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.

The Line Between Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Wall Around the World

by Theodore Cogswell 
p. 1962

Published in 1962, this collection of ten short stories by Theodore Cogswell begins with a pair of introductions by two of his contemporaries. Both introductions seem to focus in particular on the blurry line separating science fiction from fantasy. I wondered why until I read a couple of the stories and realized that was a line Cogswell loved to hover over throughout his line of work. Containing spaceships to vampires to alien planets to flying broomsticks, almost all of his stories could fall into either category and invoke the struggle to define the two. Cogswell probably loved that old maxim, “magic is just unexplained science.”

The lack of distinction between magic and realism is not what made this book unique to me; indeed, I’ve read plenty of ‘science fiction’ stories that could alternatively be labeled as ‘fantasy.’ What stood out most was actually Cogswell’s playful sense of humor. All of his stories have a comical edge and a lighthearted tone that I don’t generally find in his contemporaries. Reading all these fifties and sixties science fiction books I often find myself shaking my head and laughing at some ludicrous plot point or an occasional melodramatic piece of dialogue; with Cogswell, I chuckled because it was a legitimately funny situation or line.

My favorite was probably “The Specter General,” a ‘novelette’ about a long-forgotten unit of the Imperial Space Marines and an ambitious young tech engineer fond of getting into trouble. The story—told in a handful of short chapters alternating between Kurt’s mini-adventure and a Commander in charge of their enemy, the Galactic Protectorate—was a little hard to follow at first, but even before the plot fell in line, I found myself laughing at the military mens’ interactions.

Some of Cogswell’s stories fell flat to me, or evoked an ‘Oh, so that’s where he was going’ when some sort of ‘twist’ developed, not unlike the eye-roll-inducing reaction to the types of jokes your uncle makes. But, for the most part, I found myself entertained by this quick read. The last story in the collection, the titular “Wall Around the World,” was about a boy named Porgie who lived in the city within the Wall but longed to find out what was beyond it. Weirdly, nobody else seemed curious and berated poor Porgie for his eagerness but the world within the Wall was one where magic and flying on broomsticks was commonplace so I guess I can forgive them for thinking things were well enough not to mess with status quo. After all, Harry Potter didn’t go to Hogwarts then graduate and think to himself, “Yes, I think I’ll become an investment broker instead.”

Speaking of Harry Potter, one can’t help but make the connections in their brain between the wizard and Porgie. Both were nice boys who grew up with their aunt and uncle and a quarrelsome bully of a cousin then learned how to fly a broomstick... I’m not saying J.K. Rowling plagiarized because the similarities really end there, but if Cogswell’s short story was any sort of inspiration for the epic series that unfolded more than three decades later, I wouldn’t be surprised.