FFB: Robert Arthur, editor: ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: A MONTH OF MYSTERY (Random House 1969) (and paperback variants such as AHP: DATES WITH DEATH, Dell 1972)

Robert Arthur's 1969 Alfred Hitchcock Presents: anthology was his last book in the biannual adult anthology series; he died that year, and Harold Q. Masur would be tapped to continue the adult anthology series for Random house for another decade, until Hitchcock's death (while Henry Veit would assemble two more YA anthologies for the Random House Alfred Hitchcock's anthology line; Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and the anthologies drawn from it published by Dell and apparently edited by Scott Meredith or subordinates at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, and then by AHMM editor Eleanor Sullivan after the magazine was purchased by Davis Publications in 1975, proceeded apace, as did Peter Haining's short series mostly for British publishers). This one hadn't been offered during my brief membership in the Doubleday Book Club, nor did I find it in the Enfield, CT, library which was my earliest source of anthology fixes, but I did read the first of the two Dell paperback volumes that reprinted from in in the summer of 1976, not too long after I finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...and about the time I was reading a few other classics, such as Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, while visiting, with my parents and brother, my grandmother and other relations in West Virginia. A busy summer, also devoted to moving house from Enfield to Londonderry, NH. 

But AHP: Dates with Death, as the first Dell paperback was retitled, was a memorable reading experience, as were all the Random House "Hitchcock" volumes; Spider Robinson, writing in Galaxy magazine in the '70s, referred to them as "utterly reliable" and I'd agree. I'm only sorry it took me some decades to get around to the entire book. (Never did run across the second Dell volume drawn from Month.)

Contents of the hardcover original:

ix · If, Indeed, It Is Evening-- · Robert Arthur (attributed by implication to Hitchcock) · in

A Week of Crime
3 · The Dusty Drawer · Harry Muheim · ss Collier’s May 3 1952 
18 ·Drum Beat by Stephen Marlowe (ss) Ed McBain’s Mystery Book #2 1960
22 · South of Market by Joe Gores, first published as "Down and Out" (ss) Manhunt Jun 1959
38 · The Uses of Intelligence by "Matthew Gant" (Arnold Hano); 1952 (reprint: Sleuth Mystery Magazine Oct 1958)
50 · Love Will Find a Way by David Alexander (ss) 1960 
59 · Retribution by Michael Zuroy (ss) Manhunt Apr 1961
63 · The Queen's Jewel by James Holding, 1964

A Week of Suspense
75 · Pool Party by "Andrew Benedict" (Robert Arthur) (ss) Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Oct 1969
88 · That Touch of Genius by William Sambrot (ss) Escapade Jan 1967
97 · The Crooked Road by Alex Gaby (ss) Argosy Jan 1958
112 · A Taste for Murder by Jack Ritchie (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Jan 1963
116 · The Twelve-Hour Caper by Mike Marmer (ss) Cosmopolitan May 1961
126 · The Amateur by Michael Gilbert [Insp. (Supt.) Hazlerigg series], (ss) John Bull Nov 19 1949, as “Amateur in Violence”
137 · Death Wish by Lawrence Block (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Mar 1967

A Week of Detection
149 · The Singing Pigeon by "Ross Macdonald" (Kenneth Millar) (ss) 1953, reprinted in Manhunt May 1964 (as by John Ross Macdonald) 
180 · Justice Magnifique by Lawrence Treat  (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Jan 1958
193 · The White Hat by Sax Rohmer [Paul Harley series], (nv) The Story-teller Jun 1920 (Arthur had reprinted it in The Mysterious Traveler Magazine Mar 1952)
213 · Hard Sell by "Craig Rice" [ghost written by Lawrence Block; John J. Malone series], (ss) Ed McBain’s Mystery Book #1 1960
221 · Greedy Night by E. C. Bentley (ss) Parody Party, edited by Leonard Russell, Hutchinson 1936
232 · A Twilight Adventure by Melville Davisson Post [Uncle Abner series], (ss) Metropolitan Magazine Apr 1914
243 · Murder Matinee by Harold Q. Masur, ss 1946

A Week of the Macabre
261 · A Humanist by Romain Gary (ss) The Saturday Evening Post Oct 26 1963
266 · The Oblong Room by Edward D. Hoch [Captain Leopold series], (ss) The Saint Magazine Jul 1967
276 · Love Me, Love Me, Love Me by M.S. Waddell (aka Martin Waddell), (ss) The Sixth Pan Book of Horror Stories edited by Herbert van Thal, Pan 1965
283 · Special Handling by John Keefauver, (ss) 1969 (possibly a story original to this anthology) 
288 · Dead Man's Story by Howard Rigsby (ss) Argosy Aug 27 1938, as “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead” (reprinted by Arthur in The Mysterious Traveler Magazine Nov 1951 under new title)
299 · The Legend of Joe Lee by John D. MacDonald (ss) Cosmopolitan Oct 1964
310 · Crooked Bone by Gerald Kersh (nv) The Saturday Evening Post Aug 10 1968

A Short Week of Long Ones
335 · The Janissaries of Emilion by Basil Copper (nv) The Eighth Pan Book of Horror Stories edited by Herbert van Thal (Pan 1967)
354 · Chinoiserie by Helen McCloy (nv) Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Jul 1946
377 · Soldier Key by Sterling E. Lanier [Brigadier Ffellowes series], (nv) The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Aug 1968

The delightful conceit of 31 stories, a menu for four weeks and the extra three days, was about as high-concept as Arthur had chosen to go with with his anthologies ghosted for Hitchcock, and unfortunately the paperbacks, theoretically out of necessity, had to abandon that schtick. 

The story rundowns for the two Dell volumes:
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Dates with Death (Stories from A Month of Mystery Volume 1 as subtitle on the 1972 edition but dropped from the 1976)

ix · If, Indeed, It Is Evening-- · Robert Arthur ("signed" by Hitchcock) · in
1 · The Dusty Drawer · Harry Muheim · ss Collier’s May 3 1952 
17 ·Drum Beat by Stephen Marlowe (ss) Ed McBain’s Mystery Book #2 1960
21 · The Uses of Intelligence by "Matthew Gant" (Arnold Hano); 1952 (reprint: Sleuth Mystery Magazine Oct 1958)
33 · The Queen's Jewel by James Holding, 1964
44 · That Touch of Genius by William Sambrot (ss) Escapade Jan 1967
53 · The Crooked Road by Alex Gaby (ss) Argosy Jan 1958
69 · The Amateur by Michael Gilbert [Insp. (Supt.) Hazlerigg series], (ss) John Bull Nov 19 1949, as “Amateur in Violence”
80 · The Singing Pigeon by "Ross Macdonald" (Kenneth Millar) (ss) 1953, reprinted in Manhunt May 1964 (as by John Ross Macdonald) 
114 · Justice Magnifique by Lawrence Treat  (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Jan 1958
129 · Greedy Night by E. C. Bentley (ss) Parody Party, edited by Leonard Russell, Hutchinson 1936
141 · A Humanist by Romain Gary (ss) The Saturday Evening Post Oct 26 1963
147 · The Oblong Room by Edward D. Hoch [Captain Leopold series], (ss) The Saint Magazine Jul 1967
157 · Dead Man's Story by Howard Rigsby (ss) Argosy Aug 27 1938, as “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead” (reprinted by Arthur in The Mysterious Traveler Magazine Nov 1951 under new title)
169 · The Janissaries of Emilion by Basil Copper (nv) The Eighth Pan Book of Horror Stories edited by Herbert van Thal (Pan 1967)
190 · Chinoiserie by Helen McCloy (nv) Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Jul 1946







































AHP: Terror Time (Dell 1972) [can't find any page numbers for this one; I'm not sure, but would be surprised if the introduction wasn't reprinted here as well. TM]

South of Market by Joe Gores, first published as "Down and Out" (ss) Manhunt Jun 1959
Love Will Find a Way by David Alexander (ss) 1960 
Retribution by Michael Zuroy (ss) Manhunt Apr 1961
Pool Party by "Andrew Benedict" (Robert Arthur) (ss) Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Oct 1969
A Taste for Murder by Jack Ritchie (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Jan 1963
The Twelve-Hour Caper by Mike Marmer (ss) Cosmopolitan May 1961
Death Wish by Lawrence Block (ss) Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Mar 1967
The White Hat by Sax Rohmer [Paul Harley series], (nv) The Story-teller Jun 1920 (Arthur had reprinted it in The Mysterious Traveler Magazine Mar 1952)
Hard Sell by "Craig Rice" [ghost written by Lawrence Block; John J. Malone series], (ss) Ed McBain’s Mystery Book #1 1960
A Twilight Adventure by Melville Davisson Post [Uncle Abner series], (ss) Metropolitan Magazine Apr 1914
Murder Matinee by Harold Q. Masur, ss 1946
Love Me, Love Me, Love Me by M.S. Waddell (aka Martin Waddell), (ss) The Sixth Pan Book of Horror Stories edited by Herbert van Thal, Pan 1965
Special Handling by John Keefauver (ss) 1969 (possibly a story originally in the hardcover edition) 
The Legend of Joe Lee by John D. MacDonald (ss) Cosmopolitan Oct 1964
Crooked Bone by Gerald Kersh (nv) The Saturday Evening Post Aug 10 1968
Soldier Key by Sterling E. Lanier [Brigadier Ffellowes series], (nv) The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Aug 1968

Yes, yes, but what of the stories? Well, the Howard Rigsby is very good indeed, and I can see why it went to Argosy rather than Weird Tales (Argosy could pay at least five times as much if they were of a mind to do so), involving a dogged agent of law enforcement who isn't going let decedence impede execution of his duty. Arnold Hano's story is another I've written about here before, due to its inclusion in a horrible-children anthology; it managed to be both anti-intellectual and anti-youth at the same time, and (perhaps unsurprisingly) presuming that a high IQ score allows for improbable hands-on supervillainy. I chose to be mildly offended on both counts, but apparently not only Arthur but the MWA representatives who edited and co-published Sleuth magazine were chuckling. 

"The Dusty Drawer" is one of those stories where an overlooked drawer in a bank allows for hideaway larceny; the AHP: television series  dramatized another story rather similar to this one, and I've read a half-dozen others over the years...this one is reasonably deft. I was reading "Greedy Night" before I'd actually heard of, much less read, Sayers or "Gaudy Night", but nonetheless enjoyed it, and the Basil Copper story was a fine introduction to his work, resolutely old-fashioned but not stuffy horror-fiction. "The Oblong Room" is almost certainly the most-reprinted of Edward Hoch's stories, or at very least was at one time, and one can see why...it runs relentlessly to its conclusion, verging on horror and getting at the root of horror, and perverse tragedy. John Keefauver and even more Mike Marmer were professional humorists (though perhaps Marmer's Lancelot Link tv series was less indicative of that than most of his work in literary and audio/visual matters), and there is no lack of gallows humor in this and other Arthur (and Masur) books, none of it more indicative of Avram Davidson's "the laugh with a little bubble of blood in it" than the Romain Gary story, one of those gathered shortly after magazine publication in the volume Hissing Tales. And, as you probably have noted by now, this, like the other AHP: volumes  feature no lack of fantasy and horror, even a little sf, mixed in with the suspense and mystery fiction, and even a merely shadowy character study on occasion...since I didn't have half the book until recently, the not altogether dissimilar Judith Merril The Year's Best S-F annual for 1965, featuring 1964 stories for the most part, was my source for another Romain Gary and for this volume's John D. MacDonald fantasy, "The Legend of Joe Lee", a couple of years after I read the Dates with Death paperback...Dell, who were the primary force behind the Merril books except for several volumes where Simon & Schuster intrusively edited over Merril's shoulder, clearly liked eclectic anthologies. Sorry I missed the Joe Gores and Lawrence Block stories (both the latter) for so long...and there's very little in this book and its variations that isn't a good example of what the authors could do. 






































The British hardcover edition, above (possibly only offered through a book club). Below, the first UK paperback from A Month (not sure if they divided the stories as Dell did, or for that matter who at Dell was doing the splitting of the baby, or if they let Robert Arthur and Harold Masur do it themselves...that certainly would explain why presumably Arthur would replace the novels from some of te Random House hardcovers with stories from Arthur's YA anthologies for Random House, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum, in some of the Dell paperback editions. 

Image above, and some index assistance, from The Hitchcock Zone, as well as from ISFDB and particularly the FictionMags Index. The image below the back cover of AHP: Dates with Death. Frank Babics's Casual Debris (with some gaps and errors amid a very impressive lot of work) and the Internet Archive are always good to look at, as well.

And thanks as always to Patti Abbott for hosting FFB. Check here for more of today's books.

FFB: THE COMPLETE STORIES OF THEODORE STURGEON edited and annotated by Paul Williams and Noël Sturgeon (13 volumes plus a 1993 chapbook, North Atlantic Books, 1995-2010)

Theodore Sturgeon was by all accounts a confounding personality, genial, personally irresponsible, questioning many of the more basic matters of human relations, perception and emotion, and a man who could certainly write a sentence...and then be hung up by how badly he'd done so for years-long writer's blocks. And yet managed to be very prolific over a long if troubled career. Kurt Vonnegut based Kilgore Trout on him (as the name makes clear), while also admitting that much of what Trout was was also Vonnegut himself. Ray Bradbury was his most assiduous student; Bradbury learned much of his early craft from imitating Sturgeon's work, as well as getting more hands-on instruction from Leigh Brackett and others, and Bradbury deviating from that early tutelage didn't necessarily improve his work. He was a brilliant writer, as Vonnegut, Bradbury and the others tapped to write introductions and afterwords to the volumes of this massive effort to collect all his short fiction, some of it otherwise "lost" in a more profound way than we usually mean this, attest to, each in turn: Samuel R. Delany, Jonathan Lethem, Peter Beagle, Connie Willis, Robert Silverberg, Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Wolfe, Harlan Ellison, Philip Klass (aka "William Tenn"), David Hartwell, Larry McCaffery, Spider Robinson, Debbie Notkin, James Gunn and, because the project's original editor was the late, pioneering music journalist and magazine publisher Paul Williams, David Crosby, whose introduction is the slightest, unsurprisingly, if no less heartfelt. Among those who didn't survive to see even the initial volumes of the project  in print, Robert Heinlein's memory of the times he was proud to be able to help out Sturgeon are included, as was Isaac Asimov's recollection of how gutted he was by Sturgeon's fiction, first as a reader and also as a writer who knew he wasn't ever going to be able to match it. 

And then we're into each volume, assembled as closely as possible as a chronological assembly of the fiction in the order it was written, with a few of the most obscure items recovered and added out of order in later volumes. Along with Williams's copious notes and running biographical account of Sturgeon's life and that of his family and contemporaries. (Williams was the grievously impaired survivor of an accident while bicycling in the latter years of assembling this series, after his similar assembly of the short work of Philip K. Dick, and Sturgeon's daughter Noël picked up the gauntlet when he could no longer continue.) The fiction ranges from slight early attempts and minor work sprinkled in throughout Sturgeon's career, to some of the most fully-realized literary art by anyone writing sf and fantasy in the middle decades of the previous century. There's a reason Graham Greene's entry came in second to Sturgeon's story "Bianca's Hands" in a contest the UK magazine Argosy sponsored in 1947, and not because Greene wasn't trying, with his "The Second Death"...just as there was a less-good reason that Sturgeon's disturbing story had failed to sell for nearly a decade before sending it along to the Argosy contest. Sturgeon was "the finest conscious artist science fiction [has] ever produced," James Blish once wrote in one of his critical pieces, and North Atlantic was quick to cite that in their catalog blurbing, as well, and while others have rivaled him, few have had more extensive influence coupled with the excellence of their best work. He wrote brilliant horror fiction, fantasy and science fiction and less copiously in other fields, including similarly impressive work in western fiction and good work in crime fiction and contemporary/mimetic fiction. His occasional ghosted books included two of "Ellery Queen"'s novels and the famous literary hoax novel Betty and Ian Ballantine chose to publish in the wake of Jean Shepherd's large-scale practical joke on the "bestseller list" devisers, in employing his radio listeners in creating demand and "bestseller" status for a nonexistent historical novel, I, Libertine, published as by "Frederick R. Ewing" after a marathon overnight writing session to rush the book out, the final pages written by Betty Ballantine after Sturgeon simply needed to collapse on the couch. Ballantine Books also published a number of his better books, in first edition and reprints. 

Sturgeon's novels were often not up to the best of his short work; published after his first, 1950's impressive The Dreaming Jewels, his most famous novel, More Than Human, is essentially a working-together (or "fix-up") of three novellas, one of them lending its title to Volume VI of this series, "Baby is Three"...and they weren't always treated well by their publishers...Dell Books chose to package the slight expansion of the novella "To Marry Medusa" as The Cosmic Rape (1958), among the more unintentionally (we can hope) terrible commercial decisions ever made on behalf of a new book by an important writer...oddly enough, subsequent publishers opted to go for the original title. His next sf novel had the only slightly better title, if less objectionable, Venus Plus X (1959); it would be his last science fiction novel, with the weak exception of his novelization of the film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961); the same year saw his rationalized-vampire psychological suspense novel Some of Your Blood, and aside from the ghosted "Queen"s, another film novelization, from the western The Rare Breed, and the long-worked-over final fantasy novel Godbody, published posthumously in 1986, he would publish no more book-length fiction, though another project which had been in (apparently limited) progress for decades, expanding from his story "When You Care, When You Love", was left unfinished at his death. The story had been published in the first special author-tribute issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, with the Edmund Emshwiller cover painting for that issue (September 1962) reprinted as the cover of Volume VII, above. 


But he continued, albeit with the sporadic blocks noted above, to contribute good to brilliant short fiction throughout his career, as well as contributing a range of nonfiction writing and devoting a fair amount of time in his last years to teaching in writing workshops...one of my lasting regrets is not being able to afford to attend, assuming I would've been admitted to, one held on Kauai when I was living on Oahu in 1984; the impressive if relatively underpublished writer Elizabeth Engstrom began publishing after her attendance at the same workshop, which might even have been Sturgeon's last. His book reviews, which appeared in even more unlikely places than his fiction would, including National Review (he was not a Conservative) and Hustler (the latter during Paul Krassner's comparatively ambitious editorship of that skin magazine), were often criticized themselves for his stated inability to dislike any book.  Other essays of his were usually less controversial thus...it was in his first regular book-review column in the magazine Venture that he first put into print his Sturgeon's Estimate, that 90% of any artistic body of literature is mediocre or worse...often cited as Sturgeon's Law, and that  90% of everything is crap. 

A pamphlet issued in 1993 by Paul Williams as a fundraiser and heads-up that the Sturgeon Project was beginning, and he would be seeking a publisher for the Complete Stories volumes; Argyll was how he dubbed his stepfather, the source of the Sturgeon name for a boy who had been born Edward Hamilton Waldo, and whose mother had his name changed after she married  this uptight and at least borderline abusive, as Sturgeon recalls him, new father-figure. Apparently written in 1965, and unpublished till this 1993 item.

• Publication: Argyll
  
• Author: Theodore Sturgeon
• Date: 1993-07-00
• ISBN: 0-934558-16-7 [978-0-934558-16-7]
• Publisher: The Sturgeon Project
• Price: $10.00
• Pages: 79
• Type: NONFICTION
• Cover: Argyll by Donna Nassar
• 5 • Introduction  • essay by Paul Williams
• 9 • Argyll • essay by Theodore Sturgeon
• 60 •  Letter to Mother and Argyll • essay by Theodore Sturgeon
• 77 • Afterword  • essay by Samuel R. Delany

The Ultimate Egoist: The Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Vol. 1 Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic Books 1-55643-182-1, Feb ’95 [Dec ’94], $25.00, 387pp, hc, cover by Jacek Yerka) Collection of 46 stories and one poem, nine of them previously unpublished “trunk” stories (literally). This is the first of thirteen volumes and covers Sturgeon’s work through 1940. A marvelous project. [--Locus magazine editor and publisher Charles N. Brown] Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams, with forewords by Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Gene Wolfe. Order from North Atlantic Books, PO Box 12327, Berkeley CA 94712.

• v · Editor’s Note · Paul Williams · pr
• ix · About Theodore Sturgeon · Ray Bradbury · fw Without Sorcery, Prime Press, 1948
• xii · About Theodore Sturgeon · Arthur C. Clarke · fw *
• xiv · About Theodore Sturgeon · Gene Wolfe · fw *
• 3 · Heavy Insurance · ss Milwaukee Journal Jul 16 ’38
• 6 · The Heart · ss Other Worlds Science Stories May ’55
• 10 · Cellmate · ss Weird Tales Jan ’47
• 23 · Fluffy · ss Weird Tales Mar ’47
• 31 · Alter Ego · ss *
• 35 · Mailed Through a Porthole · ss *
• 40 · A Noose of Light · ss *
• 50 · Strangers on a Train · ss *
• 55 · Accidentally on Porpoise · ss *
• 70 · The Right Line · ss *
• 83 · Golden Day · ss Milwaukee Journal Mar 4 ’39
• 86 · Permit Me My Gesture · ss Milwaukee Journal Mar 10 ’39
• 89 · Watch My Smoke · ss Milwaukee Journal Mar 13 ’39
• 92 · The Other Cheek · ss Milwaukee Journal Apr 10 ’39
• 95 · Extraordinary Seaman · ss Milwaukee Journal Jun ’39
• 104 · One Sick Kid · ss Milwaukee Journal Apr 29 ’39
• 107 · His Good Angel · ss Milwaukee Journal May 12 ’39
• 110 · Some People Forget · ss Milwaukee Journal May 30 ’39
• 113 · A God in a Garden · ss Unknown Oct ’39
• 133 · Fit for a King · ss Milwaukee Journal Jun 10 ’39
• 136 · Ex-Bachelor Extract · ss Milwaukee Journal Jun 17 ’39
• 139 · East Is East · ss Milwaukee Journal Jun 24 ’39
• 142 · Three People · ss *
• 145 · Eyes of Blue · ss Milwaukee Journal Jul 1 ’39
• 148 · Ether Breather [Ether Breather] · ss Astounding Sep ’39
• 163 · Her Choice · ss Milwaukee Journal Jul 8 ’39
• 166 · Cajun Providence · ss Milwaukee Journal Jul 15 ’39
• 169 · Strike Three · ss *
• 172 · Contact! · ss Milwaukee Journal Aug 5 ’39
• 175 · The Call · ss Milwaukee Journal Aug 19 ’39
• 178 · Helix the Cat · nv Astounding, ed. Harry Harrison, Random House, 1973
• 204 · To Shorten Sail · ss Milwaukee Journal Sep 9 ’39
• 207 · Thanksgiving Again · ss *
• 217 · Bianca’s Hands · ss Argosy (UK) May ’47
• 226 · Derm Fool · ss Unknown Mar ’40
• 242 · He Shuttles · ss Unknown Apr ’40
• 262 · Turkish Delight · ss Milwaukee Journal Nov 18 ’39
• 265 · Niobe · ss *
• 270 · Mahout · ss Milwaukee Journal Jan 22 ’40
• 273 · The Long Arm · ss Milwaukee Journal Feb 5 ’40
• 276 · The Man on the Steps · ss Milwaukee Journal Feb 22 ’40
• 279 · Punctuational Advice · ss Milwaukee Journal Feb 29 ’40
• 282 · Place of Honor · ss Milwaukee Journal Mar 18 ’40
• 285 · The Ultimate Egoist · nv Unknown Feb ’41
• 303 · It · nv Unknown Aug ’40
• 328 · Butyl and the Breather [Ether Breather] · nv Astounding Oct ’40
• 351 · Back Words: Story Notes · Paul Williams · ms *
• 387 · Look About You · pm Unknown Jan ’40

As with at least a few of the other geniuses in the fantastic-fiction field, notably Fritz Leiber and Joanna Russ (and acolyte Bradbury), it's notable the number of rather brilliant horror stories cluster here in the earliest career of Sturgeon, with the proportion of horror fiction to attenuate by mid-career ..."Fluffy", "Bianca's Hands", "It", and then "Cellmate" and "He Shuttles" a notch less superb. "The Ultimate Egoist" being a fine humorous dark fantasy, plagiarized by at least one comic-book story I read as a child.  The largely sailing-related vignettes from newspaper syndication (Sturgeon was a merchant mariner) are promising but not, on balance, much more than interesting. 

Microcosmic God: The Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Vol. 2 Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic Books 1-55643-213-5, Jan ’96 [Dec ’95], $25.00, 372pp, hc, cover by Jacek Yerka) Collection of 17 stories, two previously unpublished. This is the second of thirteen volumes and covers Sturgeon’s work from 1940 to 1943. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams. There is a foreword by Samuel R. Delany.

• vi · Editor’s Note · Paul Williams · pr
• vii · Theodore Sturgeon · Samuel R. Delany · fw * [Theodore Sturgeon]
• 3 · Cargo · nv Unknown Nov ’40
• 32 · Shottle Bop · nv Unknown Feb ’41
• 59 · Yesterday Was Monday · ss Unknown Jun ’41
• 77 · Brat · ss Unknown Dec ’41
• 95 · The Anonymous · nv *
• 123 · Two Sidecars · ss *
• 127 · Microcosmic God · nv Astounding Apr ’41
• 157 · The Haunt · ss Unknown Apr ’41
• 175 · Completely Automatic · ss Astounding Feb ’41
• 194 · Poker Face · ss Astounding Mar ’41
• 206 · Nightmare Island [as by E. Waldo Hunter] · nv Unknown Jun ’41
• 235 · The Purple Light [as by E. Hunter Waldo] · ss Astounding Jun ’41
• 241 · Artnan Process · nv Astounding Jun ’41
• 265 · Biddiver · nv Astounding Aug ’41
• 289 · The Golden Egg · nv Unknown Aug ’41
• 309 · Two Percent Inspiration · ss Astounding Oct ’41
• 329 · The Jumper · Theodore Sturgeon & James H. Beard · ss Unknown Aug ’42; Beard is not credited in this edition.
• 347 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · bi
• 369 · Microcosmic God (Unfinished Early draft) · uw *

Killdozer!: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Vol. 3 Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic Books 1-55643-227-5, Nov ’96 [Oct ’96], $25.00, 367pp, hc, cover by Paul Orban) Collection of 15 stories, four previously unpublished, and two not previously collected. This is the third of thirteen volumes and covers Sturgeon’s work from 1941 to 1946. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams. There is a foreword by Robert Silverberg, and an afterword by Robert A. Heinlein (excerpted from the 1985 introduction to Godbody).

• ix · Foreword · Robert Silverberg · fw
• 1 · Blabbermouth · nv Amazing Feb ’47
• 26 · Medusa · nv Astounding Feb ’42
• 48 · Ghost of a Chance [aka “The Green-Eyed Monster”] · ss Unknown Jun ’43
• 65 · The Bones · Theodore Sturgeon & James H. Beard · ss Unknown Aug ’43
• 84 · The Hag Séleen · Theodore Sturgeon & James H. Beard · nv Unknown Dec ’42
• 104 · Killdozer! · na Aliens 4, Avon, 1959; revised from Astounding Nov ’44.
• 177 · Abreaction · ss Weird Tales Jul ’48
• 190 · Poor Yorick · ss *
• 194 · Crossfire · vi *
• 197 · Noon Gun · ss Playboy Sep ’63
• 211 · Bulldozer Is a Noun · ss *
• 227 · August Sixth, 1945 · pl Astounding Dec ’45
• 231 · The Chromium Helmet · nv Astounding Jun ’46
• 283 · Memorial · ss Astounding Apr ’46
• 297 · Mewhu’s Jet · nv Astounding Nov ’46
• 335 · Story Notes (including the original ending of “Killdozer!” and the unpublished alternate ending of “Mewhu’s Jet”) · Paul Williams · bi
• 361 · Afterword [from the 1985 introduction to Godbody] · Robert A. Heinlein · aw

As would happen with the next volume, the initial cover for Thunder and Roses was deemed insufficiently decorative:

Cover and book design by Paula Morrison--though ISFDB wonders if the artist credit is simply omitted, as Morrison designed the entire series. I wonder if this cover illustration wasn't, like the next volume's also-replaced initial cover image, by Hal Robins.

And was replaced:

The new cover painting, titled "Sun Spots", is by Jacek Yerka (1999)

Thunder and Roses: The Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Vol. 4 Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic Books 1-55643-252-6, Nov ’97, $25.00, 380pp, hc) Collection of 15 stories, one previously unpublished, and three not previously collected. This is the fourth of thirteen volumes and covers Sturgeon’s work from 1946 to 1947. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams. The foreword by James Gunn originally appeared in Star Trek: The Joy Machine by Sturgeon & Gunn (1996). 

• ix · Foreword · James Gunn · fw Star Trek: The Joy Machine, James Gunn & Theodore Sturgeon, Pocket, 1996
• 1 · Maturity · na Astounding Feb ’47
• 60 · Tiny and the Monster · nv Astounding May ’47
• 97 · The Sky Was Full of Ships · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Jun ’47
• 109 · Largo · ss Fantastic Adventures Jul ’47
• 125 · Thunder and Roses · ss Astounding Nov ’47
• 150 · It Wasn’t Syzygy [“The Deadly Ratio”] · nv Weird Tales Jan ’48
• 179 · The Blue Letter · ss *
• 183 · Wham Bop! · ss The Varsity Nov ’47
• 197 · Well Spiced · ss Zane Grey’s Western Magazine Feb ’48
• 214 · Hurricane Trio · nv Galaxy Apr ’55
• 245 · That Low · vi Famous Fantastic Mysteries Oct ’48
• 250 · Memory · nv Thrilling Wonder Stories Aug ’48
• 273 · There Is No Defense · nv Astounding Feb ’48
• 321 · The Professor’s Teddy Bear · ss Weird Tales Mar ’48
• 332 · A Way Home · ss Amazing Apr/May ’53
• 340 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · bi
• 359 · The original second half of “Maturity” · ex *

This 1957 UK-only collection shouldn't be confused with the series volume detailed above:

Apparently the first edition cover illustration for this one also was given another look by North Atlantic and judged too much like amateur cartooning, however intentionally primitive/"outsider" it was intended to be:
Cover art by Hal Robins; Cover and book design by Paula Morrison

And was replaced:

The Perfect Host: The Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Vol. 5 Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic Books 1-55643-284-4, Nov ’98 [Oct ’98], $27.50, 386pp, hc, second edition cover by Michael Dashow) Collection of 17 stories, two previously unpublished, and seven not previously collected. Foreword by Larry McCaffery. This is the fifth of thirteen volumes, and covers Sturgeon’s work from 1947 to 1949. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams. 

• ix · Foreword · Larry McCaffery · fw
• 1 · Quietly · ss *
• 18 · The Music · vi E Pluribus Unicorn, Abelard, 1953
• 20 · Unite and Conquer · nv Astounding Oct ’48
• 63 · The Love of Heaven · ss Astounding Nov ’48
• 78 · Till Death Do Us Join · ss Shock Jul ’48
• 92 · The Perfect Host · nv Weird Tales Nov ’48
• 141 · The Martian and the Moron · nv Weird Tales Mar ’49
• 167 · Die, Maestro, Die! · nv Dime Detective Magazine May ’49
• 201 · The Dark Goddess · ss *
• 215 · Scars · ss Zane Grey’s Western Magazine May ’49
• 223 · Messenger · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb ’49
• 235 · Minority Report · ss Astounding Jun ’49
• 257 · Prodigy · ss Astounding Apr ’49
• 269 · Farewell to Eden · ss Invasion from Mars, edited by Don Ward, though credited to Orson Welles, Dell, 1949 (Ward ghost-edited for several celebrities in the 1940s at Dell, including Alfred Hitchcock)
• 283 · One Foot and the Grave · nv Weird Tales Sep ’49
• 324 · What Dead Men Tell · nv Astounding Nov ’49
• 353 · The Hurkle Is a Happy Beast · ss The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF) Fll ’49
• 362 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · ms

Baby Is Three: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Vol. 6 Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic Books 1-55643-319-0, Nov ’99, $30.00, 424pp, hc, cover by Richard M. Powers) Collection of 11 stories, plus two autobiographical essays in an appendix. Foreword by David Crosby. This is the sixth of thirteen volumes, and covers Sturgeon’s work from 1950 to 1953. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams.

• · Editor’s Note · Paul Williams · pr
• ix · Foreword · David Crosby · fw
• 1 · Shadow, Shadow, on the Wall · ss Imagination Feb ’51
• 11 · The Stars Are the Styx · nv Galaxy Oct ’50
• 54 · Rule of Three · nv Galaxy Jan ’51
• 92 · Make Room for Me · nv Fantastic Adventures May ’51
• 119 · Special Aptitude [aka “Last Laugh”] · ss Other Worlds Science Stories Mar ’51
• 137 · The Traveling Crag · nv Fantastic Adventures Jul ’51
• 171 · Excalibur and the Atom · na Fantastic Adventures Aug ’51
• 238 · The Incubi of Parallel X · na Planet Stories Sep ’51
• 293 · Never Underestimate... · ss If Mar ’52
• 312 · The Sex Opposite · nv Fantastic Fll ’52
• 340 · Baby Is Three · na Galaxy Oct ’52
• 401 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · bi
• · Appendix: Two Autobiographical Essays
• 416 · Author, Author · bg The Fanscient Spr ’50
• The Men Behind Fantastic Adventures:
  421 · Theodore Sturgeon · bg Fantastic Adventures Aug ’51

A Saucer of Loneliness: The Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume VII Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic 1-55643-350-6, Oct 2000, $30.00, 388 + ix, hc, cover by Ed Emshwiller) Collection of 12 stories. The foreword by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. discusses the connection between his character Kilgore Trout and Sturgeon. This is the seventh of thirteen volumes, and covers work written from 1952 to 1953. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams.

• ix · Foreword · Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. · fw
• 1 · A Saucer of Loneliness · ss Galaxy Feb ’53
• 15 · The Touch of Your Hand · na Galaxy Sep ’53
• 61 · The World Well Lost · ss Universe Jun ’53
• 81 · ...And My Fear Is Great... · na Beyond Fantasy Fiction Jul ’53
• 145 · The Wages of Synergy · nv Startling Stories Aug ’53
• 195 · The Dark Room · nv Fantastic Jul/Aug ’53
• 237 · Talent · ss Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep ’53
• 247 · A Way of Thinking · nv Amazing Oct/Nov ’53
• 277 · The Silken-Swift · nv F&SF Nov ’53
• 297 · The Clinic · ss Star Science Fiction Stories #2, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1953
• 311 · Mr. Costello, Hero · nv Galaxy Dec ’53
• 339 · The Education of Drusilla Strange · nv Galaxy Mar ’54
• 375 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · bi

Bright Segment: The Complete Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume VIII Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic 1-55643-398-0, May 2002, $35.00, 408pp, hc) Collection of 11 stories. This eighth volume covers work written from 1953 to 1955, plus two earlier short-short stories not found until recently. Foreword by "William Tenn" (Philip Klass). Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams.

• ix · Foreword · William Tenn · fw
• 1 · Cactus Dance · nv Luke Short’s Western Magazine Oct/Dec ’54
• 27 · The Golden Helix · na Thrilling Wonder Stories Sum ’54
• 85 · Extrapolation [aka “Beware the Fury”] · nv Fantastic Apr ’54
• 115 · Granny Won’t Knit · na Galaxy May ’54
• 175 · To Here and the Easel · na Star Short Novels, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1954
• 229 · When You’re Smiling · nv Galaxy Jan ’55
• 259 · Bulkhead [aka “Who?”] · nv Galaxy Mar ’55
• 291 · The Riddle of Ragnarok · nv Fantastic Universe Jun ’55
• 311 · Twink · ss Galaxy Aug ’55
• 329 · Bright Segment · nv Caviar, Ballantine, 1955
• 355 · So Near the Darkness · nv Fantastic Universe Nov ’55
• 389 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · ms
• 403 · Clockwise · vi Calling All Boys Sep ’46
• 405 · Smpke! · vi Calling All Boys Dec ’46-Jan ’47

And Now the News...: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume IX Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic 1-55643-460-X, Nov 2003, $35.00, 377 + xiv, hc) Collection of 15 stories, five not previously collected. Foreword by David G. Hartwell. This volume covers work written from 1955 to 1957. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams; includes the revelation that two stories were collaborations with Robert A. Heinlein: “The Other Man” and “And Now the News...”

• ix · Foreword · David G. Hartwell · fw
• 1 · “Won’t You Walk...” · nv Astounding Jan ’56
• 31 · New York Vignette · ss F&SF Oct/Nov ’99
• 35 · The Half-Way Tree Murder · ss The Saint Detective Magazine Mar ’56
• 51 · The Skills of Xanadu · nv Galaxy Jul ’56
• 81 · The Claustrophile · nv Galaxy Aug ’56
• 113 · Dead Dames Don’t Dial · ss The Saint Detective Magazine Aug ’56
• 131 · Fear Is a Business · ss F&SF Aug ’56
• 151 · The Other Man · na Galaxy Sep ’56 (with Robert Heinlein)
• 205 · The Waiting Thing Inside · Theodore Sturgeon & Don Ward · ss EQMM Sep ’56
• 223 · The Deadly Innocent · Theodore Sturgeon & Don Ward · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Nov ’56
• 239 · And Now the News... · ss F&SF Dec ’56 (with Robert Heinlein)
• 261 · The Girl Had Guts · nv Venture Jan ’57
• 287 · The Other Celia · ss Galaxy Mar ’57
• 305 · Affair with a Green Monkey · ss Venture May ’57
• 317 · The Pod and the Barrier · na Galaxy Sep ’57
• 359 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · ms

The Nail and the Oracle: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume XI Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic 1-55643-661-0, Jul 2007, $35.00, xxxii+256pp, hc) Collection of 12 stories. Foreword by Harlan Ellison, who collaborated on one of the stories. This volume covers work written from 1957 to 1970. Edited and with extensive story notes by Paul Williams. North Atlantic Books 

• · Editor’s Note · Paul Williams · pr
• ix · Abiding with Sturgeon: Mistral in the Bijou · Harlan Ellison · ar Interzone Jun, 2007 ; revised.
• 1 · Ride In, Ride Out · Theodore Sturgeon & Don Ward · nv Sturgeon’s West, Doubleday, 1973
• 25 · Assault and Little Sister · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Jul ’61
• 43 · When You Care, When You Love · nv F&SF Sep ’62
• 85 · Holdup à la Carte · ss EQMM Feb ’64
• 95 · How to Forget Baseball · nv Sports Illustrated Dec 21 ’64
• 117 · The Nail and the Oracle · nv Playboy Oct ’65
• 137 · If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? · na Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967
• 181 · Runesmith · Harlan Ellison & Theodore Sturgeon · ss F&SF May ’70
• 199 · Jorry’s Gap · ss Adam Oct ’69
• 211 · Brownshoes · ss Adam May ’69
• 223 · It Was Nothing—Really! · ss Knight Nov ’69
• 237 · Take Care of Joey · ss Knight Jan ’71
• 247 · Story Notes · Paul Williams · bi

• Slow Sculpture, Volume XII: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon
  
• Theodore Sturgeon; edited by Noël Sturgeon
• Date: 2009-10-20
• ISBN: 978-1-55643-834-9 [1-55643-834-6]
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Price: $35.00
• Pages: xi+299
• Cover: Slow Sculpture, Volume XII: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon by Paula Morrison
• Notes: $43.00 in Canada. The copyright page contains complete Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data including both the ISBN (978-1-55643-661-1) and the LCCN (2009031693). "Cover photo collage and book design by Paula Morrison" stated on the copyright page. Noël Sturgeon takes over editorship of the series from Paul Williams starting with this volume, and credited as such on the title page. Even so, a short bio of Paul Williams is printed on the back flap of the dustjacket.

• v • Editor's Note (Slow Sculpture) • essay by Noël Sturgeon
• ix • Foreword: Theodore Sturgeon and "The Man Who Lost The Sea": An Appreciation • essay by Connie Willis
• 1 • The [Widget], the [Wadget], and Boff • (1955) • novella by Theodore Sturgeon
• 87 • The Beholders • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 93 • It's You! • (1970) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 101 • Slow Sculpture • (1970) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 123 • The Girl Who Knew What They Meant • (1970) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 131 • The Patterns of Dorne • (1970) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 147 • Crate • (1970) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 159 • Suicide • (1970) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 169 • Uncle Fremmis • (1970) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 185 • Necessary and Sufficient • (1971) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 205 • The Verity File • (1971) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 223 • Occam's Scalpel • (1971) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 247 • Dazed • (1971) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 273 • Pruzy's Pot • (1972) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 285 • Afterword to "Pruzy's Pot" • (1986) • essay by Spider Robinson (variant of Introduction (Pruzy's Pot))
• 289 • Story Notes Volume XII (Slow Sculpture) • essay by Noël Sturgeon

• Case and the Dreamer, Volume XIII: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon
  
• Theodore Sturgeon; edited by Noël Sturgeon
• Date: 2010-09-28
• ISBN: 978-1-55643-934-6 [1-55643-934-2]
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Price: $35.00
• Pages: xviii+375
• Cover: Case and the Dreamer, Volume XIII: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon by Paula Morrison
• Notes: Final volume in "The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon" series. The copyright page contains complete Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data including both the ISBN (978-1-55643-934-6) and the LCCN (2010019205). "Cover and book design by Paula Morrison" stated on the copyright page.

• v • Editor's Note  • essay by Noël Sturgeon
• xi • Foreword: Theodore Sturgeon and The Last Unicorn • essay by Peter S. Beagle
• xv • Foreword: Lifelong Passion: Theodore Sturgeon's Fiction • essay by Debbie Notkin
• 3 • Tuesdays Are Worse • (1960) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 11 • Case and the Dreamer • (1973) • novella by Theodore Sturgeon
• 55 • Agnes, Accent and Access • (1973) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 71 • Ingenious Aylmer • (1973) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 73 • The Sheriff of Chayute • (1973) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 87 • The Mysterium • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 101 • "I Love Maple Walnut" • (1974) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 103 • Blue Butter • (1974) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 111 • The Singsong of Cecily Snow • (1977) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 117 • Harry's Note • (1977) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 135 • Time Warp • (1978) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 157 • The Country of Afterward • (1979) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 179 • Like Yesterday • (1979) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 191 • Why Dolphins Don't Bite • (1980) • novella by Theodore Sturgeon
• 255 • Vengeance Is. • (1980) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 263 • Seasoning • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 275 • Not an Affair • (1983) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 297 • Black Moccasins • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 303 • The Trick • (1984) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 317 • Grizzly • (1983) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
• 327 • Afterword: Theodore Sturgeon: Storyteller • essay by Paul Williams
• 355 • Story Notes  • essay by Noël Sturgeon
• 367 • Index of Stories in The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon • essay by uncredited

For more of today's books and more, please see Patti Abbott's blog.