Unknown Worlds: Tales From Beyond edited by Stanley Schmidt (book review).
In 1939, John W. Campbell, Jr., editor of ‘Astounding Science Fiction’, launched a new magazine called ‘Unknown Worlds’ for fantasy stories without any scientific rationale. Of course, ‘Weird Tales’ had existed since 1923 but Campbell wanted a different sort of fare than featured in its pages and a different setting. To quote this book’s editor, Stanley Schmidt: ‘not some fairy-tale kingdom in a hazy time that never was, but the everyday world the magazine’s twentieth-century readers lived in, with all the logical and illogical constraints, trials and tribulations that come with that territory.’ Some of the top SF writers also dabbled in fantasy and were glad to supply the new magazine. World War II paper shortages killed off ‘Unknown Worlds’ and it never revived, alas. All this was long ago and many of the stories are available cheaply or even freely online. I’ll list all the contents to save you buying the book but if you want to, it’s surprisingly cheap. People don’t appreciate the classics anymore.
‘Trouble With Water’ by H.L. Gold has beach concession owner Greenberg repelling water after being cursed by a gnome he had upset. He can’t wash, shave or even drink.
Henderson is going to a Halloween ball and buys a suitable cloak from a strange man in an odd little shop to dress as a vampire. ‘The Cloak’ by Robert Bloch is fairly predictable but done in style.
‘The Gnarly Man’ by L. Sprague de Camp has a learned anthropologist discover a Neanderthal man hiding out in a carnival, on display. It turns out he has lived for millennia after being struck by lightning did something to his medulla oblongata. I liked the civilised and intelligent tone of this one and really should read more Sprague de Camp.
In ‘The Misguided Halo’ by Henry Kuttner, an angel erroneously gives a halo to a 20th century man working in advertising and he finds it difficult to cope with such an embellishment. Amusing to start with but sort of tailed-off.
‘Two Sought Adventure’ by Fritz Leiber is the first tale of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and seems an odd fit here, not John Campbell’s sort of thing at all and a better fit for ‘Weird Tales’. However, here it is. The pair go in search of an ancient treasure and get in trouble. The plot is standard sword and sorcery, Leiber coined the term , but the prose elevates it.
In ‘When It Was Moonlight’ by Manley Wade Wellman, the hero is Edgar Allan Poe himself. Scribbling a story, he recalls a local incident of a man accidentally burying his wife alive that might inspire him and seeks the fellow out. Things don’t turn out as expected.
‘The Pipes Of Pan’ by Lester Del Rey has Pan, last of the old gods, reduced to human status when his last worshipper dies and forced to earn a living in the big city, where there ain’t no pity. An amusing and interesting look at American social history in a certain time period.
‘It’ by Theodore Sturgeon is a horror story about a powerful, emotionless creature that grows from the muck in a forest and makes life hell for a local farming family. ‘It’ may be the inspiration for the famous swamp-based monsters of latter comicbooks. The prose is poetic and the characters are fully-fleshed out in a paragraph or two. P. Schulyer Miller said ‘It’ was ‘probably the most unforgettable story ever published in Unknown.’ A masterpiece that reminded me I should read more Sturgeon.
‘Fruit Of Knowledge’ by C.L. Moore is a Garden of Eden story in which Lilith, Queen of Air and Darkness, interferes with God’s plan even before Lucifer, who also features. An entertaining take on a familiar myth.
‘The Wheels Of If’ by L. Sprague de Camp is a novella of 50 pages in which Allister Park, a New York lawyer with political ambitions, wakes up in a different body and a different world. This happens several days in a row until he finally settles in the body of a bishop in an alternative Viking state of America. It’s the old theory of alternate worlds being created by important decisions, in this case that by King Oswiu of Northumbria to choose the Celtic church over the Roman and by Abd-ar-Rahman, Governor of Cordoba, to attack the Franks prematurely. The story was clever and complicated but somehow didn’t give much joy. The lead character is competent, resilient and able but not especially likeable.
‘The Bleak Shore’ by Fritz Leiber is an eight-page tale about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. In the Silver Eel Tavern in Lankhmar, a small, pale man casts a spell that sends them wandering across the ocean to their doom. A spooky tale carried off with poetic prose.
‘They’ by Robert Heinlein is about a man who thinks they are all out to get him being soothed by a psychiatrist. His paranoia came about when he looked out of the window one day and saw something he shouldn’t have. This is a classic.
‘Armageddon’ by Frederic Brown is a slight tale in which a boy interested in magic prevents the Apocalypse thanks to a series of coincidences.
‘Mr. Jinx’ by Robert Arthur has an eastern magician foiled by a beautiful young lady when he tries to start a protection racket in New York among certain lowlife gangsters and fight fixers. Well written with a neat twist.
In ‘A Gnome There Was’ by Henry Kuttner, Tim Crockett is a middle-class Californian investigating conditions among miners in Pennsylvania. He is a labour organiser, which seems to the author a laughable occupation. Caught in a mine collapse, he finds himself turned into a gnome and condemned to a life of digging twenty hours a day with occasional breaks for fighting, which gnomes love. Was this Kuttner’s view of labouring men? The story is funny, but the snobbery rankled.
‘Hereafter, Inc.’ by Lester Del Rey is an amusing tale about a godly, self-righteous man who wakes up in confusing circumstances but must continue with the job he hates. Packs a lot into a few pages.
‘Snulbug’ by Anthony Boucher. Bill Hitchens summons a rather ineffectual little demon called Snulbug because he needs $10,000 to set up a laboratory for embolism research. Mildly amusing.
‘The Refugees’ by Frank Belknap Long. Elves have come to America with Helen Kelly, fleeing the bombing of Ireland, but fear that realist accountant suitor Roger Prindle will take her away from the memory-haunted house full of old furniture where they live. A minor plot but clever, incantatory prose. Long was a close friend of H.P. Lovecraft.
‘Hell Is Forever’ by Alfred Bester. Six bored decadent people meet regularly in a room at Sutton Castle to participate in Lady Sutton’s sensation parties, where they try every sort of pleasure. Bored with drink, drugs and debauchery, they turn to the occult and summon a demon and end up in their individual hells. Bester writes fluent prose and the story makes some interesting philosophical points. Too much focus on pleasing yourself might not lead to a satisfactory life.
‘The Hag Seleen’ by Theodore Surgeon isn’t a masterpiece like ‘It’ but is still excellent. Jon, Anjy and their daughter, Patty, rent a cabin in the swamps of Louisiana and a local witch demands they leave as it is her territory. Jon is a writer of voodoo stories, so he knows that witches and such are nonsense. Sturgeon’s close-knit family are smart, tough and capable. The witch should leave them alone.
In ‘The Witch’ by A.E. Van Vogt, Craig Marson and his wife, Joanna, put up with Mother Quigley, an elderly relative who has turned up. They feel obliged to look after her, but all is not what it seems. The husband’s concerns about his prestige as a head teacher are realistic and the story has some good moments, but the ending is odd.
‘Conscience, Ltd’ by Jack Williamson is an amusing piece about lawyers in Hell. Lawyers are not very popular in America. It’s worth mentioning that ‘Wonder’s Child: My Life In Science Fiction’ by Williamson is an entertaining memoir and an eye-opener if you ever thought you were poor.
‘Greenface’ by James H. Schmitz. Horace Masters is trying to make a go of Masters Fishing Camp on Thursday Lake so he can be a success and marry Julia Anderson when a small green-faced creature turns up and starts causing trouble. A small town horror story of a familiar kind but very well handled with good characters and fine prose.
‘Hell Hath Fury’ by Cleve Cartmill is another story of a small town and very much character-based despite the infernal premise. Jim Roberts and his lovely wife Lucille have a son named Billy but some how he has a touch of the devil in him. Was Jim possessed at the conception? It isn’t clear. A visitor turns up claiming to be an old friend of Jim’s uncle and takes an interest in the child. ‘Everyone calls me Nick to my face. Old Nick when I’m gone’, he tells the parents. Nick expects the child to be a tool in his plans but Billy has different ideas. How small decisions can shape people’s lives and destiny makes the reader think about his own. I enjoyed this one.
‘Blind Alley’ by Malcolm Jameson has crooked millionaire Feathersmith make a deal with the devil as old age brings on heart attacks. He wants to go back to Cliffordsville, the small town where he started, and be young again. With his knowledge of what’s to come he can make even more money by investing in oil and steel. As usual, the devil gets the best of the bargain, but editor John W. Campbell, a big fan of scientific progress, would have liked the way the past was shown to be awful. Quite right, too. This was filmed as an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ television show but retitled ‘Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville.’ Trivia note: Jameson’s daughter married Cleve Cartimill. SF and fantasy was a small, close-knit world back then.
The magazine ‘Unknown Worlds’ was much lauded in its day and is mentioned fondly in several memoirs by writers of the time, so I’ve always been keen to see the contents and was not disappointed. Of course, these stories are inevitably dated, but so is Jane Austen, and she’s still popular. They’re a good snapshot of life in mid-century America with fantasy fun features thrown in. You can probably find most of them free somewhere on the vast internet but, oddly, the real paper book doesn’t cost that much. Out of fashion, I guess. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I’m old.
Eamonn Murphy
May 2025
(pub: Galahad Books, 1989. 517 page paperback. Price. Under £5 in some places. Mad prices in others. Shop around. ISBN: 978-0-88365-728-7)