The Metal Man & Others

The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson #1

by Jack Williamson

This inaugural volume begins a publishing program to collect the stories of Science Fiction Grand Master Jack Williamson. Drawn from such classic pulp magazines as Amazing Stories, Science Wonder Stories, and Astounding Stories, this volume features nine tales including two novel-length adventures, The Green Girl and The Birth of a New Republic. Also included are Williamson's earliest letters and contest entries to the editors of the SF magainzes of the late 20's and early 30's. The book is smythe-sewn, bound in full cloth, and printed on acid-neutral paper, with full-color endpapers reproducing the original pulp magazine cover art. With a foreword by 1998 Science Fiction Grand Master Hal Clement, The Metal Man and Others documents the beginning of Williamson's unparalleled career and acts as a mirror to the development of American Science Fiction

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

541 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

John Stewart Williamson who wrote as Jack Williamson (and occasionally under the pseudonym Will Stewart) was a U.S. writer often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction".

Reviews

[Ian Massey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A handful of early Jack Williamson stories from the age of pulp SF, a time when aliens from Mars and a "Moon Patrol" were still possibilities. Heroes were as likely to be rugged spaceship Captains as they were to be pipe-smoking scientists and the future, from the perspective of the time, was clean and filled with such delights as moving walkways, electric cars and cities on the Moon.

Yes, the stories have aged a bit - of course they have, they are nearly a hundred years old after all - but they are still readable. Some, such as the near 200-page "The Birth of a New Republic" are slow, while "The Meteor Girl", which ends this collection, treks along at breakneck speed.

These Haffner Press collections are, at very least, handsome editions and I wish I owned more. I have another two Jack Williamson volumes but their cost (and the fact that they don't seem to be readily available in the UK) precludes me buying any more, which is a shame.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mindwebs audiobook 53. Title story from this collection was first published in Amazing magazine 1928. The style seems similar to that of HG Wells, a chest containing a metal man and a document arrives via an enigmatic sea captain and it is simply narrated by the recipient. An exotic land in South America and a newly discovered mysterious element namely Radium, provide the setting. The adventure thereupon proceeds to become ever more outlandish, culminating in the explanation for the contents of the chest. Quite fantastic and apparently unbelievable - but the claimed existence of the actual physical evidence corroborating this story, (in an obscure and remote museum,) may well have convinced the audience of its veracity, both at the time of writing almost a century ago and even once again now, in this Age of Enlightenment with unprecedented public access to information in which we see the rise of science deniers , naive incredulity, conspiracy theories and fake news. Ho hum sorry for the rant, wish I could just let them have a purple fruit LOL ly.

[Arjun Chettri · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is very interesting sci-fi story.

[Switchykins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only read the Metal Man, ignore full title

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice story of early radiation effects on the human body with aliens providing the radiation!

[Sobbin’ Scenes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack Williamson sure loves colours and guns. Read The Metal Man for elective!

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ray-dee-eight my friend! Metallization would be a great way to embalm and memorialize simultaneously.