John Stewart "Jack" Williamson (1908-2006) was a U.S. writer often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction" following the death of Robert A. Heinlein in 1988. An early figure in science fiction, Williamson was in Bisbee, Arizona Territory, and as a young child migrated with his family to rural New Mexico in a horse-drawn covered wagon in 1915. Williamson was a regular contributor to science fiction pulps of the 1930s, including ASTOUNDING STORIES, and published numerous collections of his work during his long career. He won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards during the last decade of his life.