Saturday, July 18, 2009

Celebrate Edmond Hamilton Day by reading his 1931 novelette “Monsters of Mars”

Today, July 18, 2009, the folks of Kinsman, Ohio are celebrating Edmond Hamilton Day. Edmond Hamilton, who died in 1977, was "The Dean of Science Fiction,” husband of Sci-Fi author Leigh Brackett, and a local resident. Sponsored by the Kinsman Historical Society, events include the launch of Haffner Press' The Collected Edmond Hamilton series, a display of rare Hamilton books and pulps, a slide show of Hamilton and Brackett, and a memorial toast at The Dean's gravesite.

If you don’t live in the Kinsman, Ohio area, consider celebrating Edmond Hamilton Day by reading one of his novelettes: “Monster of Mars.” Published in the April 1931 issue of Astounding Stories magazine and digitized by the Internet Archive, “Monsters of Mars” revolves around three humans who are invited to the Red Planet but unexpectedly find hostile Martians that are eager to conquer Earth.

“Monsters of Mars” starts on Page 4 of the April 1931 issue of Astounding Stories and goes on to Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8, Page 9, Page 10, Page 11, Page 12, Page 13, Page 14, Page 15, Page 16, Page 17, Page 18, Page 19, Page 20, Page 21, Page 22, Page 23, Page 24, and Page 25. If you have difficulty reading the Internet Archive’s raw digitized images, copy the images and dump them into your photo application, where you can manipulate them to a better size and clarity. A lot of work, but better than nothing.

Thanks to Locus online for the tip about Edmond Hamilton Day.

4 comments:

Tinkoo said...

I recently read Hamilton's "What's It Like Out There" from "Isaac Asimov Presents Great SF Stories, #14". Probably among his relatively less pulpish tales, though still on rather enthusiastic side:

A man has just returned from first manned Martian expedition - among the few survivors of the mission. Wherever he goes, people ask him "What's It Like Out There?". We slowly learn details of expedition in background.

Doesn't seem to be online, though.

Tinkoo said...

A very unusual & creepy Mars story that doesn't really happen on Mars - Robert Bloch's "The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton". Describes the very unusual first manned flight to Mars.

I found it in "Isaac Asimov Presents Great SF Stories, #1", but it's so unusual a story - there must be other places it can be found.

Paul said...

Tinkoo, thanks for the comments. You can read the bulk of Hamilton's "What's It Like Out There" online through Google Book Search, for the story appears in The Road to Science Fiction (2002, vol.2), by James Gunn. I haven't read it.

Also, thanks for the tip on Bloch's story. I've never heard of it before.

Thanks!

Peter said...

I really liked this book too. My book; True Love Is Not Common; www.eloquentbooks.com/TrueLoveIsNotCommon.html, has similar main characters. I grew up reading this author. Hope my book will one reach many readers as this author.