Reggie Bretnor (Papa Schimmelhorn, himself)

Reginald Bretnor, also known as Grendel Briarton (an anagram), lived in my old home town of Medford, Oregon. He wrote both humorous as well as dark, cautionary short stories, novellas and novels starting back in the early 1950's.

I particularly enjoy his series of short stories (and one novel) of Papa Schimmelhorn, a randy old goat, and particular genius when it comes to working with anything to do with clocks, a ladies-man extrordinaire, and husband to Mama Schimmelhorn. She with the umbrella that gets used to clout poor Papa about the head when he strays with the "preddy liddle pussy cads..."

Reggie also wrote a series of short stories used as 1/2-page fillers in Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine. They were all about Ferninand Feghoot, a space-time traveler. Usually only 3-4 paragraphs long, they always ended with a horrible pun.

I have included the three novel covers I have along with a limited edition collection of his short stories. You should be able to find the three mass-market books at better used book stores (as well as the "Through Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot" stories in misc. F&SF magazines. If you don't have a local used book store, try Powell's Books in Portland Oregon. They are the world's largest used book store.

As for the limited edition, well...they only pressed 1000 copies and I have #116.