Spider Island: The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Four - Hardcover

Jack Williamson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1893887146 ISBN 13: 9781893887145

Publisher: Haffner Pr, 2002

Synopsis

The fourth volume of a project to collect, in order of original publication, the short fiction of Science Fiction Grand Master Jack Williamson. Volume Four includes twelve stories from 1936 to 1938, and a foreword by SF & Horror author and scholar Edward Bryant. An appendix includes a novelty feature and an unreprinted story preface. The author provides an afterword commenting on the genesis of these stories, and reflecting on the economic and cultural mood of the nation during the early years of American Science Fiction.

Contents include:
"The Ruler of Fate" (from Weird Tales)
"Death's Cold Daughter" (from Thrilling Mystery)
"The Great Illusion" (from Fantasy Magazine)
"The Blue Spot" (from Astounding Stories)
"The Ice Entity" (from Thrilling Wonder Stories)
"Spider Island" (from Thrilling Mystery)
"The Mark of the Monster" (from Weird Tales)
"The Devil in Steel" (from Thrilling Mystery)
"Released Entropy" (from Astounding Stories)
"Dreadful Sleep" (from Weird Tales)
"The Infinite Enemy" (from Thrilling Wonder Stories)
"The Legion of Time" (from Astounding Science-Fiction)

As with the previous volumes in THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JACK WILLIAMSON, SPIDER ISLAND is a smythe-sewn 6" x 9" hardcover bound in a custom-dyed cloth, and typeset in a format designed in honor of the Fantasy Press editions of Williamson's first books from the 1940s & 50s. Full-color endpapers reproduce the pulp magazine cover art for each story's first appearance.

About this title

About the Author:

Jack Williamson has been in the forefront of science fiction since his first published story in 1928. Now in his ninth decade as a published author, Williamson is the acclaimed author of such trailblazing science fiction as The Humanoids and The Legion of Time. The Oxford English Dictionary credits Williamson with inventing the terms "genetic engineering" (in Dragon’s Island) and "terraforming" (in Seetee Ship). His seminal novel Darker Than You Think was a landmark speculation on the nature of shape-changing.

Williamson has also been active academically. He has taught since in the 1950s and is professor emeritus at Eastern New Mexico University. He live and works in Portales, New Mexico.

From Library Journal:

Williamson was one of the gods of the old pulp sf/adventure magazines of yesteryear such as Weird Tales, Astounding Stories, Thrilling Mystery, etc., and at age 93 is still writing as well as teaching. The dozen stories included in this fourth volume of his collected works range in publication from 1936 to 1938. In addition to the title piece, there are "The Ice Entity," "The Devil in Steel," "Dreadful Sleep," and "The Legion of Time." This also sports an introduction and afterword by Williamson and an appendix. The series includes Vol. 1: The Metal Man and Others (ISBN 1-893887-02-2), Vol. 2: Wolves of Darkness (ISBN 1-893887-04-9), and Vol. 3: Wizard's Isle (ISBN 1-893887-08-1). Vintage sf at its best.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Haffner Pr
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1893887146
• ISBN 13: 9781893887145
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 603
• Illustrator: Rudolph Belarski, Margaret Brundage