#fletcher pratt

Fletcher Pratt: i'd like to welcome you all to the first meeting of the No Mildreds Club Mildred Baldwin: hey what are you boys doing in here Pratt: um excuse me Pratt: [pointing at sign] sorry mildred

Pratt: first order of business for the NO MILDREDS Club Pratt: the chair recognizes isaac asimov Isaac Asimov: yes can we change the name? Asimov: its a little on the nose Pratt: well what would you call it? Asimov: how about Asimov: the trapdoor spiders

[meanwhile] Poe: hey did you guys hear about this Trapdoor Spiders club? Poe: seems really exclusive King: whys it called that? Barker: its a sex act Poe: no its not clive Barker: be a lot cooler if it was

King: so what is it? Poe: its a male eating club Barker: haha well i know all about that Poe: no clive it's not that kind of male eating CB Blanchard: i know all about that Poe: it's not that either

King: so it's an exclusive club for boys? Patricia Highsmith: sounds fun. maybe i'll stop by Poe: oh sorry patricia it's men only Highsmith: yeah i think they'll let me in Poe: Poe: yeah i don't know why but that scans Barker: yeah that really does doesn't it? Highsmith: you know, chat with the boys, hang a few laughs, maybe chase a skirt

Franz Kafka: can i join? Poe: King: Koontz: Lovecraft: Barker: Barker: i'm going to tell her Poe: no clive Poe: the prime directive Barker: that's stupid Barker: i'm going to do it

Barker: we need to get into this club King: well gosh clive it's invite only King: and they're sci fi guys King: i don't know that we have any horror guys in that you could ask Dean Koontz: there's theodore sturgeon Barker: why yes Barker: there IS theodore sturgeon Barker: dean, you're a genius Koontz: i helped :)

Theodore Sturgeon: [wearing lab coat, holding erlenmeyer flask] behold it is i Sturgeon: theodore sturgeon Sturgeon: critical thinker and seeker of knowledge Sturgeon: excelsior!

Barker: hey theo Barker: i wanna ask a favor Sturgeon: speak, fellow science fan!

Barker: so Sturgeon: [scribbling equations on chalkboard] silence, clive! i'm almost at a break-through Sturgeon: soon, if my calculations are correct Sturgeon: i shall soon perfect Sturgeon's Revelation Sturgeon: or perhaps even Sturgeon: Sturgeon's law

Barker: Barker: yeah so anyway Sturgeon: eureka! I've found it Sturgeon: by my calculations Sturgeon: 80% of everything is crud Sturgeon: wait a second Sturgeon: 90%. 90% of everything is crud Sturgeon: sorry, forgot to carry the one

Barker: yeah ok i'm gonna leave you to Barker: whatever the hell all this is Sturgeon: scientific progress! Sturgeon: behold! the fruits of science! Sturgeon: a marvel of modern technology! Sturgeon: i'm building a killdozer

Sturgeon: behold! the killdozer! Sturgeon: bullet proof glass. Touchscreen gear shift. Sturgeon: and the steering wheel is a squircle

Sturgeon: the killdozer can cross water up to 2.5 feet deep Sturgeon: but also um you shouldn't get it wet Barker: Sturgeon: especially don't back it into a lake or something

Barker: you scientists are always so busy asking whether you CAN build a killdozer, you never stop to ask whether you SHOULD build a killdozer Barker: cuz that thing looks like shit Barker: like it really looks like shit

Sturgeon: you think i'm smart? you should see my brother peter Sturgeon: you know mensa? Barker: i've heard of it Sturgeon: he's so smart he FOUNDED it Barker: yeah? is he a member? Sturgeon: Sturgeon: i don't know

THE CASTLE OF IRON by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. (New York: Gnome Press, 1950). [Harold Shea] Dust jacket illustration by Hannes Bok.

Originally published as a 35,000 word novella in Unknown, this story is set in a parallel universe where magic works. It is the third story (and second volume) in the Harold Shea series.

Unknown, April 1941. Edited by John W. Campbell.

THE CASTLE OF IRON by Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt. Illustrated by Edd Cartier

“They” by Robert A. Heinlein. Illustrated by Charles Schneeman

“Over the River” by P. Schuyler Miller. Illustrated by Edd Cartier

“The Haunt” by Theodore Sturgeon. Illustrated by R. Isip

“A Length of Rope” by Chester S. Geier. Illustrated by Edd Cartier

“The Forbidden Trail” by Jane Rice. Illustrated by Edd Cartier

THE CASTLE OF IRON (New York: Pyramid, 1962) Cover by Ed Emshwiller // THE COMPLETE ENCHANTER (Garden City: Nelson Doubleday, 1975) Cover by D.K. Stone.

THE COMPLEAT ENCHANTER (New York: del Rey, 1976) Cover by the Hildebrandt Brothers.// THE CASTLE OF IRON (London: Sphere, 1979) Cover by Peter Jones.

"By Spaceship to the Moon" by Fletcher Pratt (Random House, 1958)

Double Jeopardy, by Fletcher Pratt (Cutis Books, 1952).