Jack Williamson
Jack Williamson was a prominent American science fiction writer, born in 1908 in Bisbee, Arizona Territory. He grew up in New Mexico after his family relocated due to challenging conditions in Arizona. Williamson’s literary career began after he discovered the magazine *Amazing Stories* in 1927, which inspired him to pursue writing despite initial rejections. He crafted innovative narratives, including the first fictional treatment of antimatter in his Seetee stories, and was known for creating flawed, relatable characters, setting him apart from his contemporaries.
His writing career was interrupted by World War II, serving as a weather forecaster, but he resumed afterward, completing higher education and eventually teaching at Eastern New Mexico University. Over his lifetime, Williamson received numerous accolades for his contributions to the genre, including the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 1976 and the Bram Stoker Award in 1998. Notably, he holds the distinction of being the only science fiction author to publish new stories across nine consecutive decades. Williamson passed away in 2002 at the age of ninety-eight, leaving a lasting legacy in science fiction literature.
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Jack Williamson
Author
- Born: April 29, 1908
- Birthplace: Bisbee, Arizona Territory
- Died: November 10, 2006
- Place of death: Portales, New Mexico
Biography
Jack Williamson was born in 1908 in Bisbee, Arizona Territory (now Arizona). Both his parents, Asa Lee Williamson and Lucy Hunt Williamson, were schoolteachers, but they turned to ranching when they married. A scarcity of good ranch land and the Mexican Revolution of 1910 conspired to drive the Williamsons out of the Arizona Territory in a covered wagon and to establish a small farm in New Mexico. Here, in 1920, twelve-year-old Williamson had his first formal schooling, though both parents had educated him well before that. Upon graduating high school in 1925, Williamson continued to work the family ranch, discovering no other ambition until March, 1927, when he read his first science-fiction magazine, Amazing Stories.
Williamson immediately set about imitating the stories he read in Amazing Stories, sent the magazine as many stories as he could, and collected rejection slips. With little hope of becoming a published author, Williamson enrolled in West Texas State Teachers College in September, 1928. A few months later, his first story was published in the December issue of Amazing Stories and, despite straight A’s and the offer of a chemistry scholarship, he quit college to pursue a career as a writer.
By 1930 he had written the first of his Seetee or Contra- Terrene stories about matter that repels normal “terrene” matter. It was the first fictional treatment of what would become a science fiction staple: antimatter. Over the next few years Williamson gained a reputation for great science fiction, not only among fans but also among his fellow science-fiction writers, who called him The Cover Copper for his uncanny success at having illustrations of his stories appear on magazine covers. Williamson’s stories of the 1930’s advanced the craft of science fiction by avoiding larger-than-life perfect heroes; instead, he introduced characters with quirks and flaws, such as the hard-drinking, obese Giles Habibula in “Legion of Space” (1934) and the callous, self-serving Garth Hammond in “Crucible of Power” (1939). Many science-fiction writers of Williamson’s generation also wrote fantasy and horror, but when Williamson did so he maintained his nuts-and-bolts science- fictional sensibilities, offering scientific explanations for supernatural phenomena, such as the suggestion in Darker than You Think (1948) that werewolves are a genetic mutation.
World War II interrupted Williamson’s writing career. From 1942 to 1944, he was stationed in New Mexico as a weather forecaster, and at the tail end of the war he was shipped to the Solomon Islands. After the war, Williamson simply read the current issues of the science fiction magazines, imitated the style, and picked up where he left off. Returning to college on the G.I. Bill, he entered a graduate program in English at Eastern New Mexico University and found that his status as a professional writer made him marketable as an English teacher. He received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Eastern New Mexico. With a dissertation on science-fiction master H. G. Wells, he earned a doctorate degree from the University of Colorado in 1964. He started teaching at Eastern New Mexico University in 1960 and retired in 1977. However, he continued to teach occasional courses there until 2002.
As science fiction changed, Williamson held on to his position as one of the leading names in the field. In 1976, he received the Grand Master designation for lifetime achievement from the Science Fiction Writers of America. In 1994, he received the World Fantasy Award from the World Fantasy Convention, again for lifetime achievement. Then in 1998, he was awarded the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association for superior achievement. Not stopping there, he won the John W. Campbell award for his 2001 novel Terraforming Earth. He is the only science-fiction author to publish new stories in nine consecutive decades.
Williamson died in his home at the age of ninety-eight on November 10, 2002, in Portales, New Mexico, of natural causes.