Customer Reviews (1)

A Direct Way to Best Sci-fi from the Fifties!
Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985) was a short stories master writer. Here we have a very representative collection, re-edited from older versions, still it is a pity that all of them are out of print; yet do not dismay all his stories has been recently published again!
Sturgeon's stories were always captivating, hooking the reader from the first sentence as occurs in "Hurricane Trio". This tale contains all the traits of Theodore's wit: the nucleus of the story is based on human emotions; the exotic component is just a small touch to enhance dramatic possibilities. The author cast a keen regard on human love and the classic trio shearing his thoughts with the reader and at the same time giving light to a gem.

One topic that has obsessed sci-fi writers was an imminent atomic holocaust as is shown from different optics in "Unite and Conquer" and "Thunder and Roses".

"The Hurkel is a Happy Beast" is a comic piece portraying the always conflictive teacher-pupil relationship.
"Mewhu's Jet" and "Tiny and the Monster" are also written in comedy clue.

"Bulkhead" aka "Who?" is more in a classic juvenile sci-fi story style solved efficiently by Sturgeon.
Last but not least the story that gives name to the collection "Way Home" tells the account of a kid running away who is suddenly faced with different mirrors.

I wholeheartedly recommend this collection to sci-fi lovers and general public too!

Reviewed by Max Yofre.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Not your typical alien invasion
Sturgeon seems to delight in telling a number of disjointed stories and trying to bring everything together in the end.While he is relatively successful doing that here, the actual reading of the novel can be a little frustrating--when you are halfway through a book and are still being presented with brand new characters doing things that seem to relate not at all with the actions of the characters you have already met, you start to wonder just what is going on.Fortunately, Sturgeon does possess the skills to create memorable characters, so the danger of getting confused about the identities of individuals is fairly low.Still, though, the constant jumping about only serves to harm the potential of the novel, I feel.Just when you are really relating to a character and beginning to understand him/her, you are suddenly whisked off to a totally different place.While the ending is rather good, you as a reader just don't care enough about any of the characters to feel much of anything when you are finished; the whole story quickly flits out of your mind as you immediately reach for a new book off of your shelves.

The basic idea is a rather good one.Earth is invaded by a spore-like creature representing a hive of creatures called the Medusa; the alien culture is spreading throughout the universe assimilating all life forms into its hive mind.Every organism on every planet to be found in over two galaxies is linked together and can communicate with each other immediately over thousands of light years' distance...it is enough to say that I found it rather refreshing and brilliant.The novel pretty much stands on the merits of Sturgeon's description of man's reaction to the cosmic challenge (the title's suggestion of cosmic rape is not quite discernible to me)--without such an effective ploy by the author, this would be a mediocre sci-fi novel long forgotten.This book is worth reading and does supply some satisfaction to the reader, but it is far from being Sturgeon's best work.

Two excellent ideas and a hundred pages of filler
Theodore Sturgeon is one of the grandmasters of the sci-fi genre and this story's unusual take on the old alien invasion theme is almost as refreshingly different today as it must have been decades ago when it first appeared, but nonetheless it can hardly be considered one of his masterpieces.The original short story on which this novel was based was probably closer to the right length than this sprawling, disparate mess of a novel. Sturgeon has a couple of clever ideas here, but one of them has to be saved for the climax and the other has to be laid out from the very beginning, and that leaves a long, drawn out middle section that may try some readers' patience.There's clearly a point to this volume's slightly experimental, disjointed structure, so devoted readers shouldn't be too quick to abandon the book midway through, but the sad fact is that the clever conclusion really doesn't justify the often-tedious reading, despite this book's relative brevity.

Without giving away too much of the plot, an interplanetary group mind called the Medusa makes contact with a down and out loser through whom they hope to first unify, and then absorb, the entire human race.Having established this, Sturgeon takes us into a long string of subplots, or rather something less than subplots, representing the extreme diversity and fragmentation of contemporary human experience.Unfortunately, most of these vignettes are not science fiction, and don't compare favorably with similar pieces of human drama as written by, say, John O'Hara or Anton Chekhov.Not that Sturgeon isn't capable of bringing off something of that ilk - his brilliant short story "Bright Segment" certainly qualifies as being that good, but the pieces featured here simply don't measure up, especially with no sci-fi legerdemain to save them from ordinariness.Only the conclusion is really up to Sturgeon's standard, and by that time, many readers will have stopped caring.

Good, sci-fi read
This is an excellent book by the inspiration for Kilgore Trout. Excellent Sci-fi, with deeper meaning ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Entertaining
Thought provoking theme, engaging plot, and good continuity with an ending for the not weak of heart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Love, Aliens, and the Spaceways
_A Touch of Strange_ (1958) is a collection of nine stories-- eight science fiction tales and one crime story-- by a master of the short story form. All of the tales are excellent and are filled with living, breathing characters. They are: "The Pod in the Barrier," (_Galaxy_, 1957), "A Crime for Llewellyn," (_Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine_, 1957), "The Touch of Your Hand" (_Galaxy_, 1953), "Affair with a Green Monkey," (_Venture_, 1957), "Mr. Costello, Hero," (_Galaxy_, 1953), "The Girl Had Guts," (_Venture_, 1957), "The Other Celia," (_Galaxy_, 1957), "It Opens the Sky," (_Venture_, 1957), and "A Touch of Strange," (_F&SF, 1958).

"The Touch of Your Hand" and "Mr. Costello, Hero" are about a pair of self-appointed (and psychologically warped) leaders of humanity. I strongly suspect that they were written with Joe McCarthy in mind. Certainly Sturgeon despised that Senator from Wisconsin.

"It Opens the Sky" is about a villain who finds himself literally working on the side of the angels in spite of himself. It's a demonstration that Sturgeon could write some cracking good space opera when he chose to do so. It is great fun. "A Crime for Llewellyn" is about the little man who badly _wants_ to be evil... but who finds himself foiled at every turn. There is a disturbing message imbedded in this story: Maybe you have to be at least a little bit bad in order to really live.

"The Girl Had Guts" and "The Other Celia" are a pair of hard-boiled tales in which two women-- one human and one alien-- undergo rather grisly ordeals. The second story reminded me of the movie _Rear Window_ in an oblique kind of way.

"Affair with a Green Monkey" and "A Touch of Strange" may be described as alien love stories. (A great many of Sturgeon's tales explore various manifestations of love.) The first involves a man who was too civilized and too clever by half. The second is the one about the man, the woman, and the merpeople. Remember?

"The Pod in the Barrior" is another blend of space opera and psychology. It is about how little quirks can become intolerable problems on a spaceship headed on a suicide mission... and how it can all one day turn out right.

If you can, get the original hardback edition with the cover by Joseph Mugnaini. But get whatever edition you can. It represents Sturgeon when he was at his best. ... Read more

Product Description
1981 Locus Poll Award, Best Anthology (Place: 15). Compiled by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg, this is a mammoth anthology of great science fiction short novels, including: Beyond Bedlam, by Wyman Guin; Equinoctial [1978 Locus Poll Award, Best Novella (Place: 12)], by John Varley; By His Bootstraps, by Robert A. Heinlein; The Golden Helix, by Theodore Sturgeon; Born With the Dead [winner, 1974 Nebula Award, 1975 Locus Poll Award. Nominated, 1975 Hugo Award], by Robert Silverberg; Second Game [nominated, 1958 Hugo Award], by Katherine MacLean and Charles V. De Vet; The Dead Past, by Isaac Asimov; The Road to the Sea, by Arthur C. Clarke; The Star Pit [nominated, 1968 Hugo Award], by Samuel R. Delany; Giant Killer [nominated, 1996 Retro Hugo Award], by A. Bertram Chandler; A Case of Conscience [incorporated into the novel of the same name as Book One], by James Blish; Dio, by Damon Knight; Houston, Houston, Do You Read? [winner, 1976 Nebula Award, 1977 Hugo Award. 1977 Locus Poll Award, Best Novella (Place: 3)], by James Tiptree, Jr.; On the Storm Planet [nominated, 1965 Nebula Award], by Cordwainer Smith; The Miracle-Workers [nominated, 1959 Hugo Award], by Jack Vance. ... Read more

Product Description
A paperback original anthology of stories from the magazine "Unknown." This book had two printings by Pyramid (1963, 1970), and a later edition from HBJ/Jove (1978). Cover art by Schoenherr, interior artwork by Edd Cartier. Foreword by Isaac Asimov, Introduction by the editor. Stories: "The Misguided Halo" (1939) by Henry Kuttner; "Prescience" (1941) Nelson S. Bond; "Yesterday Was Monday" (1941) by Theodore Sturgeon; "The Gnarly Man" (1939) by L. Sprague de Camp; "The Bleak Shore" (1940) by Fritz Leiber; "Trouble With Water" (1939) by H. L. Gold; "Doubled and Redoubled" (1941) by Malcolm Jameson; "When It Was Moonlight" (1940) by Manly Wade Wellman; "Mr. Jinx" (1941) by Fredric Brown and Robert Arthur; "Snulbug" (1941) by Anthony Boucher; "Armageddon" (1941) by Fredric Brown. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unknown Should Be Better Known
An early casualty to the paper shortage of World War II, Unknown survived for only a few issues.I first read these stories as a teenager, in what seems now to be Early Triassic, and still remember them and even much of the phrasing.If that isn't memorable then what is?Unknown, like Mozart, died young, more's the pity. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
Theodore Sturgeon is the father of literary SF, his profoundinfluence apparent in the works of such wildly different authors as SamuelR. Delany, HarlanEllison, and Nancy Kress. Hisfiction--concerned with alienation, union, repression, self-discovery,and the healing powers of love and tolerance--foreshadowed thehumanist, sexual, and transcendental revolutions of the 1960s. He washonored with the Hugo, Nebula,and International Fantasy Awards and the World Fantasy LifetimeAchievement Award. To Marry Medusa (1958) may be TheodoreSturgeon's best novel.

Dan Gurlick was a drunken bully--until hebecame infected with an alien spore. Now Gurlick is part of theMedusa, a galaxy-spanning hive mind comprising a billion life forms--anear-omnipotent intelligence horrified by humanity, and determined todestroy the unsuspecting human race in order to save it. To MarryMedusa is vintage Sturgeon, a treat for fans and newcomersalike. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Cosmic Author Rip-Off
Readers of "To Marry Medusa" (or "The Cosmic Rape" in its longer version) may be interested to learn that in chapter 63 of Kurt Vonnegut's last novel, "Timequake" (1997) a speech given to the character Kilgore Trout (Vonnegut's parody version of Theodore Sturgeon) was clearly borrowed from Chapter 29 of "To Marry Medusa" - a meditation on how the human eye and mind can travel from star to star faster than light.

An odd, elegiac Alien Invasion story
I read this book under its sensational alternate title, "The Cosmic Rape."

"Medusa," a galaxy-spanning hive mind, seeks to extend its realm by seeding space with spores in the hopes that some will land on inhabited worlds. Containing a bit of "connected" living tissue, consumption of a spore by a local life form would intantly convert the planet's population to Medusa's way of thinking.

When a spore falling to Earth is consumed by a alienated, raging derelict, he alone is converted. The book follows his/its efforts to find out why humanity is resistant to Medusa's sway.

Meanwhile, we peek into the lives of others, leading typical human (and therefore, for many, unhappy) lives, who will soon play a part in a remarkable drama.

_To Marry Medusa_ is a sort of defiant, humanist reply to Arthur C. Clarke's _Childhood's End_. A sad and wonderful story.

Worthy of shameless homage
This book is amazing, comparable to great science fiction works like the Hyperion and Dune series, and yet it captures their scope and literary beauty in a fraction of the pages.In only a few hundred pages an epic tale of conquest, brief (oh so brief) insurrection, and triumph unfolds.Sturgeon is one of those precious few science fiction writers that elevates the genre above the social stigma hoisted upon it, and he does it with style.This work is not just good science fiction, its great fiction period.His writing style is fluent and dignified.To Marry Medusa is science fiction condensed into its purest, most moving form, and trust me, I know my science fiction.Please, please pick up this book and give it a chance.If you like LeGuin, Blish, Bester or any of the founders of science fiction, you will love this book.

Failed Experimentation
While it's always good to see authors push the limits of fiction, sometimes exceeding the limits can be trying.Sturgeon's novella, while grounded in interesting concepts and ideas, is hard to follow.Just as a reader becomes interested in a certain character, Sturgeon jumps to something completely new.At times, some of the characters's thoughts are presented in a repeating stream of thought that's completely cumbersome.Recommended with reservation.

Great read!
If you're already a fan of Theodore Sturgeon, you need no coaxing from me buy this book.If you haven't read Sturgeon before, don't hesitate.He's one of the finest writers around and this book is a great introduction to his work. ... Read more

Product Description
Eddie Gretchen meets Maria Undergaard. They fall madly in love with each other and get married. But like any decent fairy tale, there is a wicked witch, yet who would have thought that the princess herself and witch would be one and the same?

Eddie is frustrated. How can he successfully parade his beautiful wife if she turns out to be an ugly monster at parties. Could there still be a happy ending for them both?
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Customer Reviews (1)

Very human
Sturgeon was one of the most human, humane science fiction authors of his time. He was distinctive (if not unique) for his attention to the people in his stories and to their growth and change. The hardware was just decoration - never a focus of attention, except that its creation was a human act.

"More Than Human" is a speculation on what comes next in our species's development. It ponders psychic powers, and the unique relationships possible for people with those powers. MTH is set at the dawn of that era, though, when the new people have no older generation to teach them. They learn by making mistakes, sometimes tragic ones. In the end, though, they learn the one thing that will matter most to their future and to their future generations: maybe they're more than human, but they're still human.

This book is a 1970s rendering of a 1950s story, not just a look back in time but a look back into two times. The 50s part includes a fascination with psychiatry and clinical psychology (not that they made much distinction back then). The 70s part includes hair styles that remind me of Get Smart's Agent 99 and sideburns that remind me the disco era had yet to happen. This adaption and illustration succeed because of the two comic-world powerhouses (Moench and Nino) that took on this subtle story, with the approval and help of Sturgeon himself. Even Preiss, the publisher, displays some surprise at its success - this intellectual story lacks the bang-pow and futuristic fantasy that seems easier to put pictures, but works anyway. And works well.

//wiredweird (reviewing ISBN 930368274) ... Read more