Damon Knight

[Extollager]

Wonder why there doesn't seem to have been a thread on this author and anthologist, also critic who trashed Allen Adler's Terror on Planet Ionus, which I just read. (It was pretty poor.) I'm not necessarily the right person to start one, since I haven't read all that much by him myself. I know I like "Stranger Station" and have read The Futurians, etc. Not impressed by "Not With a Bang." I own at least a couple of his anthologies, the Science Fiction Argosy and A Century of Science Fiction.

There's his story from The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Vol. 1, "The Country of the Kind," with its title punning on Wells's "Country of the Blind."

It’s a futuristic exploration of a theme similar to that which C. S. Lewis (who had a story in the same issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction that "Country" first appeared in) discussed in his 1949 essay “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment.”

A teenager killed his girlfriend, possibly while having a seizure. Thirty years later, he remains free. But to protect others, (1) they are forbidden to acknowledge his existence in any way; (2) he has been conditioned so that he has a seizure any time he seriously contemplates hurting someone; (3) he has been doctored such that he emits a revolting odor, warning people to keep away. Thus, though he can commit acts of vandalism with impunity – in this future world, rebuilding is perhaps a welcome diversion – he is terribly alone, constantly frustrated in his wish to have anyone join him.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I suspect he has had more impact on the field as a critic and editor than writer. It's ironic that his best known story is "To Serve Man," thanks to Twilight Zone, since it's just a joke, as is "Not With a Bang." I found "The Country of the Kind" to be a powerful story, and "The Handler" was well. I also greatly enjoyed the story "Masks." Among later stories, "I See You" (self-described as a condensed novel) was very good.

I have not read many of his novels. "The World and Thorinn" was OK, a sort of "anything can happen" adventure; "CV" was a so-so SF yarn; "Why Do Birds" was odd, and "Humpty Dumpty: An Oval" was pure surrealism.

I am grateful for the Orbit series for expanding the horizons of SF, even if the experiments didn't always work.

As a critic, famous for introducing the concept of the "idiot plot," he could be very acerbic. He demanded plot logic (one reason why he dismissed Van Vogt, a writer I always have a great deal of trouble appreciating as well.)

 

[J-Sun]

I read The Best of (part of the Pocket, rather than Del Rey, series) and don't think I even finished it. Based on some notes I found, I had a strongly negative reaction to Turning On (a collection - I noted I was "turned off") and didn't like A for Anything (novel), either. But then, years later, I went and got Creating Short Fiction (a non-fiction "how to write" book) and it seemed odd in a couple of places but reasonable over all. And I do have a book of his criticism I have yet to read but the only thing I know of him there is that he was considered a big deal in spite of/because of his infamous, petty, self-inflating, unjust slagging of van Vogt. PKD had the right reaction there, kindly characterizing Damon Knight as a "building inspector" who didn't understand van Vogt's chaotic dreamworlds. Amusingly, they were awarded their Grand Masters back-to-back although it's not so amusing that, perhaps in part because of Knight or his fans (so I've heard somewhere, at least by Ellison's hints, though I may not have it correctly), van Vogt had to wait until he was so far gone with Alzheimer's that he apparently wasn't fully conscious of receiving it. For van Vogt to wait two decades after the award was started and to get it a year after a guy who was never as voraciously read and who only began making an impact at all a decade after van Vogt is kind of crazed. (Note, my negative reactions to Knight's fiction books predate my van Vogt mania, so it wasn't colored by that. And, bizarrely (or supremely ironically), I apparently found Knight's stories and/or novel "structurally bad.")

But, yeah, he was a pretty big writer for a time (and continued for decades), founded a writer's workshop (Milford?) and then the SFWA (and was eventually awarded that Grand Master and then the award itself was renamed for him) and edited a lot of stuff and criticized a lot of stuff and was big in fandom and was married to Kate Wilhelm and was just generally a big gun. He ultimately had a huge impact on the field. I don't get the feeling he's much read any more, though, and am not very surprised there's not much discussion of him as a writer. One of those guys who never fit into the Campbell era but was more a nurturer of the New Wave than a powerful New Waver himself. Just one of the legions of 50s guys breaking into that boom period in between, a few of whom are still read but many of whom have fallen through the cracks. Apparently, even Jack Vance may also be having a hard time hanging on.

 

[Galactic Journey]

Damon Knight doesn't register strongly with me, but "Four in One" (Galaxy, 1952) is a brilliant story, and his run at the helm of IF was terrific if too short-lived.

 

[AlexH]

I think I've only read Four in One, but that's one of my favourite ever stories. It's one of Robert Silverberg's favourites too - he critiqued it in Science Fiction 101 (also available under another name).

I also have Damon Knight's "Creating Short Fiction" guide, and what I've read of it is excellent. I should really get around to reading more of that and his fiction.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I always remember him because of Hell's Pavement. Now either I am out of touch with reality or most everyone else is.

Global warming is a Chinese hoax! People would even pay attention to someone who would say that? LOL

psik

 

[Caliban]

Not a fan of his writing at all. His wife is so much better than him it hurts.

 

[hitmouse]

Gladys Knight?
Rainy Night in Georgia is amazing.

 

[Fried Egg]

I'm reading a collection by him now: "Far Out". I had no even heard of him until recently when someone I know asked if I had read any of his work and then lent me a few of his books.

Some of his stories so far seem like they are little more than set ups for the planned punch line at the end but others are quite good. I haven't been blown away by anything yet but it's still early days.

 

[AlexH]

I'm reading a collection by him now: "Far Out". I had no even heard of him until recently when someone I know asked if I had read any of his work and then lent me a few of his books.

Some of his stories so far seem like they are little more than set ups for the planned punch line at the end but others are quite good. I haven't been blown away by anything yet but it's still early days.

I'd be interested to know what you think of Four in One if it's in there. I don't think I've read anything else, but do own one of his anthologies that's still to be read...

 

[Randy M.]

I haven't read much of his fiction, either, though "The Handler" is very good. And I believe it behooves any writer-wannabe to read In Search of Wonder along with James Blish's The Issue at Hand and More Issues at Hand. The discussion and occasional dissection by these writers of what is admittedly now rather old fiction is straight-forward and, I believe, easy for novices to understand. While maybe not as relevant as they once were, that ease of understanding can lead novices toward better reading practices that lead to better writing practices: How you think about fiction informs how you write it.

Randy M.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Haven't read much of him.
But " Four..... " & "Country....." certainly stand out! !!

 

[J Riff]

Met Damon, and Kate, in the 80s. He was fun, but stern, very professional speaker. His stuff is good, he edited a lot of other people's work as I recall. 'Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang' was out then I think, but I preferred The Killer Thing.

 

[psikeyhackr]

but I preferred The Killer Thing.

I thought that was a great book. I have found it amazing that it has been mentioned so little.

psik

 

[J Riff]

I reread it, and remembered it better than it was, because it is such a good action premise. -- Trapped on a desert planet, with a virtually-indestructible
killer robot coming after you. It never stops, never sleeps, and you can get ahead of it by a day or two but it never stops. You can bury it in an avalanche, it will dig out and keep coming. It's a natural movie, I cant even remember what the rest of the story was about, just that robot that never stopped hunting you.

 

[psikeyhackr]

It's a natural movie, I cant even remember what the rest of the story was about, just that robot that never stopped hunting you.

Humans conquering other aliens with the robot being invented by an alien. It learned to kill from observation of living beings.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I've read:
"Country of the Kind"
"Not with a Bang"
"The Worshippers"

I enjoyed all of them.

 

[BAYLOR]

Ive read his story To Serve Man which was the basis for the classic Twilight Zone episode of the same name.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Ive read his story To Serve Man which was the basis for the classic Twilight Zone episode of the same name.

I'm so glad Serling changed the appearance of the Kanamits. They just weren't intimidating in the original story.