SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE METAL GIANTS

 "The Metal Giants" by Edmond Hamilton  (first published in Weird Tales, December 1926; reprinted in pamphlet form as The Metal Giants (Swanson Book Company -- mimeographed from a "defective" magazine, thus missing "a page or so" ), 1932 or 1933; reprinted in The Gernsback Awards 1926:  Volume 1, 1982; included in The Metal Giants and Others:  The Collected Edmond Hamilton, Volume 1, 2009)

Edmond Hamilton (1904-1977) was, along with Edward E. Smith and Jack Williamson, one of the first major stars in the development of science fiction in America following the 1926 publication of Amazing Stories (generally credited as the first science fiction magazine).  Hamilton's entire output published in 1926 and 1927 (seven stories) appeared in Weird Tales (the magazine would end up publishing 79 stories by Hamilton, making him one of the magazines most prolific contributors); it was with his eighth story ("The Comet Doom," Amazing Stories, January 1928) that he began appearing with great frequency in the leading science fiction magazines of the time.  1928 also marked the beginning of the "space opera" type of science fiction, universe-spanning tales with menaces threatening worlds -- or even galaxies -- with stalwart creatures led by Earthmen to battle the menace.   Hamilton excelled at this type of story and soon earned the sobriquets of "World-Destroyer Hamilton," "World Wrecker Hamilton," and "World Saver Hamilton."  Hamilton would go on to become the major contributor to the Captain Future franchise, writing 17 of the 20 novels, followed by a number of original novelettes.  Although best known for the gosh-wow space opera type of science fiction, Hamilton also produced a number of sensitive and nuanced stories that have become classics in the field.  As the science fiction field changed, Hamilton was one of the few early writers capable of changing with it.  He also had a long career writing comics books for DC, where he worked on the Batman, Superman, and related titles.  (The popular internet meme of Batman slapping Robin?  That was from a story written by Hamilton.)

"The Metal Giants" was Hamilton's third published story and his second science fiction story.  (His first story, "The Monster God of Mamurth" was a Merritt-esque fantasy.)

Detmold, a professor of electro-chemistry at Juston University, the third oldest college in the country, is a genius whose unusual theories have brought him ridicule, theories that have been "unprovable, wild, untrammeled speculation;"  his experiments and statements "were becoming more and more fantastic, calling forth an ever-increasing flood of of shocked protests from outraged scientists."   One theory that has brought him particular scorn concerned an artificial brain:  Detmold insisted that he can create one.  Other scientists have made half-hearted attempts to manufacture living protoplasm from chemicals to produce a living cells to produce an organ, a heart, or a brain -- all meeting with abject failure.  Detmold felt an artificial brain brain should be composed of metal, "entirely inorganic and lifeless, yet whose atomic structure he claimed was analogous to the atomic structure of a living brain."  By applying electrical vibrations to this "brain stuff," he should be able to create an organ that showed signs of consciousness.

This was all a bit too much.  Spurred on by protests from students, faculty members, and the general population, Juston University severed all ties with Detmold, who vowed to continue his work at a remote and unknown location.  Even Lanier of the English Department, Detmold's only friend on campus, was not told where the professor was headed.  Detmold, along with boxes of equipment, boarded a train and vanished from the ken of his fellow man.  Slowly, people forgot about the strange man and his wild theories.

Four years passed.

Then, in a remote area in northern West Virginia, stories began to emerge about large, strange circular impressions, ten feet across,  found in the area about the small steel town of Stockton; no explanation could be found for these impressions and those from outside the area who heard about them blamed the moonshine that could also be found in the area.  Ten days later, a framer named Morgan packed his family and a few possessions in an old Ford and fled the area, saying that he had seen a large, human-like shape, some three hundred feet tall, towering over the woods near his farm.  A few neighbors began saying they had seen a similar apparition, a being that appeared to made of metal.  Word of these sightings reached outside newspapers which tended to also point the blame at moonshine in this backward community.

Lanier, Detmold's old friend, felt there was more to the stories and that Detmold himself might be at the center of the mysterious sightings.  Lanier travelled to Stockton, arriving shortly before "death marched toward the city with crashing, giant strides"...

The nascent field of science fiction relied on unfettered imagination and fantastic occurrences told on a sweeping background, fastened with a dollop of scientific (or pseudo-scientific) reasoning.  Back in those days, the term science fiction did not exist; Gernsback called it "scientifiction," while other magazines just termed them "unusual stories" -- a term that could also cover fantasy, horror, or exotic and unusual adventure.  Gernsback managed to ghettoize the field with the publication of Amazing Stories, and brought to the field an audience of mainly young, white (and disaffected) males.  Previously, proto-science fiction stories had appeared regularly in general fiction and pulp magazines without much comment; now science fiction was beginning to be looked upon as juvenile literature.

Ah, but what glorious juvenile literature!  At the same time, science was expanding its borders.  Young rocket enthusiasts like Robert Goddard began experiments that would lead to the conquest of space.  In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, the first object to be found in the Kuiper belt.  The fruits of Edison and Tesla were changing the landscape of civilization.  The War to End All Wars had brought America to the forefront of the world, something even the depression could not alter.  Medicine was making strides.  People were demanding more.  Progress was snowballing to the future.  And many young readers of science fiction were deciding on science as a career.

None of this has any bearing on "The Metal Giants," a clunky tale told by a young man barely in his twenties.  But the story, and the author, helped open the vistas of imagination. For that alone, it is worth reading.  Plus, the tale has the extra bonus of being fun.

The December 1926 issue of Weird Tales  is available online.  Also available online are many of Hamilton's early stories.  Check them out.