Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Nelson Doubleday (1975), Edition: 1st edition, 1st print
Description
From the renowned, Hugo Award-nominated titan of science fiction comes a collection of his best short stories: "Kuttner is magic" (Joe R. Lansdale, author of Honky Tonk Samurai). In seventeen classic stories, Henry Kuttner creates a unique galaxy of vain, protective, and murderous robots; devilish angels; and warm and angry aliens. These stories include "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"--the inspiration for New Line Cinema's major motion picture The Last Mimzy--as well as "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," and "Absalom." "[A] pomegranate writer: popping with seeds--full of ideas." --Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 421… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member clong
A bit of a mixed collection from Henry Kuttner. While I enjoyed a few of them a lot, others felt quite dated. Most are built around intriguing ideas, in some cases ideas that later authors would come back to and build on (e.g., "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" and "The Twonky"). Several of them are
The strangest thing about this book (and the forward by Ray Bradbury) is its complete avoidance of any acknowledgement that virtually everything Kuttner wrote after 1940 was co-authored with his wife, C.L. Moore.
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quite funny. My favorite was "The Misguided Halo" an exceedingly funny story about a man who has been mistakenly made a saint. It's been a long time since a sixteen-page short story made me laugh uncontrollably at least three times. I also particularly enjoyed "The Big Night," an adventure tale set in a time when a romantic era of space travel is being supplanted by new technology, and "Absalom" about a brilliant parent who faces the prospect of being eclipsed by his even more brilliant son. My least favorite was "The Proud Robot," which was no doubt a groundbreaking "man-robot relationship" tale of its day, but which failed for me on multiple levels. The strangest thing about this book (and the forward by Ray Bradbury) is its complete avoidance of any acknowledgement that virtually everything Kuttner wrote after 1940 was co-authored with his wife, C.L. Moore.
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LibraryThing member TadAD
How can you not enjoy a book whose introduction contains: If you have arrived at this book and look to Kuttner for religious instruction, secular improvement, or moral renovation...you had best retreat to forms of literate navel-lint plucking with which the sophomores of the world bug each other?
LibraryThing member burritapal
Mimsy Were the Borogroves, 4 stars
A Wonderful story about a box of "toys," from somewhere else in time, that a 7 year old boy picks up and brings home and shares with his 2-year-old sister. Since the toys are from somewhere else in time, they teach the children what the children from somewhere else
It was kind of weird how the mother had no other job than to make cocktails for her husband. And a professor from the University made enough money for them to have a full-time maid.
Two-handed Engine, 2 stars
In the future, mankind has lost his conscience; he can no longer feel any love for his fellow mankind. So, robots decide by themselves, that in order for mankind to survive (because they're killing each other off), they need to be mankind's conscience. Thus, if you kill another man, very soon a robot called a Fury will begin to follow you. You will never be able to lose him, and other people will be staring at you, knowing that your time is short, when the robot will kill you. This is a deterrent for crime.
Kind of lame story, and also slightly reminiscent of The Minority Report.
The Proud Robot, 2 stars
Rather unlikely tale about an inventor who drinks so much, I don't know how he stands up, and his can-opener robot.
Listen to how the top most popular studio is run:
" 'televisors are installed free. We never sell 'em; we rent them. People pay according to how many hours they have the set tuned in. We run a continuous show, stage plays, wire-tape films, operas, orchestras, singers, vaudeville--everything. If you use your televisor a lot, you pay proportionately. The man comes around once a month and reads the meter. Which is a fair system. Anybody can afford a Vox-View. Sonatone and the other companies do the same thing, but Sonatone's the only big competitor I've got. At least, the only one that's crooked as hell. The rest of the boys -- they're smaller than I am, but I don't step on their toes. Nobody's ever called me a louse,' Brock said darkly."
The Misguided Halo, 2 stars
The best thing about this story was the dog:
" 'hello, Filthy, said Young. 'Morning.'
He was not addressing his wife. A small and raffish Scotty had made its appearance, capering hysterically about its Master's feet, and going into a fit of sheer madness when the man pulled its hairy ears. The raffish Scotty flung its head sideways upon the carpet and skated about the room on its muzzle, uttering strangled squeaks of delight. Growing tired of this at last, the Scotty, whose name was Filthy McNasty, began thumping its head on the floor with the apparent intention of dashing out its brains, if any."
Adorable.
The Voice of the Lobster, 1 star
Misogynistic.
"At the first convenient doorway McDuff paused and looked at Ao. She was worth looking at. She stood in the doorway, thinking of nothing at all. She didn't have to think of anything. She was too beautiful."
A Wonderful story about a box of "toys," from somewhere else in time, that a 7 year old boy picks up and brings home and shares with his 2-year-old sister. Since the toys are from somewhere else in time, they teach the children what the children from somewhere else
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in time learn. How to go to another dimension?It was kind of weird how the mother had no other job than to make cocktails for her husband. And a professor from the University made enough money for them to have a full-time maid.
Two-handed Engine, 2 stars
In the future, mankind has lost his conscience; he can no longer feel any love for his fellow mankind. So, robots decide by themselves, that in order for mankind to survive (because they're killing each other off), they need to be mankind's conscience. Thus, if you kill another man, very soon a robot called a Fury will begin to follow you. You will never be able to lose him, and other people will be staring at you, knowing that your time is short, when the robot will kill you. This is a deterrent for crime.
Kind of lame story, and also slightly reminiscent of The Minority Report.
The Proud Robot, 2 stars
Rather unlikely tale about an inventor who drinks so much, I don't know how he stands up, and his can-opener robot.
Listen to how the top most popular studio is run:
" 'televisors are installed free. We never sell 'em; we rent them. People pay according to how many hours they have the set tuned in. We run a continuous show, stage plays, wire-tape films, operas, orchestras, singers, vaudeville--everything. If you use your televisor a lot, you pay proportionately. The man comes around once a month and reads the meter. Which is a fair system. Anybody can afford a Vox-View. Sonatone and the other companies do the same thing, but Sonatone's the only big competitor I've got. At least, the only one that's crooked as hell. The rest of the boys -- they're smaller than I am, but I don't step on their toes. Nobody's ever called me a louse,' Brock said darkly."
The Misguided Halo, 2 stars
The best thing about this story was the dog:
" 'hello, Filthy, said Young. 'Morning.'
He was not addressing his wife. A small and raffish Scotty had made its appearance, capering hysterically about its Master's feet, and going into a fit of sheer madness when the man pulled its hairy ears. The raffish Scotty flung its head sideways upon the carpet and skated about the room on its muzzle, uttering strangled squeaks of delight. Growing tired of this at last, the Scotty, whose name was Filthy McNasty, began thumping its head on the floor with the apparent intention of dashing out its brains, if any."
Adorable.
The Voice of the Lobster, 1 star
Misogynistic.
"At the first convenient doorway McDuff paused and looked at Ao. She was worth looking at. She stood in the doorway, thinking of nothing at all. She didn't have to think of anything. She was too beautiful."
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