Henry Kuttner

Henry Kuttner (April 7, 1915 - February 4, 1958) was a science fiction author born in Los Angeles, California. As a young man he worked for a literary agency before selling his first story, "The Graveyard Rats", to Weird Tales in 1936.

Henry Kuttner was known for his literary prose and worked in close collaboration with his wife, C. L. Moore. They met through their association with the Lovecraft Circle, a group of writers and fans who corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft. Their work together spanned the 1940s and 1950s and most of the work was credited to pseudonyms, mainly Lewis Padgett and Laurence O'Donnell. Both freely admitted that one reason they worked so much together was because his page rate was higher than hers. In fact, several people have written or said that she wrote three stories which were published under his name. "Clash by Night" and The Portal in the Picture, also known as Beyond Earth's Gates, have both been alleged to have been written by her.

L. Sprague de Camp, who knew Kuttner and Moore well, has stated that their collaboration was so intensive that, after a story was completed, it was often impossible for either Kuttner or Moore to recall who had written which portions. According to de Camp, it was typical for either partner to break off from a story in mid-paragraph or even mid-sentence, with the latest page of the manuscript still in the typewriter. The other spouse would routinely continue the story where the first had left off. They alternated in this manner as many times as necessary until the story was finished.

Among Henry Kuttner's most popular work were the Gallegher stories, published under the Padgett name, about a man who invented robots when he was stinking drunk, only to be completely unable to remember exactly why he had built them after sobering up. These stories were later collected in Robots Have No Tails. In the introduction to the paperback reprint edition after his death, Moore stated that all the Gallagher stories were written by Kuttner alone.

Henry Kuttner spent the middle 50s getting his masters degree before dying of a heart attack in 1958.

Pseudonyms: Lawrence O'Donnell, Kelvin Kent, C. H. Liddell, Henry Kuttner, Lewis Padgett, Hudson Hastings, Keith Hammond, Peter Horn, Scott Morgan, Will Garth, Woodrow Wilson Smith, Paul Edmonds, Edward J. Bellin, James Hall, Robert O. Kenyon

Selected Bibliography
Complete Bibliography

Series

• Baldy
  • Mutant (1953) [as by Lewis Padgett ]

• Gallegher
  • Robots Have No Tails (1952) [as by Lewis Padgett ]

• Keeps
  • 2 Fury (1947) with C. L. Moore
    • Variant Title: Destination Infinity (1958) (1947)
    • Variant Title: Fury (1947) [as by Lawrence O'Donnell ]
    • Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
    • Fury (Part 1 of 3) (1947) with C. L. Moore
    • Fury (Part 2 of 3) (1947) with C. L. Moore
    • Fury (Part 3 of 3) (1947) with C. L. Moore

Novels

• The Creature from Beyond Infinity (1940)
• Earth's Last Citadel (1943) with C. L. Moore
• The Dark World (1946)
• Chessboard Planet (1946) with C. L. Moore
  • Variant Title: The Fairy Chessmen (1946) with C. L. Moore 
  • Variant Title: The Far Reality (1946) with  C. L. Moore
  • Variant Title: Chessboard Planet (1946) [as by Lewis Padgett ]
• Valley of the Flame (1946) [as by Keith Hammond ]
• The Day He Died (1947) with C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
• The Time Axis (1948)
• The Mask of Circe (1948) with C. L. Moore
• Beyond Earth's Gates (1949) with C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1951) with C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]
• The Well of the Worlds (1952) [as by Lewis Padgett ]
  • Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
  • The Well of the Worlds (Complete Novel) (1952)
• Mountain Magic (2004) with David Drake and Ryk E. Spoor

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