Customer Reviews (6)

Different Atmosphere
Reading Henry Kuttner's stories, I was struck that they seem to have a different atrmosphere from the Lovecraftian canon - rather than dank New England graveyards there are dusty Western towns, ancient lands, or interstellar worlds.It was previously noted that some of these stories are more fantasy than horror, but I think that the variety makes THE BOOK OF IOD more readable.

"The Secret of Kralitz" - A family has an evil generational secret.The induction into the secret is horrible, but so is the grounds for induction.

"The Eater of Souls" - Dunsanian fantasy, I believe.

"The Black Kiss" - I felt that this was a new interpretation on the Deep Ones and their transformation.

"The Jest of Droom-Avista" - Another Dunsanian fantasy, dealing with the peril of scientific progress at any cost

"The Spawn of Dagon" - A story of Deep Ones in Atlantis; it seems to be a pastiche combining Robert Howard andHoward Lovecraft.

"Hydra" - A great story about two men who use a drug to see past our dimension into another.Unfortunately, it springs a trap that allows a horror to steal the head and soul of a famous writer and scholar of the occult.Then, the scholar wants amends to be made...

"Bells of Horror" - set in California, "Bells" is about a cursed set of bells discovered in an archaeological dig.They have an effect of madness on living things around them, but the madness really begins when they ring.

pulp master back to life
this book contains 3 great stories and a cuple of good ones. some are more fantasy than horror. kuttner can be a little bit obvious, a little bit simplistic, but the suspence, and he knows when to focus - when he should move forward and when he should stop and describe more vividly (his writing style focus concerning timing is excellent), his descriptions are good when they should be, and he knows how to hold our interest and how to avoid being boring.

A good choice for Mythos fans
This book contains a number of stories by one of the lesser-known disciples of Lovecraft, one Henry Kuttner. Although the stories are not classics of the genre, showing development in a new direction, they rise above pastiche and provide good reading. Kuttner is certainly able to grab the reader's attention and hold onto it, and tells a good tale while he has it.

"Bells of Horror" is the high point of the volume; it is a fine story set in California, a locale the author clearly enjoys. It is this setting in a number of stories that gives the stories a unique flavor; Kuttner's descriptions create a new millieu for the eldritch horrors that are the center of the Cthulhu Mythos.

It is also "Bells of Horror" that first mentions The Book of Iod, a volume which belongs on the shelf with the usual suspects--De Vermis Mysteriis, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Cultes des Goules, the Book of Eibon, the Pnakotic Manuscripts, and, of course, (all together now) the horrible Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.

Kuttner's ability shows itself most in his ability to create a mythology. Instead of a few separate stories, the contents of this anthology fit together in intriguing ways--but they don't fit together seamlessly, just as other myth cycles don't. All in all, this collection is a very worthwhile read.

One of the greatest books i've ever read!
I thought this book was excellent! Most books have stories with happy little endings, but never a few unhappy endings. This book provided a mix of both. simply the best book of short stories ive read

This is an excellent book!
The stories in this book capture the feel of the old pulp wirting from the 1930s.Even the tales collected here that were written after that period have the same flavormood of that lost era.For anyone interested inweird/horror fiction this is a superb book.It will, of course, prove ofspecial interest to devotee of the Cthulhu Mythos.The copious notessupplied by Robert Price are themselves worth the price ofaddmission.

Grab this book! ... Read more

Product Description
Henry Kuttner (April 7, 1915-February 4, 1958) was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

STILL ANOTHER WINNER FROM KUTTNER & MOORE
Yeah, I know that one has to take inflation into account when computing these things, but still, what incredible deals the sci-fi lover could acquire 60 or so years ago! Take, for example, the March 1946 issue of "Startling Stories," with a cover price of just 15 cents. For that minimal charge, the reader got stories by sci-fi greats Frank Belknap Long, Jack Williamson and Henry Kuttner, PLUS the entire novel "Valley of the Flame," by one Keith Hammond. Hammond, as we know today, was just one of the many noms de plume used by the husband-and-wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, and "Valley" turns out to be yet another remarkable tale from this legendary pair. Equal parts sci-fi, fantasy, Haggardian lost-world adventure and jungle epic, it tells the story of Brian Raft, an American medical researcher in the wilderness of the Amazon Basin, who goes in pursuit of a kidnapped colleague and discovers the hidden valley of Paititi. It is a fairy world of sorts, where falling boulders seem to drift like feathers and streams run like molasses. The reason: All life-forms in Paititi have been abnormally accelerated by the flame called Curupuri, a mass of living energy from the heavens that had crashed in the Amazon region aeons ago. The area's native jaguars have evolved into catlike humans (this is not really a spoiler; the subtitle for the tale in "Startling Stories" reads "A Novel of the Cat People") and numerous mutated plant and animal forms thrive in abundance. Raft becomes embroiled in a plot involving the madman Parror's quest to strengthen the Flame; falls into intrigue at the castle court of the crazed King Darum; and becomes romantically involved with the feline Janissa. The book features two tremendous set pieces; one in the Garden of Kharn, in which Raft must fend off all manner of monstrous flora, and the second in the cavern of the Flame itself, as Raft battles his tigerish madman foe at the brink of an abyss whilst the mountainous, mutating Flame threatens to destroy the entire region. Throw in a cave full of deformed mutants, duels with vicious taloned gauntlets, some high-tech superscience, hypnotism and magic amulets, and you've got quite a little package of wonders on your hands. I don't think it will surprise anyone to learn that Kuttner and Moore write wonderfully, with a surprisingly wide range of literary, artistic and historic reference (Balzac, Baldur, Brancusi, Arrhennius, Fenris-wolf and Birnam Wood are all brought up) that belies the novel's pulpy origins. The book is as exciting, fast moving and colorful as can be, and was deservedly chosen by James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock for inclusion in their overview volume "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books." I enjoyed this novel even more recently than I did when I first read it 20 or so years ago, and think that it would make for an incredible film, if brought to the screen with respect by a team with the requisite $200 million. The 1964 Ace paperback edition pictured above, which is the one that I own, has a cover price of 40 cents, and I feel it is high time for this great fantasy work to be put back into print after 40+ years at today's modern, inflated prices. Whatever price the reader winds up paying for this one, I think he/she will be extremely satisfied. ... Read more

Product Description
This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. Where the World is Quiet is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Henry Kuttner is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Henry Kuttner then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Old Masson had a secret …
One of Salem’s oldest and most decrepit cemeteries was put in Old Masson’s charge, but he didn’t mind—he was more than sufficiently compensated by the treasures the newly departed wholeheartedly offered him. Unfortunately, he always seemed to have to work harder to earn his keep, for he had an unusual rival to match: rats!
The critters, large as cats, often took whole bodies out of the coffins and into some dark, sinister place—where it is rumored that ghouls and evil creatures worse than the rats dwell. Old Masson never worried, though; these were, after all, just rumors … and they were, after all, just rats.
Or were they?

Also contains the stories: THE EGO MACHINE, WHERE THE WORLD IS QUIET, PROBLEM WITH ETHICS, WHAT HATH ME?, and the classic HOME IS THE HUNTER.
... Read more

Product Description
A paperback original anthology of stories from the magazine "Unknown." This book had two printings by Pyramid (1963, 1970), and a later edition from HBJ/Jove (1978). Cover art by Schoenherr, interior artwork by Edd Cartier. Foreword by Isaac Asimov, Introduction by the editor. Stories: "The Misguided Halo" (1939) by Henry Kuttner; "Prescience" (1941) Nelson S. Bond; "Yesterday Was Monday" (1941) by Theodore Sturgeon; "The Gnarly Man" (1939) by L. Sprague de Camp; "The Bleak Shore" (1940) by Fritz Leiber; "Trouble With Water" (1939) by H. L. Gold; "Doubled and Redoubled" (1941) by Malcolm Jameson; "When It Was Moonlight" (1940) by Manly Wade Wellman; "Mr. Jinx" (1941) by Fredric Brown and Robert Arthur; "Snulbug" (1941) by Anthony Boucher; "Armageddon" (1941) by Fredric Brown. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unknown Should Be Better Known
An early casualty to the paper shortage of World War II, Unknown survived for only a few issues.I first read these stories as a teenager, in what seems now to be Early Triassic, and still remember them and even much of the phrasing.If that isn't memorable then what is?Unknown, like Mozart, died young, more's the pity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Classic SF
The Two Handed Engine is simply a classic from the golden age of SF. It can seem a little dated, but it is still a great read. ... Read more

Product Description
The special 300th issue of Weird Tales honors grandmaster Robert Bloch with a special issue dedicated to him. Includes a previously unpublished collaboration between Bloch and Henry Kuttner, plus contributions from Ray Bradbury, Lawrence Watt-Evans. All artwork is by Featured Artist Gahan Wilson. ... Read more

Product Description
USED. PB in good condition. Some wear to covers/spine/edges. Minor yellowing to page edges. (#L128) ... Read more

Product Description
"You must remain here," Theron stated. "How many of us survived the voyage from Kyria? You must wait, Ardath, even a million years if it is necessary. Our stasis ray kept us in suspended animation while we came across space. Take the ship beyond the atmosphere. Adjust it to a regular orbit, like a second satellite around this world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

From Back Cover
COSMIC TERROR STRIKES AS A MESSENGER OF DEATH SWEEPS THROUGH THE UNIVERSE.


DEATH GALAXY

Like a great, lethal snake, plague creeps through the galaxies.No conscious entity can halt its progress, and life is slowly draining from planet after planet.

Only one super-intelligence is capable of preventing cataclysm.To do it, he must penetrate far beyond infinity - to the formless, deathless creatures out to kill the universe.

AN IMPRESSIVE FIRST NOVEL FROM A SCI-FI GREAT
"The Creature From Beyond Infinity" was the first novel published by Henry Kuttner, an author who was one of the half dozen or so pillars of the Golden Age of Sci-Fi. It first saw the light of day in a 1940 issue of "Startling Stories" magazine under the title "A Million Years to Conquer," and finally in book form in the 1968 Popular Library paperback that I just completed. Although that original title may perhaps be a more accurate descriptor, the pulpier "Creature" title gives a truer feel for what this book is: pulpy as can be! In it, we meet Ardath, the sole survivor when his Kyrian spaceship crash-lands on Earth while our planet is still in the throes of its infancy. Ardath is instructed by his dying captain to repair the ship, put it into orbit around Earth, go into hibernation stasis for several aeons, and await the coming of genius mentalities on the new Earth. Ardath follows his captain's orders, sleeping for ages and awakening every million or so years to see what's cooking down below. Ultimately, he is able to collect four comparative geniuses from various periods of Earth's history, with the intention of creating a eugenically superior strain of man. From the dawn of prehistory he selects Thordred, a Conan-type usurper; Jansaiya, a priestess of Atlantis; Li Yang, a Chinese advisor to a Genghis Khan type; and Scipio, a Carthaginian revolutionary. I've always been a sucker for a story with two ongoing parallel plots, and Kuttner here gives us a doozy. On modern-day Earth (well, the Earth of 1941, anyway), Stephen Court, one of the foremost scientists in the world, fights desperately to counteract the Plague, a scourge from space that turns its victims into radioactive, life-sucking zombies. Naturally, these two plot strands eventually intertwine, and that's when things really start humming, in this exciting and clever little tale. (I do mean little...the whole thing is only 125 pages long, and can easily be read in a sitting or two.) It is hardly a secret that Kuttner and his wife, the great C.L. Moore, collaborated on most of their novels AFTER their marriage in 1940, but since this book dates FROM 1940, I am not certain if the book can be ascribed totally to Kuttner or not. Fun as it is, it certainly does contain some of the errors that a first-time novelist might make; for example, repetitive expressions (such as "grizzled gray hair"), technical errors of wording (such as referring to a structure that looks like the Eiffel Tower as an "obelisk"), historical inaccuracies (mentioning that Moses, Socrates and Confucius came later than the Roman Empire), inconsistencies in plotting (Ardath is able to detect superior intelligences from his orbiting spacecraft and "beam" them aboard, yet later seems to find it necessary to go down in person and haul his candidates aboard physically) and some contrived situations. Still, the book IS as fun as can be, and the majority of readers will most likely be too busy flippin' those pages to notice these minor slips. For an author of 26 years old, especially, the book is most impressive. It is remarkable how much action and incident Kuttner manages to squeeze into this novella, all to guarantee a rousing time. The nature of the menace from outer space is one that no reader should be able to guess, and although much of the science in the book is dated, that elusive "sense of wonder" is often fully achieved. The author even manages to explain to us the origin of those darn Easter Island statues. Nice touch, Henry! In short, "The Creature From Beyond Infinity" is an entertaining read from Mr. Kuttner, but nothing great or classic. Those would come later... ... Read more