Get Off the Unicorn
book by Anne McCaffrey
Get Off the Unicorn is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Anne McCaffrey, first published in paperback by Del Rey Books in June 1977. Eleven of the fourteen stories were previously published in various magazines and anthologies. Initial sales were brisk; two additional printings were required by year's end. Del Rey reprinted Get off the Unicorn regularly throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and its edition remains in print as of 2015. Corgi issued a British edition in 1979 and an Australian edition in 1980. An audiobook based on the Corgi edition was released in 1985. Severn House issued a hardcover edition in 1982.
The title was derived by accident: McCaffrey's working title had been "Get of the Unicorn" but this was misprinted as "Get Off the Unicorn" in Ballantine roster of unfilled contracts. After McCaffrey's editor, Judy-Lynn del Rey, was repeatedly asked what "Get Off the Unicorn" was, del Rey asked McCaffrey what she could do about that theme.
Contents
"Lady in the Tower" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1959)
"A Meeting of Minds" (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1969)
"Daughter" (The Many Worlds of Science Fiction, October 1971)
"Dull Drums" (Future Quest, September 1973)
"Changeling" (original to this collection)
"Weather on Welladay" (Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1969)
"The Thorns of Barevi" (The Disappearing Future: A Symposium of Speculation, 1970)
"Horse from a Different Sea" (original to this collection)
"The Great Canine Chorus" (Infinity One, January 1970)
"Finder's Keeper" (The Haunt of Horror, August 1973)
"A Proper Santa Claus" (Demon Kind, March 1973)
"The Smallest Dragonboy" (Science Fiction Tales, 1973)
"Apple" (Crime Prevention in the 30th Century, 1969)
"Honeymoon" (original to this collection)
Relation to McCaffrey's series
"Lady in the Tower" was expanded to become The Rowan (1990) and "A Meeting of Minds" was incorporated into Damia (1992).
“Get Off the Unicorn” enters the record as book by Anne McCaffrey. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Unicorn, book and Anne can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Get Off the Unicorn” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Unicorn, book and Anne provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5554060. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977, 2015, 1979 and 1980.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Get Off the Unicorn”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Get Off the Unicorn primary sources, Get Off the Unicorn archive and Unicorn research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Get Off the Unicorn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.