Killdozer!

The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon #3

by Theodore Sturgeon, Paul Williams (Editor), Robert Silverberg (Foreword)

Killdozer is the third volume of a series of the complete short stories from Theodore Sturgeon's career. It contains a few of his best and most famous short stories: "Medusa," "Killdozer " and "Mewhu's Jet." The series editor Paul Williams has dug into the background of each story, and come up with a lot of interesting lore about Sturgeon. Especially of interest in this volume is the alternative original ending to "Mewhu's Jet."

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Robert Silverberg
Afterword by Robert A. Heinlein
Stories:
Blabbermouth
Medusa
Ghost of a Chance
The Bones (with James H. Beard)
The Hag Séleen (with James H. Beard)
Killdozer!
Abreaction
Poor Yorick (prev unpub)
Crossfire (prev unpub)
Noon Gun
Bulldozer is a Noun (prev unpub)
August Sixth
The Chromium Helmet
Memorial
Mewhu's Jet

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

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

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

[Kalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a nutshell: Sturgeon is still on the verge of becoming a moving force. And his knowledge of, of, of everything still astounds me. (Everything but deeply appealing characters. Of his cast, only the children really appeal to me. Just you wait, though; they're growing up. ;)

My impressions as I read ... are here:

https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...

[Michael O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third volume of Complete Stories contains works written between 1941 and 1946, although Sturgeon was suffering from writers’ block during the war years and produced no work from mid ’41 to mid ’44. When he resumed writing, he came back with a bang, with one of his most successful stories Killdozer, about an incorporeal energy being who takes control of a bulldozer and goes on a killing spree. The story was adapted for a TV movie in 1974. This volume also includes the original ending for the story, which was changed for publication.

Following the success of Killdozer, it seems Sturgeon tried to cash in by writing a few more stories featuring bulldozers, such as Abreaction and Bulldozer Is A Noun, which are included in this volume, but none had the same success as the original.

Of the fifteen stories in this collection, the other tales worth mentioning are The Chromium Helmet, about a machine which implants false memories, The Hag Séleen, about creepy goings-on in a Louisiana swamp, and Mewhu’s Jet, which may be one of the earliest stories about a visit to earth by an alien child, in the same vein as Spielberg’s E.T. An unpublished alternate ending for the latter story is also included in this volume.

The collection includes four unpublished stories — Poor Yorick, Crossfire, Bulldozer Is A Noun, and August Sixth 1945 — as well as Noon Gun, which is published in book form for the first time.

All the stories are entertaining reads, excepting a couple of the unpublished stories (which may explain why they were unpublished), with Killdozer being the standout of the collection.

A worthwhile read for any Sturgeon fan, or anyone wanting an introduction to the author’s early work.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read 'Killdozer' from an epub, I con't find it standalone here.
An interesting romp - could be about an AI if read sideways, but is actually about an ancient being that can 'become' the machine. And the being doesn't like humans.... and when the machine it chooses is a massive futuristic bulldozer used to turn an island into an airstrip, bad things happen.

[Will Wesson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolute classic that set the stage for a lot of later work.

[Joseph]

Just plain fun. Imagine "the terminator" but with a D-6 bulldozer.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some winners and some not-so-much, but I how there are three stories in a row that involve bulldozers in some form or fashion.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic science fiction in the truest sense combined with character development that is often lacking in the field. Sturgeon was a master of the field, his material being among the 10% that is good (Sturgeon's old adage was that 90% of SF is crap because 90% of everything is crap).

[Sands Hetherington · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Shottle Bop" is my favorite ghost story of all time!

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/killdozer-by-theodore-sturgeon/

I got this in 2020 expecting that the title story would be a finalist and indeed likely winner of the 1945 Retro Hugo for Best Novelette, and indeed it won by a long way. But it took me until now to get around to reading the rest of the collection. These are all above average stories for the pulp era, with women characters who show signs of three-dimensionality, and some great ideas. “Killdozer!”, the story of a large machine possessed by alien forces, is still the standout of the lot.

I was struck that in the story “Chromium Helmet”, the villain’s name is Wickersham, which was my great-grandmother’s maiden name. Her nephew, Lieutenant-General Cornelius W. Wickersham, had just been appointed head of the New York National Guard when the story was written in 1946, so it was a name in the news.

[Groucho42 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skipped the second, hoping he'd have learned some better writing by the third. Nope. Still rough and are very dated. Also, I can only read so many stories about bulldozers. As a kid, I remember liking his stories, so I guess I'll skip ahead again.

[phil breidenbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories from the SF author Theodore Sturgeon. Good stories written back in the 40's. (+/-) The title story reminded me of Stephen King's Cristine. I'm going to have to re-read that soon!

[Fynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant prose, questionable plots, and I do not ever want to read a story about bulldozers again.

[MagicDave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great collection!

I have read the first and second collections of Mr. Sturgeon's short stories and for the most part, enjoyed them.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sturgeon is cream of science fiction crop. Collection of early stories. "Killdozer" has alien meteor, possessing common road construction machine that becomes destructive juggernaut. Relentless and persistent story; first contact not so good.

[Beauregard Shagnasty · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the classic titles in sci fi. The novella is tightly written,with deft characterization.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The idea of a bulldozer being possessed by an alien life force and going on a killing spree is absurd, and would be stupid if handled by anyone other than a master storyteller. Fortunately, at this point in his career, Sturgeon had become that master storyteller. There are other stories in this volume, mostly from Astounding Science Fiction and Unknown Worlds (two of the most popular pulp magazines from the 1940s) and a story or two from Weird Tales -- a very entertaining mixture. My favorite, though, was "Mewhu's Jet," one of most most entertaining and touching alien encounter stories I have ever read.

[Wolf Skull]

It’s a good movie