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Jack Williamson was a reputed author from America, who was well known for writing literature & fiction, science fiction, and fantasy novels, and short stories. He was often referred to as Science Fiction’s Dean after Robert Heinlein’s death in 1988. Author Williamson used to make use of several pen names for writing different genres of novels during the early days of his career. Some of the popular pen names used by him include Nils O. Sonderland and Will Stewart. Author Williamson was born on April 20, 1908, in Bisbee, Arizona, United States. He spent the early days of his childhood in Texas. Williamson’s family was a farming family and therefor, they migrated to the rural regions of New Mexico in order to look for better pastures. They reached New Mexico in 1915 in a horse drawn wagon. However, as it was not an easy task to carry out farming there, Williamson’s family got engaged in ranching. And when they saw that the new profession was suiting them, they continued to do it and still engaged in the same. At the time of the World War II, author Williamson was serving in the Air Corps of the United States and was posted as a weather forecaster. Author Williamson completed his graduation from the University of Eastern New Mexico in Portales during the 1950s. He obtained his BA and MA degrees in the subject of English. Later, he began teaching at the same university in the 1960s. Author Williamson remained associated with the university for the remainder of his life. In late 1990s, laid the foundation of a permanent trust for funding the art and literature journal of ENMU, called El Portal. Even in 1980s, he made sizable donations of original manuscripts and books to the library of this university. This resulted in a department of Special Collections.
Besides this, Williamson was also involved in hosting a panel discussion annually, where 2 science fiction writers were invited to speak in front of the attendees on a predetermined topic. There is a Liberal Arts building on the campus of the university named after author Williamson, which houses the Arts, Languages, Mathematics, and Literature departments. Later in his life, author Williamson enrolled himself at the Colorado University for a PhD in the English literature. His thesis was focused on the earlier works of HG Wells. He used to demonstrate through his thesis works that author Wells was not a naive optimist that people believed him to be. In science field, author Williamson has invented the word ‘terraforming’ in one of his science fiction stories in 1942. Williamson retired from his teaching job in 1977 and began focusing on his other career. However, when ENMU named him as Professor Emeritus, he began teaching once again, but took only 2 classes every day in the evening. He continued to do teaching and writing together till until he breathed his last. In the year 1994, he was awarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also inducted in the Hall of Fame of Science fiction & Fantasy in 1996. Author Williamson was elected as the Grand Master by the World Horror Convention in 2004 and was also conferred the Bram Stoker Award in 1998 by the HWA for Lifetime Achievement. Author Williamson died on November 10, 2006, in his house in Portales. In spite of growing very old, Williamson had appeared at the Jack Williamson Lectureship in 2005 and had published a novel called The Stongenge Gate. Author Willaimson was a great storyteller. He used to enjoy reading stories to his sisters and brothers as a child. His writing career is particularly famous for the publication of some well known book series, including Legion of Space, Humanoids, Seetee, and Darker Than You Think.
The Legion of Space series written by Jack Williamson is comprised of a total of 4 books, which were released between the years 1934 and 1982. An initial book of this series is entitled ‘The Cometeers’. Author Williamson has set this story in a fictional alien space and has depicted the main characters as Hal Samdu, Giles Habibula, and Jay Kalam. At the start of the book’s story, it is depicted that Jay, Hal, and Giles fight against the Cometeers, which is a race of aliens comprising of energy beings that control a comet. The comet is a giant field of force that contain numerous planets filled with slaves. The race of the slave comprises of blood and flesh beings, but they do not resemble human beings. As the Cometeers exist mostly in the alternate reality and are incorporal from the viewpoint of the Universe, the AKKA cannot destroy them. In order to survive, the Cometeers feed themselves on the slaves by absorbing their souls and leaving dying, disgusting hulks. The Cometeers do this because they were themselves fleshly beings once. And now, they want to keep all the other intelligent species as cattle and slaves. However, they fear AKKA very much as it has the power of erasing all that they possess, if they come in its vicinity.
Another successful novel written by Williamson in the series is called ‘The Queen of the Legion’. This book was published by Simon Schuster in 1982. At the beginning of the story, it is shown that decades after the Cometeers and Medusae launched murderous attacks on the worlds of the civilized beings, the Hawkshead Nebula has become the newest setting of intrigue and conflict. The Space Legion protects the civilized worlds from alien attacks. Jil Gyrel is introduced as a lonely and single girl living on a dismal planet, located on the nebula’s edge. When the spaceship of her father appears again, which was believed to have been missing for a very long time, the life of Jil Gyrel changes completely. She discovers that the spaceship’s only survivor in the best friend of her father named Shon Macharn. Later, because of the sudden marriage of Macharn with her mother, Jil is sent on an eventful course that puts all of the civilization at a high risk. On the other hand, several mysterious agents steal the ultimate weapon of the cosmos, AKKA. The Legion of Space is rendered even more powerless from within the nebula. Jil Gyrel comes across the galaxy’s wonders and lead a heterogenous crew against the Nebula’s terror with the intention of finding her father and discovering the secrets of the ultimate weapon AKKA. She knows that the path is going to be very difficult, but she does not lose hope and banks on her firm determination to succeed in her mission. Jil is desperate to meet her father and is ready to take any course in order to be able to do so.
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