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Remembering Jack Williamson
Nov. 12th, 2006 | 12:59 pm
mood: 
sad
I read with great sadness that a long and brilliant career ended this past Friday, when science fiction author Jack Williamson died at age 98.
If you haven't read his work, I highly recommend you seek it out. My favorite of his books was Brother to Demons, Brother to Gods, a dystopian piece about genetic engineering. The Humanoids brilliantly shows that the worst kind of oppression is that which sets out to provide for all our needs. The Legion of Space is classic pulp, and probably the best of its kind.
I'd also recommend a DC Comics limited series in which Jack Williamson was the protagonist – Kevin J. Anderson's JSA – Strange Adventures.
I was privileged to meet Mr. Williamson about ten years ago, at a Writers of the Future dinner in Washington. No, I've never been selected for the contest. I was there as a guest of Dr. Yoji Kondo.
He bowed humbly when I told him how much his work had meant to me, then asked me if I was a writer. When I told him yes, he asked if I'd placed in that evening's competition. When I told him no, he wanted to know why not. I'd been too busy to write anything lately, I explained.
The science fiction legend wagged his finger in my face and said, “Shame on you! You should always be writing!”
I've long maintained that free advice is worth what you pay for it, but this was Jack Williamson, telling me to get off my ass. He'd probably said the same thing to a thousand aspiring writers. Still...
I took him to heart. I wrote a novella that month, and submitted it to several markets, which turned it down. I followed with a novel and a handful of short stories. All were rejected. But I've kept writing, every day since, when I wasn't suffering bouts of contagious editing, or recovering from prolonged sieges of convention management.
I've never sold a story to Analog or Asimov's. I have not won the Writers of the Future competition. But my first novel is selling enough to actually make money, and my weekly podcast is staring at its 100,000th download. I'm a writer, and I have readers and listeners who like my work. That's worth something.
Godspeed, Jack, and thanks for reminding me of what's important.
If you haven't read his work, I highly recommend you seek it out. My favorite of his books was Brother to Demons, Brother to Gods, a dystopian piece about genetic engineering. The Humanoids brilliantly shows that the worst kind of oppression is that which sets out to provide for all our needs. The Legion of Space is classic pulp, and probably the best of its kind.
I'd also recommend a DC Comics limited series in which Jack Williamson was the protagonist – Kevin J. Anderson's JSA – Strange Adventures.
I was privileged to meet Mr. Williamson about ten years ago, at a Writers of the Future dinner in Washington. No, I've never been selected for the contest. I was there as a guest of Dr. Yoji Kondo.
He bowed humbly when I told him how much his work had meant to me, then asked me if I was a writer. When I told him yes, he asked if I'd placed in that evening's competition. When I told him no, he wanted to know why not. I'd been too busy to write anything lately, I explained.
The science fiction legend wagged his finger in my face and said, “Shame on you! You should always be writing!”
I've long maintained that free advice is worth what you pay for it, but this was Jack Williamson, telling me to get off my ass. He'd probably said the same thing to a thousand aspiring writers. Still...
I took him to heart. I wrote a novella that month, and submitted it to several markets, which turned it down. I followed with a novel and a handful of short stories. All were rejected. But I've kept writing, every day since, when I wasn't suffering bouts of contagious editing, or recovering from prolonged sieges of convention management.
I've never sold a story to Analog or Asimov's. I have not won the Writers of the Future competition. But my first novel is selling enough to actually make money, and my weekly podcast is staring at its 100,000th download. I'm a writer, and I have readers and listeners who like my work. That's worth something.
Godspeed, Jack, and thanks for reminding me of what's important.