paizo.com - Robots Have No Tails (Trade Paperback)

About the Author

Ray Bradbury once referred to Henry Kuttner as "a neglected master... a man who shaped science fiction and fantasy in its most important years." Born in Los Angeles, Henry Kuttner (1915–1958) sold his first story, "The Graveyard Rats," to Weird Tales in 1936, the same year in which he wrote a fan letter to rising science fiction author C.L. Moore, mistakenly believing her to be a man. The two were married in 1940, and in the years that followed they collaborated constantly, publishing under at least 17 pseudonyms, most notably Lewis Padgett and Keith Hammond. Along with Elak of Atlantis and Prince Raynor, both of which were created before his marriage to Moore, Kuttner's most popular solo works were the Gallegher stories, tales about an inventor who could only build robots while drunk, and who upon sobering immediately forgot their purposes. As a friend of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, Kuttner also contributed several stories to the Cthulhu mythos. In addition to writing scripts for television in collaboration with Moore, Kuttner wrote several stories that have since been translated to film, most recently "Mimsy Were the Borogroves," released as The Last Mimsy. In the years since his untimely death from a heart attack at 43, Kuttner has been cited as an influence by everyone from Marion Zimmer Bradley to Roger Zelazny, and both Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury have dedicated novels to him.

Theris Nordo Ichka, Tue, Nov 25, 2008, 09:59 PM

If I saw this book in a bookstore without knowing anything about Henry Kuttner, I wouldn’t even pick it up. Why? The cover art.
If it’s not too late, I’d suggest a different cover illustration. One with more of a feeling of science fiction, imagination, and fun than a big white head can convey.
Many of your other book covers are very reminiscent of the pulps, I like that a lot. It gives this series a classic feel.
This set of Kuttner stories, some of Kuttner’s best, deserves a better cover.

Illessa (Pathfinder Chronicles Superscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber), Wed, Nov 26, 2008, 12:55 AM

Theris Nordo Ichka wrote:

If I saw this book in a bookstore without knowing anything about Henry Kuttner, I wouldn’t even pick it up. Why? The cover art.
If it’s not too late, I’d suggest a different cover illustration. One with more of a feeling of science fiction, imagination, and fun than a big white head can convey.
Many of your other book covers are very reminiscent of the pulps, I like that a lot. It gives this series a classic feel.
This set of Kuttner stories, some of Kuttner’s best, deserves a better cover.

All the books from Outlaws of Mars (Feb 2009) on have mock-up covers at the moment, I assume this is no exception (though I've no idea where it's from, I recognise all the others from Pathfinder). I totally agree that if the current art is final then it's kind of lame (if I saw that in a shop, I would assume serious, AI-based hard science fiction, and would probably pass it over unless I knew the author, plus it would look kind of out of place in a Planet Stories collection), but hopefully Paizo are coming up with something suitably awesome for the final thing and we'll see it in the next few months :).

Aberzombie (Pathfinder Adventure Path, Pathfinder Companion Subscriber), Wed, Nov 26, 2008, 02:55 AM

I like it. For me, it evokes the feeling of classic sci-fi that Kuttner, in part, represents. Just remember the old adage - "Never judge a book by its cover."

James Sutter (Editor), Wed, Nov 26, 2008, 11:12 AM

This cover is a mock-up - we won't even ORDER the actual cover illustration for several weeks. Don't worry. :)

Gary Teter (PostMonster General), Fri, May 22, 2009, 05:11 PM

We've just updated the product description with what I think is the actual cover. (Or at least a close mockup.)