E Pluribus Unicorn is a collection of fantasy and science fiction stories by American writer Theodore Sturgeon, published in 1953 by Abelard.

Cover of the first edition, by A. M. Jauss.

Contents

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  • "Essay on Sturgeon" by Groff Conklin
  • "The Silken-Swift"
  • "The Professor's Teddy-Bear"
  • "Bianca's Hands"
  • "Saucer of Loneliness"
  • "The World Well Lost"
  • "It Wasn't Syzygy"
  • "The Music"
  • "Scars"
  • "Fluffy"
  • "The Sex Opposite"
  • "Die, Maestro, Die!"
  • "Cellmate"
  • "A Way of Thinking"

Reception

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The New York Times reviewer Basil Davenport noted that while "Sturgeon's poetic sensitivity sometimes leads him to overwriting, … at his best it gives his work an emotional depth which is all too rare in this field."[1] Boucher and McComas gave the collection a lukewarm review, describing it as "a hodgepodge" mixing "Grade A Sturgeon stories" with "a good many one can see no particular reason for collecting"; still, they concluded that Unicorn was "a book belonging in any fantasy library."[2] P. Schuyler Miller praised the collection as "one of the finest short story collections by any writer in the field."[3]

References

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  1. ^ "In the Spaceman's Realm," The New York Times Book Review, November 29, 1953, p.53
  2. ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, February 1954, p.94.
  3. ^ "The Reference Library", Astounding Science Fiction, August 1954, pp.152-53
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