Ugarte
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I ask because Friday I attended an annual event we have here. The Williamson Lectureship is a well established event to honor Professor Emeritus Jack Williamson. Sadly, this year was the second posthumous such event. Jack would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.
At any rate, I post this here because Jack Williamson was a pioneer in modern science fiction. He published his first short story as a young man in 1928. His writing during science fiction's golden age influenced a number of luminaries in the genre, some of whom you've undoubtedly heard of, some probably you haven't. He was named the second Grand Master of Science Fiction after Robert Heinlein by the Science Fiction Writers of America. He published his last novel The Stonehenge Gate in 2005 just a year or so before he died.
This year's guest of honor at the Williamson was Stephen Gould who wrote a series of young adult stores, one of which has been made into a major motion picture. You may have seen the ads for Jumper.
I found Gould to be a really witty, nice guy. There were also some other folks returning to the Lectureship this year. I first met Melinda Snodgrass twenty years ago just as she was chasing down a gig on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She's still going strong.
Two of Jack's good friends in the business were Fred Saberhagen and his wife Joan. Fred passed away last June, but Joan attended and chaired a very nice panel discussion in his tribute.
Walter Jon Williams was back this year. He is a witty and reasonably prolific writer who has written science fiction, fantasy and some video game scripts. He has some interesting ideas on where science fiction is/should be going.
Also in attendance was Ed Bryant who sat around very politely and quietly until it was his turn to contribute surprisingly insightful and substantial experiences in the field. He's another one of the senior writers that cut his teeth on Golden Age science fiction from the 30's.
Dr. Christopher Stasheff is a faculty member at the local university who also happens to be a fairly well published medieval fantasy author. His major publication is The Warlock in Spite of Himself.
The festivities were principally chaired by Connie Willis, one of the most celebrated and authors in science fiction today (six Nebulas, five Hugos).
Finally, esteemed literary agent Eleanor Wood, Jack's agent of many years came down. She was a veritable fount of information, gossip, dirt, etc. about the realm of literary publication. It was wonderful to listen to her speak. (An aside: at one point, Frederik Pohl served as Jack's agent and collaborator for a number of years).
Generally, I'm glad I went. It was kind of like a wake -- lots of great stories about times gone by and what it was like writing science fiction "way back when."
I hope I didn't take up too much of your time. Here are some links to the program:
Front
Back
Mark
.
At any rate, I post this here because Jack Williamson was a pioneer in modern science fiction. He published his first short story as a young man in 1928. His writing during science fiction's golden age influenced a number of luminaries in the genre, some of whom you've undoubtedly heard of, some probably you haven't. He was named the second Grand Master of Science Fiction after Robert Heinlein by the Science Fiction Writers of America. He published his last novel The Stonehenge Gate in 2005 just a year or so before he died.
This year's guest of honor at the Williamson was Stephen Gould who wrote a series of young adult stores, one of which has been made into a major motion picture. You may have seen the ads for Jumper.
I found Gould to be a really witty, nice guy. There were also some other folks returning to the Lectureship this year. I first met Melinda Snodgrass twenty years ago just as she was chasing down a gig on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She's still going strong.
Two of Jack's good friends in the business were Fred Saberhagen and his wife Joan. Fred passed away last June, but Joan attended and chaired a very nice panel discussion in his tribute.
Walter Jon Williams was back this year. He is a witty and reasonably prolific writer who has written science fiction, fantasy and some video game scripts. He has some interesting ideas on where science fiction is/should be going.
Also in attendance was Ed Bryant who sat around very politely and quietly until it was his turn to contribute surprisingly insightful and substantial experiences in the field. He's another one of the senior writers that cut his teeth on Golden Age science fiction from the 30's.
Dr. Christopher Stasheff is a faculty member at the local university who also happens to be a fairly well published medieval fantasy author. His major publication is The Warlock in Spite of Himself.
The festivities were principally chaired by Connie Willis, one of the most celebrated and authors in science fiction today (six Nebulas, five Hugos).
Finally, esteemed literary agent Eleanor Wood, Jack's agent of many years came down. She was a veritable fount of information, gossip, dirt, etc. about the realm of literary publication. It was wonderful to listen to her speak. (An aside: at one point, Frederik Pohl served as Jack's agent and collaborator for a number of years).
Generally, I'm glad I went. It was kind of like a wake -- lots of great stories about times gone by and what it was like writing science fiction "way back when."
I hope I didn't take up too much of your time. Here are some links to the program:
Front
Back
Mark
.
