Product Description: Hounded by creditors and heckled by an uncooperative robot, binge-drinking inventor Galloway Gallegher must solve the mystery of his own machines before his dodgy financing and reckless lifestyle catch up with him! This complete collection of Kuttner's five classic "Gallegher" stories presents the author at the height of his imaginative genius.
Clever, Fun Science Fiction I first encountered Galloway Gallegher decades ago when I was a teenager, and fell in love with the stories. What an odd hero - his scientific genius manifests itself through his subconscious, and the only thing that releases his subconscious is stupendous amounts of alcohol, all kinds of alcohol (though beer is his drink of choice). Like the previous reviewer, I don't agree with the charges that the five stories contained in this book glamorized alcohol consumption. Gallegher definitely pays a price for his drinking, in terms of hangovers, memory loss, and trying to deal with the complicated situations caused by his alter-ego subconscious, which has an eccentric, off-the-wall sense of humor. If you're looking for the stories and can't find a copy of "Robots Have No Tails", try "The Proud Robot", which was released in paperback a number of years ago. They both contain the same stories. Also, look for the books under the names Lewis Padgett and Henry Kuttner -- they were the same person.
From the rear cover: "Gallegher was a genius. He'd start with a twist of wire and an odd notion or two, and come up with something never before known - something like a robot that thought that the most beautiful thing in the world was its own innards. Or a machine that ate dirt and sang bawdy songs. The trouble was, Gallegher's genius worked only when he was drunk. Once sober again, he could never figure out just what it was his gadgets were supposed to do; whether it was opening a can of beer - or saving the world."
"Henry Kuttner & C.L.Moore formed the most popular writing team in science fiction for twenty years, until Kuttner's untimely death at the age of 43."
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This is a great book. Unusual, funny, I have reread it dozens of times since discovering it eigth grade. Critics say it uses adolescent humor. Most definitely but adult sci fi readers love it too. Critics say it glorifies alcohol abuse. Possibly - Gallegher has to drink to invent but sober, he has massive hangovers and can't remember what problem he was working on, why, who paid him etc. This leads to his adventures and misadventures. A tribute to alcohol abuse? If the alcohol was so great, his memory wouldn't be so bad and his resulting situations would not be so hysterical.
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