Retro Hugos 1943: Short Fiction

It seems to me that Retro Hugo awards are sometimes given to lesser works by better-known

Astounding Science Fiction
continued to be a dominant
force in the field in 1943.
(Image via sfmagazines.com)

authors, rather than to meritorious stories by obscure writers. This tendency is both unfortunate and understandable, as the back catalogues of big-name authors are more likely to be read in the modern era.  

So let’s think about what was happening in 1943. Numerous authors were serving in the military during the war and published relatively few — or no — stories. Among this contingent were luminaries such as Robert Heinlein, James Blish, Cyril Kornbluth, and L. Sprague de Camp.

Even Isaac Asimov’s usual pace of publishing slowed down during his time working for the war effort. After almost a year away from writing, he produced just two stories near the end of the year, one of which (Death Sentence) is worth noting, and may appear on our ballots.

The relative absence of science fiction heavy hitters opened the door for several authors who might otherwise have been neglected. The Retro Hugos that will be presented in 2019 give us a chance to recognize some authors who are long overdue a Hugo.

Suggested Retro Hugo readings in brief:

Novella	Author(s)	Link to work, or supporting document(s)
Earth’s Last Citadel	C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner	http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/earths-last-citadel/comment-page-1/
Clash By Night	C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner
Novelette	Author(s)	Link to work, or supporting document(s)
Blind Alley	Malcolm Jameson	http://www.unz.com/print/Unknown-1943jun-00048
The Citadel of Lost Ships	Leigh Brackett	http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68932
Short Story	Author(s)	Link to work, or supporting document(s)
Mimsy Were the Borogoves	C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner	Alec Nevala-Lee’s write-up is excellent: https://nevalalee.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/astounding-stories-7-mimsy-were-the-borogoves/ Read it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0bly5sneouc7pyh/AST_1943_02.pdf?dl=0
Death Sentence	Isaac Asimov	https://www.dropbox.com/s/x7ol1cm481h3dym/AST_1943_11.pdf?dl=0
Symbiotica	Eric Frank Russell	https://www.dropbox.com/s/42pm53lugg3z28d/AST_1943_10.pdf?dl=0
The Proud Robot		http://www.prosperosisle.org/spip.php?article863
Exile	Edmond Hamilton	http://www.scritub.com/limba/engleza/books/EXILE-by-Edmond-Hamilton9421916.php

There have been few science fiction writing duos as successful or as prolific as Catherine L. Moore and Henry Kuttner, who together published in excess of 200 stories over the course of a decade and a half from about 1940 to 1955.

They have often appeared on Retro Hugo ballots, and won for Short Story in 2018. But there are few years in which anyone was as dominant in the field as they were in 1943.

Writing under several pseudonyms, they published something interesting, clever, innovative and fun, every month that year. In fact, almost half of the stories selected by Isaac Asimov for his 1981

Like many classic works of SF,
Mimzy Were The Borogoves was
adapted into an excruciating movie.
(Image via tvtropes.org) 

collection reviewing the works of 1943 Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 5 are works by Moore and Kuttner.

Their most famous collaboration is possibly Mimsy Were The Borogoves, a short story they published under the byline Lewis Padgett in the February 1943 edition of Astounding.

The story, which is an odd work about time travel that focuses on the neurodivergent possibilities of childhood development, has aged remarkably well and should be a strong contender for the Hugo Award in short stories. It’s interesting that so few stories have looked at the idea of educational toys from the future. It is the only work from 1943 that Robert Silverberg selected for his renowned collection The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1: 1929-1964.

Another of Moore and Kuttner’s short works, The Proud Robot, is the best-known of their comedic stories that detail the life and misadventures of eccentric inventor Gallegher. In this tale, Gallegher struggles to deal with an exceptional robot that he built in an alcoholic haze, and of which he cannot remember the purpose. It is wickedly funny, though dated in its descriptions of technology.

Better-known for his crime fiction, Anthony Boucher published one of his finer works of science fiction in 1943. As with much of his speculative fiction output, the novelette One-Way Trip has a strong aspect of religion and morality woven into it.

C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner
enjoyed an extraordinary
collaboration over more than
15 years as husband and wife.
(Image via adventuresfantastic.com)

An opponent of capital punishment, Boucher imagined a society that dealt with the most severe criminals by exiling them on a one-way rocketship into the depths of outer space. While there’s an excess of convenient accidents in the plotting, the likability of protagonist Gan Garett, the quality of the writing, and the utopian worldbuilding all add up to a work that is well worth celebrating.

Boucher was on the Retro Hugo ballot last year for The Compleat Werewolf, but regrettably lost to the better-known Robert Heinlein story Waldo. With Heinlein absent from the ballot this year, we have hope that he might be recognized.

Leigh Brackett, whose career had started with modest success in the first years of World War Two, had significantly developed her craft as a writer by 1943. Her novelette The Citadel of Lost Ships, which appeared in the March edition of Planet Stories shows her delving into questions of identity and cultural influences. This story clearly shows the development of her superb style and taught pacing that would, in 1944, earn her contracts to write major Hollywood scripts.

There are, unfortunately, several mediocre works that may receive undue attention this year due to the fame of their authors. H.P. Lovecraft’s posthumous work The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath was first published in 1943. While the book has its admirers amongst hard-core Lovecraft afficionados, and those who appreciate dream-logic narratives,  it is in our estimation relentlessly mediocre and tedious throughout.

A wide swath of lesser-known science fiction and fantasy from the pulp era is less available to readers because it is difficult to acquire the pulp magazines in which they appeared. While some magazines have been scanned and made available online, copyright issues serve as an impediment to their wider distribution.

As this accessibility barrier grows over time, these issues might even call into question the legitimacy of the Retro Hugos when they’re presented 75 years or 100 years after publication dates. When nominating — and voting — for these Retro Hugos, we would encourage Worldcon members to read widely.