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stephenmeansme's review against another edition
4.0
C. L. Moore, one of those darn wimminz in muh sci fi (/s), is an underrated powerhouse of a writer. Keep in mind that she was a contemporary with Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft in Weird Tales, to which she added both weird horror and sword-and-sorcery; as well as those Golden Age authors who got their very own anthologies and everything. I had known Moore's writing in collaboration with her husband Henry Kuttner (as their combined pseudonym "Lewis Padgett") - but nothing of her solo work until now.
And: wow.
Two things struck me as I read these stories. First, Moore reads as a much more modern writer than many of her contemporaries. You can read an Asimov, Heinlein, Van Vogt, or de Camp story, any of those Golden Age greats, and appreciate their storytelling skill, but their styles are very, ah, distinctive of the Thirties or Forties. There were times reading Moore that I was reminded of stuff from writers in the Sixties, Seventies, or even Nineties; the concepts are maybe a bit quaint or played out in later works, but Moore trades in capital-B Big Ideas much more than the minutiae of technology, which gives her stories a fresher feeling than many of the classics of the time.
The standout stories, in my opinion, are "Shambleau," "Black God's Kiss," "No Woman Born," and "Vintage Season" - but these are widely regarded as the best of the best anyway. Really, they're all really good, and only a handful of stories - "Black Thirst," "Tryst in Time," "Greater Than Gods," and "Fruit of Knowledge" - were even slightly flabby. "Tryst" was perhaps the most disposable, but it still had interesting ideas. The most surprising story by far was "Bright Illusion," which features a man falling madly in love with a blasphemous other-dimensional squamous alien: I really want to know what H. P. Lovecraft thought of it, since he was still alive when it was published!
Running through the collection is a strong capital-R Romantic theme, usually in the form of an alien or otherworldly female nevertheless evoking strong, unnerving attraction in a human male (and in "Fruit of Knowledge," this happens in the opposite direction). The connection is deeper than physicality, deeper than conscious mentality - you can also see it in the way characters in these stories talk out their sudden knowledge, classic Romantic/Gothic stuff. So in that way you can see Moore carrying the torch of sf's old Victorian Romance and Gothic traditions further into the 20th century, with more pathos than her peers in the pulps.
I'm going to rate this 5 stars, as this was a *very* satisfying collection. But I would suggest reading a sample of Moore's contemporaries (as in, for example, [b: Famous Science Fiction Stories|1381155|Famous Science-Fiction Stories Adventures in Time and Space|Raymond J. Healy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1294765274l/1381155._SX50_.jpg|1371107]) to fully appreciate her distinction from them. For sf newbies, it's at least 4 stars, but I think full appreciation requires some background reading.
And: wow.
Two things struck me as I read these stories. First, Moore reads as a much more modern writer than many of her contemporaries. You can read an Asimov, Heinlein, Van Vogt, or de Camp story, any of those Golden Age greats, and appreciate their storytelling skill, but their styles are very, ah, distinctive of the Thirties or Forties. There were times reading Moore that I was reminded of stuff from writers in the Sixties, Seventies, or even Nineties; the concepts are maybe a bit quaint or played out in later works, but Moore trades in capital-B Big Ideas much more than the minutiae of technology, which gives her stories a fresher feeling than many of the classics of the time.
The standout stories, in my opinion, are "Shambleau," "Black God's Kiss," "No Woman Born," and "Vintage Season" - but these are widely regarded as the best of the best anyway. Really, they're all really good, and only a handful of stories - "Black Thirst," "Tryst in Time," "Greater Than Gods," and "Fruit of Knowledge" - were even slightly flabby. "Tryst" was perhaps the most disposable, but it still had interesting ideas. The most surprising story by far was "Bright Illusion," which features a man falling madly in love with a blasphemous other-dimensional squamous alien: I really want to know what H. P. Lovecraft thought of it, since he was still alive when it was published!
Running through the collection is a strong capital-R Romantic theme, usually in the form of an alien or otherworldly female nevertheless evoking strong, unnerving attraction in a human male (and in "Fruit of Knowledge," this happens in the opposite direction). The connection is deeper than physicality, deeper than conscious mentality - you can also see it in the way characters in these stories talk out their sudden knowledge, classic Romantic/Gothic stuff. So in that way you can see Moore carrying the torch of sf's old Victorian Romance and Gothic traditions further into the 20th century, with more pathos than her peers in the pulps.
I'm going to rate this 5 stars, as this was a *very* satisfying collection. But I would suggest reading a sample of Moore's contemporaries (as in, for example, [b: Famous Science Fiction Stories|1381155|Famous Science-Fiction Stories Adventures in Time and Space|Raymond J. Healy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1294765274l/1381155._SX50_.jpg|1371107]) to fully appreciate her distinction from them. For sf newbies, it's at least 4 stars, but I think full appreciation requires some background reading.
blatanville's review against another edition
5.0
Great stuff. Pulpy, sure, but Moore's writing is clear and wise, her ideas strong.
egelantier's review against another edition
3.0
oh my god, this was an infuriating book to read, in many ways. the short stories are lush and beautiful, the writing is evocative (although the whole thing with unnamed eldritch horrors as a setting doesn't age well, and occasionally moore will take an adverb and run it into the ground mercilessly), but the misogyny is so bad. as in, as in, if it was a dude book i'd be annoyed but just stop reading, you know? but it's moore, and i've read more and more with a mounting sense of betrayal. did she think like that? did she write like that because it sold, or because sci-fi around her was like this, or because she truly felt like that, or?.. it was fascinating and really... hard to behold.
i broke down on the "kiss of the black god", because it was SO GOOD at first; it's about a fierce lady knight named jirel who loses the siege to the dude knight who immediately has his men seize her, then non-con kisses her (with pretty clearly implicit promise of rape and then slavery to go), then gives her a concussion when she tries to remove his jugular with her teeth. jirel gets herself free and goes into the lovecraftian hellish underworld of her castle to find an unholy weapon of her revenge. it's an amazing, evocative, hair-rising passage, it's so good, i was so into it - and then jirel brings her revenge back and is... upset... because it turns out that she is actually in love with her would-be rapist and is all sad now. because reasons. this punchline seems so obvious to the author it's presented fait accompli, no explanation. WHY.
(there are apparently more jirel stories; i will maybe search them out in hope that she's gotten this particular bug out of her system and will just go on and be badass from now on).
and then, of course, there's "greater than gods". should dr. corry marry a vivacious spendy blonde who will ~distract him from science and so he won't finish a machine for gender-selected conception? and then woman will overtake men, and matriarchy will happen, which is horrible because, i quote, "woman as a sex are not scientists, not inventors, not mechanics or engineers or architects". a stagnant pacifism happens! humanity is doomed! or maybe dr. cory should marry a dark-haired martha, who, despite being described as a scientist couple of pages before, immediately forgets all about her profession to spur her husband on, and they create a masculine-filled fascism regime of men who ~follow the leader. but no! the obvious solution to save the world is to abandon both and marry his secretary because "she won't let me neglect the work we are doing, but neither will force me to give it to the world unperfected". ARGH. ARGH, people.
this said, "no woman born" is a fascinating short story on transumanism and (possibly unintentionally) on female bodily autonomy, and it shines; and "vintage season" is still one of the best and creepiest and most haunting short stories of the golden age of sf/f (and the women there are horrible because they're horrible people, but because they are women, which feels as a step up).
but still.
i broke down on the "kiss of the black god", because it was SO GOOD at first; it's about a fierce lady knight named jirel who loses the siege to the dude knight who immediately has his men seize her, then non-con kisses her (with pretty clearly implicit promise of rape and then slavery to go), then gives her a concussion when she tries to remove his jugular with her teeth. jirel gets herself free and goes into the lovecraftian hellish underworld of her castle to find an unholy weapon of her revenge. it's an amazing, evocative, hair-rising passage, it's so good, i was so into it - and then jirel brings her revenge back and is... upset... because it turns out that she is actually in love with her would-be rapist and is all sad now. because reasons. this punchline seems so obvious to the author it's presented fait accompli, no explanation. WHY.
(there are apparently more jirel stories; i will maybe search them out in hope that she's gotten this particular bug out of her system and will just go on and be badass from now on).
and then, of course, there's "greater than gods". should dr. corry marry a vivacious spendy blonde who will ~distract him from science and so he won't finish a machine for gender-selected conception? and then woman will overtake men, and matriarchy will happen, which is horrible because, i quote, "woman as a sex are not scientists, not inventors, not mechanics or engineers or architects". a stagnant pacifism happens! humanity is doomed! or maybe dr. cory should marry a dark-haired martha, who, despite being described as a scientist couple of pages before, immediately forgets all about her profession to spur her husband on, and they create a masculine-filled fascism regime of men who ~follow the leader. but no! the obvious solution to save the world is to abandon both and marry his secretary because "she won't let me neglect the work we are doing, but neither will force me to give it to the world unperfected". ARGH. ARGH, people.
this said, "no woman born" is a fascinating short story on transumanism and (possibly unintentionally) on female bodily autonomy, and it shines; and "vintage season" is still one of the best and creepiest and most haunting short stories of the golden age of sf/f (and the women there are horrible because they're horrible people, but because they are women, which feels as a step up).
but still.
mst3kakalina's review
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
hoppy500's review against another edition
5.0
These are short stories from the 1930s and 1940s, and are an amalgamation of fantasy and science fiction. They are well written and highly atmospheric. I found the following most memorable:
Black God's Kiss [Jirel of Joiry]
Black Thirst [Northwest Smith]
Shambleau [Northwest Smith]
No Woman Born
Tryst in Time
Vintage Season (a story about time-travel tourism) was definitely the highlight of the collection for me.
Black God's Kiss [Jirel of Joiry]
Black Thirst [Northwest Smith]
Shambleau [Northwest Smith]
No Woman Born
Tryst in Time
Vintage Season (a story about time-travel tourism) was definitely the highlight of the collection for me.
jrt5166's review against another edition
4.0
These stories are strange to read because Moore is sometimes very much of her own time and sometimes very much ahead of it. I enjoyed it all immensely, and I look forward to reading further.
disabledmermaid's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
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