VITAL STATISTICS

Name: STUBBS, Harry Clement Aged: 81
Born: May 30, 1922 Where: Somerville, Massachusetts
Died: October 29, 2003 Where: Milton, Massachusetts
Interred: _ _ _
Married: Mary Elizabeth Myers When: 1952
Awarded: 2 Skylark Awards for Imaginative Fiction 1969 & 1997. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1997. SFWA's 1998 Grand Master Nebula

Hal Clement Stubbs grew up in Greater Boston, attending schools in Arlington and Cambridge, finishing Rindge Tech in 1939. He received his B.S. in astronomy from Harvard in 1943. While at college, Hal had his first science fiction short story, "Proof," published by Astounding in its June 1942 issue.

But the nation was at war and Hal answered the call. He entered the Army Air Corps Reserve, received his pilot's wings, and a 2nd lieutenant's commission at Stewart Field, New York, in March of 1944. He was assigned to the 8th Air Force in Europe and flew 35 combat missions as copilot and pilot in the B-24 Liberator bomber. During this time he wrote science fiction stories as a distraction and as an escape. When the war ended Hal returned to his education with some financial help from the G.I. Bill and obtained a Masters in Education from Boston U. in 1946. Teaching was his goal but he was recalled to the Air Force with the Korean Conflict in 1951. He spent eight months as a squadron exec at Bolling Air Force Base and sixteen as a technical instructor at the Armed Forces Special Weapons School at Sandia Base, New Mexico. Along the way he picked an M.S. in Chemistry from Simmons College in 1963 and held degrees in astronomy, chemistry, and education when he retired from the Air Force in 1976 as a full colonel.

Clement's first novel, Needle, was sandwiched in between wars as a serial in Astounding in 1949. Arguably his best novel was Mission of Gravity which appeared in 1953. Hal was intelligent, experienced, and educated...so he never had a problem selling what he wrote. He let the theme determine the length of his works and wrote a little of everything, seeming to prefer the flexible form of the novel. Among those were Iceworld, Close to Critical, Star Light, Through the Eye of a Needle and Still River. His main publishers were Doubleday and Ballantine.

Unusual stories are created by unusual methods. Hal outlined his stories on index cards. Each would hold a scene, problem, solution, or idea. When he had collected dozens of the cards, sometimes over a hundred, he would use the photographer's method of laying them all out on the floor where he could shuffle them about, see what was missing, eliminate odd items, and generally create a rough story book. Eventually, it all came together. Then the cards would be gathered up in the plot order that satisfied him, and Hal would follow them as he wrote the story.

Like most intelligent people, HaL had varying interests, painting science fiction artworks as "George Richard," and enjoying photography. He liked attending science fiction conventions and always gathered a crowd. In civilian life Harry worked as a high school science teacher, mostly at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, retiring in 1987. He had come a long way from a boy who read Jules Verne and Buck Rogers comic strips.

Some people can redeem themselves to the point where it spills over onto the human race. Harry Clement Stubbs was such a man.

PEN NAMES: Hal Clement (author) & George Richard (artist).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.

BIOGRAPHY: Hal Clement Web Site

OBITUARY: Various

Send relevant email to George C. Willick