James Nicoll Reviews

Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore’s 1953 Mutant is a collection of near-future evolutionary science fiction stories, unconvincingly transformed into a novel by a loose framing sequence.

Trapped in the wilderness by a plane-crash, a desperate survivor does what any person would do in their position. They relive the tumultuous events of the last two centuries.

Two hundred years ago the Blowup brought peace. The cost was humanity’s doom. At least, from a certain point of view.

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C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner’s 1950 Fury—often but incorrectly credited to Kuttner alone — is the second in their Keeps science fiction series¹.

By the twenty-seventh century, Earth’s atomic death is six centuries in the past. Humanity survived only because Venus was at hand to provide a second life-bearing home. Because the continents teemed with life that 21^st century humans were not equipped to survive, let alone dominate, humans are confined to the subsea Keeps, which no Venusian lifeform can penetrate.

Life in the Keeps is tolerable and stagnant. Ruled by Immortal mutants such as the Harkers, society might have been fated to continue its long decline into decadence, save for an act of spite by a grieving father.

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Two-Handed Engine is a collection of vintage science fiction and fantasy by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. The stories were written in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. They were collected and published in 2004 by Centipede Press. Some stories were by Kuttner or Moore solo; most were collaborations. 

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Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore’s 1949 Beyond Earth’s Gates is a standalone SF novel¹.

Eddie Burton is a rising actor with a promising career ahead of him. Would-be actress Lorna Maxwell would like to have a promising career ahead of her as well. Convinced without proof that Eddie can provide her promising career, Lorna is carrying out a campaign to attach herself to Eddie with all the determination of a school of piranhas surrounding a succulent child. No man of action, Eddie’s countermeasures are limited to hiding in his apartment with the lights off whenever Lorna comes to call. 

When Lorna vanishes, Eddie is the logical suspect.

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Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore’s 1947 Tomorrow and Tomorrow was originally published under their Lewis Padgett byline. It came out in Astounding in two parts. It was later packaged with another short novel and re-published by Gnome Press in 1951. It was re-published again by Consul, in 1961. That latest version is the one I read. Had it been revised in the meantime? I don’t know. 

A third world war almost broke out in the mid-20^th century; it was stopped by the Global Peace Commission, which seized control of a planet seemingly on the verge of self-destruction. In the century since then, the GPC has kept the peace … but at a cost. It enforces strict social conformity and stifles scientific progress.

Joseph Breden is one of the elite few trusted with atomic power. Everyone knows atomic power plants are catastrophes waiting to happen. Only the most stable, most intelligent individuals are permitted to work at Uranium Pile One.

Lately Breden has had reason to doubt his stability, what with the murder dreams and all…

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1943’s Earth’s Last Citadel is a standalone far-future adventure by C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner. 

Alan Drake’s desperate bid to get genius Sir Colin out of a North African war-zone is stymied when the two are ambushed by Axis agents Karen Martin and Mike Smith. Karen and Mike catch up to Alan and Sir Colin just after the pair stumble across a mysterious object in the desert. The Nazis barely have time to gloat before they and their prey are bewitched into entering what appears to be an alien spacecraft. 

The four do not emerge from their captor’s craft for a very very very long time. 

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C. L. Moore’s short novel Judgment Night was serialized in two issues of John W. Campbell’s Astounding back in 1943. Judgment Night is also the title of a collection published by Dell back in the Disco Era (which is how I encountered the story) .. but the edition I have in hand is Diversion Books’ 2015 ebook. They’ve presented the novel as a standalone — which it is. Not only are there no sequels of which I am aware, it’s not clear to me how there could be.

The race that holds Ericon holds the galaxy, because the race that holds Ericon can draw on the wisdom of the Ancients. Access to the Ancients does not mean that one will be able to put their wisdom to effective use. In fact, dynasty after dynasty have interpreted the advice they were given in ways that led to their doom. All human governments are as mortal (if not so short-lived) as their members.

Our protagonist, Juille, believes that she can defy fate. 

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I had never even heard of C. L. Moore’s 1957 novel Doomsday Morning until an ebook version showed up in my inbox. It would have made a fine election day review, if only I had read it a bit earlier. Oh, well.

President Raleigh rebuilt America after the Five Days War and a grateful electorate has re-elected him five times. Of course, the electorate might have been nudged in that direction by one of the tools Raleigh created to rebuild America: Communications US aka Comus. Constant monitoring and finely targeted media control allow the government to nudge Americans in the direction of the most sensible decisions. 

Now Raleigh is dying. Someone will have to replace him. Comus boss Tom Nye is determined to be that someone … but there’s a hitch. Which I will explain later. Tom schemes to remove the hitch with the aid of an old friend, the once great actor¹ Howard Rohan … 

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As previously mentioned, I am very fond of Ballantine’s Classic Library of Science Fiction. That said, editor Lester del Rey did have one blind spot in common with many of his contemporaries. You won’t find many women in Ballantine’s Classic Library of Science Fiction. 

I note just two: Leigh Brackett, reviewed here fairly frequently, and Catherine Lucille Moore, the author of this week’s Rediscovery. Diversion has republished Moore’s 1975 collection, The Best of C. L. Moore, as an ebook. More relevantly to this review, they sent me a copy.

Moore was prolific and well-regarded. She would have been the second woman to be named Grandmaster of the Science Fiction Writers of America, had her second husband not intervened. He claimed that the honour would only confuse her (Moore had Alzheimer’s). But her work has nonetheless been acknowledged in other ways … by collections like this one, for example. 

Note: this edition is not quite identical with the 1975 edition; the new ebook omits Lester del Rey’s introductory essay, 40 Years of C. L. Moore.

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I would like to say that Jirel would never wear a battle-bikini. She wears a full set of armour, enough that it’s not clear if she is a man or a woman. 

Two thousand years before Northwest Smith wandered between the planets, Jirel used her impressive capacity for violence to rule and protect the fiefdom of Joiry, somewhere in France. Proud, easy to offend, and very, very stabby, Jirel is not stupid but she never over-thinks situations, preferring direct solutions. 

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