Fantasy Kuttner, Henry: The Creature From Beyond Infinity. v1. 09 Nov 08

[Dr. Drib]

This title was released under a Creative Commons License with a link to the book here. There is additional acknowledgement AND a link again placed at the end of the book. Book was acquired from Manybooks.net, BUT REFORMATED BY ME TO MY SPECIFICATIONS.
______________________________________________

An early fantasy novel by Henry Kuttner, originally published in 1940 and later reprinted by Popular Library in the '60s.

Here's what one - incredible - reviewer on Amazon says about this novel:

"[This novel] 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.)"

I read this novel, along with the other Henry Kuttner novels I've assembled, back in the 60s when ACE reprinted them. (Popular Library did this book, however.) They're fun to read and enjoyable entertainment. If you're tired of fat, preachy fantasy novels, then these early novels of Henry Kuttner are very enjoyable, indeed.

Like all the books I assemble on MobileRead, this too was assembled to reflect human intervention and artistic judgment.

I hope you enjoy it.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

This title was released under a Creative Commons License with a link to the book here. There is additional acknowledgement AND a link again placed at the end of the book. Book was acquired from Manybooks.net, BUT REFORMATED BY ME TO MY SPECIFICATIONS.
______________________________________________

An early fantasy novel by Henry Kuttner, originally published in 1940 and later reprinted by Popular Library in the '60s.

Here's what one - incredible - reviewer on Amazon says about this novel:

"[This novel] 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.)"

I read this novel, along with the other Henry Kuttner novels I've assembled, back in the 60s when ACE reprinted them. (Popular Library did this book, however.) They're fun to read and enjoyable entertainment. If you're tired of fat, preachy fantasy novels, then these early novels of Henry Kuttner are very enjoyable, indeed.

Like all the books I assemble on MobileRead, this too was assembled to reflect human intervention and artistic judgment.

I hope you enjoy it.

Dr. Drib, I, too am a Kuttner/C. L. Moore fan. Henry Kuttner died in 1958, which make his works P.D. in life + 50 countries as of Jan 1, 2009 (about 2 months from now. I don't know the MR policy for new PD books in Canada.)

[Dr. Drib]

Thank you for pointing this out. They've all been moved.

Don