Stanley Grauman Weinbaum (April 4, 1902 – December 14, 1935) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

writer. His first story, "

A Martian Odyssey "A Martian Odyssey" is a science fiction short story by American writer Stanley G. Weinbaum originally published in the July 1934 issue of ''Wonder Stories''. It was Weinbaum's second published story (in 1933 he had sold a romantic novel, ''The ...

", was published to great acclaim in July 1934; the alien Tweel was arguably the first character to satisfy

John W. Campbell John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death ...

's challenge: "Write me a creature who thinks ''as well as'' a man, or better than a man, but not ''like'' a man." Weinbaum wrote more short stories and a few novels, but died from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

less than a year and a half later.

Life and career

Weinbaum was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, the son of Stella (née Grauman) and Nathan A. Weinbaum. His family was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He attended school in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

. He attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, first as a

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

major but later switching to English as his major, but contrary to common belief he did not graduate. On a bet, Weinbaum took an exam for a friend, and was later discovered; he left the university in 1923. He is best known for the groundbreaking science fiction short story, "

", which presented a sympathetic but decidedly non-human alien,

Tweel The Tweel (a portmanteau of ''tire'' and ''wheel'') is an airless tire design developed by the French tire company Michelin. Its significant advantage over pneumatic tires is that the Tweel does not use a bladder full of compressed air, and th ...

. Even more remarkably, this was his first science fiction story (in 1933 he had sold a romantic novel, ''The Lady Dances'', to King Features Syndicate, which serialized the story in its newspapers in early 1934). Isaac Asimov has described "A Martian Odyssey" as "a perfect Campbellian science fiction story, before

. Indeed, Tweel may be the first creature in science fiction to fulfil Campbell's dictum, 'write me a creature who thinks ''as well as'' a man, or ''better than'' a man, but not ''like'' a man'." Asimov went on to describe it as one of only three stories that changed the way all subsequent ones in the science fiction genre were written. It is the oldest short story (and one of the top vote-getters) selected by the

Science Fiction Writers of America The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. Whil ...

for inclusion in ''

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964 ''The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964'' is a 1970 anthology of English language science fiction short stories, edited by Robert Silverberg. Author Lester del Rey said that "it even lives up to its subtitle", referring t ...

''. Most of the work that was published in Weinbaum's lifetime appeared in either ''

Astounding ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'' or ''

Wonder Stories ''Wonder Stories'' was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, ''Amazing Stor ...

''. However, several of his pieces first appeared in the early fanzine ''Fantasy Magazine'' (successor to ''Science Fiction Digest'') in the 1930s, including an "Auto-Biographical Sketch" in the June 1935 issue. Despite common belief, Weinbaum was not one of the contributors to the multi-authored ''Cosmos'' serial in ''Science Fiction Digest/Fantasy Magazine.'' He did contribute to the multi-author story "The Challenge From Beyond", published in the September 1935 ''Fantasy Magazine''. At the time of his death, Weinbaum was writing a novel, ''Three Who Danced''. In this novel, the Prince of Wales is unexpectedly present at a dance in an obscure American community, where he dances with three of the local girls, choosing each for a different reason. Each girl's life is changed (happily or tragically) as a result of the unexpected attention she receives. In 1993, his widow, Margaret Hawtof Kay (b. 1906 in Waco, Texas), donated his papers to the

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

Library in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Included were several unpublished manuscripts, among them ''Three Who Danced'', as well as other unpublished stories (mostly romance stories, but there were also a few other non-fiction and fiction writings, none of them science fiction). A film version of his short story " The Adaptive Ultimate" was released in 1957 under the title ''She Devil'', starring

Mari Blanchard Mari Blanchard (born Mary E. Blanchard, April 13, 1923 – May 10, 1970) was an American film and television actress, known foremost for her roles as a B movie femme fatale in American productions of the 1950s and early 1960s. Early life and c ...

, Jack Kelly, and

Albert Dekker Thomas Albert Ecke Van Dekker (December 20, 1905 – May 5, 1968) was an American character actor and politician best known for his roles in ''Dr. Cyclops'', ''The Killers (1946 film), The Killers'' (1946), ''Kiss Me Deadly'', and ''The Wild Bun ...

. The story was also dramatized on television; a '' Studio One'' titled "Kyra Zelas" (the name of the title character) aired on September 12, 1949. A radio dramatization of "The Adaptive Ultimate" was performed on the anthology show ''Escape'' in the 1950s.

Honors and awards

A crater on Mars is named in Weinbaum's honor. On July 18, 2008, he won the

Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award The Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award honors underread science fiction and fantasy authors, with the intention of drawing renewed attention to the winners. The award was created in 2001 by the Cordwainer Smith Foundation in memory of the science ...

Critical reception

Lester del Rey Lester del Rey (June 2, 1915 – May 10, 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and scienc ...

declared that "Weinbaum, more than any other writer, helped to take our field out of the doldrums of the early thirties and into the beginnings of modern science fiction." H. P. Lovecraft stated that Weinbaum's writing was ingenious, and he stood miles above the other Pulp Fiction writers in his creation of genuinely alien worlds in a comparison to Edgar Rice Burroughs and his "inane" stories of "egg-laying Princesses". Frederik Pohl wrote that, before Weinbaum, science fiction's aliens "might be catmen, lizard-men, antmen, plantmen or rockmen; but they were, always and incurably, ''men''. Weinbaum changed that. . . . it was the difference in orientation – in drives, goals and thought processes – that made the Weinbaum-type alien so fresh and rewarding in science fiction in the mid-thirties". His "revolutionary idea", Pohl said, was to "give some sort of three-dimensional reality to the characters", in contrast to

Hugo Gernsback Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as pub ...

's "animated catalogue of gadgets". Everett F. Bleiler, however, felt that although Weinbaum "was generally considered the most promising new s-f author of his day," his reputation is overstated. While "Weinbaum's style was more lively than that of his genre contemporaries, and he was imaginative in background details, . . . his work was ordinary pulp fiction, with routine plots, slapdash presentation, cardboard characterization, and much cliche of ideas. Alexei and

Cory Panshin Cory Panshin (born 1947) is an American science fiction critic and writer. She often writes in collaboration with her husband, Alexei Panshin (1940–2022). The Panshins won the Hugo award for Best Non-Fiction Book in 1990 for ''The World Beyo ...

concluded that "Time has swallowed what were once Weinbaum's particular virtues. What is left seems quaint and quirky.""Books", ''

F&SF ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

'', December 1974, p. 67

Planetary series

All of Weinbaum's nine interplanetary stories were set in a consistent Solar System that was scientifically accurate by 1930s standards. The avian, botanical

Martians Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...

of "A Martian Odyssey" and "Valley of Dreams", for instance, are mentioned in " Redemption Cairn" and " The Red Peri", the quadrupedal Venusian trioptes of "Parasite Planet" and "The Lotus Eaters" are mentioned in "

The Mad Moon "The Mad Moon" is a science fiction short story by American writer Stanley G. Weinbaum, first published in the December 1935 issue of ''Astounding Stories''. As did his earlier stories "A Martian Odyssey" and "Parasite Planet", "The Mad Moon" emp ...

", the vicious, pseudomammalian pests of

appear in ''Valley of Dreams'' as minor antagonists, and the rock-eating Pyramid-Makers of Mars are mentioned in " Tidal Moon". In Weinbaum's Solar System, in accordance with the then-current near-collision hypothesis, the

gas giants A gas giant is a giant planet composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Gas giants are also called failed stars because they contain the same basic elements as a star. Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants of the Solar System. The term "gas giant" ...

radiate heat, enough to warm their satellites to Earthlike temperatures, allowing for Earthlike environments on Io, Europa, Titan, and even

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of ...

. Mars is also sufficiently Earthlike to allow humans to walk its surface (with training in thin-air chambers) unprotected.

Van Manderpootz stories

Three short stories deal with Dixon Wells, a perpetually late playboy who runs afoul of the inventions of his friend and former instructor in "Newer Physics", Professor Haskel van Manderpootz, a supremely immodest genius who rates

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

as his equal (or slight inferior). In "The Worlds of If", Wells tests an invention that reveals what might have been; in "The Ideal", the professor creates a device that can show the image of a person's ideal (in Wells' case, his perfect woman); the contrivance of "The Point of View" allows one to see the world from another's perspective. In all three, Wells finds and then loses the woman of his dreams.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Lady Dances'' (King-Features Syndicate 1933) - This story (published under the name of "Marge Stanley") was published as a newspaper serial in early 1934 and is now available as a print-on-demand title. * '' The New Adam'' (

Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...

1939) * '' The Black Flame'' Originally in 1939. (

Fantasy Press Fantasy Press was an American publishing house specialising in fantasy and science fiction titles. Established in 1946 by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach in Reading, Pennsylvania, it was most notable for publishing the works of authors such as Robert A. He ...

1948) * ''The Black Flame'' (Complete Restored Edition) (

Tachyon Publications Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies ...

1997; ) * ''

The Dark Other ''The Dark Other'' is a horror novel by Stanley G. Weinbaum. It was first published in 1950 by Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. in an edition of 700 copies. The manuscript, written in the 1920s, was originally titled ''The Mad Brain''. With per ...

'' aka ''The Mad Brain'' ( Fantasy Publishing Company 1950)

Short stories

* "

" in 7/34 ''Wonder'' * "

Valley of Dreams "Valley of Dreams" is a science fiction short story by the American writer Stanley G. Weinbaum, originally published in the November 1934 issue of ''Wonder Stories''. It was Weinbaum's second published story and is a sequel to his first story, ...

" in 11/34 ''Wonder'' * "

Flight on Titan "Flight on Titan" is a science fiction short story by American writer Stanley G. Weinbaum. It was the third story published by Weinbaum in his Planetary series, Planetary Series. ''Flight on Titan'' first appeared in the January 1935 issue of ''As ...

" in 1/35 ''Astounding'' * " Parasite Planet" in 2/35 ''Astounding'' * " The Lotus Eaters" in 4/35 ''Astounding'' * "Pygmalion's Spectacles" in 6/35 ''Wonder'' * "The Worlds of If" in 8/35 ''Wonder'' * "The Challenge From Beyond" in 9/35 ''Fantasy Magazine'' (Weinbaum wrote the opening 800+ words of the science-fiction version of this

round-robin story A round-robin story, or simply "round robin," is a type of collaborative fiction or storytelling in which a number of authors write chapters of a novel or pieces of a story, in rounds. Round-robin novels were invented in the 19th century, and late ...

. The other four writers were

Donald Wandrei Donald Albert Wandrei (20 April 1908 – 15 October 1987)Minnesota Death Certificates Index
. ...

E. E. Smith Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965), publishing as E. E. Smith, Ph.D. and later as E. E. "Doc" Smith, was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the '' ...

, Harl Vincent and

Murray Leinster Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie ...

) * "The Ideal" in 9/35 ''Wonder'' * " The Planet of Doubt" in 10/35 ''Astounding'' * " The Adaptive Ultimate" in 11/35 ''Astounding'' (as by John Jessel) * " The Red Peri" in 11/35 ''Astounding'' * "

" in 12/35 ''Astounding''

Posthumous publications

* "The Point of View" in 1/36 ''Wonder'' * "Smothered Seas" in 1/36 ''Astounding'' (with Roger Sherman Hoar writing as Ralph Milne Farley) * "Yellow Slaves" in 2/36 ''True Gang Life'' (with Roger Sherman Hoar writing as Ralph Milne Farley) * " Redemption Cairn" in 3/36 ''Astounding'' * "The Circle of Zero" in 8/36 ''Thrilling Wonder'' * "Proteus Island" in 8/36 ''Astounding'' * "Graph" in 9/36 ''Fantasy Magazine'' * "The Brink of Infinity" in 12/36 ''Thrilling Wonder'' * "Shifting Seas" in 4/37 ''Amazing'' (anticipates discussions of climate change due to changes in the Gulf Stream) * "Revolution of 1950" 10-11/38 ''Amazing'' (with Roger Sherman Hoar writing as Ralph Milne Farley) * " Tidal Moon" in 12/38 ''Thrilling Wonder'' (with Helen Weinbaum, his sister) * "The Black Flame" in 1/39 ''Startling'' * "Dawn of Flame" in 6/39 ''Thrilling Wonder'' * "Green Glow of Death" in 7/57 ''Crack Detective and Mystery Stories'' * ''The King's Watch'', Posthumous Press, 1994, hardcover book, with Foreword and signed by Robert Bloch and tipped in photo of writers' group, The Milwaukee Fictioneers, to which Weinbaum and Bloch both belonged. (This story is a variant of "The Green Glow of Death" from 7/57 ''Crack Detective and Mystery Stories.'')

Collections of stories and poetry

* '' The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum'', Ballantine, 1974 * ''Lunaria and Other Poems'', The Strange Publishing Company 1988 * ''The Black Heart'', Leonaur Publishing, 2006 * ''Dawn of Flame: The Stanley G. Weinbaum Memorial Volume'', Conrad H. Ruppert, 1936 * ''Interplanetary Odysseys'', Leonaur Publishing, 2006 * ''A Martian Odyssey and Other Science Fiction Tales'', Hyperion Press, 1974 * '' A Martian Odyssey and Others'',

, 1949 * ''A Martian Odyssey and Other Classics of Science Fiction'', Lancer, 1962 * ''Other Earths'', Leonaur Publishing, 2006 * '' The Red Peri'',

, 1952 * ''Strange Genius'', Leonaur Publishing, 2006

References

External links

* * * * *

A Short Biography of Stanley G. Weinbaum, by Tom Rogers
Critical profile and bibliography
in ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo, Locus and British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, continu ...

''
Stanley G. Weinbaum
at Manybooks.net
Stanley G. Weinbaum
at The Lit Project * *

at '' Forgotten Futures'' - all of his science fiction that is out of European copyright
Past Masters: A Martian? Odd, I See (or a Taste of Milwaukee's Finest)
by

Bud Webster Clarence Howard "Bud" Webster (July 27, 1952 – February 13, 2016) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer who is also known for his essays on both the history of science fiction and sf/fantasy anthologies as well. He is perhaps be ...

at Grantville Gazette - copy on archive.org * (books published 1936–1974) {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinbaum, Stanley G. 1902 births 1935 deaths American science fiction writers Pulp fiction writers University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Writers from Milwaukee Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Deaths from lung cancer Jewish American writers 20th-century American novelists Place of death missing American male novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Kentucky Novelists from Wisconsin 20th-century American Jews