Not Without Sorcery

by Theodore Sturgeon

Contains the stories:
It (1940);
Poker Face (1941);
Artnan Process (1941);
Ether Breather (1939);
Butyl and the Breather (1940);
Brat (1941);
Two Percent Inspiration (1941);
Cargo (1940).

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Collections, Speculative Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985) is considered one of the godfathers of contemporary science fiction and dark fantasy. The author of numerous acclaimed short stories and novels, among them the classics More Than Human, Venus Plus X, and To Marry Medusa, Sturgeon also wrote for television and holds among his credits two episodes of the original 1960s Star Trek series, for which he created the Vulcan mating ritual and the expression "Live long and prosper." He is also credited as the inspiration for Kurt Vonnegut's recurring fictional character Kilgore Trout.

Sturgeon is the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the International Fantasy Award. In 2000, he was posthumously honored with a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.

Reviews

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ended up reading all of the stories in this book by having the first couple of volumes of the collected Sturgeon short stories.

**** It • (1940) • novelette
*** Poker Face • (1941) • short story
** Artnan Process • (1941) • novelette
*** Ether Breather • [Ether Breather] • (1939) • short story
** Butyl and the Breather • [Ether Breather] • (1940) • novelette
**** Brat • (1941) • short story
*** Two Percent Inspiration • (1941) • short story
**** Cargo • (1940) • novelette

"It" — Probably one of the most famous Sturgeon stories, spawning at least two comic creatures: DC’s Swamp Thing and Marvel’s Man-Thing. Actually what Sturgeon accomplishes here is the envy of every horror writer–he invents a new monster. Unfortunately he did it in a short story rather than a novel or a movie, so his creation has yet to join the full pantheon to which it belongs, taking its place beside Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

"Poker Face" — I’m not sure I entirely followed this story, which is somewhat about the fourth dimension, duration, but is really about conformity and non-conformity. For one, I’m not sure I cared for the set-up as the poker game, because I kept wondering why Face would reveal himself this way, and then I was unconvinced by the reveal, which made no sense of that had been said before. Still, it’s Sturgeon, and so it wasn’t awkward to read. I’m not sure I can recommend it, though.

“Artnan Process” — An adventure story, as the science is pretty much suspect. I’d say its atypical Sturgeon, although it shares some similarities with later stories, just not as done as well here. The plot revolves around how the Martians are able to spy upon the Earth ship, and Sturgeon makes some bull about how the Martians are unable to determine truth from, well, not a lie, but gibberish. Then there’s the Artnan’s themselves, and the plot makes even less sense there. Not recommended.

"Ether Breather" — A bit dated by technology–that is, an atomic powered TV set is overkill and we have color TV without all this other stuff–and by the language–in the future people speak like the hip of the 1940/50s? But for all that, an OK piece of SF work. It’s a first contact piece with a twist, and probably couldn’t get published in a magazine today, but Sturgeon was part of the writing group that defined what SF was, and this was just another piece of that definition.

"Butyl and the Breather" — Sequel to the earlier “Ether Breather.” I didn’t much like the first story, and the sequel wasn’t an improvement. Too much of an “as you know, Bob” or “talking head” story.

“Brat” — A sweet little fantasy that starts off more like a Thorne Smith story and over time becomes a James Thurber story. The difference: Smith was a cynical writer, an heir of the Damon Runyon school where people will be people, warts and all, and we should be laughing at them, while Thurber also thought people would be people, and he found them amusing, but for their foibles, not their faults. The twist in this tale is the change in the characters—all but for the protagonist, but in the end, you know it’s coming for him, too. Recommended.

“Two-Percent Inspiration” — Another SF adventure story, but a stronger one this time. The most awkward thing about it is the recursive nature of the young man enamored of SF and the description of the E. E. “Doc” Smith story that the man reads, although it does give Sturgeon a chance to expound upon the difference between science fantasy/adventure and real science, which he then promptly undercuts in the last paragraph. Oh, well. The plot itself revolves around a reveal that I could see coming, but still worked within the context of the story.

“Cargo” — A sweet little fantasy tale that takes advantage of Sturgeon’s history in the merchant marine. A gunrunner ship takes on a new cargo and something is wrong, or is it right? I felt it a bit long for the plot, but since so much of it is the details of how a tanker is run, and the there’s the interaction between the officers and the crew and the cargo, I suppose it needed to be that length. Enjoyable.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

CONTENTS

"It"
"Poker Face"
"Artnan Process"
"Ether Breather"
"Butyl and the Breather"
"Brat"
"Two Percent Inspiration"
"Cargo"


In 1948, the first collection of short stories by Theodore Sturgeon was published. It was titled Without Sorcery. When, thirteen years later, Ballantine Books decided to publish a shortened version of that book, the obvious title would have been something like Stories from Without Sorcery. Ballantine made a different choice, however, and caused confusion ever after by titling their volume Not Without Sorcery.

The 1948 book had thirteen stories. Not Without Sorcery has eight. The five not included in the later volume are "The Ultimate Egoist," "Shottle Bop," "Memorial," "Maturity," and "Microscopic God." I don't much like "Memorial," but the other four stories are among my favorites from the earlier book.

My comments about the stories in Not Without Sorcery are excerpted, slightly emended, from my previous review of Without Sorcery:


In his introduction to the tale "Artnan Process," Sturgeon calls the story "sheer 'spaced-opera.'" Earth is under the dominance of Mars, which the people of Earth have accepted in return for an unlimited source of power, broadcast energy derived from uranium. Most of the Earth people accepted the situation; some, however, wanted Earth to control its own power. Knowing that the Martians get their uranium from the planet Artna, two men from Earth go there to discover the process by which the Artnans change U-238 into U-235. However, hostile Martians are already on Artna when they arrive. This is a story that could have been written by any 1940s science fiction author; it is not very good.

Sturgeon's introduction to the story "Two Percent Inspiration" says, "I am proud of one thing in it: Satan Strong, Scourge of the Spaceways, Supporter of the Serialized Short Story, and Specialist in Science on the Spot." He shouldn't have been proud. "Two Percent Perspiration" is another very routine story; this one has some humor though.

"Poker Face" isn't a bad story, but there have been similar stories since then which have lessened the effect of this one. A man at a poker game reveals that he is a time traveler in pursuit of another man from the future.

"Ether Breather" was Sturgeon's first published science fiction tale. It first appeared in the September, 1939 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. At some time in the future (when antigravity is already used commercially), color television finally becomes a reality. The new method of color broadcasting creates a contact with an intelligence from another dimension, a childlike being that delights in playing tricks, not all of which seem funny to those who are involved. They dub this creature the "Ether Breather." This is amusing, even if it is not something that would immediately proclaim a great new talent.

Sturgeon's story does begin well:

It was "The Seashell." It would have to be "The Seashell." I wrote it first as a short story, and it was turned down. Then I made a novelette out of it, and then a novel. Then a short short. Then a three-line gag. And it still wouldn't sell.

"Butyl and the Breather" is a sequel to "Ether Breather," appearing the following year. The creature that lives in the ether was scolded for its mischievous behavior and then vanished in the earlier story. The two people who had been in contact with the being before want to reestablish that contact. They need a way to get the Ether Breather's attention and one of them, a perfume manufacturer, finds a method of sending odors into the Breather's realm. They send an extraordinarily noxious scent based on butyl mercaptan into the Breather's world. That proves more effective than they anticipated - and so is the Breather's reaction.

This is a somewhat better, more inventive story than "Ether Breather." Much of the dialogue is the kind of joky, artificial speech common in science fiction of the period, though. Here is a conversation between the narrator, one of the men trying to contact the Ether Breather, and the Breather itself:

"None of your lip, pantywaist," I told the Breather, "or I'll come out there and plaster your shadow with substance."

"Wise guy, huh? Why, you insignificant nematode!"

"You etheric regurgitation!"

"You little quadridimensional stinkpot!"

"You faceless, formless, fightless phantasm!" I was beginning to enjoy this.

"Listen, mug, if you don't stop that business of smelling up my environment I'll strain you through a sheet of plate glass."

"None of your lip, pantywaist" is not exactly brilliant - or realistic - writing.

The story "It" is part science fiction and part fantasy, but both are subsumed in the category of "horror." Sturgeon didn't write many horror stories but some of the ones he did write were memorable. "It" is about a being that grows in the woods and turns into a powerful monster. That monster was the progenitor of a number of others, especially the comic book characters "The Heap" and "Swamp Thing." The ending of this tale is genuinely disquieting.

"Brat" is a comic fantasy about a "pro tem changeling," a creature that appears to be a baby but is far from really being one. A young married couple will gain an inheritance if they prove that they can take care of a baby for a month, on the supposition that "those who can take care of a baby can take care of money." They and the baby would stay with the husband's aunt for those thirty days. And then a "baby" falls (literally) into their lives, Percival, who prefers to be known as Butch. Butch, a professional changeling working under the aegis of Fairyland, agrees to pass as a baby for them in return for a steak a day.

"Cargo" is a World War II story combining war and other inhabitants of Fairyland and related realms. Someone from those magical lands makes a deal with the captain of the Dawnlight, an aging oil tanker, who refuses to let most of his crew know anything about this. They take on crowds of invisible passengers: "ghosts and pixies, goblins and brownies, and dervishes and fairies and nymphs and peris and dryads and naiads and kelpies and sprites; gnomes and imps and elves and dwarves and nixies and ghouls and pigwidgeons, and the legion of the leprechauns, and many another."

And why are they traveling? "There's hell to pay in Europe now... You can't expect a self-respectin' pixie to hide in a shell hole and watch a baby torn to shreds. They're sickened of it..."

This is a very good story, with a convincing narration by the third mate of the Dawnlight. It has only appeared in one anthology; I can't think why.

This is not as good a collection as Without Sorcery, but it does have the fine stories "It" and "Cargo," as well as others that I like.

[Michael Tildsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag here for me from Sturgeon. But, in this case, it's the good kind of mixed bag. A few okay short stories, with two or three real gems in the mix.

I recently bought a whole stack of Sturgeon short story collections, and this is the first of them I have read. I had read Sturgeon previously in other collected works, but this is the first time I could say that I've taken in a concentrated dose. I like his style, and, at times, he achieves that conversational tone I really appreciate in an author where I feel connected enough with the characters and their story to the point I can forget where I am. Sad to say, that is becoming more and more rare these days.

Here are my five star story picks from this collection:

~ "Artnan Process"

~ "Ether Breather"

~ "Two Percent Inspiration"

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this collection largely for "It" but also in order to check out some early Sturgeon. Unfortunately, outside of the justifiably famous first story they are a rather mixed bag, a few interesting concepts but nothing really that worthwhile.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

You've heard that there is nothing new under the sun. I wish I'd known about Sturgeon earlier in life, or I would have read him before Stephen King. Stephen King seems pale somehow next to Sturgeon.

This is a book in the same vein as King's Night Shift and I find it remarkable that Sturgeon does short stories and long stories equally well, but different talents and constraints are in play.

Odd how stories written in the 1940's sound so apt today. It's like Frank Lloyd Wright architecture: get the elements right, and the timelessness takes care of itself.

[Julian]

A solid collection of vintage (pre 1950) SF classics. I hadn't read Sturgeon before but this feels like a great introduction. Short, snappy, well-written stories. Where they're goofy, I'd say their goofiness never subverts them unlike some of his contemporaries (Brown.) Most interestingly, he's a pretty solid stylist -- can go noir as in "Cargo", or Americana as in "It" or near-future Madison Avenue that never was, such as the Breather stories. My interest is piqued and I'll definitely read some more Sturgeon.

[Cat Noe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a soft spot for that last story, and I love how it all feels exactly the way reading fiction always did when I was a kid- maybe because I would likely have been raised on books of that timeframe.

It's all a bit disorganized, but the creativity is there. An interesting volume.

[Daniel T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories but nothing special popped out.

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It" is a deserved horror classic with the Sturgeon style. A couple other good Twilight Zone-like pieces. I'm out to read all of his short stories. Onto the next collection...

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

What it lacks in artistry it more than makes up for in shameless silliness and retro "world of tomorrow" charm. Except that the first story reads like an Edward Gorey sketch, but more grown-up and darker.

[Daniel Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly the finest anthology of speculative fiction out there. Sturgeon was a lodestone for so many fascinating ideas, and this collection is splitting at the seams with philosophical, social, and humanistic importance.

[Scott Golden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of early Sturgeon stories.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice book of short stories.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories, a mix of horror & SF.