Before Asimov, before King...

April 10, 2005 10:49 AM

Ellis Parker Butler(1869 - 1934) American author, speaker, humorist. Author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, Ellis Parker Butler is most famous for his short story "Pigs is Pigs" in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs that soon start proliferating geometrically. This website is a loving tribute to a prolific author you've probably never heard of. Most of the stories and articles available on this web site have not been reprinted or reproduced since their original publication. Be sure to also check out the extensive library of vintage magazine covers.
posted by crunchland (5 comments total)

Damn, I grew up loving the Pigs Is Pigs story as Disney short.

Crunchland, there's a ton of stuff here to look through - are there any particular pieces (other than Pigs) that you'd recommend a newcomer to start with?
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 11:47 AM on April 10, 2005

I had never heard of the story but it is fun. It is a little dated, though, with the use of some racial slurs (dago pigs?, "race suicide") that would not fly today.

I wonder if this story inspired this Star Trek episode?
posted by TedW at 12:32 PM on April 10, 2005

are there any particular pieces (other than Pigs) that you'd recommend a newcomer to start with?

Your guess is as good as mine, Slack. I came across the site because of the archive of vintage magazine covers, and was taken by the obbsessive qualities of the rest of the site, esp. considering I'd never heard of the guy before.

I read a couple of the stories, and they struck me for some aspect that was foreign to me, in this day and age. The Log of a Lost Soul, published in 1920, involves a man desperate to get a drink after being incarcerated for several years, only to find that prohibition had passed in his absense. Don't Swear, publisjhed in 1904, makes a big deal about the novelty of automobiles. I suggest you pick a story or two at random, and I suspect you'll also find some other-worldly aspects, too.
posted by crunchland at 7:47 PM on April 10, 2005

crunchland,
Thanks for the post. I did not know him, but I'm looking forward to looking through the stuff.
posted by OmieWise at 10:51 AM on April 11, 2005

Wow, that vintage magazine cover library was worth a post by itself. Who knew American Girl had such beautifully designed covers? Thanks, crunchland.
posted by mediareport at 12:01 PM on April 11, 2005