What do you think?
Rate this book
Harrigan's File
First edition, first printing Book is in Very Good + condition. Boards have a tiny bit of shelf wear. Fore edges have a small amount of wear. Interior is clean and legible. Not remaindered. Dust Jacket is in Very Good + condition. Tiny bit of shelf wear/rub. Tiniest bit of wear along the edges. Not price clipped. Dust Jacket is covered by Mylar wrapper. Thanks and Enjoy. All-Ways well boxed, All-Ways fast service. Thanks.
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
25 people want to read
About the author
August Derleth
887 books305 followersAugust William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the Cosmic Horror genre, as well as his founding of the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK), Derleth was a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography
A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious Sac Prairie Saga, a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augus...]
A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious Sac Prairie Saga, a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augus...]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 31, 2019
Released in 1975, “Harrigan’s File” is a collection of author August Derleth’s science-fiction stories, all revolving around the main character of Tex Harrigan. Harrigan is an intrepid newspaper reporter who keeps a file of what he calls “queer people,” queer being used in the more traditional definition of weird or uncanny. “Harrigan’s File” was released in a limited edition of 4,102 copies, and like all Arkham House publications it is a handsome edition of high quality meant to last for generations.
Derleth himself is perhaps best known as the man who FOUNDED Arkham House (along with Donald Wandrei) for the express purpose of getting H.P. Lovecraft into print in the Americas. Derleth and Lovecraft had corresponded for years before Lovecraft’s death, and Derleth would go on to publish numerous pastiches and a number of somewhat sketchy “collaborations” with Lovecraft using Lovecraft’s notes and story fragments as a foundation. Derleth was also a noted natural history writer and also meandered into mystery and intrigue tales from time to time. “Harrigan’s File” collects all of his known science-fiction stories in a singular volume. You can check out more about August Derleth here on his Wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_...
Tex Harrigan as a character seems to be something of a precursor to Carl Kolchak, Darrin McGavin’s titular reporter with an offbeat beat in the television series “The Night Stalker.” Ever the skeptic, Harrigan encounters all sorts of strangeness with a bullish intensity and a stark refusal to be lured into supernatural or extraterrestrial explanations for the people and phenomena he encounters. This trope has a tendency to get worn out fairly quickly, and it gives the stories a built in redundancy that gets tiresome and kind of boring after a while. I can see why Derleth did not focus on science-fiction as anything other than an occasional lark. His obvious strengths as a writer lay elsewhere, as this collection attests to. Still, there are a few fun stories to be found here.
"McIlvaine's Star" - An odd story of a man who makes contact with interstellar insects who offer him a most unusual gift. Be careful of what you wish for. You might just get it.
"A Corner for Lucia" - A tale of inter-dimensional love. Sometimes we have to seek our space in this world. And sometimes we need to seek our space in another world…….
"Invaders from the Microcosm" - Just think, that monthly visit by your exterminator just might save the world one day.
"Mark VII" - The thinking man’s thinking machine. Knowledge is power, or is it?
"The Other Side of the Wall" - Another interdimensional story, adding to the repetitiveness of the collection. A shoe salesman aspires to more, with help from an unlikely source.
"An Eye for History" - A man invents a machine that can replay “video” of famous events in history. The critics are not impressed.
"The Maugham Obsession" - The quest to make an android that is more human than human. What happens if that quest succeeds?
"A Traveler in Time" - Another time travel tale, this time a sneaky one. A man who knows the fate of the world in the present escapes to the past in a most unusual way.
"The Detective and the Senator" - An artifact of the Red-baiting, commie-hunting days, when our government thought that no one could quite be trusted, even a machine.
"Protoplasma" - A “Blob” takeoff that never really makes it out of the bathtub. Thankfully so.
"The Mechanical House" - A man invents a house that can self-clean everything, including its inhabitants. Talk about getting kicked to the curb.
"By Rocket to the Moon" - A scientist makes a most unlikely lunar trip. The first man to set foot on the moon. Or is he?
"The Man Who Rode the Saucer" - One of the better tales in the collection. A man makes a connection with some benign saucer aliens. Or maybe they are really not all that benign after all….
"Ferguson's Capsules" - Silliness. An inventor comes up with the ultimate in weight loss solutions.
"The Penfield Misadventure" - Another of the more decent stories. Messing around with the past can have unintended consequences in the future.
"The Remarkable Dingdong" - It’s hell to be right all the time.
"The Martian Artifact" - A preschool textbook for Martians, or an elaborate hoax? You decide.
The bottom line is that “Harrigan’s File” is a decent and occasionally fun collection that too often gets bogged down by repetition and a bland sort of sameness. It wouldn’t have been an issue when these stories were first released, as they were originally seen in a variety of different pulp digests over the years. Having them all in one place, though great for Derleth completionists, was probably not in the best interest of the oeuvre. Still, it’s an Arkham House printing, and it’s written by one of the guys who started the publishing company in the first place. How cool is that?
Derleth himself is perhaps best known as the man who FOUNDED Arkham House (along with Donald Wandrei) for the express purpose of getting H.P. Lovecraft into print in the Americas. Derleth and Lovecraft had corresponded for years before Lovecraft’s death, and Derleth would go on to publish numerous pastiches and a number of somewhat sketchy “collaborations” with Lovecraft using Lovecraft’s notes and story fragments as a foundation. Derleth was also a noted natural history writer and also meandered into mystery and intrigue tales from time to time. “Harrigan’s File” collects all of his known science-fiction stories in a singular volume. You can check out more about August Derleth here on his Wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_...
Tex Harrigan as a character seems to be something of a precursor to Carl Kolchak, Darrin McGavin’s titular reporter with an offbeat beat in the television series “The Night Stalker.” Ever the skeptic, Harrigan encounters all sorts of strangeness with a bullish intensity and a stark refusal to be lured into supernatural or extraterrestrial explanations for the people and phenomena he encounters. This trope has a tendency to get worn out fairly quickly, and it gives the stories a built in redundancy that gets tiresome and kind of boring after a while. I can see why Derleth did not focus on science-fiction as anything other than an occasional lark. His obvious strengths as a writer lay elsewhere, as this collection attests to. Still, there are a few fun stories to be found here.
"McIlvaine's Star" - An odd story of a man who makes contact with interstellar insects who offer him a most unusual gift. Be careful of what you wish for. You might just get it.
"A Corner for Lucia" - A tale of inter-dimensional love. Sometimes we have to seek our space in this world. And sometimes we need to seek our space in another world…….
"Invaders from the Microcosm" - Just think, that monthly visit by your exterminator just might save the world one day.
"Mark VII" - The thinking man’s thinking machine. Knowledge is power, or is it?
"The Other Side of the Wall" - Another interdimensional story, adding to the repetitiveness of the collection. A shoe salesman aspires to more, with help from an unlikely source.
"An Eye for History" - A man invents a machine that can replay “video” of famous events in history. The critics are not impressed.
"The Maugham Obsession" - The quest to make an android that is more human than human. What happens if that quest succeeds?
"A Traveler in Time" - Another time travel tale, this time a sneaky one. A man who knows the fate of the world in the present escapes to the past in a most unusual way.
"The Detective and the Senator" - An artifact of the Red-baiting, commie-hunting days, when our government thought that no one could quite be trusted, even a machine.
"Protoplasma" - A “Blob” takeoff that never really makes it out of the bathtub. Thankfully so.
"The Mechanical House" - A man invents a house that can self-clean everything, including its inhabitants. Talk about getting kicked to the curb.
"By Rocket to the Moon" - A scientist makes a most unlikely lunar trip. The first man to set foot on the moon. Or is he?
"The Man Who Rode the Saucer" - One of the better tales in the collection. A man makes a connection with some benign saucer aliens. Or maybe they are really not all that benign after all….
"Ferguson's Capsules" - Silliness. An inventor comes up with the ultimate in weight loss solutions.
"The Penfield Misadventure" - Another of the more decent stories. Messing around with the past can have unintended consequences in the future.
"The Remarkable Dingdong" - It’s hell to be right all the time.
"The Martian Artifact" - A preschool textbook for Martians, or an elaborate hoax? You decide.
The bottom line is that “Harrigan’s File” is a decent and occasionally fun collection that too often gets bogged down by repetition and a bland sort of sameness. It wouldn’t have been an issue when these stories were first released, as they were originally seen in a variety of different pulp digests over the years. Having them all in one place, though great for Derleth completionists, was probably not in the best interest of the oeuvre. Still, it’s an Arkham House printing, and it’s written by one of the guys who started the publishing company in the first place. How cool is that?
Displaying 1 of 1 review