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On Edmond Hamilton
I first knew Edmond Hamilton from his
story, "The Comet Doom,"
in Amazing Stories. I got his address from Jerry Seigel, who later
created
Superman, wrote him, and found that we had kindred interests. We
met in
Minneapolis in the summer of 1931, bought an outboard motorboat,
went
down the Mississippi together, and became lifelong friends.
He was a popular and prolific pulp
writer. He told me that Weird Tales
had bought 40 stories with never a rejection. His Space Patrol
tales in Weird Tales
were reprinted the first space opera. He wrote most of the Captain
Future novels.
His early work was save-the-world adventure, done at white heat and
sometimes
without much regard for literary finish. Later, after his marriage
to Leigh
Brackett, he wrote with more care for character and style. He was a
pioneer,
loved by his fans and important in the history of modern science
fiction.
October
19, 1998
Jack Williamson
