Caviar by Theodore Sturgeon

Del Ray Books original 1955

This is the fourth printing from 1977

Cover art by Darrell Sweet

Theodore Sturgeon is a very well-known author so we’re just gonna give a quick rundown bio basics here. He was born Edward Hamilton Waldo (1918-1985). His name was legally changed to Theodore Sturgeon at the age of eleven. He is mostly known for writing science fiction but dabbled in other genre fiction such as horror and fantasy. He also wrote several episodes for the original series of Star Trek including creating the Vulcan saying, “live long and prosper.” Fun fact: Sturgeon was the influence for Kurt Vonnegut’s character Kilgore Trout.

Caviar is a collection of stories originally published in various pulps throughout the years 1941 to 1955. I had been wanting to read some Theodore Sturgeon after getting my first taste in the Men’s Adventure Library Journal collection, Atomic Werewolves and Man-Eating Plants. Sturgeon’s story, The Blonde With the Mysterious Body, in there was so oddly David Lynch-like. I was extremely into its weirdness. I had the hopeful assumption that his writing was always that weird. So, how does Caviar hold up on the weird scale?

I figured we’d just do a real quick rundown of each one. (Anthologies are difficult to review.)

1. Bright Segment: Eccentric low IQ outcast picks up a bleeding girl after she’s been thrown from a moving car and nurses her back to health.

Slow pacing with lots of inner monologue. Almost zero dialogue. He sets up, not a weird atmosphere but an off-putting one. It’s tender with a layer of violence just under the skin waiting to burst out. I think if you’re into any of those horror movies that are about someone being held against their will, body horror and/or torture you might be into this. Me, not so much.

2. Microcosmic God: Eccentric scientist inventor secludes himself on an island he bought with money from his inventions. Creates a micro species of super intelligent beings called the Neoterics. Gets attacked by banker.

Started off slow again with the backstory of the scientist. It’s actually pretty amazing that Sturgeon can create such a lush character background and give you a complete and realistic personality in such a short story. At the same time. Not very exciting. I kept waiting for something to happen and in my opinion it took too long. The cover artwork on this anthology depicts this story with the city of the Neoterics under the microscope. It was a little hokey and reminded me of the Star Trek Next Generation nanites. Which is probably where they got the idea eh? Once something finally does happen in the story it was enjoyable but as much as Diet Coke is. Not a lot of sugar in this one.

Originally appeared in: Astounding Science Fiction 1941

3. Ghost of a Chance: Guy meets skinny cute girl at night and instantly falls in love. She acts paranoid like someone is following her and runs away. He bumps into her again and continues his courtship even though she says, for his benefit, he should just go away.

It’s a ghost. There is a ghost following her who has a crush on her and does naughty things to the guys she tries to date. This one was straight lame. Sorry. It was too cutesy and had a premise equal to a third graders creative writing story. It was even poorly written. In the story the guy has a psychiatrist friend who coincidentally happened to be the girl’s ex-psychiatrist. Come on man. It was so dumb and made me not want to read any further.

Originally appeared in: Unknown Worlds 1943

4. Prodigy: In a dystopian future there are mutant children with incredible powers. There is an institute that gases the children when they are too much of a threat.

Yikes! Not sure what he was trying to say here. If you enjoy reading about kids being slaughtered, check this one out. Twilight Zone in underlying premise but not in execution. Mutant children with psi abilities are fun BUT all of the focus is on the nun-psychiatrist-nurse lady who takes care of the children and decides who lives and who dies. This was pretty much a bummer. At one point the biological mom steals her child to love him and then two days later brings him back and basically tells them to gas him. I’m not the brightest crayon in the box so maybe I’m missing the point, but this just seemed completely pointless. And even worse, not enjoyable at all.

Originally appeared in: Astounding Science Fiction 1949

5. Medusa: Six astronauts are sent into space to turn off a force surrounding a planet that makes people go mad.

Now we’re getting a little more into the weird I was looking for. Each of the astronauts is told that they are the only sane one onboard. The others have been picked because not only are they qualified in their specific job, but they are already mad so when the psi planet attacks, they won’t completely lose it. Or something like that. This was a total psychological mind fuck. It’s as if you yourself are on this journey and don’t know if you are the insane one or the rational one. By far the best story here and pulpy fun to boot.

Originally appeared in: Astounding Science Fiction 1942

6. Blabbermouth: Another pulpy tale about a woman who gets juicy information about people from a hateful poltergeist, and she has no choice but to tell the parties involved.

This one was also more fun than the rest. The premise is cheeky Twilight Zone and would have been another stinker if not for the added weirdness that Sturgeon wrote in there. Like the Microcosm God story this is another one where he jam packs a lifetime into ten pages. It’s really amazing how he can do that.

Originally appeared in: Amazing Stories 1945

7. Shadow Shadow on the Wall: Evil stepmom mentally abuses young boy who likes to play shadow puppets on the wall. One day the shadow comes to life and guess who pays the price?

Pretty basic story where you can see the end coming from a mile away. Definitely a quick pulp story. I feel like even in 1950 when this was originally published the evil step-parent who gets there comeuppance was a well-worn trope.

Originally appeared in: Imagination 1950

8. Twink: A dad worries about his baby named Twink after he rolls his car.

This was pretty annoying. It’s a buildup with the mystery being, what’s wrong with Twink. It goes on and on about the dad mentally having a guilty breakdown of worry. Lackluster twist ending.

Originally appeared in: Galaxy Science Fiction 1955

Overall, very disappointing collection. I had such high expectations. Maybe Sturgeon is like one of those bands where you like a few songs a lot but don’t care at all for their others? Now I’m curious to check out one of his novels to see how they are different. Maybe these pulp stories were just a quick buck? Maybe this is where he went to experiment? I don’t know. I need a good place to start for his novels. Any suggestions?