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The Margaret St. Clair Science Fiction MEGAPACK®
Margaret St. Clair (1911–1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who published about 130 stories in the pulps, mostly in the 1950s. She also wrote eight novels, four of which were published in the Ace Double series. St. Clair's pioneering role as a woman writing science fiction was noted by Eric Leif Davin in his book Partners in Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965 . This collection assembles six great FLOWERING EVIL
GARDEN OF EVIL
RETURN ENGAGEMENT
THE AUTUMN AFTER NEXT
THE DANCERS
THE VANDERLARK "Startlingly original!" —Ramsey Campbell
GARDEN OF EVIL
RETURN ENGAGEMENT
THE AUTUMN AFTER NEXT
THE DANCERS
THE VANDERLARK "Startlingly original!" —Ramsey Campbell
- GenresScience Fiction
80 pages, Paperback
Published August 19, 2021
About the author
Margaret St. Clair
179 books67 followersMargaret St. Clair (February 17, 1911 Huchinson, Kansas - November 22, 1995 Santa Rosa, CA) was an American science fiction writer, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and Wilton Hazzard.
Born as Margaret Neeley, she married Eric St. Clair in 1932, whom she met while attending the University of California, Berkeley. In 1934 she graduated with a Master of Arts in Greek classics.
She started writing science fiction with the short story "Rocket to Limbo" in 1946. Her most creative period was during the 1950s, when she wrote such acclaimed stories as "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" (1951), "Brightness Falls from the Air" (1951), "An Egg a Month from All Over" (1952), and "Horrer Howce" (1956). She largely stopped writing short stories after 1960. The Best of Margaret St. Clair (1985) is a representative sampler of her short fiction.
Apart from more than 100 short stories, St. Clair also wrote nine novels. Of interest beyond science fiction is her 1963 novel Sign of the Labrys, for its early use of Wicca elements in fiction.
Her interests included witchcraft, nudism, and feminism. She and her husband decided to remain childless.
Born as Margaret Neeley, she married Eric St. Clair in 1932, whom she met while attending the University of California, Berkeley. In 1934 she graduated with a Master of Arts in Greek classics.
She started writing science fiction with the short story "Rocket to Limbo" in 1946. Her most creative period was during the 1950s, when she wrote such acclaimed stories as "The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles" (1951), "Brightness Falls from the Air" (1951), "An Egg a Month from All Over" (1952), and "Horrer Howce" (1956). She largely stopped writing short stories after 1960. The Best of Margaret St. Clair (1985) is a representative sampler of her short fiction.
Apart from more than 100 short stories, St. Clair also wrote nine novels. Of interest beyond science fiction is her 1963 novel Sign of the Labrys, for its early use of Wicca elements in fiction.
Her interests included witchcraft, nudism, and feminism. She and her husband decided to remain childless.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 4, 2024
These stories were written in the Golden age of science fiction. They were all a little quirky and usually ended with some morbid trope. Not bad, not good. Worth a read if you enjoy golden age science fiction as no one writes this type of stuff anymore.
November 24, 2024
Margaret St. Clair wrote clever, quirky short stories with a twist for the SF magazines in the Golden Age era. She often used a male pseudonym, which sometimes makes it difficult to trace an author's work.
This ebook collection has a smattering of typical St. Clair stories, representative of their time. They're fun, don't date too badly but aren't the kind of thing that's written anymore. Two of the stories feature aliens eating humans, either through misunderstanding or giving a great offense.
Be careful out there, and check your assumptions at the spaceport.
This ebook collection has a smattering of typical St. Clair stories, representative of their time. They're fun, don't date too badly but aren't the kind of thing that's written anymore. Two of the stories feature aliens eating humans, either through misunderstanding or giving a great offense.
Be careful out there, and check your assumptions at the spaceport.
December 31, 2021
RA
These stories sit between magic/fantasy and sci-fi. I suppose you could call them Soft Sci-Fi. You have to suspend your already suspended disbelief. They do have an edge of refreshing wit, which compensates for their dated feel when we knew much less about space and the planets and were in a more gender conservative culture. There are several leading female characters in these stories, generally looking pretty and helping the men cope with their macho stupidity. In at least one story a very apparently subservient female gets her just desserts! There is some excellent writing "his heart lurched like a horse trying to buck a rider." And some original ideas: 'souls' being stored in vegetable matter! A strong theme in the stories, which acted as a salutary warning to the march of human technological hubris, was her interest in anthropological and paleoanthropological themes, suggesting scientific culture can blind us to deeper forces in a thinking species' existence. There is a sense of 'Earth Mother', which you probably would never detect with a male writer. This lends the stories a sense of mystery beyond the mystery genre's usual material: a sense of something lost or beyond knowing: mostly because modern thinking is too male and reductive. As the 'white heat of technology' seemed to offer so much at the time these stories were written we were also degrading our ancient roots and folk beliefs. Her figures of the future, although often amusing and ironical, are literally men lost in space. Corny. But GOOD corny!
These stories sit between magic/fantasy and sci-fi. I suppose you could call them Soft Sci-Fi. You have to suspend your already suspended disbelief. They do have an edge of refreshing wit, which compensates for their dated feel when we knew much less about space and the planets and were in a more gender conservative culture. There are several leading female characters in these stories, generally looking pretty and helping the men cope with their macho stupidity. In at least one story a very apparently subservient female gets her just desserts! There is some excellent writing "his heart lurched like a horse trying to buck a rider." And some original ideas: 'souls' being stored in vegetable matter! A strong theme in the stories, which acted as a salutary warning to the march of human technological hubris, was her interest in anthropological and paleoanthropological themes, suggesting scientific culture can blind us to deeper forces in a thinking species' existence. There is a sense of 'Earth Mother', which you probably would never detect with a male writer. This lends the stories a sense of mystery beyond the mystery genre's usual material: a sense of something lost or beyond knowing: mostly because modern thinking is too male and reductive. As the 'white heat of technology' seemed to offer so much at the time these stories were written we were also degrading our ancient roots and folk beliefs. Her figures of the future, although often amusing and ironical, are literally men lost in space. Corny. But GOOD corny!
March 17, 2026
Quick and fun read, only a few stories. If you love Golden Age sci fi, you'll get a kick out of this little collection. Also, if you're a fan of Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr, you'll appreciate the femme spin St. Clair puts in her stories.
June 10, 2023
None of her heroes were really heroic. All of them had some sort of flaw that brought them down. There were no happy endings and I loved it.
February 28, 2025
Interesting stories
Some are kind of fun. Many dark and depressing. My guess is that the author was a deeply unhappy person.
Some are kind of fun. Many dark and depressing. My guess is that the author was a deeply unhappy person.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews