More Fun With Theodore Cogswell

The Third Eye
A collection of short stories
by Theodore Cogswell
p. 1968







[There is absolutely no story in this book that includes a giant, green, glob with one eye... God I love sixties sci-fi covers.]

Last summer I read a collection of short stories under the title The Wall Around the World, the first collection by science fiction author, Theodore Cogswell, and was so unexpectedly charmed by his sense of humor and style that I couldn’t possibly pass up an opportunity to get my hands on more of his work. When his second short story anthology, The Third Eye, presented itself to me, I was eager to read it.

In The Third Eye, Cogswell employed that same sly, playful attitude he used to delightful effect in The Wall Around the World. I was expecting it this time, but it did not disappoint. Cogswell strikes me as the kind of guy who would have been really a real hoot to hang out with, as he never seems to take things too seriously. Even the most serious stories of Cogswell’s aren’t without their hint of the absurd. It's refreshing to read something like this from a sixties science fiction writer, because so many of those I read tend to take themselves very seriously, and it's nice to see someone poke fun at the genre every now and then.

My favorite stories are probably “Machine Record,” in which a mad scientist carries on a comedic dialogue with his assistant as he struggles with his chosen line of work, and “A Spudget for Thwilbert,” a lighthearted tale of unexpected fortune when two swindlers try to screw over a hapless galactic traveler by foisting their unusable diet product on him.

My only complaint about this copy of The Third Eye is that it was horribly edited. I personally noticed several typos, and on at least two occasions, the wrong name was used, possibly because Cogswell initially had another name lined up for a character then changed it later, only to miss one. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the stories, but it did take me out of them for a bit.

Post perusal of this second piece of work by what I had hoped would be my new favorite sci-fi author, I was disappointed to discover that Cogswell only ever released two collections. Aside from a random “Star Trek” novel which I have no interest in delving into, the only work I will be able to find by Cogswell now will be individual, unreleased short stories among the forty or so he has supposedly written. At this point I must have read half of his legacy and as Cogswell passed away in 1987, there won’t be any more. It’s a shame he has never written a full length novel, as I would very much like to see that. I suppose I’ll just have to find comparable authors to enjoy instead.