Here are some interviews given by Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton. They range from artsy film magazines to the cheapest of fanzines. My favorite is the audio clip from Youtube when Leigh and Ed were the guests of honor at the 1964 (PacifiCon) WorldCon. It is somehow revealing to hear what their voices sounded like and to glean a little of their personalities beyond the printed page.
Many of the questions that are asked are similar. (I would love to substitute some of the boiler plate for questions I have but , of course, that is impossible.) The later interviews were usually done together, which I like. As a couple they tend to challenge each other a little more.
I try to recall when these two authors got on my radar. Both had passed away by the time I discovered they were the wonderful storytellers that I craved. After you have read all the ERB and Robert E. Howard repeatedly in your youth, you finally stretch outward. Despite discovering Robert Silverberg, H. P. Lovecraft, Fred Saberhagen, Roger Zelazny, Philip K. Dick and many others, I was well into my forties before I twig onto Ed Hamilton. A random copy of The Best of Edmond Hamilton on holidays sealed the deal. Reading about Leigh in that book sent me to The Best of Leigh Brackett. I had seen The Empire Strikes Back, of course, but now I knew why it was my favorite Star Wars film. (Still is.)
In Print
Edmond Hamilton: An Interview (Luna Monthly #60, December 1975) by Paul Walker
Leigh Brackett: An Interview (Luna Monthly #61, January 1976) by Paul Walker
OMG I had dinner with Darrell Schweitzer and his wife at Brighton World Fantasy nearly a decade ago. If only I’d known he’d interviewed two of my favourite authors. They were individually magical. I would have loved to have met them together.
Darrell has interviewed many of the best.
Ed and Leigh were good friends of mine. I was their next door neighbor when I was little. I saw them all the in our grocery store. I would go over to their house. Ed’s sister was my high school English teacher.
It must be cool to have known them as people not just names on books.