What do you think?
Rate this book
The Best of Margaret St Clair
Margaret St Clair is best known for her shorter science fiction and fantasy, much of the latter written under the pen name of Idris Seabright. She has a remarkably ironic sense of humor, and many of her stories have social or philosophical themes.
Contents:
Idris' Pig (1964)
The Gardener (1949)
Child of Void (1949)
Hathor's Pets (1950)
The Pillows (1950)
The Listening Child (1950)
Brightness Falls from the Air (1951)
The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles (1951)
The Causes (1952)
An Egg a Month from All Over (1952)
Prott (1953)
New Ritual (1953)
Brenda (1954)
Short in the Chest (1954)
Horrer Howce (1956)
The Wines of Earth (1957)
The Invested Libido (1958)
The Nuse Man (1960)
An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas (1961)
Wryneck, Draw Me (1980)
271 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1985
6 people are currently reading
395 people want to read
About the author
Margaret St. Clair
155 books59 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 8, 2010
Naturalist, bohemian, academic, pagan revivalist, and writer, Margaret St. Clair (1911-1995) is largely forgotten today. She began publishing her fiction in the late 1940's in the declining pulp science fiction market and continued to be featured in the same magazines through the 50's and early 60's. Around 1956 she published her first sf novel, The Green Queen, and would go onto write another seven novels until 1973. None of her novels or short story collections (three) are available in print. The Best of Margaret St. Clair was issued in 1985 by a small press in Chicago.
As I read through these stories, I was struck by how many I'd read in other collections while growing up. "Child of the Void" was featured in Tomorrow's Children (1967) and "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" in Alfred Hitchock's Monster Museum(1965). "Brenda", first published in Weird Tales, was adapted for an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery (not that good, but worth seeing if you've read the story).
Every story in this collection is pure gold. Most have the snap, biting ending which turns sf conventions of the 50's on their head. Most of them have aged very well. "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" works as a wicked satire of modern sales techniques and of Lord Dunsany's fantasy stories. "Short in the Chest" has a robotic psychologist giving disastrous advice to the military. My own favourite in this collection, "The New Ritual", works as a woman's interest story, a pastoral, and fantasy fiction.
The truly sad issue is the lack of any interest in her writing, outside a few fans. Here's a woman who wrote countless stories and novels over a twenty year span, then ceased her output. Why? Writer's block? Health issues? It would be good to know.
Posted by Tim Mayer at 9:15 PM
As I read through these stories, I was struck by how many I'd read in other collections while growing up. "Child of the Void" was featured in Tomorrow's Children (1967) and "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" in Alfred Hitchock's Monster Museum(1965). "Brenda", first published in Weird Tales, was adapted for an episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery (not that good, but worth seeing if you've read the story).
Every story in this collection is pure gold. Most have the snap, biting ending which turns sf conventions of the 50's on their head. Most of them have aged very well. "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" works as a wicked satire of modern sales techniques and of Lord Dunsany's fantasy stories. "Short in the Chest" has a robotic psychologist giving disastrous advice to the military. My own favourite in this collection, "The New Ritual", works as a woman's interest story, a pastoral, and fantasy fiction.
The truly sad issue is the lack of any interest in her writing, outside a few fans. Here's a woman who wrote countless stories and novels over a twenty year span, then ceased her output. Why? Writer's block? Health issues? It would be good to know.
Posted by Tim Mayer at 9:15 PM
September 26, 2013
contents:
Introduction
Idris' Pig [“The Sacred Martian Pig�]
The Gardener
Child of Void
Hathor's Pets
The Pillows
The Listening Child
Brightness Falls from the Air
The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles [as by Idris Seabright]
The Causes [as by Idris Seabright]
An Egg a Month from All Over [as by Idris Seabright]
Prott
New Ritual [as by Idris Seabright]
Brenda
Short in the Chest [as by Idris Seabright]
Horrer Howce
The Wines of Earth [as by Idris Seabright]
The Invested Libido
The Nuse Man
An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas
Wryneck, Draw Me
I picked this up after reading an anthology which included the story
"Brightness Falls From the Air." Its masterful portrayal of a
beautiful person of a race doomed by the cruel amusements of another,
and the one man who tries to save her, brought me to tears. And made
me wonder why on earth I had never heard of the author before. St.
Clair wrote most of the stories included here in the 40s and 50s (with
a few later ones included as well). "Brightness Falls From the Air" is
still my favorite, but all of these stories were good. Writers like
this really show that there was no excuse at all for some of the awful
sci-fi that was churned out in the so-called "Golden Age." These
stories are not only great sci-fi, but great literature: well-crafted,
insightful, and cuttingly dark.
Time to look up more of her writing...
Introduction
Idris' Pig [“The Sacred Martian Pig�]
The Gardener
Child of Void
Hathor's Pets
The Pillows
The Listening Child
Brightness Falls from the Air
The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles [as by Idris Seabright]
The Causes [as by Idris Seabright]
An Egg a Month from All Over [as by Idris Seabright]
Prott
New Ritual [as by Idris Seabright]
Brenda
Short in the Chest [as by Idris Seabright]
Horrer Howce
The Wines of Earth [as by Idris Seabright]
The Invested Libido
The Nuse Man
An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas
Wryneck, Draw Me
I picked this up after reading an anthology which included the story
"Brightness Falls From the Air." Its masterful portrayal of a
beautiful person of a race doomed by the cruel amusements of another,
and the one man who tries to save her, brought me to tears. And made
me wonder why on earth I had never heard of the author before. St.
Clair wrote most of the stories included here in the 40s and 50s (with
a few later ones included as well). "Brightness Falls From the Air" is
still my favorite, but all of these stories were good. Writers like
this really show that there was no excuse at all for some of the awful
sci-fi that was churned out in the so-called "Golden Age." These
stories are not only great sci-fi, but great literature: well-crafted,
insightful, and cuttingly dark.
Time to look up more of her writing...
November 1, 2021
Wow. Perfect for the pulps, and terrific for posterity, too. Many are tinged with the eerie and may fit the horror magazines (and fans) a bit better than us SF fans, but all are worth reading. And of being much better known. I had to get this from a university archive... I don't know if you can find it but you should look if you like the older SF and want to read more by the overlooked *female* contributors!
Even if the only story you read is the Christmas tale, the one with mistletoe, ravens, time travel, Mithras, etc... sure to offend or at least bemuse every reader.
He "was an extremely stubborn man. This quality, in some situations, is hardly to be distinguished from courage."
"For the nonce, [the servos] have a quality that is both brooding and broody, a sort of cross between spiders and hens."
Even if the only story you read is the Christmas tale, the one with mistletoe, ravens, time travel, Mithras, etc... sure to offend or at least bemuse every reader.
He "was an extremely stubborn man. This quality, in some situations, is hardly to be distinguished from courage."
"For the nonce, [the servos] have a quality that is both brooding and broody, a sort of cross between spiders and hens."
August 25, 2023
Chop down sacred trees
get creepy with your hobbies
spread the blame around.
get creepy with your hobbies
spread the blame around.
September 16, 2020
I'm going 5 stars on this because this is sci fi from a female author in the 40s and 50s! The variety was amazing and she was certainly not afraid to cover ANY topic. Really enjoyed this!
July 9, 2022
Oh man, I love Margaret St. Clair’s short stories. After recently tearing through The Hole in the Moon and Other Tales I was drawn back in to finding more of her works. This collection, despite some duplication, was well worth getting. As usual her stories are wild.
She will start with a bonkers concept and spin it out in a plausible and human way. Her work feels so ahead of her time, yet it also has a foot firmly rooted in 50s pulp to allow for her to be as goofball as she’d like.
I’d joked that her 50s stories were all under the influence of weed and her 60s stuff under mushrooms. And with these stories she’s more explicit about drug use (interesting enough not down with uppers, which is a good stance) and it seems like it’s more peyote than mushrooms.
These stories are a bit more sexually aware than the other collection. But it all felt positive and human rather than exploitive.
There are also a couple adventure romps in this that I wasn’t expecting that reminded me of Charles Stross or Kim Newman.
Her writing seems so foundational to later Sci-fi and speculative greats, that surely some authors must have read her work before venturing out on their own. Yet she remains in obscurity.
I really can’t say enough good things about her work.
She will start with a bonkers concept and spin it out in a plausible and human way. Her work feels so ahead of her time, yet it also has a foot firmly rooted in 50s pulp to allow for her to be as goofball as she’d like.
I’d joked that her 50s stories were all under the influence of weed and her 60s stuff under mushrooms. And with these stories she’s more explicit about drug use (interesting enough not down with uppers, which is a good stance) and it seems like it’s more peyote than mushrooms.
These stories are a bit more sexually aware than the other collection. But it all felt positive and human rather than exploitive.
There are also a couple adventure romps in this that I wasn’t expecting that reminded me of Charles Stross or Kim Newman.
Her writing seems so foundational to later Sci-fi and speculative greats, that surely some authors must have read her work before venturing out on their own. Yet she remains in obscurity.
I really can’t say enough good things about her work.
March 18, 2012
I came to St. Clair by way of _Sign of the Labrys_ and _The Shadow People_, which were both extremely interesting and flawed works, and I had heard that her shorter fiction was an entirely different matter.
What I found here is a set of extremely polished, well-crafted, and diverse works. Only the last two, "An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas" and "Wryneck, Draw Me", have that odd and off-kilter edge informed by occult or Wiccan influences recognizable from the novels.
It's difficult to categorize the rest. "Idris' Pig" has a Leigh Brackett feel but leavened with lightheartedness; this is an interesting innovation that I'd like to find more of, if it exists. "The Wines of Earth" resembles Ray Bradbury but not so idiosyncratic. "Horrer Howse" is a take on carnival dark rides that was extremely effective in conveying information and menace without providing explanation.
She has a talent for fabricating the little details, and the words that go with them: "matter canker", "cocohol", "zygodactyl", "dentautasen"; the little things of card games or beverages or trinkets, sprinkled with a deft hand. The reuse of certain items suggests a shared setting among some stories.
What I found here is a set of extremely polished, well-crafted, and diverse works. Only the last two, "An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas" and "Wryneck, Draw Me", have that odd and off-kilter edge informed by occult or Wiccan influences recognizable from the novels.
It's difficult to categorize the rest. "Idris' Pig" has a Leigh Brackett feel but leavened with lightheartedness; this is an interesting innovation that I'd like to find more of, if it exists. "The Wines of Earth" resembles Ray Bradbury but not so idiosyncratic. "Horrer Howse" is a take on carnival dark rides that was extremely effective in conveying information and menace without providing explanation.
She has a talent for fabricating the little details, and the words that go with them: "matter canker", "cocohol", "zygodactyl", "dentautasen"; the little things of card games or beverages or trinkets, sprinkled with a deft hand. The reuse of certain items suggests a shared setting among some stories.
June 5, 2024
I best recall the stories thar dealt with sexual themes. St. Clair handled the topic far more frankly and less leeringly than most of her contemporaries. Love that she was a wiccan and a nudist.
Idris' Pig
An earthman agrees to deliver a pet pig to a contact on Mars. Soon he discovers that the creature is sacred to a Martian cult. He is drawn into espionage and intrigue as he tries to recover the stolen pig.
The Gardener
A government minister from Earth mutilates a sacred tree on an alien world for the LOLs. He arrogantly believes his diplomatic status grants him leave to do what he wants to the worlds under his control with impunity. He learns otherwise.
Child of Void
Children versus hostile aliens. St. Clair had a soft spot for aliens with intrusive telepathic powers.
Hathor's Pets
A group of people are kidnapped by an alien with godlike powers named Hathor. As they plot to escape they wonder what Hathor wants from them. The title gives it away.
The Pillows
Another parable about colonialism and commercialism. A corporation harvests soft, pillowlike objects from one of Saturn's moons because they perpetually radiate warmth. What could go wrong?
The Listening Child
A young boy, deaf and mute, has the power to sense impending death. The story describes his relationship with an old man suffering from heart failure.
Brightness Falls from the Air
Humans callously exterminate an alien race of birdlike humanoids in bloodsports. A human man befriends a female birdperson.
The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles
An earnest but foolish human salesman attempts to sell his product to aliens called Gnoles. Overeager to close the deal, he breeches a Gnole cultural taboo — another parable about blind commercialism.
The Causes
Drunks at a bar debate the causes of mankind's downfall.
An Egg a Month from All Over
A sad, lonely man's one pleasure in life is his membership in an egg-a-month club. This month he mistakenly receives an egg from an alien world.
Prott
A scientist on a research spaceship makes contact with a telepathic species. It's a Pandora's Box fable featuring more aliens with intrusive psychic powers.
New Ritual
An unhappily married woman acquires a freezer from the estate sale of an eccentric inventor. It's not an ordinary freezer; it's a good Twilight Zone episode.
Brenda
A misfit girl named Brenda encounters a strange, zombielike man in her local forest. He's a dangerous aberration but Brenda begins to see him as her only ally.
Short in the Chest
An AI therapist has a bug and gives out some bad advice. Have you tried turning it off and on again? The setting is interesting. It imagines a military with such intense hostility between the different branches that they can not cooperate. The government intervenes by mandating inter-service sex.
Horrer Howce
An inventor demonstrates his terrifying creations to a businessman who owns a chain of haunted funhouses. There are still a few kinks to work out.
The Wines of Earth
Aliens visit a Napa Valley vineyard to sample Earth wines. They bond with the old man who owns the vineyard and gift him a bottle of their special vintage.
The Invested Libido
A man struggling with identity problems mistakenly takes the wrong drug. St. Clair revisits themes of identity and self-esteem later.
The Nuse Man
A salesman travels through time, selling a perpetual motion machine and creating paradoxes -- another St. Clair satire of blind commercialism without regard to consequences.
An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas
This story is bonkers. A reverend unwittingly precipitates a crisis for an energy corporation from the future. The company sends agents back in time to sabotage the cleric, creating paradoxes. Both sides use magical powers to fight. It's wild.
Wryneck, Draw Me
The narrator is a disembodied consciousness trapped inside the circuitry of an all-powerful AI. The AI is lonely and lacks purpose. The narrator watches from the shadows as the AI futilely tries to find love and meaning. Here St. Clair explicitly associates the themes of identity, self-esteem, and narcissism to the human race.
Idris' Pig
An earthman agrees to deliver a pet pig to a contact on Mars. Soon he discovers that the creature is sacred to a Martian cult. He is drawn into espionage and intrigue as he tries to recover the stolen pig.
The Gardener
A government minister from Earth mutilates a sacred tree on an alien world for the LOLs. He arrogantly believes his diplomatic status grants him leave to do what he wants to the worlds under his control with impunity. He learns otherwise.
Child of Void
Children versus hostile aliens. St. Clair had a soft spot for aliens with intrusive telepathic powers.
Hathor's Pets
A group of people are kidnapped by an alien with godlike powers named Hathor. As they plot to escape they wonder what Hathor wants from them. The title gives it away.
The Pillows
Another parable about colonialism and commercialism. A corporation harvests soft, pillowlike objects from one of Saturn's moons because they perpetually radiate warmth. What could go wrong?
The Listening Child
A young boy, deaf and mute, has the power to sense impending death. The story describes his relationship with an old man suffering from heart failure.
Brightness Falls from the Air
Humans callously exterminate an alien race of birdlike humanoids in bloodsports. A human man befriends a female birdperson.
The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles
An earnest but foolish human salesman attempts to sell his product to aliens called Gnoles. Overeager to close the deal, he breeches a Gnole cultural taboo — another parable about blind commercialism.
The Causes
Drunks at a bar debate the causes of mankind's downfall.
An Egg a Month from All Over
A sad, lonely man's one pleasure in life is his membership in an egg-a-month club. This month he mistakenly receives an egg from an alien world.
Prott
A scientist on a research spaceship makes contact with a telepathic species. It's a Pandora's Box fable featuring more aliens with intrusive psychic powers.
New Ritual
An unhappily married woman acquires a freezer from the estate sale of an eccentric inventor. It's not an ordinary freezer; it's a good Twilight Zone episode.
Brenda
A misfit girl named Brenda encounters a strange, zombielike man in her local forest. He's a dangerous aberration but Brenda begins to see him as her only ally.
Short in the Chest
An AI therapist has a bug and gives out some bad advice. Have you tried turning it off and on again? The setting is interesting. It imagines a military with such intense hostility between the different branches that they can not cooperate. The government intervenes by mandating inter-service sex.
Horrer Howce
An inventor demonstrates his terrifying creations to a businessman who owns a chain of haunted funhouses. There are still a few kinks to work out.
The Wines of Earth
Aliens visit a Napa Valley vineyard to sample Earth wines. They bond with the old man who owns the vineyard and gift him a bottle of their special vintage.
The Invested Libido
A man struggling with identity problems mistakenly takes the wrong drug. St. Clair revisits themes of identity and self-esteem later.
The Nuse Man
A salesman travels through time, selling a perpetual motion machine and creating paradoxes -- another St. Clair satire of blind commercialism without regard to consequences.
An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas
This story is bonkers. A reverend unwittingly precipitates a crisis for an energy corporation from the future. The company sends agents back in time to sabotage the cleric, creating paradoxes. Both sides use magical powers to fight. It's wild.
Wryneck, Draw Me
The narrator is a disembodied consciousness trapped inside the circuitry of an all-powerful AI. The AI is lonely and lacks purpose. The narrator watches from the shadows as the AI futilely tries to find love and meaning. Here St. Clair explicitly associates the themes of identity, self-esteem, and narcissism to the human race.
July 6, 2024
There's enough weird originality here to warrant four stars, but I am in two minds. I cannot say I was always rivetted to the page or invested in the paper thin characters. I constantly got the feeling something was missing, a real nastiness or convincing cohesion. There is an airiness to the ideas involved that doesn't seem to be thought through completely. The imagination is clear, the intelligence admirable, but a bit more rigour would benefit everything. In addition, St. Clair's own strange 'puritanism' sometimes pokes through in an unsettling way (see 'An Egg a Month from All Over'). It makes for a varied read.
Having said that a story like 'Prott' has an almost Beckettian quality, while 'Brenda' is a real gem (although similar to St. Clair's similarly effective, 'Personal Monster', that doesn't appear here). 'Horrer Howce', while containing echoes of Lovecraft and Sturgeon, is ultimately sui generis; I don't know what to make of it, though the Voom are bizarrely effective. And 'Wryneck, Draw Me'! If that doesn't anticipate this new world of backward looking AI, I don't know what does.
St. Clair was a fine, interesting writer, a strange bridge between Shirley Jackson and Philip K. Dick. In my view she is more literate than many of her male contemporaries, such as Bloch or Leiber, and more adventurous. Obviously she deserves far more attention than she gets, but I don't think it is purely a patriarchal rewriting of history that has led to her neglect. Her stories often seem so light that it is easy to dismiss them as pulp for pulp's sake. However, this is to overlook the wit and originality that underlies them. She also wrote very well and incorporated her extensive learning unobtrusively. On balance, her strengths are clearer now than they probably were in her own time. I think a modern reader would find here much to surprise them.
Having said that a story like 'Prott' has an almost Beckettian quality, while 'Brenda' is a real gem (although similar to St. Clair's similarly effective, 'Personal Monster', that doesn't appear here). 'Horrer Howce', while containing echoes of Lovecraft and Sturgeon, is ultimately sui generis; I don't know what to make of it, though the Voom are bizarrely effective. And 'Wryneck, Draw Me'! If that doesn't anticipate this new world of backward looking AI, I don't know what does.
St. Clair was a fine, interesting writer, a strange bridge between Shirley Jackson and Philip K. Dick. In my view she is more literate than many of her male contemporaries, such as Bloch or Leiber, and more adventurous. Obviously she deserves far more attention than she gets, but I don't think it is purely a patriarchal rewriting of history that has led to her neglect. Her stories often seem so light that it is easy to dismiss them as pulp for pulp's sake. However, this is to overlook the wit and originality that underlies them. She also wrote very well and incorporated her extensive learning unobtrusively. On balance, her strengths are clearer now than they probably were in her own time. I think a modern reader would find here much to surprise them.
November 26, 2018
"The Best of Margaret St. Clair" is a short story collection by an early pulp sci-fi writer spanning the late 1940s through the early 1970s. The collection is uneven - I really loved some stories, while others felt dated, and others just left me with raised eyebrows, wondering what the heck was that? Overall, though, I really enjoyed it. St. Clair doesn't seem overly concerned about genre boundaries, and her stories are more "weird tales" than strictly sci-fi, blending horror, fantasy and speculative fiction, and I found this to be quite charming. She talks about sex and sexuality more frankly than I would have expected during the era when she was writing, and I do think her being a woman writing in a male-dominated genre comes through in small touches, particularly in "Short in the Chest," though it never approaches an obvious feminist "message." If you like genre-bending short stories and classic pulp sci-fi, you may appreciate this overlooked author.
June 13, 2020
I hadn't read anything by her before and am glad I now have- her stories and style are reminiscent of Clifford Simak and Theodore Sturgeon. Odd and yet very compelling.
My favourite story here is "The Wines of Earth", which has a hint of Bradbury.
Some stories go in many directions and don't seem finished in the sense of pieces coming together at the end.... which is sometimes enjoyable and sometimes puzzling.
My favourite story here is "The Wines of Earth", which has a hint of Bradbury.
Some stories go in many directions and don't seem finished in the sense of pieces coming together at the end.... which is sometimes enjoyable and sometimes puzzling.
Read
June 11, 2024“Idris’ Pig”: 8.25
- As if Stanley G. Weinbaum wrote the screenplay for NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Benefits quite a bit from its ‘49 provenance, as opposed to my initial assumption that it was a 70s pastiche of golden age tropes. STORY: guy gets caught up in some spy ring hijinks trying to deliver a sacred object to a cult on Mars. There is, naturally, a dame along the way, although one decidedly not in distress, if nonetheless in heat.
- As if Stanley G. Weinbaum wrote the screenplay for NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Benefits quite a bit from its ‘49 provenance, as opposed to my initial assumption that it was a 70s pastiche of golden age tropes. STORY: guy gets caught up in some spy ring hijinks trying to deliver a sacred object to a cult on Mars. There is, naturally, a dame along the way, although one decidedly not in distress, if nonetheless in heat.
September 28, 2020
This came to me as a birthday present because I had to read “Vines of Earth”. After finishing I can honestly say wow, what a wonderful, wild and odd ride. St. Clair’s stories are as diverse as they are strange and somehow that works.
November 15, 2018
Margaret St. Clair is an unappreciated gem. Her stories often contain an interesting idea or unexpected twist. Great collection of her short stories. Highly recommend!
October 26, 2020
Favorite stories:
—The Gardener
—Hathor’s Pets
—The Pillows
—Brenda
—Short in the Chest
—The Invested Libido
—The Gardener
—Hathor’s Pets
—The Pillows
—Brenda
—Short in the Chest
—The Invested Libido
October 19, 2025
Jede Kurzgeschichte hierin ein Ausstellungsstück für Kreativität.
Lies eine, und dann versuch die Geschichte jemand anderem zu erzählen. Unter Garantie ein guter Gesprächseinsteig.
Lies eine, und dann versuch die Geschichte jemand anderem zu erzählen. Unter Garantie ein guter Gesprächseinsteig.
August 21, 2016
Twenty stories from the pen of one of the better known female writers of SF's golden age. Lots of tales about humans and aliens, often with scary or macabre endings. Sex is also prevalent in Ms. St. Clair's writing, notably in "Wryneck, Draw Me," the most current story in the collection (1980-1) and "Short in the Chest" (1954) which has appeared in several anthologies. Also notable are "The Pillows (1950)," "The Listening Child (1950)," "Brightness Falls from the Air (1951)," "Horror Howce (1956)," and "The Wines of Earth (1957)."
Read
July 24, 2011Not so much read, as given up on: it's not bad, but just at the moment I do not feel in the mood for these rather creepy unsettling stories on the sf/horror boundary
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews