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welve entries—several of them short novels—fill to bursting the table of contents in this latest volume "dedicated to collecting the short fiction and unreprinted serials ... of Science Fiction Grand Master Jack Williamson," whose career began in 1928. Additionally, a heartfelt and ingenious introduction by Edward Bryant, a clear-sighted afterword by Williamson and several appendices of some of Williamson's relevant non-fiction from the period round out the book.
In "The Ruler of Fate," Kane Montel learns the real reason why his attempts to loft a new kind of spaceship are always coming to ruin. On the moon, an ancient individual known as the Lord of Destiny is influencing the very rules of cosmic chance to bring misfortune on Montel's head. When Montel and his girlfriend Shiela Hall eventually make their lunar expedition, they must face down this evil demigod for the Earth to survive. The experimental plane in "Death's Cold Daughter" is intended to voyage only to the stratosphere. But imagine the pilot's surprise when he encounters a floating continent, which plays host to creatures of incredible cold—one of whom is a beautiful woman. The slightest item in the collection, "The Great Illusion," is a round-robin alternately composed by Eando Binder, Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, Raymond Z. Gallun and John Russell Fearn.
Two families—the Andrels and the Jildos—vie for domination in the future described in "The Blue Spot." Tapped to visit the trans-Plutonian planet Persephone to discover the secret of its Blue Spot, Iven Andrel finds himself not only downloaded into a cube, but also fighting for his life against Barthu Jildo. "The Ice Entity" tells of the curious non-human creature which Mason Blake must confront in polar wastes—before it turns the whole globe into a popsicle. And the title story bring explorer Weldon Blake to a land where one giant arachnid stalks a castaway film crew.
A tainted bloodline is the only heritage Claiborne Coe brings from the squalid, haunted town of Creston in "The Mark of the Monster." When Coe returns to marry his childhood sweetheart, Valyne Kirk, the sins of the parents catch up with the new generation. "The Devil in Steel" is Roxar, Electromaton Model 99. Crafted by Dr. Runyon Daker, Roxar is frightening enough when obedient. But when the mechanism becomes rebellious, a deadly outcome is guaranteed. "Released Entropy" takes place in the year 104,293 C.S. (Conquest of Space). Hubris among the utopians of this era has led them to endorse an attempt by scientist Seru Gyroc to reverse entropy in order to avoid the heat death of the universe. His experiment succeeds—but the fabric of the new universe begins to unravel. Only the herculean efforts of Captain Ron Goneen hold out hopes for mankind's survival.
"Dreadful Sleep" discloses more monsters lurking in the polar wastes: this time, a frozen fleet of alien invaders, the Tharshoon. When attempts to defrost the arctic lands for the benefit of humanity awakens the Tharshoon, only Ronald Dunbar, a simple pilot, is positioned to thwart the invasion. An "inverse universe" next door to ours threatens Earth with devastation in "The Infinite Enemy." One of Williamson's most famous novels, "The Legion of Time," appears here in the form it took when it ran as a three-part serial in Astounding Science Fiction. Dennis Lanning holds the fate of two different timestreams in his hands. Will he heed the innocent supplication of good girl Lethonee, or respond to the primal allure of bad girl Sorainya? Whatever his choice, one woman must remain forever unborn.
Nine different decades and still going strong
Let me phrase my sentiments bluntly: Stephen Haffner's as-yet-uncompleted achievement in resurrecting all of Jack Williamson's short fiction is as good as publishing gets. Note that I did not say "as good as small press publishing gets," but as good as any publishing program gets. Big house or small, no one else in recent memory has lavished any greater love, attention, historical respect or keen design sensibilities on such a project. Surely the similar Sturgeon showcases from North Atlantic Books equal Haffner's track record. But they do not surpass it.
From the moment you open this book and see the gorgeous endpapers, which colorfully reproduce all the pulp 'zine covers first associated with these stories, you will be impressed by the craftsmanship and quality materials that underpin each book. For the price, there's not a better deal for either the hardcore collector or unassuming reader. And a feature such as the non-fiction appendices illustrates how Haffner has gone the extra mile to unearth material that would otherwise be lost.
But of course, without Williamson and his marvelous work, all this labor and craft would be pointless. It's the chance to read these mostly forgotten (and sometimes much-anthologized) stories from the early years that gets the SF neurons firing. These stories appeared from April 1936 to July 1938, the very cusp of the John W. Campbell era (JWC took over the helm of Astounding in September 1937). And what they tell us about the young Williamson himself and the genre at the time is plenty.
First, we should discard the lesser items, sheer entertainments written to please editors who demanded rationalized explanations of anything supernatural. "Spider Island," "The Mark of the Monster," "The Devil in Steel" and "Death's Cold Daughter" are well-wrought fluff, but fluff nonetheless, as is the silly round-robin with Williamson's peers. But what's left constitutes a magnificent achievement. "The Ruler of Fate" predicts the famed Butterfly Effect and rewrites all of Earth's history as the whim of a tyrant. With its self-organizing life form, "The Ice Entity" appears to be based on the field of artificial life some decades before that field was invented. And "The Blue Spot" anticipates Greg Egan with its conundrums deriving from downloaded personalities.
But the top three stories exceed all expectations. "Released Entropy" barrels like an express train through the Big Crunch and beyond, as if written by van Vogt and Poul Anderson. "Dreadful Sleep" outdoes both Lovecraft and M.P. Shiel in its portrayal of cosmic menace. And "The Legion of Time" is tinged with Moorcock's blithe multiversal buccaneering. If Williamson had written nothing else but this trio, he'd have earned his place in SF's pantheon.
And what do the stories tell us of the 30-year-old author? They convey a sense of someone self-assured and worldly, with a prose style fluid and mutable, equipped to handle any task he set himself. Having just at this time undergone some initial psychoanalysis, Williamson's fertile invention was now tapping into subconscious realms that allowed him to portray Oedipal and male-female conflicts in vivid narrative shapes. Why have these stories survived when others of their vintage have disappeared? They continue to grip us because Williamson wrote not solely for money but for love of his art, and listened to his soul.
Rumor has it that Jack Williamson has given up the writing of novels at his advanced age. But with luck, we'll yet see more stories from his eternal pen. — Paul
Also in this issue: American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold,
by Harry Turtledove
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