Hal Clement

Growing up, all my brother, Ralph, and I read were science fiction novels and magazines, along with comic books such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. One of my favorite authors—and Ralph’s too—was Hal Clement. Two of Clement’s novels, Cycle of Fire and Needle, are still on my bookshelf. They must be well over sixty years old by now.

Hal Clement

Hal Clement was actually the pen name for Harry Clement Stubbs. Stubbs was born in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1922. In 1943, he graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in astronomy. But he didn’t focus solely on his academic studies at Harvard because a year earlier, in 1942, he published his first science fiction story in Astounding Science Fiction, a magazine Ralph and I used to buy at the local drugs store, and devour.

During World War II, Stubbs served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a pilot and copilot of a B-24 Liberator, which was a heavy bomber. He was no slouch after the war because he earned two more degrees: a Master of Education and a Master of Science. Except for his first two years, Stubbs spent his entire forty-year teaching career at Milton Academy, which is “an independent college preparatory K-12 school,” just a few towns over from where I lived in Quincy, MA.

Stubbs began his prolific writing career in 1949 when he published Needle as a series in Astounding Science Fiction magazine. By 1953 he had published two other serialized stories in the magazine too: Iceworld and Mission of Gravity. All three books got picked up by publishers and came out in paperback and hardcover editions.

Personally, I think Stubbs was a caring and wonderful man. When Ralph was in junior high school, he belonged to a Science Fiction Book Club that met after hours in the library. The school librarian, Miss Bear, who ran the club invited science fiction writer Isaac Asimov to speak to the club. Asimov said he would do it for a hundred dollars. That was a large sum of money at the time, and the library had no funds to pay a speaker. So Asimov suggested Miss Bear invite Harry Stubbs. She did, and Stubbs agreed to speak to the group for free.

When I was in high school, I learned that Hal Clement was appearing at the nearby junior high school for a book signing the next day. The next morning, I grabbed my copies of Mission of Gravity, Needle, and Cycle of Fire—which I still have—and brought them to school. I couldn’t wait for the day to end and hoped I wouldn’t arrive too late to have him sign the books. When I arrived at the school, I was relieved to see he was still there speaking to students and signing copies of his novels. I handed Stubbs one of my books and asked him to autograph it, which he did. He was a bit surprised when I presented him with a second book, and he signed his name. And he was really surprised when I handed him the third book. He wrote with a flourish: “Best wishes, Hal Clement.”

If you can get your hands on any of Hal Clement’s books, they’re well worth reading.

Stubbs died in 2003 at the age of 81, and the world of science fiction lost an icon.