There's a list for you :-
So the other Planet Stories books are definitely recommended. Can be impossible tell who wrote what with Kuttner and Moore some of the time.
SF-N-4.0 Kuttner, Henry and C. L. Moore : Destination Infinity - FREE
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry and C. L. Moore : Vintage Season
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry and C. L. Moore : We Kill People
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : Beauty and the Beast - FREE
SF-C-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : The Best Of Henry Kuttner
SF-S-3.5 Kuttner, Henry : Clash By Night - FREE
SO-N-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : The Dark World - FREE
SO-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : Dragon Moon
SO-C-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : Elak Of Atlantis
SF-N-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : Fury - FREE
SU-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : A Gnome There Was - FREE
SH-S-4.5 Kuttner, Henry : The Graveyard Rats - FREE
SU-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : Housing Problem - FREE
SH-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : I The Vampire
SF-S-4.5 Kuttner, Henry : Mimsy Were the Borogoves - FREE
SF-C-4.5 Kuttner, Henry : Mutant - FREE
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : Three Blind Mice - FREE
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : Two-Handed Engine - FREE
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : We Guard the Black Planet! - FREE
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : What Hath Me? - FREE
SF-S-4.0 Kuttner, Henry : The World Is MineLots of whom you will find :-
http://henrykuttner.bravehost.com/index.html
And some of the others online too.
Kuttner died in 1958, so public domain in a lot of the world like Canada etc.
There'll be more you can find here if you feel like it :-
And 'Earth's Last Citadel',although I suspect it's 90% Moore
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Actually, I thought Earth's Last Citadel showed more variance in style between chapters than most of the Moore/Kuttner stuff I've read. I think they each took on whole chapters at a time. A few chapters are obviously written by Moore (the lush descriptions are a dead giveaway), but there's a minor character whose hacky Scottish accent is everpresent in some chapters and totally absent in others. I think one author used the cheesy patois and the other didn't think to.
It's not like many of their stories had more than one draft.
Actually, I thought Earth's Last Citadel showed more variance in style between chapters than most of the Moore/Kuttner stuff I've read. I think they each took on whole chapters at a time. A few chapters are obviously written by Moore (the lush descriptions are a dead giveaway), but there's a minor character whose hacky Scottish accent is everpresent in some chapters and totally absent in others. I think one author used the cheesy patois and the other didn't think to.
It's not like many of their stories had more than one draft.
Yes,you're probably right. To be honest I can't really remember much about it,just that I liked it a lot more than any other Kuttner book I've read. With the possible exception of 'Fury'.
Do classic SF stories still matter?
That all depends on the story. A great story is always a great story just as a poor story is a poor story.
And what is defined as „classic“?
Older than 20 years? 30? 40? 50?
Most stories written before J. W. Campbell’s „Astrounding“ haven’t held up very well at all.
This can be mostly blamed on poor writting. Before Campbell the „WOW Factor“ was the most important aspect of a „good“ SF story. Campbell went and changed all of that by demanding and upholding (for the time) very hight standards as far as characterization, plotting, writing and scientific plausability were concerned.
If someone turns their nose up at a story just because..
It’s old.
There’s no TV show, movie or video game tie in.
No solid state electronics (we’ve blown a tube)
No computers (get your slide rule out)
No emancipated women
Then they are only hurting themselves.
Let’s look at the 1920’s..
Even though it was still the Gernsbackian age, Edmond Hamilton, Murray Leinster, John W. Campbell, Jack Williamson and Clark Ashton Smith were turning out high quility, entertaining SF Stories. Go and grab a copy (if you can find one) of any of their „Best of“ collections put out by Ballantine/Del Rey back in the 1970s. Those stories will show you why these guys are considered „Grand Masters“.
Read Murray Leinster’s „Alpha Centauri“ or Stanley Weinbaums „Martian Odyssy“.
These stories could have almost been written last week.
Sure, some of these stories could be a little silly by todays standards, but that doesn’t reduce their entertainment value.
Of course there were lots of writers who couldn’t adapt to the huge changes in style and quality that John W. Campbell brought about with his editorship of „Astounding“. The guys who did adapt were already writing at this level and the new guys ca. 1939 were groomed for this new „golden age“.
Lots of Asimov and Van Vogt have held up very well. Almost all of Heinleins work is as relevant today as it was over 60 years ago.Go and read some Moore and Kuttner!
Now lets jump forward to the 1950s.
Look at
Fred Pohl
Poul Anderson
Damon Knight
Hal Clement
Theodore Sturgeon.
Jame Blish
Alfred Bester
All of these books have held up very well due to the amazing talents of the writers
And also in the 1950s
Philip K. Dick
Robert Silverberg
Harlan Ellison
And Jack Vance
All got their starts!!
And all of these men are giants to this day!
The list go on and on!
1960s…
Larry Niven
Frank Herbert
Samual DeLaney
Thomas Disch
John Brunner
Brian Aldiss
Kurt Vonnegut
Hell, Arthur C. Clark started in the 1930 and made it u p into the 2000s!
All of these stories are of course products of their times. But so are Steinbeck, Twain, Dickens, Sinatra, Presley,Bogart, The Beatles, Dali and U2, but they all still matter very much today.
So yes the classics matter as far as any good story or novel matters
Naah,nothing matters anymore....