Science Fiction: The Short Stuff discussion

"The Hurkle Is a Happy Beast" is a science fiction short story by Theodore Sturgeon which appeared in the Fall 1949 issue of The Fantasy Magazine. That periodical lasted only one issue under that title. It's very next issue, the name was changed to the more well-known title, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, which was still in publication until last year. We may have just seen its last issue. No one knows as of my writing this.

There was only one science fiction story in that first issue. The other ten were fantasy, at least five of which were public domain (even at that time) reprints.

So, how good was Sturgeon's 8-page original SF story? I have no idea. I haven't read it yet. Sturgeon had been seeing publication frequently from 1938 on. He was no rookie when this story was written. I'm therefore betting it's a pretty decent story. Let's check it out together, shall we?

This story has been heavily anthologized. Perhaps the easiest text source is The World Treasury of Science Fiction. It's also found in the Sturgeon eBook collection The Perfect Host. I'm going to read it the way it appeared in that Fall 1949 issue by pulling it up for free here: https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/...

This was a highly imaginative SF short story featuring a hurkle kitten. It was a lighter piece, good as far as it goes, but not the type to thrill me. I gave it a solid three stars indicating that I liked it, but that's all. Recommended for appreciators of light or comic SF.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...