Jack Williamson - Thoughts?

[BigBadBob141]

There is now an 8 volume set of all of his short stories published by Hafner Press.
The guy just could not stop writing.
P.S. Loved "The Humanoids"

 

[Liz Bent]

The Humanoids was the only Jack Williamson work I can recall reading- I read it as a teenager and found it emotionally gripping. Now that I'm a bit older I might go back to it and see if it is as interesting to me as it was when I first read it.

The aspects of the story dealing with the humanoids was interesting on its own, but I enjoyed the idea of "rhodomagnetics", a facet of science completely new. I would often recall this idea later on as I trained as a scientist to remind myself that, just because current scientific knowledge could not explain a phenomenon, it did not mean that phenomenon was going to always be inexplicable. It kept me humble.

 

[BigBadBob141]

It's interesting to note that the film "I, Robot" staring Will Smith (2004) is a cross between Asimov (3 laws of robotics) and Williamson (The Humanoids).
The robots in the film have Asimov's 3 laws but the central AI which overrides the latest Nexus model has exactly the same ideas on human safety as the AI in Williamson's The Humanoids.

 

[Liz Bent]

I'm a bit more familiar with Williamson than with Asimov, so I wasn't sure if that was something Asimov wrote himself as well. This may be blasphemy, but I enjoy Williamson a lot more than Asimov. Not sure this is the right place to explain why, though.

 

[BAYLOR]

His writing career started in 1928 and ended in 2006 . Encompassed not only the golden age of science fiction but the much of the modern age as well, Invented the terms Genetic Engineering and Teraforming.

 

[Zendexor]

His writing career started in 1928 and ended in 2006 . Encompassed not only the golden age of science fiction but the much of the modern age as well, Invented the terms Genetic Engineering and Teraforming.

I remember liking The Moon Children, a late period novel I think, in which he surprisingly portrays most of the planets as inhabited by various forms of indigenous life.

 

[BAYLOR]

I remember liking The Moon Children, a late period novel I think, in which he surprisingly portrays most of the planets as inhabited by various forms of indigenous life.

The Humanoids , Darker tan You Think, The Reign of Wizardry

 

[Zendexor]

His writing career started in 1928 and ended in 2006 . Encompassed not only the golden age of science fiction but the much of the modern age as well, Invented the terms Genetic Engineering and Teraforming.

I had no idea he invented those terms. He sounds a great subject for a biography.

 

[BAYLOR]

I had no idea he invented those terms. He sounds a great subject for a biography.

A terrific writer and a try interesting man . some back Fred Saberhagen did an anthology called the Williamson effect , the were follow ups to Williamson stories. In one story Bad Machines Saberhagen's Berserkers met the Williamson's Humanoids.

 

[Tom Hering]

The Humanoids and The Moon Children, both of which I read back in the 1970s, remain strong in my memory. Real sense-of-wonder stuff. I plan to reread them sometime in the next year or so.

Just today, I finally replaced my 1981 book club copy of The Humanoids - which has to be one of the ugliest editions the SFBC ever issued - with a 1949 Simon & Schuster 1st edition hardcover. No dust jacket, but the book is in near-fine condition. And it was only $10. (You never know what's going to show up on eBay.)

 

[Extollager]

On the one hand, I'm intrigued by the idea of the young Williamson, out in some isolated part of the American Southwest man years ago, no good sources for sf close at hand, but drawn into the young genre and helping to create it; on the other hand, I've sometimes found his stories kind of corny, etc. I'm thinking especially of an Ace paperback called People Machines. (This collection, btw, includes his story about flying from Earth to Mars by airplane.)

 

[J-Sun]

People Machines. (This collection, btw, includes his story about flying from Earth to Mars by airplane.)

"Pipeline to Mars" IIRC. May not score a 10 on the plausibility scale but it scores an 11 on the audacity and fun scales. Love that story, myself.

 

[Randy M.]

Surprisingly, aside from the story here and there over the years, I've not read as much of Williamson as one might think. A good writer, it's just that -- for whatever reason -- I never quite "got into" him as much as some others. However, I would suggest The Humanoids ("With Folded Hands" has got to be one of the most chilling sf visions ever written -- and one that, on a metaphorical level, seems especially relevant today), [...]

Haven't read the expanded version, but "With Folded Hands" is powerful. Darker than You Think was clever and interesting, and important in the sense of a significant point in the history of contemporary fantasy, but the writing was clunky and very pulpish, the melding of different parts to form the whole Frankensteinianly showing the stitches holding it together.


Randy M.

 

[j d worthington]

Haven't read the expanded version, but "With Folded Hands" is powerful. Darker than You Think was clever and interesting, and important in the sense of a significant point in the history of contemporary fantasy, but the writing was clunky and very pulpish, the melding of different parts to form the whole Frankensteinianly showing the stitches holding it together.


Randy M.

If memory serves, "With Folded Hands" was the culminating story of a linked series of three which comprises The Humanoids, the climax to which the whole thing builds. I'm not fond of The Humanoid Touch, but I would highly recommend The Humanoids itself....

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: Elizabeth Bent.
Isaac Asimov.
No it's not blasphemy, while I do enjoy some of his stories such as "Little Lost Robot" on the whole I prefer his science writing to his SF.
The volumes of collected F&SF science articles plus his popular science books are all worth a read.