"Edmond Hamilton - The Godmen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

THE TWO THOUSAND CENTURIES: ERA OF INTERSTELLAR EXPLORATION 2300-2621
THE GODMEN
Classic Space Opera from the Golden Age of the Pulps
By
EDMOND HAMILTON
ISBN 1-58873-970-8
All rights reserved
Copyright ┬й 1959, renewed Estate of Edmond Hamilton
Reprinted by permission Spectrum Literary Agency
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
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A Renaissance E Books publication


INTRODUCTION
Edmond Hamilton (1904-1977) has been hailed as one of the three pioneers of the space opera. Indeed,
of the three writers credited with creating this beloved science fiction subgenre, Hamilton, Edward E.
Smith, Ph.D., and Jack Williamson, Hamilton's first space opera, тАЬThe Comet Doom,тАЭ beat both his
colleagues into print, by almost a year, in the case of Smith's unprecedented universe-spanning epic, The
Skylark of Space, and by almost three years in the case of Williamson's тАЬThe Cosmic Express.тАЭ Since
Smith had begun his book around 1919, clearly neither he nor Hamilton influenced the other, while
Williamson has tipped his hat to the inspiration of both. So, in the final analysis, sole credit must be given
to Edmond Hamilton and E. E. Smith as the progenitors of the space opera as so many know and love it
today.

In the 1930s Hamilton was approached by a pulp editor who wanted him to create a science fictional
equivalent of the then bestselling Doc Savage novels which appeared in the magazine that bore his name.
Hamilton's character was Curt Newton, Man of Tomorrow, known to the world as Captain Future (also
the magazine's title). Captain Future opposed interplanetary crime as well as menaces from beyond the
solar system, accompanied everywhere by his closest friends, the giant metallic robot, Grag and the
pasty-faced android Otho, who bickered comically throughout the books over which was the most
valuable to the Captain. Titles of some of the novels Hamilton wrote about Curt Newton included
Calling Captain Future, The Magician of Mars, Outlaw World, The Comet Kings (ghosted by his
wife, Leigh Brackett, and hands-down best of the CF novels), Planets in Peril, and Red Sun of Danger
. In the 1970s the French produced a Captain Future television cartoon series so loosely based on
Hamilton's novels that most fans of the original felt it did an actual disservice to Curt Newton and his
comic side-kicks.

But Edmond Hamilton's contributions to science fiction and to popular culture don't end with the creation
of space opera. They begin there. As science fiction matured, Hamilton's colorful adventure sagas
matured, and he produced a series of poignant, poetic space operas that helped extend the form and
widen its possibilities. Among them were Battle for the Stars, The City at World's End, The Star of
Life, and The Haunted Stars.

At the same time, one of Hamilton's magazine editors, Mort Weisinger, had been picked to helm the DC
comic book line, including its new hits, Superman and Batman. Soon Weisinger had tapped several top
SF pulp writers, including Hamilton, to become full-time scripters for the company's comic books. As a
result he became a trailblazing pioneer in a new medium, creating characters like Adam Strange, whose