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The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon #8
Bright Segment
Sci-fi master Theodore Sturgeon wrote stories with power and freshness, and in telling them created a broader understanding of humanity—a legacy for readers and writers to mine for generations. Along with the title story, the collection includes stories written between 1953 and 1955, Sturgeon's greatest period, with such favorites as "Bulkhead," "The Golden Helix," and "To Here and the Easel."
425 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 18, 2002
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About the author
Theodore Sturgeon
722 books769 followersTheodore 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 29, 2020
The stories are getting longer; I think all but three are novelettes, and "To Here and the Easel" is a novella. Fortunately, they're not getting bloated.
Other than that (and a nasty doubt that has been gnawing at me--watch my last note), I can't add anything to what I've said about the previous volumes in the series.
My notes as I read are here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
Other than that (and a nasty doubt that has been gnawing at me--watch my last note), I can't add anything to what I've said about the previous volumes in the series.
My notes as I read are here:
https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...
January 25, 2018
It's difficult for me to rate this. I first read many of these stories as a child or adolescent and it's hard to put aside the impact they had on me them. "So Near the Darkness," for example, is clearly not the wonderful story I once thought it but I still have a lot of affection for it. I have not read many issues of Fantastic Universe, in which this originally appeared, but I remember this story shining like a ruby among the rest of the stories in the magazine.
There are thirteen stories in Bright Segment. All but three are science fiction or fantasy. "So Near the Darkness" changes from a fantasy into a non-fantasy mystery and then, in the last sentence, it changes back into a fantasy...maybe. It is a story about a kind and caring young woman who owns a shop and her male
friend who works in a "Blue Tower Cafeteria" making pancakes and a mysterious man the girl meets. The mysterious man is a professional adagio dancer who appears to have magical powers. He asks for the girl's help in fighting a "Soul Eater."
"To Here and the Easel" is another story straddling the line between fantasy and non-genre fiction. This is a very complex story about two men appearing to share a mind. Giles is a well-known painter who is suffering from an artist's equivalent of a writer's block. Every so often, he finds himself in the mind of Rogero, a knight imprisoned by a magician, Atlantes. Giles aand Rogero both meet incarnations of the same woman, who helps them solve their problems.
Both "To Here and the Easel" and "So Near the Darkness" show Sturgeon's love of puns. "Easel" sometimes seems like the puns are taking over the story. But I like puns and this is one of my two favorite stories in the book. I have one major problem with it, however.
"Cactus Dance" is a fantasy Western. The narrator has traveled thousands of miles to track down Fortley Grantham, his former colleague who holds "the Pudley Chair in Botany" at the Institute in which they work. Grantham has been out West for a long time; if he had died or if he was not going to return to work for some other reason, the narrator wants to become the holder of the Pudley Chair. But Grantham has found out something extraordinary concerning the yucca cactus and he doesn't want to leave.
"The Riddle of Ragnarok" is based on Norse mythology. How did Balder (which I have usually seen spelled as "Baldur") really die? Odin's two ravens, Hugin and Munin, investigate. I had read a lot of Norse mythology as a child; I don't know how hard this would be to follow without that knowlege. In any case, I think this is one of the poorer stories in this book.
"When You're Smiling" is a very good story. This one is on the border between fantasy and science fiction. The narrator says that he is an "unhuman," a being with no conscience who enjoys inflicting emotional pain. (In the notes at the end of the book, he is referred to as a psychopath.) He runs into his old schoolmate, the very meek Henry. But things don't go as planned.
Now we come to five stories that are clearly science fiction. "Granny Won't Knit" is set in a future which is so set in one mode that nothing ever really changes. Fathers rule families absolutely and women have no power or authority. Roan is a young man who works in his father's business and is totally dominated by his father, who regards Roan with contempt. Roan's 183 year old grandmother is on Roan's side and she has some secrets which will change Roan's life and the entire society. I think this is a good but rather dull story.
Another story I think is good but not wonderful is "Extrapolation." A very brilliant man is captured by aliens who are planning to invade Earth. The man seems to be helping the aliens and he becomes the most hated man in the world. His wife, though, still has complete faith in him.
"Twink" is an interesting story with an unexpected twist toward the end. It is about a man who is in telepathic contact with his daughter, who is going in to the hospital. I find that the story is so good and the actual end of the story so moving that even knowing what's coming doesn't affect my pleasure in rereading this.
"Bulkhead" is another story in which my delight when I first read it colors my current judgment. A cadet is on his first trip into space. There is another person in the ship as well. They are separated by a bulkhead and can not see one another. How will they interact?
From what I have read, "The Golden Helix" is one of Sturgeon's best-regarded stories. I have always felt I was missing something about this. Parts of it are very fine but I seem to be missing the point. I won't attempt to summarize this because I doubt I would do it justice.
The three remaining stories are non-genre fiction. Two of them are very short stories from a magazine titled Calling All Boys. (I suppose "fiction for boys" could be considered their genre.) They are "Clockwise," which is more an anecdote than a story, and "Smoke!" about a fire on an airplane.
"Bright Segment" is, Sturgeon is quoted as saying, "surely one of the most powerful stories I have ever written." I am in total agreement. In "Bright Segment," a fifty-three year old man who "has never held a girl" finds an unconscious young woman who has been brutally beaten and stabbed. The man is extremely inarticulate; he may be intended by Sturgeon to be mentally handicapped as well. He brings the woman to his home and takes care of her. A large part of the story is an extremely detailed description of the medical care he gives her. For the first time in his life, he feels needed.
There is another good Sturgeon story titled "Need." This is obviously a topic that Sturgeon cared about. It has been said that Sturgeon principally wrote about love in all its forms and shadings. He understood how necessary love is but also how necessary it is to feel needed.
There is a foreward by William Tenn and notes about the stories by Paul Wilson.
Sturgeon at his best was a marvelous writer, bringing wit, passion, and poetry to his work. Some of his very best short fiction is in Bright Segment.
There are thirteen stories in Bright Segment. All but three are science fiction or fantasy. "So Near the Darkness" changes from a fantasy into a non-fantasy mystery and then, in the last sentence, it changes back into a fantasy...maybe. It is a story about a kind and caring young woman who owns a shop and her male
friend who works in a "Blue Tower Cafeteria" making pancakes and a mysterious man the girl meets. The mysterious man is a professional adagio dancer who appears to have magical powers. He asks for the girl's help in fighting a "Soul Eater."
"To Here and the Easel" is another story straddling the line between fantasy and non-genre fiction. This is a very complex story about two men appearing to share a mind. Giles is a well-known painter who is suffering from an artist's equivalent of a writer's block. Every so often, he finds himself in the mind of Rogero, a knight imprisoned by a magician, Atlantes. Giles aand Rogero both meet incarnations of the same woman, who helps them solve their problems.
Both "To Here and the Easel" and "So Near the Darkness" show Sturgeon's love of puns. "Easel" sometimes seems like the puns are taking over the story. But I like puns and this is one of my two favorite stories in the book. I have one major problem with it, however.
"Cactus Dance" is a fantasy Western. The narrator has traveled thousands of miles to track down Fortley Grantham, his former colleague who holds "the Pudley Chair in Botany" at the Institute in which they work. Grantham has been out West for a long time; if he had died or if he was not going to return to work for some other reason, the narrator wants to become the holder of the Pudley Chair. But Grantham has found out something extraordinary concerning the yucca cactus and he doesn't want to leave.
"The Riddle of Ragnarok" is based on Norse mythology. How did Balder (which I have usually seen spelled as "Baldur") really die? Odin's two ravens, Hugin and Munin, investigate. I had read a lot of Norse mythology as a child; I don't know how hard this would be to follow without that knowlege. In any case, I think this is one of the poorer stories in this book.
"When You're Smiling" is a very good story. This one is on the border between fantasy and science fiction. The narrator says that he is an "unhuman," a being with no conscience who enjoys inflicting emotional pain. (In the notes at the end of the book, he is referred to as a psychopath.) He runs into his old schoolmate, the very meek Henry. But things don't go as planned.
Now we come to five stories that are clearly science fiction. "Granny Won't Knit" is set in a future which is so set in one mode that nothing ever really changes. Fathers rule families absolutely and women have no power or authority. Roan is a young man who works in his father's business and is totally dominated by his father, who regards Roan with contempt. Roan's 183 year old grandmother is on Roan's side and she has some secrets which will change Roan's life and the entire society. I think this is a good but rather dull story.
Another story I think is good but not wonderful is "Extrapolation." A very brilliant man is captured by aliens who are planning to invade Earth. The man seems to be helping the aliens and he becomes the most hated man in the world. His wife, though, still has complete faith in him.
"Twink" is an interesting story with an unexpected twist toward the end. It is about a man who is in telepathic contact with his daughter, who is going in to the hospital. I find that the story is so good and the actual end of the story so moving that even knowing what's coming doesn't affect my pleasure in rereading this.
"Bulkhead" is another story in which my delight when I first read it colors my current judgment. A cadet is on his first trip into space. There is another person in the ship as well. They are separated by a bulkhead and can not see one another. How will they interact?
From what I have read, "The Golden Helix" is one of Sturgeon's best-regarded stories. I have always felt I was missing something about this. Parts of it are very fine but I seem to be missing the point. I won't attempt to summarize this because I doubt I would do it justice.
The three remaining stories are non-genre fiction. Two of them are very short stories from a magazine titled Calling All Boys. (I suppose "fiction for boys" could be considered their genre.) They are "Clockwise," which is more an anecdote than a story, and "Smoke!" about a fire on an airplane.
"Bright Segment" is, Sturgeon is quoted as saying, "surely one of the most powerful stories I have ever written." I am in total agreement. In "Bright Segment," a fifty-three year old man who "has never held a girl" finds an unconscious young woman who has been brutally beaten and stabbed. The man is extremely inarticulate; he may be intended by Sturgeon to be mentally handicapped as well. He brings the woman to his home and takes care of her. A large part of the story is an extremely detailed description of the medical care he gives her. For the first time in his life, he feels needed.
There is another good Sturgeon story titled "Need." This is obviously a topic that Sturgeon cared about. It has been said that Sturgeon principally wrote about love in all its forms and shadings. He understood how necessary love is but also how necessary it is to feel needed.
There is a foreward by William Tenn and notes about the stories by Paul Wilson.
Sturgeon at his best was a marvelous writer, bringing wit, passion, and poetry to his work. Some of his very best short fiction is in Bright Segment.
June 27, 2016
It seems like as the fifties went on Sturgeon began to adopt more of a "try anything and see what sticks" approach to writing stories, which will probably lead to some disappointment from people expecting more "Baby is Three" rehashes or just science-fiction in general but frankly the variety lends itself to better results even when the attempt isn't entirely successful. Thirteen volumes of nothing but stories about spaceships would probably mean that someone wouldn't get a thirteen volume collection of their own work some day and what makes Sturgeon interesting is how his SF stories don't feel like typical SF, almost like he's using space or the future or alien planets as a backdrop to explore emotions that were more interesting to him. And since having people work over ideas can pretty much be done in any setting, the genres here tend to run the gamut.
The most off-putting for the SF fans and I hope the reason they stuck it first in the collection (I know they're being ordered chronologically but it would be nice if they considered it a breakpoint so they could lead off with it) would be "Cactus Dance", which is a full on Western, but one that's concerned with an odd sense of magical realism that feels purely Sturgeon. Beyond that, you have stuff like "The Riddle of Ragnarok" which reads like a dry run for Walt Simonson's "Thor" comics but still coming at it from a strange angle (the two birds that belong to Odin) and critical favorite "To Here and the Easel" which completely comes out of left field. The latter apparently doubles as another attempt to explore his writer's block and an evocation of a 16th century poem, with the action shifting seemingly randomly back and forth between a painter and a knight, with the styles warping as focus changes. As a piece of writing its a bravura experiment and the kind of thing you wish Sturgeon would attempt more often because sometimes its easier to withstand the sentimentality when he's being more daring. But I have to admit its not entirely successful for me (James Blish seemed to love it though so who am I to argue?) and yet I have to respect that he even tried because lesser writers wouldn't have been able to conceive of it.
He still hasn't forgotten SF and as distinctive as the other stuff is, he was still operating at his peak. There's very few places where you can get stories like "The Golden Helix", "Granny Won't Knit", "Extrapolation" and "Bulkhead" all in the same collection (chronologically, even, not cherry picked at the end of a career), all of which have enough thematic material to be expanded into a novel if necessary (especially in the case of the "Golden Helix" and "Granny Won't Knit" both of which postulate entire worlds that we only really get brief glimpses of). What makes them interesting is how he formulates entire worlds simply to act as backdrops for his psychological explorations, most of which tend to center on his themes of love and coming together in understanding but he has a way of just veering away from being sappy. Personally sometimes I'd like a little more of a vicious approach, its hard to read stuff like "Granny Won't Knit" or even "Bulkhead" (where a man has a conversation through a hull) without imagining how someone like Cordwainer Smith would have taken it to chilling extremes.
Its clear he has it in him. Even if you discount "Bright Segment" as an outlier in his repertoire, you still have stuff like "When You're Smiling" that comes across as horror but the real bitter kind, like someone seeing the world as it was for the first time and trying to get those impressions down on paper. Sturgeon was far from naive and it doesn't come close to the full on "screw this" feel that the later "And Now the News" (in a later collection) gives you. But those stories in particular are two that don't end on hopeful notes and as such initially feel jarring. "Bright Segment" itself was quite popular and in France they made it into a TV film and coming toward the end of the collection it feels like things taking a dark turn finally, with the somewhat twisted hunchback of Notre Dame premise edging into a desperate hope before being completely torpedoed in a way that's both natural and surprising.
The collection is rounded out with stuff like the sub-Lovecraft "So Near the Darkness" and the kind of made-more-sense-when-it-was-written "Twink" but its another collection where both the variety and the quality outweigh the stuff that doesn't a hundred percent work. The good stories he can crank out almost in his sleep (even if the truth was probably the opposite, with his writer's block issues chances are each story came with a lot of sweat) and when he'd try to push himself further the attempt is a high wire exhilaration, even when the landing doesn't quite stick.
The most off-putting for the SF fans and I hope the reason they stuck it first in the collection (I know they're being ordered chronologically but it would be nice if they considered it a breakpoint so they could lead off with it) would be "Cactus Dance", which is a full on Western, but one that's concerned with an odd sense of magical realism that feels purely Sturgeon. Beyond that, you have stuff like "The Riddle of Ragnarok" which reads like a dry run for Walt Simonson's "Thor" comics but still coming at it from a strange angle (the two birds that belong to Odin) and critical favorite "To Here and the Easel" which completely comes out of left field. The latter apparently doubles as another attempt to explore his writer's block and an evocation of a 16th century poem, with the action shifting seemingly randomly back and forth between a painter and a knight, with the styles warping as focus changes. As a piece of writing its a bravura experiment and the kind of thing you wish Sturgeon would attempt more often because sometimes its easier to withstand the sentimentality when he's being more daring. But I have to admit its not entirely successful for me (James Blish seemed to love it though so who am I to argue?) and yet I have to respect that he even tried because lesser writers wouldn't have been able to conceive of it.
He still hasn't forgotten SF and as distinctive as the other stuff is, he was still operating at his peak. There's very few places where you can get stories like "The Golden Helix", "Granny Won't Knit", "Extrapolation" and "Bulkhead" all in the same collection (chronologically, even, not cherry picked at the end of a career), all of which have enough thematic material to be expanded into a novel if necessary (especially in the case of the "Golden Helix" and "Granny Won't Knit" both of which postulate entire worlds that we only really get brief glimpses of). What makes them interesting is how he formulates entire worlds simply to act as backdrops for his psychological explorations, most of which tend to center on his themes of love and coming together in understanding but he has a way of just veering away from being sappy. Personally sometimes I'd like a little more of a vicious approach, its hard to read stuff like "Granny Won't Knit" or even "Bulkhead" (where a man has a conversation through a hull) without imagining how someone like Cordwainer Smith would have taken it to chilling extremes.
Its clear he has it in him. Even if you discount "Bright Segment" as an outlier in his repertoire, you still have stuff like "When You're Smiling" that comes across as horror but the real bitter kind, like someone seeing the world as it was for the first time and trying to get those impressions down on paper. Sturgeon was far from naive and it doesn't come close to the full on "screw this" feel that the later "And Now the News" (in a later collection) gives you. But those stories in particular are two that don't end on hopeful notes and as such initially feel jarring. "Bright Segment" itself was quite popular and in France they made it into a TV film and coming toward the end of the collection it feels like things taking a dark turn finally, with the somewhat twisted hunchback of Notre Dame premise edging into a desperate hope before being completely torpedoed in a way that's both natural and surprising.
The collection is rounded out with stuff like the sub-Lovecraft "So Near the Darkness" and the kind of made-more-sense-when-it-was-written "Twink" but its another collection where both the variety and the quality outweigh the stuff that doesn't a hundred percent work. The good stories he can crank out almost in his sleep (even if the truth was probably the opposite, with his writer's block issues chances are each story came with a lot of sweat) and when he'd try to push himself further the attempt is a high wire exhilaration, even when the landing doesn't quite stick.
May 30, 2019
It's tough to say something pertinent in trying to discriminate and define the majesty and authority of "Bright Segment." It is a powerful short story, the horror flowing from individual social atomization and the struggle to break out of it. "Bright Segment" stays with you.
December 26, 2021
Theodore Sturgeon was one of the great short story writers of the Twentieth Century. I overall rated this collection as a 4/5, though several of the stories are 5/5. Most of the stories are from 1953-55, a productive period for Sturgeon.
The title story isn't SF. It's mainstream, or possibly horror. A man rescues a woman who has been horribly injured. Rather than calling for medical help, he takes her home and nurses her back to health. But he won't let her leave, in the end re-injuring her rather than letting her go. The main character is a monster, but Sturgeon explores the psychology behind his actions.
"The Golden Helix" is a well-known Sturgeon story. It's still a good read, but it's dated, particularly to anyone who knows a bit of evolutionary biology, as the main idea of the story is about devolution, a concept that really is no longer given any credence.
In "Bulkhead," a man is sent into space. In his compartment of the ship he is alone, but there is a bulkhead that separates him from another compartment. He's been told that spacefarers, before they can become captains of their own ships, are sent on long haul missions. But since on long missions people can become violent, they are physically separated from the one other on the ship. This is again interesting for the way Sturgeon delves into his character and his motivations.
"To Here and Easel" is about writer's block -- and Orlando Furioso. "When You're Smiling" is about a cruel social path -- in his way worse than the protagonist of "Bright Segment" -- and psi, with a nice twist on the motivation of one of the characters. "Granny Won't Knit" presents a real dystopican society -- static because they consider themselves already perfect -- with its own twist on psi powers. "The Riddle of Ragnarok" is a story of the Norse gods and a good example of Sturgeon's range.
Overall, a strong collection.
The title story isn't SF. It's mainstream, or possibly horror. A man rescues a woman who has been horribly injured. Rather than calling for medical help, he takes her home and nurses her back to health. But he won't let her leave, in the end re-injuring her rather than letting her go. The main character is a monster, but Sturgeon explores the psychology behind his actions.
"The Golden Helix" is a well-known Sturgeon story. It's still a good read, but it's dated, particularly to anyone who knows a bit of evolutionary biology, as the main idea of the story is about devolution, a concept that really is no longer given any credence.
In "Bulkhead," a man is sent into space. In his compartment of the ship he is alone, but there is a bulkhead that separates him from another compartment. He's been told that spacefarers, before they can become captains of their own ships, are sent on long haul missions. But since on long missions people can become violent, they are physically separated from the one other on the ship. This is again interesting for the way Sturgeon delves into his character and his motivations.
"To Here and Easel" is about writer's block -- and Orlando Furioso. "When You're Smiling" is about a cruel social path -- in his way worse than the protagonist of "Bright Segment" -- and psi, with a nice twist on the motivation of one of the characters. "Granny Won't Knit" presents a real dystopican society -- static because they consider themselves already perfect -- with its own twist on psi powers. "The Riddle of Ragnarok" is a story of the Norse gods and a good example of Sturgeon's range.
Overall, a strong collection.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews