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Visions and Venturers
Sturgeon's people:
Jokey—a bright kid, full of fun... he can make you do anything he wants ...
Osser—the strongest man in his world, driven to fulfill a dream of ancient glory revived—even though he got it all wrong...
Patty—it wasn't her fault she had trouble finding the right rhyme for the death-spell...
Dad—for a man who can build a crystal set inside a peanut, radio contact with Mars shouldn't be much of a problem...
Nobody but Ted Sturgeon could have created these unique characters—and the others who throng these masterful stories of science fiction and fantasy. Until now available only in scattered magazines and anthologies, these pieces are here brought together for the first time in a collection by a writer hailed as the outstanding master of fantastic fiction.
Contents:
The Hag Sèleen (with James H. Beard).
The Martian and the Moron.
The Nail and the Oracle.
Won't You Walk—
Talent.
One Foot and the Grave.
The Touch of Your Hand.
The Traveling Crag.
Jokey—a bright kid, full of fun... he can make you do anything he wants ...
Osser—the strongest man in his world, driven to fulfill a dream of ancient glory revived—even though he got it all wrong...
Patty—it wasn't her fault she had trouble finding the right rhyme for the death-spell...
Dad—for a man who can build a crystal set inside a peanut, radio contact with Mars shouldn't be much of a problem...
Nobody but Ted Sturgeon could have created these unique characters—and the others who throng these masterful stories of science fiction and fantasy. Until now available only in scattered magazines and anthologies, these pieces are here brought together for the first time in a collection by a writer hailed as the outstanding master of fantastic fiction.
Contents:
The Hag Sèleen (with James H. Beard).
The Martian and the Moron.
The Nail and the Oracle.
Won't You Walk—
Talent.
One Foot and the Grave.
The Touch of Your Hand.
The Traveling Crag.
300 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 6, 1979
About the author
Theodore Sturgeon
754 books799 followersTheodore Sturgeon (1918–1985) is considered one of the godfathers of contemporary science fiction and dark fantasy. The author of numerous acclaimed short stories and novels, among them the classics More Than Human, Venus Plus X, and To Marry Medusa, Sturgeon also wrote for television and holds among his credits two episodes of the original 1960s Star Trek series, for which he created the Vulcan mating ritual and the expression "Live long and prosper." He is also credited as the inspiration for Kurt Vonnegut's recurring fictional character Kilgore Trout.
Sturgeon is the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the International Fantasy Award. In 2000, he was posthumously honored with a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.
Sturgeon is the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the International Fantasy Award. In 2000, he was posthumously honored with a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 4, 2022
"The Hag Seleen" opens the collection with a squelch, and a heavy miasma of organic decay. Given my distaste for the first Sturgeon collection I read, the amount to which I enjoyed this story was quite encouraging. I liked the interaction between father and daughter, and the resolution made perfect sense. The description of the swamp were evocative, and I could almost feel their fear when they were dumped into the murky water and had to worry about cottonmouths, not to mention all the other dangerous wildlife. It may be that I prefer Sturgeon in horror / dark fantasy mode to his SF which I have so far found to be disappointing.
"The Nail and the Oracle" took me right back to the other 2 collections I've read, where I feel like Sturgeon is a bit smug and overly enamored of his own cleverness.
"Talent" was just lame, with the same kind of groan inducing ending that rubbed me wrong way with his other books. On second thought, maybe I'm being too harsh on this one. I have a vague memory, not to be trusted, of having read this story as a kid. Something about that ending seems familiar so maybe I just have a jaded view of the "surprise". Of course I've got no recollection of whether I liked the story when I first read it.
"The Touch Of Your Hand" - Initially I'm hating it because of the execrable main character Osser, and then he says "I'll make us great again" and it becomes quite relevant, and I want to see if there is something prescient going on, or will Sturgeon flub the ending on this one too. And it turns out that the story itself had some quite interesting ideas, but the ending was a let-down.
The final story was oddly optimistic, a bit unusual for Sturgeon. So overall, a mixed bag, with the best offering being a collaboration with James H. Beard.
"The Nail and the Oracle" took me right back to the other 2 collections I've read, where I feel like Sturgeon is a bit smug and overly enamored of his own cleverness.
"Talent" was just lame, with the same kind of groan inducing ending that rubbed me wrong way with his other books. On second thought, maybe I'm being too harsh on this one. I have a vague memory, not to be trusted, of having read this story as a kid. Something about that ending seems familiar so maybe I just have a jaded view of the "surprise". Of course I've got no recollection of whether I liked the story when I first read it.
"The Touch Of Your Hand" - Initially I'm hating it because of the execrable main character Osser, and then he says "I'll make us great again" and it becomes quite relevant, and I want to see if there is something prescient going on, or will Sturgeon flub the ending on this one too. And it turns out that the story itself had some quite interesting ideas, but the ending was a let-down.
The final story was oddly optimistic, a bit unusual for Sturgeon. So overall, a mixed bag, with the best offering being a collaboration with James H. Beard.
February 12, 2011
This was my first Theodore Sturgeon experience, and what an experience! I can't wait to get my hands on a full size novel of his, which I thought I had the other day, but it turned out it was missing the first forty-five pages... He's one of those rare golden authors whose works you just don't see around in used book stores.
This book was intact and contained eight excellent shorts.
"The Hag Seleen" I found to be a bit disturbing. Who is creepier—the evil hag or the little girl with mystical understanding and violent nature?
"The Martian and the Moron" was really enjoyable. The dad and his radio engineering, the son's misadventure, and the tying of the two together by Martian transmissions and a ditzy though well endowed receiver. Note the mother is present in the beginning of the story, though absent in the ending. I suspected death, but later learned Sturgeon's parents divorced. And, hey—at least that girl knew enough to try to feign intelligence.
"The Nail and the Oracle" was pretty neat, in a retro-tech sort of way. The lesson? Leave "I" out of the equation. Psh... Nobody's going to do that, especially in politics.
"Won't You Walk—" was really awesome. I let my mom read it and she concurred. It led somewhere completely unexpected. I thought in the beginning it was going to be a spy story. Turns out the recruiter was a pretty good 'ole capitalist feller. The machine, or the illusion of the machine is still needed.
"Talent" was the one story I didn't care too much for.
"One Foot and the Grave" was really cool. Just really cool.
"The Touch of Your Hand" blew my mind. Major synchronicity on a personal level took place while I was reading it, concerning Ed Walters of Gulf Breeze fame, and Andrew Pang of Star Trek origami fame. My mouth dropped when the dots were connected. It's like the story jumped out and grabbed me, at exactly the time it knew it should; which sort of is scary. The nonhuman telepathic race in the story are the future. Their logic exists today. I wonder what influence it has had on our world. I believe, it is only right, that I choose to be a child-like non-Marxist Osser. They will wipe all of him out, you know.
"The Moving Crag" was brilliant, until the end. I felt a bit let down then, just like Joe Fritch in a few stories back.
Now knowing a bit about Sturgeon from his writings here, and his wiki, I must say that if I ever become so inebriated that I would be delusional enough to think getting a tattoo would be a good idea, I think it would be a "Q--->".
This book was intact and contained eight excellent shorts.
"The Hag Seleen" I found to be a bit disturbing. Who is creepier—the evil hag or the little girl with mystical understanding and violent nature?
"The Martian and the Moron" was really enjoyable. The dad and his radio engineering, the son's misadventure, and the tying of the two together by Martian transmissions and a ditzy though well endowed receiver. Note the mother is present in the beginning of the story, though absent in the ending. I suspected death, but later learned Sturgeon's parents divorced. And, hey—at least that girl knew enough to try to feign intelligence.
"The Nail and the Oracle" was pretty neat, in a retro-tech sort of way. The lesson? Leave "I" out of the equation. Psh... Nobody's going to do that, especially in politics.
"Won't You Walk—" was really awesome. I let my mom read it and she concurred. It led somewhere completely unexpected. I thought in the beginning it was going to be a spy story. Turns out the recruiter was a pretty good 'ole capitalist feller. The machine, or the illusion of the machine is still needed.
"Talent" was the one story I didn't care too much for.
"One Foot and the Grave" was really cool. Just really cool.
"The Touch of Your Hand" blew my mind. Major synchronicity on a personal level took place while I was reading it, concerning Ed Walters of Gulf Breeze fame, and Andrew Pang of Star Trek origami fame. My mouth dropped when the dots were connected. It's like the story jumped out and grabbed me, at exactly the time it knew it should; which sort of is scary. The nonhuman telepathic race in the story are the future. Their logic exists today. I wonder what influence it has had on our world. I believe, it is only right, that I choose to be a child-like non-Marxist Osser. They will wipe all of him out, you know.
"The Moving Crag" was brilliant, until the end. I felt a bit let down then, just like Joe Fritch in a few stories back.
Now knowing a bit about Sturgeon from his writings here, and his wiki, I must say that if I ever become so inebriated that I would be delusional enough to think getting a tattoo would be a good idea, I think it would be a "Q--->".
January 26, 2017
A solid mix of sci-fi, magic, and social commentary. None of these were on par with the best Sturgeon I've read, but all are at the least, good stories.
October 24, 2018
Good, solid story telling. Great for a nightstand to sip at before sleep. So strange people.
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May 3, 2019I have the german edition: PSI-Talente
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews