Friday, May 21, 2010

WITH FOLDED HANDS..and SEARCHING MIND




ED HERE: For science fiction fans this volume is a particular treat. A fair number of solid sf names disappeared after the war because they couldn't write for the audience just then emerging. J ack Williamson not only appealed to that audience he became one of its favorites. I've read just about half the stories in this book and each one highlights Williamson's virtues as a writer--a tight, dramatic style that satisfies those looking for both action and the kind of interior life common to all his characters.The introduction by Robert Silverberg is excellent. This is number seven in the Collected Works of Jack Williamson and, as with the earlier volumes, there's pleasure in just holding it. You rarely see this kind of craftmanship today. There's so much to cover I'm just going to run the catalog copy. Check out their very cool website.

Haffner Press:
http://www.haffnerpress.com

With Folded Hands . . . And Searching Mind,
The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson,
Volume Seven
Jack Williamson
Foreword by Robert Silverberg
Cover art by Hubert Rogers
ISBN 9781893887374
$40.00
584-page Hardcover

Full Color Endpapers

The ambitious program to collect the short fiction of Grand Master Jack Williamson continues! The 15 tales in this penultimate volume cover Williamson's entry into the US Army in 1942 through to his very successful effort to integrate into the post-WWII science fiction market.

Featured is the 1948 3-part serial ". . . And Searching Mind," which Williamson re-wrote into his most famous work, The Humanoids. Other classics in this volume include the first "Humanoids" story, "With Folded Hands . . ."; "Breakdown," set in the same universe as his novel co-authored with James Gunn, Star Bridge; and his much-reprinted classic, "The Equalizer." Appearing in either book-form or hardcover for the first time are "Cold Front Coming," "Hocus-Pocus Universe," "The Hitch-Hiker's Package," and "You Can't Beat a Marine." Also included is Williamson's afterword with his recollections on the genesis of these tales and the World War II-era science fiction field.

As with previous volumes in this series, the full-color endpapers reproduce the original magazine covers (with artwork by pulp masters including Hubert Rogers, Earle K. Bergey and Frank R. Paul) of the stories herein, and the binding is designed to match the 1940s editions of Williamson's works published by Fantasy Press. 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 legendary author, editor, and long-time friend of Williamson (and fellow Science Fiction Grand Master), Robert Silverberg, With Folded Hands . . . And Searching Mind represents the changing state of mid-20th Century American Science Fiction and continues the documentation of Williamson's unparalleled career.

Table of Contents
Reviews
Excerpts

Related Books
The Worlds of Jack Williamson
In Memory of Wonder's Child
Seventy-Five
The Metal Man and Others
Wolves of Darkness
Wizard's Isle
Spider Island
The Crucible of Power
Gateway to Paradise
The Queen of the Legion
Table of Contents
"Foreword" by Robert Silverberg
"Backlash" (Astounding Science Fiction, Aug '41)
"Breakdown" (Astounding Science Fiction, Jan '42)
"Conscience, LTD." (Unknown, Aug '43)
"Cold Front Coming" (Blue Book, Jun '45)
"The Equalizer" (Astounding Science Fiction, Mar '47)
"With Folded Hands . . ." (Astounding Science Fiction, Jul '47)
". . . And Searching Mind" Astounding Science Fiction, Mar, Apr, May '48)
"The Moon and Mr. Wick" (Comet, Sum '50)
"The Cold Green Eye" (Fantastic, Mar/Apr '53)
"Hocus-Pocus Universe" (Science Stories, Oct '53)
"Operation Gravity" (Science Fiction Plus, Oct '53)
"The Hitch-Hiker's Package" (Fantastic Universe, May '54)
"Guinevere for Everybody" (Star Science Fiction Stories No. 3, 1954)
"You Can't Beat a Marine" (El Portal, May '56)
"Beans" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov '58)
"Afterword" by Jack Williamson

3 comments:

Scott Cupp said...

Gotta have this one!

Stephen Haffner said...

Cha-Ching!

Brian Keene said...

Sold!