"The Twonky" (1942) by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore (Lewis Padgett)

Kerry and Martha have bought a modern radio console without realising that although it has the look and feel of a modern-forties appliance, it had just been made by a time-warped and very expert worker from another dimension according to the standards of that mysterious time-space.

Boy, are they (and we) in for a surprise!

The Twonky was first published in the September 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction under the pen-name of Lewis Padgett, which was used by the prolific husband-and-wife team Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore for most (but not all – together they used at least 19 different pen-names!) of the very many sci-fi, fantasy and horror stories that they wrote and published together during the forties.

(7,200 words)

That pen-name was also used for the short story The Proud Robot the following year, and we know that that story was written only by Henry Kuttner (as was documented by C.L. Moore herself in a prefix, dated 1952, to a collection of all of the "Gallegher" stories, including The Proud Robot, that was eventually published in 1973).

But although both stories feature an amazingly-advanced and autonomous robot and have obvious stylistic similarities, there is no documentary evidence about the role played by each of the two writers in the authorship of The Twonky.

Withe the original Astounding illustration by Orban, and cover artwork by Timmins.

An ebook is available for downloading below.

The Twonky (e-book)