The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame has announced the 2014 roster of inductees into the Hall of Fame, showing their commitment to celebrating the breadth and depth of the SFF community. Animation master Hayao Miyazaki will join classic painter Frank Frazetta, space opera queen Leigh Brackett, philosopher and writer Olaf Stapledon, and god-of-iconoclastic-directors Stanley Kubrick!
The inductees include:
- Frank Frazetta, an artist who not only spent many years in the comics trenches but also breathed new life into Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories with his highly-detailed paintings.
- Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest figures in animation, whose films Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service only scratch the surface of a rich career.
- Leigh Brackett, “Queen of the Space Opera” had two careers: in one she wrote pulp masterpieces across genres, including Shadow Over Mars, The Long Tomorrow, and Alpha Centauri or Die! In the other, she was the screenwriter for classic films like The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, and The Long Goodbye. As if all of that wasn’t enough, she also wrote a draft of the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, in which she introduced the idea that Luke Skywalker needed a twin, and it needed to be a sister.
- Olaf Stapledon was a prescient thinker and writer who used his work to explore the greatest possibilities of humanity. His novels, including Last and First Men, Star Maker, and Odd John track human evolution, mutation, and the limits of human intelligence. Stapledon was the first science fiction writer to deal seriously with genetic engineering and terraforming, and also toured the world advocating for peace and protesting apartheid.
- And finally, Stanley Kubrick, who is one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of the medium, with classics including 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame was founded in 1996, and later relocated from the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to its permanent home at EMP in 2004. The final inductees are chosen by a panel of award-winning science fiction and fantasy authors, artists, editors, publishers, and film professionals. Check out EMP’s website for more information on the inductees!
I read some Stapledon in my sci-fi class in college (Last and First Men, and I also read Star Maker on my own since it came with the book). It had some interesting ideas and concepts and made for some good discussion.
It’s always hard to say how much Leigh Brackett influenced ESB, since pretty much every account I’ve read stated that Lucas rejected most of the script she submitted but kept the writing credit out of respect since she passed away during the revisions, but ultimately the finished product doesn’t have much of her influence (although perhaps in rejecting things that helped get to a certain point…). However, i am going to have to read that article.
Five worthy inductees, though I’m especially happy to see Miyazaki and Brackett recognised.
I found this news a bit surprising. Leigh Brackett, Frank Frazetta and Olaf Stapledon are only now being inducted into the SF&F Hall of Fame?
What took them so long? Ah well, better late than never.
Leigh Brackett is a particular favorite of mine. For anyone who has not already read her stuff and who enjoys some classic pulp action, I would strongly recommend her stories of her wandering hero Eric John Stark. These come both in her old school settings of Mars and Venus (“The Secret of Sinharat”, “The People of the Talisman” and others) and her later reboot when she sent Stark instellar to the dying world of Skaith (“The Ginger Star”, “Legion of Skaith” and “The Reavers of Skaith”).
Frank Frazetta probably sold more paperbacks with his cover art than any other artist. It was probably his depiction of scaniltly clad females when I was an adolesent in the 60s that got me interested in Edgar Rice Burroughs