Two-Handed Engine: The Selected Stories of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

by Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore

Two-Handed Engine is the largest collection of science fiction and fantasy by Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore ever published. It features a frontispiece by Richard Powers, and an introduction by the book’s editor, David Curtis.
The stories, ranging from across their entire career, include: Shambleau, The Graveyard Rats, Mimsy Were the Borogoves, Vintage Season, Private Eye, and more.

Contents

7 • Introduction (Two-Handed Engine) • (2005) • essay by David Curtis
9 • Shambleau • [Northwest Smith] • (1933) • novelette by C. L. Moore
39 • The Graveyard Rats • (1936) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner
47 • A Gnome There Was • (1941) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner ]
75 • The Twonky • (1942) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
99 • Compliments of the Author • (1942) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
137 • Mimsy Were the Borogoves • (1943) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
173 • Shock • (1943) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
191 • Reader, I Hate You! • (1943) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner
207 • The World Is Mine • [Gallegher] • (1943) • novelette by Henry Kuttner [as by Lewis Padgett ]
243 • When the Bough Breaks • (1944) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
271 • The Cure • (1946) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
285 • The Code • (1945) • novelette by C. L. Moore [as by Lawrence O'Donnell ]
331 • Line to Tomorrow • (1945) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
345 • Clash by Night • [Keeps • 1] • (1943) • novella by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lawrence O'Donnell ]
407 • Ghost • (1943) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner
425 • The Proud Robot • [Gallegher] • (1943) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
463 • Nothing But Gingerbread Left • (1943) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner ]
483 • No Woman Born • (1944) • novelette by C. L. Moore
533 • Housing Problem • (1944) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner ]
549 • What You Need • (1945) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
565 • Absalom • (1946) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner ]
581 • Call Him Demon • (1946) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Keith Hammond ]
607 • Daemon • (1946) • shortstory by C. L. Moore
633 • Vintage Season • (1946) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lawrence O'Donnell ]
681 • The Dark Angel • (1946) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner ]
697 • Before I Wake • (1945) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner (variant of Before I Wake . . .)
715 • Exit the Professor • [Hogben • 2] • (1947) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner ]
731 • The Big Night • (1947) • novelette by Henry Kuttner [as by Hudson Hastings ]
763 • A Wild Surmise • (1953) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
775 • Don't Look Now • (1948) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner
789 • Private Eye • (1949) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
821 • By These Presents • (1953) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner
835 • Home Is the Hunter • (1953) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
847 • Or Else • (1953) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner ]
857 • Year Day • (1953) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner
871 • A Cross of Centuries • (1958) • shortstory by Henry Kuttner
885 • Two-Handed Engine • (1955) • novelette by C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Horror, Speculative Fiction

914 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2005

About the author

Henry 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

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars. I have not read all the stories in this collection so this review is only for the stories listed below (I will continue to supplement as a read more of them):

"Shambleau" by C. L. Moore - the first published work of C. L. Moore, this story made her an instant star. It begins as a fairly standard story of a "classic SF" rogue adventurer and then slowly changes into something darker and almost "lovecraftian" in tone with a very good and subtle ending.

"The Graveyard Rats" - The first published story by Henry Kuttner, this is a classic horror story very much in the mold of a "lovecraft" story with whom Kuttner was a frequent correspondent. Creepy, scary and well-written.

"A Gnome there was" - one of the first collaborations between Moore and Kuttner, this is a much "lighter" tale but well written and very funny with a good ending. Very enjoyable!!

[Stephanie Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Mimsy Were The Borogoves. Felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone! Loved it - so 1943!

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title piece, "Two-Handed Engine" is a hauntingly wonderful tale of justice, guilt and conscience in a post apocalyptic society. It's justice as administered coldly and efficiently by all knowing, unfeeling robots, known as the Furies, seemingly for the protection and survival of mankind.

"Someday man would rediscover sin. Without it he had come near to perishing entirely. With it, he might resume his authority over himself and the race of mechanized servants who were helping him to restore his species. But until that day, the Furies would have to stalk the streets, man's conscience in metal guise, imposed by the machines man created a long time ago."

[John Bruni · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's arguable, but not by much: Kuttner and Moore are the greatest married author team ever. There are very few stories in this volume that didn't excite me. I could list the best, but I'd probably list about 95% of the stories in here. Here are a few favorites: "The Twonky," which I'd watched the movie before reading the book. Very interesting differences. "Compliments of the Author" is one of the best stories in this book. One man vs. a diabolical cat with a magical book as his only weapon. It's a lot of fun. "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" is a wonderful and dark tale. "Reader, I Hate You" is, I hope, based on a true story. Interesting to see Kuttner and Virgil Finlay as characters in this pulp tale. "By These Presents" is a wonderful soul-selling-to-the-devil story. To hell with it. I'm still listing all of these stories. But I will say that my absolute favorites feature the mad drunken scientist Gallegher. In fits of drunkenness he invents crazy things like time machines and narcissistic robots, but when he sobers up he has no idea how or why he created them. He has to get hammered again to rely on drunk memory in order to solve these mysteries for monetary gain and, sometimes, his own freedom.

If you're a fan of old H/SF/F pulps, then you seriously need this book in your library.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Includes the stories:

Shambleau (1933) -
The Graveyard Rats (1936) -
A Gnome There Was (1941) -
The Twonky (1942) -
Compliments of the Author (1942) -
Mimsy Were the Borogoves (1943) - 5/5 - time travel and non-Euclidean geometry mashed up with Alice in Wonderland
Shock (1943) -
Reader, I Hate You! (1943) -
The World Is Mine (1943) -
When the Bough Breaks (1944) -
The Cure (1946) -
The Code (1945) -
Line to Tomorrow (1945) -
Clash by Night (1943) -
Ghost (1943) -
The Proud Robot (1943) -
Nothing But Gingerbread Left (1943) -
No Woman Born (1944) -
Housing Problem (1944) -
What You Need (1945) -
Absalom (1946) -
Call Him Demon (1946) -
Daemon (1946) -
Vintage Season (1946) - 3/5 - party at ground zero
The Dark Angel (1946) -
Before I Wake (1945) -
Exit the Professor (1947) -
The Big Night (1947) -
A Wild Surmise (1953) -
Don't Look Now (1948) -
Private Eye (1949) -
By These Presents (1953) -
Home Is the Hunter (1953) -
Or Else (1953) -
Year Day (1953) -
A Cross of Centuries (1958) -
Two-Handed Engine (1955) -

[Yael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two-Handed Engine: The Selected Stories of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore is a collection of some of the best of the science-fiction stories written by that incredible husband-wife writing team. Together they were indeed a "two-handed writing engine" which, during the 18 years of their marriage, turned out some of the finest science-fiction of the 20th century, much of it seamless collaborations between the two of them. Though they were incredibly far ahead of their time, sadly today many of their stories have fallen out of print. This massive volume, edited and with an introduction by David Curtis, is a successful attempt to rectify that.

In these stories, strange bedfellows manage to form successful partnerships, the far future, time travel, space travel, robots, aliens, and alternate and many-dimensional universes happily wed to the occult, the supernatural, and the macabre. They include such timeless stories as "Shambleau," "Call Him Demon," and "Dark Angel" along with the powerful "No Woman Born" and "Vintage Season," and unclassifiable classics such as "Mimsy Were the Borogrove" and "Nothing But Gingerbread Left." And all 38 of them make for some of the greatest reading pleasure anyone has ever found.

Both authors died years ago -- Henry Kuttner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ku... (April 7, 1915–February 4, 1958)) in 1958, C. L. Moore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._L._Moore (January 24, 1911–April 4, 1987)) in 1987 -- but they live on through their writings and a solid base of avid readers of their work.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A creepy story on a creepy humanity. It starts of all innocently with the introduction of the principal of the Fury. And Danner enjoying life. Then reflection on what he did, why and how he thinks he can get away with it.
At that time the reader gets a feeling something is amiss. And it turns from feelgood to thriller and eventually horror.
Kuttner brings a possible future wich is far from perfect. His characters exploit 1 particular glitch.
And then nature takes it cause ... and revenge.
Fun to read, something to think about, and a message of hope for humanity.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories in this collection were written in the 1940s, but they have aged remarkably well for science fiction. Often the most dated bits are the incidental depictions of contemporary life. Did all married couples have cocktails every evening before dinner? It's tempting to speculate about Kuttner and Moore, the husband-and-wife team that collaborated on these stories. Many of these tales share an underlying ambivalence about the future and about technology. No fewer than three of the stories are about parents who are left behind when their children suddenly leapfrog stages of human evolution. These include Kuttner and Moore's most famous story, "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" (the basis for the recent film The Last Mimzy), in which toys from the future rewire a young boy and girl's brains. Some of the best other stories, "No Woman Born," "Vintage Season," and "Daemon," also directly touch upon this theme of alienation from the future. Two of my favorites, "Clash by Night" and "The Big Night," involve protagonists who must explicitly choose between a romanticized past and the civilized future. It's a shame that this collection received such a limited print run, since it demonstrates quite compellingly the remarkable ability of Kuttner and Moore to combine their talents to produce entertaining SF that remains relevant even after half a century.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always wanted to get to the next story. Very few snoozers, but even those weren't bad.