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The Hole in the Moon and Other Tales by Margaret St. Clair
American science fiction author Margaret St. Clair (1911–95) wrote more than 100 short stories as well as eight novels. Many of her stories appeared in such pulp magazines as Fantastic Adventures and Startling Stories, some under her own name and some under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazard. Introduced and edited by horror fiction great Ramsey Campbell, this newly assembled anthology is the only collection in print featuring short stories by the pioneering science fiction writer.
Seventeen tales showcase St. Clair's ironic sense of humor and explore social and philosophical themes: "The Gardener," a condemnation of careless tree-felling and a seminal example of ecological science fiction; "The Island of the Hands," a voyage to a mysterious place that embodies the peril of wishes come true; "The Little Red Owl," a fable of supernatural horror offering a study of domestic abuse well ahead of its time; "Piety," a reflection of the haphazard nature of scientific progress; and other stories of compelling strangeness.
Contents:
Rocket to Limbo
Piety
The Hierophants
The Gardener
Child of Void
Hathor's Pets
World of Arlesia
The Little Red Owl
The Hole in the Moon
The Causes
The Island of the Hands
Continued Story
Brenda
Stawdust
The Invested Libido
The Autumn After Next
The Sorrow of Witches
Seventeen tales showcase St. Clair's ironic sense of humor and explore social and philosophical themes: "The Gardener," a condemnation of careless tree-felling and a seminal example of ecological science fiction; "The Island of the Hands," a voyage to a mysterious place that embodies the peril of wishes come true; "The Little Red Owl," a fable of supernatural horror offering a study of domestic abuse well ahead of its time; "Piety," a reflection of the haphazard nature of scientific progress; and other stories of compelling strangeness.
Contents:
Rocket to Limbo
Piety
The Hierophants
The Gardener
Child of Void
Hathor's Pets
World of Arlesia
The Little Red Owl
The Hole in the Moon
The Causes
The Island of the Hands
Continued Story
Brenda
Stawdust
The Invested Libido
The Autumn After Next
The Sorrow of Witches
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 14, 2019
2 people are currently reading
1571 people want to read
About the author
Margaret St. Clair
155 books58 followersMargaret St. Clair (February 17, 1911 Huchinson, Kansas - November 22, 1995 Santa Rosa, CA) was an American science fiction writer, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazzard.
Born as Margaret Neeley, she married Eric St. Clair in 1932, whom she met while attending the University of California, Berkeley. In 1934 she graduated with a Master of Arts in Greek classics.
She started writing science fiction with the short story "Rocket to Limbo" in 1946. Her most creative period was during the 1950s, when she wrote such acclaimed stories as "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" (1951), "Brightness Falls from the Air" (1951), "An Egg a Month from All Over" (1952), and "Horrer Howce" (1956). She largely stopped writing short stories after 1960. The Best of Margaret St. Clair (1985) is a representative sampler of her short fiction.
Apart from more than 100 short stories, St. Clair also wrote nine novels. Of interest beyond science fiction is her 1963 novel Sign of the Labrys, for its early use of Wicca elements in fiction.
Her interests included witchcraft, nudism, and feminism. She and her husband decided to remain childless.
Born as Margaret Neeley, she married Eric St. Clair in 1932, whom she met while attending the University of California, Berkeley. In 1934 she graduated with a Master of Arts in Greek classics.
She started writing science fiction with the short story "Rocket to Limbo" in 1946. Her most creative period was during the 1950s, when she wrote such acclaimed stories as "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" (1951), "Brightness Falls from the Air" (1951), "An Egg a Month from All Over" (1952), and "Horrer Howce" (1956). She largely stopped writing short stories after 1960. The Best of Margaret St. Clair (1985) is a representative sampler of her short fiction.
Apart from more than 100 short stories, St. Clair also wrote nine novels. Of interest beyond science fiction is her 1963 novel Sign of the Labrys, for its early use of Wicca elements in fiction.
Her interests included witchcraft, nudism, and feminism. She and her husband decided to remain childless.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 19, 2025
This is a tough collection to rate. Margaret St. Clair was an early SF writer who dabbled in the 'weird' fiction of mid-century pulp, and while some of her stories feel like 1st drafts written by a 13 year old, there is so much oddity and uncanny to these stories that I must admit St. Clair is nearly in a class of her own. There's a reckless abandon here, touched with armchair psychology and surreal logic (not to mention many creatures that would find their home in Saturday matinees circa 'Them' and 'It Came From Outer Space'). It makes you wonder if St. Clair wrote these tales during holiday in some asylum.
'Rocket to Limbo', a backstabbing tale of a failed marriage where a journey into space may be the only option to save it. 'Piety', a provincial other-planet rumination about the integrity of mankind to be discovered within the neglected aisles of a long, lost library; and 'The Hierophants', a haunting journey to salvage a crashed ship turns into a fourth-dimension slip where an interpsyche hierophant offers the fruit from a tree well beyond the roots of Eden. "Hole in the Moon', a surprisingly eloquent introspection about finding post-apocalyptic companionship. And 'The Gardener', a kitchen-sink cautionary tale about a destructive tycoon trying to destroy a sentient crop of otherworldly trees, only to find his comeuppance in gruesome transformations.
The two clear standouts are 'Child of Void' and 'Stawdust', both so odd and so strange, I can't quite put a finger on how I fell so deep into their narratives. It was like I was dreaming from St. Clair's nocturnal mind and not my own. 'Child of Void' is of a single mother taking her two children to live in Hidden Valley, only to find that the town itself under hypnosis by a subterranean egg not of this Earth. The two children try to destroy the egg and break the surreal grip it has on the desert town, only to find implications of a deeper, more disastrous result. Really, it reads like some unholy collaboration of Lynch's 'Twin Peaks' and the 1957 monster-cheapie,'The Brain from Planet Arous'. Even better, 'Stawdust' is an incomprehensible marvel. Mannequins in space, yes!.....I've been waiting to read a story like this for decades. A lonely bachelorette is on a spaceship cruise, only to find that each of the travelers are turning into dummies...yes, those kind of dummies, with glass eyes and bodies full of sawdust. No wonder why editor and fellow weirdscribe, Ramsey Campbell, chose to include this story in here. It evokes all the obtusely uncanny, nearly vile sensations that Campbell mastered in his own short fiction. 'Isle of Hands' and 'Continued Story' are clearly written to pay last month's rent, but while the writing suffers, any story about a mesh robot hunting down a petty thief who had stolen from a magic toyshop -- and a novelette about an island where giant human hands give wishes to wayward travelers victim to The Bermuda Triangle -- can't be disregarded. And how can I forget about 'Brenda', where a schizophrenic pre-teen girl is fascinated by a lonely and lost man covered in primordial ooze and stinks to high heaven, only to fall in love with the foul beast.
There's some really poorly written tales too, but even then there's something that St. Clair leaves behind in the reader, as if she's stained you with something greasy and unidentifiable. Reading her is like randomly coming upon a flea market where everything sold is 'off', awkward and enticing despite its questionable technical quality. You bring anything home with you, good luck at getting rid of it.
'Rocket to Limbo', a backstabbing tale of a failed marriage where a journey into space may be the only option to save it. 'Piety', a provincial other-planet rumination about the integrity of mankind to be discovered within the neglected aisles of a long, lost library; and 'The Hierophants', a haunting journey to salvage a crashed ship turns into a fourth-dimension slip where an interpsyche hierophant offers the fruit from a tree well beyond the roots of Eden. "Hole in the Moon', a surprisingly eloquent introspection about finding post-apocalyptic companionship. And 'The Gardener', a kitchen-sink cautionary tale about a destructive tycoon trying to destroy a sentient crop of otherworldly trees, only to find his comeuppance in gruesome transformations.
The two clear standouts are 'Child of Void' and 'Stawdust', both so odd and so strange, I can't quite put a finger on how I fell so deep into their narratives. It was like I was dreaming from St. Clair's nocturnal mind and not my own. 'Child of Void' is of a single mother taking her two children to live in Hidden Valley, only to find that the town itself under hypnosis by a subterranean egg not of this Earth. The two children try to destroy the egg and break the surreal grip it has on the desert town, only to find implications of a deeper, more disastrous result. Really, it reads like some unholy collaboration of Lynch's 'Twin Peaks' and the 1957 monster-cheapie,'The Brain from Planet Arous'. Even better, 'Stawdust' is an incomprehensible marvel. Mannequins in space, yes!.....I've been waiting to read a story like this for decades. A lonely bachelorette is on a spaceship cruise, only to find that each of the travelers are turning into dummies...yes, those kind of dummies, with glass eyes and bodies full of sawdust. No wonder why editor and fellow weirdscribe, Ramsey Campbell, chose to include this story in here. It evokes all the obtusely uncanny, nearly vile sensations that Campbell mastered in his own short fiction. 'Isle of Hands' and 'Continued Story' are clearly written to pay last month's rent, but while the writing suffers, any story about a mesh robot hunting down a petty thief who had stolen from a magic toyshop -- and a novelette about an island where giant human hands give wishes to wayward travelers victim to The Bermuda Triangle -- can't be disregarded. And how can I forget about 'Brenda', where a schizophrenic pre-teen girl is fascinated by a lonely and lost man covered in primordial ooze and stinks to high heaven, only to fall in love with the foul beast.
There's some really poorly written tales too, but even then there's something that St. Clair leaves behind in the reader, as if she's stained you with something greasy and unidentifiable. Reading her is like randomly coming upon a flea market where everything sold is 'off', awkward and enticing despite its questionable technical quality. You bring anything home with you, good luck at getting rid of it.
August 6, 2019
I love these stories of the fantastic by Margaret St. Clair and wish they'd been more widely available sooner. Her writing is sharp and concise, and her stories are excellent forays into SFF, including the more human elements of the genre. The collection is marred only by a terrible and stiff introduction by Ramsey Campbell, who seems intent on telling readers that "male writers did it first" in regard to everything St. Clair wrote. So skip the intro and jump right into the stories.
May 20, 2023
A collection of seventeen short stories written by Margaret St. Clair (1911-1995), a prolific but I think largely forgotten author these days. In her career, she wrote eight novels and over a hundred short stories (and left two uncompleted novels when she passed away) and published also under the names Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazard. Beginning with an introduction written by Ramsey Campbell, a short but nice biography and a reflection on the various short stories within (best read I think after reading the stories), the rest of the book is the anthology, a number of stories with no connection with one another save the author, ranging from the earliest, her first published science fiction story (in 1946) and ending with a short story published in the 1979 anthology _Amazons!_ edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. Most of the stories are from the late 1940s, the 1950s, and one story published in 1960. The stories selected for this anthology include science fiction, horror, weird fiction, urban fantasy, and pure fantasy. Some had a Twilight Zone feel, others a Ray Bradbury feel to them, whiles others were Lovecraftian, while still others had an interplanetary space adventure pulp feel to them, at least on the surface, though underneath was always something else either Twilight Zone-esque or Lovecraftian. Some as I mentioned were weird fiction, not quite in the horror camp or otherwise hard to categorize, but odd, memorable, and yes weird or at leat unsettling. Though there were a few dated elements here and there, they all held up well and avoided too many of the tropes and stereotypes that are negative from mid-20th century fiction (and when they were included, they were definitely examined through the lens of speculative fiction).
I though the first one, “Rocket to Limbo,” published in 1946, was brilliant, with a great twist and like Campbell said in the introduction, is a story about ordinary people surrounded by the “gadgetry of super-science,” people who don’t really understand any of it. “Piety” was another story, like “Rocket to Limbo,” that had something like a meta commentary on real life and both had also a timeless aspect to them. Then is “The Hierophants,” basically Lovecraftian horror in a space salvage operation, though it is more than Lovecraftian in the end, nicely done. “The Gardener” is a horror story set in a science fiction setting as well, in the far future when humanity has colonized the stars, with a bad man getting what’s coming to him. “Child of Void” is also Lovecraftian horror, nicely written with a child’s point of view and a story where you can see the author deliberately chose not to talk about a few things directly but you can see them about what is not said or what is passed by, some clever writing. “Hathor’s Pets” is more science fiction horror, this one about alien abductions, though with a Twilight Zone-esque twist. “World of Arlesia” was very strange, hard to categorize, maybe horror, maybe science fiction, maybe even magical realism. “The Little Red Owl,” published in 1951, was an uncomfortable story, one that really fits more into the weird fiction category than horror and features psychological abuse of children from the point of view of someone who thinks this isn’t abuse, but love. “The Hole in the Moon” is a short but very memorable tale, more really a vignette, of a post-apocalyptic world and a man lonely for female companionship no matter the risks. Next is “The Causes,” which the introduction talks about being barroom fantasy, a subgenre I had never heard called that but one I instantly understood, sort of urban fantasy often with a humorous twist. “The Island of the Hands” is magical realism and very odd, though I get the point the story was centered around. Interestingly, Campbell notes that recent publicity around the first definitions of the Bermuda Triangle may very well have influenced Margaret’s writings in this short story. “Continued Story” from 1952 is next, very Twilight Zone like, featuring a dangerous magical toy shop. “Brenda” was another tale of weird fiction, memorably, enigmatic, and uncomfortable, featuring another main character that wasn’t quite right, thought not as obviously so at first as the one in “The Little Red Owl.” “Stawdust” was just flat out bizarre and hard to describe without spoilers. On the surface it looks like science fiction, but really is fantasy with some horror and again contained some meta commentary on life. “The Invested Libido” is a strange tale, one that felt very much like a Ray Bradbury tale, interesting but hard to categorize, though I do think it is both a story of its time and a story with something to say about today too. “The Autumn After Next” published in 1960 was my favorite tale, a nicely written story of a warlock missionary trying to get an alien society to embrace magic, a great tale and highly original. Great quick worldbuilding and a wonderful twist ending. The last one, “The Sorrows of Witches,” (the one published in 1979), was a low fantasy/sword and sorcery tale of a necromancer queen and her lover. The only pure fantasy (as opposed to science fantasy or urban fantasy) story in the collection, would appeal to Conan and Red Sonja fans.
I though the first one, “Rocket to Limbo,” published in 1946, was brilliant, with a great twist and like Campbell said in the introduction, is a story about ordinary people surrounded by the “gadgetry of super-science,” people who don’t really understand any of it. “Piety” was another story, like “Rocket to Limbo,” that had something like a meta commentary on real life and both had also a timeless aspect to them. Then is “The Hierophants,” basically Lovecraftian horror in a space salvage operation, though it is more than Lovecraftian in the end, nicely done. “The Gardener” is a horror story set in a science fiction setting as well, in the far future when humanity has colonized the stars, with a bad man getting what’s coming to him. “Child of Void” is also Lovecraftian horror, nicely written with a child’s point of view and a story where you can see the author deliberately chose not to talk about a few things directly but you can see them about what is not said or what is passed by, some clever writing. “Hathor’s Pets” is more science fiction horror, this one about alien abductions, though with a Twilight Zone-esque twist. “World of Arlesia” was very strange, hard to categorize, maybe horror, maybe science fiction, maybe even magical realism. “The Little Red Owl,” published in 1951, was an uncomfortable story, one that really fits more into the weird fiction category than horror and features psychological abuse of children from the point of view of someone who thinks this isn’t abuse, but love. “The Hole in the Moon” is a short but very memorable tale, more really a vignette, of a post-apocalyptic world and a man lonely for female companionship no matter the risks. Next is “The Causes,” which the introduction talks about being barroom fantasy, a subgenre I had never heard called that but one I instantly understood, sort of urban fantasy often with a humorous twist. “The Island of the Hands” is magical realism and very odd, though I get the point the story was centered around. Interestingly, Campbell notes that recent publicity around the first definitions of the Bermuda Triangle may very well have influenced Margaret’s writings in this short story. “Continued Story” from 1952 is next, very Twilight Zone like, featuring a dangerous magical toy shop. “Brenda” was another tale of weird fiction, memorably, enigmatic, and uncomfortable, featuring another main character that wasn’t quite right, thought not as obviously so at first as the one in “The Little Red Owl.” “Stawdust” was just flat out bizarre and hard to describe without spoilers. On the surface it looks like science fiction, but really is fantasy with some horror and again contained some meta commentary on life. “The Invested Libido” is a strange tale, one that felt very much like a Ray Bradbury tale, interesting but hard to categorize, though I do think it is both a story of its time and a story with something to say about today too. “The Autumn After Next” published in 1960 was my favorite tale, a nicely written story of a warlock missionary trying to get an alien society to embrace magic, a great tale and highly original. Great quick worldbuilding and a wonderful twist ending. The last one, “The Sorrows of Witches,” (the one published in 1979), was a low fantasy/sword and sorcery tale of a necromancer queen and her lover. The only pure fantasy (as opposed to science fantasy or urban fantasy) story in the collection, would appeal to Conan and Red Sonja fans.
August 19, 2019
I hadn't heard of the author before this book but I love short stories so I wanted to give it a try and I'm glad I did. Some stories I really liked, some were just ok, but overall I enjoyed the book. (Although, I'm not going to lie, I only skimmed the intro because I just wanted to get to the stories.) I also felt like some of these would have been perfect for a graphic novel.
I would like to thank the publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book for an honest review through Netgalley.
I would like to thank the publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book for an honest review through Netgalley.
August 3, 2019
This is my first experience reading Margaret St. Clair. As a follower of science fiction, I was glad I had the chance to check this book out. The stories are relatively short and many have appeared in publications I know.
St. Clair sets about to build worlds in short written spaces, and she does so with detail and interest. I’m recommending this collection to others that enjoy science fiction and fantasy, and I’m going to read this a second time.
St. Clair sets about to build worlds in short written spaces, and she does so with detail and interest. I’m recommending this collection to others that enjoy science fiction and fantasy, and I’m going to read this a second time.
February 23, 2023
I had not heard of Margaret St. Clair before this book came to my hands and I confess I was not expecting the style and quality of these stories. Maybe it has a lot to do with the style each person is more eager to read at certain moments but in the mood I was (weird fiction) this was a perfect read. I find many of the short stories in the boundaries between science fiction, weird fiction, and within the genre of the fantastic. The stories have a wide range of styles and quality, but even in the stories that might not get to the same quality, the "not that good" ones still have in them very ingenious ideas.
Overall a perfect read if one is into science fiction, weird fiction, and supernatural/oneiric phenomena.
Overall a perfect read if one is into science fiction, weird fiction, and supernatural/oneiric phenomena.
June 26, 2022
So I went into this curious about St. Clair and came out a huge fan.
The first two stories are classical 50 pulp weird fiction. Premise, set-up, twist. But then she gets really weird. So many of these stories had me in awe of what I was reading. Everything was delightfully whacked out. Even though a bunch of these stories were written in the 50s they frequently felt like they were from the late 70s or 80s. She was pushing the edge way beyond what you'd expect from the 50s.
The great thing about her approach is that she is happy to explore some bonkers concept and rather than wasting any time trying to explain why things work, she just focuses on the human interaction of whatever concept is introduced.
I don't want to spoil any of these stories by describing them, but so many are not only wild but some of them are amazingly predictive of future media consumption.
I've tracked down a couple other short story collections to try to fill in the gaps.
The first two stories are classical 50 pulp weird fiction. Premise, set-up, twist. But then she gets really weird. So many of these stories had me in awe of what I was reading. Everything was delightfully whacked out. Even though a bunch of these stories were written in the 50s they frequently felt like they were from the late 70s or 80s. She was pushing the edge way beyond what you'd expect from the 50s.
The great thing about her approach is that she is happy to explore some bonkers concept and rather than wasting any time trying to explain why things work, she just focuses on the human interaction of whatever concept is introduced.
I don't want to spoil any of these stories by describing them, but so many are not only wild but some of them are amazingly predictive of future media consumption.
I've tracked down a couple other short story collections to try to fill in the gaps.
January 11, 2020
I was introduced to the work of Margaret St. Clair decades ago through her novels, The Dolphins of Altair and The Dancers of Noyo. I still have those old Ace editions. Now Dover has gathered together her short fiction, which belongs on every SF collector’s shelf. The stories show the scope (and weirdness) of her imagination. Her stories are often uneasy, dark and Twilight-Zone-ish, but always fiercely intelligent. She trusts her readers to perceive what is going on without explaining or spoon-feeding.
In researching her biography, I learned a couple of fascinating things about St. Clair – that she was a lifelong supporter of American Friends Service Committee, and that she lived at Friends House in Santa Rosa in the last years of her life. So it did not surprise me to learn she was indeed a birthright Friend (Quaker), although she became interested in Wicca later in life after researching a novel. She wrote:
“Those who have lived through the Holocaust, Hiroshima, Coventry, Dresden, may be excused for forgetting that love, kindness, compassion, nobility, exist. Yet in man’s animal nature lie not only the roots of his cruelty, viciousness, sadism, but also of his perfectly real goodness and nobility. The potential is always there.”
-- Quoted in Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction, by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson
In researching her biography, I learned a couple of fascinating things about St. Clair – that she was a lifelong supporter of American Friends Service Committee, and that she lived at Friends House in Santa Rosa in the last years of her life. So it did not surprise me to learn she was indeed a birthright Friend (Quaker), although she became interested in Wicca later in life after researching a novel. She wrote:
“Those who have lived through the Holocaust, Hiroshima, Coventry, Dresden, may be excused for forgetting that love, kindness, compassion, nobility, exist. Yet in man’s animal nature lie not only the roots of his cruelty, viciousness, sadism, but also of his perfectly real goodness and nobility. The potential is always there.”
-- Quoted in Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction, by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson
November 12, 2019
This is a new anthology of Margaret St. Clair's science fiction/horror stories which showcases just seventeen of her stories. I enjoyed most of the stories immensely. I liked "The Gardener" , an ecological warning wrapped up in a science fiction tale that serves as well today. The author was famous for her irony which is captured so well in "Rocket to Limbo", and which served the characters right. This is a worthy read in the genres of science fiction and horror. A goodreads giveaway I am glad I won, but my opinion stated here.
June 21, 2023
A major mea culpa needs to proceed this review. I read The Hole in the Moon and Other Stories genuine years ago and somehow my thoughts never moved from my head onto the (web)page. For that I apologise. This mess-up, however, did give me the perfect excuse to once again luxuriate in St. Clair's writing, however. Thanks to Dover Publications and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This edition of Margaret St. Clair's stories hopes to return her to her rightful place in the pantheon of SciFi authors, or so the introduction by Ramsey Campbell argues. While I often tend to save the introductions for last, not wanting to be spoiled for the stories themselves, I took my time with it this time. Campbell discusses the way in which St. Clair's writing got dismissed during her own time as "cozy" horror or SciFi, not comparable to the "grand masters" like Asimov etc. Campbell, however, argues for the complexity of St. Clair's work and I think the variety of stories collected here does attest to that. We get Science Fiction elements, Fantasy themes, Horror scenes, Ecocritical arguments, and much, much more. Alongside that there is an almost irrepressible humour in most of these stories which means I snorted out loud on the bus at least once.
'Rocket to Limbo', the first story, is a perfect example of that, as it discusses a married couple who might just be willing to use space travel to solve their marital issues. One of my favourite stories is 'The Hierophants', in which a junk salvage mission on a remote asteroid turns into a Lovecraftian but beautifully lyrical religious experience with a tragic end. I genuinely sat with the resolution for a bit, wondering how I'd feel and what I'd do, utterly captivated by St. Clair's descriptions. 'The Gardener' is another favourite, from its anti-cop start to its ecocritical message. Also some solid horror material in this one. 'Hathor's Pets' had me laughing even though I don't know if that's the intend. Imagine a man, his mother, and his sister and her husband trapped in some alternate dimension with enormous, maybe divine, mystical beings, desperate to return home. Thinking they're seen as pets they figure that misbehaving will see them "rehoused" back home. The ending really came out of nowhere. Si many others, like 'The Causes' and 'The Island of the Hands', are brilliant and their imagery will stay with me for a while. The final story in the collection, 'The Sorrows of Witches', is the most Fantasy-influenced of all the tales, and tells of the tragic love life of a necromantic queen.
In her memoir, as Campbell tells us, St. Clair said she wanted to write about people in the future who were just as clueless about their technology as we are now. And when I read that I was immediately on board. I could technically tell you what a phone does, i.e. what its uses are, but if you'd ask me how it works, how the wifi moves (?) between routers and phones, or even something like how the electricity gets into the wall for the socket to work, I'd be kinda lost. I doubt people in the future will fully understand their bionic organs or limbs, just like I don't really know what's in a paracetamol but trust it to work. So throughout St. Clair's stories we get characters who simply live in their world(s) but do not necessarily have an overarching view of how everything works or why certain things might be weird, like in 'Rocket to Limbo'. What elevates this for me is the writing, which is consistently strong and surprising. There is an ease to the prose which belies the difficulty of writing that way. It's hard to make complex things simple, as I keep experiencing in my own writing. On top of that, the imagery and pathos in each story is stunning. As I wrote above, I first read these stories years ago, and when I reread them now I had the vaguest of memories of them. I had small glimpses of moments that had stuck with me all this time, and rediscovering how they connected was a great experience. I'm definitely on the look out for more of Margaret St. Clair's writing!
The Hole in the Moon and Other Stories is a delightful collection of tales that range from Science Fiction to Fantasy to Horror to Thriller. Margaret St. Clair's writing is accessible and beautiful, always good for a laugh, and often sneakily terrifying. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this collection!
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/...
This edition of Margaret St. Clair's stories hopes to return her to her rightful place in the pantheon of SciFi authors, or so the introduction by Ramsey Campbell argues. While I often tend to save the introductions for last, not wanting to be spoiled for the stories themselves, I took my time with it this time. Campbell discusses the way in which St. Clair's writing got dismissed during her own time as "cozy" horror or SciFi, not comparable to the "grand masters" like Asimov etc. Campbell, however, argues for the complexity of St. Clair's work and I think the variety of stories collected here does attest to that. We get Science Fiction elements, Fantasy themes, Horror scenes, Ecocritical arguments, and much, much more. Alongside that there is an almost irrepressible humour in most of these stories which means I snorted out loud on the bus at least once.
'Rocket to Limbo', the first story, is a perfect example of that, as it discusses a married couple who might just be willing to use space travel to solve their marital issues. One of my favourite stories is 'The Hierophants', in which a junk salvage mission on a remote asteroid turns into a Lovecraftian but beautifully lyrical religious experience with a tragic end. I genuinely sat with the resolution for a bit, wondering how I'd feel and what I'd do, utterly captivated by St. Clair's descriptions. 'The Gardener' is another favourite, from its anti-cop start to its ecocritical message. Also some solid horror material in this one. 'Hathor's Pets' had me laughing even though I don't know if that's the intend. Imagine a man, his mother, and his sister and her husband trapped in some alternate dimension with enormous, maybe divine, mystical beings, desperate to return home. Thinking they're seen as pets they figure that misbehaving will see them "rehoused" back home. The ending really came out of nowhere. Si many others, like 'The Causes' and 'The Island of the Hands', are brilliant and their imagery will stay with me for a while. The final story in the collection, 'The Sorrows of Witches', is the most Fantasy-influenced of all the tales, and tells of the tragic love life of a necromantic queen.
In her memoir, as Campbell tells us, St. Clair said she wanted to write about people in the future who were just as clueless about their technology as we are now. And when I read that I was immediately on board. I could technically tell you what a phone does, i.e. what its uses are, but if you'd ask me how it works, how the wifi moves (?) between routers and phones, or even something like how the electricity gets into the wall for the socket to work, I'd be kinda lost. I doubt people in the future will fully understand their bionic organs or limbs, just like I don't really know what's in a paracetamol but trust it to work. So throughout St. Clair's stories we get characters who simply live in their world(s) but do not necessarily have an overarching view of how everything works or why certain things might be weird, like in 'Rocket to Limbo'. What elevates this for me is the writing, which is consistently strong and surprising. There is an ease to the prose which belies the difficulty of writing that way. It's hard to make complex things simple, as I keep experiencing in my own writing. On top of that, the imagery and pathos in each story is stunning. As I wrote above, I first read these stories years ago, and when I reread them now I had the vaguest of memories of them. I had small glimpses of moments that had stuck with me all this time, and rediscovering how they connected was a great experience. I'm definitely on the look out for more of Margaret St. Clair's writing!
The Hole in the Moon and Other Stories is a delightful collection of tales that range from Science Fiction to Fantasy to Horror to Thriller. Margaret St. Clair's writing is accessible and beautiful, always good for a laugh, and often sneakily terrifying. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this collection!
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/...
October 4, 2020
Une autrice vraiment remarquable dont j'apprécie maintenant les nouvelles après avoir adoré le roman Sign of the Labrys. Ces nouvelles sont toutes très différentes, mais s'inscrivant définitivement dans un certain genre de "weird", de fantastique et de science-fiction en traitant de différents sujets de manière assez novatrice pour le genre et l'époque, notamment toutes ses questions autour de la sexualité, des droits des femmes, de l'intelligence, de cruauté envers les enfants, etc.
Son approche littéraire face à l'écriture des nouvelles est aussi remarquable: un récit à la deuxième personne, des constructions d'univers entiers en quelques pages qui nous présente toute une fiction en seulement une dizaine de page, un riche vocabulaire, des méta-réflexions, etc. Certes, j'ai deviné la fin de certaines nouvelles avant d'en arriver au bout (certaines idées sont quand même prévisibles), mais le voyage pour y arriver ne gâche pas du tout le récit puisqu'il y a plein d'autres éléments intéressants à regarder.
Avec ce recueil, Margaret St. Clair se catapulte définitivement dans mes autrices préférées, c'est exactement le genre de nouvelles que j'aime lire, une grande écriture et des récits weird à souhaits, c'est une tragédie de ne pas avoir plus accès que ça à ses écrits aujourd'hui (il semble avoir une autre anthologie de nouvelles que je vais me procurer, mais à part ce recueil et le Sign of the Labrys, ça semble être vraiment tout), ni qu'elle soit plus connue que ça aujourd'hui. J'imagine que c'est quelque chose qui devra changer dans les prochaines années!
Son approche littéraire face à l'écriture des nouvelles est aussi remarquable: un récit à la deuxième personne, des constructions d'univers entiers en quelques pages qui nous présente toute une fiction en seulement une dizaine de page, un riche vocabulaire, des méta-réflexions, etc. Certes, j'ai deviné la fin de certaines nouvelles avant d'en arriver au bout (certaines idées sont quand même prévisibles), mais le voyage pour y arriver ne gâche pas du tout le récit puisqu'il y a plein d'autres éléments intéressants à regarder.
Avec ce recueil, Margaret St. Clair se catapulte définitivement dans mes autrices préférées, c'est exactement le genre de nouvelles que j'aime lire, une grande écriture et des récits weird à souhaits, c'est une tragédie de ne pas avoir plus accès que ça à ses écrits aujourd'hui (il semble avoir une autre anthologie de nouvelles que je vais me procurer, mais à part ce recueil et le Sign of the Labrys, ça semble être vraiment tout), ni qu'elle soit plus connue que ça aujourd'hui. J'imagine que c'est quelque chose qui devra changer dans les prochaines années!
Read
October 8, 2019The first couple of stories were fine, in a sort of minor episode of The Twilight Zone way, but not the kind of thing which explained why St Clair should be in need of reintroduction. Should I have been warned by that Ramsey Campbell introduction? I've never entirely got him either. But then I realised the collection was in chronological order, which has an obvious sense and neatness to it, but will often mean frontloading the apprentice efforts. And the third piece, starting in much the same mode, sunk into a whole other level, seductive and ornate, as alluring visions transfix the unwary human visitors to an asteroid – a little Clark Ashton Smith, but perhaps even more in thrall to the Decadents. After that comes 'The Gardener', which recalls a particular major episode of The Twilight Zone, given extra moral force by a dash of MR James and a lot of head-shaking at the follies of colonialism. True, the ending would have been more chilling for being more implicit, but it's haunting all the same. Another tale anticipates several of Philip K Dick's hits, years before he was doing that kind of stuff himself; the title story has a proto-Tiptree gender savagery; Stawdust recalls Jerome Bixby's It's A Good Life, but with the perspective flipped to make for a whole different flavour of chilling. The last and latest stories from a long life are outright fantasy, one in a vaguely Larry Niven vein, the other suggesting Smith again, but from a very different angle. By the end, I was in no doubt that St Clair was a significant talent. Just maybe don't start with those first two stories.
(Netgalley ARC)
(Netgalley ARC)
September 24, 2019
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for a fair and honest review.
While I read some of Ms. St. Clair's work back in the 70s, this short story collection really showcased her talent at writing science fiction/horror. Her work is subtle, not in your face - the horror in some of the stories creeps up on you, leaving an unsettled feeling. Like any collection, some stories stand out more than others, but there's not one in this book that isn't worth reading.
I was particularly taken by "The Gardener" - its ecological theme is perhaps even more relevant today than when it was written. "The Island of the Hands" was also particularly striking, with its theme of "what happens when you get what you wish for." "Rocket to Limbo" is a fun little reversal of "The Gift of the Magi" - you can see what's coming, but it's fun to watch it play out.
One of the things that struck me about these stories is how they rarely feel dated - there is one, "Hathor's Pets," written in 1950, in which women in the 80s were put back into subordinate positions, but it's easy enough to mentally fit this into context. For the most part, there's nothing about these stories, except minor physical details, that makes you think "how aged and quaint" - I enjoyed them very much on their own merits.
Good stories, by an awfully good writer, who has been somewhat overlooked. I'm glad this anthology of her stories has been published, so her stories can be rediscovered.
While I read some of Ms. St. Clair's work back in the 70s, this short story collection really showcased her talent at writing science fiction/horror. Her work is subtle, not in your face - the horror in some of the stories creeps up on you, leaving an unsettled feeling. Like any collection, some stories stand out more than others, but there's not one in this book that isn't worth reading.
I was particularly taken by "The Gardener" - its ecological theme is perhaps even more relevant today than when it was written. "The Island of the Hands" was also particularly striking, with its theme of "what happens when you get what you wish for." "Rocket to Limbo" is a fun little reversal of "The Gift of the Magi" - you can see what's coming, but it's fun to watch it play out.
One of the things that struck me about these stories is how they rarely feel dated - there is one, "Hathor's Pets," written in 1950, in which women in the 80s were put back into subordinate positions, but it's easy enough to mentally fit this into context. For the most part, there's nothing about these stories, except minor physical details, that makes you think "how aged and quaint" - I enjoyed them very much on their own merits.
Good stories, by an awfully good writer, who has been somewhat overlooked. I'm glad this anthology of her stories has been published, so her stories can be rediscovered.
Want to read
January 3, 2023 Introduction (The Hole in the Moon and Other Tales) • essay by Ramsey Campbell
1 • Rocket to Limbo • (1946) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
12 • Piety • (1947) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
21 • The Hierophants • (1949) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
30 • The Gardener • (1949) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
42 • Child of Void • (1949) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
58 • Hathor's Pets • (1950) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
71 • World of Arlesia • (1950) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
79 • The Little Red Owl • (1951) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
91 • The Hole in the Moon • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
97 • The Causes • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
109 • Island of the Hands • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
131 • Continued Story • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
150 • Brenda • (1954) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
162 • Stawdust • (1956) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
174 • The Invested Libido • (1958) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
183 • The Autumn after Next • (1960) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
191 • The Sorrows of Witches • (1979) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
1 • Rocket to Limbo • (1946) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
12 • Piety • (1947) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
21 • The Hierophants • (1949) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
30 • The Gardener • (1949) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
42 • Child of Void • (1949) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
58 • Hathor's Pets • (1950) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
71 • World of Arlesia • (1950) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
79 • The Little Red Owl • (1951) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
91 • The Hole in the Moon • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
97 • The Causes • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
109 • Island of the Hands • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
131 • Continued Story • (1952) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
150 • Brenda • (1954) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
162 • Stawdust • (1956) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
174 • The Invested Libido • (1958) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
183 • The Autumn after Next • (1960) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
191 • The Sorrows of Witches • (1979) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
August 23, 2020
Ok now. I know you like the weird literature of such writers as Vandermeer, Gaiman, Lovecraft, Evenson and others.
But put them down for a moment and give a chance to another first rate author of the odd and disturbing. That author is the neglected Margaret St. Clair.
St. Clair gives us some really penetrating literature. Several of these stories made me put the book down after finishing one and saying: What the @#$& did I just read?
But I mean that in a good way; these stories make us think about things.
I wanted to read this collection because it contained a story I’ve heard about. The tale is called Brenda, and it’s a strange tale about a willful girl who meets a monster in the woods. Being resourceful, she finds a way to entrap him, and even toys with him.
The ending left me amazed, especially that it is so different from a typical monster in the wild story.
The title tale is a sort of post apocalyptic short dealing with deep loneliness. Very short, but very powerful.
A few tales deal more with the fantastic and magical. Not surprising since St. Clair was a real Wiccan.
But put them down for a moment and give a chance to another first rate author of the odd and disturbing. That author is the neglected Margaret St. Clair.
St. Clair gives us some really penetrating literature. Several of these stories made me put the book down after finishing one and saying: What the @#$& did I just read?
But I mean that in a good way; these stories make us think about things.
I wanted to read this collection because it contained a story I’ve heard about. The tale is called Brenda, and it’s a strange tale about a willful girl who meets a monster in the woods. Being resourceful, she finds a way to entrap him, and even toys with him.
The ending left me amazed, especially that it is so different from a typical monster in the wild story.
The title tale is a sort of post apocalyptic short dealing with deep loneliness. Very short, but very powerful.
A few tales deal more with the fantastic and magical. Not surprising since St. Clair was a real Wiccan.
November 5, 2019
While a few of the stories do not wear their age well (particularly as the collection opens), there are some real standouts in this collection. Continued Story in particular is quite prescient considering our contemporary fixation on “reality” programming and social media drama. Child of Void with its opening prologue suggest more weird and fantastic to come for our hero Eddie. Several of the stories would be perfectly at home as episodes of Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, or even Hitchcock Presents! An engaging collection from an author I had never heard of much less read so very welcome.
May 31, 2020
The stories here vary in quality for me from 3-5 stars across several genres as well, from magical fantasy to sci fi, horror to weird tales. Some ‘domestic horror’ stories are equal the best of Shirley Jackson. The few stories of a woman pining with love over her lost man/ lost love obviously pander to the 1950s magazines’ male readership - but even so, her imagination is on full display in these.
I read The Sign of the Labrys first, which is a satisfying stand-alone novella you may also be interested in.
I read The Sign of the Labrys first, which is a satisfying stand-alone novella you may also be interested in.
March 20, 2024
I love classic sci-fi stories, and there are some great ones in St. Clair's collection. This book also had fantasy stories; they're not really my thing, but they were good. The stories were more out there and progressive than I thought they would be. Several of the stories surprised me. I was intrigued by each one and the writer who came up with them, even if I didn't like the particular story. All in all, it's an entertaining collection.
August 25, 2019
One of the better short story collections. Great mix of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. I've actually read one of them in another collection. It's not often that you read a book of short stories and not get bored with a few. Magic Margaret was ahead of her time and a wonderful author.
Thank you Netgalley for the Arc
Thank you Netgalley for the Arc
September 10, 2019
This is an excellent collection of short stories by an author I had heard of, but whose work was only occasionally reprinted and too often simply out of print. No two stories are alike and they cover a wide range of styles: science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comedy, creatively blending genres. Let’s hope we see more reissues of her work.
October 22, 2022
I've always enjoyed Dover Books and their low-cost reprints of interesting by hard-to-find titles from the past. This falls right into that category, being a collection of science fiction stories by a lesser-known (today, anyway) author. Good selection and a couple titles near the end are her newer material as a bonus.
November 4, 2025
These are excellent Sci-Fi tales written by a woman in the 1930s. Some very bizarre tales, but some incredible imagination for the future of man. Well worth the read. This was brought to my attention by an author who wrote a history of female (Monster Whe Wrote )authors throughout history. You know, the ones you never hear about.
March 12, 2023
Twilight Zone Terror. Some of these shorts are masterfully written, some are just weird, and some were completely lost on me. It’s always hard to rate a book of short stories as there is almost always at least one jewel and one dud. Overall, I found it… interesting.
Want to read
August 21, 2019This is an excellent set of stories. It seems like a "best of" collection even though it's not described that way. Highly recommended for sci-fi fans.
I really appreciate the copy for review!!
I really appreciate the copy for review!!
February 5, 2020
3.5 stars
August 6, 2021
Enjoyable, concise short stories. The environments and worlds within each short story is not the focus; the humanity and people involved is.
May 11, 2023
Read:
Brenda - 3/5
Brenda - 3/5
November 27, 2024
Old school sci-fi and fantasy from the 40's and 50's, by an underappreciated writer. My favorite was "Hathor's Pets." YMMV.
March 6, 2021
New favorite author!! Wouldn’t have known to look up her stuff if I hadn’t read “Monster, She Wrote”. Absolutely loved these stories.
For me, most short story collections wind up being approximately 50% solidly good but not memorable, 25% pass/could take it or leave it, and 25% absolutely excellent. That expectations pie chart fell apart completely for me with this gem. I fully expect my copy to become well-worn with loving use significantly before its time.
“Rocket to Limbo” (1946) is reminiscent of Bradbury’s “Marionettes, Inc.” (1949), so I can’t help but wonder if St. Clair inspired Bradbury.
For me, most short story collections wind up being approximately 50% solidly good but not memorable, 25% pass/could take it or leave it, and 25% absolutely excellent. That expectations pie chart fell apart completely for me with this gem. I fully expect my copy to become well-worn with loving use significantly before its time.
“Rocket to Limbo” (1946) is reminiscent of Bradbury’s “Marionettes, Inc.” (1949), so I can’t help but wonder if St. Clair inspired Bradbury.
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