Collected Short Fiction, page 1
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Collected Short Fiction
James E. Gunn
(custom book cover)
Jerry eBooks
Title Page
About James E. Gunn
“Biolog”
Bibliography: Novels
Bibliography: Magazine-published Novels
Bibliography: Chapbooks
Bibliography: Collections
Bibliography: Omnibus
Bibliography: Nonfiction
Short Fiction Bibliography: chronological
Short Fiction Bibliography: alphabetical
Fiction Series
1949
Communications
Paradox
1950
The Man with Common Sense
Private Enterprise
1951
Slave Psychology
The Sun Came Up Last Night!
These Things are Sirius
Mask of Peace
1952
The Slaves of Venus
Survival Policy
The Misogynist
1953
The Boy with Five Fingers
Breaking Point
Wherever You May Be
The Man Who Owned Tomorrow
Killer
1954
A Word for Freedom
Open Warfare
Sine of the Magus
A Monster named Smith
The Beautiful Brew
Danger Past
1955
Name You Pleasure
Without Portfolio
The Cave of Night
The Unhappy Man
Shill
Feeding Time
Little Orphan Android
The Naked Sky
New Blood
Hoax
1956
The Gravity Business
Tsylana
The Stilled Patter
Witches Must Burn
The Big Wheel
1957
Everyday is Christmas
Green Thumb
Space is a Lonely Place
No So Great an Enemy
1958
Skin Game
Deadly Silence
Powder Keg
The Reason is with Us
Neosho’s Choicest
When the Shoe Fits
The Immortals
1960
Donor
1964
The Last Word
1968
The Listeners
1969
Trial by Fire
Witch Hunt
The Man Who Would Not
1970
Teddy Bear
Kindergarten
1971
The Technological Revolution
The Message
1972
The Old Folks
The Answer
The Reply
The Voices
1975
Fault
1977
Child of the Sun
If I Forget Thee
1978
Guilt
1981
The North Wind
1982
The Anti-Nuclear Conspiracy
1984
End of the World
Tiger! Tiger!
Man of the Hour
1985
Touch of the Match
Mother of the Year
Will of the Wisp
Man of Parts
1986
Out of My Head
1989
The End-of-the-World Ball
1992
Sane Asylum
Judgment Day
Broken Record
The Black Marble
1993
The Futurist
1995
The Gingerbread Man
The Lens of Time
1996
The Whip
Jackpot for Julie
The Man with One Talent
The Big One
Pest House
The Day the Magic Came Back
1999
The Giftie
2000
Pow’r
The Abyss
2001
The Rabbit Hole
2002
Among the Beautiful Bright Children
2004
Elixir
2005
Uncreated Night and Strange Shadows
2010
Tales from the Spaceship Geoffrey
2014
Patterns
2016
New Earth
2017
The March of the Little Green Men
Transcendental Mission: Riley’s Story
Weighty Matters: Tordor’s Story
Arriving at Terminal: Xi’s Story
The Ganymede Gambit: Jan’s Story
Love and Death and the Star That Shall Not Be Named: Kom’s Story
2018
The Seeds of Consciousness: 4107’s Story
The Final Commandment: Trey’s Story
The Waiting Room: The Pedia’s Story
Attack on Terminal: The Pilgrims’ Story
2019
The Little Sailboat
Quantum Theory
2020
In Our Stars
Against the Stars
2021
Reclaiming the Stars
Singular Days
James Edwin Gunn was born on July 12, 1923 in Kansas City, Missouri to Jesse and Elsie Mae (nee Hutchison) Gunn. He came from a publishing family: his father was a printer, two uncles were pressmen, another uncle was a proofreader, and his grandfather was a newspaper editor.
Gunn served for three years in the U.S. Navy during World War II but never saw combat. With several months of Japanese language training, he was sent to Truk Island, now known as Chuuk Lagoon, to be an interpreter after the war was over. He then attended the University of Kansas, earning a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in 1947 and a Masters of Arts in English from Northwestern University in 1951.
James Gunn married Jane Frances Anderson on February 6, 1947, at Danforth Chapel in Lawrence, Kansas. They had two sons, Christopher, born in 1949, and Kevin, born in 1954. Christopher died on St. Patrick’s Day, 2005. Jane died September 27, 2012. Kevin is still living.
Gunn became a professional writer in 1947 when he wrote a play produced by the University of Kansas, Thy Kingdom Come, then wrote newspaper articles and radio scripts. Although he considered moving to New York to become a playwright, he began his career as a science fiction writer in 1948. Gunn wrote his first science fiction, ten short stories, and published nine from 1949 to 1952 as “Edwin James”, a pseudonym derived from his full name James Edwin Gunn. The first two in print, “Communications” and “Paradox” (the first sale), were published in September and October 1949 by editor Sam Merwin in Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories respectively. Gunn’s master’s thesis, a critical analysis of the genre, was also published in a professional magazine.
By 1958, James Gunn was managing editor of University of Kansas Alumni Publications. He became a faculty member of the university, where he served as the director of public relations and as a Professor of English, specializing in science fiction and fiction writing. He was a professor emeritus and director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, which awards the annual John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award at the Campbell Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, every summer.
Gunn was a professor emeritus of English and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, both at the University of Kansas. He served as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1971–72 and was President of the Science Fiction Research Association from 1980–82. SFWA honored him as a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 2007.
On June 12, 2015, Locus announced the selection of Gunn and four others for induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
James Edwin Gunn died of natural causes on December 23, 2020, at age 97, in Lawrence, Kansas.
Jay Kay Klein’s
biolog
James E. Gunn
When an act of Congress created James E. Gunn an officer, it would have been redundant to declare him a gentleman. Impeccably dressed, suave, and urbane, Jim Gunn was briefly an ensign, then lieutenant junior grade in the closing days of WWII before going from officer (and gentleman) of the U.S. Navy to gentleman and scholar as professor of English at a major university.
He was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, entering the navy at 18 for pilot training. A few months later, with occupation personnel more in demand, he was transferred to Japanese language school. Soon a civilian, he earned a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Kansas, did work in drama at Northwestern, and secured a Master’s in English from the University of Kansas. His 1951 thesis on science fiction (“Modern Science Fiction”) must have been one of the first ever. A 20,000-word excerpt appeared in a science fiction magazine.
Jim started reading science fiction at age seven or eight when he found some Burroughs novels in his grandmother’s closet. His first real writing effort was published in 1949 in a now-defunct magazine. Several stories later, “Private Enterprise” appeared in the July 1950 i
As a full professor at the University of Kansas, Jim finds little interest for activities outside university duties and writing. He has twenty-four books in print either as editor or author, and is well known for his critical studies of science fiction.
Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction received a special Hugo Award at the 1976 world science fiction convention. The Listeners placed second in the 1972 John W. Campbell Award competition for best science fiction novel. The Science Fiction Research Association presented him with its Pilgrim Award in 1976, and he became the group’s president In 1980. He also was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1971. Most recently, Isaac Asimov—The Foundation of Science Fiction received a Hugo at the 1983 world convention.
Jim touched general America through TV, first with a story dramatization in 1959, then with The Immortal, a 1964 novel that became an ABC movie in 1969 and was followed by a series of fifteen episodes. With science fiction now so ubiquitous in American life, Jim looks back and says he never thought it would be a field of academic study. However, he always thought science fiction was the equal of any other type of literature, though its pulp beginnings were often short in writing skill. He has tried to introduce in his own writing the best techniques a trained person can employ, and feels science fiction is better written today than ever before. He especially likes to see science integrated well with literary values.
The story in this issue is a “prequel” to one in the March 1977 issue.
Originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, January 1984
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOVELS
Crisis! (1986)
The Joy Machine (1996)
Star Bridge (1955)
This Fortress World (1955)
The Joy Makers (1961)
The Immortal (1970)
The Magicians (1976)
Kampus (1977)
The Dreamers (1981)
Tiger! Tiger! (1984)
The Millennium Blues (2000)
Gift from the Stars (2005)
Transcendental (2013)
Transgalactic (2016)
Transformation (2017)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MAGAZINE-PUBLISHED NOVELS
The Sun Came Up Last Night!, Science Fiction Quarterly, August 1951
Name Your Pleasure, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter, January 1955
Shill, If, April 1955
The Naked Sky, Startling Stories, Fall, October 1955
Deadly Silence, Fantastic Universe, April 1958
Trial by Fire, If, February 1969
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAPBOOKS
Tiger! Tiger! (1984)
Breaking Point (2007)
The Gravity Business (2015)
The Stilled Patter (2022)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
COLLECTIONS
Future Imperfect (1964)
The Witching Hour (1970)
Breaking Point (1972)
The Burning (1972)
Some Dreams Are Nightmares (1974)
The End of the Dreams (1975)
Human Voices (2002)
Pilgrims to Transcendence (2020)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OMNIBUS
The 13th Immortal/This Fortress World (1957) with Robert Silverberg
The Unpublished Gunn (2020)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NONFICTION
Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction (1975)
The Discovery of the Future: The Ways Science Fiction Developed (1975)
The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1988)
Inside Science Fiction: Essays on Fantastic Literature (1992)
The Science of Science-Fiction Writing (2000)
Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction (2005) with Matthew Candelaria
Reading Science Fiction (2008) with Marleen S. Barr and Matthew Candelaria
Paratexts: Introductions to Science Fiction and Fantasy (2013)
Star-Begotten: A Life Lived in Science Fiction (2017)
Modern Science Fiction (2018)
SHORT FICTION BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHRONOLOGICAL
1949
Communications, Startling Stories, September 1949
Paradox, Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1949
1950
The Man with Common Sense, Amazing Stories, July 1950
Private Enterprise, Astounding Science Fiction, July 1950
1951
Slave Psychology, Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories, January 1951
The Sun Came Up Last Night!, Science Fiction Quarterly, August 1951
These Things Are Sirius, Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1951
Mask of Peace, Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories, September 1951
1952
The Slaves of Venus, Planet Stories, September 1952
Survival Policy, Astounding Science Fiction, October 1952
The Misogynist, Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1952
1953
The Boy with Five Fingers, Startling Stories, January 1953
Breaking Point, Space Science Fiction, March 1953
Wherever You May Be, Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1953
The Man Who Owned Tomorrow, Argosy, July 1953
Killer, Rocket Stories, September 1953
1954
A Word for Freedom, If, January 1954
Open Warfare, Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1954
Sine of the Magus, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, May 1954
A Monster Named Smith, If, July 1954
The Beautiful Brew, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, September 1954
Danger Past, Orbit, September/October, September 1954
1955
Name Your Pleasure, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter, January 1955
Without Portfolio, Astounding Science Fiction, January 1955
The Cave of Night, Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1955
The Unhappy Man, Fantastic Universe, February 1955
Shill, If, April 1955
Feeding Time, Astounding Science Fiction, August 1955
Little Orphan Android, Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1955
The Naked Sky, Startling Stories, Fall, October 1955
New Blood, Astounding Science Fiction, October 1955
Hoax, If, December 1955
1956
The Gravity Business, Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1956
Tsylana, Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1956
The Stilled Patter, Infinity Science Fiction, June 1956
Witches Must Burn, Astounding Science Fiction, August 1956
The Big Wheel, Fantastic Universe, September 1956
1957
Every Day is Christmas, Super-Science Fiction, February 1957
Green Thumb, If, April 1957
Pill Roller, The Saint Detective Magazine, April 1957
Space is a Lonely Place, Venture Science Fiction, May 1957
Not So Great an Enemy, Venture Science Fiction, July 1957
1958
Skin Game, Venture Science Fiction, January 1958
Deadly Silence, Fantastic Universe, April 1958
Powder Keg, If, April 1958
The Reason is with Us, Satellite Science Fiction, April 1958
Neosho’s Choicest, Fantastic, June 1958
When the Shoe Fits, Vanguard Science Fiction, June 1958
The Immortals, Star Science Fiction Stories No. 4, November 1958
1960
Donor, Fantastic, Stories of Imagination, November 1960
1964
The Last Word, Future Imperfect, January 1964
1968
The Listeners, Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1968
1969
Trial by Fire, If, February 1969
Witch Hunt, Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1969
The Man Who Would Not, If, December 1969
1970
Teddy Bear, Worlds of Fantasy, #2, September 1970
Kindergarten, Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1970
1971
The Technological Revolution, Infinity Two, 1971
The Message, Galaxy Science Fiction, May/June, May 1971
1972
The Old Folks, Nova 2, 1972
The Answer, Galaxy Science Fiction, January/February, January 1972
The Reply, Galaxy Science Fiction, May/June, May 1972
The Voices, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1972
1975
Fault, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, June 1975
