Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot
Reginald Bretnor
- "I
- loved
- the
- Feghoots
- and
- wish
- I
- could
- do
- a
- blurb
- for
- you.
- But
- I
- decided
- a
- few
- years
- ago
- to
- go
- out
- of
- the
- blurb
- business,
- on
- the
- grounds
- that
- if
- I
- said
- yes
- to
- one
- publisher,
- I'd
- have
- no
- good
- reason
- for
- refusing
- another,
- and
- then
- there
- would
- be
- no
- end
- to
- it.
- Sorry."
- —Science
- Fiction
- Grand
- Master
- Robert
- SilverbergBetween
- 1956
- and
- 1992,
- under
- the
- name
- Grendel
- Briarton
- (an
- anagram
- of
- his
- real
- name),
- Reginald
- Bretnor
- wrote
- 122
- very
- short
- sci-fi
- stories
- about
- Ferdinand
- Feghoot,
- a
- time-traveling,
- galaxy-hopping
- emissary
- from
- the
- Society
- for
- the
- Aesthetic
- Rearrangement
- of
- History.
- Using
- a
- device
- known
- only
- as
- )(,
- Feghoot
- visits
- and
- solves
- the
- problems
- of
- historical
- figures
- and
- intelligent
- beings
- on
- other
- worlds.
- Each
- story
- is
- an
- elaborate
- setup
- for
- an
- awesome/awful
- pun.
- They
- became
- an
- art
- form:
- "A
- feghoot
- .
- .
- .
- is
- a
- humorous
- short
- story
- or
- vignette
- ending
- in
- a
- pun
- (typically
- a
- play
- on
- a
- well-known
- phrase),
- where
- the
- story
- contains
- sufficient
- context
- to
- recognize
- the
- punning
- humor"
- (Wikipedia).
- They've
- been
- out
- of
- print
- for
- 30
- years.
- This
- new
- edition
- contains
- all
- of
- Bretnor's
- original
- Feghoots
- plus
- his
- essay
- "On
- the
- Proper
- Perpetration
- of
- Feghoots";
- a
- foreword
- by
- Dean
- Smith,
- who
- worked
- with
- Bretnor
- in
- the
- last
- year
- of
- his
- life;
- and
- a
- bevy
- of
- illustrations
- old
- and new.
