base, men and woman are able to observe the devastated planet and wait for a time when return will become possible. Generations pass. Cloned children have had children of their own, and their eyes are raised toward the giant planet in the sky which long ago was the cradle of humanity. Finally, after millennia of waiting, the descendants of the original refugees travel back to a planet they've never known, to try and rebuild a civilization of which they've never been a part. The fate of the earth lies in the success of their return, but after so much time, the question is not whether they can rebuild an old destroyed home, but whether they can learn to inhabit an alien new world--Earth.  By: Jack Williamson List Price: $40.00 Amazon Price: $40.00 Editorial Review: The Worlds of Jack Williamson celebrates the 100th birthday of one of the Grand Masters of science fiction. While Jack Williamson passed away in 2006 at the age of 98, his incredible body of work continues to be enjoyed by legions of fans and admirers. Assembled in this centennial tribute are several unpublished stories: The Moon Bird, The Forbidden Window, The Golden Glass, and a film treatment from 1957, The Planets are Calling. Also included are several classics in the Williamson canon such as the original novella-length version of Darker Thank You Think; Minus Sign, an unreprinted seetee story of anti-matter and terraforming; and a tale with the first use of psionics, The Man from Outside. Contemporary stories include The Hole in the World, Afterlife, and The Luck of the Legion, the last Legion of Space adventure. Included are four essays from academics and scholars who have studied Williamson s works, as well as Dr. Williamson s 1957 Master s Thesis, A Study of the Sense of Prophecy in Modern Science Fiction. Fellow Grand Masters of science fiction Frederik Pohl and James Gunn provide introductory remarks on reading, knowing, collaborating with, and admiring Jack Williamson. Contents Academic Essays Alan C. Elms, PhD Darker Than He Thought: The Psychoanalysis of Jack Williamson Jack Williamson A Study of the Sense of Prophecy in Modern Science Fiction Tricentennial Century Alfred D. Stewart, PhD Jack Williamson: The Comedy of Cosmic Evolution Vicky Medley Queens of Space: Women in the work of Jack Williamson Richard A. Hauptmann Collecting Jack Williamson: Master of Wonder Fiction Classic Stories Darker Than You Think (1940) Minus Sign (1942) The Man from Outside (1951) Contemporary Stories The Humanoid Universe (1980) The Hole in the World (1997) Afterlife (2002) The Luck of the Legion (2002) New Unpublished Stories The Moon Bird (1929) The Forbidden Window (19??) The Golden Glass (1939) The Planets are Calling (1957) A Chrismas Carol (2000)  List Price: $33.99 Amazon Price: $31.35 Editorial Review: Since the development of the modern state system in Europe four centuries ago, there have been ten general wars involving a majority of the major powers and a high level of casualties. Another major war is difficult to conceive of, since it would presumably be the last such conflict, and yet it is not an impossibility. In this volume a distinguished group of political scientists and historians examine the origins of major wars and discuss the problems in preventing a nuclear war. |
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