The Godmen

INTRODUCTION

Edmond Hamilton (1904–1977) has been hailed as one of the three pioneers of the space opera. Indeed, of the three writers credited with creating this beloved science fiction subgenre, Hamilton, Edward E. Smith, Ph.D., and Jack Williamson, Hamilton's first space opera, “The Comet Doom,” beat both his colleagues into print, by almost a year, in the case of Smith's unprecedented universe-spanning epic, The Skylark of Space, and by almost three years in the case of Williamson's “The Cosmic Express.” Since Smith had begun his book around 1919, clearly neither he nor Hamilton influenced the other, while Williamson has tipped his hat to the inspiration of both. So, in the final analysis, sole credit must be given to Edmond Hamilton and E. E. Smith as the progenitors of the space opera as so many know and love it today.

In the 1930s Hamilton was approached by a pulp editor who wanted him to create a science fictional equivalent of the then bestselling Doc Savage novels which appeared in the magazine that bore his name. Hamilton's character was Curt Newton, Man of Tomorrow, known to the world as Captain Future (also the magazine's title). Captain Future opposed interplanetary crime as well as menaces from beyond the solar system, accompanied everywhere by his closest friends, the giant metallic robot, Grag and the pasty-faced android Otho, who bickered comically throughout the books over which was the most valuable to the Captain. Titles of some of the novels Hamilton wrote about Curt Newton included Calling Captain Future, The Magician of Mars, Outlaw World, The Comet Kings (ghosted by his wife, Leigh Brackett, and hands-down best of the CF novels), Planets in Peril, and Red Sun of Danger. In the 1970s the French produced a Captain Future television cartoon series so loosely based on Hamilton's novels that most fans of the original felt it did an actual disservice to Curt Newton and his comic side-kicks.

But Edmond Hamilton's contributions to science fiction and to popular culture don't end with the creation of space opera. They begin there. As science fiction matured, Hamilton's colorful adventure sagas matured, and he produced a series of poignant, poetic space operas that helped extend the form and widen its possibilities. Among them were Battle for the Stars, The City at World's End, The Star of Life, and The Haunted Stars.

At the same time, one of Hamilton's magazine editors, Mort Weisinger, had been picked to helm the DC comic book line, including its new hits, Superman and Batman. Soon Weisinger had tapped several top SF pulp writers, including Hamilton, to become full-time scripters for the company's comic books. As a result he became a trailblazing pioneer in a new medium, creating characters like Adam Strange, whose science fictional adventures appeared in the comic Mystery in Space, and superhero teams like the Legion of Superheroes, whose euphonious comic book has been hailed for its strong, feminist slant (not surprising considering he was married to tomboy and tough-guy novelist Leigh Brackett). And it was Hamilton who was responsible for scripting the first-ever Superman-Batman team-up.

Most of this is a matter of public record. What few people seem to know, for as far as can be determined the fact appears in no history of SF so far written, is that Hamilton was a genre pioneer in another way. Most SF histories credit Robert A. Heinlein with the creation of the first future history (a consistent idea of how things might turn out over several hundred or even thousand years against which a number of stories are set). Heinlein first disclosed the existence of his future history in the March 1941 issue of Astounding, creating a sensation among both his readers and his fellow SF authors. Isaac Asimov, for instance, would be at work on his future history, the famous Foundation saga, within a year.

Yet Hamilton's revelation, a year earlier that he had set the majority of his stories against a common future background covering some two thousand centuries went almost unnoticed (perhaps because it appeared in the less distinguished pulp magazine, Thrilling Wonder Stories). But the credit for being first definitely belongs to Hamilton. The first story set in his future history, The Comet Doom, was published in the issue of Amazing Stories that appeared on the newsstands in December 1926, while the initial story in Heinlein's history did not appear until twelve years later in 1939. (Although every story in this future history has not yet been identified, it is clear that most of his novels, and more than fifty short stories and novelettes, belong to it including the novels mentioned above, his famed Captain Future series, and the two novellas showcased here.)

A fuller description of this future history, and a selection of key stories showing its development across centuries will appear in a forthcoming PageTurner Editions ebook. Hamilton himself did not title this history, but we have chosen to call it “The Two Thousand Centuries.” However, in brief, Hamilton tells us that: “By the end of the 20th Century, atomic-powered rockets guided by radar had reached the Moon, Mars and Venus."

There followed:

The Era of Interplanetary Exploration and Colonization—1971–2011.

The Era of Interplanetary Frontiers—2011–2247.

The Era of Interplanetary Secession—2247–2621.

The Era of Interstellar Exploration—2300–2621.

The Era of Interstellar Colonization—2621-62,339.

The Era of the Federation—62,339–129,999.

The Era of the Star Kings—130,000–202,115.

The Godmen and The Stars, My Brothers take place during the Era of Interstellar Exploration, of which Hamilton writes: “Interplanetary exploration and exploitation had increased rapidly. But the vast distances to other stars remained unconquerable until late in the 22nd Century, when three great inventions made interstellar travel possible. Using these inventions to build starships, mankind took at once to interstellar space. Alpha Centauri, Sirius and Altair were quickly visited."

The Godmen occurs during the earlier days of this era, and tells of the problems that arise when humankind first encounters a nonhuman intelligence. The Stars, My Brothers takes place several centuries later, and shows how the question of humanity's relationship to alien races was finally answered — by a man from our own time! Together they point the way toward the concord among alien races that produced the Era of the Federation and the United Worlds.

Jean Marie Stine

July 12, 2006