H. L. Gold

Okay, I’m going to violate one of my unwritten rules and post two items today.  In addition to being A. E. van Vogt’s birthday, it’s also Horace L. Gold’s birthday.  Born on April 26 in 1914, Gold passed away in 1996.

Although best remembered as the editor of Galaxy during the 1950s, Gold was also a successful writer of fiction in the 1930s and 40s.  While not one to the top tier, Gold’s fiction tended to the humorous.

“Trouble With Water” is probably his best known story.  I started to post this on Futures Past and Present because Gold was a science fiction editor.  But this is a fantasy story  (even if it was reprinted in Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 1: 1939, where I first read it).

“Trouble With Water” originally appeared in the March 1939 issue of Unknown, which was the premiere issue.  Edd Cartier provided the illustration below. It concerns a henpecked man named Greenberg who runs a concession stand. His nagging wife is always on his back about sacrificing so his daughter can have a good dowry and find a husband.

He just wants to go fishing. After a major fight with his wife, he does, albeit with a newly broken rod. The only thing he catches is a green hat. It belongs to a water gnome, who swims up using his ears so he can keep his arms crossed and give himself an air of dignity.

The conversation doesn’t go well. Water gnomes are responsible for rain, which it always does on weekends, hurting business. Also, the gnomes have told the fish not bite. Greenberg ends up tearing up the hat in a fit of pique. The gnome curses him by making water avoid him.

Greenberg doesn’t think much of the curse.

At least not at first…

“Trouble With Water” was a fun and amusing story, although modern readers might find it a bit dated.  Still, it’s worth reading.  “Trouble With Water” has been reprinted many times and was included in The Fantasy Fall of Fame.  It can be found in H. L. Gold Resurrected.