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Reviews have no tails
Apr. 22nd, 2013 03:24 pmHey,
So a Kickstarter project made me interested in picking up a set of stories by Henry Kuttner, a Golden Age sci-fi writer who, along with his wife C.L. Moore wrote a wide range of pulpy sci-fi goodness. In particular, I was interested in reading his Galloway Gallegher stories which were all collected and recently republished by Planet Stories in Robots Have No Tails.
The Galloway stories follow a pretty simple schtick. Galloway is a technician without a great deal of formal learning. He's also an alcoholic and when he gets blackout drunk, he's a scientific genius who can invent the most amazing machines. The problem is that he's only a genius when he's blackout drunk. Once he sobers up (mostly), he can't remember what he's invented, how it works, what it's for, or who paid him to build it. Since Galloway get more amoral the more intelligent he gets, he often finds large, angry men demanding the solutions they paid a tidy sum for.
The book collects all five stories published during the 40's. The premise seems a little bit better than the actual stories play out. The first tale barely features Galloway at all, but it is a pretty neat mystery. After that, the stories go for a more screwball comedy effect, but it doesn't quite come off. Still, I am curious to read more of his planetary romances. Both he and his wife collaborated on much of their work and there have been some very positive reviews of both.
later
Tom
So a Kickstarter project made me interested in picking up a set of stories by Henry Kuttner, a Golden Age sci-fi writer who, along with his wife C.L. Moore wrote a wide range of pulpy sci-fi goodness. In particular, I was interested in reading his Galloway Gallegher stories which were all collected and recently republished by Planet Stories in Robots Have No Tails.
The Galloway stories follow a pretty simple schtick. Galloway is a technician without a great deal of formal learning. He's also an alcoholic and when he gets blackout drunk, he's a scientific genius who can invent the most amazing machines. The problem is that he's only a genius when he's blackout drunk. Once he sobers up (mostly), he can't remember what he's invented, how it works, what it's for, or who paid him to build it. Since Galloway get more amoral the more intelligent he gets, he often finds large, angry men demanding the solutions they paid a tidy sum for.
The book collects all five stories published during the 40's. The premise seems a little bit better than the actual stories play out. The first tale barely features Galloway at all, but it is a pretty neat mystery. After that, the stories go for a more screwball comedy effect, but it doesn't quite come off. Still, I am curious to read more of his planetary romances. Both he and his wife collaborated on much of their work and there have been some very positive reviews of both.
later
Tom
