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Ahead of Time: A Collection of Short Stories
"[A] pomegranate popping with seeds—full of ideas." —Ray Bradbury
From one of the most respected of science fiction writers comes a collection of science fiction stories described as "just about as good as the modern magazine science-fantasy story can get." —J. Francis McComas and Anthony Boucher
These ten science fiction stories
Or Else
Home is the Hunter
By These Presents
De Profundis
Camouflage
Year Day
Ghost
Shock
Pile of Trouble
Deadlock
From one of the most respected of science fiction writers comes a collection of science fiction stories described as "just about as good as the modern magazine science-fantasy story can get." —J. Francis McComas and Anthony Boucher
These ten science fiction stories
Or Else
Home is the Hunter
By These Presents
De Profundis
Camouflage
Year Day
Ghost
Shock
Pile of Trouble
Deadlock
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1953
34 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Henry Kuttner
738 books207 followersHenry Kuttner was, alone and in collaboration with his wife, the great science fiction and fantasy writer C.L. Moore, one of the four or five most important writers of the 1940s, the writer whose work went furthest in its sociological and psychological insight to making science fiction a human as well as technological literature. He was an important influence upon every contemporary and every science fiction writer who succeeded him. In the early 1940s and under many pseudonyms, Kuttner and Moore published very widely through the range of the science fiction and fantasy pulp markets.
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
Edward J. Bellin
Paul Edmonds
Noel Gardner
Will Garth
James Hall
Keith Hammond
Hudson Hastings
Peter Horn
Kelvin Kent
Robert O. Kenyon
C. H. Liddell
Hugh Maepenn
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
Edward J. Bellin
Paul Edmonds
Noel Gardner
Will Garth
James Hall
Keith Hammond
Hudson Hastings
Peter Horn
Kelvin Kent
Robert O. Kenyon
C. H. Liddell
Hugh Maepenn
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 7, 2011
My first time reading anything by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. Most of the stories contained herein are actually collaborations between these two although Moore is not credited at all on the edition I read.
Good, well written and imaginative SF stories from the early 50's although sometimes I could see the "punchline" coming well ahead of the ending. Innevitably dated although I still think most of the stories here have a lot to offer the modern reader. My least favourite, and longest story here, was "Camouflage" explored how people might retain their humanity and social relationships if their minds could transplanted into artificial containers. But other stories such as "Home is the Hunter", "By these Presents", "Year Day" and "Pile of Trouble" were timeless classics.
For most of the stories in the collection there is an emphasis on psycology and, let's face it, our advances in this field is not so great compared with that in the harder sciences. Thus, the collection is more stylistically than thematically dated.
Most enjoyable and I will definitely be checking more from both of these authors.
Good, well written and imaginative SF stories from the early 50's although sometimes I could see the "punchline" coming well ahead of the ending. Innevitably dated although I still think most of the stories here have a lot to offer the modern reader. My least favourite, and longest story here, was "Camouflage" explored how people might retain their humanity and social relationships if their minds could transplanted into artificial containers. But other stories such as "Home is the Hunter", "By these Presents", "Year Day" and "Pile of Trouble" were timeless classics.
For most of the stories in the collection there is an emphasis on psycology and, let's face it, our advances in this field is not so great compared with that in the harder sciences. Thus, the collection is more stylistically than thematically dated.
Most enjoyable and I will definitely be checking more from both of these authors.
March 2, 2019
Lots of hits and several misses in this short story collection by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, a husband-wife team who frequently wrote stories together under a variety of pen names. As a fan of science fiction and fantasy, I found this collection to be quite well done and didn't get a 'dated' feel to it, even though most of the stories come from the 1940s and 50s. Very well done.
August 7, 2024
I picked this book up literally at random from the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelf at a used bookstore, gave it a quick look over & decided to give it a shot.
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Or Else: An alien looking to establish peace on Earth confronts 2 men shooting at each other in the Mexican desert. So-So
Home is the Hunter: Trained at a young age, men hunt & kill each other to gain elevated status as killers while not caring as much for the material wealth it gives them. So-So
By These Presents: A man makes a deal with the Devil: Immortality in exchange for his soul. But a stipulation demanded by the Devil in the contract may destroy the man in the end. Good
De Profundis: A mentally ill man chronicles an encounter with aliens during a recent stay in a sanitarium. Good
Camouflage: A group of criminals plan to hijack a spaceship, but must overcome the biggest obstacle onboard: a human brain in a computerized box that operates the whole ship. Good
Year Day: Set in a world (or at least NYC) where invasive & aggressive advertising hits you through every possible means (flashing lights, ear-blasting audio, wall-penetrating hypnotic suggestions). When Bill is visited by his ex-wife Irene on "Year Day", he is reminded that it is getting harder to distinguish what's real & what's not because of the destructive influence of the hyper-advertising. Good
Ghost: The "ghost" of this story isn't of the supernatural variety. What a company operates in an underground complex in Antarctica is causing the employees who work there to go insane. Good
Shock: A portal opens in a physicist's apartment & a man from thousands of years in the future emerges. When the bizarre time traveler wonders off, the apartment owner decides to visit the world he came from. So-So
Pile of Trouble: A hillbilly family with unusual abilities move into a rural area run by a corrupt mayor & must use their skills to fight back when they are unjustly put in jail. So-So
Deadlock: A company's robots seem to "go crazy" after being operational for some time. Their latest one builds a device that causes havoc at the company. So-So
Overall opinion: Henry Kuttner writes some good stories here, although he leaves some necessary details about the setting pretty vague in a couple of them. I realize you can cram only so much in a 15-20 page (or 40 in one case) story, but still, it helps to know certain things to understand the overall plot of stories.
He grasps the concept of "futuristic" without over-indulging in it & making things seem impractical. One story, Year Day:, seems to have almost a prophetic tone to it in what we can expect from technology & commercialism.
A couple of his stories also have Twilight Zone/Outer Limits vibes.
Overall, I'm glad I found this book at the used book store & decided to try it. I designate this one a "keeper".
-------------------------------
Or Else: An alien looking to establish peace on Earth confronts 2 men shooting at each other in the Mexican desert. So-So
Home is the Hunter: Trained at a young age, men hunt & kill each other to gain elevated status as killers while not caring as much for the material wealth it gives them. So-So
By These Presents: A man makes a deal with the Devil: Immortality in exchange for his soul. But a stipulation demanded by the Devil in the contract may destroy the man in the end. Good
De Profundis: A mentally ill man chronicles an encounter with aliens during a recent stay in a sanitarium. Good
Camouflage: A group of criminals plan to hijack a spaceship, but must overcome the biggest obstacle onboard: a human brain in a computerized box that operates the whole ship. Good
Year Day: Set in a world (or at least NYC) where invasive & aggressive advertising hits you through every possible means (flashing lights, ear-blasting audio, wall-penetrating hypnotic suggestions). When Bill is visited by his ex-wife Irene on "Year Day", he is reminded that it is getting harder to distinguish what's real & what's not because of the destructive influence of the hyper-advertising. Good
Ghost: The "ghost" of this story isn't of the supernatural variety. What a company operates in an underground complex in Antarctica is causing the employees who work there to go insane. Good
Shock: A portal opens in a physicist's apartment & a man from thousands of years in the future emerges. When the bizarre time traveler wonders off, the apartment owner decides to visit the world he came from. So-So
Pile of Trouble: A hillbilly family with unusual abilities move into a rural area run by a corrupt mayor & must use their skills to fight back when they are unjustly put in jail. So-So
Deadlock: A company's robots seem to "go crazy" after being operational for some time. Their latest one builds a device that causes havoc at the company. So-So
Overall opinion: Henry Kuttner writes some good stories here, although he leaves some necessary details about the setting pretty vague in a couple of them. I realize you can cram only so much in a 15-20 page (or 40 in one case) story, but still, it helps to know certain things to understand the overall plot of stories.
He grasps the concept of "futuristic" without over-indulging in it & making things seem impractical. One story, Year Day:, seems to have almost a prophetic tone to it in what we can expect from technology & commercialism.
A couple of his stories also have Twilight Zone/Outer Limits vibes.
Overall, I'm glad I found this book at the used book store & decided to try it. I designate this one a "keeper".
February 8, 2022
I read my first Henry Kuttner book in my junior high days - Robots Have No Tails. Loved it! This book, Ahead of Time, has a variety of his stories. Pile of Trouble brought back delights I felt when first reading about the curious Hogben family - very witty. Other stories combine interesting ideas that presage later technology and literate references to Norse mythology. All in all, many reasons to regret his early passing at the age of 43.
April 28, 2025
Ahead of Time by Henry Kuttner.
A collection of very well written stories.
Some favourites:
A modern day headhunter in New York, a man think he can get one over on the Devil by exchanging his soul for immortality, a gang of outlaws attempt to hijack a cargo spaceship with its brain in a jar pilot, a family of powerful mutant hillbillies with godlike powers just want a quiet life.
A collection of very well written stories.
Some favourites:
A modern day headhunter in New York, a man think he can get one over on the Devil by exchanging his soul for immortality, a gang of outlaws attempt to hijack a cargo spaceship with its brain in a jar pilot, a family of powerful mutant hillbillies with godlike powers just want a quiet life.
March 9, 2023
Lots of fun interesting ideas.stories are well paced and none overstay their welcome. A good veriety of characters, moods and worlds; so there is alot to experiance. Enjoyed it alot willl probably read again in the future.
November 16, 2009
I waited a little longer than I should have after finishing this before writing the review, though the fact that it didn't leave too much of an impression might be telling. Kuttner and Moore tend to be represented in multiple-author anthologies by "Mimsy Were the Borogoves," which is probably one of their best, but may also just age better than some of the ones in this anthology. Still, the best were pretty good, but it feels like reading decent 1950s SF rather than excellent SF that just happened to be written in the 1950s.
One thing that's a little odd-- I gather that at least one reason Kuttner and Moore tended to write under joint pseudonyms was that they collaborated so closely that it was hard to separate out whose work was whose afterward. This anthology was published under Kuttner's name, with no mention of Moore until the back page, and there only briefly. Not the best reflection on its time, even in a genre that was supposed to be ahead of its time.
One thing that's a little odd-- I gather that at least one reason Kuttner and Moore tended to write under joint pseudonyms was that they collaborated so closely that it was hard to separate out whose work was whose afterward. This anthology was published under Kuttner's name, with no mention of Moore until the back page, and there only briefly. Not the best reflection on its time, even in a genre that was supposed to be ahead of its time.
December 24, 2015
2.5 Stars
This collection of short stories was hit or miss. It felt like the misses were bigger than the hits. Kuttner's writing style came across as dusty and outdated to me. I had a hard time getting into most of his stories because the writing felt off. The action wasn't dramatic, the dialogue was flat, the characters were wooden, etc. There are some good ideas here and a couple of neat stories, but I'm happy to be done with this collection none-the-less.
Stories that I thought were decent, or at least had some good or interesting ideas:
- "Home is the Hunter"**
- "By These Presents"
- "Year Day"
- "Pile of Trouble"
- "Deadlock"
** My personal favorite story of this collection. Kuttner "gets it right" in this one as far as creating a gripping story. This is probably the only true 'must-read' story in the collection for me.
This collection of short stories was hit or miss. It felt like the misses were bigger than the hits. Kuttner's writing style came across as dusty and outdated to me. I had a hard time getting into most of his stories because the writing felt off. The action wasn't dramatic, the dialogue was flat, the characters were wooden, etc. There are some good ideas here and a couple of neat stories, but I'm happy to be done with this collection none-the-less.
Stories that I thought were decent, or at least had some good or interesting ideas:
- "Home is the Hunter"**
- "By These Presents"
- "Year Day"
- "Pile of Trouble"
- "Deadlock"
** My personal favorite story of this collection. Kuttner "gets it right" in this one as far as creating a gripping story. This is probably the only true 'must-read' story in the collection for me.
October 30, 2016
I was pleasantly surprised of this book. Being a science fiction collector and aficionado I of course knew about Henry Kuttner and had read a few pieces of his, such as Mimsey Wore The Borogroves, which I did enjoy, and Fury, which I couldn't get into. So I had no expectations other than a friend's recommendation. I found these stories to be well written. Very well written. That was the surprise for me. It wasn't the story ideas, though they were admirable, it was the writing and word choices that knocked my perceptions askew. I will be reading more from this deserved legend.
July 23, 2019
An interesting collection of short stories with a science fiction theme.
October 9, 2014
The short stories start out bland but get progressively better and more interesting. Worth reading if you like science fiction.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews