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  Classic Fiction

  Hal Clement

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  Title Page

  About Hal Clement

  Pseudonyms

  Bibliography

  Short Fiction Bibliography: chronological

  Short Fiction Bibliography: alphabetical

  Fiction Series

  1942

  PROOF

  IMPEDIMENT

  AVENUE OF ESCAPE

  1943

  ATTITUDE

  1944

  TECHNICAL ERROR

  TROJAN FALL

  1945

  UNCOMMON SENSE

  1946

  COLD FRONT

  ASSUMPTION UNJUSTIFIED

  1947

  ANSWER

  1949

  FIREPROOF

  NEEDLE (First of two parts)

  NEEDLE (First of two parts)

  1951

  ICEWORLD (First of three parts)

  ICEWORLD (Second of Three Parts)

  ICEWORLD (Third of Three Parts)

  1952

  HALO

  1953

  CRITICAL FACTOR

  MISSION OF GRAVITY (First of Four Parts)

  MISSION OF GRAVITY (Second of Four Parts)

  MISSION OF GRAVITY (Third of four parts)

  MISSION OF GRAVITY (Conclusion)

  GROUND

  1956

  DUST RAG

  1957

  PLANET FOR PLUNDER

  1958

  CLOSE TO CRITICAL (First of Three Parts)

  CLOSE TO CRITICAL (Second of Three Parts)

  CLOSE TO CRITICAL (Conclusion)

  1960

  THE LUNAR LICHEN

  SUNSPOT

  1963

  THE GREEN WORLD

  HOT PLANET

  1965

  RAINDROP

  1966

  THE FOUNDLING STARS

  THE MECHANIC

  1967

  OCEAN ON TOP (First of Three Parts)

  OCEAN ON TOP (Part Two)

  OCEAN ON TOP (Conclusion)

  1968

  BULGE

  1970

  STARLIGHT (First of Four Parts)

  STARLIGHT (Second of Four Parts)

  STARLIGHT (Part III of IV)

  STARLIGHT (Conclusion)

  1972

  PLANETFALL

  1973

  LECTURE DEMONSTRATION

  1974

  MISTAKEN FOR GRANTED

  THE LOGICAL LIFE

  1976

  LONGLINE

  STUCK WITH IT

  A QUESTION OF GUILT

  1978

  SEASONING

  1987

  STATUS SYMBOL

  1989

  BLOT

  1991

  PHASES IN CHAOS

  1992

  EYEBALL VECTORS

  1994

  SORTIE

  SETTLEMENT

  1995

  SEISMIC SIDETRACK

  SIMILE

  1998

  OH, NATURAL

  OPTIONS

  1999

  EXCHANGE RATE

  2000

  UNDER

  2003

  OFFICE POLITICS

  Harry Clement Stubbs, better known as Hal Clement (his primary pen name) was born on May 30, 1922 in Somerville, Massachusetts. Clement grew up in greater Boston, attending schools in Arlington and Cambridge. Clement was fascinated with science and science fiction from an early age. In 1930, he saw a Buck Rogers comic strip, featuring a space ship en route to Mars. Like an innocent and curious child, he had many questions about what he saw which he posed to his father who was unable to answer him. His father took him to the library from which he returned with an astronomy book under one arm and Jules Verne’s Trip to the Moon under the other. Clement graduated high school from Rindge Tech in 1939 with his science and science fiction interests still intact.

  Clement attended the prestigious Harvard University and graduated in 1943 with a B.S. in astronomy which he took a great interest in, shaping the accurate knowledge he later infused his science fiction novels with. He also attended Boston University (1946) and Simmons College receiving a M. Ed. and M.S. in chemistry (1963) respectively.

  With World War II affecting the lives of everyone across the world, Clement was affected as well. He entered the Army Air Corps Reserves after graduating from Harvard (prior to obtaining the two aforementioned degrees) In late 1943, Clement came to the Penn State University campus to take a course in meteorology. Science Fiction expert Fred Ramsey recalls Clement speaking fondly of his time in Pennsylvania, saying that he and his newly-married wife regarded it as their honeymoon. In March 1944, Clement received his pilot’s wings and a lieutenant’s commission at Steward Field, New York. He was no stranger to the sky and flew 35 combat missions as copilot and pilot in B-24 bombers with the 8th Air Force. Clement had not been on active duty his whole time in the army, but in 1951 he was recalled to it. He spent eight months as a squadron executive officer at Bolling Air Force Base and sixteen months as a technical instructor at the Armed Forces Special Weapons School in Sandia Base, New Mexico. He retired from the service as a full colonel in 1976.

  After college, Clement started writing and his first published work, Proof, appeared in the June 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. His first novel came shortly thereafter in 1949 when he was in the army. Needle is a novel about an alien race whose members live in symbiosis inside other races. One member of this race, the Hunter, comes to Earth in search of a fugitive. The tale concerns his search for the Fugitive, a search like finding a needle in a haystack.

  A short four years later was when his greatest work Mission of Gravity came out. This is a science fiction novel about the account of a land and sea expedition across the superjovian planet Mesklin to recover a stranded scientific probe. In his own words, Clement describes his writing in an article he wrote entitled Whirligig World by saying:

  “Writing a science fiction story is fun, not work . . . the fun . . . lies in treating the whole thing as a game . . . the 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 . . .”

  His interest in science and science fiction in conjunction with his knowledge of them therefore provided entertaining yet at the same time very real stories. Clement therefore has a large following of fans which is supported by his success as a science fiction writer and critics are often warm towards him. In regards to Clement’s book Noise, Lazarowitz of sfsite.com states that “The science, as stated before, is detailed and impeccable. Any fan of hard science fiction will greatly appreciate the attention to detail.” Clement created new worlds, new planets, describing magnificent yet accurately real universes in his works.

  Right before the publishing of his biggest work, Clement married Mary Elizabeth Myers in 1952. They had two sons, George and Richard, and one daughter, Christine. While writing, he taught high school science for forty years, two in a public school and 38 at Milton Academy in Milton Massachusetts, from which he retired in 1987. Stanley Schmidt of Analog Science Fiction & Fact writes that Clement “
generated just as much enthusiasm for the sciences through his writings as in the classroom.” He has served the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers as a Division Chairman and president. Since 1972, he has also painted astronomical and science-fiction art as George Richard. Clement received the 1998 recognition as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

  According to the January 2004 issue of the Chronicle, on October 29, 2003 Hal Clement died in his sleep, aged 81, most likely due to complications of diabetes.

  PSEUDONYMS

  Alexander Blade

  George Richard

  Harry C. Stubbs

  Harry Stubbs

  About the Author

  Hal Clement (Harry Clement Stubbs) was born in Massachusetts in 1922. He has been a science lover from early childhood, at least partly as a result of a 1930 Buck Rogers panel in which villains were "headed for Mars, forty-seven million miles away." His father, an accountant, couldn’t answer the resulting questions, and led little Hal to the local library. The result was irreversible brain influence.

  He majored in astronomy at Harvard, and has since acquired master’s degrees in education and in chemistry. He earns his basic living as a teacher of chemistry and astronomy at Milton Academy, in Massachusetts, and regards science-Action writing and painting as hobbies. His first two stories, "Proof" and "Impediment," were sold when he was a junior in college; their impression on Harvard’s $400 per year tuition secured family tolerance for that crazy Buck Rogers stuff.

  He has since produced half a dozen novels, of which the best known are Needle and Mission of Gravity. His reputation among science-fiction enthusiasts is that of a "hard" writer—one who tries to stick faithfully to the physical sciences as they are currently understood. Like Arthur C. Clarke and the late Willy Ley, Clement would never dream of having a spaceship fall into the sun merely because its engines broke down. He can do his own orbit computing, and does.

  He leads a double life, appearing frequently at science-fiction conventions as Hal Clement and spending the rest of his time in Milton as the rather square science teacher with a wife of twenty-five years and three grown children, Harry Stubbs. He does occasional merit badge counseling for the Boy Scouts, has served on his town’s finance committee, and is an eleven-gallon Red Cross blood donor.

  Originally appeared in Mission to Gravity, 1978.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Novels

  Needle (1950)

  Ice World (1953)

  The Ranger Boys in Space (1956)

  Cycle of Fire (1957)

  Close to Critical (1964)

  Starlight, (1971)

  Ocean on Top (1973)

  Left of Africa (1976)

  Through the Eye of a Needle (1978)

  The Nitrogen Fix (1980)

  Still River (1987)

  Fossil (1993)

  Half Life (1999)

  Noise (2003)

  Magazine-published Novels

  Planet for Plunder, Satellite Science Fiction, February 1957

  The Green World, If, May 1963

  Serials

  Needle, Astounding Science Fiction, May-June 1949

  Iceworld, Astounding Science Fiction, October-December 1951

  Mission of Gravity, Astounding Science Fiction, April-July 1953

  Close to Critical, Astounding Science Fiction, May-July 1958

  Ocean on Top, If, October-December 1967

  Starlight, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, June-September 1970

  Collections

  Natives of Space (1965)

  Small Changes (1969)

  Mission of Gravity / Lecture Demonstration (1978)

  The Best of Hal Clement (1979)

  Intuit (1987)

  Music of Many Spheres (2000)

  Variations on a Theme by Sir Isaac Newton (2000)

  Heavy Planet: The Classic Mesklin Stories (2002)

  Omnibii

  Trio for Slide Rule and Typewriter (1998)

  Men of the Morning Star / Planet for Plunder (2011)

  The Moon Is Hell! / The Green World (2012)

  Iceworld / Cycle of Fire / Close to Critical (2014)

  Nonfiction

  Some Notes on Xi Bootis (1960)

  SHORT FICTION BIBLIOGRAPHY

  CHRONOLOGICAL

  1942

  Proof, Astounding Science Fiction, June 1942

  Impediment, Astounding Science Fiction, August 1942

  Avenue of Escape, Astounding Science Fiction, November 1942

  1943

  Attitude, Astounding Science Fiction, September 1943

  1944

  Technical Error, Astounding Science Fiction, January 1944

  Trojan Fall, Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944

  1945

  Uncommon Sense, Astounding Science Fiction, September 1945

  1946

  Cold Front, Astounding Science Fiction, July 1946

  Assumption Unjustified, Astounding Science Fiction, October 1946

  1947

  Answer, Astounding Science Fiction, April 1947

  1949

  Fireproof, Astounding Science Fiction, March 1949

  Needle (First of two parts), Astounding Science Fiction, May 1949

  Needle (Second of two parts), Astounding Science Fiction, June 1949

  1951

  Iceworld (First of three parts), Astounding Science Fiction, October 1951

  Iceworld (Second of Three Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, November 1951

  Iceworld (Third of Three Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, December 1951

  1952

  Halo, Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1952

  1953

  Critical Factor, Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2, 1953

  Mission of Gravity (First of Four Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, April 1953

  Mission of Gravity (Second of Four Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, May 1953

  Mission of Gravity (Third of four parts), Astounding Science Fiction, June 1953

  Mission of Gravity (Conclusion), Astounding Science Fiction, July 1953

  Ground, Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953

  1956

  Dust Rag, Astounding Science Fiction, September 1956

  1957

  Planet for Plunder, Satellite Science Fiction, February 1957

  1958

  Close to Critical (First of Three Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, May-July 1958

  Close to Critical (Second of Three Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, May-July 1958

  Close to Critical (Conclusion), Astounding Science Fiction, May-July 1958

  1960

  The Lunar Lichen, Future Science Fiction, February 1960

  Sunspot, Analog Science Fact -> Fiction, November 1960

  1963

  The Green World, If, May 1963

  Hot Planet, Galaxy Magazine, August 1963

  1965

  Raindrop, If, May 1965

  1966

  The Foundling Stars, If, August 1966

  The Mechanic, Analog Science Fiction -> Science Fact, September 1966

  1967

  Ocean on Top (First of Three Parts), If, October-December 1967

  Ocean on Top (Part Two), If, October-December 1967

  Ocean on Top (Conclusion), If, October-December 1967

  1968

  Bulge, If, September 1968

  1970

  Starlight (First of Four Parts), Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, June 1970

  Starlight (Second of Four Parts), Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, July 1970

  Starlight (Part III of IV), Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, August 1970

  Starlight (Conclusion), Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, September 1970

  1972

  Planetfall, Strange Tomorrows, October 1972

  1973

  Lecture Demonstration, Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology, November 1973

  1974

  Mi
staken for Granted, If, January/February, January 1974

  The Logical Life, Stellar 1, September 1974

  1976

  Longline, Faster Than Light, 1976

  Stuck with It, Stellar 2, February 1976

  A Question of Guilt, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series IV, November 1976

  1978

  Seasoning, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, September/October, September 1978

  1987

  Status Symbol, Intuit, September 1987

  1989

  Blot, Foundation’s Friends: Stories in Honor of Isaac Asimov, September 1989

  1991

  Phases in Chaos, Isaac’s Universe, Volume Two: , July 1991

  1992

  Eyeball Vectors, Isaac’s Universe, Volume Three: Unnatural Diplomacy, July 1992

  1994

  Sortie, Harsh Mistress,, Spring/Summer 1994

  Settlement, Absolute Magnitude, Fall/Winter 1994

  1995

  Seismic Sidetrack, Absolute Magnitude, Spring 1995

  Simile, Absolute Magnitude, Summer 1995

  1998

  Oh, Natural, Absolute Magnitude, Spring 1998

  Options, Lamps on the Brow, August 1998

  1999

  Exchange Rate, Absolute Magnitude, Winter 1999

  2000

  Under, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January 2000

  2003

  Office Politics, Readercon 15 Souvenir Book, July 2003

  SHORT FICTION BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ALPHABETICAL

  A

  A Question of Guilt, The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series IV, November 1976

  Answer, Astounding Science Fiction, April 1947

  Assumption Unjustified, Astounding Science Fiction, October 1946

  Attitude, Astounding Science Fiction, September 1943

  Avenue of Escape, Astounding Science Fiction, November 1942

  B

  Blot, Foundation’s Friends: Stories in Honor of Isaac Asimov, September 1989

  Bulge, If, September 1968

  C

  Close to Critical (First of Three Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, May-July 1958

  Close to Critical (Second of Four Parts), Astounding Science Fiction, May-July 1958

  Close to Critical (Conclusion), Astounding Science Fiction, May-July 1958

  Cold Front, Astounding Science Fiction, July 1946

  Critical Factor, Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2, 1953

  D