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The Best of C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner
Two legendary masters of science fiction and fantasy come together in this landmark anthology, filled with gems from the Weird Tales era and beyond.
During the weird fiction boom that gave birth to H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore produced some of the most enduring pieces of speculative fiction in the genre’s history: the sagas of Jirel of Joiry, Northwest Smith of Earth, Galloway Gallegher, and more. Working closely, Kuttner and Moore became a husband and wife team whose work appeared in everything from television and print to the Cthulhu mythos.
Both Moore and Kuttner have a legacy that is as acclaimed as it is widely read: Moore received a World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement by the SFWA while Ray Bradbury called Kuttner a "neglected master." Now, for the first time, some of their best work is collected in one anthology, including “Black God’s Kiss,” “Shambleau,” “Graveyard Rats,” “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” and “The Proud Robot.”
During the weird fiction boom that gave birth to H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore produced some of the most enduring pieces of speculative fiction in the genre’s history: the sagas of Jirel of Joiry, Northwest Smith of Earth, Galloway Gallegher, and more. Working closely, Kuttner and Moore became a husband and wife team whose work appeared in everything from television and print to the Cthulhu mythos.
Both Moore and Kuttner have a legacy that is as acclaimed as it is widely read: Moore received a World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement by the SFWA while Ray Bradbury called Kuttner a "neglected master." Now, for the first time, some of their best work is collected in one anthology, including “Black God’s Kiss,” “Shambleau,” “Graveyard Rats,” “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” and “The Proud Robot.”
919 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 6, 2015
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67 people want to read
About the author
C.L. Moore
310 books208 followersExcerpted from Wikipedia:
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction.
Moore met Henry Kuttner, also a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter (mistakenly thinking that "C. L. Moore" was a man), and they married in 1940.
Afterwards, almost all of their stories were written in collaboration under various pseudonyms, most commonly Lewis Padgett (another pseudonym, one Moore often employed for works that involved little or no collaboration, was Lawrence O'Donnell).
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction.
Moore met Henry Kuttner, also a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter (mistakenly thinking that "C. L. Moore" was a man), and they married in 1940.
Afterwards, almost all of their stories were written in collaboration under various pseudonyms, most commonly Lewis Padgett (another pseudonym, one Moore often employed for works that involved little or no collaboration, was Lawrence O'Donnell).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 6, 2017
This is a collection of short science fiction stories. By Catherine Lucille (C.L.) Moore and Henry Kuttner. The first half of the book are stories by Moore, written before her marriage and collaborative writing with Kuttner. The second half is stories by Kuttner; although some are perhaps partly joint with Moore.
The Moore stories are superb: otherworldly, evocative, dream-like, at times reminiscent H.P. Lovecraft. My favorites were “Fruit of Knowledge”, “No Woman Born”, and “Luis o Bobo”. However, the two Northwest Smith stories, “Shambleau” and “Black Thrist” are fantastic stories in the style of H.P. Lovecraft, and “Black God’s Kiss” is a compelling story as well.
The Kuttner classic story “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” and the story “The Big Night” are also real standouts.
The Moore stories by themselves would merit a five-star rating, but I have downgraded to four stars, as the second half of the book was less enjoyable.
Summary of stories is below.
======== Stories by CL Moore:
Shambleau and Black Thirst: Northwest Smith finds danger, horror and terror within unearthly alien beauty.
Bright Illusion: Dixon, from earth, finds true love in an unfathomably alien other.
Black God’s Kiss: JIrel - conquered warrior leader, driven by hate, finds horror and belatedly love.
Tryst in Time: Eric finds true love thru time travel
Greater Than Gods: Bill Cory must decide whom to marry, and learns how it will affect the future.
Fruit of Knowledge: Fantastical retelling of Adam and Eve and Lilith and the Garden of Eden ****
No Woman Born: Deirdre, the first humanoid robot cyborg. ****
Daemon: Luis o Bobo - Best story so far. Indescribable story of a simple man without a soul. A blend of Treasure Island and Hans Christian Andersen’s LIttle Mermaid. ****
Vintage Season: Time travelling connoisseurs of tragedies, rent a house in a peaceful May season.
===== Stories by Henry Kuttner:
Mimsy were the Borogoves: classic story! Two children learn from toys from the future (?). ****
Two-handed Engine: A Fury robot stalks a murderer in a future society.
The Proud Robot: A drunken scientist, a conceited robot, and bootleg theaters.
The Misguided Halo: A curse of a halo, given to the wrong person.
The Voice of the Lobster: wacky, interstellar swindler.
Exit The Professor: A professor from the city comes to investigate a backwoods family of mutants with special powers.
The Twonky: A malevolent console radio.
A Gnome There Was: labor organizer turned into a gnome.
The Big Night: The fading glory of hyperships.
Nothing But Gingerbread Left: An earworm for Nazi’s during WWII.
The Iron Standard: Capitalism versus trade guilds on Venus.
Cold war: A sequel to “Exit the Professor". A strange story, hard to describe, about hexing people into a virus.
Or Else: Do-gooder alien arrives on earth to stop violence and fighting.
Endowment Policy: You’re not supposed to go back in time to help yourself become dictator of the world!
Housing Problem: Pixies bring good luck --- if they live in a good neighborhood!
What you need: deen uoy tahw evah eW: A shop with the key to the future.
Absalom: A difficult father-son relationship.
The Moore stories are superb: otherworldly, evocative, dream-like, at times reminiscent H.P. Lovecraft. My favorites were “Fruit of Knowledge”, “No Woman Born”, and “Luis o Bobo”. However, the two Northwest Smith stories, “Shambleau” and “Black Thrist” are fantastic stories in the style of H.P. Lovecraft, and “Black God’s Kiss” is a compelling story as well.
The Kuttner classic story “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” and the story “The Big Night” are also real standouts.
The Moore stories by themselves would merit a five-star rating, but I have downgraded to four stars, as the second half of the book was less enjoyable.
Summary of stories is below.
======== Stories by CL Moore:
Shambleau and Black Thirst: Northwest Smith finds danger, horror and terror within unearthly alien beauty.
Bright Illusion: Dixon, from earth, finds true love in an unfathomably alien other.
Black God’s Kiss: JIrel - conquered warrior leader, driven by hate, finds horror and belatedly love.
Tryst in Time: Eric finds true love thru time travel
Greater Than Gods: Bill Cory must decide whom to marry, and learns how it will affect the future.
Fruit of Knowledge: Fantastical retelling of Adam and Eve and Lilith and the Garden of Eden ****
No Woman Born: Deirdre, the first humanoid robot cyborg. ****
Daemon: Luis o Bobo - Best story so far. Indescribable story of a simple man without a soul. A blend of Treasure Island and Hans Christian Andersen’s LIttle Mermaid. ****
Vintage Season: Time travelling connoisseurs of tragedies, rent a house in a peaceful May season.
===== Stories by Henry Kuttner:
Mimsy were the Borogoves: classic story! Two children learn from toys from the future (?). ****
Two-handed Engine: A Fury robot stalks a murderer in a future society.
The Proud Robot: A drunken scientist, a conceited robot, and bootleg theaters.
The Misguided Halo: A curse of a halo, given to the wrong person.
The Voice of the Lobster: wacky, interstellar swindler.
Exit The Professor: A professor from the city comes to investigate a backwoods family of mutants with special powers.
The Twonky: A malevolent console radio.
A Gnome There Was: labor organizer turned into a gnome.
The Big Night: The fading glory of hyperships.
Nothing But Gingerbread Left: An earworm for Nazi’s during WWII.
The Iron Standard: Capitalism versus trade guilds on Venus.
Cold war: A sequel to “Exit the Professor". A strange story, hard to describe, about hexing people into a virus.
Or Else: Do-gooder alien arrives on earth to stop violence and fighting.
Endowment Policy: You’re not supposed to go back in time to help yourself become dictator of the world!
Housing Problem: Pixies bring good luck --- if they live in a good neighborhood!
What you need: deen uoy tahw evah eW: A shop with the key to the future.
Absalom: A difficult father-son relationship.
March 22, 2025
A wonderful best-of collection of two great science fiction and fantasy authors, the wife and husband team of C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner, respectively.
All of the Kuttner stories were contained in a collection called The Best of Henry Kuttner that I've already reviewed here, so I'll add only a few more comments about the C.L. Moore stories, many of which were published for Weird Tales in the 1930s. Moore's work for Weird Tales was characteristically weird, evocatively descriptive, and wonderfully emotional, a stark contrast from the slick, accessible style and clever plotting of Kuttner's work. Their combined talents complemented one another nicely.
Shambleau (1933) - Moore's first published story for Weird Tales and the one that introduced the character of Northwest Smith, the archetypal space smuggler and gunslinger. George Lucas reportedly modeled the Star Wars character Han Solo after Northwest Smith. "Shambleau" is a bizarre pulp space adventure that riffs on the myth of Medusa.
Black Thirst (1934) - Another Northwest Smith story set on Venus, but it feels more like a pulp horror story. Northwest Smith is invited by a Minga woman, Vaudir, into a forbidden fortress, where he discovers a world of beauty bred for inhuman consumption and a thirst for a more wild and masculine beauty. A florid, pulpy gem.
Black God's Kiss (1934) - A legendary fantasy story that introduces the character of Jirel of Joiry, the first true strong female protagonist in fantasy literature to rival Robert E. Howard's Conan. It's a great pulp fantasy story, breathlessly overwritten and sensational.
No Woman Born (1944) - The best story in the collection, and one that's most often anthologized. It's about a popular singer, actor and dancer named Deirdre who dies in a New York theater fire, but her mind is preserved in a robot, becoming the first cyborg creature in science fiction. The story is totally captivating from the sensitivity of Moore's writing. She really captures the emotions that Deirdre experiences as she strives to grow beyond the limits imposed on her, to become something beyond human. Deirdre is a powerful female protagonist, as prototypical and as fascinating as Jirel.
Vintage Season (1946) - Oliver Wilson is puzzled by a group of time-traveling tourists who rent his house, drawn to his ordinary property for some unknown reason. He senses their strangeness but doesn't know what to make of them. Although Wilson is engaged to a nagging woman named Sue, he quickly becomes infatuated with one of the tourists, a red-haired seductress named Kleph. This is a strange and humorous time travel story about bored tourists from the future.
The other stories (except "Fruit of Knowledge," a totally serious story about the Garden of Eden, which doesn't belong in the collection) are so-so, so I won't comment on them. They don't detract from the extraordinary quality of the five stories mentioned above.
Moore and Kuttner made a remarkable writing duo, so I look forward to reading their novels and other short fiction.
All of the Kuttner stories were contained in a collection called The Best of Henry Kuttner that I've already reviewed here, so I'll add only a few more comments about the C.L. Moore stories, many of which were published for Weird Tales in the 1930s. Moore's work for Weird Tales was characteristically weird, evocatively descriptive, and wonderfully emotional, a stark contrast from the slick, accessible style and clever plotting of Kuttner's work. Their combined talents complemented one another nicely.
Shambleau (1933) - Moore's first published story for Weird Tales and the one that introduced the character of Northwest Smith, the archetypal space smuggler and gunslinger. George Lucas reportedly modeled the Star Wars character Han Solo after Northwest Smith. "Shambleau" is a bizarre pulp space adventure that riffs on the myth of Medusa.
Black Thirst (1934) - Another Northwest Smith story set on Venus, but it feels more like a pulp horror story. Northwest Smith is invited by a Minga woman, Vaudir, into a forbidden fortress, where he discovers a world of beauty bred for inhuman consumption and a thirst for a more wild and masculine beauty. A florid, pulpy gem.
Black God's Kiss (1934) - A legendary fantasy story that introduces the character of Jirel of Joiry, the first true strong female protagonist in fantasy literature to rival Robert E. Howard's Conan. It's a great pulp fantasy story, breathlessly overwritten and sensational.
No Woman Born (1944) - The best story in the collection, and one that's most often anthologized. It's about a popular singer, actor and dancer named Deirdre who dies in a New York theater fire, but her mind is preserved in a robot, becoming the first cyborg creature in science fiction. The story is totally captivating from the sensitivity of Moore's writing. She really captures the emotions that Deirdre experiences as she strives to grow beyond the limits imposed on her, to become something beyond human. Deirdre is a powerful female protagonist, as prototypical and as fascinating as Jirel.
Vintage Season (1946) - Oliver Wilson is puzzled by a group of time-traveling tourists who rent his house, drawn to his ordinary property for some unknown reason. He senses their strangeness but doesn't know what to make of them. Although Wilson is engaged to a nagging woman named Sue, he quickly becomes infatuated with one of the tourists, a red-haired seductress named Kleph. This is a strange and humorous time travel story about bored tourists from the future.
The other stories (except "Fruit of Knowledge," a totally serious story about the Garden of Eden, which doesn't belong in the collection) are so-so, so I won't comment on them. They don't detract from the extraordinary quality of the five stories mentioned above.
Moore and Kuttner made a remarkable writing duo, so I look forward to reading their novels and other short fiction.
April 15, 2025
The classics remembered
I have read writings by each of this couple. CL Moore often wrote dark horror tinged stories. Henry Kutter often wrote subtly humorous stories. Some of this collection is had read in my youth. Some were new to me now.
In all cases, these stories were interesting and a great break in style for me to read.
I have read writings by each of this couple. CL Moore often wrote dark horror tinged stories. Henry Kutter often wrote subtly humorous stories. Some of this collection is had read in my youth. Some were new to me now.
In all cases, these stories were interesting and a great break in style for me to read.
October 29, 2023
Fun collection. Some stories more memorable than others.
February 2, 2017
Moore's stories hold up better than her husband's, Shambleau and Vintage Season are classics. Anybody who enjoys a good pulp action story will like these.
Kuttner's stories are lighter in tone and some feel dated (a lot of WWII references).
Kuttner's stories are lighter in tone and some feel dated (a lot of WWII references).
February 20, 2017
The stories in this collection will have you thumbing your nose, begging for a fight. They're interesting and captivating, every story had me sitting on pins to get to the end.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews