All Cats Are Gray

Andre Alice NortonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 17K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.All Cats Are Gray by Andre NortonAuthor: Norton, Andre, 1912-2005,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 1, 2009

Editor's review

All Cats Are Gray is a short science-fiction story by Andre Norton, brief in length and brisk in pace, with the typical flavor of early space-adventure tales. The story revolves around a spaceship and an unusual mission; the suspense is set up cleanly and the ending is neatly turned, showing the Golden Age interest in the unknown, luck and judgment. Norton's narration is restrained, relying not on ornate language but on scene progression and character reaction to create tension, making it a good introductory sample of mid-twentieth-century American short science fiction. Being a public-domain electronic text, it is easy to obtain and also suits use as English reading material: the sentences are not long and the plot drives strongly, so it is hard to abandon halfway. Note that its period marks are obvious and characterization relatively sketchy; readers expecting a deep character novel or hard-SF worldbuilding may find it thin. Overall, it is a short story well suited to finishing in one go on a commute or before sleep; afterward, it is worth thinking about how the story handles chance and choice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers wishing to enter early Anglo-American science fiction through short stories
Learners needing compact, short English extensive-reading material
Casual readers who enjoy space adventure and light suspense
Researchers interested in the short-story tradition in science-fiction history

Not a good fit for

Hard-SF readers who prefer long worldbuilding and complex settings
Literary readers expecting deep characterization and psychological description
Readers sensitive to the period limitations of early science fiction

Reading tips

Read it in one sitting, then look back at the opening foreshadowing to appreciate the short story's suspense design.
When using it for extensive English reading, aim first at plot comprehension, then organize vocabulary and common expressions.
After reading, compare with science-fiction short stories of the same era and note common Golden Age themes and formulas.
For a discussion class, focus on whether the ending and character motivation hold up.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the story about, and is it hard to read?

It is a short space-adventure science-fiction story about a spaceship mission, with suspense and a twist. The English sentences are not long and the plot moves fast, so overall difficulty is not high; it suits extensive reading by those with some English foundation. If nautical or spacecraft terms come up, skipping them does not prevent following the main line.

Why is it said to bear the marks of early science fiction?

Such mid-twentieth-century American short science fiction often centers on missions, unknown phenomena and simple characters, valuing clever plotting over vast settings or deep psychology. The narrative rhythm and handling of character feel clearly different from contemporary science fiction, and this is precisely its value as a sample of science-fiction history.

Is it suitable as English-learning material?

Fairly suitable. It is short and strongly plotted, easy to keep reading. It is best to read the first time only for plot, then a second time for vocabulary and sentence patterns; do not translate sentence by sentence, but focus on becoming familiar with common expressions and rhythms of narrative English. As extensive reading, it is easier to finish than a long novel.

Comments

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About the author

Andre Alice Norton Author · American · 1912–2005

Andre Norton (1912–2005), born Alice Mary Norton, was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She worked as a children's librarian at the Cleveland Public Library for eighteen years and published her first work under a pen name in 1934. Over her career she wrote more than 130 novels, and is best known for the Witch World series; in 1983 she received the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The library holds fourteen of her works, including The Time Traders, Star Born, Key Out of Time, Plague Ship, The Gifts of Asti, Star Hunter, Ride Proud, Rebel! and The Defiant Agents. Her writing often explores interstellar exploration, alien civilizations and adventurous coming-of-age, with brisk storytelling and vivid imagination, and has had a lasting influence on the development of American science fiction and fantasy.