What do you think?
Rate this book
The Best of Kuttner 1
Saturday Review of "A sampling of Kuttner from fantasy to science fiction and all stages inbetween--first degree entertainment!"--back cover
Introduction - Ray Bradbury
Short stories 1939-1955:
Mimsy were the Borogoves
Two-Handed Engine
The Proud Robot
The Misguided Halo
The Voice of the Lobster
Exit the Professor
The Twonky
A Gnome There Was
The Big Night
Nothing But Gingerbread Left
The Iron Standard
Cold War
Or Else
Endowment Policy
Housing Problem
What You Need
Absalom
Introduction - Ray Bradbury
Short stories 1939-1955:
Mimsy were the Borogoves
Two-Handed Engine
The Proud Robot
The Misguided Halo
The Voice of the Lobster
Exit the Professor
The Twonky
A Gnome There Was
The Big Night
Nothing But Gingerbread Left
The Iron Standard
Cold War
Or Else
Endowment Policy
Housing Problem
What You Need
Absalom
286 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1965
3 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Henry Kuttner
757 books214 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
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 18, 2013
Most of the stories are not SF by any stretch, they are pure fantasy, which I do not like very much, hence only two stars. However, if you do like fantasy then you will probably give a higher rating. The few stories that might be described as SF are very dated and not very scientifically plausible.
June 7, 2024
I really enjoyed this. A great many short stories with a fantasy or science type theme occurring around it. Only one out of around 18 stories failed to keep me excited. It was a story about mind reading people. One which I enjoyed most of all is titled Gnome There Was and it is such a strange little tale of a man who goes sneaks into a mine shaft only to be pulled into an underground society of strange creatures while seemingly becoming one himself. A great book which I can't wait to read again
September 24, 2024
Más allá de los exitos de "Mimosos..." y el "Twonky", y algunos otros muy buenos, hay un par de cuentos que adelgazan el puntaje, por eso el libro no es perfecto. Pero es muy bueno, original. Cuentos que parten de premisas muy originales, y mucho más teniendo en cuenta la época
October 6, 2023
Mimsy Were the Borogoves
Worth it for Mimsy alone; however the other stories are a bonus.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wade;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.” Lewis Carroll
"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" is on tape and even on vinyl at one time. It can also be found in some of Henry Kuttner's books.
It is a small sci-fi story about a formula that allows you into an alternate universe that everyone used to have access to. The problem with getting there is that it requires a different paradigm and a formula. The paradigm requires a mindset that disappears as we get older and the formula is in front of us if we know where to look. An added plus is that the tape version is read to us enthusiastically by William Shatner.
Playing around with time travel he needed something to put into the cube. He chose some of his old toys. The box never came back. After trying for a second time with no success he gave up and moved on.
Worth it for Mimsy alone; however the other stories are a bonus.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wade;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.” Lewis Carroll
"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" is on tape and even on vinyl at one time. It can also be found in some of Henry Kuttner's books.
It is a small sci-fi story about a formula that allows you into an alternate universe that everyone used to have access to. The problem with getting there is that it requires a different paradigm and a formula. The paradigm requires a mindset that disappears as we get older and the formula is in front of us if we know where to look. An added plus is that the tape version is read to us enthusiastically by William Shatner.
Playing around with time travel he needed something to put into the cube. He chose some of his old toys. The box never came back. After trying for a second time with no success he gave up and moved on.
January 31, 2016
I´d never give the chance to science fiction till now, this magnificent writer show me a new world inside the literature, i feel very enthusiasthic about whats next in my journey throught science fiction.
Read
May 14, 2012My absolute favorite when it comes to science fiction. There isn't a single bad story in this book. My favorites are Nothing But Gingerbread, A Gnome There Was, and Mimsy Were the Borogoves.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews