A Lost Race novel set unusually in the eastern USA, where a civilization made up of descendants of early American pioneers has established an arcadian, monarchical Utopia supported by advanced Technology.

The Psi Lodge had their ways and means of applying pressure, when pressure was needed. But the peculiar talent this fellow showed was one that even they'd never heard of...!

A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future is a science fiction novel by John Jacob Astor IV, published in 1894. The book offers a fictional account of life in the year 2000. It contains abundant speculation about technological invention, including descriptions of a world-wide telephone network, solar power, air travel, space travel to the planets Saturn and Jupiter, and terraforming engineering projects — damming the Arctic Ocean, and adjusting the Earth’s axial tilt (by the Terrestrial Axis Straightening Company)...

When three brothers mortally offend Mr. Southwest Wind, Esquire, their farm is laid waste and their riches lost. Desperate for money, the brothers become goldsmiths and melt down their remaining treasures . . . only to find that the spirit of the King of the Golden River resides with a molded tankard, and knows the secret of the riches of the Golden River. (Introduction by Xenutia)

Jason Croft has learned the art of astral projection, and feels a calling to the region of Sirius, the Dog Star. Projecting his consciousness there, he encounters Naia. Determined that she is his soul mate, and the sole reason he was drawn there, he determines to win her love. Occupying a host body , Jason sets out to win the heart and hand of Naia by "inventing" technological advancements based on his knowledge from earth, and offering them to the rulers of her kingdom.

This sequel to "Palos of the Dog Star Pack" continues to follow Jason Croft on his adventures on Palos. Having abandoned his earthly body, Jason's astral projection has taken up residence in a man of Palos. Due to his extraordinary knowledge and skills, the high priest has declared Jason the voice of God. Which places his plans for marrying Naia - the entire reason for his being there - in jeopardy. - Summary by Krista Zaleski

We return to Palos, where Jason and Naia await the birth of their first son. Jason brings Dr. Murray to Palos to assist in the birth. Later, when Naia and the child are kidnapped, Dr. Murray again returns to Palos. Jason Croft once again uses his knowledge of earth technology to overcome the challenges he faces.

The star Mira was unpredictably variable. Sometimes it was blazing, brilliant and hot. Other times it was oddly dim, cool, shedding little warmth on its many planets. Gresth Gkae, leader of the Mirans, was seeking a better star, one to which his "people" could migrate. That star had to be steady, reliable, with a good planetary system. And in his astronomical searching, he found Sol.With hundreds of ships, each larger than whole Terrestrial spaceports, and traveling faster than the speed of light, the Mirans set out to move in to Solar regions and take over...

A sky pirate armed with superior weapons of his own invention... First contact with an alien race dangerous enough to threaten the safety of two planets... The arrival of an unseen dark sun whose attendant marauders aimed at the very end of civilization in this Solar System. These were the three challenges that tested the skill and minds of the brilliant team of scientist-astronauts Arcot, Wade, and Morey. Their initial adventures are a classic of science-fiction which first brought the name of their author, John W. Campbell, into prominence as a master of the inventive imagination.

As Earth's faster-than-light spaceship hung in the void between galaxies, Arcot, Wade, Morey and Fuller could see below them, like a vast shining horizon, the mass of stars that formed their own island universe. Morey worked a moment with his slide rule, then said, "We made good time! Twenty-nine light years in ten seconds! Yet you had it on at only half power...." Arcot pushed the control lever all the way to full power. The ship filled with the strain of flowing energy, and sparks snapped in the air of the control room as they raced at an inconceivable speed through the darkness of intergalactic space...

The famous scientific trio of Arcot, Wade and Morey, challenged by the most ruthless aliens in all the universes, blasted off on an intergalactic search for defenses against the invaders of Earth and all her allies. World after world was visited, secret after secret unleashed, and turned to mighty weapons of intense force--and still the Thessian enemy seemed to grow in power and ferocity. Mighty battles between huge space armadas were but skirmishes in the galactic war, as the invincible aliens savagely advanced and the Earth team hurled bolt after bolt of pure ravening energy--until it appeared that the universe itself might end in one final flare of furious torrential power....

Originally published in the May, 1960 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories. Jack Odin has returned to the world of Opal, the world inside our own world, only to find it in ruins. Many of his friends are gone, the world is flooded, and the woman he swore to protect has been taken by Grim Hagen to the stars. Jack must save her, but the difficulties are great and his allies are few.

An early science fiction novel written by the second most translated author, French writer Jules Verne, the classic tale depicts an incredible sea expedition on board a state-of-the-art submarine. First published in 1870 and a part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series, the novel is regarded as one of the most thrilling adventure stories and one of Verne’s greatest pieces of work. Immersed in themes of exploration, avant-garde technology, and man’s insatiable desire for knowledge and scientific progression, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea has been an influence for many writers as well as an inspiration for numerous film adaptations...

One of the earliest examples of literature written in the science fiction genre, From the Earth to the Moon is a part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series by French novelist Jules Verne. Written more than a century before the Apollo mission, Verne’s classic is somewhat a prophetic novel of man’s travel to the moon with its thorough and descriptive detail. A remarkable blend of action, humor, science, and audacious schemes, the timeless classic is sure to fascinate with its unique vision of lunar exploration...

The story starts with a comet that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it. Some forty people of various nations and ages are condemned to a two-year-long journey on the comet. They form a mini-society and cope with the hostile environment of the comet (mostly the cold). The size of the 'comet' is about 2300 kilometers in diameter - far larger than any comet or asteroid that actually exists.

Topsy Turvy is a translation of Sans dessus dessous (1889) . This anonymous translation was first published by J. G. Ogilvie (New York, 1890). We meet our old friends Barbicane and J.T. Maston from “Earth to the Moon” who now give us their own approach to the topic of “global warming”. Although they are searching for coal and not oil, readers will find that the auction of the Arctic energy reserves has a definite 21st century ring.

Jules Verne is back with another action-packed adventure--this time in India with a steam-powered elephant! Maucler, Captain Hood, Banks, and Colonel Munro set out for a pleasure trip across India in their train pulled by Behemoth, their mechanical elephant, but soon realize that they are in the midst of a plot by the Colonel's archenemy, Nana Sahib, to get vengeance for past wrongs and seize control of India once and for all. Will they be able to escape from a hidden assassin and uncover a secret hidden for decades in time to stop Nana Sahib? You’ll have to join us in this exciting story read by volunteers to find out!

Jules Verne takes aim at some amusing stereotypes of Americans in this story of a pre-rocketry attempt to shoot a cannonball to the Moon. Those Yankees don’t do anything by halves! His means is a Columbiad cannon so enormous that it must be bored 900 feet into the ground, so immense that 1200 smelting furnaces would be needed to create the iron for its casting, so stupendous that 100 tons of guncotton would be needed to loft its cannonball heavenwards. The journey must be watched from the tallest peak of the Rocky Mountains through a new telescope with a reflector measuring 16 feet in diameter and a tube reaching skyward 280 feet...

A novel with some utopian elements, but primarily dystopian. A French doctor and a German professor both inherit a vast fortune as descendants of a French soldier who married the rich widow of an Indian prince. They both decide to go to America and establish their own "ideal" society. Dr. Sarrasin, the French doctor, is focused on maintaining public health. He builds Ville-France. Professor Schultze, the German scientist, is a bit of a militarist and racist. He builds Stahlstadt and devotes his city to the production of ever more powerful weapons so that he can destroy Sarrasin's city...

Minos was such a lovely planet. Not a thing seemed wrong with it. Excepting the food, perhaps. And a disease that wasn't really. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, October, 1950. Katherine Anne MacLean (born January 22, 1925) is an American science fiction author best known for her short fiction of the 1950s which examined the impact of technological advances on individuals and society.

Here are two stores starring the always unconventional Terrestrial Diplomat, Retief. As a diplomat, Retief does not always follow procedure. Well the truth is that he almost never follows procedure but somehow his wit and strength manage to salvage most situations from the bumbling of his superiors. His sardonic approach to inter galactic negotiations in these two stories is a delight to hear. Despite everything, he manages to save the day and come out on top.

Legion was homeless and hungry and looking for a way to get to Miami when he crossed paths with Foster. Foster enlists Legion's aid in dealing with the mysterious light-beings called Hunters who he says have been chasing him, and also in recovering his lost memories. He possesses a journal with entries dating back centuries which contain the only clues to his identity. Their quest involves Stonehenge, alien space ships, far away planets and unique ways of dealing with age and life's memories. - Summary by Nick Bulka

For your listening pleasure, here are three stories by the ingenious Keith Laumer from the glorious days of Science Fiction in the early 1960s: A Bad Day for Vermin, The King of the City and Doorstep. They were all published in various Science Fiction magazines then flourishing in the United States at that time. I won't spoil your fun of listening to them by giving detailed story outlines, but be assured that there are aliens of various disgusting and/or beautiful shapes involved in several and a sad view of our future life when the US government collapses.

The first flight to outer space became an actual fact – Mars would be the first stop. But before the spaceship took off, two insane enemies almost succeeded in preventing the departure. This science fiction story for teens was written by a Catholic priest.

In this chilling short-story by a master of the craft, Kurt Vonnegut creates a fictional world of the future where life and death are no longer matters of individual choice or destiny. The title refers to the famous quote from Hamlet, “To be or not to be....” with “0” being pronounced as “naught.” It also refers to the eternal dilemma of life and death that face every human being at some point in their lives. Written in 1962 it is set in some unspecified time in the future, when earth has become a Utopia...

Published in 1911, 15 years before the first verified discovery of the North Pole and in the same year when F. Cook published a memoir claiming his own discovery of the Pole, this short SciFi about the discovery of the Pole and the civilisation on the other side which is supposedly 6 centuries in advance compared to our own, was doomed to sink in the unknown from the beginning on. But reading it a century later, this SciFi shows its own charm by conveying the general sentiment in the society short before the big discovery and the motivation behind the continued exploration despite the associated hardships...

FBI agent Kenneth Malone lives in a world where psionic powers such as telepathy and teleportation exist. He must cope with them as well as an FBI Director who leaves Malone continually confused about what situation he is being asked to handle and what he is expected to do about it. Someone or something is causing confusion in the U.S. Government, Unions, The Mafia, and other sectors of society and Malone has been given the job of finding the source of the confusion. A good story composed of science fiction and slap stick comedy with a bit of romance thrown into the mix.

Fruyling's World ... rich in the metals that kept the Terran Confederation going—one vital link in a galaxy-wide civilization. But the men of Fruyling's World lived on borrowed time, knowing that slavery was outlawed throughout the Confederation—and that only the slave labor of the reptilian natives could produce the precious metals the Confederation needed! As the first hints of the truth about Fruyling's World emerge, the tension becomes unbearable—to be resolved only in the shattering climax of this fast-paced, thought-provoking story. - Summary by Book Intro

If you ever make a trip to the green planet of Venus, the first thing you'll see will be the fifty-foot high statue of Venus' greatest hero. It stands on the very top of towering New Plymouth Rock at the edge of the old colony of New Plymouth. Even from the rocket cradle, anyone can tell that the statue is of a twelve-year-old boy smiling up at the Venusian jewel bear perched on his shoulder. Cut into the huge rock below the statue are the words, "Virgil Dare Watson And the Marva, Baba. May their Friendship Endure!" Virgil Dare Watson, called Johnny by his friends, was the first human being born on Venus...

Carrying out the last wishes of a comrade, mercenary Eric John Stark takes on the task of returning a stolen talisman to a walled city near the Martian pole; a city that guards the mysterious Gates of Death. Now all he has to do is get past the brutal clans of Mekh and the shadowy Lord Ciaran to get to Kushat where they’ll probably attempt to kill him. All while he tries to hold on to a talisman that imprints ancient memories of the Gates in his mind. That’s not easy for a human raised by Mercurian aborigines...

The French Foreign legion has been exported to Space as the Space foreign legion. They are fighting now on Jupiter and the natives, led by their Dragon Queen, are winning. Earth and Mars need places for people to live and grow food but Jupiter may be too hard a nut to crack. Will the Legion be able to hold off the hordes Beetle Bombs and venomous snakes until a relief column arrives? Or will they die in horrible pain like most of them already have? And then the Dragon Queen uses the ultimate weapon, a parasite that stops them from drinking any water. - Summary by phil chenevert

There was a boy-God, sleeping through eternity. And there were his "Stone of Life" and the androids he had created of matter and energy. And there was a world that was to die from the machinations of the androids' diabolic minds. There were Mouse and Ciaran to stem the death-flood—two mortals fighting the immortals' plans for conquest. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Spring 1944. - Summary by Publisher

This is a classic story from the early days of science fiction pulp magazines. Leigh Brackett, a female author who stood with the best of them during the period, always has a quirky way of examining human behavior whether on earth or a distant planet. A "tribe" composed of Hans, Officers and a Captain have been marooned on a strange place, out of touch with other humans for many generations. They have to eke out a living with great difficulties in a difficult and hostile environment. Does this sound sort of familiar? There are also really neat 'Piruts' in the story who always try to get the supposed benefit of living close to the Ship...

Ray Starke, a small time criminal, crashes his shuttle while trying to escape pursuit after robbing a payroll worth millions of credits. When he comes to there is an alien woman telling him he's dying but she will put his consciousness in another body and help him escape using telepathy. - Summary by kirk202

This is the very first story with the Conan-like barbarian hero, Eric John Stark. There were more written by Brackett and all just as exciting so look for them if you like swashbuckling space stories. This is not the fantastical Mars of Burroughs, nor the hard science of a Bradbury with ray guns, but there are ancient alien civilizations all over the place reacting to the influx of humans. With a title like this, how can it not be a fabulous tale, eh? First published in Planet Stories 1949. - Summary by Phil Chenevert

ENCHANTRESS OF VENUS: Laughing, she cast him down into the hideous depths, beneath the seas of flaming gas, to where dead blossoms swayed, whispering, over strangely jumbled ruins.... But there he found the secret of her power, and came surging back—up from the depths, up from the seas, the tortured swamps—to storm her forbidding shrine and seek her within, death like a gift in his hands. SHANNACH—THE LAST: Even in this grip of alien horror a man could not throw away his lifetime goal ...

Following the suspicious death of his girlfriend, Captain Burk Winters sets off down the dangerous path of a Martian vice called 'Shanga'-- the Going Back. What starts out as an effort to rescue Jill Leeland will pit the former starship captain against the dark underbelly of the canal cities, conspiracies of greed and, above all, the vengeance of a planet that will not bow to economic conquest without a fight. - Summary by EVKesserich

A true pulp science fiction from 1952 from the pen of Leigh Douglas Brackett. In the deep caves of Mars an alien race ruled and enslaved men and women with cruel and unfeeling desires. This was about the challenged by one weak man. He knew what he had to do and would die trying to do it. The question is, was he hurting or helping them? A cryptic summary because this is a cryptic story. What looks like a simple straightforward plot has layers of deception and subtle humor. Was he destroying the aliens, or were they just using him? Listen and find out. - Summary by phil c

In the wake of unexpected meteor activity, a wave of inexplicable madness sweeps the already strange and ill-charted world of Venus. Racing to locate the source of the disturbance, Lundy and his team from Tri-World Police, Special Branch quickly find that locating the problem isn't half so tough as transporting IT back to headquarters. Out of his depth metaphysically and quickly sinking into the black pit of a Venusian sea, Lundy is about to discover his own profound reserves of strength and pit them against that which lurks behind a veneer of beauty-- the Unknown. - Summary by EVKesserich

"It was a Gypsy world, built of space flotsam, peopled with the few free races of the Solar System. Roy Campbell, outcast prey of the Coalition, entered its depths to seek haven for the Kraylens of Venus—only to find that it had become a slave trap from which there was no escape." - Summary by the publisher

Lloyd Durham has already lost his footing once in the labyrinth of politics and intrigue that is The Hub, capital planet-city of the galactic federation. Now his second chance-- a seemingly simple errand involving switched destinations and the code-word 'darkbirds'-- is starting to look like a last call, as parties with varying agendas and no reluctance with weapons are closing in with a vengeance. The stakes are higher than Durham ever anticipated, and the flutter of wings in the shadows may portend more than even the Federation itself can handle! - Summary by EVKesserich

Shannon's Imperial Circus was a jinxed space-carny leased for a mysterious tour of the inner worlds. It made a one-night pitch on a Venusian swamp-town—to find that death stalked it from the jungle in a tiny ball of flame.

Shifting between Earth and Mars, Badge of Infamy focuses on the gripping tale of a former doctor who becomes a pariah due to being temporarily governed by emotion and compassion, rather than complying with the highly regarded rules established by the Medical Lobby. Furthermore, the novel covers numerous topics including justice, brutality, betrayal, ethics, political control, and lobbying. Set in the year 2100, the novel begins with the introduction of its protagonist, Daniel Feldman, an ethical man, who makes the terrible mistake of going against the fixed medical protocol and performing surgery to save the life of a friend...

Lester del Rey (1915 – 1993) was a Golden Age science fiction author and editor closely connected to John W. Campbell Jr. and Astounding Science Fiction magazine. He also founded Del Rey Books, a popular publishing label he edited with his wife Judy-Lynn. Victory is the story of an undefended Earth in a warring galaxy. It appeared in the August 1955 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

After dying in a terrible accident at a building site, Dave Hanson finds himself being brought back to life in a world where magic is real, and where the sky is breaking apart and falling. And he is expected to put it back together again. Will he be able to save this strange world, and his own new life?

The old space freighter Wahoo is all Dr. Pietro can afford for his expedition to the rings of Saturn. Although built for a crew of 6 the good doctor crams 19 people into the Wahoo, and after 5 months they are really getting on each other’s nerves. Then someone starts killing people and poisoning the air giving plants in the hydroponics bay. Can our hero Paul Tremaine find the killer before he suffocates? Perhaps you should hold your breath. – Let’em Breathe Space was first published in the July 1953 edition of Space Science Fiction magazine.

Bruce Gordon looked at his ticket, grimaced at the ONE WAY stamped on it, then tore it into bits and let the pieces scatter over the floor. He counted them as they fell; thirty pieces in all, one for each year of his life. Little ones for the two years he'd wasted as a cop. Shreds for the four years as a kid in the ring before that--he'd never made the top. Bigger bits for two years also wasted in trying his hand at professional gambling; and the six final pieces that spelled his rise from special reporter helping out with a police shake-up coverage, through a regular leg-man turning up rackets, and on up like a meteor until...

The quirky mind of famous SF writer Lester del Ray gives us three wonderful tales ranging from zombies , time travel and eternal life . Listen and enjoy.

An atomic bomb explodes in the mountains of Montana. But was there really a bomb? And was it really in Montana, or in Tokyo? Are Liz and Elizabeth the same woman, is she married with children, is her husband a spy?

Bruce Ross, on the Earth-Moon run, asked a simple question, "How are the stars behaving, Harry?" But Harrell Moore could only stare at him in horror. For the stars had run amok—cosmic engines of destruction in the hands of the twisted genius of the Moon! A rip-snortin space shoot-em-up from 1939 with space ships, an evil genius who follows his horoscope and plans to rule everyone, ray guns, death beams and a diaphanously clad beautiful moon princesses in love with the hero. - Summary by the author and phil chenevert

End of the world sci-fi tale borrows heavily from H.G. Wells' WOTW and In The Days of the Comet -- looks like fun !

This book is ostensibly about a theoretical catastrophic geologic event. It turns into a meditation on what it means to be an English person, and at the end, includes a ringing defense of America.

One of the earliest works of science-fiction . It has space travel , lunar civilization, and aliens, along with more fantasy elements, such as the afterlife and Greek gods. A satire on contemporary tall tales. - Summary by Terry Kroenung

Every status-quo-caste society in history has left open two roads to rise above your caste: The Priest and The Warrior. But in a society of TV and tranquilizers--the Warrior acquires a strange new meaning... (Introduction from the Gutenberg text)

Ronny Bronston has dreamed all his life of getting a United Planets job that would take him off-world. He finally gets the opportunity when he is given a provisional assignment with Bureau of Investigation, Section G. But will he be able to complete his assignment and find the elusive Tommy Paine?

4 Science Fiction Stories by the quirky Mack Reynolds from the golden age of SF, the 1950s - Summary by phil chenevert

Five Science Fiction stories from the strange mind of Mack Reynolds. Always innovative and interesting, these were published in the early science fiction and fantasy magazines of the 1940's and 50's. - Summary by phil chenevert

A rip-snorting, 1940s science fiction adventure from the pen of Manly Wade Wellman. What chance had the castaway Earthman and his crossbow-weaponed Amazons against the mighty Frogmasters of the Veiled Planet? Hmmm? What chance indeed? From his broad shoulders, rippling muscles fighting spirit and keen intelligence, our hero finds a way to victory and perhaps even love. Listen and enjoy. - Summary by Phil Chenevert

"He was the man of two planets, drawn through the blackness of space to save a nation from ruthless invaders. He was Yandro, the Stranger of the Prophecy—and he found that he was destined to fight both sides." Another swashbuckler in space from Manly Wade Wellman. Who could ask for anything more? - Summary by the publisher and phil chenevert

The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish is, all at once, a satire, a treatise on natural philosophy, a work of proto-science fiction, and a defiant venture into a scientific world where women were not usually allowed. It tells the tale of a young Lady who is kidnapped by a man that tries to sail away with her. Through divine interference, however, the ship is tossed into a storm and everyone but the Lady perishes. Blown up to the North Pole, she inadvertently passes into to another world, the Blazing World, where she is almost immediately made supreme ruler...

Poor Diana May. Her fiancé has jilted her, her parents think she is an encumbrance and no one recognises her intelligence. She seems destined to remain unloved, unappreciated and unpaid - until she decides to take control of her life. It all begins with an advertisement for an assistant to an eccentric scientist with a hidden laboratory in Switzerland... - Summary by Newgatenovelist

The Terran colony on the planet Darkover faces imminent destruction by a plague of the deadly Trailmen's Fever. The only hope is to develop a serum in time, but this requires the cooperation of the elusive native Trailmen, the brilliant parasitologist Dr. Jay Allison, and his split personality. (Introduction by Mark Nelson)

The Last Man is an early post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The plague gradually kills off all people. Lionel Verney, central character, son of a nobleman who gambled himself into poverty, finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected “negro,” and copes with a civilization that is gradually dying out around him.

While Mary Shelley will most likely always be known for her enduring classic of mad science Frankenstein, this collection intends to show the sheer breath and quality of her writing beyond the creation for which she is most known. Many of these stories are told in an atmospheric gothic fiction vein, full of eerie old castles, strange revelations and family secrets. But we also have stories of the supernatural and even science fiction to contend with. Shelley was a true literary master and should be recognized for her contributions to literature beyond her most famous work. - Summary by Ben Tucker

Maurice Renard's little known but delightfully bizarre tale of mad science run amok owes much to H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau while also forging its own path by taking Wells' plot as a starting point and pushing it to ridiculous extremes. When a young man named Nicholas goes to visit his beloved scientist uncle Dr. Lerne in a remote French chateau, he is immediately put on his guard by his uncle's strange behavior, the mysterious Germans who now work with his uncle in a secret laboratory on the premises, on the strange noises he hears in the night...

Pat Travis, a spacer renowned for his luck, is suddenly quite out of it. His job is to beat his competitors to sign newly-Contacted human races to commercial contracts...But what can he do when he finds he's on a planet that consults astrology for literally every major decision - and he has arrived on one of the worst-aspected days in history?Michael Shaara, later to write the Pulitzer-winning novel "The Killer Angels", wrote this story for Fantastic Universe in 1956.

In three parts, from Physical Culture magazine, July - September, 1911. In this story, the author warns of the coming of a world war between Japan and U.S. While the Japanese have a superior society, they suffer from food shortages and over-population so go to war with the U.S., who is plagued by a society of ill health and habit. Some predictions are remarkably accurate. The story itself was commissioned by Bernarr Macfadden, who was an early proponent of health and fitness in the U.S. and founded the magazine publisher McFadden Publications. - Summary by Kate Follis

The tremendous speed of the dive brought them so close that they could see the skeletons of wrecked ships piled up at the base of the precipice. The moon is not only the most prominent object in our heavens, but also an integral part of the earth. We are, so to speak, an astronomical unit, and we affect each other for better or for worse. We know that the gravitational attraction of the moon causes our tides, and tends to slow up the earth in her daily rotation. It has also been deemed responsible for earthquakes, causing untold suffering among earth's people. Does the moon hold other secrets? - Summary by Author

This story starts with space ships scouring the universe in an interplanetary game of tag. The humans know there are “Aliens” out there. But so do the Aliens. As each tries desperately to make the phenomenal discovery, they secretly hope that the other will not turn out to be the enemy. Humans call them “Plumies” because of the feathery plumes they inscribe on silicon-bronze tablets and cairns they have left behind on their intergalactic travels over the last thousand years. The search goes on, till one day somewhere in outer space, a Plumie ship collides with the one manned by humans...

An unidentified space ship lands in a Colorado lake. Equipped with a paralyzing ray weapon, the creatures begin taking human prisoners. A loan land surveyor and a journalist are trapped inside the Army cordon, which is helpless against the mysterious enemy. Can they stop the aliens before it is too late?

Joe Kenmore heard the airlock close with a sickening wheeze and then a clank. In desperation he turned toward Haney. “My God, we’ve been locked out!” Through the transparent domes of their space helmets, Joe could see a look of horror and disbelief pass across Haney’s face. But it was true! Joe and his crew were locked out of the Space Platform. Four thousand miles below circled the Earth. Under Joe’s feet rested the solid steel hull of his home in outer space. But without tools there was no hope of getting back inside. Joe looked at his oxygen meter. It registered thirty minutes to live.

Bron is the offspring of infamous space pirates but instead of following in the family footsteps he decides to become an electronic engineer. Unfortunately, every time he tries to get out, something pulls him back in. This is a tongue-in-cheek space adventure along the lines of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. It was originally published in the FEB-APR issues of Astounding Science Fiction in 1959.

It is 30,000 years following dramatically changed climate conditions on earth which had let massive amounts of carbon dioxide belch from the interior of the planet into the atmosphere. Over the millenia this would have quite devastating effects on life as it had once been known. Much of the human and animal population would not survive the climate change, and indeed those few humans who did survive knew nothing of all which their predecessors had learned and built. Indeed, they knew not even of their existence...

Calhoun is an Interstellar Medical Serviceman, and he's needed on Dara. Trouble is: Dara is forbidden. Taboo. And breaking quarantine will make Calhoun a presumed plague-carrier and subject to being shot on sight by anyone from Weald. But hey! If he did the smart thing, we wouldn't have a story!But why are men from Dara shooting at him?

Bors felt as if he'd been hit over the head. This was ridiculous! He'd planned and carried out the destruction of that warship because the information of its existence and location was verified by a magnetometer.But, if he'd known how the information had been obtained--if he'd known it had been guessed at by a discharged spaceport employee, and a paranoid personality, and a man who used a hazel twig or something similar--if he'd known that, he'd never have dreamed of accepting it. He'd have dismissed it flatly!

Dr. Calhoun and his pet tormal Murgatroyd work for the Interstellar Medical Service making routine public health inspections on far-flung colonial planets. When they reach Tallien Three they are greeted with a rocket attack by the Paras, a mutated form of human rapidly replacing the “normals”. The normals think it’s a pandemic of demonic possession but Calhoun has his doubts. If he can keep from turning into a Para, or being assassinated by them he just might figure this thing out. – The Hate Disease was first published in the August 1963 edition of Analog Science Fact and Fiction magazine.

Arthur Chamberlain has problems. His one-man engineering firm is faltering and his pretty secretary Estelle barely notices him. But these problems are put aside when his Manhattan office building falls into the fourth dimension. Madison Square is filled with wigwams and it’s up to Arthur to engineer a way to make his building to fall back to the future. – The Runaway Skyscraper first appeared in the February 22, 1919 issue of Argosy magazine.

Jed Cochrane is about to take off on man's first interstellar voyage. His mission: Make sure it's good television! (Introduction by Mark Nelson)

They were broadcasts from nowhere--sinister emanations flooding in from space--smashing any receiver that picked them up. What defense could Earth devise against science such as this? In the far future of 1972, on a secret military installation, Staff Sergeant Bellews is an expert on the latest scientific discovery: a way for ordinary machines like vacuums and lawnmowers to gather experience in their jobs, becoming error free over time. Then the strange broadcasts began to blow up transmitters everywhere. Were they from space? Enemies? the future? He didn't care until they started messin' with his machines. Then he took it personally. (summary from the first chapter and Phil Chenevert)

Big Jake Connors is taking over his town through violence, inimidation and bribery but Detective Sergeant Fitzgerald can only grind his teeth in frustration. The gangsters seem to have everything going their way until the day that a little dry cleaning establishment declines their offer of 'protection' and strange things start to happen. Murray Leinster gives us another wonderful product of 'what if' from his limitless imagination to enjoy in this gem of a story. Listen and smile.

Murder Madness! Seven Secret Service men had completely disappeared. Another had been found a screaming, homicidal maniac, whose fingers writhed like snakes. So Bell, of the secret "Trade," plunges into South America after The Master--the mighty, unknown octopus of power whose diabolical poison threatens a continent!

SPACE PLATFORM tells the exciting story of a young man helping to build this first station. With scientific accuracy and imagination Murray Leinster, one of the world's top science-fiction writers, describes the building and launching of the platform. Here is a fast-paced story of sabotage and murder directed against a project more secret and valuable than the atom bomb!

Tanks and the future of war is what Murray Leinster speculates about in this story. Written in the 1920's he observed the terrible new inventions that were used in World War I to kill people, armored tanks and poisoned gas and then tells us how war will be fought in the future. In this case the war will occur in 1932 and be between the US and the 'Yellow enemy'. It was published in the very first issue of Astounding Stories of Super Science, January 1930. It is science fiction in the sense that it guesses what the future will hold for man based on developing the technology that was coming into being at the time, the 1920's...

The "forgotten" planet had been seeded for life, first with microbes and later with plants and insects. A third expedition, intended to complete the seeding with animals, never occurred. Over the millennia the insects and plants grew to gigantic sizes. The action of the novel describes the fight for survival by descendants of a crashed spaceship as they battle wolf-sized ants, flies the size of chickens, and gigantic flying wasps.

There was no life on the asteroid, but the miles of rock-hewn corridors through which the earth party wandered left no doubt about the purpose of the asteroid. It was a mighty fortress, stocked with weapons of destruction beyond man's power to understand. And yet there was no life here, nor had there been for untold centuries. What race had built this stronghold? What unimaginable power were they defending against? Why was it abandoned? There was no answer, all was dead. But—not quite all. For in a room above the tomb-like fortress a powerful transmitter beamed its birdlike, fluting sounds toward earth...

You who have read "The Mad Planet" by Murray Leinster, will welcome the sequel to that story. The world, in a far distant future, is peopled with huge insects and titanic fungus growths. Life has been greatly altered, and tiny Man is now in the process of becoming acclimated to the change. We again meet our hero Burl, but this time a far greater danger menaces the human race. The huge insects are still in evidence, but the terror they inspire is as nothing compared to the deadly Red Dust. You will follow this remarkable story with breathless interest...

Humans have expanded to myriads of worlds throughout the galaxies but they have found that the only way for colonies to be self sustaining, was to reproduce the total ecology of their home world; the original Earth. This meant bringing the entire ecosystem, the good, the bad and the ugly. Viruses as well as grass, goats as well as stink bugs and allowing the whole mixture to ultimately produce an inhabitable world for humans. But what happens when this system is not properly supervised? Moran and the others in the space yacht Nadine find a world where strange things have been brewing for over a hundred years and may or may not survive an environment gone mad.

In science-fiction, as in all categories of fiction, there are stories that are so outstanding from the standpoint of characterization, concept, and background development that they remain popular for decades. Two such stories were Murray Leinster's The Mad Planet and Red Dust. Originally published in 1923, they have been reprinted frequently both here and abroad. They are now scheduled for book publication. Especially for this magazine, Murray Leinster has written the final story in the series. It is not necessary to have read the previous stories to enjoy this one...

Join Space Medical Service officer Calhoun and his sidekick Murgatroyd the tormal on another exciting adventure, this time on what should be a routine visit to the planet Maya, which upon arrival appears to be completely devoid of all life!

The War to End All Wars has ended and the world has taken a deep breath and is trying to recover normal life in 1919. But a super Villan intent on ruling the entire world has other ideas. In his super fast helicopter he sorties out to block the major ports and rives of the world until all nations with icebergs made by his fiendishly clever devices until they admit his supremacy and kneel before his might. The might of nations are helpless before him but he does not count on our hero, a scientist specializing in low temperatures who was also a gunner in WWI...

Scattered through the galaxy are thousands of worlds colonized by humans. Many have native microbes dangerous to the human immigrants. Others have diseases brought to them accidentally—or on purpose—by visiting ships. When millions of lives are threatened, it's a job for the Interstellar Medical Service, and a Med Ship is sent to solve the problem. Calhoun is the best the Med Service has, and hard experience has taught him that often the major obstacle to curing the sick is ... the sick. And removing that kind of obstacle may take very strong medicine...

Murray Leinster does not disappoint with this gem of a story. The dust is deadly. It is slowly drifting down over the North American continent. Not ordinary dust, this dust is highly radioactive and silently deadly. Only one person sees too clearly that the USA is doomed and everyone in it unless this horrible, silent, death brining 'dust' can be stopped. And he, Doctor David Murfree, the only person to see the danger, cannot get permission from his superior to take leave from his civil servant job so that he can find the only man in America who might know what is causing this dust and perhaps even fix it. . - Summary by phil chenevert

The young, intelligent Mary discovers that through an act of will she can transform her appearance to make herself incredibly beautiful. But will her newfound identity be all that she hopes? This recording is from the novella’s original publication in The Savoy in August and September 1896.

What is the mystery centered in Jupiter's famous "Red Spot"? Two fighting Earthmen, caught by the "Pipe-men" like their vanished comrades, soon find out! - Original text

French colonists on a planet ruled by reptiles and amphibians are forced to wear living “skins” that subdue aggression and enforce vegetarianism. As children, Rastignac and his reptile friend Mapfarity force themselves to become carnivores and begin a protein fueled journey that causes Rastignac to develop a Philosophy of Violence. When a spaceship from Earth crashes in the ocean, Rastignac and company must put their philosophy to the test. - Rastignac The Devil was first published in the May 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe Magazine.

A rip-roaring, pulpy and quirky space odyssey for your listening pleasure. Follow earth man Allen Green as his space ship fails and leaves him on a barbaric planet filled with other human descendants who have reverted to pre-technology existence. Naturally he is made a slave and must connive, plan, love and fight his way across 10,000 miles of danger to freedom. Full of strange beings, this planet highlights the amazing imagination of Philip Jose Farmer and his ability to make it scary and fun at the same time...

Predictability has come a long way. The computers of the future can tell you if you’re going to win a war before you fire a shot. Unfortunately they’re predicting perpetual standoff between the Terran and Centaurian Empires. What they need is something unpredictable, what they get is Thomas Cole, a man from the past accidently dragged forward in time. Will he fit their calculations, or is he the random variable that can break the stalemate? – The Variable Man first appeared in the September, 1953 issue of Space Science Fiction magazine.

Early victories by the USSR in a global nuclear war cause the United Nations government to retreat to the moon leaving behind troops and fierce autonomous robots called “Claws”, which reproduce and redesign themselves in unmanned subterranean factories. After six bloody years of conflict the Soviets call for an urgent conference and UN Major Joseph Hendricks sets out to meet them. Along the way he will discover what the Claws have been up to, and it isn’t good… - Second Variety was first published in the May 1953 edition of Space Science Fiction Magazine.

The war with the Yucks from Proxima Centauri was claimed to be a stalemate but they were really winning. The mine belts they laid seemed to propagate themselves and were slowly strangling Terran planets. How did they do that? What was their secret? The answer was baffling and the best human minds could only conclude that their ships and mines were somehow alive. So, the next desperate step was to ask "If they are using organic ships, why can't we do the same?". Thus Mr. Spaceship was conceived and carried out. But will a conscious warship do what the generals wish? Perhaps and perhaps something entirely surprising!

Two early science fiction stories by the wonderful craftsman, Philip K. Dick. In the Crystal Crypt, taken from the 1954 Planet Stories, the war between Mars and Terra is about to erupt and earth has only merchants and salesmen to fight; can they carry out their mission? Beyond the Door is a story that asks and answers the question: what lives beyond the door? And is it dangerous?