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  Fiction

  Theodore R. Cogswell

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  Jerry eBooks

  About Theodore Rose Cogswell

  “Introducing the Author”

  Bibliography

  Short Fiction Bibliography: chronological

  Short Fiction Bibliography: alphabetical

  Short Fiction Series

  1952

  THE SPECTER GENERAL

  THE CABBAGE PATCH

  1953

  THE SHORT COUNT

  THE OTHER CHEEK

  MINIMUM SENTENCE

  EMERGENCY RATIONS

  THE WALL AROUND THE WORLD

  1954

  WOLFIE

  LOVER BOY

  LIMITING FACTOR

  THE MASTERS

  BARRIER

  THE BIG STINK

  DISASSEMBLY LINE

  CONTACT POINT

  INVASION REPORT

  CONVENTIONAL ENDING

  MR HOSKIN’S BLASTING ROD

  1955

  TEST AREA

  TRAINING DEVICE

  NO GUN TO THE VICTOR

  MEDDLER’S WORLD

  1956

  THREESIE

  IMPACT WITH THE DEVIL

  1957

  YOU KNOW WILLIE

  ACES LOADED

  1958

  PAIN REACTION

  A SPUDGET FOR THWILBERT

  THIMGS

  ONE TO A CUSTOMER

  1960

  THE BURNING

  1961

  MACHINE RECORD

  RADIATION BLUES

  BLOWUP BLUES

  1962

  PRISONER OF LOVE

  THE MAN WHO KNEW GRODNIK

  THE ROPER

  1973

  PARADISE REGAINED

  EARLY BIRD

  PROBABILITY ZERO!: THE POPULATION IMPLOSION

  1975

  PLAYERS AT NULL-G

  GRANDFATHER CLAUSE

  1981

  DEAL WITH THE D.E.V.I.L

  Theodore Rose Cogswell was born on March 10, 1918 in Coatesville, Pennsylvania was an university English professor who began publishing science fiction in 1950s.

  During the Spanish Civil War, as a teenager, served as an ambulance driver for the Republicans as part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

  His first published short story, “The Spectre General” in the magazine June 1952 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, was a humorous tale in which a long-forgotten maintenance brigade of the Imperial Space Marines has the potential of reinvigorating a declining Galactic empire.

  Theodore Cogswell wrote over 40 science fiction stories, most of them humorous, and was co-author of Spock, Messiah!; a novel of the Star Trek franchise.

  In 1959, he founded and edited a Fanzine for professional writers called Publications of the Institute of Twenty-First Century Studies but universally pronounced PITFCS; it ran to the end of 1962, though with a final number in 1979 (mostly containing material from 1962); it became quickly famed for the informative frankness of its contributors’ discussions of their own and others’ work, its most frequent contributors including Brian W Aldiss, Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, James Blish, Anthony Boucher, Reginald Bretnor, Algis Budrys, John W Campbell Jr, Arthur C Clarke, Avram Davidson, Gordon R Dickson, Horace L Gold, Robert A Heinlein, Damon Knight, Fritz Leiber, Dean McLaughlin, Judith Merril, Frederik Pohl, Eric Frank Russell, Theodore Sturgeon and Donald W Wollheim. Its niche as a forum for uninhibited semi-private discussion was arguably filled by the internal Forum of Science Fiction Writers of America, founded in 1965. The entire contents of the journal—except for one issue dealing with a particularly ugly controversy involving Walter M Miller—were eventually assembled in a single huge volume as PITFCS: Proceedings of the Institute for Twenty-First Century Studies.

  Theodore Cogswell died on February 3, 1987 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

  Introducing the AUTHOR

  «

  Theodore R. Cogswell

  «

  THE birthing was normal, so were the next ten years. I came along in the last year of the last war before the war before last in that pre-atomic era when the only mutational agents around were old-fashioned cosmic rays. As a result there was almost a complete dearth of telepaths and espers in the various Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New York and Ohio neighborhoods I successively inhabited. There were, of course, Tarzan and John Carter, but there weren’t enough accounts around of the exploits of either to offer a major distraction. On the whole I conducted myself in a manner calculated to reflect credit on American Boyhood. Until it happened, that is.

  I don’t remember whether it was an AIR WONDER or a SCIENCE WONDER, but by the time I reached page eighteen I was hooked. After that I went through the usual stages of addiction, just a poor innocent kid who didn’t realize what was happening to him. By the time Campbell’s ASTOUNDING came arcing over the horizon I was already a confirmed main liner.

  Shortly after I got out of high school, I took off for Europe and knocked around there for a year and a half. When I finally came wandering home I found that the science fiction habit—and the depression—was still with me. The next few years found me in and out of the University of Colorado. the quantative relationship between the out and in being best indicated by two dates—I started my undergraduate work in 1939; I finally got my B.A. in English in 1948. Part of the out time was spent on the usual string of odd, short term, and low paying jobs that the flesh of writers seems particularly heir to, the rest was spent with the Air Force in the CBI as a statistical control officer.

  I got into writing the same way that I did into teaching, by a series of happy accidents, acquiring one wife, two children, and three motorcycles along the way. Shortly after I took a job as an instructor at the University of Minnesota (an excellent institution except for one thing—there was really no place in the English curriculum for a specialist in 21st Century Lit.) I met Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson.

  “I have a wonderful idea for a story!” I said (For years I’d been having wonderful ideas for stories. The problem, of course, was to find somebody to handle the minor chore of writing them down.) After letting me buy several more rounds they came up with a brilliant suggestion, “Go write it,” they said. So I did. Somebody bought it. So I wrote another. Somebody bought that too. So I kept on. And that’s how I become a pusher.

  At the moment I have a pleasant job in a pleasant barely-southern university which is surrounded on three sides by horse farms and on the fourth by basketball players. Life is ideal.

  —Theodore R. Cogswell

  Originally appeared in Imagination Science Fiction, October 1955

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Novels

  Spock, Messiah! (1976) with Charles A. Spano, Jr.

  Magazine-published Novels

  The Other Cheek, Science Fiction Adventures, May 1953

  Meddler’s World, Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1955

  Collections

  The Wall Around the World (1962)

  The Third Eye (1968)

  The First Theodore R. Cogswell Megapack (2014)

  Nonfiction

  PITFCS: Proceedings of the Institute for Twenty-First Century Studies (1992)

  SHORT FICTION BIBLIOGRAPHY

  CHRONOLOGICAL

  1949

  Dark Renascence, Astra’s Tower #3, July 1949

  1952

  The Specter General, Astounding Science Fiction, June 1952

  The Cabbage Patch, Perspe
ctive, Fall 1952

  1953

  The Short Count, Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, January 1953

  The Other Cheek, Science Fiction Adventures, May 1953

  Minimum Sentence, Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953

  Emergency Rations, Imagination, September 1953

  The Wall Around the World, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, September 1953

  1954

  Wolfie, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, January 1954

  Lover Boy, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, March 1954

  Limiting Factor, Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1954

  The Masters, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Summer, June 1954

  Barrier, Science Fiction Stories #2, June 1954

  The Big Stink, If, July 1954

  Disassembly Line, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, July 1954

  Contact Point, If, August 1954

  Invasion Report, Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1954

  Conventional Ending, Future Science Fiction, October 1954

  Mr. Hoskin’s Blasting Rod, Fantastic Universe, November 1954

  1955

  Test Area, Fantastic Universe, February 1955

  Training Device, Imagination, March 1955

  No Gun to the Victor, Imagination, October 1955

  Meddler’s World, Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1955

  1956

  Threesie, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1956

  Impact with the Devil, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1956

  1957

  You Know Willie, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1957

  Aces Loaded, Venture Science Fiction, July 1957

  1958

  Pain Reaction, Super-Science Fiction, April 1958

  A Spudget for Thwilbert, Fantastic Universe, April 1958

  Thimgs, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1958

  One to a Customer, Super-Science Fiction, June 1958

  1959

  Anniversary Present, The Saint Mystery Magazine, December 1959

  1960

  [limerick], Amra #9 1960

  The Golden People, Rogue, June 1960

  The Burning, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1960

  1961

  Machine Record, Science Fiction Adventures, No. 20, May 1961

  Radiation Blues, The 6th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F, October 1961

  Blowup Blues, The 6th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F, October 1961

  1962

  Prisoner of Love, The Wall Around the World, February 1962

  The Man Who Knew Grodnik, Science Fantasy #53, June 1962

  The Roper, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1962

  1973

  Faex Delenda Est, The Year’s Best Science Fiction No. 6, 1973

  Paradise Regained, Saving Worlds, July 1973

  Early Bird, Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology, November 1973

  Probability Zero! The Population Implosion, Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology, November 1973

  1975

  Players at Null-G, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1975

  Grandfather Clause, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1975

  1981

  Deal with the D.E.V.I.L., Fantasy Book, December 1981

  1983

  Warning, Fantasy Book, May 1983

  1989

  The Friggin Falcon, Heads to the Storm, November 1989

  SHORT FICTION BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ALPHABETICAL

  #

  [limerick], Amra #9 1960

  A

  A Spudget for Thwilbert, Fantastic Universe, April 1958

  Aces Loaded, Venture Science Fiction, July 1957

  Anniversary Present, The Saint Mystery Magazine, December 1959

  B

  Barrier, Science Fiction Stories #2, June 1954

  The Big Stink, If, July 1954

  Blowup Blues, The 6th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F, October 1961

  The Burning, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1960

  The Cabbage Patch, Perspective, Fall 1952

  C

  Contact Point, If, August 1954

  Conventional Ending, Future Science Fiction, October 1954

  D

  Dark Renascence, Astra’s Tower #3, July 1949

  Deal with the D.E.V.I.L., Fantasy Book, December 1981

  Disassembly Line, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, July 1954

  E

  Early Bird, Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology, November 1973

  Emergency Rations, Imagination, September 1953

  F

  Faex Delenda Est, The Year’s Best Science Fiction No. 6, 1973

  The Friggin Falcon, Heads to the Storm, November 1989

  G

  The Golden People, Rogue, June 1960

  Grandfather Clause, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1975

  I

  Impact with the Devil, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1956

  Invasion Report, Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1954

  L

  Limiting Factor, Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1954

  Lover Boy, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, March 1954

  M

  Machine Record, Science Fiction Adventures, No. 20, May 1961

  The Man Who Knew Grodnik, Science Fantasy #53, June 1962

  The Masters, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Summer, June 1954

  Meddler’s World, Science Fiction Quarterly, November 1955

  Minimum Sentence, Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953

  Mr. Hoskin’s Blasting Rod, Fantastic Universe, November 1954

  N

  No Gun to the Victor, Imagination, October 1955

  O

  One to a Customer, Super-Science Fiction, June 1958

  The Other Cheek, Science Fiction Adventures, May 1953

  P

  Pain Reaction, Super-Science Fiction, April 1958

  Paradise Regained, Saving Worlds, July 1973

  Players at Null-G, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1975

  Prisoner of Love, The Wall Around the World, February 1962

  Probability Zero! The Population Implosion, Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology, November 1973

  R

  Radiation Blues, The 6th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F, October 1961

  The Roper, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1962

  S

  The Short Count, Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, January 1953

  The Specter General, Astounding Science Fiction, June 1952

  T

  Test Area, Fantastic Universe, February 1955

  Thimgs, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1958

  Threesie, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1956

  Training Device, Imagination, March 1955

  W

  The Wall Around the World, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, September 1953

  Warning, Fantasy Book, May 1983

  Wolfie, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, January 1954

  Y

  You Know Willie, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1957

  SHORT FICTION SERIES

  Kurt Dixon

  The Specter General

  Early Bird

  1952

  THE SPECTER GENERAL

  Normally, a colony is a fairly balanced miniature of its civilization, and acts pretty much like the civilization. But some most peculiar results can come from an isolated military base!

  I.

  “Sergeant Dixon!”

  Kurt stiffened. He knew that voice. Dropping the handles of the wooden plow, he gave a quick “rest” to the private and a polite “by your leave, sir” to the lieutenant who were yoked together in double harness. They both sank gratefully to the ground as Kurt advanced to meet the approaching officer.

  Marc
us Harris, the commander of the 427th Light Maintenance Battalion of the Imperial Space Marines, was an imposing figure. The three silver eagle feathers of a full colonel rose proudly from his war bonnet and the bright red of the flaming comet insignia of the Space Marines that was painted on his chest stood out sharply against his sun-blackened, leathery skin. As Kurt snapped to attention before him and saluted, the colonel surveyed the fresh turned earth with an experienced eye.

  “You plow a straight furrow, soldier!” His voice was hard and metallic but it seemed to Kurt that there was a concealed glimmer of approval in his flinty eyes. Dixon flushed with pleasure and drew his broad shoulders back a little farther.

  The commander’s eyes flicked down to the battle-ax that rested snugly in its leather holster at Kurt’s side. “You keep a clean sidearm, too.”

  Kurt uttered a silent prayer of thanksgiving that he had worked over his weapon before reveille that morning until there was a satin gloss to its redwood handle and the sheen of black glass to its obsidian head.

  “In fact,” said Colonel Harris, “you’d be officer material if—” His voice trailed off.

  “If what?” asked Kurt eagerly.

  “If,” said the colonel with a note of paternal fondness in his voice that sent cold chills dancing down Kurt’s spine, “you weren’t the most completely unmanageable, undisciplined, over-muscled and under-brained knucklehead I’ve ever had the misfortune to have in my command. This last little unauthorized jaunt of yours indicates to me that you have as much right to sergeant’s stripes as I have to have kittens. Report to me at ten tomorrow! I personally guarantee that when I’m through with you—if you live that long—you’ll have a bare forehead!”

  Colonel Harris spun on one heel and stalked back across the dusty plateau toward the walled garrison that stood at one end. Kurt stared after him for a moment and then turned and let his eyes slip across the wide belt of lush green jungle that surrounded the high plateau. To the north rose a great range of snowcapped mountains and his heart filled with longing as he thought of the strange and beautiful thing he had found behind them. Finally he plodded slowly back to the plow, his shoulders stooped and his head sagging. With an effort he recalled himself to the business at hand.

  “Up on your dying feet, soldier!” he barked to the reclining private.