''Out of This World'' is a collection of three related

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 unive ...

stories by

Murray Leinster Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie ...

, published by

Avalon Books Avalon Books (originally Bouregy & Curl) was a small New York-based book publishing imprint active from 1950 through 2012, established by Thomas Bouregy. Avalon was an important science fiction imprint in the 1950s and 60s; later its specialty ...

in 1958. The stories, all featuring "hillbilly polymath" Bud Gregory,"In The Balance", ''If'', December 1958, p.112 originally appeared in ''

Thrilling Wonder Stories ''Wonder Stories'' was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, ''Amazing Stor ...

'' over a four-month span in 1947, and are sometimes characterized as a novel. A fourth story in the Gregory sequence, "The Seven Temporary Moons", was published in ''TWS'' in 1948, but has never been collected. All the stories originally carried the "William Fitzgerald" byline (a derivative of Leinster's birthname, William Fitzgerald Jenkins).

*"The Deadly Dust" (as William Fitzgerald), ''Thrilling Wonder'', August 1947 *"The Gregory Circle" (as William Fitzgerald), ''Thrilling Wonder'', April 1947 *"The Nameless Something" (as William Fitzgerald), ''Thrilling Wonder'', June 1947Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections
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Reception

Damon Knight Damon Francis Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He is the author of "To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for ''The Twilight Zone''.Stanyard, ''Dimensions Behind th ...

noted that "Leinster is ingenious in thinking up zany practical applications of slightly cockeyed principles," but concluded that "watching Gregory pull these things out of his hat one after another is wearisome; unlimited fantasy... is generally boring."

Floyd C. Gale ''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 Edit ...

called the book "a rampant spoof... staying just this side of slapstick. Nevertheless, it emerges more heavy-handed than most of his lighter works".

References

1958 short story collections Science fiction short story collections Works by Murray Leinster Avalon Books books {{1950s-sf-story-collection-stub

Contents

Reception

References