Detour to Otherness [Hardcover]

Henry Kuttner (Author), C. L. Moore (Author), Stephen Haffner (Editor), Richard Powers (Illustrator), Robert Silverberg (Introduction), Frederik Pohl (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2010

In 1961, Ballantine Books published Bypass to Otherness, a paperback collection of some of Henry Kuttner's (and C. L. Moore's) best short stories. Several selections were drawn from Kuttner's popular series such as the "Hogbens" (comedic otherworldly hillbillies living in America), "Gallagher Galloway" (scientist who invents technical marvels only when intoxicated), and the "Baldies" stories eventually collected in Mutant. Bypass was projected as the first of three Otherness collections of Kuttner's short fiction. Return to Otherness followed in 1962 with 8 more stories. And then . . . nothing. The third Otherness collection never appeared.

Now, almost fifty years later, Haffner Press announces DETOUR TO OTHERNESS: a massive hardcover assembling the contents of both Bypass to Otherness and Return to Otherness, and adding 8 additional stories selected for their scarcity, quality, and sheer entertainment value. Grand Masters Robert Silverberg and Frederik Pohl provide introductory and afterword materials to the book, and the whole affair is decorated with an unpublished painting by Richard Powers.

Table of Contents
Introduction by Robert Silverberg

Bypass to Otherness
Cold War
Call Him Demon
The Dark Angel
The Piper's Son
Absalom
The Little Things
Nothing but Gingerbread Left
Housing Problem

Return to Otherness
See You Later
This Is the House
The Proud Robot
Gallegher Plus
The Ego Machine
Android
The Sky Is Falling
Juke-Box

Detour to Otherness
Open Secret
All Is Illusion
Rite of Passage
Baby Face
Happy Ending
The Children's Hour
Dream's End
Near Miss

Afterword by Frederik Pohl

Product Details

• Hardcover: 588 pages
• Publisher: Haffner Press; First Edition edition (August 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893887189
• ISBN-13: 978-1893887183
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sci-fi and Weird Tales in a purple cover, August 18, 2011

By 

John Middleton (Brisbane, QLD, AUST) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Detour to Otherness (Hardcover)

This book has been out for a year now...how is it no one has got around to reviewing it yet? This is a republished and embiggened version of the 1960's paperback best of collections of Kuttner & Moore (and where possible to distinguish, of one or other of them). The contents are in the Book Description above, but there is no point repeating all 24 listings in full. There are some Hogben stories, some Galloway Gallegher, and a whole bunch of classic sci-fi and horror stories. Most of these works were written in the early-mid 1940's, but you would not know it to read them - they are of all types, from horror to think-piece sci-fi, with some post-apocalyptic stuff and set in "our" 1940's world, or in various futures through a glass darkly.

There is a huge range of work here, told in several styles: from serious think-piece sci-fi about evolution and the future of humanity, to the hilarious Hogben tales, to the superb Galloway Gallegher stories. There is usualy a hint - or more than a hint - of dystopia here, and often none more chilling than in the background of the Galloway stuff. Thought-transference, AI takeovers of humanity, leprechauns...and a wartime story involving a baby, a gorilla and Nazi spies which is just a great romp from start to finish. There is something here for everyone, assuming if you like classic sci-fi in a short story format.

Having read some earlier Kuttner and Moore, I am surprised by the focus on children and childhood in a lot of these stories - that might be a common theme, and I will simply note that as far as I know they were in fact childless, and leave it at that. Certainly the stories are aimed at adults - its quite dark in places, complex, and not at all YA. The only thing missing from the collection as a whole is a representation of blood & thunder space opera, which both Kuttner & Moore were able to write in spades. That's a lack remedied in a separate volume, Thunder in the Void out from Haffner Press later in 2011, or in any number of paperback collections published over the last 50 years.