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Henry Kuttner



Henry Kuttner was a true master of short fantastic fiction, in his best examples approaching the quality of O'Henry stories. Too bad, a penny-per-word pulp magazines demanded a quick and voluminous output. However, even at his most "hackish" style Kuttner managed to be immensely entertaining. His humorous Hogben mutant family series is top-notch, as well as most short stories published in the 1940s. With his wife C. L. Moore he wrote under multitude of pen names and in variety of fantastic sub-genres (see reviews below). He is definitely one of my favorite writers, and I wish he'd be more appreciated and recognized today.

Pen-names:
Edward J. Bellin, Paul Edmonds, Noel Gardner,
Will Garth (house name), James Hall,
Keith Hammond, Hudson Hastings,
Peter Horn, Robert O. Kenyon,
C. H. Liddell, K. Hugh Maepenn,
Scott Morgan, Lawrence O'Donnell
(mostly C. L. Moore), Lewis Padgett,
Woodrow Wilson Smith, & Charles Stoddard
(adventure stories).
Kelvin Kent - by Kuttner & Arthur K. Barnes

----------------------------------------------------------------------------



"Absalom"
© Startling Stories, Fall 1946
Bypass to Otherness, 1961
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea award

Solid "mutant child" story, the child who makes his parents literally obsolete. Though a little dry in style.
review: 01-Jul-06 (read in 1985)

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"Ahead Of Time" (coll)
© 1953, Ballantine Books
--/ third place sf collection
--/ wonder award
--/ style award


"Beauty and the Beast"
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr 1940
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ rare find


"Beggars in Velvet"
(as Lewis Padgett)
(Mutant)
© Astounding, Dec 1945
Mutant, 1953
--/ cool sf story

"The Big Night"
(as Hudson Hastings)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jun 1947
--/ third place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ rare find


"The Black Sun Rises"
© Super Science Stories (Can), Jun 1944
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award

----------------------------------------------



"Call Him Demon"
(as by Keith Hammond)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fall 1946
Bypass to Otherness, 1961
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award


"In the 1920s a group of children staying at their grandmother's house realize that one of the uncles who lives there is not a real person, and only arrived there a few weeks before. He is able to exert some kind of mental influence over the adults of the household, which makes them believe he has always been a member of the family. The Wrong Uncle, as they call him , is a kind of projection -- or, more precisely, a detachable limb in human form -- of a creature which lives in a cavern deep beneath the house, accessed by a portal in the attic. The thing has only two emotions: hunger and satiety, and it only eats raw meat". The kids are offering it some meat from a local store (and being rewarded with the mental images of the creature's wondrous travels) , but they are running out of the spare change, and the creature only gets hungrier and hungrier... Surprisingly, one of the children is able to defeat the creature because he turns out to be at least as terrible as the creature itself. Sorry if I revealed the secret behind the story's title, but Kuttner wrote so many stories about hidden capabilities of children (not all of them benign) that it's easy to catch the drift. Maybe he suspects that they intrinsically know more of the "reality" of the world than adults do, and it makes him uncomfortable and a little cautious. I wonder what C. L. Moore (his wife) thought of these stories?
review: 21-Sep-06 (read in 1988)

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"Camouflage"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Sep 1945
Ahead of Time, 1953
--/ third place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ idea award


"Clash by Night" (nv)
(as by Lawrence O'Donnel)
(Keeps Series)
© Astounding, Mar 1943
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ cool sf novella

"Cold War"
(Hogbens)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1949
Bypass to Otherness, 1961
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"The Creature from Beyond Infinity" (nv)
(also as "A Million Years To Conquer")
© Startling Stories, Nov 1940
Fantastic Story, 1951

novel: Popular Library, 1968
--/ fourth place sf novel
--/ wonder award

"A Cross Of Centuries"
© Star Science Fiction # 4, 1958

"The Cure"
(with C. L. Moore)
© Astounding, May 1946
--/ cool sf story

"Dames Is Poison"
(as Kelvin Kent)
(Pete Manx Series)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jun 1942
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
--/ rare find


----------------------------------------------




"The Dark World" (nv)
(Dark World # 1)
© Startling Stories, Sum 1946
Fantastic Story Magazine, Win 1954
novel: Ace Books, 1965
--/ third place f novel
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award


MZB (or, Marion Zimmer Bradley, for those unfamilliar with this "fiction factory" brand) said: "I consider the works of Henry Kuttner the finest fantasy ever written"; Roger Zelazny cited "The Dark World" as a seminal influence on his Amber series; now - both these writers have contributed to many 300-pages-plus reworkings of the same ideas that Kuttner put in 100 pages here. When reading the novella (for that is what it is, really) today you will be struck how often you may have read same stuff in modern "door-stopper" trilogies - diluted and laundered for a publisher's fun and profit. However, here is the genuine article, the novel that started it all. It has color, adventure and the sense of wonder needed (required!) for publication in "Startling Stories" and the accompanying brevity. God bless Henry Kuttner. Wish he was more often reprinted nowadays.
review: 28-Jul-06 (read in 1992)

----------------------------------------------

"The Devil We Know"
© Unknown, Aug 1941
No Boundaries, 1955
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ idea award

"Destination Infinity" (nv)
(also as "Fury" )
(as Lawrence O'Donnell)
(Keeps Series)
© Astounding, May 1947
novel: 1958, Ballantine Books
--/ cool sf novel

"Don't Look Now"
© Startling Stories, Mar 1948
The Best of Kuttner, 1965
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award

"Dr. Cyclops"
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jun 1940
Dr. Cyclops, 1966
--/ cool sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure: mini-world
--/ rare find

"Dragon Moon"
(Elak series)
© Weird Tales, Jan 1941
--/ cool f story
--/ rare find

"The Ego Machine"
© Space Science Fiction, May 1952
Return to Otherness, 1962
--/ third place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ idea award
--/ humour award


"The Elixir of Invisibility"
© Fantastic Adventures, Oct 1940
Fantastic Stories, Aug 1970
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ humour award

"Endowment Policy"
© Astounding, Aug 1943
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ cool sf story

"Ex Machina"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Gallegher Series)
© Astounding, Apr 1948
The Proud Robot, 1983
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"Exit the Professor"
(Hogbens)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1947
No Boundaries, 1955
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"Fury" (nv)
(also as "Destination Infinity")
(as Lawrence O'Donnell)
(Keeps Series)
© Astounding, May 1947
novel: 1958, Ballantine Books
--/ cool sf novel

"Gallegher Plus"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Gallegher Series)
© Astounding, Nov 1943
Return to Otherness, 1962
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"A Gnome There Was"
© Unknown, Oct 1941
The Best of Kuttner, 1965
--/ cool f story

"The Greeks Had a War For It"
(as Kelvin Kent)
(Pete Manx Series)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Mar 1941
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
--/ rare find


"Happy Ending"
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 1948
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award
--/ rare find


"Hercules Muscles In"
(as Kelvin Kent)
(Pete Manx Series)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1941
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
--/ rare find


"Hollywood on the Moon"
(Tony Quade)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr 1938
Startling Stories, Jul 1949

--/ fourth place space sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ idea award
--/ rare find


"Home There Is No Returning"
© No Boundaries, 1955
--/ third place apocalyptic sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ emotion award
--/ shock value
--/ rare find


"Housing Problem"
© Charm, Oct 1944
Bypass to Otherness, 1961
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award


"Humpty Dumpty"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Sep 1953
Mutant, 1953
--/ cool sf story

"The Iron Standard"
© Astounding, Dec 1943
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966

"Jesting Pilot"
© Astounding, May 1947
--/ cool sf story

"Juke-Box"
(as by Woodrow Wilson Smith)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1947
Return to Otherness, 1962
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea award

"Lands of the Earthquake" (nv)
© Startling Stories, May 1947
--/ cool f novel
--/ rare find

"Line to Tomorrow"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Nov 1945
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ cool sf story
--/ idea award
--/ humour award


"Line To Tomorrow" (coll)
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© 1954, Bantam Books
--/ fourth place sf collection
--/ wonder award
--/ style award


"The Lion and the Unicorn"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Mutant Series)
© Astounding, Jul 1945
Mutant, 1953
--/ cool sf story

"The Mask of Circe" (nv)
© Startling Stories, May 1948
novel: Ace Books, 1975
--/ cool f novel

"Masquerade"
© Weird Tales, May 1942
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award

"A Million Years To Conquer" (nv)
(also as "The Creature from Beyond Infinity")
© Startling Stories, Nov 1940
Fantastic Story, 1951

novel: Popular Library, 1968
--/ fourth place sf novel
--/ wonder award

----------------------------------------------



"Mimsy Were the Borogoves"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Feb 1943
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--short fiction : 1971 Astounding All-Time Poll /21
--novelette : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll /28

--/ third place sf story
--/ idea award
--/ style award


Children can deal with unknown phenomena better than adults, mostly because the world around them is still unknown and represents a mystery that they discover as they grow up. Parents should not mess with their kids imagination (trying to subvert it to something more manageable) even if for the reason that the imagined might be true. In fact, parents should NEVER barge unexpectedly into a child's bedroom... Teddy bears with ugly demeanors and bad-tempered plushy toys may suddenly get revived for no particular reason. In case of this story the mysterious objects are quite benevolent and non-threatening, other than totally re-wiring the kid's minds. These children start to see the world like Picasso saw it, or worse. Calvin might've better described it to his Hobbes, but Kuttner does a pretty good job, keeping our interest in "what is it they are REALLY seeing?" Of course the movie shows everything "loud and clear", which is only another argument to go and read the original story first. Hopefully the general public recognizes that behind pretty average production values of "The Last Mimzy" movie lies a brilliant, most fascinating storyline by the incomparable Henry Kuttner. And Kuttner's inspiration were of course the "Alice" books by Lewis Carroll.

To freshen up your memory, here is the full "Mimsy" verse:

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood
, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
' He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

- Lewis Carroll

Here is how Lewis Carroll himself envisioned "the toves"



and his version of the Jabberwocky battle:



review: 30-Aug-07 (read in 1985)

----------------------------------------------

"The Misguided Halo"
© Unknown, Aug 1939
The Best of Henry Kuttner, 1975
--/ fourth place f story
--/ wonder award
--/ humour award


"Mutant" (nv)
[as by Lewis Padgett]
© 1953, Ballantine Books
--/ cool sf novel

"No Boundaries" (coll)
© 1955, Ballantine Books
--/ third place sf collection
--/ wonder award
--/ style award


"Nothing But Gingerbread Left"
© Astounding, Jan 1943
Bypass to Otherness, 1961
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award

"The Odyssey of Yiggar Throlg"
(as C. H. Liddell)
© Startling Stories, Jan 1951

"Or Else"
© Amazing, Aug 1953
Ahead of Time, 1953
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award

"Pile of Trouble"
(Hogbens)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr 1948
Ahead of Time, 1953
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"The Piper's Son"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Mutant)
© Astounding, Feb 1945
Bypass to Otherness, 1961
--novelette : 1996 Retro Hugo
--/ cool sf story

"The Portal in the Picture" (nv)
(Dark World # 2)
© Startling Stories, Sep 1949
novel: 1962, Ace Books
--/ fourth place f novel
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award


"Project"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Apr 1947
--/ cool sf story

"The Proud Robot"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Gallegher)
© Astounding, Oct 1943
Return to Otherness, 1962
--novelette : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll/22 (tie)
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


----------------------------------------------



"Quest of the Starstone"
(with C. L. Moore)
(Jirel of Joiry series;
Northwest Smith series)
© Weird Tales, Nov 1937
--/ fourth place f novelette
--/ wonder award
--/ rare find

A rare story, one of the four "orphaned" Jirel of Joiry and NorthWest Smith stories that were never reprinted before the unique "Echoes of Valor" anthology came around in the 1980s. This is even more remarkable, given that this novelette features Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith together for the first and only time!

A plucky redhead, with more passion and bravery in her than in perhaps any sword-and-sorcery heroine out there, Jirel gets a chemistry flowing and sparks flying with that filibustier of the spaceways - a hardened Harrison-Ford-like cowboy Smith. Some groovy jumping around in time machine with weird magicians in tow ensues, and so much more: this is a solid "Weird Tales" hit, and it's beyond me why it wasn't reprinted properly. Tons of special effects and entertaining character play.

----------------------------------------------

"Return To Otherness" (coll)
© 1962, Ballantine Books
--/ second place sf collection
--/ wonder award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"Reverse Atom"
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Nov 1940
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ rare find


"Robots Have No Tails" (coll)
© Ballantine, 1950
--/ second place sf collection
--/ wonder award
--/ humour award


"See You Later"
(Hogbens)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jun 1949
Return to Otherness, 1962
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award
--/ adventure award


"Shock"
© Astounding, Mar 1943
Ahead of Time, 1953
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ humour award


"Silence Is Golden"
(as Kelvin Kent)
(Peter Manx Series)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr 1940
Fantastic Story, May 1953
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
--/ rare find


"Swing Your Lady"
(as Kelvin Kent)
(Peter Manx Series)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Win 1944
--/ cool sf story
--/ humour award
--/ rare find


"This Is The House"
© Astounding, Jan 1946
Return To Otherness, 1962
--/ third place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"Three Blind Mice"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Mutant Series)
© Astounding, Jun 1945
Mutant, 1953
--/ cool sf story

"Threshold"
© Unknown, Dec 1940
--/ cool f story
--/ rare find

"The Time Axis" (nv)
© Startling Stories, Jan 1949
novel: 1968, Ace Books
--/ second place sf novel
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ adventure award
--/ awesome scale


"Time Enough"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Dec 1946

"Time Locker"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Gallegher)
© Astounding, Jan 1943
The Proud Robot, 1983
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"Time To Kill"
© Strange Stories, Jun 1940
--/ cool sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ emotion award
--/ rare find


"Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (nv)
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Jan-Mar 1947
novel: 1951, Gnome Press
--/ cool sf novel

"Trouble on Titan"
(Tony Quade)
(Gerry Carlyle)
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1947
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ rare find


"Two-Handed Engine"
© F&SF, Aug 1955
No Boundaries, 1955
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award


"The Twonky"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Sep 1942
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ cool sf story

----------------------------------------------



"Vintage Season"
(as by Lawrence O'Donnell)
(wiith C. L. Moore)
© Astounding, Sep 1946
No Boundaries, 1955
--novella : 1999 Locus All-Time Poll W
--/ third place time sf novella
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award


Tourists from the future come to witness various disasters in the past, just for the thrill of it. The idea has been used many times since (John Varley's "Millennium", Wyndham's "Pawley's Peeholes", movies, TV episodes, etc.), but this is definitely the original treatment. They say C. L. Moore largely wrote this story, with some minor additions by Henry Kuttner (maybe an encouraging kiss or two :) - this married couple of great writers were the essence of creative cuteness, as far as I can tell. Their stories were always the product of both minds, with Kuttner probably responsible for more off-beat humour, and Moore - for the "proper" plot outlines. Although, not so sure about "proper", after reading her wild fantasy outings in "Weird Tales") "Vintage Season" turned out to be a true classic, understated novella of great charm and mystery, one of the most beloved stories to ever appear in "Astounding". A fresh take on real estate success: "A couple with a mundane, everyday house to sell find themselves unwilling landlords to a trio of renters who are anything but mundane and who seem to have a particular and uncommon interest in their home. And they are not the only ones - another equally odd group also want exclusive rights to the house, at any cost." "Location, location, location" is the key to success in real estate, with location in time suddenly becoming way more important.
review: 21-Sep-06 (read in 1987)

----------------------------------------------

"The Voice of the Lobster"
© Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb 1950
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ third place space sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award


"War-Gods of the Void"
© Planet Stories, Fall 1942
--/ cool sf story
--/ rare find

"We Guard the Black Planet!"
© Super Science Stories, Nov 1942
--/ third place space sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award


----------------------------------------------


(left: "Spring Sleep" by sis; right images: "Monastery Graveyard In The Snow" and "Watzmann" by Caspar David Friedrich, via)


Henry Kuttner
"Wet Magic"

© Unknown Worlds, Feb 1943
--/ third place fantasy novella
--/ wonder award
--/ adventure award
--/ style award
--/ humour award
--/ emotion award
--/ rare find

This novella proves once more that Henry Kuttner could write top-notch fantasy better than most acclaimed writers in the past, present and foreseeable future. Most of you know about his magnum fantasy opus "The Dark World", but here the narrative tone is lighter, humor is ever-present, and the suitably convoluted, inventive plot is crowned with an epic ending - which may arguably show this whimsical, playful piece to be the best Arthurian fantasy ever written.

I could add here "dear reader, read it and judge for yourself" - but unless someone puts this novella online, there is little chance you'll get your hands on it. Other than its original publication in a rare pulp, it's only been reprinted once, in an obscure anthology (so perhaps it's all a conspiracy to hide the embarrassing fact of how well a "high fantasy" adventure can be written? - so that massive brain-dead volumes of modern "epic" fantasy could continue to flood bookstores, to be bought by readers who simply don't know any better)

Truly, misadventures of a WWII pilot who stumbles into a Magical Kingdom (hidden inside a humble English country lake), then proceeds to mess up with Morgan Le Fay and gets his hands on the Excalibur, are amusing enough - but as the ending approaches, a reader would want this hilarious romp to continue and not turn the last page; as is often the case with Henry Kuttner's all-too-short short fiction.

----------------------------------------------

"What You Need"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
© Astounding, Oct 1945
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--short story : 1996 Retro Hugo
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award


"When the Bough Breaks"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
©Astounding, Nov 1944
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ fourth place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award


"A Wild Surmise"
© Star Science Fiction Stories # 1, 1953
The Best of Kuttner 2, 1966
--/ cool sf story

"The World Is Mine"
(as by Lewis Padgett)
(Gallegher)
©Astounding, Jun 1943
The Proud Robot, 1983
--/ second place sf story
--/ wonder award
--/ idea award
--/ style award
--/ humour award


"Year Day"
© Ahead of Time, 1953
The Best of Kuttner, 1965
--/ cool sf story

------------------------------------------------------

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