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Papa Schimmelhorn #1-1
The Science Fiction Bestiary: Nine Stories of Science Fiction
The critters are unbelievable, looking like something from the maudlin pen of a well-alcoholed cartoonist, or Dr Seuss on acid--the obvious generalization to be drawn from this intergalactic zoo being that the most fertile human imaginations seem limited to freaky combinations of already familiar forms. Some of the critters, enclosed here in generally superior sf stories, are Sturgeon's 6-legged blue Hurkle kitten that thrives on DDT & inherits the earth, Dick's mozart bird, beethoven beetle & ferocious wagner animal invented by a professor who wants to preserve civilization's highest achievement but gets savage cacophony instead & Dickson's teddy bears who've never been to earth but dress & talk like TV cowboys. Most chilling are the brainless all-purpose critters of Simak's "Drop Dead," who bring human visitors the immortality they seek by ironically transforming them into similarly insensate ecosystems. Funniest is Bretnor's "The Gnurrs Come from the Voodwork Out," in which the tootling by a little old cuckoo clock foreman on his musical secret weapon summons from the 4th dimension millions of voracious little animals who rapidly consume the enemys' trousers. Least successful are stories like Schmitz's "Grandpa" that subordinate the exotica to deadly conventional human-interest plots. The best stick to their business of ingenious speculation, which should enthrall addicts but probably won't hook any dabblers.--Kirkus (edited)
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 28, 1960
5 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Robert Silverberg
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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 20, 2016
No tiene mucho secreto, es una antología de relatos en donde todos los bichos son bien raros. Hacía rato que no leía una antología tan buena.
August 4, 2020
This one is my favorite of Silverberg's many anthologies. It includes my favorite Theodore Sturgeon short story, The Hurkle is a Happy Beast, as well as excellent stories by L. Sprague DeCamp (The Blue Giraffe) and Clifford D. Simak (Drop Dead). Two other very funny ones are a Hoka story by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson (The Sherriff of Canyon Gulch), and a Papa Schimmelhorn story by Reginald Bretnor, The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out. (The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out is one of my favorite titles; I remember thinking that shouting it at people was high humor when I was about twelve.) Stanley G. Weinbaum's A Martian Odyssey from 1934 is one of the fields' early true classics. The book is rounded out with Grandpa by James H. Schmitz (not one of his best, but I enjoyed it), The Preserving Machine by Philip K. Dick (another pretty good one), and Silverberg's own Collecting Team (not as memorable as some of his later work, but a fine early one from 1957.) Altogether, a fine selection of good stuff from earlier years.
September 5, 2018
Silverberg's own collecting story rounds out this anthology in decent fashion. I'm glad to add this title to my anthology collection, and I really enjoyed a few entries. Overall though, it enforces my low opinion of SF.
May 4, 2025
I'm a zoology nut, so I figured that a book dedicated to short stories about animals (real or otherwise) would be a hit, especially if it was by Robert Silverberg, who's an awesome writer himself. Unfortunately, I ended up getting caught in the middle of an abnormal post-concert reading slump during it so I didn't have the greatest reading experience with it, but I can still say that there are no duds in this collection (just one mild clunker), and that there's even a few classics that every science fiction fan should read hiding out between these pages. I'll break them down one by one so you know what to read if you're just looking to pick and choose, but if you ask me, the whole book is worth reading through. Now, on with the commentary...
--"The Hurkle is a Happy Beast" from Theodore Sturgeon is a fun little tale of furry six-legged beasts bleeding into our reality from another and a schoolteacher's attempts to ward away the blue fuzzball once it appears in his classroom's windowsill and makes his students unbearably itchy. His solution is to . The reveal of the framing narrative is cool, and while this story is too short to be too clever, it is a fun little tale that could've inspired a really popular piece of SF television (although having read the book behind the script and episode production, I don't think it can be traced back to Sturgeon's hurkles)... overall, 7.5/10.
--"Grandpa" by James H. Schmitz is part of his "Hub" universe, a future history which I've heard some good things about on PrintSF YouTube. I've not gotten too into Schmitz, but this tale of an exploration "intern" on a newly discovered planet which humans have been observing for only four years is a pretty fun one, especially when it takes a turn and . This isn't exactly high art, but the giant rafts are cool and feel unique, and Schmitz's prose flows better than adventure-minded SF prose tends to be. Thanks to the lack of blocky prose, it gets 7.5/10.
--The only clunker in this book has to be "The Blue Giraffe" by L. Sprague de Camp. It's not a bad story - the main character's interactions with are fun - but the prose is kind of blocky and prevented this story from being too impactful or memorable, and the framing narrative of the adventurer's child being adopted () just felt ham-fisted. I've read better de Camp than this, but this just... didn't hit the mark even though all the right pieces were almost there. 6/10.
--As a musician, "The Preserving Machine" by Philip K. Dick was destined to be enjoyable. It's about a scientist who wants to preserve classical music through the upcoming Dark Ages by turning them into animals because, you know, nature will always find a way to survive and to preserve the past. What he didn't bargain for was that survival means . I really liked the themes of survival and struggle and all that, and even if the ending wasn't as cinching as it could've been, this story is really growing on me in retrospect. And this was written in the first year of PKD's writing career - really good stuff. 7.75/10.
--"A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum is one of SF's stone-cold-classic short stories. It's about a Martian explorer who gets lost in the Martian desert who meets an ostrich-like sentient whose name sounds like "Tweel" to a set of human auditory equipment. They form a friendship even though they can't understand each other and go on to encounter silicone-based pyramid builders and mimicking cart-creatures who want to kill them. The creativity shown in 1934 is colorful and fun and engaging, and many an SF critic has called this the first story to depict a relationship between a human and an alien who actually thinks like an alien. If this was written today, it'd fun and a well-crafted yarn; but when it was written in 1934, it's outstanding. 8.5/10. Not the first time I'll read it, and it won't be the last.
--"The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch" by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson is the first story to feature their seminal invention, the Hoka, a race of sentients that look like teddy bears and can't understand the concept of fiction. While their inability to grasp fiction didn't seem to play a part in this story, the Hoka here in this story became enamored with the Wild West after some colonists held showings of old western films, and a man who becomes stranded in their town quickly finds their hierarchy to be topped off by the gambler with the sheriff at the bottom. In fact, they routinely vote on who should be the sheriff by voting for the dumbest Hoka. They even have their version of Indians, the greenskins, a race of predatory reptiles, to wage war with. The human . It's campy but in a really fun way, and while the story takes a little bit to get to its punchline, the prose never felt blocky and the story wasn't boring. I didn't think I enjoyed this that much in the moment, but looking back, I think it hits all the boxes it needs to; I'll give it an 8/10.
--Clifford D. Simak is always a pastural writer, but he takes it literally in "Drop Dead," where a group of explorers finds a planet with one kind of grass and one kind of animal, a big cow like thing with vegetables growing out of it that's made up of different kinds of meat, including fish meat... it's weird stuff, and while the buildup is slow, we find out (after other creatures eat all the humans' food, ). It's a pretty good novum, and reminded me of things like Brian M. Stableford's *The Paradise Planet* in a good way. What I didn't expect from Simak was body horror, but when ... I wasn't convinced by the ending because it's pretty foolish of that character, but otherwise this is equally parts clever and chilling, even if it could've been shorter. 7.75/10.
--Little-known writer R. Brentor spins a yarn about a crystal wind instrument and interdimensional munchers in "The Gnurrs Come From the Voodvork Out." The weird title is a play on the main Russian character's accent, which is significantly less weird than the crystal instrument that be brings to the usually-useless special military weapons inquiry department which summons little beasts from another dimension that eat any non-organic matter. This is used in war, giving an incompetent general a boost in rank, but disaster strikes when . Yes, it's ridiculous. No, we never great information on what the gnurrs look like. And yes, it's a little dated. But it made me giggle and will probably stick with me, and that's all I can ask for; 7.75/10.
--Finally, Robert Silverberg anthologizes himself, specifically "Collecting Team," which is about the crew of a spaceship that's looking to collect galactic creatures for a zoo. They think they've struck a goldmine with one planet which is full of abnormal creatures, but is it too good to be true? . A bit too predictable, but it's snappy, and Silverberg's a smooth enough writer to cover that up. 7.5/10.
Overall, this is a really solid collection, about as solid as you usually get. I want to give it an 8/10, but I just wasn't engaged enough when I read the book that I think I can only give it a 7.5/10. But... it's tempting, because the lineup is even better on review than when I was reading the book. If you do choose to give it a goo, I'd recommend not skipping anything, and you just might find a hidden gem of a writer (like Brentor) or get re-acquainted with an old favorite like Simak or PKD. A good gambit that holds to its themes well. Thanks for reading this review, and I'll see you for the next Silverberg anthology review; bye for now....
--"The Hurkle is a Happy Beast" from Theodore Sturgeon is a fun little tale of furry six-legged beasts bleeding into our reality from another and a schoolteacher's attempts to ward away the blue fuzzball once it appears in his classroom's windowsill and makes his students unbearably itchy. His solution is to . The reveal of the framing narrative is cool, and while this story is too short to be too clever, it is a fun little tale that could've inspired a really popular piece of SF television (although having read the book behind the script and episode production, I don't think it can be traced back to Sturgeon's hurkles)... overall, 7.5/10.
--"Grandpa" by James H. Schmitz is part of his "Hub" universe, a future history which I've heard some good things about on PrintSF YouTube. I've not gotten too into Schmitz, but this tale of an exploration "intern" on a newly discovered planet which humans have been observing for only four years is a pretty fun one, especially when it takes a turn and . This isn't exactly high art, but the giant rafts are cool and feel unique, and Schmitz's prose flows better than adventure-minded SF prose tends to be. Thanks to the lack of blocky prose, it gets 7.5/10.
--The only clunker in this book has to be "The Blue Giraffe" by L. Sprague de Camp. It's not a bad story - the main character's interactions with are fun - but the prose is kind of blocky and prevented this story from being too impactful or memorable, and the framing narrative of the adventurer's child being adopted () just felt ham-fisted. I've read better de Camp than this, but this just... didn't hit the mark even though all the right pieces were almost there. 6/10.
--As a musician, "The Preserving Machine" by Philip K. Dick was destined to be enjoyable. It's about a scientist who wants to preserve classical music through the upcoming Dark Ages by turning them into animals because, you know, nature will always find a way to survive and to preserve the past. What he didn't bargain for was that survival means . I really liked the themes of survival and struggle and all that, and even if the ending wasn't as cinching as it could've been, this story is really growing on me in retrospect. And this was written in the first year of PKD's writing career - really good stuff. 7.75/10.
--"A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum is one of SF's stone-cold-classic short stories. It's about a Martian explorer who gets lost in the Martian desert who meets an ostrich-like sentient whose name sounds like "Tweel" to a set of human auditory equipment. They form a friendship even though they can't understand each other and go on to encounter silicone-based pyramid builders and mimicking cart-creatures who want to kill them. The creativity shown in 1934 is colorful and fun and engaging, and many an SF critic has called this the first story to depict a relationship between a human and an alien who actually thinks like an alien. If this was written today, it'd fun and a well-crafted yarn; but when it was written in 1934, it's outstanding. 8.5/10. Not the first time I'll read it, and it won't be the last.
--"The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch" by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson is the first story to feature their seminal invention, the Hoka, a race of sentients that look like teddy bears and can't understand the concept of fiction. While their inability to grasp fiction didn't seem to play a part in this story, the Hoka here in this story became enamored with the Wild West after some colonists held showings of old western films, and a man who becomes stranded in their town quickly finds their hierarchy to be topped off by the gambler with the sheriff at the bottom. In fact, they routinely vote on who should be the sheriff by voting for the dumbest Hoka. They even have their version of Indians, the greenskins, a race of predatory reptiles, to wage war with. The human . It's campy but in a really fun way, and while the story takes a little bit to get to its punchline, the prose never felt blocky and the story wasn't boring. I didn't think I enjoyed this that much in the moment, but looking back, I think it hits all the boxes it needs to; I'll give it an 8/10.
--Clifford D. Simak is always a pastural writer, but he takes it literally in "Drop Dead," where a group of explorers finds a planet with one kind of grass and one kind of animal, a big cow like thing with vegetables growing out of it that's made up of different kinds of meat, including fish meat... it's weird stuff, and while the buildup is slow, we find out (after other creatures eat all the humans' food, ). It's a pretty good novum, and reminded me of things like Brian M. Stableford's *The Paradise Planet* in a good way. What I didn't expect from Simak was body horror, but when ... I wasn't convinced by the ending because it's pretty foolish of that character, but otherwise this is equally parts clever and chilling, even if it could've been shorter. 7.75/10.
--Little-known writer R. Brentor spins a yarn about a crystal wind instrument and interdimensional munchers in "The Gnurrs Come From the Voodvork Out." The weird title is a play on the main Russian character's accent, which is significantly less weird than the crystal instrument that be brings to the usually-useless special military weapons inquiry department which summons little beasts from another dimension that eat any non-organic matter. This is used in war, giving an incompetent general a boost in rank, but disaster strikes when . Yes, it's ridiculous. No, we never great information on what the gnurrs look like. And yes, it's a little dated. But it made me giggle and will probably stick with me, and that's all I can ask for; 7.75/10.
--Finally, Robert Silverberg anthologizes himself, specifically "Collecting Team," which is about the crew of a spaceship that's looking to collect galactic creatures for a zoo. They think they've struck a goldmine with one planet which is full of abnormal creatures, but is it too good to be true? . A bit too predictable, but it's snappy, and Silverberg's a smooth enough writer to cover that up. 7.5/10.
Overall, this is a really solid collection, about as solid as you usually get. I want to give it an 8/10, but I just wasn't engaged enough when I read the book that I think I can only give it a 7.5/10. But... it's tempting, because the lineup is even better on review than when I was reading the book. If you do choose to give it a goo, I'd recommend not skipping anything, and you just might find a hidden gem of a writer (like Brentor) or get re-acquainted with an old favorite like Simak or PKD. A good gambit that holds to its themes well. Thanks for reading this review, and I'll see you for the next Silverberg anthology review; bye for now....
March 23, 2012
None stories, each involving some alien beast have been selected by eidtor Robert Silverberg. Included are such stories as Theodore Sturgeon's "The Hurkle is a Happy Beast" and Stanley G. Weinbaum's unique "A Martian Odyssey".
Not well knwon today at all, Reginald Bretnor wrote four or five "Papa Schimmelhorn" stores. "The Gnurrs Come from the Voodwork Out" is included here and that story alone makes the book worth reading. Light humor for that story--but everyone should enjoy reading it once.
A nice well rounder group of stories--out of print but worth picking up if you find a used copy.
REcommended for SF and Fanstasy fans.
Read before joining GR so read date unknown.
Not well knwon today at all, Reginald Bretnor wrote four or five "Papa Schimmelhorn" stores. "The Gnurrs Come from the Voodwork Out" is included here and that story alone makes the book worth reading. Light humor for that story--but everyone should enjoy reading it once.
A nice well rounder group of stories--out of print but worth picking up if you find a used copy.
REcommended for SF and Fanstasy fans.
Read before joining GR so read date unknown.
February 12, 2019
6/10. Media de los 30 libros leídos del autor : 6/10
Leí mucho a Silverberg de chaval. Junto a joyas como "Tiempo de mutantes" o "El hombre en el laberinto" (o incluso la saga e Majipur) tiene libros normalitos o malos-malos.
Este es una recopilación de cuentos de distintos autores sobre bestias o seres imaginarios (un bestiario, vamos) que no me gustó demasiado, pero el cuento "El sheriff de Canyon Gulch" es genial.
Leí mucho a Silverberg de chaval. Junto a joyas como "Tiempo de mutantes" o "El hombre en el laberinto" (o incluso la saga e Majipur) tiene libros normalitos o malos-malos.
Este es una recopilación de cuentos de distintos autores sobre bestias o seres imaginarios (un bestiario, vamos) que no me gustó demasiado, pero el cuento "El sheriff de Canyon Gulch" es genial.
August 14, 2016
Nice collection. The Silverberg story is defnitely the strongest, along with the one featuring cowboy teddy bear aliens. Seriously. As with a lot of short story collections the quality varies from story to story, but it's short enough that they're all at least worth a look.
Definitely grab this if you like silly little stories about alien creatures.
Definitely grab this if you like silly little stories about alien creatures.
December 6, 2012
I got this book several years ago, and just recently did a re-read. My favorite story is "Drop Dead," which is centered on one of the strangest critters I've ever read about. It creeps me out when I think about it too much!
March 4, 2019
1. The Hurkle Is A Happy Beast by Theodore Sturgeon - Simplistic story telling with an ending that suggested the author got to a point where he said to himself, "I guess I'll just wrap it up here." 4/10
2. Grandpa by James H. Schmitz - Wow, this story was a burden to read. The author is just not a good writer. I had to force myself to focus on what I was reading. The author's writing style is so un-engaging, and the sequence of events so murky and unintelligible. It feels like the author had a purpose in what he wanted to say, but whatever it was, it stayed in his head, and only glimpses and flashes made it to the written page. 2/10
3. The Blue Giraffe by L. Sprague de Camp - Very fun adventure story. Well written and engaging throughout. 7/10
4. The Preserving Machine by Philip K. Dick - I remember reading this story when I was a kid. It holds a nostalgic charm that I felt for it then. I don't really like Philip K. Dick, but this is a good short story. 7/10
5. A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum - Fun, entertaining narrative of an astronaut's adventure traversing Mars on foot with a native companion. 7/10
6. The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson - Firstly, I don't like stories where the setting is fantasy and normal reality characteristics are applied. In this case, it's an alien planet where the native inhabitants speak a Texas drawl English and have human behaviors and conversations. Secondly, the writing was not especially ambitious. I found myself bored and distracted throughout the narrative. 2/10
7. Drop Dead by Clifford D. Simak - Simplistic writing and only mildly engaging story. The idea is unique, and there's a little creativity, but overall, not a great story. 5/10
8. The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out by R. Bretnor - This is a silly, fun story... told well. It was funny and engaging. 6/10
9. Collecting Team by Robert Silverberg - Predictable story with lots of hints to the eventuality of the end. 6/10
2. Grandpa by James H. Schmitz - Wow, this story was a burden to read. The author is just not a good writer. I had to force myself to focus on what I was reading. The author's writing style is so un-engaging, and the sequence of events so murky and unintelligible. It feels like the author had a purpose in what he wanted to say, but whatever it was, it stayed in his head, and only glimpses and flashes made it to the written page. 2/10
3. The Blue Giraffe by L. Sprague de Camp - Very fun adventure story. Well written and engaging throughout. 7/10
4. The Preserving Machine by Philip K. Dick - I remember reading this story when I was a kid. It holds a nostalgic charm that I felt for it then. I don't really like Philip K. Dick, but this is a good short story. 7/10
5. A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum - Fun, entertaining narrative of an astronaut's adventure traversing Mars on foot with a native companion. 7/10
6. The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson - Firstly, I don't like stories where the setting is fantasy and normal reality characteristics are applied. In this case, it's an alien planet where the native inhabitants speak a Texas drawl English and have human behaviors and conversations. Secondly, the writing was not especially ambitious. I found myself bored and distracted throughout the narrative. 2/10
7. Drop Dead by Clifford D. Simak - Simplistic writing and only mildly engaging story. The idea is unique, and there's a little creativity, but overall, not a great story. 5/10
8. The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out by R. Bretnor - This is a silly, fun story... told well. It was funny and engaging. 6/10
9. Collecting Team by Robert Silverberg - Predictable story with lots of hints to the eventuality of the end. 6/10
December 26, 2018
Poco interesante, solo recomendable los relatos: Equipo de recolección, La maquina presevadora y una odisea marciana.
March 4, 2021
Conjunto de relatos cortos sobre la fauna fantástica, recomendable si te gusta la ciencia ficción o fantasia, pero se agradecería alguno mas ya que son muy cortos.
August 16, 2016
Excelente colección de relatos cortos, que sin lugar a dudas dejan con ganas de seguir, e imaginando que mas pasaría en esos mundos si la historia continuara. El primero (el del hurkle) me dejó indeciso sobre si me gustó o no, sentí que estaba incompleto porque no explican muy bien lo que pasa, pero continué, y de ahí en adelante todos los demás fueron geniales.
November 14, 2008
A treasure from years back.
Read
January 13, 2009from Library Thing list
October 7, 2009
A better-than-average collection of nine science fiction stories edited by Robert Silverberg on the theme of animals. The funniest of the lot was "From the Woodwork Out", a sleeper from the fifties.
June 1, 2011
"A Martian Odyssey" is by far my favorite story in this book. Simply put, I love Tweel ^_^
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews