''Get Off the Unicorn'' is a collection of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
short stories by American writer
Anne McCaffrey
Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American-Irish writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 19 ...
, first published in paperback by
Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn, by Penguin Random House. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It ...
in June 1977. Eleven of the fourteen stories were previously published in various magazines and anthologies. Initial sales were brisk; two additional printings were required by year's end. Del Rey reprinted ''Get off the Unicorn'' regularly throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and its edition remains in print as of 2015.
Corgi
The Welsh Corgi ( or Corgi, plural Corgis, or occasionally the etymologically consistent Corgwn; ) is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name ''corgi'' is derived from the Welsh words and (which is mutated to ), mean ...
issued a British edition in 1979 and an Australian edition in 1980.
[ISFDB publishing history]
/ref> An audiobook based on the Corgi edition was released in 1985. Severn House issued a hardcover edition in 1982.[
The title was derived by accident: McCaffrey's working title had been "]Get
Get or GET may refer to:
* Get (animal), the offspring of an animal
* Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law
* GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request
* "Get" (song), by the Groggers
* Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia
* Get AS, a ...
of the Unicorn" but this was misprinted as "Get Off the Unicorn" in Ballantine's roster of unfilled contracts. After McCaffrey's editor, Judy-Lynn del Rey
Judy-Lynn del Rey née Benjamin (January 26, 1943 – February 20, 1986) was a science fiction editor.
Born with dwarfism, she was a fan and regular attendee at science fiction conventions and worked her way up the publishing ladder, startin ...
, was repeatedly asked what "Get Off the Unicorn" was, del Rey asked McCaffrey what she could do about that theme.
Contents
* "Lady in the Tower" (''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...
'', April 1959)
* "A Meeting of Minds" (''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...
'', January 1969)
* "Daughter" (''The Many Worlds of Science Fiction'', October 1971)
* "Dull Drums" (''Future Quest'', September 1973)
* "Changeling" (original to this collection)
* "Weather on Welladay" (''Galaxy Science Fiction
''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...
'', March 1969)
* "The Thorns of Barevi" (''The Disappearing Future: A Symposium of Speculation'', 1970)
* "Horse from a Different Sea" (original to this collection)
* "The Great Canine Chorus" (''Infinity One'', January 1970)
* "Finder's Keeper" (''The Haunt of Horror'', August 1973)
* "A Proper Santa Claus" (''Demon Kind'', March 1973)
* " The Smallest Dragonboy" (''Science Fiction Tales'', 1973)
* "Apple" (''Crime Prevention in the 30th Century'', 1969)
* "Honeymoon" (original to this collection)
Relation to McCaffrey's series
* "Lady in the Tower" was expanded to become '' The Rowan'' (1990) and "A Meeting of Minds" was incorporated into '' Damia'' (1992). Both books are in McCaffrey's "Tower and the Hive" series.
* "Daughter" and "Dull Drums" share the character of Nora Fenn.
* A modified version of "The Thorns of Barevi" became the beginning of ''Freedom's Landing'', the first book in the Catteni series.
* " The Smallest Dragonboy" is set on Pern
''Dragonriders of Pern'' is a science fantasy series written primarily by American author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. ...
at the time of the Ninth Pass: it was later reprinted in ''A Gift of Dragons
''A Gift Of Dragons'' is a 2002 collection of short fiction by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. All four stories are set on the fictional planet Pern; the book is one of two collections in the science fiction series ''Dragonriders of Pe ...
'' (2002).
* "Apple" is set in McCaffrey's "Talents" universe and was previously incorporated into '' To Ride Pegasus'' (1973).
* "Honeymoon" "ties up the loose end" of Helva & Niall's story (from ''The Ship Who Sang
''The Ship Who Sang'' (1969) is a science fiction novel by American writer Anne McCaffrey, a fix-up of five stories published 1961 to 1969. By an alternate reckoning, "The Ship Who Sang" is the earliest of the stories, a novelette, which became ...
'' (1969)) about the first "brainship".
Reception
Evie Wilson and Michael McCue praised the collection, citing McCaffrey's introductory anecdotes as a highlight of the work. Others have commented that the collection's stories "demonstrate the limits of McCaffrey's range of emotions and subjects". McCaffrey biographer Robin Roberts wrote that the collection demonstrates McCaffrey's status in the field, showing "the power and appeal of erreputation as an author . . . ndthe power of her name to sell books". Duncan Lunan
Duncan Alasdair Lunan, born October 1945, is a Scottish people, Scottish author with emphasis on astronomy, spaceflight and science fiction, undertaking a wide range of writing and speaking on those and other topics as a researcher, tutor, critic, ...
, however, reviewing the first hardcover edition for the Glasgow Herald
''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...
, received the collection without enthusiasm; he was particularly critical of "The Smallest Dragonboy", declaring that "the grimness f the Pern serieshas gone, and the grandeur has gone along with it"."The answer lies in the spirit", ''Glasgow Herald'', November 27, 1982
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{Anne McCaffrey
1977 short story collections
American short story collections
Science fiction short story collections