Science Fiction Day 2026

Yesterday was Science Fiction Day. I took a break from my current jungle pulp read and read a couple of science fiction short stories. I find myself, now, at the head of yet another side trail.

One story I read was "Clash by Night" by Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore. An undersea tale set on Venus, collected in the Baen anthology, DEPTH CHARGE. 

Kuttner revisited the setting later with the novel, FURY. This was the Venus setting David Drake later explored in two novels, THE JUNGLE and SURFACE ACTION, which were omnibused by Baen as SEAS OF VENUS.

I have a copy of FURY. I will be on the lookout for SEAS OF VENUS.

Also, I listened to an episode of the DOCTOR WHO spinoff audio-drama, COUNTER MEASURES. This series continues on with characters who first appeared in REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS. 

Sort of a smaller, prototype of the UNIT concept. Big Finish Audio do an amazing job of evoking eras. Even though this is audio, it very much feels like watching a 1960s science fiction television programme. Recommended.

recent re-read; Prince Raynor

In the 1930s, pulp writer extraordinaire, Henry Kuttner, tried his hand at sword-&-sorcery. Elak (of Atlantis) is the better known series but Kuttner also contributed to the genre with a different set of tales, featuring a character named Prince Raynor.

Raynor only lasted two stories, each appearing in STRANGE STORIES - another pulp that tried to go to the mat with WEIRD TALES. Lasting thirteen issues, STRANGE STORIES lasted slightly longer than STRANGE TALES, which only managed seven issues.

"Cursed Be The City" appeared in the April 1939 issue. The city of Sardopolis is under siege. A prophet within the city declares the city's doom. But he also declares the conquering King Cyaxares shall also be cursed. The doom that once dwelt in Sardopolis shall return.

Cyaxares conquers, kills the king, and places the king's son, Raynor in the torture chambers. Raynor escapes with the aid of his faithful Nubian servant, Eblik. They save a dying priest, and Raynor's path is set. He must free the great god Pan, whose altar once stood in the wild place that became Sardopolis.

I won't give away any more.

"The Citadel of Darkness" appeared in the August 1939 issue. In aftermath of Sardopolis's doom, Raynor, Eblik, and their female companion, Delphia, are wanderers. Grouping together some of the city survivors, they are beset by brigands and Delphia is kidnapped. A wizard named Ghiar aids Raynor, but pulls a sorcerous double-cross. Raynor finds himself in a battle with the brigands and the wizard and mighty powers of darkness beyond the ken of men.

The Raynor tales are darker than Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis stories. There is a feeling of direness and darkness akin to Robert E. Howard. While Kuttner was no stranger to employing the Cthulhu Mythos in his stories - indeed, one of the Elak stories is titled "Spawn of Dagon" - the crushing inhumanity of cosmic forces are conveyed more effectively in the timbre of the Raynor stories.

In "Cursed be the City," Raynor's willingness to unleash preternatural powers in his vengeance bring to mind Bran Mak Morn and "Worms of the Earth." Karl Edward Wagner pointed out there is a tragic/dark feel like Moorcock's Elric. Raynor is the last royal remnant of a destroyed empire, after all.

Reading the two stories in succession does highlight a formula. Both end with the hero employing a talisman to bring about the destruction of his foes. Kuttner sets the stage so that the resolution does not smack too heavily of Deus Ex Machina. Reading the two stories back-to-back, the technique feels a little heavier handed than it probably is.

As others do, I wish Kuttner had cranked out a few more Raynor adventures. It would have been interesting to see where he went. I wonder if he would have continued to formula or changed some plotting to be different, or it if would have been enough to crank them out easier with a set format and get his pay.

I first encountered Raynor in the excellent, three volume series ECHOES OF VALOR. Published by TOR, Karl Edward Wagner presented various selections from classic pulps, and Wagner knew his stuff.

The two Raynor stories were also tagged onto the end of Paizo's ELAK OF ATLANTIS book as part of their PLANET STORIES line.

Both print books are, unfortunately, out of print.

Griasol produced some STRANGE STORIES replicas but it doesn't appear that they replicated the issues featuring Raynor.

Luckily for us, the two stories have been collected for ebook (at least, for Kindle.)

If you are a sword-&-sorcery fan and have not read Prince Raynor, I encourage you to do so.

recent read; Two tales of Elak

Yesterday I made mention of the old anthology, THE MIGHTY BARBARIANS. In that book, Henry Kuttner's story "Dragon Moon" appears. The story is the last of his tales concerning his sword-&-sorcery hero, Elak of Atlantis. The tale originally appeared in WEIRD TALES in 1941.

I recently learned (stumbled upon the fact) that Adrian Cole had written an Elak pastiche for STRANGE TALES in 2007, when the magazine was briefly revived by Robert M. Price.

I wanted to read Cole's story and today was a good day for it. I read Kuttner's tale first, too.

"Dragon Moon" tells the story of Elak giving up his adventurous ways to accept his destiny as king of Cyrena, one of the Atlantean kingdoms. Of course, his destiny is not so easily embraced or achieved. He must battle villains and monsters and armies along the way.

It's a fun episodic tale. Elak somewhat parallels Conan as far as a man who would prefer adventure over kingship.

Rather than a "between the tales" story, Cole's "Blood of the Moon God" takes place a year after the events of "Dragon Moon" (which worked out for me!) Elak is given to forest expeditions to relieve his royal boredom. Though he is a legitimate king by blood, enemies still abound, including unscrupulous cousins. Trapped by an ambush, Elak and his companions find themselves underground, fighting for their lives against worse foes.

I won't give too much away. I will say that we all know another s-&-s hero from Atlantis, and there are nearly as many Robert E. Howard elements to Cole's story as there are nods to Kuttner.

I was pleased with the story and believe it worthy of Elak and Kuttner.

If you are interested in Cole's story, copies of STRANGE TALES #10 are still available through Wildside Press. (disclaimer; I haven't read the rest of the issue yet.)

recent read; Robots Have No Tails

Robots Have No Tails by Henry Kuttner

These stories were fun.  A breezy blend of whimsy and The Twilight Zone.  (I have to believe Rod Serling read one or two of these.)  This book collects the five tales of Gallegher, the drunken inventor whose brilliant work is created when he is blotto.  The sober, hungover Gallegher is formulaically stuck with problems, a hangover, creditors and mysteries left by his alcoholic alter ego.

The book opens with a foreword from F. Paul Wilson reminding us to leave our political correctness at the door.  Not that there is anything racist or sexist, but the character of Gallegher is a drunk and his drinking problem is played for laughs. These stories were possibly influenced by the Nick & Nora Charles Thin Man movies, where the main characters - while not outright drunks - were hardly ever seen without a drink in hand.

A little book shopping

I spent the week waiting on an Amazon book order to finish its tour of the East Coast.  No biggie, really, but the package passed by the town next door and went on the Maine on a shipping error, and came back through NJ before finally reaching me.  I received Glen Cook's final novel of the Dread Empire - recently rewritten after being lost/stolen - now out in hardback, A Path to Coldness of Heart.

I also threw in To The Stars - and Beyond (The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories), mainly because Charles Gramlich has a tale in it, and I loved the cover.

Today the wife gave me a hall pass and I went shopping.  In addition to shoes, music and comics, I picked up some books, too.  Arturo Perez-Reverte's latest (perhaps last) tale of Captain Alatriste, Pirates of the Levant.  The Ramsey Campbell novelization of the Solomon Kane movie (which I still haven't seen!)  Finally, I bought the Baen anthology, Mountain Magic.  I have Drake's Old Nathan collection (included,) but the book includes a set of Henry Kuttner tales, too.  I would have gone the e'route on that one, sometime, but for this little tidbit on the Baen E'books site;

AN APOLOGY

Unfortunately the Kuttner estate does not allow publication of electronic versions of his works. So we had to remove all of the Kuttner stories from the WebScriptions version. In their place we've added Manly Wade Wellman's John the Balladeer stories. Certainly they fit the books theme of Mountain Magic.

I guess that isn't a total surprise.  I noted Saberhagen's estate seem to be handling his e'books, outside of any given publisher.  Also, not surprising some Silver John tales were substituted, as I think Drake is in charge of the Wellman publishing estate, so it wouldn't be a tough sell.

(I've run into something similar with some of my vinyl blues LPs having different content on CD - not just augmented, but different...)

2012 - some nice, but pricey, books coming

Thunder in the Void

The Complete John Thunstone

Where the Summer Ends

Walk on the Wild Side

These are titles I definitely want in print, even if there are eVersions (I don't think there will be.)

I have the two paperback TOR Wagner horror collections, but they are far from good shape.

I don't know how many of Wellman's Thunstone tales I have read.  One title rings a bell from an anthology.

I enjoy what I have read from Kuttner, and I need to read more from him.  I know he was an influence on Wagner.  Kuttner had a gritty, real edge that crept in even when it wasn't supposed to.  I really want to read what he did in the space opera vein.