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The Watcher at the Door
TABLE OF Foreword by Robert A. Madle Introduction by Garyn G. Roberts, Ph.D. We Are the Dead, Weird Tales, Apr 37 The Case of Herbert Thorp, Weird Tales, Nov 37 The Transgressor, Weird Tales, Feb 39 Hydra, Weird Tales, Apr 39 Murder for Fun, Thrilling Mystery, May 39 The Watcher at the Door, Weird Tales, May 39 The Hunt, Strange Stories, Jun 39 "Telepathy Is News!", Science Fiction, Jun 39 Death Is Where You Find It, Thrilling Mystery, Jul 39 The Curse of the Crocodile, Strange Stories, Aug 39 The Misguided Halo, Unknown, Aug 39 The Devil's Brood, Thrilling Mystery, Sep 39 Corpse Castle, Thrilling Mystery, Nov 39 Towers of Death, Weird Tales, Nov 39 Suicide Squad, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Dec 39 Death Has Three Sisters, Thrilling Mystery, Jan 40 When New York Vanished, Startling Stories, Mar 40 All Is Illusion, Unknown, Apr 40 Beauty and the Beast, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Apr 40 Pegasus, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, May 40 50 Miles Down, Fantastic Adventures, May 40 Improbability, Astonishing Stories, Jun 40 The Room of Souls, Strange Stories, Jun 40 The Mad Virus, Science Fiction, Jun 40 Dr. Cyclops, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jun 40 Time to Kill, Strange Stories, Jun 40 No Man s World, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Aug 40 The Seal of Sin, Strange Stories, Aug 40 World Without Air, Fantastic Adventures, Aug 40 The Uncanny Power of Edwin Cobalt, Fantastic Adventures, October 40
710 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2016
About the author
Henry Kuttner
758 books216 followersHenry Kuttner was, alone and in collaboration with his wife, the great science fiction and fantasy writer C.L. Moore, one of the four or five most important writers of the 1940s, the writer whose work went furthest in its sociological and psychological insight to making science fiction a human as well as technological literature. He was an important influence upon every contemporary and every science fiction writer who succeeded him. In the early 1940s and under many pseudonyms, Kuttner and Moore published very widely through the range of the science fiction and fantasy pulp markets.
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
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
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
Their fantasy novels, all of them for the lower grade markets like Future, Thrilling Wonder, and Planet Stories, are forgotten now; their science fiction novels, Fury and Mutant, are however well regarded. There is no question but that Kuttner's talent lay primarily in the shorter form; Mutant is an amalgamation of five novelettes and Fury, his only true science fiction novel, is considered as secondary material. There are, however, 40 or 50 shorter works which are among the most significant achievements in the field and they remain consistently in print. The critic James Blish, quoting a passage from Mutant about the telepathic perception of the little blank, silvery minds of goldfish, noted that writing of this quality was not only rare in science fiction but rare throughout literature: "The Kuttners learned a few thing writing for the pulp magazines, however, that one doesn't learn reading Henry James."
In the early 1950s, Kuttner and Moore, both citing weariness with writing, even creative exhaustion, turned away from science fiction; both obtained undergraduate degrees in psychology from the University of Southern California and Henry Kuttner, enrolled in an MA program, planned to be a clinical psychologist. A few science fiction short stories and novelettes appeared (Humpty Dumpty finished the Baldy series in 1953). Those stories -- Home There Is No Returning, Home Is the Hunter, Two-Handed Engine, and Rite of Passage -- were at the highest level of Kuttner's work. He also published three mystery novels with Harper & Row (of which only the first is certainly his; the other two, apparently, were farmed out by Kuttner to other writers when he found himself incapable of finishing them).
Henry Kuttner died suddenly in his sleep, probably from a stroke, in February 1958; Catherine Moore remarried a physician and survived him by almost three decades but she never published again. She remained in touch with the science fiction community, however, and was Guest of Honor at the World Convention in Denver in 198l. She died of complications of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987.
His pseudonyms include:
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
Scott Morgan
Lawrence O'Donnell
Lewis Padgett
Woodrow Wilson Smith
Charles Stoddard
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 15, 2022
Our main character 'Johnny' visits his sickly looking artist friend Edward Keene at his leased summer residence in the New England hills.
Poor Edward has to have a look at the doorway at all times and is afraid to sleep and thereby to dream. Soon Johnny discovers why exactly Edward is so anxious.
The short story has 5 pages (≈ 19 minutes).
I have the feeling, that I read a story similar to this one maaany³ years ago. Still! This short story was very well done and deserves a full 5 ⭐ rating!
If you want to enjoy a quick short story, too. Here the Links.
For your ears -> »The Watcher at the Door« @ Youtube
For your eyes -> »The Watcher at the Door« @ fadedpage.com
Poor Edward has to have a look at the doorway at all times and is afraid to sleep and thereby to dream. Soon Johnny discovers why exactly Edward is so anxious.
The short story has 5 pages (≈ 19 minutes).
I have the feeling, that I read a story similar to this one maaany³ years ago. Still! This short story was very well done and deserves a full 5 ⭐ rating!
If you want to enjoy a quick short story, too. Here the Links.
For your ears -> »The Watcher at the Door« @ Youtube
For your eyes -> »The Watcher at the Door« @ fadedpage.com
July 8, 2024
Too few stories here that show the talent and skill that Kuttner evinced later in his career, especially in collaborations with his wife, Catherine L. Moore. Most are formulaic, written quickly (hopefully very quickly), to meet specific editorial requirements. Fun in small doses but repetitive and tiresome if reading large batches.
September 3, 2025
weird short story by a great author.
May 23, 2023
A man visits his friend, Edward Keene, in a remote New England house rented by Keene for the summer for the purpose of completing a series of painting. However, upon arrival, the man finds Keene in ill health both physically and mentally. Keene speaks of a pair of disembodied eyes, like those of a cat, that watch him from the doorway. He later reveals that the house was once home to a witch who also died here and, he claims, still haunts the place.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews