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The Well of the Worlds
Clifford Sawyer, investigating ghosts in a mine, finds ancient beings from another world -- and gets swept up in a titanic struggle between for control of a parallel dimension. Henry Kuttner (1915-1958) was known for his literary prose and worked in close collaboration with his wife, C. L. Moore. They met through their association with the "Lovecraft Circle," a group of writers and fans who corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft. Their work together spanned the 1940s and 1950s, mostly published under pseudonyms such as Lewis Padgett and Lawrence O'Donnell.
126 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
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130 people want to read
About the author
Henry Kuttner
739 books208 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
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 23, 2019
Forces are already in motion as the story starts: Sawyer and Alper do not set things in motion as much as allow events to enter their next stage. The reader is left to navigate the situation as details are revealed.
Unfortunately the size of the book really doesn't match the scope of these events, and Kuttner and Moore condense matters to fit, usually by explaining it in dialog or exposition. This turns the story into a heap of negotiations, threats, and ultimatums sandwiched between startling action sequences that have to be explained after the fact.
All sprinkled with pseudotechnical discussion of how things work or what is going on. Energy forms, matter forms, conductivity, and a labored metaphor about 'isotopes' with regard to living creatures. It's all baloney, all perfectly extraneous to events, and a serious brake on the story's velocity.
This also when the setting itself--an onion-like world of floating island/continents over an uninhabitable core--is never reflected on and barely reacted to by the newcomers.
Despite an impressive introduction as a competent if eccentric manager with a mysterious background, Klai Ford disappears for a good chunk of the story and never really contributes afterwards, her role diminishing to a damsel-in-distress after perfunctory explanation of the mystery. It's like her character was swallowed by the conflict between Alper and Sawyer, Nethe and the Goddess, and the larger conflict among the Knowm and the Isier and the Sselli.
Unfortunately the size of the book really doesn't match the scope of these events, and Kuttner and Moore condense matters to fit, usually by explaining it in dialog or exposition. This turns the story into a heap of negotiations, threats, and ultimatums sandwiched between startling action sequences that have to be explained after the fact.
All sprinkled with pseudotechnical discussion of how things work or what is going on. Energy forms, matter forms, conductivity, and a labored metaphor about 'isotopes' with regard to living creatures. It's all baloney, all perfectly extraneous to events, and a serious brake on the story's velocity.
This also when the setting itself--an onion-like world of floating island/continents over an uninhabitable core--is never reflected on and barely reacted to by the newcomers.
Despite an impressive introduction as a competent if eccentric manager with a mysterious background, Klai Ford disappears for a good chunk of the story and never really contributes afterwards, her role diminishing to a damsel-in-distress after perfunctory explanation of the mystery. It's like her character was swallowed by the conflict between Alper and Sawyer, Nethe and the Goddess, and the larger conflict among the Knowm and the Isier and the Sselli.
August 18, 2011
Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's final science fiction novel, "Mutant," was released in 1953. There would be sporadic short stories from the famous husband-and-wife writing team throughout the '50s, as well as a mystery series from Kuttner featuring psychoanalyst/detective Dr. Michael Gray, not to mention a superior sci-fi novel from Moore herself, "Doomsday Morning," in 1957, but "Mutant" was, essentially, the last word, sci-fiwise, from the team. But "Mutant" is what's known as a "fix-up" novel, comprised of five short stories (in this case, mainly dating back to 1945) cobbled together to make a whole, so I suppose that we must call the team's "The Well of the Worlds" their last true sci-fi novel as a writing couple. "Well" was first issued as the feature cover story of "Startling Stories" in March 1952, and in book form the following year. (Those fortunate enough to lay hands on the cute little 1965 Ace paperback pictured above should prepare themselves, incidentally, for a LOT of typos!) It is as way out and imaginative a piece of speculative fiction as anything the pair ever wrote, including their mind-blowing "The Fairy Chessmen" (1946) and "The Time Axis" (1949).
At this point in their careers, Kuttner and Moore were attending classes at the University of Southern California, and easing back a bit from their prodigious output of the '40s. The reader of "Well," however, would never imagine that writing sci-fi was secondary to the couple at this point in their lives. It is another superb meld of fantasy and science fiction, with a typically pyrotechnic conclusion. The plot of the book is so way out, in fact, that I almost despair of describing it. Let's just say that it concerns Cliff Sawyer, an agent for the Canadian Royal Atomic Energy Commission, who investigates some very strange goings-on at a uranium mine near the North Pole. He, a mysterious woman named Klai, and a power-obsessed madman named Alper are somehow whisked to the other-dimensional world of Khom'ad, where three life-forms seem to be in a state of imminent warfare. There are the Isier, the demigodlike lords of the planet; the Sselli, a snakelike people; and the Firebirds, strange, winged energy creatures whose sudden appearance at the polar uranium mine seemed to touch off the whole mess. Not to mention the poor Khom, the humanlike underdogs of the planet. As if these elements weren't enough, Kuttner & Moore show us that Khom'ad is a hollow world, with floating, pancakelike island worlds floating under its surface! And as if THAT weren't enough, they have Alper slap a sort of torture-inducing transceiver on Sawyer's skull that can instantly step up the vibrations of the human body to murderous volume and intensity. Still not enough, reader? Howzabout a finale with battling goddesses, a threeway between the Isier, Sselli and Firebirds, and a close-up look at the titular Well, a sort of microcosmic cyclotron that makes possible an interdimensional energy transference between Khom'ad and Earth?
I don't know where or how authors are able to come up with books like this (I doubt that drugs, liquor or too much chili con carne before bedtime had anything to do with it!), but the net result is one of ceaseless wonder and bedazzlement for the reader. And I haven't even mentioned the Ice Tunnel between the dimensions, or the telepathic masks, or the wall-dissolving robes, but you get the idea, I trust. The book is mind expanding in the best sense of the term, and still another wonderfully written, tightly plotted novel from this amazing team. "The Well of the Worlds" may have been Kuttner & Moore's last true science fiction novel, but at least they went out with a doozy! All's well that ends well, I guess you'd say!
At this point in their careers, Kuttner and Moore were attending classes at the University of Southern California, and easing back a bit from their prodigious output of the '40s. The reader of "Well," however, would never imagine that writing sci-fi was secondary to the couple at this point in their lives. It is another superb meld of fantasy and science fiction, with a typically pyrotechnic conclusion. The plot of the book is so way out, in fact, that I almost despair of describing it. Let's just say that it concerns Cliff Sawyer, an agent for the Canadian Royal Atomic Energy Commission, who investigates some very strange goings-on at a uranium mine near the North Pole. He, a mysterious woman named Klai, and a power-obsessed madman named Alper are somehow whisked to the other-dimensional world of Khom'ad, where three life-forms seem to be in a state of imminent warfare. There are the Isier, the demigodlike lords of the planet; the Sselli, a snakelike people; and the Firebirds, strange, winged energy creatures whose sudden appearance at the polar uranium mine seemed to touch off the whole mess. Not to mention the poor Khom, the humanlike underdogs of the planet. As if these elements weren't enough, Kuttner & Moore show us that Khom'ad is a hollow world, with floating, pancakelike island worlds floating under its surface! And as if THAT weren't enough, they have Alper slap a sort of torture-inducing transceiver on Sawyer's skull that can instantly step up the vibrations of the human body to murderous volume and intensity. Still not enough, reader? Howzabout a finale with battling goddesses, a threeway between the Isier, Sselli and Firebirds, and a close-up look at the titular Well, a sort of microcosmic cyclotron that makes possible an interdimensional energy transference between Khom'ad and Earth?
I don't know where or how authors are able to come up with books like this (I doubt that drugs, liquor or too much chili con carne before bedtime had anything to do with it!), but the net result is one of ceaseless wonder and bedazzlement for the reader. And I haven't even mentioned the Ice Tunnel between the dimensions, or the telepathic masks, or the wall-dissolving robes, but you get the idea, I trust. The book is mind expanding in the best sense of the term, and still another wonderfully written, tightly plotted novel from this amazing team. "The Well of the Worlds" may have been Kuttner & Moore's last true science fiction novel, but at least they went out with a doozy! All's well that ends well, I guess you'd say!
November 24, 2020
2nd try on a novel length work by Henry Kuttner. I still really appreciate the short stories I read from him, but novel still ain't workin.
Before “The Well of the Worlds”, I tried “The Dark World”, and, while this works out better in a few different ways, both of these suffer from the same basic issue. Neither one of these feel like a novel, but more like a short story to which a lot of hot air is added. Doesn't make sense? Let me explain: over the meager 14 chapters, there are, in reality, only around five or six actual scenes. These scenes drag on and on with huge chunks of repeating dialogue.
Okay, it's the future, in this case 1970, and there is a mining city built at the North Pole for mining uranium. This mine is owned by a lady named Klai who was sort of adopted by its former owner after she woke up down there with amnesia. The mine is haunted by ghosts and a really old guy named Alper goes down there to meet a shadow woman who wants Klai dead. Klai took a film of this and showed it to investigator dude, Sawyer, who is our hero protagonist. Alper is Villain McBadGuy and slaps this little machine dealy on Sawyer's skull, which is supposed to make Sawyer do his bidding, although it's just a remote-control shock-device with wires that stick into the brain. Sawyer and Alper go into the mine and find Klai being threatened by the shadow lady and they all get sucked through a gateway to what turns out to be another planet that has flying islands. There are big tall evil “god” people and regular sized people people, and also some reptile alien savage type guys. Will everybody die or the world get destroyed?
The opening bit is a perfect example of the problem here, cuz it goes about like this:
Alper: Give me that film and do what I say.
Sawyer: No.
Alper: *slaps zap device on Sawyer* Do what I say or I'll kill you.
Sawyer: No.
Alper: Give me that film and do what I say.
Sawyer: No.
Alper: Bla bla bla bla I'll kill you. You can't take the zap thing off or you'll die.
Sawyer: No.
See, Sawyer is a tough square jawed hero type who can keep refusing even though Alper demonstrates he can zap him whenever. Neither guy budges, even when they are in another world and have to team up to beat the evil overlords. Klai is basically the love interest, and yet she does not get equal time with any of this stuff. The aliens are only fleshed out so far as technical details go, because even they have to take a back seat to the Alper/Sawyer drama.
We don't get action so much either, in fact, most of the book is just given over to page after page of expository dialogue and the non dialogue text is also just reactions to the sci-fi concepts. The concepts themselves come off pretty bland, since they boil down to the standard 50s theme: everything is nuclear (this is a part of why I don't tend to read stuff from after the 30s).
“The Well of the Worlds” gives us a future mine, dimensional portals, flying islands, another planet, and three societies (not counting future Earth), and yet all of this is a back seat to a couple of talking villains, a hero who is mostly just along for the ride, and the glowing nuclear “well” which is one of two focal points to a climax I wasn't too into. People getting sucked into other planets is supposed to be cool, guys!
This might have made a bang-up short story, but as a novel it's just filler. Kuttner was a versatile and clever writer, it's a real shame that doesn't show here.
Before “The Well of the Worlds”, I tried “The Dark World”, and, while this works out better in a few different ways, both of these suffer from the same basic issue. Neither one of these feel like a novel, but more like a short story to which a lot of hot air is added. Doesn't make sense? Let me explain: over the meager 14 chapters, there are, in reality, only around five or six actual scenes. These scenes drag on and on with huge chunks of repeating dialogue.
Okay, it's the future, in this case 1970, and there is a mining city built at the North Pole for mining uranium. This mine is owned by a lady named Klai who was sort of adopted by its former owner after she woke up down there with amnesia. The mine is haunted by ghosts and a really old guy named Alper goes down there to meet a shadow woman who wants Klai dead. Klai took a film of this and showed it to investigator dude, Sawyer, who is our hero protagonist. Alper is Villain McBadGuy and slaps this little machine dealy on Sawyer's skull, which is supposed to make Sawyer do his bidding, although it's just a remote-control shock-device with wires that stick into the brain. Sawyer and Alper go into the mine and find Klai being threatened by the shadow lady and they all get sucked through a gateway to what turns out to be another planet that has flying islands. There are big tall evil “god” people and regular sized people people, and also some reptile alien savage type guys. Will everybody die or the world get destroyed?
The opening bit is a perfect example of the problem here, cuz it goes about like this:
Alper: Give me that film and do what I say.
Sawyer: No.
Alper: *slaps zap device on Sawyer* Do what I say or I'll kill you.
Sawyer: No.
Alper: Give me that film and do what I say.
Sawyer: No.
Alper: Bla bla bla bla I'll kill you. You can't take the zap thing off or you'll die.
Sawyer: No.
See, Sawyer is a tough square jawed hero type who can keep refusing even though Alper demonstrates he can zap him whenever. Neither guy budges, even when they are in another world and have to team up to beat the evil overlords. Klai is basically the love interest, and yet she does not get equal time with any of this stuff. The aliens are only fleshed out so far as technical details go, because even they have to take a back seat to the Alper/Sawyer drama.
We don't get action so much either, in fact, most of the book is just given over to page after page of expository dialogue and the non dialogue text is also just reactions to the sci-fi concepts. The concepts themselves come off pretty bland, since they boil down to the standard 50s theme: everything is nuclear (this is a part of why I don't tend to read stuff from after the 30s).
“The Well of the Worlds” gives us a future mine, dimensional portals, flying islands, another planet, and three societies (not counting future Earth), and yet all of this is a back seat to a couple of talking villains, a hero who is mostly just along for the ride, and the glowing nuclear “well” which is one of two focal points to a climax I wasn't too into. People getting sucked into other planets is supposed to be cool, guys!
This might have made a bang-up short story, but as a novel it's just filler. Kuttner was a versatile and clever writer, it's a real shame that doesn't show here.
July 6, 2022
I love his short stories but don't like this novel at all.
Way too complex and with extremely low credibility. Even at the end when the life-cycle of the immortals is explained it never really becomes clear. The mixture of micro-cosmos and macro-cosmos feels unnatural (because is is unnatural of course).
Kuttner tries to bring too many storylines togethers in a vague mix. Clouded story where descriptions of cosmis scale phenomena (in color) try but fail to replace a good story.
The characters stay psychologically underdeveloped.
Tons of unexplained and chaotic action lead up to a very dramatic climax where Kuttner tries to reveal all but fails to make it clear and understandable.
Way too complex and with extremely low credibility. Even at the end when the life-cycle of the immortals is explained it never really becomes clear. The mixture of micro-cosmos and macro-cosmos feels unnatural (because is is unnatural of course).
Kuttner tries to bring too many storylines togethers in a vague mix. Clouded story where descriptions of cosmis scale phenomena (in color) try but fail to replace a good story.
The characters stay psychologically underdeveloped.
Tons of unexplained and chaotic action lead up to a very dramatic climax where Kuttner tries to reveal all but fails to make it clear and understandable.
January 15, 2023
A fun read in the context of 1950s science fiction. Can be very heavy handed with the chemistry references, but I loved the world building and the characters. A nice afternoon read for anyone who's a fan of the genre, or is perhaps also reading Stephen King's Fairy Tail and wants to know why on earth he made reference to such an obscure scifi novel.
October 21, 2011
A return to my youth, I first read this one from one of science fiction's early masters when I was just fifteen. The book came out in 1965(original publication in 1952) which makes me (mumble-mumble).
Klai Ford, a young woman who just a few years before had been found in the lower levels of the uranium mine, her memory gone but for the name Klai. She'd been adopted by one of the mine owners and now had inherited his half of the mine.
William Alper, the owner of the other half, an old man who seemed intent on closing the mine. He's also forbidden Klai from going down to Level 8 in the mine, where she had been found originally.
Clifford Sawyer is an investigator sent in to find out why the output of uranium is shrinking.
Nethe, a serpentine-like being, an Islier, destined to be the new Goddess in a few days. The current goddess challenges her, her right, and the fight is to the death.
Klai comes to Sawyer for help from Alper and the "ghosts" miners are seeing on Level 8. Alper, in a moment of inattention on Sawyer's part, manages to attach a device to his head, which sends tendrils into his brain and suddenly he's controlled by pain at the touch of a button. Alper's device must stay in close proximity to his body. To far away and it will kill Sawyer. Also, if Alper dies, so does Sawyer.
A battle on Level 8 between the four over a device called a Firebird draws them into another dimension to a world called Khom'd, Klai's home world ruled over by the Islier and the Goddess over them.
Khom'd is a world of floating islands, massive cities on the upper, wild forests on the lower. Now a horde of savage creatures called the Ssessi are pouring up from the lower islands in attack. The Khom, humans, are also fighting for their freedom.
Everyone wants control of the Firebird, the stolen device that caused Earth and Khom to link together across the dimensions.
A lot of fun reading this old one.
Klai Ford, a young woman who just a few years before had been found in the lower levels of the uranium mine, her memory gone but for the name Klai. She'd been adopted by one of the mine owners and now had inherited his half of the mine.
William Alper, the owner of the other half, an old man who seemed intent on closing the mine. He's also forbidden Klai from going down to Level 8 in the mine, where she had been found originally.
Clifford Sawyer is an investigator sent in to find out why the output of uranium is shrinking.
Nethe, a serpentine-like being, an Islier, destined to be the new Goddess in a few days. The current goddess challenges her, her right, and the fight is to the death.
Klai comes to Sawyer for help from Alper and the "ghosts" miners are seeing on Level 8. Alper, in a moment of inattention on Sawyer's part, manages to attach a device to his head, which sends tendrils into his brain and suddenly he's controlled by pain at the touch of a button. Alper's device must stay in close proximity to his body. To far away and it will kill Sawyer. Also, if Alper dies, so does Sawyer.
A battle on Level 8 between the four over a device called a Firebird draws them into another dimension to a world called Khom'd, Klai's home world ruled over by the Islier and the Goddess over them.
Khom'd is a world of floating islands, massive cities on the upper, wild forests on the lower. Now a horde of savage creatures called the Ssessi are pouring up from the lower islands in attack. The Khom, humans, are also fighting for their freedom.
Everyone wants control of the Firebird, the stolen device that caused Earth and Khom to link together across the dimensions.
A lot of fun reading this old one.
February 9, 2022
This 1950s story is technically too late to be a pulp novel but it's got that feel. In case you were wondering. Set for some reason 15 years in the future (this doesn't affect things at all), it has a federal investigator, Sawyer, assigned to help Klai, beautiful owner of a uranium mine that she claims is haunted (uranium mining was a national security issue in the early nuclear age). It turns out the "ghost" is Nethe, a visitor from a parallel world, striking a deal with Klai's co-owner Alper. To ensure Sawyer doesn't interfere, Alper plants a transceiver in his skull that can magnify all the sounds of his body (blood pumping, for instance) to the point of madness. Nethe wants the uranium mining stopped, and in return offers Alper immortality.
This all leads to the lead trio stumbling into Nethe's world which at times is so wild and colorful it feels like an acid trip. It has more ideas and images than plot to support them; it worked for me, but it's a YMMV thing.
This all leads to the lead trio stumbling into Nethe's world which at times is so wild and colorful it feels like an acid trip. It has more ideas and images than plot to support them; it worked for me, but it's a YMMV thing.
April 30, 2022
Nell'autunno 2021 ebbi la brillante idea di rileggere l'ottimo The Dark World e in quel momento, da bravo autistico ossessivo, mi impegnai a leggere anche gli altri sette romanzi science fantasy composti da Henry Kuttner e C.L. Moore, e finalmente con questo
The Well of the Worlds
ho concluso l'opera. E purtroppo si è chiusa in farsa.
Momento di contesto: Hank e Catherine iniziarono a comporre romanzi d'avventura fantastica nel 1943 con Earth's Last Citadel, che vendettero al mensile «Argosy», poi nel Dopoguerra composero a raffica altri sei testi usciti fra '46 e '49 su «Startling Stories», con esiti di qualità variabile (a voler fare una mia classifica, in testa The Dark World, in fondo assai distanziato Lands of the Earthquake)... per poi abbandonare il genere, ritornandoci un'ultima volta nel '52 appunto con The Well of the Worlds. E, dal mio punto di vista, quest'ultimo romanzo pubblicato così isolato odora lontano un miglio di lavoretto facile e veloce per pagare una bolletta, siccome ha dentro tutti gli elementi più deboli delle precedenti opere, frullati assieme alla buona. C'è il viaggio nello spazio-tempo sino a una classicissima dimensione wellsiana in cui alieni semidivini tiranneggiano sugli umani, già vista in Earth's Last Citadel. C'è una contrapposizione elementare fra femme fatale e donzella in pericolo che in Lands of the Earthquake era, forse, l'unico tema ben eseguito (il che è tutto dire). C'è un antagonista maschile piatto come un foglio di carta vagamente reminiscente dei cattivi di Ian Fleming, analogo all'antagonista del peggiore fra i racconti di Catherine inclusi in Judgment Night: A Selection of Science Fiction. C'è un protagonista ebete che finisce in mezzo al conflitto nel mondo parallelo, fa il boccalone per 3/4 del romanzo senza capire una beata fava e si sveglia sul finale a schierarsi, non diversamente dall'eroe di The Mask of Circe. E, quel che è peggio, questi ingredienti banalotti ma non per questo da buttare sono soffocati da pagine e pagine di prosa vuota in cui la più piccola azione e descrizione viene gonfiata con dettagli sovrabbondanti quanto generici (sembra un controsenso, ma giuro che si presta) e con riflessioni rimuginanti della voce narrante, chiaramente atte ad allungare il brodo di una storia che avrebbe potuto essere raccontata in modo più conciso e risolversi in metà delle pagine – e per far capire quanto ciò sia grave, basta pensare che nel climax del romanzo c'è sostanzialmente , eppure questa scena potenzialmente così avvincente e spettacolare risulta solamente decente, poiché arriva al termine di eventi noiosi e privi di qualsiasi pathos ed è seguita da ulteriori, noiosissimi spiegoni.
Ora, io non biasimo Moore e Kuttner per aver riproposto una formula narrativa collaudata in cui, ormai, non avevano chiaramente più interesse, però è un peccato che il loro congedo dalla narrativa lunga sia di livello così basso. Mi sa che quando tornerò a trovarli, in un prossimo futuro, passerò ai racconti brevi...
Momento di contesto: Hank e Catherine iniziarono a comporre romanzi d'avventura fantastica nel 1943 con Earth's Last Citadel, che vendettero al mensile «Argosy», poi nel Dopoguerra composero a raffica altri sei testi usciti fra '46 e '49 su «Startling Stories», con esiti di qualità variabile (a voler fare una mia classifica, in testa The Dark World, in fondo assai distanziato Lands of the Earthquake)... per poi abbandonare il genere, ritornandoci un'ultima volta nel '52 appunto con The Well of the Worlds. E, dal mio punto di vista, quest'ultimo romanzo pubblicato così isolato odora lontano un miglio di lavoretto facile e veloce per pagare una bolletta, siccome ha dentro tutti gli elementi più deboli delle precedenti opere, frullati assieme alla buona. C'è il viaggio nello spazio-tempo sino a una classicissima dimensione wellsiana in cui alieni semidivini tiranneggiano sugli umani, già vista in Earth's Last Citadel. C'è una contrapposizione elementare fra femme fatale e donzella in pericolo che in Lands of the Earthquake era, forse, l'unico tema ben eseguito (il che è tutto dire). C'è un antagonista maschile piatto come un foglio di carta vagamente reminiscente dei cattivi di Ian Fleming, analogo all'antagonista del peggiore fra i racconti di Catherine inclusi in Judgment Night: A Selection of Science Fiction. C'è un protagonista ebete che finisce in mezzo al conflitto nel mondo parallelo, fa il boccalone per 3/4 del romanzo senza capire una beata fava e si sveglia sul finale a schierarsi, non diversamente dall'eroe di The Mask of Circe. E, quel che è peggio, questi ingredienti banalotti ma non per questo da buttare sono soffocati da pagine e pagine di prosa vuota in cui la più piccola azione e descrizione viene gonfiata con dettagli sovrabbondanti quanto generici (sembra un controsenso, ma giuro che si presta) e con riflessioni rimuginanti della voce narrante, chiaramente atte ad allungare il brodo di una storia che avrebbe potuto essere raccontata in modo più conciso e risolversi in metà delle pagine – e per far capire quanto ciò sia grave, basta pensare che nel climax del romanzo c'è sostanzialmente , eppure questa scena potenzialmente così avvincente e spettacolare risulta solamente decente, poiché arriva al termine di eventi noiosi e privi di qualsiasi pathos ed è seguita da ulteriori, noiosissimi spiegoni.
Ora, io non biasimo Moore e Kuttner per aver riproposto una formula narrativa collaudata in cui, ormai, non avevano chiaramente più interesse, però è un peccato che il loro congedo dalla narrativa lunga sia di livello così basso. Mi sa che quando tornerò a trovarli, in un prossimo futuro, passerò ai racconti brevi...
March 22, 2021
This is the amazing book. Fascinating universe, elaborate plot, relentless characters clash in the battle to regain what they consider dearest, not without being hurt in the progress.
It teaches us the lesson that no good things can be gained without struggle, and that there are possibly multiple worlds existing beyond our imagination.
The book can be recommended for those who wish to think about their own actions, whether to continue doing something or not. It clearly highlight that every action has result, and if you go too far in your egotistic needs - well, you may fail. If you hurt the freedom of other beings - you may fail. If you go against your own nature - you may fail.
But if you cling to justice and just listen to your heart, and have some determination to stand your ground - you can succeed and achieve more than expected initially. I like how the story of the inter-connection of the world unfolds charmingly as you read it.
For me personally, this book remains one of the top sci-fi books, and the must-have 'paper' book at home (i mean, not a virtual one).
It teaches us the lesson that no good things can be gained without struggle, and that there are possibly multiple worlds existing beyond our imagination.
The book can be recommended for those who wish to think about their own actions, whether to continue doing something or not. It clearly highlight that every action has result, and if you go too far in your egotistic needs - well, you may fail. If you hurt the freedom of other beings - you may fail. If you go against your own nature - you may fail.
But if you cling to justice and just listen to your heart, and have some determination to stand your ground - you can succeed and achieve more than expected initially. I like how the story of the inter-connection of the world unfolds charmingly as you read it.
For me personally, this book remains one of the top sci-fi books, and the must-have 'paper' book at home (i mean, not a virtual one).
August 12, 2018
Not the best Kuttner novel/story I've read, but it at least kept my attention. The story itself just did not resonate with me. I had a hard time relating to the story (the details, descriptions, etc.), and the ending was so drawn out. I give it 2 and half stars.
April 23, 2024
Non è il mio Kuttner preferito, anzi tutt'altro. Sembra piuttosto di leggere un John Carter di Marte aggiornato alla fisica nucleare. Peccato perchè le premesse della storia sono ottime, ma lo sviluppo è abbastanza piatto e appesantito a volte in maniera quasi intollerabile.
April 3, 2025
A cross between Science Fiction and horror. Greed. Desire for dominance, with no thought to the murders required to gain that power.
A little dated, but a short, interesting diversion.
A little dated, but a short, interesting diversion.
December 3, 2010
When the curiously exotic millionaress Klai Ford started telling him about ghosts in a uranium mine, Sawyer knew he better be ready for anything in his investigations. But he didn't count on being drawn into a passage between dimensions and tossed adrift in a world of islands floating in the sky, where strange brutelike creatures were attacking the cities in a vast struggle for power. Lost in the new [missing section] realized that the key to [missing section] mysterious Well of the Worlds [missing section] the future of the universe [missing section] secret.
-The back cover, which is pretty damn mangled.
Ace Books F-344, published 1952. 40c cover price. 142 pages.
The old Ace Books from the 50s and 60s have been a lot of fun in my experience, andThe Well of the Worldsdoes not disappoint. Set in the (then) very near future of 1953, the story begins in fictional city of Fortuna, which is located at one of our planet's poles (Kuttner doesn't specify). The Earth's poles were discovered to be loaded with uranium, so Fortuna is a boom town with an economy centered on the lucrative mining of the radioactive substance.
Clifford Sawyer, an agent of the Royal Atomic Energy Commission (by Toronto), is sent to investigate the bizarre allegations being made by Klai Ford, who inherited her large section of the mine only a few months ago under strange circumstances. Klai tells Sawyer a panicky story about how the mine has been overrun by ghosts, and that she believes the man who owns the rest of the mine, William Alper (total rich guy name), is trying to kill her.
Sawyer is, of course, skeptical of such a bizarre story, but he becomes a true believer when Alper surgically implants a kill switch into his brain, divulges that he has been communicating with an inter-dimensional being, then get the three of them sucked into said other dimension. All of this takes place within the first 30 pages!
This is why we can't have nice things!
The remaining 100 pages ofthe Well of the Worldstake place on an alternate Earth where humanity is enslaved by the nearly immortal, serpentine, and extremely pretentious Isier. In this second phase of the book, Kuttner's imagery almost reaches the limits of the surreal, as the alternate dimension he paints is vividly colored and extremely ornate. The story meanders here and there, but the action is taut and Sawyer is an interesting character whose hand in the human uprising kept me interested throughout.
I would highly recommend this novel to those interested in SF from this time period. This is one well-written book that abandons many formulaic tropes for excellent storytelling and plenty of adventure.The Well of the Worlds effortlessly captures the sense of wonder that many genre books of the 1950's sought to capture, and I am glad to have stumbled upon it in a musty book reseller in Houston.
pulpaweek.blogspot.com
-The back cover, which is pretty damn mangled.
Ace Books F-344, published 1952. 40c cover price. 142 pages.
The old Ace Books from the 50s and 60s have been a lot of fun in my experience, andThe Well of the Worldsdoes not disappoint. Set in the (then) very near future of 1953, the story begins in fictional city of Fortuna, which is located at one of our planet's poles (Kuttner doesn't specify). The Earth's poles were discovered to be loaded with uranium, so Fortuna is a boom town with an economy centered on the lucrative mining of the radioactive substance.
Clifford Sawyer, an agent of the Royal Atomic Energy Commission (by Toronto), is sent to investigate the bizarre allegations being made by Klai Ford, who inherited her large section of the mine only a few months ago under strange circumstances. Klai tells Sawyer a panicky story about how the mine has been overrun by ghosts, and that she believes the man who owns the rest of the mine, William Alper (total rich guy name), is trying to kill her.
Sawyer is, of course, skeptical of such a bizarre story, but he becomes a true believer when Alper surgically implants a kill switch into his brain, divulges that he has been communicating with an inter-dimensional being, then get the three of them sucked into said other dimension. All of this takes place within the first 30 pages!
This is why we can't have nice things!
The remaining 100 pages ofthe Well of the Worldstake place on an alternate Earth where humanity is enslaved by the nearly immortal, serpentine, and extremely pretentious Isier. In this second phase of the book, Kuttner's imagery almost reaches the limits of the surreal, as the alternate dimension he paints is vividly colored and extremely ornate. The story meanders here and there, but the action is taut and Sawyer is an interesting character whose hand in the human uprising kept me interested throughout.
I would highly recommend this novel to those interested in SF from this time period. This is one well-written book that abandons many formulaic tropes for excellent storytelling and plenty of adventure.The Well of the Worlds effortlessly captures the sense of wonder that many genre books of the 1950's sought to capture, and I am glad to have stumbled upon it in a musty book reseller in Houston.
pulpaweek.blogspot.com
March 22, 2016
I had never heard of Kuttner or Moore or any of their many pseudonyms, though now that I see their oeuvre, I recognize a few titles. I got the book because it was on one of the "recommended" shelves in the used fantasy and sci-fi bookstore in DUMBO, and the cover was outstanding. I had never heard of Alex Schomburg, either, and now I know...
Anyway, The Well of the Worlds is a fantastical sci-fi mystery. The writing certainly of the pulp genre, but the plot is so crazy that the pages keep turning. It's a short book, so Kuttner could have spent a little less time explaining certain things over and over again, and more time developing the secondary characters. Klai Ford and her grandfather, for example, are not developed at all, but it would add a lot if they were. The three characters that Kuttner spends most of his time with are Alper, Sawyer, and Nethe. Nethe and Alper are basically the same person, in terms of character. They want one thing, the same thing, and they will do anything to get it. Sawyer is your typical noir detective, always getting beat and somehow surviving. But picking this book up, you commit to a plot-driven experience, so none of this really matters. The plot delivers. I mean, really, delivers. Let's see, there are fiery-whip-yielding, iron-like, invulnerable aliens, telepathic masks, high-tech transmitters, blacker than black cloaks that can melt walls and burn bright, glass temples, ape-like invulnerable other aliens, flying creatures made of fire, an ice corridor, a tunnel (well) that can meld two worlds together and suck up... Aaaaanyway, you get the idea. Kuttner never loses sight of the plot, and does a pretty good job of explaining how things might be working. Basically he takes principles of electricity, conductivity, and the basic structure of the atom (oversimplified by a lot, of course) and builds some wild world around it. There is some strange gravitational stuff, too.
I had never read a sci-fi novel from the 40s and 50s, and for a random pick, this was very successful. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The ACE Books cover by Alex Schomburg is superb!
Anyway, The Well of the Worlds is a fantastical sci-fi mystery. The writing certainly of the pulp genre, but the plot is so crazy that the pages keep turning. It's a short book, so Kuttner could have spent a little less time explaining certain things over and over again, and more time developing the secondary characters. Klai Ford and her grandfather, for example, are not developed at all, but it would add a lot if they were. The three characters that Kuttner spends most of his time with are Alper, Sawyer, and Nethe. Nethe and Alper are basically the same person, in terms of character. They want one thing, the same thing, and they will do anything to get it. Sawyer is your typical noir detective, always getting beat and somehow surviving. But picking this book up, you commit to a plot-driven experience, so none of this really matters. The plot delivers. I mean, really, delivers. Let's see, there are fiery-whip-yielding, iron-like, invulnerable aliens, telepathic masks, high-tech transmitters, blacker than black cloaks that can melt walls and burn bright, glass temples, ape-like invulnerable other aliens, flying creatures made of fire, an ice corridor, a tunnel (well) that can meld two worlds together and suck up... Aaaaanyway, you get the idea. Kuttner never loses sight of the plot, and does a pretty good job of explaining how things might be working. Basically he takes principles of electricity, conductivity, and the basic structure of the atom (oversimplified by a lot, of course) and builds some wild world around it. There is some strange gravitational stuff, too.
I had never read a sci-fi novel from the 40s and 50s, and for a random pick, this was very successful. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The ACE Books cover by Alex Schomburg is superb!
October 28, 2024
I wouldn’t classify this as a novel. It’s just a sequence of 50’s-type B-movie settings, connected without logic or plot. So, many pages are devoted to exposition on the pseudoscience, but it doesn’t make sense even with extreme suspension of disbelief. And many plot holes, like, why was that alien girl on earth?
I like Kuttner as a short story writer, which is why I grabbed this book off a used bookstore shelf. I recommend “Tales from a Spaceport Bar,” which has a Kuttner story. I gave this “novel” 3 stars, not less, because of the fantastic old-school cover with green aliens whipping humans, falling off a cliff. From the 60’s I think, maybe the 50’s. (This is not the cover illustrating the Goodreads page.)
I like Kuttner as a short story writer, which is why I grabbed this book off a used bookstore shelf. I recommend “Tales from a Spaceport Bar,” which has a Kuttner story. I gave this “novel” 3 stars, not less, because of the fantastic old-school cover with green aliens whipping humans, falling off a cliff. From the 60’s I think, maybe the 50’s. (This is not the cover illustrating the Goodreads page.)
March 9, 2021
This was one of the most imaginative stories I have ever read. The typography of the copy I had made me struggle a bit getting through it, but it’s no fault of the story. It was a really interesting story. Not completely aligned with what I traditionally enjoy, but I liked it overall.
November 8, 2013
A unique and very readable fantasy novel.
September 9, 2016
Not my favorite Kuttner, but still wonderfully weird...
December 15, 2014
1984 grade D+
July 5, 2015
There's some beautiful psychedelic descriptions here and some incredibly clumsy dialogue.
Kuttner gets bogged down explaining things that don't need one.
Kuttner gets bogged down explaining things that don't need one.
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February 1, 2016Reviewed by Sandy: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
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