Ahead of Time

by Henry Kuttner

  The trouble-shooter groaned. "So that was the real purpose of the gadget, eh? And all those other manifestations were just by-products of an uncontrolled machine."

  "Yeah——" Harnahan moved toward the door, skirting the half-melted remains of the robot. He looked down sadly on the ruined creature and sighed.

  "Some day, maybe, we can do better. But right now it seems to be a deadlock. We shouldn't have called him Thor," Harnahan added, as he went out into the hall. "Somehow, I think Achilles would have been more appropriate."

  ABOUT HENRY KUTTNER

  "I was born in Los Angeles in 1914," Mr. Kuttner writes. "Finished high school in the Depression and got a job in a literary agency. I left this in 1939 to free-lance as a writer in New York, and have made my living by writing ever since. In 1940 I married C. L. Moore, who had also been writing professionally for several years. Since our marriage we have collaborated on almost everything we write, developing at least half a dozen pseudonyms (we've actually written under nineteen names, including our own). It is almost impossible now to tell which of us wrote what part of any particular story.

  "Under the names of Lewis Padgett and Henry Kuttner three detective novels have been published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce, and Harper & Brothers. Under Padgett, Kuttner and Moore we have published five collections of science-fiction stories.

  "Currently we are living at the edge of the campus of the University of Southern California where we are working for our Master's degrees. By summer, we expect to be in Mexico where we plan to spend three months writing.

  "As for the science-fiction field itself, I believe I am interested in it because it is the imaginative fiction of today. If I'd lived in the 19th Century I'd probably have been interested in the Gothic. In fact, my first published fiction was Gothic, in the old Weird Tales magazine of the twenties, when Farnsworth Wright was editor. Its masthead said, 'Tales of the Bizarre and the Unusual,' and my wife and I, years before we met, had both moved straight from a juvenile addiction for the Oz books and the Burroughs Mars books into writing and selling 'weird fiction' to Weird Tales. We met, incidentally, through writing for the same magazine. It was the only outlet in those days for the imaginative sort of stories we both enjoyed writing.

  "At that time there was a group of magazines specializing in weird-stories-with-logical-explanations, and I found these easy to write too. From there I moved into historical adventure pulps, and then modem adventure. Then one of the editors I wrote for asked me to try some science fiction.

  "I had been reading science fiction ever since 1926, when Amazing Stories was first published, the earliest all-science-fiction magazine. I had read everything I could find in that field, with much appreciation and no critical ability whatever. The imaginative experience appealed to me, though the science was often negligible, frequently boring and sometimes idiotic.

  "I had no scientific background at all and had never tried to write in this field. I told the editor who wanted me to try it that I didn't know an electron from a proton, but he said it didn't matter, so I tried, cheerfully choosing for my first subject the surprising hypothesis that all matter in the universe could suddenly acquire the attributes of a living organism. From this epic, though perhaps undocumented, theme I moved rapidly on through a series of imaginative stories having only remote connections with any kind of scientific fact.

  "At the same time I was turning out all kinds of copy, but more and more I found myself cutting back to science fiction, and more and more my science fiction centered around psychology. I was doing all kinds of subsidiary reading to fill in my missing background for science fiction, and I found psychology most interesting not only in itself, but because it seems to me to substitute best for the hyphen in science-fiction writing. By this I mean that psychology is a science, concerned with human beings, that it analyzes and studies the world of the imagination which is fiction. All the sciences involve men, and wherever men are involved psychology is applicable to them.

  "In 1950 I decided, reluctantly, that I had written just about all I had to say without expanding my field of information. That was when I enrolled at the University of Southern California. My major has been English literature, of which I knew far too little, and my minor is psychology. After I get my Master's degree in English I'll probably go back and pick up more on psychology."

  Mr. Kuttner reports that the way his story-idea files look now, it will be a long time before he catches up again with the expanding edges of that field of information—a statement of cheer to those who know the stimulation and pleasure that his writing provides.

  TIME FOR A CHANGE

  A Statement on Science Fiction

  For a long time, many readers thought that science fiction was written by "pulp" writers and was destined only for a juvenile audience. During this period of exile from general acceptance, there was always a small corps of devotees who kept insisting—to deaf ears—that much fine writing and a great deal of marvelous imagination were to be found in science fiction; but not until the end of World War II did its readership begin to grow wider. It has continued to spread faster and faster until now it can be said with some truth that anyone who likes to read, likes to read good science fiction.

  It's not quite clear what has broken down the barriers between science fiction and a larger public; perhaps, ironically, it was the discovery that the atomic bomb had been quite clearly prophesied in its pages. Whatever the reason, the field is now well established and here to stay, and BALLANTINE BOOKS intends to provide for this new and constantly increasing readership a series of books of the highest quality both by established writers and the best newcomers. The present volume is part of a program that will include collections (some of them devoted to one author) and full-length science-fiction novels.

  There are several types of science fiction. In one kind, stories are based on known scientific data, extrapolated logically to as yet unrealized stages. In another kind, the writer is not concerned with logical extrapolation but creates his data when and as he needs them. In both of these fields a writer may either write narrative for its own sake or may use the form as a vehicle for comment on or analysis of our own present-day society.

  Science fiction of these and other types will be forthcoming from BALLANTINE BOOKS. It is our hope to publish the finest list of books in the field. We feel that the time is ripe for pressing this policy vigorously for two reasons. First, the good writers of science fiction deserve a large-scale medium on which they can depend for the opportunity for full and serious expression, a medium anxious to encourage consistently the best of which they are capable. Second, the public—made daily more aware of jet and rocket, atomic power and space station—is increasingly interested in a fiction field that presents them with an imaginative bridge to rapidly approaching fact.

  BALLANTINE BOOKS, INC., 404 Fifth Avenue • New York 18, N. Y.

  *EXECUTIVE SUITE by Cameron Hawley

  "Engrossing.... Unique in American fiction.... An immensely interesting exploration of one of the most representative aspects of American life."

  —Orville Prescott, The New York Times

  THE GOLDEN SPIKE by Hal Ellson

  A novel of juvenile drug addiction by the author of Duke. "The straightest story on addiction yet to be done in fiction."

  —Nelson Algren, The Saturday Review

  ALL MY ENEMIES by Stanley Baron

  "I have no hesitation in asserting that Mr. Baron is better at entertaining than Graham Greene. Scene after scene is brought off with a swift and sure-footed confidence in his material that marks Mr. Baron as a writer of distinction."

  —The Nation

  *SADDLE BY STARLIGHT by Luke Short

  The king of Western writers at the top of his form. "Abundant suspense, atmosphere, gun-play—all with that Grade-A Luke Short touch."

  —South Bend, Indiana, Tribune

  *THE WITCH'S THORN by Ruth Park

  Rich, violent novel of white man and Maori in New Zealand. "It
reminds me more than ever of Dickens. . . . Ruth Park does a wonderful job in bringing to vivid life a race which is almost unknown to American readers."

  —Sterling North, New York World-Telegram and Sun

  TIDES OF TIME by Emile Danoen

  A vivid portrait of life in the slums of a French port, a novel which won the coveted Prix Populiste in France. "Honesty, liveliness, and pace."

  —The New York Times

  BLOOD ON THE LAND by Frank Bonham

  A top-notch Western by the author of Bold Passage. "Swell story."

  —Hoofs and Horns

  #THE WORLD OF LI'L ABNER by Al Capp

  The cream of America's favorite comic strip, with an introduction by John Steinbeck and a foreword by Charles Chaplin. "We recommend it without reservation."

  —Louisville Courier Journal

  THE RED GATE by LaSelle Gilman

  An illuminating suspense novel set in Korea and China now. "It rises as much above the usual suspense story as an Ambler novel does."

  —New York Journal-American

  CONCANNON by Frank O'Rourke

  A two-fisted action novel of a railroad detective in Dakota by the author of Blackwater and Action at Three Peaks. "Will delight every mystery and adventure fan."

  —Wichita Eagle

  *WAR BONNET by Clay Fisher

  Western historical of pioneers and Indians in Wyoming. Clay Fisher has also written Red Blizzard and Santa Fe Passage. ". . . a stirring tale of loyalty and courage, love and war . . . that will delight and entertain."

  —Montgomery, Alabama, Advertiser

  HEYDAY by W. M. Spackman

  The portrait of a desperate generation by a talented new novelist. "Exciting, sometimes brilliant."

  —W. G. Rogers, Associated Press

  *FIRST BLOOD by Jack Schaefer

  Superlative Western by the author of Shane in which a young deputy becomes a man. "First Blood confirms the promise of Shane. Mr. Schaefer has what it takes."

  —Omaha World-Herald

  WHY DID THEY KILL? by John Bartlow Martin

  The author of Butcher's Dozen, a great reporter, presents the grimly important case-history of three boys—outwardly just like the kids in your neighborhood—who committed a brutal murder. "Mr. Martin is a talented, thorough writer who brings total reality to his work."

  —The New York Times

  THE WHEEL AND THE HEARTH by Lucia Moore

  An epic of the daring women who helped to win the West. "She tells the story . . . tenderly and with skillful development."

  —The New York Times

  STAR SCIENCE-FICTION STORIES

  edited by Frederik Pohl

  Fifteen fine short stories—never before published anywhere—by such masters as Ray Bradbury, Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, Murray Leinster, Lester del Rey, Judith Merril, and many others. "They are really exceptional stories, brilliantly written, and the best argument for the increase in science-fiction reading put out to date."

  —Pensacola, Florida, News

  THE RACER by Hans Ruesch

  A mature, sophisticated sports novel about European auto-race drivers by the author of Top of the World.

  KINGDOM OF THE SPUR by Gene Markey

  A large-scale Western historical of a Texan who rode south of the border to fight for a cattle empire.

  STORIES OF SUDDEN TRUTH

  edited by Joseph I. Greene and Elizabeth Abell

  An anthology of fine modern short stories, all of which explore various aspects of self-realization and self-knowledge. Authors represented include John Hersey, Eudora Welty, Frank O'Connor, Arthur Miller, and sixteen others.

  #I THOUGHT OF DAISY by Edmund Wilson

  A vivid novel of the Twenties by one of America's great writers.

  THE SPACE MERCHANTS

  by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth

  A novel of the future—when the advertising agencies take over.

  *THE BIG RANGE by Jack Schaefer

  Ten magnificent stories of the western frontier by the author of First Blood.

  *PATROL by Fred Majdalany

  A truthful and memorable novel about the courage of ordinary soldiers.

  DESERT PASSAGE by Richard Poole

  Arizona—the fight for the stage-coach lines.

  THE UNDYING FIRE by Fletcher Pratt

  The story of a dramatic quest in outer space, by a master of science fiction.

  THE CITY OF ANGER by William Manchester

  A towering and intense novel of the warring worlds within an American city.

  SUMMER STREET by Hal Ellson

  The penetrating account of an adolescent's sudden maturing, by the author of The Golden Spike.

  THE SECRET MASTERS by Gerald Kersh

  This famous author tells a fine suspense story—of a few men who wanted the world for themselves.

  * A HOUGHTON MIFFLIN book, co-published with BALLANTINE BOOKS

  # A FARRAR, STRAUS &YOUNG book, co-published with BALLANTINE BOOKS

  Paperbound editions of these books are distributed by BALLANTINE BOOKS

  ABOUT BALLANTINE BOOKS

  This company publishes new books (not reprints) of high quality — in two simultaneous editions: paperbound and hardbound. The former are priced at 35c or 50c, the latter at $1.50 to $3.00. Available at all newsstands and bookstores.

  "... One thing is fairly sure; either this scheme, or some other related to it, is going to revolutionize the book trade. And 'revolutionize' is not too strong a word in my opinion."

  —Joseph Henry Jackson, San Francisco Chronicle

  January 4, 1953

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