Stanley G. Weinbaum was the recipient of this year’s Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award… that link takes you to my page about him and his writing on this website, which also explains the award, if you aren’t familiar with it.
I had never heard of Weinbaum before the judges chose him, not surprising as my knowledge of science fictions authors is hardly encyclopedic. But I’ve been reading the old Ballantine paperback The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum which came out roughly around the time they brought out The Best of Cordwainer Smith.
Evidently “A Martian Odyssey,” first published in 1934, was the first science fiction story to feature a non-earthling who was a real character in his own right, not just a plot device. This ostrich-like Martian, Tweel, is quite likeable. Tweel can pick up a little English, do some math in the sand, and recognize a diagram of the solar system, including the existence of Mercury.
The stories take place in a variety of situations, often with a bit of romance. I’m enjoying them.
Here’s a recent review of The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum at librarything.
A fine and deserving choice! I remember reading the Weinbaum collection A Martian Odyssey back in the late Seventies. Obviously it was very dated in some ways, but the stories were still remarkably good. It’s a pity he died so young. Sf might have taken a very different direction, though of course Weinbaum may not have lived up to that early promise.
This is a sweet new book…
Readers, the post above looks to me like the sort of thing people do just to get active links to their sites. I usually delete them in a flash, but I’m giving this one the benefit of the doubt.
The irony is that WordPress blogs like this one by default make the links “nofollow” which means the other person isn’t actually getting any benefit in the search engines.