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$5.00
1. The Last Mimzy: Stories
$6.65
2. Robots Have No Tails (Planet Stories)
 
3. Startling Worlds of Henry Kuttner
$4.75
4. Elak of Atlantis (Planet Stories)
5. Best of Henry Kuttner
$429.20
6. Mutant
$27.00
7. Terror in the House: The Early
$7.42
8. The Dark World (Planet Stories)
9. Clash by Night
10. Best of Henry Kuttner W/Introduction
11. Reader, I Hate You!
12. The Dark World and Other Works
$9.99
13. The Ego Machine
 
14. The Best of Henry Kuttner With
$179.99
15. Planets of Wonder: A Treasury
 
16. No Boundaries
 
17. Fury (U.K.)
$29.95
18. The Well of the Worlds
$9.17
19. The Time Axis
$40.00
20. Detour to Otherness

1. The Last Mimzy: Stories
by Henry Kuttner
Paperback: 338 Pages (2007-02-27)
list price: US$13.95 -- used & new: US$5.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0345497554
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Editorial Review

Product Description
THE LAST MIMZY IS THE IDEAL INTRODUCTION TO AN AUTHOR WHO WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME–AND WHOSE TIME HAS FINALLY COME.

These seventeen classic stories create their own unique galaxy of vain, protective, and murderous robots; devilish angels; and warm and angry aliens. In “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”–the inspiration for New Line Cinema’s major motion picture The Last Mimzy–a boy finds a discarded box containing a treasure trove of curious objects. When he and his sister begin to play with these trinkets–including a crystal cube that magnifies the unimaginable and a strange doll with removable organs that don’t quite correspond to those of the human body–their parents grow concerned. And they should be. For the items are changing the way the children think and perceive the world around them–for better or worse.

Ray Bradbury called Henry Kuttner “a man who shaped science fiction and fantasy in its most important years.” Marion Zimmer Bradley and Roger Zelazny said he was a major inspiration. Kuttner was a writer’s writer whose visionary works anticipated our own computer-controlled, machine-made world. At the time of his death at forty-two in 1958, he had created as many as 170 stories under more than a dozen pseudonyms–sometimes writing entire issues of science fiction magazines–in close collaboration with his wife, C. L. Moore.

This definitive collection will be a revelation to those who wish to discover or rediscover Henry Kuttner, a true master of the universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

1-0 out of 5 stars Stories that end with a shrug
Bradbury's intro tells how chummy he and Kuttner were and that's great. The problem is, these stories are pointless. They carry no payoff at the end. They are bland. They are pedestrian. They are predictable. The characters are pasteboard and instantly forgettable. They're like watching old, Twilight Zone or Hitchcock Hour episodes in black and white. If you like watching 1960's TV episodes you'll love this. If you don't, try the icons of hard SF: Vance, Leiber, Van Vogt, Sturgeon, Silverberg, Campbell, and most of all, when you're ready for the most intense writing of all: Her Smoke Rose Up Forever. Tiptree was a god among writers. Her visions will move you, change you, entertain you. Once you've read her, bush-leagers like Kuttner will bore you as they do me.

5-0 out of 5 stars The Last Mimzy:Stories
Excellent book of short and thought provoking stories.Henry Kuttner was a master of the science fiction short story. The title story is different from the movie, The Last Mimzy, but is far more interesting and powerful.

3-0 out of 5 stars Sadly not as good as the movie
I've never read a book that wasn't 300 percent better than the movie. Until now. This is a set of strange short stories. Not terrible, but not great either.

4-0 out of 5 stars A Wonderment of What-ifs?
What if a box of toys from far in the future fell into a twentieth century schoolyard, and some kid took them home to play with? What if a factory worker from another civilization fell into a twentieth century factory and made what only looked like a commonplace entertainment center? What if you stepped into an upscale shop that advertised, "We Have What You Need"? (And, found out, they really did?) These and many more intriguing conundrums are explored in a wonderful collection of seventeen short stories.

Author Henry Kuttner flourished in the golden age of science fiction, which was also, coincidentally, this reviewer's youth. I still remember some of the stories from that golden time. They are fanciful stories of colliding realities, and human dilemmas. Fifty years later they are a bit dated. In some cases, technology has outpaced the author's imagination. Of course, the classic Sci Fi tropes are all there. Space travel is commonplace. Time travel is devilishly paradoxical. Homo sapiens is evolving rapidly toward Homo superior, which makes for some difficult parent-child relations. Oddly enough, there are no desktop computers or cellphones in this fantastic new world. Genetics is a hot topic, but not as hot as in 2008. There are odd families, too, like the reclusive Hogbens with their supernatural abilities. A smorgasbord of entertainment.

Some of the stories, as I mentioned, are a bit dated, some are awkward reading, some are written in dialect which makes them a bit hard to follow. Kuttner is a writer of ideas more than character. His characters are often one-dimensional loners, who have tenuous connections with others. Still, for what they are, these are great stories and well worth another look. Incidentally, I didn't know about the "Mimzy" movie, until I got hold of this book. I recommend the collection highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

4-0 out of 5 stars Good but old-time SciFi
I've always loved science fiction but my real preference has truly been Speculative Fiction. I saw the movie 'The Last Mimzy' with my children and we all liked it so wanted to take that a little further I bought the book for my son because he loves to read such books. I hadn't known that it was really a collection of stories but he liked them all. I read it and found it a bit dated but the first tale that the movie had been based was a fun read. I'm glad I had the opportunity to learn about this author and read some of his stuff. I'm also glad that my son was able to experience it. Thanks...
... Read more


2. Robots Have No Tails (Planet Stories)
by Henry Kuttner
Paperback: 160 Pages (2009-06-24)
list price: US$12.99 -- used & new: US$6.65
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 160125153X
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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Editorial Review

Product Description
Hounded by creditors and heckled by an uncooperative robot, binge-drinking inventor Galloway Gallegher must solve the mystery of his own machines before his dodgy financing and reckless lifestyle catch up with him!This complete collection of Kuttner's five classic "Gallegher" stories presents the author at the height of his imaginative genius. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

5-0 out of 5 stars Great Old Sci-fi
If you are a fan of pulp sci-fi, this is for you. A series of short stories about an inventor (Gallegher) who does his best work while drunk. Unfortunately, after his binges he can't remember what he invented or why he did so. Not at all PC these days, but still a good solid read.

5-0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Short-Story Collection
I originally read this set of related short stories in a paperback edition decades ago.It is still the only book I ever read that when I finished it, I read it immediately all over again!Mr. Kuttner, writing in his humorous-story pen name of Lewis Padgett, wrote some of the funniest short stories in sci-fi and fantasy ever done (there is a lot more to read for anyone who likes this book, though unfortunately no more stories about Mr. Gallagher, the inventor).The sci-fi stories all "nail it" in many ways concerning predicting the future, particularly in the best story "The Proud Robot".Considering the stories in this book were all written in 1941, Mr. Kuttner had an amazing ability to predict what would happen if certain types of technology were created and, after mixing this with a fantastic grasp of human nature and a writing style that is different from, but as good as, Terry Pratchett, you get stories you never forget and get at least a smile whenever you remember them.This is true classic sci-fi at its very best.Very highly recommended!

Nathan Okun

5-0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Charming Creations in Classic Science Fiction
Henry Kuttner's stories starring the whimsical and often tipsy inventor with a poor memory, Gallagher, and his creation, the vain Robot, are among the most sweetly remembered of my adolescence.They hold up wonderfully well.The plots are scrambled mysteries of economic intrigue, and the characters are memorable and a delight to visit with--at any age.

The only other character in science fiction for whom I have a similar, sweet fondness is Pohl Anderson's intergallactice trader and sly Santa Clause of a devilish detective, Nicholas Van Riijn.

I recommend ROBOTS HAVE NO TALES as highly as possible.This edition included an early, short, memoir by Kuttner's wife and colleague author, C.L. Moore.Note that this edition of the book is published in soft, magazie format.It is very nicely done with excellent cover and interior illustrations.

A fine package, and a must-read collection.

5-0 out of 5 stars A classic back in print
I first came across Henry Kuttner in the 70's. If memory serves it was the Lancer edition of "Robots Have No Tails" the collected stores of Galloway Gallagher. In the first published story, "The Time Locker" the character was Galloway. Kuttner forgot and renamed him Gallagher in the next story. He corrected the mistake re-christening him "Galloway Gallagher." Over the years I have re-read with pleasures these politically incorrect stories of the drunken genius. Eventually, my copy decayed to dust. It's great to see an old friend get a new lease on life. The stories are dated and the writing slightly off - but Kuttner was a pulp writer of his time. These are not the polished gems he wrote with his wife, Moore, but written in a lighter vein. This work represents the fun side of the golden era of science fiction.

5-0 out of 5 stars Pulp Noir ...
Written in the 1940's, and reprinted by Paizo in the style of a 40's magazine (a two column page layout,among other things) this is a wonderful collection of Henry Kuttner's Gallegher tales.

Basically, its a collection of 5 short stories, each a noirish mystery set in a dystopian future earth.Some of the descriptions of the future reminded me of Blade Runner; at least in the sense of merely being backdrop, not story.

There are hints of philosophy in the tales too, if you take more than a fleeting look.

For all that, its a fun read, which is most important of all.Throw in a few introductions and notes for background, and its a fantastic little book. ... Read more


3. Startling Worlds of Henry Kuttner
by Henry Kuttner
 Paperback: Pages (1987)

Asin: B002DIDJG4
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Customer Reviews (1)

4-0 out of 5 stars Three Classic Novels Of Other Worlds
Henry Kuttner was one of the most prolific and creative of the writers of the so-called "Golden Age" of science fiction.This volume contains three complete novels, taken from the pages of Startling Stories magazine during this literary period: The Portal In The Picture, Valley Of The Flame, and The Dark World.All three, it should be noted, were collaborations between Henry Kuttner and his wife Catherine (who was a superior writer in her own right, unjustly forgotten, neglected and obscure).Ms. Moore typically declined her half of the byline.The first of the three stories was also published (1954) as "Beyond Earth's Gates" as "By Lewis Padgett and C. L. Moore".Since it can be argued that Lewis Padgett was C. L. Moore, perhaps here is an admission of collaboration.Or something.The Portal In The Picture deals with a man from late forties New York mysteriously transported through a strange painting which functions as a gateway between worlds.He finds himself on an Earth where alchemy reigns and science is a forgotten legend.He must save the most beautiful woman on two worlds to escape the treacherous pleasures of this strange world.Valley of the Flame deals with Amazonian explorers who discover a place where time flows at a faster rate.Here a strange race of people guards a stranger secret with the opwer to destroy the planet.The Dark World is sort of a celtic-paganized vision of the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, except the wolf is a werewolf, Red Hood is a witch, Granny is an ancient and malevolent alien entity or something, and the goodies are magic.Great stuff. ... Read more


4. Elak of Atlantis (Planet Stories)
by Henry Kuttner
Paperback: 160 Pages (2007-12-15)
list price: US$12.99 -- used & new: US$4.75
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 1601250460
Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Editorial Review

Product Description
Explore the origins of Sword & Sorcery with Henry Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis! Published in Weird Tales to satisfy fans of Conan the Barbarian in the wake of Robert E. Howard's death, the four long stories depict a brutal world of flashing swords and primal magic, touched by a hint of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. Never collected in a mass market edition since their publication in the late 1930s, these exciting tales helped to establish a genre and are a critical part of any fantasy library. Included as a bonus are Kuttner's two Prince Raynor stories from 1939's Strange Tales. With seminal, thrilling adventure tales from one of the most important writers in science-fiction and fantasy, Elak of Atlantis is not to be missed! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

2-0 out of 5 stars Jhaeman's Reviews
The fourth book in the Planet Stories line is Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner. The book is a collection of six short sword-and-sorcery stories originally published in Weird Tales between 1938 and 1941. Four of the stories feature Elak, a (voluntarily) exiled prince adventuring through a fairly standard generic medieval-Europe style land called Atlantis. With the help of his always drunken friend Lycon and the mysterious druid Dalan, Elak gains the thrown of his native land over the course of the stories after battling evil wizards and the like. The last two stories in the book feature a character named Prince Raynor as the hero, who has similar adventures assisted by a loyal (but always subservient) bodyguard named Eblik and a sword-wielding love interest named Delphia.

Despite the glowing introduction by Joe Lansdale, there's nothing particularly noteworthy or memorable about these stories. They are competent, straight-forward noble hero vs. evil wizard adventure tales, but whatever originality they may have had in the 1930s is definitely gone by now. For the hardcore sword-and-sorcery fan only.

After reading several, I'm pretty bummed with the Planet Stories line of novels--there's a lot less in the way of hidden gems than stories deservedly forgotten.

4-0 out of 5 stars 6 little masterpieces, all in a row
As others have said, Henry Kuttner was one of the fathers of pulp in the 30's and 40's.This 220-odd page book is a collection of 4 Elak tales, and two of Prince Raynor.Both characters are great fun, and for me Elak's drunken offsider Lygon steals most of his scenes.

In addition to Elak (which is in fact not his real name - there is some real depth to the characters if you look a little deeply) and Lygon, there are pretty girls, a pyromaniacal druid, and horrors both of this world and other worlds.

The tales are told with humor and full of derring-do.Its also a pleasant change to read a collection of short stories rather than a never-ending multi-volume fantasy.

Prince Raynor also makes an appearance, with the style of these stories clearly reflecting the Conan stories published in Weird Tales earlier in the decade.Once again there is an offsider (a giant, somewhat pessimistic nubian) and a pretty girl (the same one) across two linked stories.

The characterisation of the antagonist of the first Raynor tale is superb: in a few lines of dialogue we gain a glimpse of a irredeemably tortured soul wishing for redemption, but knowing it is out of reach.

These are forgotten masterworks, fantasy from before Lord of the Rings defined the genre, and well worth a read.

4-0 out of 5 stars A Book Of Excellent Fantasy
I purchased this book on the title alone for starters, because I am one of the few people in the world named Elak, taken from my great, great grandfather.I also have a fascination with Atlantis, dragons (which are purely symbolic for the actual Annuna race before the Mesopotamian and Sumerian cultures in the Middle East), a love of swordplay (especially fencing, which fits amazingly with the main character's rapier) and ancient knowledge.Interestingly, the very first page of "Thunder In The Dawn" uses a variation of the Piri Re'is map showing Antarctica before it was covered in ice, and is the indicated location of Atlantis.An unusual, and accurate, choice for Kuttner to use.Until now, I've never read any of his works, but this has been an enjoyable read.More so in that I can actually put myself into the character's shoes since we both share the same name and love for adventure and swordplay.This is a prize possession of a book for me and a good read for anyone else.

4-0 out of 5 stars Excellent sword and sorcery
A colection of four stories (Thunder in the Dawn, Spawn of Dagon, Beyond the Phoenix, Dragon Moon) concerning the exploits of the adventurer Elak of Atlantis (otherwise known as... but thats telling) and two stories of Prince Raynor (Cursed be the City, Citadel of Darkness) this is one collection well worth buying. The action is well describe and swift, the heroes bold, forthright and well, heroic. The villians are a collection of foul wizards, evil gods and things from beyond.

I have to admit to being more impressed with the two stories about Prince Raynor than I was with Elak of Atlantis but the final Elak story may be the best in the book. Unfortunately there were only two Raynor stories and that was just enough to leave me wanting more.

Henry Kuttner is indeed a Neglected Master (as Ray Bradbury refers to him) of science fiction and fantasy. Hopefully through the release of these Planet Stories Library novels he will have a chance to be noticed and recognized for his achievements.

5-0 out of 5 stars More Proof of Kuttner as One of America's Greatest Sci-Fi Writers
I was introduced to Henry Kuttner twenty years ago as one of a number of authors included in yet another Martin Greenberg edited collection of pulp stories.After suffering through several poor examples of purple prose, Kuttner's brilliant cadence and rhythm immediately stood out from the rest.I became an instant fan of Kuttner and have remained so.This newest collection of the four Elak of Atlantis stories (along with two more featuring another Kuttner character, Prince Raynor) is a welcome addition to my Kuttner collection.Elak is a very human version of so many Sword and Sorcery heroes and more often than not, he is overwhelmed by a greater threat and has to rely on his fat friend Lycon, or his ever-helpful diety Mider to help him out.To me, this just adds to the appeal of Elak; he's not the strongest or best fighter in the room, but he usually is the smartest.As for Kuttner's work being "bland," "flat" and "uninteresting," you should read the stories yourself.If you are a fan of Tolkien, Howard and Moorcock you will not only be surprised by Henry Kuttner's writing, you will be impressed.Well worth the $11-13 to take a trip to the lush, expertly crafted worlds of Henry Kuttner.Thank you to Planet Stories for this beautiful reprint edition. ... Read more


5. Best of Henry Kuttner
by Henry Kuttner
Mass Market Paperback: 416 Pages (1975-03-12)
list price: US$1.95
Isbn: 034524415X
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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Customer Reviews (5)

5-0 out of 5 stars Mimsy Were the Borogoves
Woth it for Mimsy alone; however the other stories are a bonus.

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

"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" is on tape and even on vinyl at one time. It can also be found in some of Henry Kuttner books.

It is a small sci-fi story about a formula that allows you into an alternate universe that everyone used to have access to. The problem with getting there is that it requires a different paradigm and a formula. The paradigm requires a mindset that diapers as we get older and the formula is in front of us if we know where to look. An added plus is that the tape version is read to us enthusiastically by William Shatner.

Playing around with time travel he needed something to put into the cube. He chose some of his old toys. The box never came back. After trying for a second time with no success he gave up and moved on.

The Last Mimzy (Widescreen Infinifilm Edition)

5-0 out of 5 stars A Forgotten Master
Henry Kuttner was a master of thoughtful, humorous and bitter scifi.He was so prolific that he used at least 5 pen names, including Lewis Padgett.My all time favorite story is "Mimsy Were The Borogroves".If that story doesn't give you shudders, then you are no longer alive.His stuff was well written, well plotted and wonderfully presented.If you have never read Kuttner, I envy you.Reading him for the first time is an amazing experience.Please get this book, in whatever form you can.

5-0 out of 5 stars I WANT THIS BOOK
It's even on my wishlist. ;)This is a fantastic book.After I read my friend's hardback copy, I made him promise to leave it to me in his will since he wouldn't give it to me.:D"Golden Age" sci-fi at its best, with a little weird fantasy too.

5-0 out of 5 stars Best Henry Kuttner Collection
If you want the best all-around collection of Henry Kuttner short stories, this is the book for you.

This collection includes: "Mimsy Were the Borogroves"; "The Twonky"; "What You Need"; "Two-Handed Engine"; "The Proud Robot"; "The Misguided Halo"; "The Voice of the Lobster"; "Exit the Professor"; "A Gnome There Was"; "The Big Night"; "Nothing but Gingerbread Left"; "The Iron Standard"; "Cold War"; "Or Else"; "Endowment Policy"; "Housing Problem"; and "Absalom."

My favorite story was "What You Need" just because the idea behind it was so clever and, too, because I love the classic Twilight Zone episode that was based on it.

This collection also includes a very good introduction by Ray Bradbury titled "Henry Kuttner: A Neglected Master" written in 1974, which offers insights as to why Kuttner was not lauded critically the way that Orwell, Vonnegut, Heinlein and Wells were. It also says a lot about Bradbury himself, at a time when he was at the height of his powers.

The short stories in this collection first appeared between 1939 and 1955 in magazines like Astounding Science Fiction, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories, Unknown, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and as such, they offer a glimpse ofwhat those magazines were like at that time. It was an era when a writer could actually make a living writing short stories. As such, this book is a pearl of wisdom and history, and it should not be forgotten.

Stacey Cochran
Author of CLAWS available for 80 Cents

5-0 out of 5 stars Kuttner is GREAT
Kuttner is one of the best sci fi writers ever.Died too soon in 1958.He and his wife, CL Moore, colloborated on many great stories, including Mimsy.Check out her stories as well.Too bad he left us so soon, a real tragedy (and unknown) to sci fi literature. ... Read more


6. Mutant
by Henry Kuttner
Paperback: 224 Pages (1979-06)
-- used & new: US$429.20
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0600363201
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Editorial Review

Product Description
Henry Kuttner's 1953 novel of a despised community of telepaths hiding from society carries echoes of the Holocaust and the postwar DP communities. Kuttner, the most inventive and gifted short story writer in all of the science fiction, bridged this novel from five novelettes in ASTOUNDING: four were published that atomic year, 1945. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

4-0 out of 5 stars Super Reader
In this book by Henry Kuttner from the 1950s, homo superior has arrived, and again, they are in hiding. The book contains several pieces about this new race, and they are telepathic. It deals more with their problems, and what it is like to be a telepath, or what it is like to have problems with these abilities when you have been telepathic before, and that sort of thing, compared to the more action oriented approach of Van Vogt, for example.

There is some conflict between the various political groups within the telepaths, and the overall story is told from the point of view of one of the last survivors of the early days, after he has crash landed in bad weather.

Mutant : 1 The Piper's Son - Henry Kuttner
Mutant : 2 Three Blind Mice - Henry Kuttner
Mutant : 3 The Lion and the Unicorn - Henry Kuttner
Mutant : 4 Beggars in Velvet - Henry Kuttner
Mutant : 5 Humpty Dumpty - Henry Kuttner


Mutant telepaths don't need barbers, and don't bother challenging them to knife fights. The kids can be tricky to get right.

3.5 out of 5


Telepathic cabal with unbreakable communication presents a serious problem.

4 out of 5


Mistrust between the groups of mutant telepaths and others intensifies.

3.5 out of 5


Telepath battles and strategy.

3.5 out of 5


The telepath conflict evolves into a desperate fight to stop a killer virus.

3.5 out of 5

5-0 out of 5 stars A GREAT FINAL NOVEL FROM A WONDERFUL TEAM
By the early 1950s, the great husband-and-wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore had moved to the West Coast to acquire degrees at the University of Southern California, and were concentrating more on their scholastic pursuits than their (formerly prodigious) sci-fi/fantasy output. In 1953, the pair released "Mutant," which would turn out to be their final, novel-length work of science fiction as a team. "Mutant" is what is known as a "fix-up novel," consisting of four short stories originally published in 1945 and a final story released in 1953, cobbled together with some interlinking material. Taken as a whole, the book is another great achievement for the pair; a wonderfully well-written, thought-provoking, multigenerational piece of hard sci-fi. "Mutant" tells the story of the Baldies, a population of telepathic, hairless (natch) humans that has been created as a result of hard radiations following the so-called Blowup. Distrusted and feared by the nontelepathic majority, their lot is indeed a hard one, despite their obvious advantages. The authors have seemingly given much thought to the question of what it must be like to be a mind reader, and many aspects of the telepathic society (their dueling customs, relations with nontelepaths, their alloted occupations, intermarriage, etc.) are examined in some detail. Kuttner and Moore, using italicized type and bracketed paragraphs, effectively convey telepathic conversations amongst several people; one of the book's major strengths, I feel, and this years before Alfred Bester achieved a similar feat in his 1953 masterpiece "The Demolished Man." Each of the novel's five sections is a concise little gem, and each tells the story of one of the "Key Lives" in Baldy history. "The Piper's Son" (which first appeared in "Astounding Science-Fiction" in February '45) introduces us to Al Burkhalter, a Baldy who works as a semantics expert at a publishing firm and is starting to have trouble with his arrogant Baldy son. "Three Blind Mice" ("Astounding," June '45) tells the story of Dave Barton, a Baldy field biologist who uses his powers to study animals in the wild. (Ever wonder what it's like to read the mind of a shark, a rabbit or a goldfish? This is the book for you!) Barton is here given the assignment of tracking down and killing three Baldy Paranoids, a subset of the mutant population that does not want to live peaceably with the nontelepaths, but rather to exterminate them. Barton returns (40 years older and more experienced in his fight against the Paranoids) in "The Lion and the Unicorn" ("Astounding," July '45), and here makes contact with a young Baldy who has been living with a group of nontelepathic, nomadic pioneer sorts, the Hedgehounds. This tale also deals with a Baldy scientist who is working desperately to counter the Paranoids' secret telepathic bandwidth. In "Beggars in Velvet" ("Astounding," December '45), Burkhalter's grandson must deal with a pogrom that the Paranoids have instigated against the Baldies in a small town in the former British Columbia; a pogrom that has the dire potential to spread worldwide. Finally, in "Humpty Dumpty" ("Astounding," September '53), we are shown the efforts of the Baldy scientists who are endeavoring to find a means of inducing telepathy mechanically and making the secret available to all humans. In each of these tales, the Baldy minority may be seen as representative of any minority of your choice (Jews, blacks, you name it), and the desperate efforts of the Baldies against the Paranoid troublemakers and the hostile nontelepaths are shown in a very positive light by the authors...even when cold-blooded killing becomes necessary, as it often does. Thus, "Mutant" turns out to be not only an exciting and wonderfully well-thought-out piece of work, but a socially relevant one as well. How nice to know that Kuttner and Moore, in their final book together, once again smacked one right out of the park! Though the rest of the 1950s saw the team produce several sci-fi short stories, and a very fine solo novel from Moore (1957's "Doomsday Morning"), as well as a detective series from Kuttner featuring psychoanalyst Michael Gray, "Mutant" essentially drew the curtain down on their sci-fi-novel collaboration. Kuttner, sadly, succumbed to a heart attack in early 1958, when he was only 44 years old. It is my earnest hope that the recent release of the big-budget Hollywood film "The Last Mimzy," based on Kuttner's famous 1943 short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves," will serve to stimulate a fresh interest in these two pillars of Golden Age science fiction. ... Read more


7. Terror in the House: The Early Kuttner, Volume One
by Henry Kuttner, Richard Matheson, Dr. Garyn G. Roberts
Hardcover: 712 Pages (2010-10-29)
list price: US$40.00 -- used & new: US$27.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 1893887464
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Before his marriage to (and subsequent collaborations with) Catherine L. Moore, Henry Kuttner was a frequent contributor to the pulp magazines that specialized in the weird, supernatural, horror, and science fiction genre. Beginning in 1936, with the minor classic "The Graveyard Rats," Kuttner launched a steady stream of short stories aimed at Weird Tales, Mystery Tales, Thrilling Wonder Stories, and others.Writing for Weird Tales brought Kuttner into direct correspondence with that magazine's premier contributor. H. P. Lovecraft. Kuttner set several stories in Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos" and several are presented in TERROR IN THE HOUSE including: "The Secret of Kralitz," "The Eater of Souls," "The Salem Horror," "The Jest of Droom-Avista," "The Frog," "The Invaders," and "The Bells of Horror."Given the short lengths of Kuttner's stories, he had to be prolific and he contributed reams of copy to the weird-menace (a sub-genre of horror where a seemingly supernatural plot is resolved with a pedestrian ending) pulps, Thrilling Mystery and Spice Mystery.It was his specialization for "spicy" or sexed-up stories that led Kuttner to write most (two stories and one novelette) of the first issue of Marvel Science Stories, arguably the first "spicy" science fiction pulp.TERROR IN THE HOUSE is the first volume in a set collecting many of Kuttner's earliest stories, most of which have never been reprinted. Table of ContentsPreface by Richard MathesonIntroduction by Garyn G. Roberts, Ph.D.The Graveyard Rats, Weird Tales Mar 36Bamboo Death, Thrilling Mystery Jun 36The Devil Rides, Thrilling Mystery Sep 36The Secret of Kralitz, Weird Tales Oct 36Power of the Snake, Thrilling Mystery Nov 36Coffins for Six, Thrilling Mystery Dec 36It Walks by Night, Weird Tales Dec 36Laughter of the Dead, Thrilling Mystery Dec 36The Eater of Souls, Weird Tales Jan 37Terror in the House, Thrilling Mystery Jan 37The Faceless Fiend, Thrilling Mystery Jan 37The Dweller in the Tomb, Thrilling Mystery Feb 37I, the Vampire, Weird Tales Feb 37Nightmare Woman, Thrilling Mystery Mar 37The Salem Horror, Weird Tales May 37My Brother, The Ghoul, Thrilling Mystery Jun 37I Am the Wolf, Thrilling Mystery Jul 37The Jest of Droom-Avista, Weird Tales Aug 37Four Frightful Men, Thrilling Mystery Sep 37When the Earth Lived, Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct 37Terror on the Stage, Thrilling Mystery Sep 37Lord of the Lions, Thrilling Mystery Nov 37The Bloodless Peril, Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec 37Invasion from the Fourth Dimension, Thrilling Mystery Jan 38Messer Orsini s Hands, Spicy Mystery Jan 38Worlds' End, Weird Tales Feb '38The Graveyard Curse, Spicy Mystery Mar 38The Unresting Dead, Thrilling Mystery Mar 38The Shadow on the Screen, Weird Tales Mar 38Hell s Archangel, Spicy Mystery Apr 38My Name Is Death, Spicy Mystery May 38Devil s Masquerade, Mystery Tales Jun 38The Dark Heritage, Marvel Science Stories Aug 38Dictator of the Americas, Marvel Science Stories Aug 38The Disinherited, Astounding Science Fiction Aug 38Hands Across the Void, Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec 38The Frog, Strange Stories Feb 39The Invaders, Strange Stories Feb 39The Bells of Horror, Strange Stories Apr 39Beyond Annihilation, Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr 39 ... Read more


8. The Dark World (Planet Stories)
by Henry Kuttner
Paperback: 160 Pages (2008-12-24)
list price: US$12.99 -- used & new: US$7.42
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 160125136X
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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Henry Kuttner's Sword and Sorcery classic returns to print at last!World War II veteran Edward Bond's recuperation from a disastrous fighter plane crash takes a distinct turn for the weird when he encounters a giant wolf, a red witch, and the undeniable power of the need-fire, a portal to a world of magic and swordplay at once terribly new and hauntingly familiar. In the Dark World, Bond opposes the machinations of the dread lord Ganelon and his terrible retinue of werewolves, wizards, and witches, but all is not as it seems in this shadowy mirror of the real world, and Bond discovers that a part of him feels more at home here than he ever has on Earth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

5-0 out of 5 stars YET ANOTHER WINNING FANTASY FROM KUTTNER & MOORE
1946 was a very good year indeed for sci-fi's foremost husband-and-wife writing team, Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. Besides placing a full dozen stories (including the acknowledged classic "Vintage Season") into various magazines of the day, the pair also succeeded in having published three short novels in those same pulps. The first, "The Fairy Chessmen," which was released in the January and February issues of "Astounding Science-Fiction," was a remarkable combination of hardheaded modernist sci-fi and almost hallucinatory reality twists. "Valley of the Flame," from the March issue of "Startling Stories," was an exciting meld of jungle adventure, Haggardian lost-world story and unique fantasy. And that summer, in "Startling Stories" again, the team came out with "The Dark World," a work that is pretty much a "hard" fantasy with some slight scientific leavening. In this one, the American flier Edward Bond is whisked from the Pacific theatre during WW2 and transported to the eponymous Dark World, an alternate Earth that has diverged from its parent in space as well as time. His counterpart on the Dark World, Ganelon, head of a coven of mutated overlords who are busy keeping that realm subjugated, is sent to our Earth with Bond's memories. The book's plot is difficult to synopsize, and gets a bit complicated when Ganelon is brought back to the Dark World sometime later, his body now housing two distinct minds and personalities. Thus, the understandably mixed-up warlock can't quite decide whether or not to help his fellow "Covenanters" wipe out the forest-dwelling rebels, or join those rebels and destroy the Coven, not to mention the dreaded, sacrifice-demanding entity known as Llyr. Though called the Coven, Ganelon's fellows number only four, and include Medea, a beautiful vampire who feeds on life energies; Matholch, a lycanthrope; Edeyrn, a cowled, childlike personage whose power the authors choose not to reveal until the novel's end; and Ghast Rhymi, an ancient magus whose origin really did surprise this reader. Peopled with colorful characters as it is, and featuring a nicely involved plot and ample scenes of battle, sacrifice, magic and spectacle, this little book (the whole thing runs to a mere 126 pages) really does please. That small scientific admixture that I mentioned earlier takes the form of rational explanations for the vampire, werewolf and Edeyrn phenomena; these explanations, while not exactly deep or technical, do tend to make the fantastic characters on display here slightly more, well, credible. But for the most part, "The Dark World" is a somber fantasy, and a darn good one, at that. Not for nothing was it selected for inclusion (as was "Valley of the Flame") in James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock's excellent overview volume "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books." "I consider the work of Henry Kuttner to be the finest science fantasy ever written," says Marion Zimmer Bradley in a blurb on the front cover of the 1965 Ace paperback (pictured above, and with a cover price of 40 cents) that I just finished, and readers of "The Dark World" will probably not feel inclined to give her argument. ... Read more


9. Clash by Night
by Henry Kuttner
Kindle Edition: Pages (2010-07-01)
list price: US$7.99
Asin: B003XRELE8
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In this complex and profoundly imagined novella, exiles from Earth's atomic armageddon have journeyed to Venus. There, under the oceans, they have created competing civilizations called Keeps. Brian Scott, a Free Companion militiaman finds he must choose between loyalty and love in Kuttner's rigorous and visionary narrative published in 1943. ... Read more


10. Best of Henry Kuttner W/Introduction By Ray Bradbur: 1st Edition, 1st Print
by Henry Kuttner
Hardcover: Pages (1975)

Asin: B003BNDDNE
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Collectible! "The Best of Henry Kuttner"; Nelson Doubleday(Garden City; 1975); BCE; 1st ed/1st prnt (code 01 R, pg 335); 2-Vol, HB,VGG; Not ex-lib, NOT remainder; HB-olive green boards, sturdy binding w/minor edgewear, corners slightly bumped; DJ-bright, colorful design by Larry Kresek, edgeworn w/tiny corner tears, (vol-2 has 1/2" closed tear, rear joint) w/Mylar(Brodart) wrap; 338pps, slight foxing on top, uncut fore-edges; First published in 1975 as a 2-vol book club edition, "The Best of Henry Kuttner" was re-released in 2007 under the title of "The Last Mimsy" (following the New Line Cinema feature film release of "The Last Mimsy" loosely based on Lewis Padgett's short story.) It includes "What You Need" (basis for a classic Twilight Zone episode) & "The Iron Standard" as well as other stories first appearing in important pulp magazines "Astounding Science Fiction"& "Amazing Stories." Kuttner, a prolific writer who published under pseudonyms Lewis Padgett & Lawrence O'Donnell, worked in such close collaboration w/wife C. L. Moore(1940's-1950's) & L. Sprague de Camp that it was often impossible to know where one stopped & the other began; This is classic sci-fi. ... Read more


11. Reader, I Hate You!
by Henry Kuttner
Kindle Edition: Pages (2009-01-28)
list price: US$0.99
Asin: B001QTWJ1C
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Henry Kuttner and real-life artist, Virgil Finlay, are sitting in a bar when a man claiming to be a superman needs their help.His wife who happens to be a crystal creature from the earth's core. She was taken by a Science Fiction reader who had a copy of Super Science Stories with him. The superman has plan to use Henry Kuttner and Virgil Finlay to get her back. A humorous recursive fantasy tale by a master of the form. ... Read more


12. The Dark World and Other Works by Henry Kuttner (Halcyon Classics)
by Henry Kuttner
Kindle Edition: Pages (2009-12-21)
list price: US$1.99
Asin: B0032FPSMU
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Editorial Review

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This Halcyon Classics ebook contains four novels by 20th century science fiction writer Henry Kuttner, including 'The Dark World.'Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.


Contents:

The Dark World
The Creature from Beyond Infinity
The Time Axis
The Valley of the Flame
... Read more


13. The Ego Machine
by Henry Kuttner
Paperback: 44 Pages (2010-07-06)
list price: US$9.99 -- used & new: US$9.99
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: B003YMOF02
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This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. Home is Where You Left It is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Stephen Marlowe is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Stephen Marlowe then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more


14. The Best of Henry Kuttner With a special introduction by Ray Bradbury
by Henry Kuttner
 Hardcover: Pages (1975)

Asin: B000RC7RUM
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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Customer Reviews (1)

5-0 out of 5 stars Mimsy Were the Borogoves
Worth it for Mimsy alone; however the other stories are a bonus.

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

"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" is on tape and even on vinyl at one time. It can also be found in some of Henry Kuttner books.

It is a small sci-fi story about a formula that allows you into an alternate universe that everyone used to have access to. The problem with getting there is that it requires a different paradigm and a formula. The paradigm requires a mindset that disappears as we get older and the formula is in front of us if we know where to look. An added plus is that the tape version is read to us enthusiastically by William Shatner.

Playing around with time travel he needed something to put into the cube. He chose some of his old toys. The box never came back. After trying for a second time with no success he gave up and moved on.

The Last Mimzy (Widescreen Infinifilm Edition) ... Read more


15. Planets of Wonder: A Treasury of Space Opera
by C. L. Moore, Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett
Hardcover: Pages (1976)
-- used & new: US$179.99
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 0840765266
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16. No Boundaries
by Henry Kuttner
 Mass Market Paperback: Pages (1961)

Asin: B0014JME14
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17. Fury (U.K.)
by Henry Kuttner
 Mass Market Paperback: 208 Pages (1978-06)

Isbn: 0600336514
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars
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Under the roiling seas of Venus, under the deadly atmosphere are the Keeps, fully enclosed cities, and within them live the descendants of those survivors who used that atomic energy to propel the spaceships which first took them to Venus. In the massive superstructures that were built under the Venusian seas a complex feudal society devoted to decadence has evolved. Presiding over that society are the Immortals - genetic throwbacks to the mutant atomic survivors - who control the culture. This is a stable society but the stability will lead only to its destruction; the environment of Venus outside the Keeps is malevolent and it is encroaching. Into this society is born Sam Harker, the son of an Immortal whose human mother perishes in childbirth. The object of his father's hatred and disdain, Sam Harker is subjected to treatments which stunt his growth and render him hairless, then exiled from the society of Immortals to lead a tumultuous, rebel's life, one inspired by his hatred and desire for vengeance upon that society which exiled him. Sam wants revenge, he wants to destroy the society which has made him an outcast. His search for revenge and his great abilities make him more powerful than the decadent residents of the Keeps, even more powerful than the Immortals. As Sam becomes a politician appealing to the masses in his search for power, his campaign assaults the society itself that society becomes at risk. In the aftermath of destruction, the reclamation of human destiny becomes possible if humanity is forced to leave the Keeps.In unpublished correspondence with Sam Moskowitz in the l960's, in relation to Moskowitz's Seekers of Tomorrow, a collection of biographies of major science fiction writers, C.L. Moore wrote that Fury came about because John Campbell, the editor of Astounding, wanted a novel from the Kuttners and insisted upon its immediate delivery. The novel was scheduled and written so quickly Moore said, that the first part (of a three part serial) was in print before they had completed the final installment. The novel was half-written before the Kuttners themselves truly understood its plot and characters. Paradoxically, this urgency and improvisation led to a novel with great spontaneity, with high-wire intensity and unpredictability and Fury has been acclaimed as perhaps the only novel at the level of the great Kuttner and Moore short stories which dominated Astounding in the l940's. (Mutant, also published by Rosetta), is also highly regarded but that latter work was assembled from five self-standing novelettes spaced over a more considerable period.) The influence of Fury upon other writers is evident; much of the decadence of John Brunner's, Robert Silveberg's, Brian Aldiss's and Philip K.Dick's projected human societies in their fiction of the l960's was foreshadowed by the Kuttners. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

5-0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE REAL SCI-FI CHAMPS
1946 had been a very good year indeed for Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, with a full dozen stories published plus three fine novels ("The Fairy Chessmen," "Valley of the Flame" and "The Dark World"), and in 1947, sci-fi's preeminent husband-and-wife writing team continued its prolific ways. Before the year was out, the two had succeeded in placing another 15 stories into the pulp magazines of the day, in addition to the novel for which Kuttner is best remembered: "Fury." A classic of Golden Age sci-fi, "Fury" originally appeared in the May, June and July issues of "Astounding Science-Fiction" under one of the pair's many pseudonyms, Lawrence O'Donnell. The story goes that legendary editor John W. Campbell needed a quick novel from the team, and that Part 1 of the serialized novel was in print before the story was even close to being finished. "Fury" was finally released in book form in 1950. Though hurriedly composed, the tale betrays no signs of its rushed origins, and is indeed an elegantly written (I love that line about libation inducing libration), fast-moving novel that is nevertheless multigenerational and epic in scope. It tells the story of the Landside colonization of Venus in the 27th century, long after Earth has been destroyed by atomic wars. Mankind now lives in Venusian undersea cities known as Keeps, as the surface of the planet is virtually uninhabitable, with deadly forms of plant and animal life in riotous abundance. The book's hero (or should I say "antihero"?), Sam Harker, is born into one of the families of Immortals that rule the Keeps. When his mother dies during childbirth, Sam's enraged father has the infant genetically altered so that he looks nothing like the tall, graceful folk of the Immortal clans. Sam grows up in foster care, with no knowledge of his background, his heritage, or even the fact that he will probably live to be 1,000 years old. The story of how Sam climbs up the criminal ladder, inadvertently becomes one of the most despised and influential men on Venus, and ultimately causes mankind to migrate out of the undersea Keeps, is the story of "Fury," a book whose title refers not only to the vengeful force inherent in its lead character, but to the Landside Venusian environment as well.
But a capsule description of "Fury"'s plot really doesn't do the book justice; it's like saying that "Gone With the Wind" is a story about a Civil War gal trying to get her house back. Kuttner & Moore generously supply the reader with an abundance of interesting characters, colorful backdrops and unforeseeable plot developments. Among those interesting characters are Sam's Immortal foes, Zachariah Harker and Kedre Walton; Robin Hale, a mercenary Immortal determined to colonize Landside; the Slider, a Fagin-like underworld figure who helps Sam in his illicit projects; and the Logician, an immensely old man given to dispensing homespun, commonsense oracles. Among those colorful backdrops, of course, are the Keeps themselves, nestled on the Venusian sea bottoms under their impervium domes, and the surface of Venus. Readers who are interested in seeing the various terrible life-forms alluded to in the novel's early sections will not be disappointed in the book's latter half, as the Landside settlers encounter giant lizards, foot-long beetles, the monstrosities known as the mud-wolf and the siren web, etc. (Indeed, the life-forms of Venus seem to be so very aggressive in "Fury" that they might cause the reader to wonder whether or not Harry Harrison was influenced here when he wrote his first novel, "Deathworld," in 1960. Likewise, this reader was compelled to entertain the possibility that the vengeful Gully Foyle, of my favorite sci-fi novel of all time, Alfred Bester's 1956 classic "The Stars My Destination," might have been patterned after the driven Sam Harker character here, in addition to Bester's admitted debt to "The Count of Monte Cristo.") As for those unforeseeable plot developments I mentioned...well, the less said, the better. I would be the last to deprive potential first-time readers of any of the many surprises that this cleverly plotted book dishes out.
I should also add at this point that I recommend all potential readers of "Fury" to search out the Magnum Library edition pictured above, as this volume contains an introduction by C.L. Moore herself. In it, Moore tells us how she and her husband were accustomed to work; a fascinating look at how this famous team operated. While most of the Kuttner-Moore pieces of fiction were indeed collaborative, Moore confirms in this intro that her actual contribution to "Fury" was minimal, adding up to perhaps 1/8 of the novel's total word count. If I read her correctly, her contributions here deal mainly with colorful descriptions and sections pertaining to male-female relationships. Still, as usual, the melding of talents is quite seamless, resulting in one of the best pieces of science fiction that I've read in a good long while. The novel concludes with a two-word epilogue that is just wonderful, certainly opening up the possibility of a "Fury" sequel. Sadly, that sequel was never to be. Kuttner, who writes somewhere in "Fury" that "the life-span of an ordinary man was too short," died of a heart attack in 1958, at the age of 44. Though the man himself was far from immortal, I'd like to think that his works may indeed be....

5-0 out of 5 stars A Good Revenge Tale
This story gets down to what we think about death, immortality and those who ultimately control our lives... our parents. ... Read more


18. The Well of the Worlds
by Henry Kuttner
Hardcover: 128 Pages (2008-11-19)
list price: US$29.95 -- used & new: US$29.95
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 1434477630
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars
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Clifford Sawyer, investigating ghosts in a mine, finds ancient beings from another world -- and gets swept up in a titanic struggle between for control of a parallel dimension.

Henry Kuttner (1915-1958) was known for his literary prose and worked in close collaboration with his wife, C. L. Moore. They met through their association with the "Lovecraft Circle," a group of writers and fans who corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft. Their work together spanned the 1940s and 1950s, mostly published under pseudonyms such as Lewis Padgett and Lawrence O'Donnell. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

4-0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER MINDBLOWER FROM KUTTNER & MOORE
Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's final science fiction novel, "Mutant," was released in 1953. There would be sporadic short stories from the famous husband-and-wife writing team throughout the '50s, as well as a mystery series from Kuttner featuring psychoanalyst/detective Dr. Michael Gray, not to mention a superior sci-fi novel from Moore herself, "Doomsday Morning," in 1957, but "Mutant" was, essentially, the last word, sci-fiwise, from the team. But "Mutant" is what's known as a "fix-up" novel, comprised of five short stories (in this case, mainly dating back to 1945) cobbled together to make a whole, so I suppose that we must call the team's "The Well of the Worlds" their last true sci-fi novel as a writing couple. "Well" was first issued as the feature cover story of "Startling Stories" in March 1952, and in book form the following year. (Those fortunate enough to lay hands on the cute little 1965 Ace paperback pictured above should prepare themselves, incidentally, for a LOT of typos!) It is as way out and imaginative a piece of speculative fiction as anything the pair ever wrote, including their mind-blowing "The Fairy Chessmen" (1946) and "The Time Axis" (1949). At this point in their careers, Kuttner and Moore were attending classes at the University of Southern California, and easing back a bit from their prodigious output of the '40s. The reader of "Well," however, would never imagine that writing sci-fi was secondary to the couple at this point in their lives. It is another superb meld of fantasy and science fiction, with a typically pyrotechnic conclusion. The plot of the book is so way out, in fact, that I almost despair of describing it. Let's just say that it concerns Cliff Sawyer, an agent for the Canadian Royal Atomic Energy Commission, who investigates some very strange goings-on at a uranium mine near the North Pole. He, a mysterious woman named Klai, and a power-obsessed madman named Alper are somehow whisked to the other-dimensional world of Khom'ad, where three life-forms seem to be in a state of imminent warfare. There are the Isier, the demigodlike lords of the planet; the Sselli, a snakelike people; and the Firebirds, strange, winged energy creatures whose sudden appearance at the polar uranium mine seemed to touch off the whole mess. Not to mention the poor Khom, the humanlike underdogs of the planet. As if these elements weren't enough, Kuttner & Moore show us that Khom'ad is a hollow world, with floating, pancakelike island worlds floating under its surface! And as if THAT weren't enough, they have Alper slap a sort of torture-inducing transceiver on Sawyer's skull that can instantly step up the vibrations of the human body to murderous volume and intensity. Still not enough, reader? Howzabout a finale with battling goddesses, a threeway between the Isier, Sselli and Firebirds, and a close-up look at the titular Well, a sort of microcosmic cyclotron that makes possible an interdimensional energy transference between Khom'ad and Earth? I don't know where or how authors are able to come up with books like this (I doubt that drugs, liquor or too much chili con carne before bedtime had anything to do with it!), but the net result is one of ceaseless wonder and bedazzlement for the reader. And I haven't even mentioned the Ice Tunnel between the dimensions, or the telepathic masks, or the wall-dissolving robes, but you get the idea, I trust. The book is mind expanding in the best sense of the term, and still another wonderfully written, tightly plotted novel from this amazing team. "The Well of the Worlds" may have been Kuttner & Moore's last true science fiction novel, but at least they went out with a doozy! All's well that ends well, I guess you'd say! ... Read more


19. The Time Axis
by Henry Kuttner
Paperback: 144 Pages (2008-03-30)
list price: US$11.95 -- used & new: US$9.17
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 1434464695
Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars
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Called to the end of time by a being known as The Face of Ea, four adventurers face a power that not even the science of that era could meet -- the nekron, negative matter, negative force, ultimate desctruction for everything it touched! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

3-0 out of 5 stars AN UNSATISFYING THRILL RIDE FROM A GREAT WRITING TEAM
Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's sole novel of 1948, "The Mask of Circe," was a very way-out excursion in the fantasy realm, and in early 1949, the pair followed up with an equally way-out piece of hard sci-fi. "The Time Axis," which initially appeared in the January '49 issue of "Startling Stories," finds science fiction's foremost husband-and-wife writing team (my apologies to Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm!) at the top of their game, but perhaps giving their seemingly limitless imagination too free a rein. The book is well paced, finely and at times humorously written, exciting and colorful, but ultimately, unfortunately, not fully satisfying. The story here concerns the "nekron," a shadowy whatzit that is killing Earthlings and causing the spread of an all-new form of matter: "a dead null-energy pattern of negation." Freelance reporter Jerry Cortland, a Madame Curie-type physicist named Letta Essen, dilettante scientist Ira de Kalb and martinet Army Col. Harrison Murray attempt a trip to the far, far future, after having received a distress summons found in a mysterious box on the isle of Crete. de Kalb had recently discovered the eponymous "time axis" buried in the Canadian Laurentians, and so, somewhat reluctantly, the quartet takes off in answer to the summons of the Face of Ea, and to hopefully find a cure for the nekron plague. Somehow, though, they do not get very far--perhaps only 1,000 years from now; the authors coyly refuse to be specific--and then the really strange stuff starts happening, as their personalities are absorbed by their futuristic counterparts and they get involved with brewing trouble regarding some synthetic humans, the Mechandroids. And this capsule description does not even begin to convey the temporal theorizing, mind-blowing plot developments and mysterious happenings that befall the four, all culminating in a grand duke-out with the nekron itself through both time and space. Actually, as I was rapidly flipping the pages of "The Time Axis" (the book IS admittedly quite the page-turner), I was reminded a bit of my favorite TV program right now, "Lost." Not because of any plot similarities, but because, like that hit TV show, "The Time Axis" piles mystery on top of mystery, paradox atop paradox; for every item that is explained, two new conundrums pop up to take its place. And ultimately, the book's major problem is that the authors do NOT adequately answer all the reader's many questions. Our narrator, Cortland, constantly uses expressions such as "imponderable forces," "too big for the human mind to comprehend," "it doesn't make sense," "I can't describe...because I didn't understand" and "What did I see? I wish I could tell you." And while these unsolved mysteries do engender that elusive sense of wonder that is so desirable in good science fiction, they can still frustrate the bejeebers out of the curious reader. Basic questions regarding such items as the nekron's initial appearance, its affinity with Cortland, and the quartet's futuristic counterparts go largely unanswered. Or perhaps I am just missing something. These temporal paradox stories, of the kind so often featured on latter-day "Star Trek" incarnations, always give me a headache when I attempt to riddle them out. Still, I have a feeling that most readers will be left scratching their heads as they turn the last page over on this one. All of which should not be taken as a dismissal of this work. Kuttner & Moore couldn't write a dull, unimaginative book if they tried, and many sections of this novel make for thrilling and lovely visions (such as that fairyland Swan Garden, with fruit-laden streams floating in midair, and that Grand Central Station-like concourse of the future, with the citizens of a galaxy popping in and out of way-station transporter booths). With a bit more explication, this book could have been a real tour de force, rather than the unsatisfying thrill ride that it is. I can only hope that the writers of "Lost" will do a better job of tying up all the loose ends when their time ultimately comes! ... Read more


20. Detour to Otherness
by Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore
Hardcover: 588 Pages (2010-08-06)
list price: US$40.00 -- used & new: US$40.00
(price subject to change: see help)
Asin: 1893887189
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In 1961, Ballantine Books published Bypass to Otherness, a paperback collection of some of Henry Kuttner's (and C. L. Moore's) best short stories. Several selections were drawn from Kuttner's popular series such as the "Hogbens" (comedic otherworldly hillbillies living in America), "Gallagher Galloway" (scientist who invents technical marvels only when intoxicated), and the "Baldies" stories eventually collected in Mutant. Bypass was projected as the first of three Otherness collections of Kuttner's short fiction. Return to Otherness followed in 1962 with 8 more stories. And then . . . nothing. The third Otherness collection never appeared. Now, almost fifty years later, Haffner Press announces DETOUR TO OTHERNESS: a massive hardcover assembling the contents of both Bypass to Otherness and Return to Otherness, and adding 8 additional stories selected for their scarcity, quality, and sheer entertainment value. Grand Masters Robert Silverberg and Frederik Pohl provide introductory and afterword materials to the book, and the whole affair is decorated with an unpublished painting by Richard Powers.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Robert Silverberg
Bypass to Otherness
Cold War
Call Him Demon
The Dark Angel
The Piper's Son
Absalom
The Little Things
Nothing but Gingerbread Left
Housing Problem

Return to Otherness
See You Later
This Is the House
The Proud Robot
Gallegher Plus
The Ego Machine
Android
The Sky Is Falling
Juke-Box

Detour to Otherness
Open Secret
All Is Illusion
Rite of Passage
Baby Face
Happy Ending
The Children's Hour
Dream's End
Near Miss
Afterword by Frederik Pohl
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