Edmond Hamilton (1904-1977)
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Edmond Hamilton was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. He was something of a child prodigy, graduating from high school and undertaking his college education at Westminster College at the young age of 14; he dropped out aged 17. A popular science fiction writer in the mid-twentieth century, Hamilton's career began with the publication of his short story 'The Monster God of Mamurth' in the August 1926 issue of Weird Tales. After the war, he wrote for DC Comics, producing stories for Batman, Superman and The Legion of Superheroes. Ultimately, though, he was associated with an extravagant, romantic, high-adventure style of SF, perhaps best represented by his 1947 novel The Star Kings. He was married to fellow SF writer Leigh Brackett from the end of 1946 until his death three decades later.