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The Witching Hour
"WE SUMMON THEE, PRINCE, RULER OF DARKNESS, LORD OF YOUR WORSHIPPERS SUMMON THEE TO RECEIVE OUR SACRIFICE.." James E. Gunn's sci-fi world has veered into the realm of the unholy with the Witching Hour, three novelettes of satanic scenery and devilish deceit. Demons, death and disbelief will haunt you at every corner. Macabre rituals of darkness will creep up your spine until your fragile mind tingles with fear.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
2 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
James E. Gunn
267 books117 followersAmerican science fiction author, editor, scholar, and anthologist. His work from the 1960s and 70s is considered his most significant fiction, and his Road to Science Fiction collections are considered his most important scholarly books. He won a Hugo Award for a non-fiction book in 1983 for Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. He was named the 2007 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Gunn served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, after which he attended the University of Kansas, earning a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in 1947 and a Masters of Arts in English in 1951. Gunn went on to become a faculty member of the University of Kansas, where he served as the university's director of public relations and as a professor of English, specializing in science fiction and fiction writing. He is now a professor emeritus and director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, which awards the annual John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award at the Campbell Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, every July.
He served as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1971–72, was President of the Science Fiction Research Association from 1980-82, and currently is Director of The Center for the Study of
Science Fiction. SFWA honored him as a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 2007.
Gunn began his career as a science fiction author in 1948. He has had almost 100 stories published in magazines and anthologies and has authored 26 books and edited 10. Many of his stories and books have been reprinted around the world.
In 1996, Gunn wrote a novelization of the unproduced Star Trek episode "The Joy Machine" by Theodore Sturgeon.
His stories also have been adapted into radioplays and teleplays:
* NBC radio's X Minus One
* Desilu Playhouse's 1959 "Man in Orbit", based on Gunn's "The Cave of Night"
* ABC-TV's Movie of the Week "The Immortal" (1969) and an hour-long television series in 1970, based on Gunn's The Immortals
* An episode of the USSR science fiction TV series This Fantastic World, filmed in 1989 and entitled "Psychodynamics of the Witchcraft" was based on James Gunn's 1953 story "Wherever You May Be".
Gunn served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, after which he attended the University of Kansas, earning a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in 1947 and a Masters of Arts in English in 1951. Gunn went on to become a faculty member of the University of Kansas, where he served as the university's director of public relations and as a professor of English, specializing in science fiction and fiction writing. He is now a professor emeritus and director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, which awards the annual John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award at the Campbell Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, every July.
He served as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1971–72, was President of the Science Fiction Research Association from 1980-82, and currently is Director of The Center for the Study of
Science Fiction. SFWA honored him as a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 2007.
Gunn began his career as a science fiction author in 1948. He has had almost 100 stories published in magazines and anthologies and has authored 26 books and edited 10. Many of his stories and books have been reprinted around the world.
In 1996, Gunn wrote a novelization of the unproduced Star Trek episode "The Joy Machine" by Theodore Sturgeon.
His stories also have been adapted into radioplays and teleplays:
* NBC radio's X Minus One
* Desilu Playhouse's 1959 "Man in Orbit", based on Gunn's "The Cave of Night"
* ABC-TV's Movie of the Week "The Immortal" (1969) and an hour-long television series in 1970, based on Gunn's The Immortals
* An episode of the USSR science fiction TV series This Fantastic World, filmed in 1989 and entitled "Psychodynamics of the Witchcraft" was based on James Gunn's 1953 story "Wherever You May Be".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 11, 2018
Grandfather lit his pipe and had us all take a seat around him; he was in a tale-telling mood. We've heard a lot of his stories over the years - mainly ones about his time in space. But it being Halloween season, we knew this time we were in store for something different. Horror! Not exactly a subject that was in his regular wheelhouse, so we weren't quite sure what to expect.
He told us three stories. The first was about a young asshole who finds himself trapped by a redneck witch. Grandfather didn't shy away from showing us just how assholish this young asshole was, and our modern ears appreciated that. But those same ears didn't much appreciate how he described the witch. Did she really have to be the sort of witch whose sole desire was to be with a man? We loved the second half of the story, where she ceaselessly tormented the jerk, that was exciting and fun. But it was hard to get past the basic thing that annoyed us about Grandfather's storytelling - he was direly sexist. Ah well, it was another age when he was younger, we told ourselves. At least he wasn't a misogynist. There's a difference.
The second story was about beer, which Grandfather loves of course, and about a beer nymph. It ended with the story's hero finding his one true love with that beer-loving and almost excruciatingly devoted nymph. We rolled our eyes at that one a lot. How does Grandmother put up with him, some of us thought.
The third story had us smiling again. We liked this rollicking tale of modern-day magicians and scientific magic versus satanic magic. It surprised us. It was ingenious - but that was no surprise, as we know that Grandfather is quite ingenious himself. But again, the female character... her interests, the way she acted towards the hero, the love story.... oh, Grandfather. Such a classic chauvinist. A little tiring, honestly. We love Grandfather, but sometimes these old-timers can be a bit much!
He told us three stories. The first was about a young asshole who finds himself trapped by a redneck witch. Grandfather didn't shy away from showing us just how assholish this young asshole was, and our modern ears appreciated that. But those same ears didn't much appreciate how he described the witch. Did she really have to be the sort of witch whose sole desire was to be with a man? We loved the second half of the story, where she ceaselessly tormented the jerk, that was exciting and fun. But it was hard to get past the basic thing that annoyed us about Grandfather's storytelling - he was direly sexist. Ah well, it was another age when he was younger, we told ourselves. At least he wasn't a misogynist. There's a difference.
The second story was about beer, which Grandfather loves of course, and about a beer nymph. It ended with the story's hero finding his one true love with that beer-loving and almost excruciatingly devoted nymph. We rolled our eyes at that one a lot. How does Grandmother put up with him, some of us thought.
The third story had us smiling again. We liked this rollicking tale of modern-day magicians and scientific magic versus satanic magic. It surprised us. It was ingenious - but that was no surprise, as we know that Grandfather is quite ingenious himself. But again, the female character... her interests, the way she acted towards the hero, the love story.... oh, Grandfather. Such a classic chauvinist. A little tiring, honestly. We love Grandfather, but sometimes these old-timers can be a bit much!
June 5, 2015
review of
James Gunn's The Witching Hour
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - June 5, 2015
When I previously read Gunn's The Magicians, in my review of it ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30... ) I remarked that "After spending something like 6 mnths reading Joseph McElroy's Women and Men I've decided to only read short bks for a looooonnnnnggggggg while - bks that I can read in a day or a few days. Every time I reach for something over 300pp long I shrink back. It's time for 'beach reading', 'vacation bks' - but when I was at the beach on 'vacation' I was reading McElroy. The Magicians fit the bill perfectly - even more perfectly than I'd hoped."
NOW, I chose to read 2 Gunn bks while I was in the midst of the somewhat grueling process of spending 4 wks reviewing Source - Music of the Avant-Garde, 1966-1973 ( "Re: Source": https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/... ) &, once again, they fit the bill. In the case of The Witching Hour, I'll be able to write this review in no time flat thusly proving that I'm a warlock or something b/c otherwise this review will really take me an hr or 2 to write.
Regarding p 29 I wrote a note to myself: "Influenced by Fort?" about the following:
"You can't just dismiss things, he thought. In any comprehensive scheme of the universe, you must include all valid phenomena. If the accepted scheme of things cannot find a place for it, then the scheme must change." - p 29
Then my note for p 3 says: "Bingo!" so I cashed in my cards & took my money off to buy alcohol:
"Matt thought about Charles Fort and his Book of the Damned, that strange and wonderful book that lists and documents the phenomena that science cannot explain in its own terms and which it therefore relegates to the inferno of the unacceptable." - p 30
In the same story, b/c after all, this IS a collection of short stories (but I didn't tell you that yet), "The Reluctant Witch", it is written:
"Between the middle of the fifteenth century and the middle of the sixteenth, one hundred thousand persons had been put to death for witchcraft. How many had come to the rack or the stake ir the drowning pool through the accusations of children? A child saw a hag at her door. The next moment she saw a hare run by and the woman had disappeared. On no more convincing evidence than that, the woman was accused of turning herself into a hare by witchcraft." - p 32
That type of 'evidence' is called "Spectral Evidence". I'm fascinated by its history. If you go to at least one presentation in Salem, Massachusetts, to hear about the girls who caused so much suffering w/ their own spectral evidence you'll be treated to the presenter telling you it was really all the patriarchy's fault, blah, blah.. Those little girls were sociopathic brats, don't make excuses for them. I made a movie called "Spectral Evidence". The trailer for it is here: http://youtu.be/PFtodKMQpXE . Chances are, it won't make a lick of sense to you. It'll make about as much sense as the following quote taken out of context:
"Matt looked up. He strangled, It was Abbie! Abbie's face bending over him! Matt choked and spluttered. Students turned to stare. Matt gazed around the room wildly. the girls—they all looked like Abbie!" - p 74
I reckon one cd say that "The Reluctant Witch" is a romantic comedy. As w/ all romantic comedies, I shd be so lucky as to have a girlfriend like that. "The beautiful brew"? It's another romantic comedy. "Is there anyone will not desert me? Oh, Dion, old friend, why have you deserted me, too? Dion! Is your name short for "Dionysus?"" (p 90) I shd be so lucky as to have a girlfriend made of beer. Then we cd have sex ""Under the table?" Jerry said with great dignity. "Of course not. Half seas over, yes. Also: fuddled, lush, mellow, merry, plastered, primed, sozzled, squiffy, topheavy, tight, oiled, and one over the eight. I am drunk as a piper, a fiddler, a lord, an owl, David's sow, or a wheelbarrow. I feel fine." (p 98)
The last story, "The Magicians", was also a novel of the same name. I didn't read the story here but I did review the novel, as already stated above, here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30... . So there.
James Gunn's The Witching Hour
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - June 5, 2015
When I previously read Gunn's The Magicians, in my review of it ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30... ) I remarked that "After spending something like 6 mnths reading Joseph McElroy's Women and Men I've decided to only read short bks for a looooonnnnnggggggg while - bks that I can read in a day or a few days. Every time I reach for something over 300pp long I shrink back. It's time for 'beach reading', 'vacation bks' - but when I was at the beach on 'vacation' I was reading McElroy. The Magicians fit the bill perfectly - even more perfectly than I'd hoped."
NOW, I chose to read 2 Gunn bks while I was in the midst of the somewhat grueling process of spending 4 wks reviewing Source - Music of the Avant-Garde, 1966-1973 ( "Re: Source": https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/... ) &, once again, they fit the bill. In the case of The Witching Hour, I'll be able to write this review in no time flat thusly proving that I'm a warlock or something b/c otherwise this review will really take me an hr or 2 to write.
Regarding p 29 I wrote a note to myself: "Influenced by Fort?" about the following:
"You can't just dismiss things, he thought. In any comprehensive scheme of the universe, you must include all valid phenomena. If the accepted scheme of things cannot find a place for it, then the scheme must change." - p 29
Then my note for p 3 says: "Bingo!" so I cashed in my cards & took my money off to buy alcohol:
"Matt thought about Charles Fort and his Book of the Damned, that strange and wonderful book that lists and documents the phenomena that science cannot explain in its own terms and which it therefore relegates to the inferno of the unacceptable." - p 30
In the same story, b/c after all, this IS a collection of short stories (but I didn't tell you that yet), "The Reluctant Witch", it is written:
"Between the middle of the fifteenth century and the middle of the sixteenth, one hundred thousand persons had been put to death for witchcraft. How many had come to the rack or the stake ir the drowning pool through the accusations of children? A child saw a hag at her door. The next moment she saw a hare run by and the woman had disappeared. On no more convincing evidence than that, the woman was accused of turning herself into a hare by witchcraft." - p 32
That type of 'evidence' is called "Spectral Evidence". I'm fascinated by its history. If you go to at least one presentation in Salem, Massachusetts, to hear about the girls who caused so much suffering w/ their own spectral evidence you'll be treated to the presenter telling you it was really all the patriarchy's fault, blah, blah.. Those little girls were sociopathic brats, don't make excuses for them. I made a movie called "Spectral Evidence". The trailer for it is here: http://youtu.be/PFtodKMQpXE . Chances are, it won't make a lick of sense to you. It'll make about as much sense as the following quote taken out of context:
"Matt looked up. He strangled, It was Abbie! Abbie's face bending over him! Matt choked and spluttered. Students turned to stare. Matt gazed around the room wildly. the girls—they all looked like Abbie!" - p 74
I reckon one cd say that "The Reluctant Witch" is a romantic comedy. As w/ all romantic comedies, I shd be so lucky as to have a girlfriend like that. "The beautiful brew"? It's another romantic comedy. "Is there anyone will not desert me? Oh, Dion, old friend, why have you deserted me, too? Dion! Is your name short for "Dionysus?"" (p 90) I shd be so lucky as to have a girlfriend made of beer. Then we cd have sex ""Under the table?" Jerry said with great dignity. "Of course not. Half seas over, yes. Also: fuddled, lush, mellow, merry, plastered, primed, sozzled, squiffy, topheavy, tight, oiled, and one over the eight. I am drunk as a piper, a fiddler, a lord, an owl, David's sow, or a wheelbarrow. I feel fine." (p 98)
The last story, "The Magicians", was also a novel of the same name. I didn't read the story here but I did review the novel, as already stated above, here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30... . So there.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews