"Edmond Hamilton - A Yank at Valhalla" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

Here is how Edmond Hamilton author described himself for the lamented science
fiction pulp, Startling Stories, around the time he was writing A Yank at Valhalla
(which title is, of course, a play on the titles of a number of World War II era films):

"One of the toughest jobs a writer has is trying to write a few lines about himself.
I've tackled this chore a couple of times in the past, and each time I've found It
harder than trying to do twice as many words of fiction.
"When Joe Doakes, writer, sits down to do a little piece about himself, he finds
himself smack on the horns of a dilemma. He can write a modest little piece
intimating that he is a quiet little guy who never did anything and doesn't deserve
any notice. But, if he does, the readers are likely to declare, "Doakes is a worm."
"On the other hand, he can give subtle, not-too-blatant hints to the effect that he
is a combination of D'Artagnan, Casanova, and Einstein. That will be
interesting, all right, but those who read it will probably announce, "Doakes is an
egotistic ass."
"In an effort to steer a middle course, I will simply give a few of the vital statistics
and pass to more interesting subjects. The statistics тАУ white and unmarried and a
little too old for the military, say they; some two hundred-odd published stories
behind me, and I hope тАУsome more ahead.
"Until the war cut off civilian travel, I knocked around a good bit between
Canada and Panama. But the only place I ever went back to five times is Mexico,
where my variety of Spanish always puts people in stitches and does much to
further good relations between the two countries. The tragedy of my life was when
the tourists discovered Acapulco and living went up from a buck and a half a day
to nine dollars.
"The most interesting thing about any science fiction writer, I should think, is
why he does it тАУ why he spends year after year writing futuristic stories. And,
believe it or not, the answer is childishly simple. It is because the writers are the
deepest dyed fans of all.
"Perhaps that statement will be challenged by some of the younger fans. I've
met a lot of them across the country, I think they're swell people and I've had a lot
of good times with 'em. But тАУ I've never met any who had any deeper enthusiasm
for fantasy fiction than the average s-f writer.
"In my own case, though it sounds like a big lie, I was an enthusiastic science
fiction fan before I could read. That was way back in the halcyon times, years
before World War One, when H. G. Wells published an article in the old
Metropolitan Magazine called "The Things that Live on Mars." I couldn't
decipher the text but the fantastic illustrations got me.
"Later on, I graduated to the old weekly magazines that ran occasional
fantasies. Julius Unger, that indefatigable bibliophilist of science fiction, once
dug up some of my own published fan-letters from those journals and cast them in
my teeth.
"All that was a long time ago. I've done a lot of reading in three or four
languages since then. But I will still always drop anything in my library for a
new science-fiction story, and I still get as much blast out of a good one as ever.
"The point that I'm trying to get over is that science fiction writers turn out the
stuff because they like it. If they didn't, they'd turn to the far easier existence of
riveters or refrigerator-salesmen. And if anyone says that that would be
wonderful, I here and now denounce him as a low character unworthy of
fandom."