Though he is barely known outside the mystery field, Anthony Boucher was an important innovator in fiction we all read. Boucher was a writer, an editor, a critic. His mystery novels and shorts are still read by devotees of the genre, and the biggest event of the year, Bouchercon, is named after him. Anthony Boucher wrote science fiction, and he was a founding editor for the prestigious The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Boucher also penned horror fiction, with The Compeat Werewolf being the most prominent and reprinted. As a critic, Anthony Boucher wrote hundreds of reviews of mystery books for The New York Times. He wrote for radio and television.
However, Anthony Boucher is best known for his efforts in science fiction and mystery. His short story, The Quest for Saint Aquin, is considered by many to be one of the finest pieces ever written for the pulp SF magazines. His mystery novel, Nine Times Nine, is widely regarded as a classic locked-room story.
Boucher combined his knowledge of science fiction and mystery in Rocket to the Morgue. This novel, kind of a sequel to Nine Times Nine, is another locked-room mystery, but what makes it unique is its setting in the science fiction community.
Rocket to the Morgue was written and published in 1942, right at the beginning of what later became known as The Golden Age of Science Fiction. SF was a relatively new literary form at the time, or at least it was finally beginning to be taken seriously. By critics, and by those who wrote it.
The mystery aspects of Rocket to the Morgue are fairly routine. At least in this day and age. I'm not sure it would appeal to a lot of modern readers. The idioms used in the book often feel awkward and the humor is sometimes painfully dated. Me, I grew up on Doc Savage stories, so this sort of thing is sophisticated in comparison.
While certainly not groundbreaking, or as satisfying as something by Hammett, Chandler, or Fredric Brown, Rocket to the Morgue is a lot of fun. The best parts of it are the thinly-veiled depictions of science fiction personalities like Robert A. Heinlein, Edward Hamilton, L. Ron Hubbard, Forrest J Ackerman, and Willy Ley. I like to think that Rocket to the Morgue helped sway some mystery readers to the world of science fiction.
As much as I enjoyed the novel, I cannot find it in my heart to recommend it to a lot of contemporary readers. Those interested in the history of science fiction, in particular to those who read and were fascinated by Alec-Nevala-Lee's excellent Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, will want to check it out. To others I recommend The Screaming Mimi or The Fabulous Clipjoint, both by Fredric Brown.
Oh, and I want to thank F. Paul Wilson for his introduction. It cleared up a longstanding question I had about Anthony Boucher. I was never sure how the last name was pronounced. Was it Boo-Sher? Bau-Cher? Wilson figured it was French in origin and thought the pronunciation was Boo-Shay. My guess was Bau-Cher, and for once I was right. Thanks, Paul.
Written by Mark Sieber
However, Anthony Boucher is best known for his efforts in science fiction and mystery. His short story, The Quest for Saint Aquin, is considered by many to be one of the finest pieces ever written for the pulp SF magazines. His mystery novel, Nine Times Nine, is widely regarded as a classic locked-room story.
Boucher combined his knowledge of science fiction and mystery in Rocket to the Morgue. This novel, kind of a sequel to Nine Times Nine, is another locked-room mystery, but what makes it unique is its setting in the science fiction community.
Rocket to the Morgue was written and published in 1942, right at the beginning of what later became known as The Golden Age of Science Fiction. SF was a relatively new literary form at the time, or at least it was finally beginning to be taken seriously. By critics, and by those who wrote it.
The mystery aspects of Rocket to the Morgue are fairly routine. At least in this day and age. I'm not sure it would appeal to a lot of modern readers. The idioms used in the book often feel awkward and the humor is sometimes painfully dated. Me, I grew up on Doc Savage stories, so this sort of thing is sophisticated in comparison.
While certainly not groundbreaking, or as satisfying as something by Hammett, Chandler, or Fredric Brown, Rocket to the Morgue is a lot of fun. The best parts of it are the thinly-veiled depictions of science fiction personalities like Robert A. Heinlein, Edward Hamilton, L. Ron Hubbard, Forrest J Ackerman, and Willy Ley. I like to think that Rocket to the Morgue helped sway some mystery readers to the world of science fiction.
As much as I enjoyed the novel, I cannot find it in my heart to recommend it to a lot of contemporary readers. Those interested in the history of science fiction, in particular to those who read and were fascinated by Alec-Nevala-Lee's excellent Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, will want to check it out. To others I recommend The Screaming Mimi or The Fabulous Clipjoint, both by Fredric Brown.
Oh, and I want to thank F. Paul Wilson for his introduction. It cleared up a longstanding question I had about Anthony Boucher. I was never sure how the last name was pronounced. Was it Boo-Sher? Bau-Cher? Wilson figured it was French in origin and thought the pronunciation was Boo-Shay. My guess was Bau-Cher, and for once I was right. Thanks, Paul.
Written by Mark Sieber
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