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The Mechanical Mice

Eric Frank Russell & Maurice G. Hugi

First published January 1941
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette

According to http://www.efr.iwriter.com.au/footnote.html#mice (which no longer exists), "This was written from an idea by Russell's friend, Maurice G Hugi. Russell helped Hugi with extensive rewrites and it was first published under both their names. Later is was printed with Hugi getting sole credit, though the reasons for this are unclear...." but there is no record of an original publication using both names. Per Classic Science Fiction: The First Golden Age, "'The Mechanical Mice' appeared in the January 1941 Astounding under Hugi's name, at Russell's request. Hugi had never sold to an American magazine and Russell wanted to give his morale a boost. Hugi was a chronic diabetic, kept alive by frequent doses of insulin. 'His days were numbered and he knew it,' Russell recalled; getting into Astounding if only by proxy, made him happy. Hugi died a few years later."

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
January 1941 Cover Astounding Science-Fiction, January 1941 Street & Smith Publications, Inc. MAGAZINE 54
January 1941 Cover Astounding Science-Fiction, January 1941 Atlas Publishing and Distribution Co. Ltd MAGAZINE 27
1946 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Random House Anthology 320
August 1946 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Random House Anthology 320
1952 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Grayson & Grayson Anthology 127
1953 Adventures in Time and Space Random House Anthology
April 1954 Cover Selections from Adventures in Time and Space Pennant Books Anthology 81
1957 Cover Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space Modern Library Anthology 320
1957 Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space Random House Anthology 320
December 1957 Cover Utopia-Science-Fiction-Magazin, #9 Pabel MAGAZINE 5
January 1966 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Bantam Books Anthology 74
January 1966 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Bantam Books Anthology 74
April 1975 Cover Like Nothing on Earth Dennis Dobson Collection 49
August 1975 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Ballantine Books Anthology 320
October 1975 Cover Science-Fiction-Stories 53 Ullstein Collection 72
August 1976 Cover Urania #704 Mondadori MAGAZINE 4
March 1978 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Del Rey / Ballantine Anthology 320
October 1978 Cover Classic Science Fiction: The First Golden Age Harper & Row Anthology 134
December 1978 Adventures in Time and Space Del Rey / Ballantine Anthology 320
1979 Cover Classic Science Fiction: The First Golden Age BCA - Book Club Associates Anthology 134
1979 Cover Classic Science Fiction: The First Golden Age Robson Books Anthology 134
December 1979 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Del Rey / Ballantine Anthology 320
March 1980 Cover The Great Science Fiction Stories Volume 3, 1941 DAW Books Anthology 13
March 1980 Cover The Great Science Fiction Stories Volume 3, 1941 DAW Books / New American Library of Canada Anthology 13
February 1981 Cover Die besten Stories von 1941 Moewig Anthology 11
1983 Cover Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction: 2nd Series Bonanza Books / Crown Publishers Anthology 13
October 1986 Cover Like Nothing on Earth Methuen Collection 65
April 1988 Cover Men Hunting Things Baen Books Anthology 87
April 1988 Cover Men Hunting Things Baen Books Anthology 87
February 1990 Cover Le grandi storie della fantascienza 3 Bompiani Anthology 9
August 1990 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Random House / SFBC Anthology 324
September 2001 Cover Entities: The Selected Novels of Eric Frank Russell NESFA Press Omnibus 673
November 2001 Cover Adventures in Time and Space Science Fiction Book Club Anthology