Stanley G. Weinbaum

[J-Sun]

Happy Birthday! He'd be 110 - if he hadn't died at age 33 in 1935.

There's a Wikipedia article that is fairly balanced but trends a bit to the negative and then a discussion that's not particularly balanced (though not unbalanced), trending to the positive, and that's the True Take.

All I've read is The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum (with one of the best covers ever) and The New Adam. It's been a few years but I actually found the novel to be sort of clunkily written and I thought it ended kind of flat but it was good overall in spite of that and I really liked the collection. I think he did for alien planets with his Venus what he did for aliens with his Tweel. As the Venus (Hammond) and Mars (Tweel) and van Manderpootz stories (very amusing) come in clumps, I'd rank the clumps in that order, actually, even if "A Martian Odyssey", considered alone, is the big historical deal and very good, too. The singletons are less good overall, but there's still a particularly good story or two in there.

 

[j d worthington]

I have read a few stories here and there, as well as The Best of.... Read The New Adam a long, long time ago, but I'd say (assuming my memory is accurate) you're pretty much on the money there. I keep meaning to get around to The Black Flame, but haven't done so yet. And I have read that odd little round-robin tale he contributed to, "The Challenge from Beyond"... of which there were two versions; the more famous of the two was written by (in order):

C. L. Moore
Abe Merritt
H. P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
Frank Belknap Long

The other version was by:

Stanley G. Weinbaum
Donald Wandrei
E. E. Smith
Harl Vincent
Murray Leinster

Neither is exactly a sterling effort (though HPL's section is actually quite well done, and of interest too as showing a somewhat different development of material he was using in his own "The Shadow Out of Time"), but for those who love the sff of the period, it is worth seeking out, if only as a curiosity....

 

[J-Sun]

Good to see another Weinbaum reader.

And I have read that odd little round-robin tale he contributed to, "The Challenge from Beyond"... of which there were two versions; the more famous of the two was written by (in order):

C. L. Moore
Abe Merritt
H. P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
Frank Belknap Long

The other version was by:

Stanley G. Weinbaum
Donald Wandrei
E. E. Smith
Harl Vincent
Murray Leinster

Neither is exactly a sterling effort

Round-robins rarely are but, yep, they can be interesting. That sure is quite a list of contributors for both versions. Apparently a "more fantasy" version and a "more SF" version?

 

[j d worthington]

Good to see another Weinbaum reader.



Round-robins rarely are but, yep, they can be interesting. That sure is quite a list of contributors for both versions. Apparently a "more fantasy" version and a "more SF" version?

Essentially, yes. The Moore/Merritt/et al. version tends more toward the sort of science fantasy these two wrote, though HPL's section veers much more into the sf field, or at least is much closer to the sf of the period than the other sections; Bob Howard's section is pure swashbuckling mayhem; and Long's is much more a thoroughly pessimistic bit of horror....

 

[BigBadBob141]

I remember reading "A Martian Odyssey" many, many moons ago.
I absolutely loved it, it blow my socks off 1st time, I wish there was more about Tweel.
I'm not sure but I think there may SGW may have wrote a sequel to this.

 

[j d worthington]

I remember reading "A Martian Odyssey" many, many moons ago.
I absolutely loved it, it blow my socks off 1st time, I wish there was more about Tweel.
I'm not sure but I think there may SGW may have wrote a sequel to this.

Yep: "The Valley of Dreams", which was included in The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum....

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: j.d.Worthington.
Thanks!
I thought I was right about the sequel but could not remember where I saw it.
Will try to dig out my copy of "Best Of ...", if I can find it under a ton of other books!

 

[j d worthington]

De nada....

 

[BAYLOR]

Martian Odyssey , In the era it was written, It was an incredible story. I often wonder what kinds other work he would produced had he not died so young. I thinking he would been on of the greats had he lived to a ripe old age.

 

[j d worthington]

Martian Odyssey , In the era it was written, It was an incredible story. I often wonder what kinds other work he would produced had he not died so young. I thinking he would been on of the greats had he lived to a ripe old age.

I think there's a case to be made that he was one of the greats. He may not have such an extensive body of work as some, but what he produced was certainly among the best of its time, and remains (in the main) quite impressive even today.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think there's a case to be made that he was one of the greats. He may not have such an extensive body of work as some, but what he produced was certainly among the best of its time, and remains (in the main) quite impressive even today.

I found an anthology of his stories in a used bookstore, it contained Martian Odyssey. Wonderful stuff.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I love Weinbaum, and admit that I've wondered on many occasions what he might have written if he had had a bit more time; Kornbluth, sadly, died very young too (at 34)...it always seemed as though he had more of a chance to create than Weinbaum did (maybe because of his collaborations?). Anyway, I'm happy to see a thread discussing an old master.

 

[BAYLOR]

I love Weinbaum, and admit that I've wondered on many occasions what he might have written if he had had a bit more time; Kornbluth, sadly, died very young too (at 34)...it always seemed as though he had more of a chance to create than Weinbaum did (maybe because of his collaborations?). Anyway, I'm happy to see a thread discussing an old master.

Henry Kuttner too , He died at age 45 from shoveling snow , Wrote some great stuff. The Dark World is one of his best books. He was married to C. L Moore another terrific writer .

 

[Cat's Cradle]

You know, I think it was Kornbluth who died shoveling snow. Could both of them have passed this way? (Sorry to derail the Weinbaum thread with morbid questions.)

 

[J-Sun]

Not likely - Kuttner died in California. No, seriously, it was a heart attack but I don't know the cause of that. I think Kornbluth actually died running to catch a bus (or train) after shoveling snow but close enough. And Weinbaum died of (throat, I believe, maybe lung) cancer. And I agree with jd - you might have to qualify that he was a "minor major" or obviously admit little quantity but I think he wrote great stuff that had a great impact on the field and is still read today and he does count as one of the greats. But it is always a question what he'd have managed had he lived. A huge number of very popular authors of his time got swept away so you could argue that he might have been one of those but based on the quality and nature of his work and his adaptability (an adaptive ultimate, maybe ) I think he could have survived the periodical house cleanings SF went through and have been one of the great greats.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I wonder if anybody here has seen this 1957 film, adapted from Weinbaum's story "The Adaptive Ultimate."

I assume it's a very loose adaptation. Somehow this is a 1950's SF/horror film that I never managed to see on my local Monster Horror Chiller Theater.

IMDB states that the same story was filmed for television no less than three times (as well as at least one radio version.)

Radio version here (if this link works):

http://www.archive.org/download/Escape19491950/esca.49.03.26_Adaptive_Ultimate.mp3

 

[BAYLOR]

Not likely - Kuttner died in California. No, seriously, it was a heart attack but I don't know the cause of that. I think Kornbluth actually died running to catch a bus (or train) after shoveling snow but close enough. And Weinbaum died of (throat, I believe, maybe lung) cancer. And I agree with jd - you might have to qualify that he was a "minor major" or obviously admit little quantity but I think he wrote great stuff that had a great impact on the field and is still read today and he does count as one of the greats. But it is always a question what he'd have managed had he lived. A huge number of very popular authors of his time got swept away so you could argue that he might have been one of those but based on the quality and nature of his work and his adaptability (an adaptive ultimate, maybe ) I think he could have survived the periodical house cleanings SF went through and have been one of the great greats.

Your absolutely correct about Kuttner , I got my facts wrong on that one.

 

[j d worthington]

Victoria: Yes, I have seen that one, albeit that viewing was about 40 years ago, so I don't recall much about it.... I'll have to look up the other adaptations, just to see if I've come across any.....

 

[J-Sun]

Here's a rave review of The New Adam. As I said upthread, I liked it, myself, but this review makes me want to read it all over again to see what I missed or have forgotten because I don't remember it being this good.

 

[Zendexor]

Happy Birthday! He'd be 110 - if he hadn't died at age 33 in 1935.

There's a Wikipedia article that is fairly balanced but trends a bit to the negative and then a discussion that's not particularly balanced (though not unbalanced), trending to the positive, and that's the True Take.

All I've read is The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum (with one of the best covers ever) and The New Adam. It's been a few years but I actually found the novel to be sort of clunkily written and I thought it ended kind of flat but it was good overall in spite of that and I really liked the collection. I think he did for alien planets with his Venus what he did for aliens with his Tweel. As the Venus (Hammond) and Mars (Tweel) and van Manderpootz stories (very amusing) come in clumps, I'd rank the clumps in that order, actually, even if "A Martian Odyssey", considered alone, is the big historical deal and very good, too. The singletons are less good overall, but there's still a particularly good story or two in there.

He wrote a third Ham-and-Patricia-Hammond tale, "The Planet of Doubt", set on Uranus. Excellent stuff, quite eerie. Not often one comes across a story set on the seventh planet. Weinbaum does it justice. Invents an ecology which is distinctively Uranian - though in his tale the planet has a solid surface and so is not a gas giant. But then that's all to the good; the Old Solar System with its life-friendly planets is preferable to reality, in my opinion.