Case and the Dreamer (51 page)

“Time Warp”
(
Omni Magazine
, October 1978; Reprinted in the
Best of Omni Science Fiction No. 2
, Ben Bova, ed., Omni Pub, 1981). Teaser from the original: “She was held by a force beam and bending over her was one of the members of the Mindpod.” Editorial afterword from Ben Bova and Robert Myrus, in the
Best of Omni
collection: “Theodore Sturgeon, prominent SF short story writer for more than thirty years and author of several novels, most notably
More Than Human
, an International Fantasy Award winner, is famous as a stylist and for his preoccupation with the ameliorating power of love. In ‘Time Warp,’ Sturgeon seems to be saying that in both matters of politics and of the heart, sometimes the way to get ahead is to go along.” The character Will Hawkline, the epitome of the macho hero, is presented by Sturgeon as constantly endangering his allies through his aggressive and egotistic tendencies. Hawkline could be seen as a (fond) critique of “space opera” science fiction, with Captain James T. Kirk as possibly the most recent example in his mind, given Sturgeon’s experience on the
Star Trek
set (where he made good friends of many of the cast of the first
Star Trek
series). In both of the televised
Star Trek
scripts written by Sturgeon, “Shore Leave” and “Amok Time,” the plots feature Kirk’s physical bravery and the joy he finds in one-on-one fighting, as well as the risks to others involved in his attraction to violence and heroic deeds.

“The Country of Afterward”
(
Hustler
, January 1979) Sturgeon writes, in a 1978 letter to his agent, Kirby McCauley:
“I have just sold Larry Flynt [publisher of
Hustler
] pubs my very first explicit sex story. It’s a blockbuster with a great many important things to say during the bumps and moans.”
The theme of this story echoes the ideas in Sturgeon’s posthumously published novel,
Godbody
(1986), which he worked on from the early 1960s. That sex and love were forms of spiritual worship, and that the open exploration and expression of the relationship between them would cure many of the world’s ills (including war, cancer, inequality and exploitation), was one of Sturgeon’s enduring beliefs and a constant message in much of his writing. This argument, along with the other repeated theme of human connection and gestalt, was an important influence on the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s (see David Crosby’s introduction to Volume 6). The characters in this story remind this reader, at least, of Heinlein’s
Stranger in a Strange Land;
an older, powerful man is adored by sexy young women, who, although talented, highly educated people with advanced professional degrees, seem to prefer spending most of their time having sex with older men as a means to create a better world.

“Like Yesterday”
(
Rolling Stone
, May 20, 1979) Certainly a story that reverberates today, as the movement to legalize marijuana gains strength. Sturgeon was not a pot smoker himself, claiming that he didn’t get much of a high when he did try it.

“Why Dolphins Don’t Bite”
(
Omni
, in three parts, published February, March and April, 1980), reprinted in
Medea’s World
(Harlan Ellison
^®
, ed., Phantasia 1985). Written as part of the collaborative venture started by Harlan Ellison
^®
, in which several science-fiction writers wrote stories based in a common setting, Medea’s World. Some of the ideas in this story are shocking (for example, that cannibalism and incest might confer important powers of interstellar, interspecies and time-travelling communication), demonstrating Sturgeon’s comfort with imagining truly horrible things (as exemplified by such horror tales as “It,” “Bianca’s Hands” (both in Volume 1), “The Professor’s Teddy Bear” (Volume Four), and
Some of Your Blood
(1961). “Dolphins” also repeats a theme that appears in many places in Sturgeon’s work (as noted by Paul Williams in his essay in this volume): that humans are excluded from an ability held by other species across the universe to simultaneously and immediately access ideas, skills,
and information from collectively produced sources (See “Time Warp” [in this volume], “The Skills of Xanadu” [Volume 9],
To Marry Medusa
, “The Touch of Your Hand” [Volume 7], and
More Than Human
). Had Sturgeon lived seven more years, he would have experienced the World-Wide Web, which in many ways—especially email, search engines and wikis—realizes this persistent vision of instantaneous sharing of information and global communication. Given the questions raised in this story, would Sturgeon have judged the Internet to be crucifix or pogo-stick?

“Vengeance Is.”
(
Dark Forces
, Kirby McCauley, ed., Viking 1980). Editor’s introduction: “Theodore Sturgeon, born on Staten Island, New York, old American stock dating back to 1640, is one of the acknowledged masters of modern fantasy and science fiction, both in his short work and in such fine novels as
More Than Human
and
The Dreaming Jewels
. His styles are many: witty, spare, hard-boiled, and lyrically expressive. He’s a remarkably inventive and powerful writer and there is reason to suspect his best stories will be remembered long after those of nearly all now posing for posterity and academic circles and in the literary quarterlies. Harlan Ellison once observed that Theodore Sturgeon knows more about love than anyone he’d ever met. And, in fact, the Sturgeon you might meet is earnest, warm, and sympathetic, a man whom you immediately feel cares and understands. But, as the story testifies, he also understands the hurtful, twisted the side of human nature.” Written with the example of
candida
in mind, this story predates the appearance of HIV/AIDS, but Sturgeon was amazed at the resonances of the story with that epidemic when it occurred. (Personal communication, Jayne Williams.)

“Seasoning”
1981. In a letter to his agent, Kirby McCauley, Sturgeon says that this story was published in 1981 by Goldmann in Germany, but I have not been able to confirm this. Otherwise, it is previously unpublished. The ideas outlined in this story echo the “Macro Philosophy” of Thea Alexander found in her science-fiction book,
2150 A.D
. There is a significant difference, however, in the idea that “entities” are creating “scripts” not just out of curiosity in order to have new experiences (as Alexander presents them), but in order to try to find universal truths, identifying which ones could form a lasting ethos by working them out in different contexts, different worlds. This is an amendment created by Jayne and Ted. (Jayne Williams, personal communication) The ethos offered
here, that in the face of war, violent competition and suffering, one should and can create something good from what one has to work with, and share it, is pure Sturgeon. At the time of the writing of this story, Jayne Sturgeon was an ordained minister of the American Holistic Church, and was teaching a course in Universal Law in San Diego. The character in this story, Alice—with her long brown hair and blue eyes, her ability to wait and listen while someone worked something through, her peals of laughter—is clearly modeled on Jayne. Sturgeon dabbled in many forms of therapy and later, self-help or New Age philosophies, but never remained a proponent of any one of them. Besides the Freudian analysis described in “Baby is Three” (Volume 6), and the LSD-assisted therapy he engaged in the late 1960s with the therapist Jim Hayes (an experience influencing the story “The Beholders” in Volume 12), Sturgeon was an “auditor” during the early period of Dianetics, went through an EST workshop in the early 1980s, and, with Jayne, explored Macro Philosophy and the tenets of the American Holistic church. Despite these experiences with different philosophies, religions, and therapies, he remained most attached to the themes expressed in his own writing. On a side note, the dish the main character cooks in this story is a classic Sturgeon culinary creation; worth trying, at least once, if just for the visual presentation, which is entirely science-fictional.

“Not an Affair”
Fantasy and Science Fiction
, October 1983. Written in 1981, and originally submitted to Playboy, but removed by Sturgeon from consideration when, according to him:
“… the Playboy editors scrawled and scratched (‘Eliminate the first six pages. Make the reporter a (militant) woman.’).” F&SF
editor’s teaser: “Here is a rare short story from Ted Sturgeon, whose last appearance here was in the 25th anniversary issue (October 1974). Like many Sturgeon stories, it concerns an aspect of love, but it begins with an epidemic.…”

“Black Moccasins,”
1983. Previously unpublished. In a letter written to Kirby McCauley, Sturgeon says:
“Herewith short story, mainstream, prob. women’s market, Black Moccasins.”
The letter is headed:
“Lawrence, Kansas: On the road. July 30, 1983.”
Sturgeon was in Kansas for the summer science-fiction writing course he taught for many years for the Intensive English Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction founded by James Gunn. It is possible the story was written during the time he was
teaching the class. This story’s detailed description of ways to save money was typical of Sturgeon, and many of his letters recount such economies with excruciating good humor. For much of his life he was very poor, and yet he delighted in describing in detail how he managed to get by through methods such as gluing new soles on his shoes, eating mayonnaise sandwiches, and heating soup in a can with a soldering iron. Years of poor nutrition and skipped doctor visits surely contributed to his early death (and eating soup heated with a soldering iron very likely didn’t help).

“The Trick”
(
Chic
, January 1984). Teaser: “They could talk about coffee; they could talk about the weather. They could talk about everything but the trick. To believe it—you had to see it.” It’s likely that this story was written earlier than its publication date of 1984, as it continues the adventures of the characters in “The Country of Afterward” (in this volume), though with a much slimmer plot. In a weird echo of the Kurt Vonnegut character, Kilgore Trout, (who was based on Sturgeon), a science-fiction writer who also wrote pornography, this foray into pornography by Sturgeon was not very successful either as story or as pornography, in my opinion. I like to think Vonnegut, who called Sturgeon “one of the best writers in America,” (see his foreword in Volume Seven), would have appreciated this irony.

“Grizzly”
1983.
Not The Reader
, Summer.
Not the Reader
was a free city weekly published in San Diego, where Sturgeon lived off and on from 1976 to 1980. His experience as a patient with diffuse interstitial pneumonitis clearly informs this piece. His condition was idiopathic; that is, the doctors were unable to determine the exact cause, usually exposure to asbestos. As a result he went through many tests. Sturgeon theorized that he had been possibly exposed from his years in the Merchant Marine (whose ships’ interiors were lined with asbestos), or from living in so many basement apartments, but his preferred culprit was his favorite Zippo butane lighter, which pulled the lighter-fluid fumes down and through a tiny asbestos filter into the pipe, and thus the lungs. (Jayne Williams, personal communication). “Grizzly” is the last story Sturgeon wrote.

Theodore Sturgeon was born on February 26, 1918 and died in Eugene, Oregon, on May 8, 1985. A resident of New York City, Woodstock, New York, Los Angeles, and Springfield, Oregon, he was the author of more than thirty novels and short story collections. He won the International Fantasy Award for his novel
More Than Human;
the Hugo Award and Nebula Award for his short story
Slow Sculpture;
the Outstanding Achievement Award from the International Society of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy for the
Star Trek
screenplay, “Amok Time”; and the Gaylactica/Spectrum Award for his ground-breaking story about homosexuality, “The World Well Lost.” For the influence on comic books of his short story
It
, he won the Inkpot Award. His idea of “bleshing” (the interaction of different individuals in a gestalt, from
More Than Human
) was influential for performers from The Grateful Dead to the Blue Man Group. He was known for the creation of Sturgeon’s Law (Every genre, without exception, is 90% crap) and the credo: “Ask the next question.” For his lifetime of work, he was awarded a World Fantasy Achievement Award, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2000.