Henry Kuttner blog

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Manana Literary Society

Kuttner was a member of the Manana Literary Society. Excerpt from a John Campbell letter to A. E. Van Vogt (October 15, 1942).

Before I forget to mention it, there's a book coming out soon that I think you'll want to get —if they permit importation of books into Canada. It's called Rocket To The Morgue, a mystery novel by "H.H. Holmes" —who is Wm. A.P. White, who writes, also, under the name Anthony Boucher. I don't know whether you know about the Manana Literary Society or not. Anyway, it was a group of science-fiction and fantasy authors in and around Hollywood-Los Angeles area which Bob Heinlein more or less semi-organized as a way of getting new authors for me. He was a big help; through that loose, really 90% social group he found and got started into fantasy-science-fiction for me Anthony Boucher himself, Cleve Cartmill, Roby Wentz and one or two others. The group worked over Hank Kuttner 'til he turned into Lewis Padgett, a damn site better author. Ed Hamilton, Jack Williamson, L. Ron Hubbard and Julius Schwartz, author's agent in the science-fiction field, were all members. The thing sort of broke up after Dec. 7 because so many went elsewhere.

Bloch and Kuttner

Robert Bloch stayed with Henry Kuttner for 5 weeks in 1937. (from Mimosa 7)

Bloch: No. I went to California for the first time in 1937; I stayed with Hank Kuttner five weeks. It was at that occasion I met Fritz Leiber, Forry Ackerman, and C.L. Moore. I fell in love with California; it was a different world, an ideal place to be.

Graveyard Rats in Trilogy of Terror II

The voodoo doll in the original Trilogy of Terror scared the crap out of me when I was a child. I still have fond memories of being terrified by that diabolical little dickens. The second trilogy (1996) included Henry Kuttner's "Graveyard Rats."

Vintage Season

"Vintage Season" was published in Astounding under the pseudonym Lawrence O'Donnell. It was adapted for the movie Grand Tour: Disaster in Time (1992), a made-for-tv movie starring Jeff Daniels.

Tout spliques étaient les Borogoves

There was a French made-for-television adaptation of a Kuttner story in 1970. Tout spliques étaient les Borogoves.

Surveillance

The British SF series Out of the Unknown ran an episode called "The Eye" (1966) which was based on a Kuttner story.

"...in "The Eye", Anton Rodgers find himself falsely accused of murder by the "infallible" surveillance device of the title..."

Thriller with Boris Karloff

Boris Karloff hosted a series called Thriller from 1960 to 1962. A Kuttner story was adapted for the "Masquerade" episode. The Masquerade episode starred Elizabeth Montgomery and Tom Poston and featured John Carradine. It was directed by Ida Lupino. It is a humor episode and was shot in the same house used for Hitchcock's Psycho. The plot anticipates the Rocky Horror Picture Show in that newlyweds approach a creepy old house during a storm and confront its wacky denizens of horror.

What You Need

The original Twilight Zone adapted a Kuttner story for the episode "What You Need."

The Twonky The Movie

Kuttner's story The Twonky was turned into a movie starring Hans Conreid in 1953.

Plot Summary for
The Twonky (1953)

The last thing College Lit Professor Cary West wants, while is wife is out of town, is a TV set to keep him company; but that's just what wife Carolyn has bought for him. He is relieved when the serviceman returns to collect the $100 deposit Carolyn forgot to give him; good, he doesn't have the money so the man can take the TV back! Only, a $5 bill he accidently dropped on the floor near the TV has suddenly developed 19 siblings, and the serviceman leaves, cash in hand. West soon realizes he has a major problem: the TV is alive. It lights his pipe, washes his dishes, vacuums his rugs. It also chooses what he can read, write, and marches around to military music; and It also zaps anyone who tries to harm Cary in any way, such as treasury agents investigating the duplicate $5 bills, the police who investigate a call placed by the TV set to the phone company requesting a 'female companion' be sent over for Cary's comfort, and a female bill collector who decides to move in til Cary pays his wife's bills. Cary's sole confident in the adventure is is Gym Coach Trout, who theorizes the set is inhabited by a thing which has time-travelled from some authoritarian society of the future and landed in the TV by accident - a "twonky" he calls it. Now the only thing to figure out is how to get rid of it, since the Twonky also has the capacity and willingness to defend itself above all else, even serving its master Cary...

Summary written by Rich Wannen {RichWannen@worldnet.att.net}

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Burroughs was a Kuttner fan

From Philosophical Conversations:

Phillipe Mikriammos: You read a lot of science fiction, and have expressed admiration for The Star Virus by Barrington Bayley and Three to Conquer by Eric Frank Russell. Any other science fiction books that you have particularly liked?

William Burroughs: Fury, by Henry Kuttner.

***

"And William Burroughs was himself influenced by American science fiction. He appears to be well-read in the field. He lifted a whole section of Henry Kuttner's FURY, and rewrote it, with the appropriate acknowledgment, in his own novel."

PoMoRoRo

Hardcore thrashmetal song by Bloodhag titled "Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore" available here.

sheckley

Sci-Fi Writer Robert Sheckley on Artificial Respiration in Ukrainian Hospital

Created: 05.05.2005 16:11 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:11 MSK

MosNews

Click here to claim your FREE* year of gas!!

Famous U.S. science-fiction writer Robert Sheckley is still in a Kiev hospital suffering respiratory failure after a week of treatment, the Ekho Moskvy Web site reported Thursday.

The 76-year-old writer was taken to hospital with a cold during his visit to the Ukrainian Sci-Fi Computer Week, an international event for science fiction writers, Itar Tass reports. His condition has deteriorated since.

Sheckley is now in one of Kiev’s private medical institutions, a clinic called Boris. He has also been examined by specialists from the Ukrainian State Pulmonology Institute and the National Medical University.

The writer is currently on artificial respiration and doctors describe his condition as grave, Ekho Moskvy adds.

Robert Sheckley is a star of the Golden Age of science fiction and one of the major creators of the genre itself.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey Sheckley began writing stories in the 1940s, soon becoming popular. He moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza in the 1970s and returned to the United States ten years later as fiction editor of the OMNI magazine.

Sheckley has written over sixty books to date, including twenty novels and nine collections of short stories. His major works include Immortality Inc and Status Civilization as well as several books written in collaboration with Roger Zelazny.

He won the Jupiter Award for the best science fiction story of 1974. In 1991, he received the Daniel F. Gallun award for contributions to the genre of science-fiction.

C. L. Moore

George Willick's page on C. L. Moore.

Name: MOORE, Catherine Lucille Aged: 76
Born: January 24, 1911* Where: Indianapolis, Indiana
Died: April 7, 1987* Where: Hollywood, California
Interred: _ _ _
Married: Henry Kuttner When: June 7, 1940
Married#2: Thomas Reggie When: 1963
Awarded: 1981 World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement; 1981 World SF Convention Guest of Honor, and a 1998 inductee into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame

CONTACT: Don Congdon and Associates, NYC - (212) 679-4490

Kuttner pseudonyms

I haven't verified these:

Kuttner, Henry (1914-1958)

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
K.H. Maepenn
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard

Ency of SF entry

From the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls. This entry was written by Malcolm J. Edwards and Brian Stableford. This is not the complete entry.

Henry Kuttner's interest in Weird Tales early led him to correspond with H. P. Lovecraft and others; his first sale to the magazine was poem, followed by "The Graveyard Rats" (1936). ...

He began to publish sf stories in 1937 with "When the Earth Lived" for Thrilling Wonder Stories. His early work included a series about the movie business of the future...

HK achieved a certain notoriety with the slightly risque stories he wrote for Marvel Science Stories, notably "The Time Trap" (1938). He used many pseudonyms in this part of his career, and even more after marrying C. L. Moore in 1940, when the two wrote very many stories in collaboration....

After their marriage in 1940, most of HK's and Moore's works were to some extent joint efforts -- it is said that each could pick up and smoothly continue any story from whever the other had left off. Moore seems to have been the more fluent and perhaps the more assiduous (indeed, talented) writer, but HK's wit, deftly audacious deplyment of ideas and neat expostiion complemented her talents very will.

In 1950 HK and Moore went to study at the University of Southern California; they wrote a number of mystery novels thereafter but very few sf stories. HK graduated in 1954 and went to work for his MA, but died of a heart attack before it was completed.

Space for Comments

If you are a fan, or have any information or questions about science-fiction author Henry Kuttner, here is a good place to leave a comment.

ISFDb Bibliography

ISFDb Bibliography

Kuttner, Henry (USA, 1914-1958)

* Biographic Data: Collaborated with wife, C. L. Moore as Lewis Padgett and Lawrence O'Donnell.

Series

* Gerry Carlyle
o Trouble on Titan (1947) [SF]
* Elak
o Thunder in the Dawn (1938) [SF]
+ Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
+ Thunder in the Dawn (Part 1 of 2) (1938)
+ Thunder in the Dawn (Part 2 of 2) (1938)
o Spawn of Dagon (1938) [SF]
o Beyond the Phoenix (1938) [SF]
o Dragon Moon (1941) [SF]
* Tony Quade
o The Star Parade (1938) [SF]
o Hollywood on the Moon (1938) [SF]
o Doom World (1938) [SF]
* Tony Quade/Gerry Carlyle
o The Energy Eaters (1939) [SF] with Arthur K. Barnes
o The Seven Sleepers (1940) [SF] with Arthur K. Barnes
* Michael Leigh
o The Salem Horror (1937) [SF]
o The Black Kiss (1937) [SF] with Robert Bloch
* Hogben
o 1 Exit the Professor (1947) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o 2 Pile of Trouble (1948) [SF]
o 3 See You Later (1949) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o 4 Cold War (1949) [SF]
* Gallegher
o The World Is Mine (1943) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o Time Locker (1943) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o The Proud Robot (1943) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o Gallegher Plus (1943) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o Ex Machina (1948) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o Robots Have No Tails (1952) [C] [as Lewis Padgett]
* Baldy
o Three Blind Mice (1945) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [Rh1996 x]
o The Piper's Son (1945) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [Rh1996 n]
o The Lion and the Unicorn (1945) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [Rh1996 x]
o Beggars in Velvet (1945) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [Rh1996 x]
o Mutant (1953) [C] [as Lewis Padgett] - Originally published as by Lewis Padgett, later editions as by Henry Kuttner.
o Humpty Dumpty (1953) [SF] [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Keeps
o 1 Clash by Night (1943) [SF] [as Lawrence O'Donnell]
o 2 Fury [vt Destination Infinity (1958) ] (1947) [as Lawrence O'Donnell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
+ Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
+ Fury (Part 1 of 3) (1947) [as Lawrence O'Donnell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
+ Fury (Part 2 of 3) (1947) [as Lawrence O'Donnell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
+ Fury (Part 3 of 3) (1947) [as Lawrence O'Donnell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Pete Manx
o World's Pharaoh (1939) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent]
o Roman Holiday (1939) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent] with Henry Kuttner and Arthur K. Barnes
o Science Is Golden (1940) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent] with Henry Kuttner and Arthur K. Barnes
o Man About Time (1940) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent]
o The Comedy of Eras (1940) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent]
o Hercules Muscles In (1941) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent]
o Dames Is Poison (1942) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent]
o Swing Your Lady (1944) [SF] [as Kelvin Kent]

Novels

* The Creature from Beyond Infinity (1940)
* Earth's Last Citadel (1943) with C. L. Moore
* The Dark World (1946)
* Chessboard Planet [vt The Fairy Chessmen The Far Reality ] (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Valley of the Flame (1946) [as Keith Hammond]
* The Day He Died (1947) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Time Axis (1948)
* The Mask of Circe (1948) with C. L. Moore
* Beyond Earth's Gates (1949) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1951) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
o The Fairy Chessmen (Part 1 of 2) (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o The Fairy Chessmen (Part 2 of 2) (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o Tomorrow And Tomorrow (Part 1 of 2) (1947) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
o Tomorrow And Tomorrow (Part 2 of 2) (1947) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Well of the Worlds (1952) [as Lewis Padgett]
o Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
o The Well of the Worlds (Complete Novel) (1952)
* Mountain Magic (2004) with David Drake and Ryk E. Spoor

Serials

* A Million Years to Conquer (Complete Novel) (1940)

Collections

* A Gnome There Was (1950) [as Lewis Padgett]
* Tomorrow and Tomorrow and the Fairy Chessmen (1951) [as Lewis Padgett]
* Ahead of Time (1953)
* Line to Tomorrow and Other Stories of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1954) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* No Boundaries (1955) with C. L. Moore
* Bypass to Otherness (1961)
* Return to Otherness (1962)
* The Best of Kuttner 1 (1965)
* The Best of Kuttner 2 (1966)
* The Best of Henry Kuttner (1975) [Lc1976 n]
* Clash by Night and Other Stories (1980) with C. L. Moore
* The Proud Robot (1983)
* Chessboard Planet and Other Stories (1983) with C. L. Moore
* The Startling Worlds of Henry Kuttner (1987)
* Book of Iod (1995) - Considered a collection even though there are 2 stories by author authors here.

Omnibus

* Tomorrow and Tomorrow & The Fairy Chessmen (1951) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

Anthologies

* Dr. Cyclops (1967)

Short Fiction

* The Secret of Kralitz (1936)
* It Walks by Night (1936)
* The Graveyard Rats (1936)
* When the Earth Lived (1937)
* We Are the Dead (1937)
* Raider of the Spaceways (1937)
* Quest of the Starstone (1937) with C. L. Moore
* The Jest of Droom-Avista (1937)
* I, the Vampire (1937)
* The Eater of Souls (1937)
* The Case of Herbert Thorp (1937)
* The Bloodless Peril (1937) [as Will Garth]
* World's End (1938)
* The Time Trap (1938)
* The Spawn of Dagon (1938)
* The Shadow on the Screen (1938)
* The Disinherited (1938)
* Hands Across the Void (1938) [as Will Garth]
* The Watcher at the Door (1939)
* The Transgressor (1939)
* Towers of Death (1939)
* Suicide Squad (1939)
* The Misguided Halo (1939)
* Hydra (1939)
* The Hunt (1939)
* The Frog (1939)
* Cursed Be the City (1939)
* The Citadel of Darkness (1939)
* Beyond Annihilation (1939)
* The Invaders (1939) [as Keith Hammond]
* The Bells of Horror (1939) [as Keith Hammond]
* World Without Air (1940)
* When New York Vanished (1940)
* Time to Kill (1940)
* Threshold (1940)
* Reverse Atom (1940)
* Pegasus (1940)
* No Man's World (1940)
* The Elixir of Invisibility (1940)
* Dr. Cyclops (1940)
* Beauty and the Beast (1940)
* All Is Illusion (1940)
* 50 Miles Down (1940) [as Peter Horn]
* Tube to Nowhere (1941)
* Remember Tomorrow (1941)
* Red Gem of Mercury (1941)
* The Land of Time to Come (1941)
* The Devil We Know (1941)
* Chameleon Man (1941)
* A Gnome There Was (1941) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* We Guard the Black Planet! (1942)
* War-Gods of the Void (1942)
* Too Many Cooks (1942)
* Thunder in the Void (1942)
* Silent Eden (1942)
* Secret of the Earth Star (1942)
* Masquerade (1942)
* Later Than You Think (1942)
* The Infinite Moment (1942)
* False Dawn (1942)
* Design for Dreaming (1942)
* The Crystal Circe (1942)
* The Twonky (1942) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Piggy Bank (1942) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Deadlock (1942) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Compliments of the Author (1942) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Dames is Poison (1942) [as Kelvin Kent]
* Wet Magic (1943)
* Under Your Spell (1943)
* Soldiers of Space (1943)
* Reader, I Hate You! (1943)
* Nothing But Gingerbread Left (1943)
* No Greater Love (1943)
* Ghost (1943)
* Crypt-City of the Deathless One (1943)
* Shock (1943) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Open Secret (1943) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Mimsy Were the Borogoves (1943) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Iron Standard (1943) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Endowment Policy (1943) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Music Hath Charms (1944)
* Housing Problem (1944)
* A God Named Kroo (1944)
* The Eyes of Thar (1944)
* The Black Sun Rises (1944)
* Trophy (1944) [as Scott Morgan]
* When the Bough Breaks (1944) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Children's Hour (1944) [as Lawrence O'Donnell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Sword of Tomorrow (1945)
* Percy the Pirate (1945)
* Before I Wake (1945)
* Before I Wake... (1945)
* Baby Face (1945)
* What You Need (1945) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [Rh1996 n]
* Line to Tomorrow (1945) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [Rh1996 x]
* Camouflage (1945) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* What Hath Me? (1946)
* The Little Things (1946)
* I Am Eden (1946)
* The Dark World (1946)
* The Dark Angel (1946)
* Absalom (1946)
* We Kill People (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Time Enough (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Rain Check (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Fairy Chessmen (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Cure (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Chessboard Planet (1946) [as Lewis Padgett]
* Vintage Season (1946) [as Lawrence O'Donnell] with C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner
* This Is the House (1946) [as Lawrence O'Donnell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Call Him Demon (1946) [as Keith Hammond]
* Way of the Gods (1947)
* The Power and the Glory (1947)
* Lands of the Earthquake (1947)
* Dream's End (1947)
* Atomic! (1947)
* Juke-Box (1947) [as Woodrow Wilson Smith]
* Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1947) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Project (1947) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Margin for Error (1947) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Jesting Pilot (1947) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Lord of the Storm (1947) [as Keith Hammond]
* Dark Dawn (1947) [as Keith Hammond]
* The Big Night (1947) [as Hudson Hastings]
* The Mask of Circe (1948)
* Happy Ending (1948)
* Don't Look Now (1948)
* The Time Axis (1949)
* Private Eye (1949) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Prisoner in the Skull (1949) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Portal in the Picture (1949) [as Henry Kuttner] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Voice of the Lobster (1950)
* As You Were (1950)
* The Sky Is Falling (1950) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Carry Me Home (1950) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* We Shall Come Back (1951) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Those Among Us (1951) [as C. H. Liddell]
* The Odyssey of Yiggar Throlg (1951) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Golden Apple (1951) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Android (1951) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Gallegher Plus (1952)
* The Ego Machine (1952)
* By These Presents (1952)
* Year Day (1953)
* A Wild Surmise (1953) with C. L. Moore
* Satan Sends Flowers (1953)
* Or Else (1953) with C. L. Moore
* Home Is the Hunter (1953) with C. L. Moore
* De Profundis (1953)
* The Visitors (1953) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Two-Handed Engine (1955) with C. L. Moore
* Home There's No Returning (1955) with C. L. Moore
* Rite of Passage (1956) with C. L. Moore
* Valley of the Flame (1956) [as Keith Hammond]
* Near Miss (1958)
* A Cross of Centuries (1958)
* Bridging Material in Mutant (1968)
* The Grab Bag (1991) with Robert Bloch

Poems

* The Sunken Towers (1936)
* Ballad of the Wolf (1936)
* Ballad of the Gods (1936)
* Ragnarok (1937)
* H.P.L. (1937)

Non-Genre

* Murder in Brass [vt The Brass Ring ] (1946) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore - First published 1946 as 'The Brass Ring'.
* Man Drowning (1952)
* The Murder of Eleanor Pope (1956)
* The Murder of Ann Avery (1956)
* Murder of a Mistress (1957)
* Murder of a Wife (1958)

Essays/Articles

* Letter (Air Wonder Stories, September 1929) (1929)
* Letter (Air Wonder Stories, November 1929) (1929)
* Meet the Author (1940)
* Probability Zero: Corpus Delicti (1943)
* Probability Zero: Blue Ice (1943)
* Meet the Author (1946)
* Why I Selected Don't Look Now (1949)
* P.S.'s Feature Flash (1950) [as C. H. Liddell] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* The Innocent Eye (1953)
* Epilogue (1953) [as Lewis Padgett] with Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
* Why I Selected Don't Look Now (1954)

Copyright (c) 1995-2004 Al von Ruff. ISFDB Engine - Version 2.0 (03/25/04)

AP Obit

Publication Date: Thursday, Feb. 6, 1958
Source: Associated Press
Lifted from George C. Willick's Spacelight site.

KUTTNER, 43, WROTE ON SCIENCE-FICTION

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb 6, AP - Henry Kuttner, a writer who specialized in science-fiction, died Tuesday of a heart attack at his home here. He was 43 years old.

Mr. Kuttner's books included The Fairy Chessmen, Ahead of Time, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and Dr. Cyclops. The last named was made into a motion picture.

Mr. Kuttner spent almost his whole life writing. He took time out to get a college education fairly recently, receiving a degree from the University of California at Los Angeles after he had become a successful writer.

In 1940 Mr. Kuttner married Catherine Lucille Moore. Most of his work since that time had been in collaboration with his wife, and at times, neither knew which of them had written what.

Mr. Kuttner wrote under sixteen known names and probably a number of others that he would not have remembered in recent years. One of his pseudonyms, Lewis Padgett, became probably as well known as his own name.

In the mystery-story line, Mr. Kuttner's most important work was a series of novels for Permabooks, beginning with The Murder of Eleanor Pope in 1956. But in both mysteries and science-fiction he was interested in making psycho-analysis a part of literature.

Mr. Kuttner turned out quantities of short stories along with his novels. Many of his major short stories were under the Padgett pseudonym. He also did a good deal of work for radio, television, and films.

A count showed that as of 1953, he had published more than 170 stories. the number probably had soared above 200 before his death.

Mr. Kuttner was formerly regional vice president of the Mystery Writers of America.

His widow, who wrote under the name of C. L. Moore, survives.

George C. Willick's Kuttner page

George C. Willick's Kuttner page.

VITAL STATISTICS
Name: KUTTNER, Henry Aged: 42
Born: April 7, 1915 Where: Los Angeles, California
Died: February 4, 1958 Where: Santa Monica, California
Interred: Cremated. Ashes interred in Woodlawn Cemetery, in the Chapel of the Pacific.
Married: Catherine Lucille Moore When: June 7, 1940
Awarded: 1940 World's SF convention voted Kuttner the Best SF Writer in the World.


PEN NAMES: With his wife, at least 16 jointly; Edward J. Bellin, Paul Edmonds, Noel Gardner, Will Garth (house name), James Hall, Keith Hammond, Hudson Hastings, Peter Horn, Robert O. Kenyon, C. H. Liddell, K. Hugh Maepenn, Scott Morgan, Lawrence O'Donnell (mostly C. L. Moore), Lewis Padgett, Woodrow Wilson Smith, & Charles Stoddard (adventure stories).
Kelvin Kent was used by Kuttner & Arthur K. Barnes, either singly or in collaboration. C. L. Moore was not involved in these stories.

Wikipedia entry for C. L. Moore

Catherine Lucile Moore (January 24, 1911 – April 4, 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.

She was born on January 24, 1911 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her first stories appeared in pulp magazines in the 1930s, including two significant series in Weird Tales. One was about the rogue and adventurer, Northwest Smith, and his wanderings through the Solar System; the other was a fantasy series about Jirel of Joiry (one of the first female protagonists in sword-and-sorcery fiction). Her early stories were notable for their emphasis on the senses and emotions, which was highly unusual at the time.

She met Henry Kuttner, who was also a science fiction writer, in 1938, and they married two years later. Afterwards, almost all of their stories were written together, under various pseudonyms. In this very prolific collaboration, they often managed to combine Moore's style with Kuttner's more cerebral one. Their stories include the now-classic "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" and "Vintage Season". After Kuttner's death in 1958, she wrote almost no fiction.

C. L. Moore died on April 4, 1987 at her home in Hollywood, California.

Wikipedia entry for Henry Kuttner

Henry Kuttner (April 7, 1915 - February 4, 1958) was a science fiction author born in Los Angeles, California. As a young man he worked for a literary agency before selling his first story, "The Graveyard Rats", to Weird Tales in 1936.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Exclusive Interviews: E. Hoffman [sic]

From Eldritch Dark:
Exclusive Interviews: E. Hoffman [sic]

Henry Kuttner

"Have some goulash" said E. Hoffman Price. E. stands for Edgar.

I had luncht litely on a pint of blood & a corpse's leg—a tough one at that—so I had some goulash. I had been driving for hrs. Now, in Price's home overlooking Redwood City, a repulsive little village on San Francisco Bay, I peerd thru a film of goulash & observd "How long have you been writing?"

"Yrs" he said. "Remember 'The Sultan's Jest'? That was my first yarn. Or maybe it was 'Apricots from Ipsaham'. I don't remember."

"I love goulash" I said. "How about 'The Stranger from Kurdistan'?" This is perhaps Price's most famous yarn, which ran in Weird Tales back in 1926 or 1927.

"My 3rd. I sold it to Wright, who didn't publish it for about a yr, & during that yr I don't think I sold him anything. He wasn't sure my stuff would go over with the readers. Then 'The Stranger' was printed, & it got such good response that he bought plenty from me after that."

"You're not writing weird fiction now?"

"No" he observed. "Can't afford to. Adventure is much more profitable. Some more goulash?"

He lifted the cat from the platter & ladled out more goulash. Price's cat is a strange creature. It isn't his, really, belonging next door, but it creeps into his house at every opportunity & steals food. It is a huge brindled affair, which leapt on my lap & thrust its tail into my face. I pickt myself up from the floor & resumed the goulash. Frankly, I prefer Price's own cat, a serious looking black, who eyes the world wearily & scornfully from its cushion.

Edgar Hoffman Price is a medium sized chap who reminds me of a dynamo. He is so full of inexhaustible energy that one expects him to burst in your face. He has a stiff ruff of dark brown hair, a bristling moustache, has traveld rather extensively, & is fond of taking motor trips to Hell & back. Recently he went to Mexico, or maybe that wasn't recently. At any rate, he went to Mexico, because he mentiond getting maroond on a mt rd by a landslide.

He works very quickly, averaging about 2 cigarets a pg. In fact, he knockt out a 9,000 word yarn in one day while I was there.

He has acquired a reputation for fast & reckless driving, tho I don't know why, for when we went to Auburn only 7 pedestrians were maimd, & none of them died.

At Auburn we threaded our way thru pastures, followed something laffingly calld a rd. & arrived at Clark Ashton Smith's home.

I was a little perturbd, I must confess, by the curious noises that appeard to come from far underground, & by the loathsomely shaped white objects which occasionly wriggled across our path. Nor was I reassured when Price informd me of the tales about a leprously shining wingd

thing that sometimes percht on the great oak beneath which Smith writes. Also, there were certain ft-prints—but better not to speak of that...

Smith is somewhat similar to Price in appearance, tho serious & quiet. He has been known to omit ghoulish cackles whilst devouring small children, &, in fact, there are very few small children in Auburn, a rather odd circumstance.

Smith has a cat, which eats rats when it can find any. But after hearing it make a number of unpleasant personal observations in a squeaky but undeniably human tone, I studiously avoided it.

The Archimage of Auburn for some time has been carving grotesque little images from the rock of his native hills—the Sierra foothills. Those, together with his pictures—fantastic flora & fauna of alien worlds--& his demoniac library, are more than a little fascinating.

After a period during which he did little writing, Smith is at his typewriter again, & has sold several yarns to Weird Tales, & one to Thrilling Wonder. Anent his story, "Dweller in Martian Depths", he told me that Gernsback changed the ending of it by permitting the protagonist to live, instead of allowing him to meet destruction with his companions. Nevertheless the yarn was not popular because of its grimness. Only for Weird Tales has he been able to write as he wisht, & even then there have been some rejections.

And then, full of pleasant memories & goulash I went home.

From IMAGINATION! #3 - Dec. 1937

I was privileged to know Kuttner as a casual friend.

Henry Kuttner was a constant critic. I can't say we were close friends, but we were close critical friends. He read my short stories and kicked me around the block when I needed it. I have dozens of letters from him, from my early 20s. He tried to sell my short stories for me. He contacted John W. Campbell, but he didn't get anywhere selling me to Campbell. He in turn sold Campbell a lot of wonderful fiction. I was privileged to know Kuttner as a casual friend. -- Ray Bradbury