To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Jack Williamson's birth, which is now just fifteen days away, Haffner Press has published The Worlds of Jack Williamson: A Centennial Tribute. The volume includes many of Jack's classic stories, as well as previously unpublished tales, a film treatment, and appreciations by both friends and academics.

My new icon today is a picture of Jack and me taken on the 75th anniversary of the publication of his first short story. We're holding a copy of the December 1928 issue of Amazing, which contains his debut story, "The Metal Man." I'm sure I'll have more to say about Jack on his birthday, but what I wanted to mention today was something brought to mind by Frederik Pohl's foreword, in which he wrote:

Half a dozen years later Jack and I did meet. That was in 1939.

Interestingly, the last time I saw him was in the year of 2006. That's a stretch of 67 years, and, when you think of it, that's a wonder. Not many friendships survive that long.

Which got me to thinking ... what's the longest spread of time between my first and most recent face-to-face meetings with people? (I'll exclude my wife from this exercise, even though we met on June 24, 1974, my first day of work at Marvel Comics, and last saw each other ... well ... this morning, a spread of almost 34 years.)

I've kept up with several high-school friends, but since I wouldn't have met them until we were around 15, that means we've only known each other for 38 years. I guess my longest non-marital friendship is with someone I met my first day of kindergarten. I was in the same class with him at P.S. 238 all the way through the 5th grade. Though we talk on the phone a couple of times each year, our last face-to-face meeting was about five years ago. I think that would put the spread between meetings in the flesh at around 43 years.

How about you?