Hal Clement

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Hal Clement
BornHarry Clement Stubbs
(1922-05-30)May 30, 1922[1]
Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedOctober 29, 2003(2003-10-29) (aged 81)
Milton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Pen nameGeorge Richard (as artist)
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • military pilot
  • science teacher
NationalityAmerican
EducationHarvard University (BS)
Boston University (MEd)
Simmons College (MS)
Period1942–2003
GenreScience fiction
Literary movementHard science fiction
Notable works

Harry Clement Stubbs (May 30, 1922 – October 29, 2003), better known by the

American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. He also painted astronomically oriented artworks under the name George Richard.[2]

In 1998 Clement was inducted into the

Biography

Harry Clement Stubbs was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on May 30, 1922.

He went to

Simmons College
1963).

During

44th Bomb Group, based in England with 8th Air Force. After the war, he served in the United States Air Force Reserve, and retired with the rank of colonel. He taught chemistry and astronomy for many years at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts
.

From 1949 to 1953, Clement's first three novels were two-, three-, and four-part Astounding serials under Campbell:

superjovian planet Mesklin to recover a stranded scientific probe. The natives of Mesklin are centipede-like intelligent beings about 50 centimeters long. Various episodes hinge on the fact that Mesklin's fast rotational speed causes it to be considerably deformed from the spherical, with effective surface gravity that varies from approximately 3 g
n at the equator to approximately 700 gn at the poles.

Clement's article "Whirligig World" describes his approach to writing a science fiction story:

Writing a science fiction story is fun, not work. ... the fun ... lies in treating the whole thing as a game.... [T]he rules must be quite simple. They are; for the reader of a science-fiction story, they consist of finding as many as possible of the author's statements or implications which conflict with the facts as science currently understands them. For the author, the rule is to make as few such slips as he possibly can... Certain exceptions are made [e.g., to allow travel faster than the speed of light], but fair play demands that all such matters be mentioned as early as possible in the story...

Clement was a frequent guest at science fiction conventions, especially in the eastern United States, where he usually presented talks and slide shows about writing and astronomy.

Clement died in his sleep in Massachusetts at the

Milton Hospital on October 29, 2003, at age 81.[7]

Awards and honors

Clement has been honored several times for his cumulative contributions including 1998 Hall of Fame induction, when Clement and Frederik Pohl were the fifth and sixth living persons[a] honored, and the 1999 SFWA Grand Master Award.[3][4][5]

For the 1945 short story "

World Science Fiction Convention. Mission of Gravity, first published as a serial during 1953, was named best foreign novel by the Spanish Science Fiction Association in 1994 and it was a finalist for a 50-year Retro Hugo Award in 2004.[5]

The Hal Clement Award for Young Adults for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction Literature was presented in Clement's name from 1992 to 2016.[8]

Wayne Barlowe illustrated two of Clement's fictional species, the Abyormenites and the Mesklinites, in his Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials.

Short stories, novelettes and novellas

Editor Sam Merwin Jr. added 10,000 words to Clement's novella "Planetfall" for its publication in the February 1957 issue of Satellite Science Fiction as "Planet for Plunder".
Clement's short story "Hot Planet" took the cover of the August 1963 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

Books

About Hal Clement

Articles and introductions

"In the early 1940s, in Astounding, there was a small department called Probability Zero! that ran short-short stories. Or items. Or lies. Things. These things were usually funny and always impossible - echoing the description of the title."

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ a b As living inductees Clement and Frederik Pohl were preceded in the Hall of Fame by A. E. van Vogt and Jack Williamson, Arthur C. Clarke and Andre Norton.[3]

References

  1. ^ "Henry Clement Stubbs". Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved 2006-05-30.. Rosetta Books (rosettabooks.com). Archived 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  2. ^ "Hal Clement, 81, craftsman of sci fi novels". Tom Long. The Boston Globe. October 31, 2003.
  3. ^ a b c "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame". Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. Retrieved 2013-03-23. This was the official website of the hall of fame to 2004.
  4. ^ a b "SFWA Grand Master". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
  5. ^
    Locus Publications
    . Retrieved 2013-03-23.
  6. ^ Hal Clement at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  7. ^ Clute, John (31 October 2003). "Hal Clement: Writer From the Golden Age of Science Fiction". The Independent. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Submission Guidelines". Golden Duck Awards (goldenduck.org). Archived 2008-05-25. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
  9. ^ "LEFT OF AFRICA by Hal Clement, Harry Clement Stubbs on L. W. Currey, Inc".
  10. ^ "Series:Probability Zero - ISFDB". isfdb.org.

External links