Chris Moore’s cover for the 1st edition
3.5/5 (collated rating: Good)
From 1937 to 1958, the dynamic writing duo of Henry Kuttner (1915-1958) and his wife C. L. Moore (1911-1987) wrote countless stories together. As SF Encyclopedia puts it, “much of [Kuttner’s] later work is inextricably entwined” with that of Moore–often to the point of being unable to entangle who wrote what. While the cover of Clash by Night and Other Stories (1980) does not mention Moore, all the stories in the collection were co-written with her.1
Final note before the reviews: Don’t let the collated rating of the collection dissuade you! 1946’s “Vintage Season” is worth the price alone. I enjoy the more serious, ruminative, and dark takes that the couple (and individually) were capable of. I bounce off most joke or lightly comedic stories (give me black comedy!). I reacted similarly to Damon Knight’s mixed collection Far Out (1961).
I look forward to reading more of Kuttner and Moore’s fiction.
Brief Summary and Analysis
“Clash by Night” (1943), 3.75/5 (Good): First appeared in Astounding Science-Fiction, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. (March 1943). You can read it online here.
An early example of what we now call military science fiction, “Clash by Night” is a surprisingly ruminative look at the psychological and social impact of war. The first layer of the story, a prologue written nine hundred years after the legendary events it recounts, positions a reader in a future in which the “islands and continents of Venus have been tamed, and there is no war” (2). The legendary past recounted by the narrator is an altogether different time: isolated underwater Keeps wage war on each other using the Free Companies, professional warriors who reside on the surface (exposed to the sun’s radiation). In their off time, the Free Company soldiers visit the Keeps to experience the benefits of “civilized” life and to visit their free-marriage wives. The story follows one of these legendary warriors, Captain Brian Scott of Doone’s Free Companions, who “may never have existed’ (3) and his deep doubts about his place in a rapidly changing world.
Venus takes on the geographic analog of the American West in its early stages of colonization. There is a ton of scholarship about the role of the Old West “frontier” and its relevancy to science fiction’s colonization of space. In Dianne Newell and Victoria Lamont’s summary of the scholarship, they note that the frontiersman (or space explorer) must penetrate a “passive, and feminized” wilderness.2 “Clash by Night” presents Venus, with its pockets of civilization like colonies on the East Coast, a landscape waiting to be conquered. In the present of the story, the Venusian landscape has already been pacified. In the legendary past, the deeds of the Free Company men in their wars between the powers of the day are the last violent movements between men before nature, with its horrors and threats, becomes the primary adversary.
Captain Brian Scott metaphorically represents a juncture in this grand narrative of Venus’ past. He ruminates: “we fight to protect the culture [of the Keeps] that will eventually wipe us out” (18). He promises that after the next battle he will give up his ways: “One last fight” […] “I’m glad it’s going to be a good one” (34). But there’s something seductive and sinister about battle, and bloodlust…
I found Kuttner and Moore’s meditations on the psychological and social impacts of war on its combatants far more interesting than the pulp-like battles between the Keeps that the soldiers wage. And while on the simple side, I enjoyed the interplay between the “present” (a Venus untamed) and the “past” (filled with legendary figures like Captain Brian Scott in an untamed world).
Recommended.
“When the Bough Breaks” (1944), 2.5/5 (Bad): First appeared in Astounding Science-Fiction, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. (November 1944). You can read it online here.
This represents the more comedic Kuttner and Moore stories that I do not enjoy. Anthologized countless times, “When the Bough Breaks” follows a couple with a new child named Alexander who luck into an inexpensive apartment in a city high rents (68). Soon after moving in, Calderon, a “fine research physicist” and Myre, a frustrated housewife, encounter “four tiny men standing in the hall” with immense craniums (69). And they outrageously claim that they are the descendants of Alexander, the first super child, and will play a part in the child’s education. All types of ridiculous hijinks occur as Alexander, a toddler, learns how to operate futuristic gadgets and play outrageous tricks on his parents.
Yes, it’s a smoothly told satire of gender roles and parents who want to birth genius children…. It’s not for me. I love a good domestic strife story, but not one populated by annoying super humans of the future.
“Juke-Box” (1947), 3/5 (Average): First appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories, ed. Sam Merwin, Jr. (February 1947). You can read it online here.
Jerry Foster spends his time confessing his personal life–“nobody loved him” (97)–to his bartender at his local dive bar. He of course had a girl, but ditched her, and ran off with another. And one day, Jerry drapes himself over the bar juke-box and “patted it sleek sides” and murmurs “you’re my girl” (98). And so begins a bizarre SF horror experience…. The juke-box seems to communicate with Jerry via the songs “she” plays. And soon the lyrics she conveys influences Jerry’s career writing catchy melodies for a music producer. When Jerry seems to want to detach himself from her charm, she lashes out. He finds himself caught by the juke-box, and the ritual of visiting her and listening to her songs.
Kuttner and Moore spell out what Jerry represents: “he was essentially a reactionary, so it was a mistake for him to have been born in an era of great changes” (101). Unable to find himself in the “vast technological and sociological changes the mid-Twentieth century offered” (101). Jerry finds himself–and others like him–entirely trapped by the world he resists. He cannot function without the technological marvel. He cannot find real connections to other humans. The juke-box is his mana, the juke-box is his muse, the juke-box guides his every move. Sounds similar to my students unable to detach themselves from their phones!
Somewhat recommended.
“The Ego Machine” (1952), 3/5 (Average): First appeared in Space Science Fiction, ed. Lester del Rey (May 1952). You can read it online here.
Nicholas Martin wants to be known as a real literary author. Unfortunately, the director St. Cyr, from an poor and obscure little Balkan country of Mixo-Lydia, loves to sink his teeth and claws into hit plays and writers. St. Cyr sneaks fine print into a contract for an adaption of Martin’s hit play Angelina Noel, about a Portuguese captain of a fishing boat and a mermaid. Martin wants to be released from the contract but doesn’t have the gumption or smarts to exert himself, yet alone declare his love for his workaholic, and “competent” (115), agent Erika.
This changes when a robot named ENIAC Gamma the Ninety-Third, with an addiction to electrical shocks, appears in Martin’s office. ENIAC wants him to participate in a “valuable socio-cultural experiment for the benefit of all mankind” that involves taking on the personalities of historical figures like Benjamin Disraeli and Ivan the Terrible (123). Martin sees the experiment as a way out of his contract with St. Cyr. Mayhem ensues.
Another comedy, but, unlike “When the Bough Breaks” (1944), I actually laughed. It’s a zippy satire of the Hollywood movie studio system that controlled its actors and writers. It felt a bit like a 50s version of Futurama (1999-present)–madcap, relentless, over-the-top, silly, oh, and crazy robot that indulges in vice. Hence the average rating!
“Vintage Season” (1946), 5/5 (Masterpiece): First appeared in Astounding Science-Fiction, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr. (September 1946). You can read it online here. Possibly my favorite ever 40s science fiction short story (so far).
Oliver Wilson rents rooms in his house to a group of strange foreigners–Omerie, Kleph, and Klia–who seem to embody perfection (165). An offer to purchase the house, for three-times its going rate, compels Oliver to attempt to convince his new tenants to leave. However, their strange behavior, interactions, and fascinations fascinate him. They only want to watch parts of third-rate films (172). They obsess over the weather and make odd comments about this particular May (175). Kleph takes an interest in Oliver (the nature of which he realizes too late), and in moments under the influence of a “fragrant tea” she reveals fragments of their purpose (178). Kleph mentions that they’re on a pilgrimage, although to what isn’t exactly clear. In another meeting, she shows him a three-dimensional screen that swirls with sound and motion. The music and visuals “transcended all art-forms he knew, blended them, and out of the blend produced subtleties his mind could not begin to grasp” (190). But what he sees terrifies him–glimpses of a terrible calamity, faces in the moment of death, a panorama of suffering (191). And when he turns to Kleph he notices the most unsettling element of it all, she enjoys what she sees!
“Vintage Season” reads as a fascinating glimpse into the immediate post-WWII America, and the underlying fear of cataclysmic conflict to come. Oliver describes the moment in which he lives as the liminal point in which the nation enters “into “one of those fabulous eras which are later referred to as the Gay Forties or the Golden Sixties–a pleasant period of national euphoria” (170). I can’t help but speculate that “Vintage Season” represents an attempt to classify and grapple with the perverse horror that people held for the devastation wrecked by American nuclear weapons in Japan. I found the viewpoint of war and violence in “Vintage Season” clashed wildly with “Clash by Night” (1943), published a mere three years earlier. In “Class by Night” the actions of heroic warriors foreshadow eventual peace–the past as a triumphant parade of progress. In “Vintage Season”, the true horror lies in how the impact of cataclysm and violence will be become in itself entertainment by bored future generations.
Highly recommended.
Notes
- The intro by Peter Pinto makes her vital role clear. I am unsure why her name is not on the cover. ↩︎
- Dianne Newell and Victoria Lamont’s Judith Merril: A Critical Study (2012), 11-24; See also Carl Abbott’s Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West (2006). This story is not referenced by either author. ↩︎
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Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
Vintage Season is surely one of the all time greats. Possibly in my top ten or twenty best all time sf short stories, or something like that. If I had a top ten or twenty that is (now there is an idea).
I liked A Clash by Night (read in the Hamlyn first edition illustrated) but not as much as Vintage Season. I’m keen to read the sequel or whatever it is–Fury.
I will probably skip the other ones in the collection. Though they sound interesting…
I need to look through my reviews to see if I’ve covered anything else from the 40s that I’ve enjoyed as much as “Vintage Season.” I highly doubt it. There’s so much more to talk about. My blurb review could be so much longer! Maybe in the future if I have a review series about trauma or memory I’ll return to it.
“Clash by Night” grew on me as I wrote my review. I missed the interplay between the prologue and the actual narrative. I’ve been compiling a list of SF short stories (I love lists!) on the operations of historical narrative and “Clash” and “Vintage Season” certainly have a place.
It is surprising to see “Vintage Season” be published without Moore getting credit as the author. I have multiple reprintings of the story with Moore given sole credit as the author. This is the first time I have seen Kuttner given credit as the author, or at best, with Moore being mentioned as a co-author.
I guess that the story was originally published under the Lawrence O’Donnell moniker, which makes it hard to know if it was co-written. The Best of CL Moore, Alfred Hitchcock’s Stories for Late at Night, and The Time Traveller’s Almanac (edited by Jeff Vandermeer) each give Moore the sole writing credit. I own a copy of the story on each of those three anthologies. It was also published as a TOR double in 1995 with Moore listed as sole author.
Asimov and Greenberg reproduce it credited to Lawrence O’Donnell in The Great SF Stories 8 (1982), but note “this story is generally credited to Moore, but we are not so sure” (232).
@Chris Are you talking about the cover of the book? She’s mentioned as the co-author of all the stories inside of the book, but not on the cover. I point that out in the note section of the review.
As for both receiving credit — Kuttner and Moore are given credit for “Vintage Season” all the way back in 1955…
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?24336
The digitized edition of the 1955 collection: https://archive.org/details/HenryKuttnerC.L.MooreNoBoundariesBallantine1221955/page/n5/mode/2up
The VanderMeers credit both authors. Here’s the digitized copy: https://archive.org/details/timetravellersal0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater
You are correct that The Best of C. L. Moore only credits Moore. That seems to be an error and not the common citation.
I made sure to indicate in the beginning of the review, quoting SF Encyclopedia: “‘much of [Kuttner’s] later work is inextricably entwined’ with that of Moore–often to the point of being unable to entangle who wrote what.”
What did you think of the story itself?
My comment wasn’t directed at you in any way for not giving proper credit. If you took it that way it wasn’t my intent. It was in reference to this particular collection and my own curiosity.
Oh, I am a fan of the story. I’m not sure where I’d rank it as far as 1940s science fiction short stories. I’m sure it would rank relatively high. I can’t think of any Moore or Kuttner short stories I would rank ahead of this one, at the very least.
Earth’s Last Citadel greatly impressed me as far as a novel co-written by Moore and Kuttner.
No worries. I understand. It doesn’t mention Moore on the front cover but the introduction makes clear that she co-wrote all the stories included. A glaring cover omission for sure.
I have a copy of Earth’s Last Citadel but haven’t read it yet.
I started reading Earth’s Last Citadel, and liked some of the language but put it aside for some reason and didn’t finish it. I vaguely recall finding it too impressionistic and thin–but really and to be fair I remember precious little.
Did they ever write a good novel together, or just a few great shorts and novellas?
Maybe I’m remembering your take Anthony, but what I have read about Earth’s Last Citadel has been similarly ambivalent.
antyphayes: Did they ever write a good novel together, or just a few great shorts and novellas?
You might try FURY, also set in the world of ‘Clash By Night’s’ Keeps but somewhat more adult, published in ASTOUNDING in 1947 with this classic cover —
When I read FURY at somewhere around twelve, I thought it was great stuff, in the same league as Bester’s THE STARS MY DESTINATION, which I also read then. I’ve been afraid to go back and re-read it, and not only because I’m sure it isn’t, but because I’m afraid the suck fairy — as they say — may have gotten to it.
Still, it’s from 1946-47, same as ‘Vintage Season,’ when the Kuttners were at the height of their powers. Whereas stuff like EARTH’S LAST CITADEL and THE TIME AXIS are the two (primarily Kuttner) doing pure pulp and I can’t read them, FURY was/is a real SF novel, IIRC.
You also might try CHESSBOARD PLANET aka THE FAIRY CHESSMEN, a novella originally serialized in ASTOUNDING in 1946; then republished as a ‘Galaxy novel’ in 1956, and as part of various other Kuttner/Moore anthologies over the years, mostly in the UK.
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?98315
Neither of these is up to the level of ‘Vintage Season’ — very little is, because I think that story is, honestly, the first instance of science fiction as adult literature to appear in American magazine SF (i.e. something you could put up against the British scientific romance writers like Wells, Kipling, and the E.M. Forster of ‘The Machine Stops.’)
Still, CHESSBOARD PLANET is, again, from 1946, same as ‘Vintage Season,’ when the Kuttners were at their best. In the case of CHESSBOARD PLANET, this was the two of them trying to do a far more well-carpentered version of a Van Vogt novel, just as wild and recomplicated but making more sense.
Philip K. Dick was on record as saying that Van Vogt was a big influence on his own SF, in that what he particularly took from Van Vogt was the ‘Cosmic Jerrybuilder’ aspect of Van Vogt — the latter’s sense of counterfeit, collapsing realities.
Another influence on Dick that’s obvious from his 1950s stuff, however, was the Kuttners — though Dick didn’t talk about them — and CHESSBOARD PLANET in particular reads like a bridge from Van Vogt to 1950s Dick novels like THE WORLD JONES MADE or SOLAR LOTTERY (or a precursor to Barrington Bailey!).
If you dig that kind of stuff, CHESSBOARD PLANET is a decent little read.
The most authoritative information we have about who wrote what in Kuttner’s and Moore’s bibliography is probably Kuttner’s letter to Donald Day, compiler of the pioneering INDEX TO THE SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINES, 1926-50. It can be found in HENRY KUTTNER: A MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM, published in 1958 in classic mimeographed fanzine format by Karen Anderson, and available here:
https://fanac.org/fanzines/Fanthologies/Fantho37.pdf
The letter is excerpted on page 33 and says as relevant to this point:
“C.L. Moore stories are always by C.L. Moore.
“Lawrence O’Donnell stories are usually by C.L. Moore.
“Exceptions: ‘This is the House,’ Ast., Feb. 46, by Kuttner.
” ‘Fury,’ May, June, July 1947, Ast., collab. by Moore-Kuttner.”
Students of this sort of minutiae should note that “This Is the House” reads like a Lewis Padgett story, but that issue of ASTOUNDING also had an installment of “The Fairy Chessmen,” so magazine practice at the time required it to be given a different byline.
Thanks for the link!
What did you think of the stories in this collection?
Pretty much what you did, except for “When the Bough Breaks,” which I read more as a horror story than as comedic. I’d call it merely Good rather than Bad. The authors tried to ring the same bell they did in the immensely popular “Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” but failed because in this one, the parents did not actually lose their children, and the portrayal of the guys from the future was, as you say, ridiculous. Still, middle of the road to my taste, and not worse.
I wanted to read it more as horror but the nature and actions of the future humans dispelled that reading in my mind… alas.
Hah! I just picked up “No Boundaries” in my last vintage pb haul … guess I’ll move it up the stack a few slots 🙂
The only overlap story is “Vintage Season.” Let me know if any of the others are solid! I have a copy as well somewhere.
I have a big soft spot for Sturgeon’s Microcosmic God. And E. Hamilton’s Alien Earth. But Vintage Season–wow, what a gem. Your excllent comments make me want to read it again.
Er, re: stuff from the 40s I enjoyed. And Heinlein’s Universe, Simak’s Desertion and T.L. Sherred’s E For Effort too!
Looking through my reviews….
Here are some other highly rated 40s stories (some of which I have legitimately forgotten since I read them):
I apparently gave Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rescue Party” (1946) a 5/5.
Kornbluth’s “The Only Thing We Learn” (1949) a 4/5 in The Marching Morons and Other Famous Short Stories (1959).
Leiber’s “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” (1949) a 5/5.
Merril’s “That Only a Mother” (1948) a 4.25/5 in Out of Bounds (1960)
Sturgeon’s “Thunder and Roses” (1947) a 4.25/5 in A Way Home (1956)
I also enjoyed Heinlein’s Orphan of the Sky (1941) and gave it a 4/5… I won’t link it as it’s one of the first things I posted on the site and I think that I need to revisit it after reading so many other generation ship stories. I imagine I would appreciate it more.
“Vintage Season” is, without a doubt, my all-time favorite story of any genre. It’s probably the only written work that is so vividly realized and emotionally charged, I felt drawn into the events of the story as if it were a fiction that could actually happen. It’s so chilling to look around today and see people just like the travelers so prevalent, the advent of social media magnifying our joy at/curiosity in others misfortunes. I, too, always assumed it was a C.L. Moore solo story, because of first seeing it in THE BEST OF C.L. MOORE, glad to give Kuttner all the credit he deserves (although I’ll still give him most of the blame for those irritating mutant hillbilly stories).
Yeah, that The Best of C. L. Moore volume is one of the few that incorrectly cites the story. And it is pretty pathetic that her name does not feature on the cover of this collection… although the introduction makes it clear that she is an equal contributor.
It’s a very poignant story. The moment where Oliver turns to Kleph after experiencing the Threnody to Hiroshima-esque music (albeit with visual elements) and sees her enjoying the suffering… fantastic.
Do you have any other favorite Kuttner and/or Moore stories?
I’ve been revisiting C.L. Moore short stories all day, and “Fruit of Knowledge” is another great one. The alien descriptions of the Garden are really exquisite. I’m sure mixing science fiction and religion is not usually a good idea, but there seems to be an undercurrent of humor that makes it work.
I’ll put it on the list! What is it about (beyond the religious reference in the title)?
There are some great stories out there that explore the intersection of SF and religion. I am a fan of the more subversive takes like Disch’s The Genocides which is all about recasting religious narratives as meaningless patterns.
The conceit of “Fruit of Knowledge” is the story of Adam and Eve told from the perspective of Lilith. I’m not an expert on the fictional extrapolation of religious figures, but I do love this story.
Intriguing.
There are some funny (often more black comedy) reframing of Biblical stories as well that come to mind.
Ward Moore’s “Lot” (1953) https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2023/01/29/short-story-reviews-ward-moores-lot-1953-and-langdon-jones-i-remember-anita-1964/
And Damon Knight’s “Not with a Bang” (1950) https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2023/03/20/book-review-far-out-damon-knight-1961/
I love retellings of all kinds and would love it if you could recommend some more stories that reflect “the intersection between science fiction and religion”.Or point us to more resources,please.
In the two reviews I listed, I mentioned other works as well (especially in the Damon Knight review).
My review of The Genocides is also a good place to start as I interrogate the biblical stories refashioned within as a big portion of the review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2023/01/08/book-review-the-genocides-thomas-m-disch-1965/
Thank you,Joachim.Settling in a new cat …going so well I’ll soon follow this up😸
But yes, I, too love retellings and rewriting of all kinds — so much that I got a PhD in History with a dissertation on rewriting Roman and Late Antique history in the medieval period….
I love Kuttner and Moore, as you know. I’ll probably still read “When the Bough Breaks” because I like Kuttner’s sense of humor more than you do. We also basically agree on “Clash by Night.” It’s interesting and a bit innovative, but it’s also overlong and the naval battle in the climax makes my eyes glaze over.
I need to reread “Vintage Season.”
I also glazed over on the battle scenes — I did not find them engaging or climactic. But as I was taking notes on the story, I remembered the elements that were far more interesting — namely the dialogue between the “present” and the past and the operations of legend.
A lot of people love “When the Bough Breaks”…. the anthology list is ridiculous.
“Vintage Season” is quite spectacular. I’d love to read your thoughts on it 🙂
For the curious, here’s Brian’s review of “Clash by Night” as he didn’t link it: https://sffremembrance.com/2023/11/17/novella-review-clash-by-night-by-henry-kuttner-and-c-l-moore/
This may be a duplicate post. Sorry.
Just wanted to note that I recently reread Kuttner and Moore’s Private Eye for the first time in 40 years and found that it held up very well.
“When the Bough Breaks” fits in with a lot of SF of the time, apparently reflecting SF authors’ reaction to the astonishing number of babies around in the post-war era, and the sense that these children would have vastly different childhoods than the authors had, due to Hiroshima and television. Examples include “Star Bright” (Clifton), “Mimsy were the Borogoves,” “Childhood’s End” (Clarke), “The Playground” and “The Veldt” by Bradbury, and many others.
The spam filter got your comment! Sor
Yes, I found the general historical background for the story interesting — and have read the Bradbury and Clarke. Wilmar H. Shiras’ “In Hiding” (1948), “Opening Doors” (1949), and “New Foundations” (1950) also come to mind. But this particular example? No so much.
I recently read a spectacular book called Perfectly Average: The Pursuit of Normality in Postwar America (2010) which charts the evolving view and purpose of assessing “normality” in the 40s-60s. I could have connected this story to that book — which was the plan — but I really struggled to finish reading Moore and Kuttner’s vision. Thank goodness for “Vintage Season”! It elevated the quality of the collection substantially.
I read the Kuttner & Moore collection “Two Handed Engine” awhile ago (around the same time I read the C.M. Kornbluth’s complete short stories collection). I have no memory of “Clash by Night” or “The Ego Machine” but had a similar reaction as yours to “When the Bough Breaks”; I generally roll my eyes at the overly silly comedic strain of SF that was seemingly so prevalent. ”Vintage Season” was one of several stories (“Shambleau” being another one) that really left an impression, partly because Silverberg echoed it in “When We Went to See the End of the World”, which I assume was by design.
I also thought of the Silverberg story. I’m a huge fan of that one! https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2012/09/02/book-review-three-for-tomorrow-novellas-by-robert-silverberg-roger-zelazny-and-james-blish-1969/
Yeah, comedic SF… William Tenn and Sheckley are two often comedic authors from that era that I legitimately find funny.
Is your dissertation online?
If you had institutional access, perhaps. But please note: “Joachim Boaz” is a pseudonym I’ve used since I started the site so I am not going to give any additional details.
Very biblical.Almost as good as Frauke Uhlenbruch. His book on the Bible and Science Fiction going for hundreds of dollars ON KINDLE..A biblical sum,even…
Ha, a robot called ENIAC. Was he also designed to compute the values of artillery range tables?
Hah. Yeah, it’s definitely a reference — a future version of the computer gone rogue or something.
Drive-by hugs, Dr. B! I had a wrangle with the redesigned app, which tells you how long it’s been since I last logged in…be well, good sir.
Thank you for stopping by! I miss our conversations.
Maybe now I got back in we can keep up here. I’m not sure about their AI scraping policy, but I’m not creating content exactly useful to ’em.
Yeah, not so happy about that either….
It should make you incandescent with rage with your PhD! Think of the work, uncompensated, you did that’s now feeding their LLM. Heck, I’m incandescent for you!
Apparently there are some plugins that I can use to prevent AI scraping. I’ll have to investigate.
Please, please do. I resent the idea that your erudition can be so casually pirated.
To be honest, I don’t have the mental energy to be ” incandescent with rage” — I already unfollowed everyone who uses AI art, I endlessly tell my students not to use AI resources and use their own minds, etc. I cannot be angry at everything. else couldn’t do anything other than scream in a corner.
I’m speaking from the corner, so…
I don’t know how I missed this post earlier! I don’t have much to add to a good discussion, but I do want to echo the comments of many — “Vintage Season” is without question one of the greatest SF stories of all time. This view was strongly reinforced when I recently reread it.
As for its authorship, there can be little doubt that it is primarily by Moore. But in my reread, I saw a paragraph or two that seemed to be in what I think of as Kuttner’s voice. (I admit that’s a thin reed on which to hang a decision!) It’s known that they would both occassionally sit down at the typewriter and continue something the other had worked on, so I think it’s always going to be hard to make a definitive statement on authorship for their works.
No worries. I agree that it’s a spectacular story. As for who wrote what, I don’t think I’m equipped to voice an opinion. I just go with how it’s credited on isfdb.org. But yes, from what I’ve read about their co-authorship it’s “always going to be hard to make a definitive statement.”