The Metal Man Jack Williamson Setting

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Science Fiction has taken a long time to polish to the incredible state it is in today. The genre had been confused at some points for weird tales or adventures to the unknown. John W. Campbell was the premier writer and editor in science fiction until his death in the early 1940’s. He was phenomenal and knew what was missing from the genre and he fixed it. He emphasized setting in his writing and editing. He wanted to see the stories have depth in the culture and in surroundings. This greatly improved the science fiction genre as a whole. Readers would now be immersed in the setting and understand what was happening at a deeper level. With this Campbell brought Science Fiction into a Golden Age.
Before the Golden Age of Science Fiction, many writers would write about strange and unexplored places. “The Metal Man,” by Jack Williamson, is one of these tales of a strange and unexplored location. Jack Williamson takes an unknown location and adds more mystery, but he lacks to add a comprehensive setting to his story. “The Metal Man” takes place in a colorful radium filled tropic location. The reader is told of this weird setting with a “River of Blood” and radium mysteries behind it (78). The setting continues to be colorful and weird with the addition of a “green lake” and summits with “argent crowns, …show more content…

“Nightfall” outlines the location, the background, and the atmosphere exquisitely. The location Asimov displays is imaginable to the reader due to its similarities to our earth with the exception of constant light. The planet of Lagash is described to have six suns and they are not in the usual places which change the landscape. This creates a curiosity for the reader while also showing off the difference between earth and Lagash. By doing this the reader can relate, but is interested in the situation that arises. While it is a different planet it still has a feeling of our