Without Sorcery is a collection of science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

 by author Theodore Sturgeon

Theodore Sturgeon

Theodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.His most famous novel is More Than Human .-Biography:...

. The collection was first published in 1948

1948 in literature

The year 1948 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The Pulitzer Prize for the Novel is renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction....

 by Prime Press

Prime Press

Prime Press, Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947. It was founded by Oswald Train, James A. Williams, Alfred C. Prime, and Armand E. Waldo who were all members of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The founders originally intended...

 in an edition of 2,862 copies of which 80 were specially bound, slipcased and signed by the author and artist. The stories first appeared in the magazines Astounding and Unknown

Unknown (magazine)

Unknown was an American pulp fantasy fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1943 by Street & Smith, and edited by John W. Campbell. Unknown was a companion to Street & Smith's science fiction pulp, Astounding Science Fiction, which was also edited by Campbell at the time; many authors and...

.

Contents

• Introduction, by Ray Bradbury
  Ray Bradbury
  Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
  
  
• "The Ultimate Egoist"
• "It"
• "Poker Face"
• "Shottle Bop"
• "Artnan Process"
• "Memorial"
• "Ether Breather"
• "Butyl and the Breather"
• "Brat"
• "Two Percent Inspiration"
• "Cargo"
• "Maturity"
• "Microcosmic God"

Publication history

• 1948, USA, Prime Press
  Prime Press
  Prime Press, Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947. It was founded by Oswald Train, James A. Williams, Alfred C. Prime, and Armand E. Waldo who were all members of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The founders originally intended...
  
   , Pub date 1948, Hardback
• 1961, USA, Ballantine Books
  Ballantine Books
  Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...
  
   , Pub date 1961, Paperback as Not Without Sorcery, omits 5 stories

It!

To promote Without Sorcery, Prime Press

Prime Press

Prime Press, Inc. was a science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing house founded in 1947. It was founded by Oswald Train, James A. Williams, Alfred C. Prime, and Armand E. Waldo who were all members of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The founders originally intended...

 published the story "It" in advance of the full collection. The book was published in paperback in an edition of 200 copies . 50 copies were given away at the Associated Fantasy Publishers party at the 6th World Science Fiction Convention

6th World Science Fiction Convention

The 6th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Torcon, was held July 3–5, 1948, at RAI Purdy Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was the first time the convention was held outside the United States....

 and most were signed by Sturgeon. Few of the remaining copies were sold and the remainder are assumed destroyed.

Reception

Boucher

Anthony Boucher

Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...

 and McComas

J. Francis McComas

Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....

 named Without Sorcery the best SF short fiction collection of 1949, citing the way Sturgeon "combines ingenious concepts with humor, humanity and sheer good writing." Astounding reviewer P. Schuyler Miller

P. Schuyler Miller

Peter Schuyler Miller was an American science fiction writer and critic.-Life:Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a life-long interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.He...

praised the collection, saying it included "perhaps the greatest variety of any short-story collection yet brought out by the fantasy publishers."