The Best of Edmond Hamilton by Edmond Hamilton

The deep well of stories from which the editor could pick meant it was impossible to force her to include anything mediocre. Not quite Jack Williamson immense, but it spanned the pre-Golden Age to beyond the New Wave. It’s not only because Hamilton was a superb writer - all the authors in the series were first-rank SF masters - but because of two specific factors.įirst, Hamilton’s career was sprawling. I’ve read many of the Del Rey “Best Of…” volumes, but few that I’ve enjoyed as consistently as this one. I’m glad Hamilton and Brackett maintained separate writer identities, and the feeling became sharper after reading this selection of what Brackett thought was her husband’s finest short fiction. Their marriage didn’t lead to frequent collaborations, as the marriage of C. (Because John O’Neill will ask, I read the original magazine version of The Star Kings, not the later book revision with the sequel-friendly ending.) I’m more familiar with the work of Hamilton’s wife, Leigh Brackett, one of the great science-fiction writers and one of my favorite authors of all time. I’ve read some of his short fiction, but only one of his novels, The Star Kings (1947), a science-fiction variant on The Prisoner of Zenda that’s about as thrilling as Golden Age space opera gets. I’ll admit to having absorbed less Edmond Hamilton than I should. Both James and John are welcome to trash Edgar Rice Burroughs and Godzilla as much as they want after this. I also sought the blessing of our editor John O’Neill because Edmond Hamilton is his favorite pulp author and I wanted to feel sure I wasn’t intruding too far into another’s territory. He was kind enough to allow me to take a pile of notes I’d assembled for Del Rey’s The Best of Edmond Hamilton (1976) and do an entry in the series. James McGlothin has been providing excellent continuing coverage on Black Gate of Del Rey’s famous “The Best Of…” anthologies that shaped many SF readers in the 1970s.

The Best of Edmond Hamilton by Edmond Hamilton