The Mask of Circe
Henry Kuttner
ebook $7.99
Originally published in Startling Stories, May 1948

Henry Kuttner (1915-1958) was one of the most prolific authors of the fantastic in the 1940’s.  Or rather I should say he was half of one of the most prolific writing duos, the other half being his wife, C. L. Moore.  Kuttner was born on this date, April 7.

(As an aside, I asked on Twitter if anyone had any suggestions as to what I should read for today, and the only response I got was “C. L. Moore”. And while pretty much everything they wrote after their marriage was a collaboration, for this birthday post, I’m focusing on things published under Kuttner’s byline.  I will be doing a post of Moore’s Judgment Night in the near future.)

Today we’re going to look at an example of Kuttner’s science fantasy.  The Mask of Circe was published in what was supposed to be a science fiction magazine, so there is some hand waving to keep it from being pure fantasy.

Jay Seward gets pulled into a parallel world in which he learns that he is a descendant of the original Jason who went in search of the Golden Fleece. He has all of Jason’s memories, but at first they keep mixing with his.

Seward son finds himself caught between the remaining deities in this world, Apollo and Hecate.  They aren’t really gods, just powerfully advanced beings.

Familiarity with the Greek myths about Jason would help, as Kuttner refers to a number of incidents.  Even if you don’t know all the backstory, this is still an enjoyable tale.   The plot is pretty straightforward, without a lot of twist and surprises, although there are a few.  Despite the title Circe doesn’t play a huge role in events except at the beginning and the end.

Henry Kuttner

While I wouldn’t rank The Mask of Circe as one of Kuttner’s best, it’s still a good story that didn’t fail to entertain. Kuttner and Moore wrote a number of “complete novels” for Thrilling Wonder Stories and Startling Stories in the mid-to-late 1940s.  While some of them have been reprinted, many haven’t.  I have only read a few of the ones that have, but since I gave myself a set of TWS and SS on CD last year for Father’s Day, I’m going to try to read as many as I can, both reprinted and unreprinted, while I’m working from home.

Kuttner made his reputation writing science fiction, especially the work he and Moore did for John Campbell under the psuedonyms “Lewis Padgett” and “Lawrence O’Donnell”.  I looked at some of that work earlier today over at Futures Past and Present.