If you missed the last one…
This post is brought to you by Ships of Steel edited by G. W. Thomas. This anthology of Space Opera and SF Adventure tales features four novellas, each with its own illustration by M. D. Jackson. If you enjoy your Science Fiction with more action this is the book for you. Manhunts across a giant spaceship, a quest for stolen space pirate treasure with killer androids, a lost child that is the key to a mystery and a planet with a deadly secret that will cause a galactic war. These are stories that move but will also move you. Be sure to check Whispers of Ice and Sand by G. W. Thomas as well, featuring four stories about Sudana and Zaar.
The last stage of Kornbluth’s career was one of a successful writer who knows what he wants to write. As Fred Pohl says in The Best of C. M. Kornbluth (1977), the stories Cyril was writing in the 1950s, right up to the day he died, were his strongest and best work. That there aren’t as many well-remembered gems after 1954 does not mean Cyril was failing. His early death shaped how we see him now and his greatest work might have been in front of him.
1955
Not This August (1955) reprinted in the Canadian Maclean’s Magazine, May 14-June 11, 1955
A Town Is Drowning (1955) with Frederik Pohl – the byline is actually their names, no more pseudonyms!
The Mindworm and Others (1955)
“The Adventurers” (Science Fiction Quarterly, February 1955)
1956
Presidential Year (1956) with Frederik Pohl
Sorority House (1956) with Frederik Pohl as Jordan Park
“The Cosmic Charge Account” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1956)
“The Engineer” (Infinity Science Fiction, February 1956)
1957
“Time Travel and the Law” (Coming Attractions, Gnome Press 1956)
“Ms Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1957)
“The Unfortunate Topologist” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1957)
“The Education of Tigress Macardle” (Venture Science Fiction Magazine, July 1957)
“The Slave” (Science Fiction Adventures, September 1957)
“The Last Man Left in the Bar” (Infinity Science Fiction, October 1957)
“Wolfbane” (Galaxy Science Fiction, October November 1957)
Part One
Part Two
“Requiem For a Scientist” (Fantastic Universe, December 1957)
1958
The Man of Cold Rages (1958) with Frederik Pohl as Jordan park
“Passion Pills” (1958)
“The Events Leading Down to the Tragedy” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1958)
March 2, 1958 CMK dies of a heart attack. Cyril shoveled his walkway before running to catch a train. He died on the platform. The stress of his days in the Battle of Bulge had finally taken their toll. There will be a few stories to appear, having been sold before this day, but most of what will follow will bear the byline “By Frederik Pohl & C. M.Kornbluth”. Pohl would complete stories he and Cyril had discussed and begun. These would appear until “Mute Inglorios Tam” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1974). Fred would also write a sequel to The Space Merchants called The Merchant’s War (1984) though CMK had no direct part in this book.
“Virginia” (Venture Science Fiction Magazine, March 1958)
“Reap the Dark Tide” (aka “Shark Ship”) (Vanguard Science Fiction, June 1958)
“Theory of Rocketry” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1958)
“Two Dooms” (Venture Science Fiction Magazine, July 1958)
“The Advent of Channel Twelve” (Star Science Fiction Stories No. 4, November 1958)
“Nightmare with Zeppelins” (Galaxy Magazine, December 1958) with Frederik Pohl
1959
The Marching Morons and Other Famous Science Fiction Stories (1959)
“The Failure of the Science Fiction Novel as Social Criticism” (The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism (1959)
1961
“A Gentle Dying” (Galaxy Magazine, June 1961) with Frederik Pohl
“The Quaker Cannon”(Analog, August 1961) with Frederik Pohl
“The World of Myrion Flowers” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1961)
“A Hint of Henbane” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, November 1961)
1962
The Wonder Effect (1962) with Frederik Pohl
“Critical Mass” (Galaxy Magazine, February 1962) with Frederik Pohl
1968
Best SF Stories of C. M.Kornbluth (1968)
1969
“The Little Black Bag” appears on February 25, 1969 on Out of the Unknown starring Emyrs Jones
1970
Thirteen O’Clock and Other Zero Hours (1970)
“The Little Black Bag” would appear on Night Gallery, December 23, 1970 starring Burgess Meredith
1972
“The Meeting” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1972) with Frederik Pohl
1974
“The Gift of Garigolli” (Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, August 1974) with Frederik Pohl
“Mute Inglorios Tam” (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1974)
1976
The Best of C. M. Kornbluth (1976)
1977
Critical Mass (1977) with Frederik Pohl
1980
Before the Universe and Other Stories (1980) with Frederik Pohl
1987
Our Best: The Best of Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1987) with Frederik Pohl
1997
His Share of Glory: The Complete Short Science Fiction of C.M. Kornbluth (1997)
2010
Eight Worlds of C. M. Kornbluth (2010)
2016
34th Golden Age Megapack: C. M. Kornbluth (2016)
2020
4 SF Stories by C. M. Kornbluth (2020)
Conclusion
In The Best of C. M. Kornbluth, Fred also speculates how CMK would have seen the New Wave movement of the 1960s:
Cyril died before the Wars of the New Wave began. I am not sure which side he would have taken. Everything he wrote is a perfectly polished example of the structured Galaxy or Astounding story of the 50s—which is, after all, what the New Wave was fighting against. But Cyril might have elected to fight on the same side. He was a poet before he was a science-fiction writer, and the fact that he mastered form does not mean he worshipped it.
I think Fred is right. The opportunity to explore story-telling in a new and varied way would have appealed to Cyril. By the 1960s, Kornbluth would have been well-entrenched in the publishing business (maybe writing more those non-SF books?) but I still think he would have tried his hand at something New Wave, and done it well. We can only guess, of course. I also think he would have tried Hollywood again, both in getting more adaptation and with original scripts, perhaps for Star Trek. Again, we can only guess. Whatever the case, we can be sure he would have written more stories worthy of his earlier reputation.
Discover these RAGE m a c h i n e SF books
I’ve read Kornbluth, but I don’t think I’ve ead any from this final period.
You’ve convinced me. I’ll have to track some of these down.