Category Archives: Henry Kuttner

C. L. Moore, Pioneer of Fantasy and Science Fiction

4 Replies

Catherine Lucille (C. L.) Moore (1911-1987) was born in Indianapolis on this date, January 24. She is the third of three major fantasy writers whose birthdays are every other day in January. The first was A. Merritt, and the second was Robert E. Howard.  She is someone whose work should not be forgotten. If you haven’t read her work, or if it’s been a while, do yourself a favor and do so.

Like Howard, I’ve written about Moore so many times over the years that it’s becoming a challenge to come up with something  new. Work and some travel have kept me from doing much reading for the last week, so there won’t be a review of any particular story.  Forgive me if I rehash things from older posts. Continue reading →

Jesting with Kuttner

Leave a reply

Today, April 7, marks Henry Kuttner’s birthday (1915-1958). Kuttner is one of the most revered authors in these here parts. I’ve been in a Weird Tales kind of mood lately, probably because it the Weird Tales centennial. I’m going to try to get some posts up about that soon.

But I digress.

For today’s post, I’m going to look at one of Kuttner’s early stories for Weird Tales, “The Jest of Droom-Avista”. Kuttner was still learning  the ropes on this one, so it’s a little rough around the edges. It was first published in the August 1937 issue.

The basic plot goes like this: Continue reading →

Blogging Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry: “Quest of the Starstone”

3 Replies

C. L. Moore

Today, January 24, is the birthday of C. L. Moore (1911-1987). She was one of the best practitioners of the weird tale, and later, mostly with her husband Henry Kuttner, of science fiction.

Today for her birthday, I’m going to look at “Quest of the Starstone”, in which Northwest Smith and Jirel meet. This story was a collaboration with her future husband, Henry Kutner. This story was originally published in the November 1937 issue of  Weird Tales. Catherine and Hank didn’t marry until 1940.

His his introduction to the story in Echoes of Valor II, Karl Edward Wagner says it was a collaboration by mail. I’m going to rely heavily on that volume and a couple of others when I look at the two remaining stories in the Northwest Smith series. “Quest of the Starstone” is the final Jirel story. Continue reading →

Kuttner’s “Line to Tomorrow”

2 Replies

One of the things Henry Kuttner excelled at was the dark, sardonic twist at the end of many of his stories. Another thing he excelled at was time travel stories. Often in the same story. We’ll look at one of these today that he wrote in collaboration with his wife C. L. Moore that was published under their pen name Lewis Padgett.

Speaking of today, it’s Kuttner’s birthday, April 7, as this post goes live. I wasn’t able to read something for the birthday of Kuttner’s friend Robert Bloch. I wasn’t going to make that mistake for Kuttner.

“Line to Tomorrow” begins with Jerry Fletcher answering the phone way too early in the morning. He can only hear one voice. It seems to be a call between two people, but much of what they’re talking about doesn’t make sense. Continue reading →

Black Friday, Adventures Fantastic Style Extended -Bloch and Kuttner

4 Replies

I’ve wished for a long time that someone would publish some electronic collections by Robert Bloch. Or print collections that don’t just reprint the same handful of stories that are in most of the available collections.

My prayers have been answered. Sort of. The two stories I’m going to look at today come from a recently published collection entitled The Best of Robert Bloch, Vol. 3. There’s a volume 1, but as far as I’ve been able to find, there isn’t a volume 2.  This is a different book than the single volume of the same title that was published by Del Rey back in the 1970s.

(I’m not sure just how legitimate this book is. It and the first volume were published in October of this year, volume 3 just over a month ago as I write this. I’m not sure if Bloch’s estate authorized these books or receive any proceeds from the sale. The photo on Robert Bloch’s Amazon author page is someone else.) Continue reading →

When the Magic is Wet

Leave a reply

Henry Kuttner

Today, April 7, is the birthday of one of my favorite writers, Henry Kuttner (1915-1958). For today’s post, I’ve inadvertently broken my informal rule about only reviewing works that are easily available.Today’s post is a review of “Wet Magic”. It had been a number of years since I read the story, and most of the details had faded from my memory.

I  knew I had at least three copies of it. The original issue of Unknown Worlds (February 1943), an electronic copy of that same issue, and a copy in Echoes of Valor, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was in the latter where I had originally read it, and that was where I reread it. Then I went to find where else the story had been reprinted.

It hasn’t been. I was a little surprised, because “Wet Magic” is an excellent story. Kuttner had a dry sense of humor, and it shows here. John W. Campbell, Jr. wanted much of the fantasy he published in Unknown Worlds to be set in the modern world and not take itself too seriously. “Wet Magic” was a perfect fit. Continue reading →

To Ray, With Much Thanks

2 Replies

Today (August 22, 2020) marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ray Bradbury. If you’ll indulge a bit of nostalgia, I’m going to discuss the impact Ray had on my life.

It must have been the 6th grade, but it might have been the 5th. It’s been too many years now to be sure. One day in Mr. Thayer’s reading class, there was a guest waiting when we arrived from whatever class we’d been in before.

I don’t recall the gentleman’s name, but he was there to read to us. He told us was going to read a story by Ray Bradbury, who was a science fiction writer. Continue reading →

Retro Hugos: Final Thoughts on the Novelettes

4 Replies

The Retro Hugo nominees for best novelette are (links are to reviews):

  • “The Big and the Little”, Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction 8/44)
  • “Arena”, Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction 6/44)
  • “No Woman Born”, C.L. Moore (Astounding Science Fiction 12/44)
  • “The Children’s Hour”, Lawrence O’Donnell (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction 3/44)
  • “When the Bough Breaks”, Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction 11/44)
  • “City”, Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction 5/44)

All of these stories are strong contenders. There isn’t a bad one in the bunch. but they aren’t all equal. With the exception of “Whent he Bough Breaks” and “The Children’s Hour”, I’ve not read any of them since high school. Continue reading →

Retro Hugos: “When the Bow Breaks” by Lewis Padgett

4 Replies

Anyone who hangs out around here for any length of time and doesn’t know that Lewis Padgett is one the the pen names used by Henry Kuttner and his wife C. L. Moore clearly hasn’t been paying attention.  Written under the Lewis Padgett by-line, “When the Bough Breaks” was first published in the November 1944 issue of Astounding.

The spring before I started high school, my parents gave permission for me to join the Science Fiction Book Club. So I had a source of hardcover science fiction and fantasy to read that summer.  This was in the days before science fiction was regularly published in hardcover. Most books were mass market paperbacks.

At the time, the SFBC offered a number of titles from Ballantine’s Best of series. This was a way I could discover new writers, and I took full advantage of it.  I mean, if these writers weren’t good, why was there a volume entitled The Best of followed by their names? I was making money mowing lawns, so I had the funds to afford to buy some books. I was already familiar with the series because I had found The Best of Jack Williamson at a flea market about eighteen months earlier, and I bought every one the SFBC offered at the time.  (For some reason, they never offered The Best of C. L. Moore while I was a member, although they had published such a volume a year or three earlier.) Continue reading →

Retro Hugos: “The Children’s Hour” by Lawrence O’Donnell (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore)

10 Replies

OK, I’m gonna do it.  With the exception of some of the novels, I’ll be looking at the nominees for the 1945 Retro Hugos, which are awarded for stories published in 1944.  I’m going to start with the novelettes.  I read “The Children’s Hour” earlier this week as a possibility Henry Kuttner birthday post before the Retro Hugo shortlist was announced.  Might as well tackle it while it’s fresh on my mind.

“The Children’s Hour” was originally published in the March 1944 issue of Astounding.  (I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of these posts since many of them will double as Astounding 90th Anniversary posts.)

Before we go any further, I want to address something, and that’s where to find these stories so you can read them.  As a general rule, I don’t do review posts of things that aren’t readily available, although I do make exceptions to that rule from time to time.  For the Hugos, the voting members of Worldcon get copies of the short fiction to read, and the last time I had a membership, that was true for the Retro Hugos as well.

I don’t have a copy of this year’s Retro nominees that was provided to the Wolrdcon membership. The one  year I was a voting member, pretty much everything from the year under question was provided so members could read the stories and nominate for t he short list.  If anyone wants to send me a copy, I won’t snitch.  Promise.

The only short fiction I don’t have a copy of is “Intruders From the Stars” by Ross Rocklynne, and I was able to order a reprint of that one.  I have no illusions that everyone who takes the time to read these posts will have access to all of the stories.  The only reason I have copies of some of them is because I bought several complete runs of pulps on CD last year for myself for Father’s Day.

“The Children’s Hour” is one of the tales that will be hard to come by.  According to the ISFDB, it has only been reprinted in English four times:  twice in 1959, once in 1983, and once in 2010.If you want to read my review, it will be below the “Continue Reading ” link.  I will try to avoid as many spoilers as possible in all of these reviews. Continue reading →