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I, the Vampire
Dark horror settled down like a fog on Hollywood, the world’s film capital, as an evil thing from overseas preyed on the celebrated stars of filmdom...
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1937
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About the author
Henry Kuttner
737 books206 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 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 27, 2023
3.5 rounded down
A bit of an unexpected ending!
A bit of an unexpected ending!
December 28, 2023
This is an early vampire tale and at first it's not exceptional. Someone brings a vampire to Hollywood who in turn begins preying on some 1930s film stars. Protagonist Mart Prescott takes on the same role as Van Helsing, vows to kill the vampire, wash, rinse, and repeat same old plot. And yes, the plot had to be hackneyed even by the time this story was published. The old Bela Lugosi film, Dracula, came out in 1931. This story appeared in 1937. The ending to the story had a much-needed twist, thus saving it, and raising the story from three to four stars in my estimation.
One of my favorite parts of Kuttner's story was the interior artwork that accompanied it in the original February 1937 Weird Tales publication. Kuttner encouraged his then 17-year-old friend, up-and-coming artist Jim Mooney, to begin submitting his work to editor Farnsworth Wright, which Mooney did for this story. Here is Mooney's first published work:
Did you catch how Mooney signed his work on the bottom of Jean's white dress? Jim Mooney went on to a long, successful career with Marvel and DC Comics later, drawing what have now become iconic versions of early Spiderman and Supergirl. That's pop art history.
Recommended for readers who enjoy any and all vampire stories, particularly early ones in order to understand the development of that lore. Also, fans of comic book artists and pulp fiction lovers will find something of interest here.
One of my favorite parts of Kuttner's story was the interior artwork that accompanied it in the original February 1937 Weird Tales publication. Kuttner encouraged his then 17-year-old friend, up-and-coming artist Jim Mooney, to begin submitting his work to editor Farnsworth Wright, which Mooney did for this story. Here is Mooney's first published work:
Did you catch how Mooney signed his work on the bottom of Jean's white dress? Jim Mooney went on to a long, successful career with Marvel and DC Comics later, drawing what have now become iconic versions of early Spiderman and Supergirl. That's pop art history.Recommended for readers who enjoy any and all vampire stories, particularly early ones in order to understand the development of that lore. Also, fans of comic book artists and pulp fiction lovers will find something of interest here.
August 25, 2021
La nota serían 2'5 estrellas.
Entretenido sin más. Entiendo que es una historia pulp, pero le habrían hecho falta un par de capítulos más. No se puede sustentar la trama sobre entender mejor al vampiro si luego este únicamente tiene un monólogo en el que dice que ha cambiado combenientemente de opinión porque sí, ya que sin conocerlo ni ver ningún desarrollo de su pernonalidad ni su contexto lo único que se ve es que en una escena es un monstruo y en la siguiente está muy arrepentido de sus crímenes y quiere morir, aunque ese mismo día no le ha dado ninguna pena matar a alguien.
Entretenido sin más. Entiendo que es una historia pulp, pero le habrían hecho falta un par de capítulos más. No se puede sustentar la trama sobre entender mejor al vampiro si luego este únicamente tiene un monólogo en el que dice que ha cambiado combenientemente de opinión porque sí, ya que sin conocerlo ni ver ningún desarrollo de su pernonalidad ni su contexto lo único que se ve es que en una escena es un monstruo y en la siguiente está muy arrepentido de sus crímenes y quiere morir, aunque ese mismo día no le ha dado ninguna pena matar a alguien.
May 1, 2019
Kuttner is an awesome author of early pulp stories who deserves more attention. Here we have a vampire short, set in the golden age of Hollywood starlets. Told from the point of view of a film actor who's recently returned back to Hollywood, he learns of the recent arrival of a new actor with strange habits and and strangely drained friends. A very cool story.
November 30, 2020
A very good vampire story ! It also introduces a now common plot point in most modern adaptations of Dracula :
February 22, 2022
Fairly standard, reads like a screenplay.
September 11, 2024
Vampires are so melodramatic.
August 8, 2025
Great horror story by a great author.
July 2, 2023
An entertaining vampire story from the 1930's, with a Hollywood backdrop. Well paced, with no wasted words. This is available in 'HorrorBabble's Ultimate Weird Tales Collection: Volume 2'; Audible edition narrated by Ian Gordon. Originally published in Weird Tales February 1937.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews