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By: Edwin L. Arnold | |
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![]() This escapist novel, first published in 1905 as Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, follows the exploits of American Navy Lieutenant Gulliver Jones, a bold, if slightly hapless, hero who is magically transported to Mars; where he almost outwits his enemies, almost gets the girl, and almost saves the day. Somewhat of a literary and chronological bridge between H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jones’ adventures provide an evocative mix of satire and sword-and-planet adventure. |
By: Evelyn E. Smith (1927-2000) | |
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![]() There had to be a way for Sub-Archivist Clarey to get up in the world—but this way was right out of the tri-di dramas. - Summary by original text |
By: Everett C. Smith | |
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![]() With interplanetary exploration. expeditions will range through and beyond the solar system. Colonization will not be far behind. But what will the colonies be like at the end of several hundred centuries and would they even recognize each other as members of the same human stock? The book focuses on four different races, and what will be the outcome of contact between them. - Summary by Paul Harvey | |
By: Fletcher Pratt (1897-1956) | |
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![]() The novel is set in a parallel world in which the existence of psychic powers has permitted the development of witchcraft into a science; in contrast, the physical sciences have languished, resulting in a modern culture reminiscent of our eighteenth century. The protagonists are Lalette Asterhax, a hereditary witch, and Rodvard Bergelin, an ordinary government clerk who has been recruited into the radical conspiracy of the Sons of the New Day. Rodvard, though attracted to the daughter of a baron, is commanded by his superiors to seduce Lalette instead to gain the use of her blue star in the furtherance of their revolutionary aims... |
By: Florence Carpenter Dieudonné (1850-1927) | |
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![]() A bizarre and exuberant work of pure imagination, Rondah, or, Thirty-Three Years in a Star tells the story of a ragtag group of space explorers who—aided by a shuttle set off by clockwork explosives in the Adirondack mountains—find themselves stranded on alien planet. Their adventures will test the limits of their frayed and tenuous bonds as they seek to colonize the planet, take claim of its resources, and rule over the bizarre alien lifeforms who inhabit it. Utterly strange and bursting at... |
By: Francis Godwin (1562-1633) | |
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![]() A self-serving Spaniard discovers a means of traveling to the moon, describing his sensations in transit in terms remarkably consistent with modern astronauts' experiences. He finds on the moon a utopia, which he describes in detail, but being a fallen creature, he takes the first opportunity of coming home. ( |
By: Francis Stevens (1883-1948) | |
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![]() A pioneering work in the alternate worlds genre, The Heads of Cerberus was serialized in The Thrill Book in 1919 and published as a novel in 1952. A vial of grey dust transports three unwitting time travelers to a totalitarian version of Philadelphia in the year 2118. While certain landmarks stand unchanged, the societal structure is unrecognizable. Superlative adjectives and numbered buttons have replaced names and an oligarchy wield godlike power over the masses. To return home, the trio must win over the Loveliest, outsmart the Cleverest, and survive a deadly competition. - Summary by Christina Fu |
By: Frank Belknap Long (1901-1994) | |
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![]() MARS ... Earth's first colony in Space. Men killed for the coveted ticket that allowed them to go there. And, once there, the killing went on.... MARS ... Ralph Graham's goal since boyhood—and he was Mars-bound with authority that put the whole planet in his pocket—if he could live long enough to assert it! MARS ... source of incalculable wealth for humanity—and deadly danger for those who tried to get it! MARS ... in Earth's night sky, a symbol of the god of war—in this tense novel of the future, a vivid setting for stirring action! - From the Book Blurb |
By: Frederik Pohl | |
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![]() Sailors Sam Dunlap and Arthur check in to a New York hotel to await their mate Vern Engdahl when a girl shows up proposing to purchase Arthur. They need guys like Arthur to help run the city, and the fact that he fits in a small suitcase is even better. – The Knights of Arthur was first published in the January 1958 edition of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. | |
![]() This famous Pohl story explores cybernetic robots and implanted personalities in a way that certainly expanded my way of looking at reality. Is that wall really real? or is it just kinda, sorta real? And who am I? The protagonist, Guy Burckhardt, wakes up screaming from a horrible dream of explosions, searing fire, choking gas and other terrible ways to die. But he wakes up so it must have been just a bad nightmare, right? To find out that piece of information you will need to listen to this inventive and scary story. | |
![]() The Company insures you against everything. Everything except war, that is. But they've put an end to wars . The Company also controls everything. Including all the sources of weapons. The Company is dedicated to the happiness of mankind . Medical Treatment and Law Enforcement are just a few of the other services they provide to the entire world. Claims Adjuster Wills was a happy Company employee until his path crossed those of a man with no legs and a mysterious woman. All of a sudden, his world was turned upside down, and his decisions could determine the future of the planet... | |
![]() In a post-apocalyptic world where every government in the world has been overrun by its own military machinery, only to see that military machinery self-destruct, people are randomly being affected by a plague that seemingly takes over their brains and forces them to commit heinous crimes. Chandler is one of these unfortunate victims, the perpetrator of rape and murder. He is driven out of his community as a Hoaxer , branded on his forehead with the letter H. But he is not feigning. In his travels, he finds the source of the plague, and it's not what people think. It's up to him to deal with it, and he does. But to what end? - Summary by Nick Bulka |
By: Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) | |
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![]() “The Creature from Cleveland Depths” also known as “The Lone Wolf” tells the story of a writer and his wife who refuse to move below-ground after the cold-war gets hot. The underground society discovers a decline in their ability to creatively innovate, and must consult with surface dwellers to develop products that satiate the needs of a people living like moles. But the latest product to result from this alliance, “The Tickler” has frightening implications that only our heroes seem to notice. – This story appeared in the December, 1962 issue of “Galaxy” magazine. | |
![]() "I was one hundred miles from Nowhere—and I mean that literally—when I spotted this girl out of the corner of my eye. I'd been keeping an extra lookout because I still expected the other undead bugger left over from the murder party at Nowhere to be stalking me." In a Post apocalyptic world, the few people left must be strong. And must not hesitate to kill. Of course, killing another Deathlander was one of the chief pleasures and urges of all the solitary wanders in this vast wasteland. Kill and kill again. But this other was a girl and that brought up the second great urge: sex. Which was it to be today? Perhaps both? | |
![]() A classic locked room mystery, in a not-so-classic setting. (Intro by Karen Savage) | |
![]() They were a traveling group of Shakespearean players; perfectly harmless, right? Wrong. For one thing, why did they have spacemen costumes in their wardrobes, right next to caveman ones? Why was the girl in charge of backstage suffering from amnesia and agoraphobia? No Great Magic is needed to perform the plays they put on, but sometimes great science. No matter where, or when. | |
![]() The Moon is Green, Bread Overhead and What's He Doing In There?! Three of the best known and loved Science Fiction short stories by the wonderful Fritz Lieber. Always tongue in cheek, and always with a funny twist, Leiber deftly shows how humans will adapt to or mess up the future. In ways that only humans can. | |
![]() Four quirky short stories by the talented Fritz Leiber: Nice Girl with 5 Husbands, A Pail of Air, The Last Letter and A Bad Day for Sales. - Summary by phil chenevert | |
![]() Here are three stories by the inimitable Fritz Leiber, all from Galaxy Magazine: Kreativity for Kats 1961 - aliens do live among us; The Last Letter from Galaxy 1958 - a hand written letter paralyzes the postal service; and The Big Engine, 1962 - what makes everything go? perhaps this man is right. All are different and all are very enjoyable. - Summary by Phil chenevert | |
![]() A machine of blinking lights and smelling of ozone is entered into a Grand Master chess tournament. One of the first of those things called computers. Would it be shamed by human genius or would it out think these human prodigies through sheer calculating power? Well, the machine was not perfect. It could be tricked. It could make mistakes. And—it could learn! | |
![]() In "Bullet with His Name," two alien beings have come to give gifts to an Earthman. But this is not altruism; it is, rather, a test. "The fate of his race hangs on his reactions to [the gifts]." And one of the aliens mentions that he himself is "a sort of snake." The gifts do not include an apple from the Tree of Knowledge, but they might be just as likely to lead mankind astray. - Summary by Paul Hampton | |
![]() These are three of the strangest stories I could find by the very talented Fritz Leiber. And by strange I mean odd, weird, kinda creepy and yet wonderful. Not your normal Science Fiction here but then Leiber had an amazing imagination and these certainly made me stretch mine. - Summary by phil chenevert | |
![]() From the classic science-fiction and fantasy author Fritz Leiber comes this intriguing tale of a green cat. From the author's introduction: "The world Phil Gish lived in was not a pretty one, and Phil didn't enjoy living in it. He was disillusioned, purposeless, hopeless, and haunted by the fear that a robot would take over his job. But then Phil was a timid person, not much given to adventure seeking. If he hadn't been so mild he might have found his kicks at All Amusements, the syndicated playground where anyone could find fun, providing he had the proper sadistic and otherwise aberrated elements in his personality... |
By: G. L. Vandenburg | |
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![]() G.L.Vandenburg wrote quirky and funny Science Fiction stories for Amazing Science Fiction Stories, and similar magazines in the 1950's. These four are a selection that give a good taste of his offbeat approach, strange sense of humor and relaxed narrative style that brought joy and excitement to those of us who bought these magazines and saw his name on the cover. In the first, Martian V.F.W., some strange visitors join a parade; in the second, Jubilation, U.S.A, our first visitors from outer space... |
By: Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904) | |
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![]() This post-apocalyptic novella tells the story of the downfall of civilisation and mankind following a solar cataclysm in the late 20th century. To survive, the remnants of humanity had to build a new civilization underground in the complete absence of all species except mankind, choosing to base it only on love and beauty, the fine arts and intellectual pursuits. In view of the sun's current inactivity, this frighteningly prophetic tale might have been written today, saving that the cultural references and the fluid prose might be beyond, if one dares say so, many modern writers... |
By: Garrett P. Serviss (1851-1929) | |
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![]() Garrett Putnam Serviss (1851-1929) was an astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer. Serviss showed a talent for explaining scientific details in a way that made them clear to the ordinary reader. Serviss’s favorite topic was astronomy, as shown by the fact that of the fifteen books he wrote, eight are devoted to that science. He unquestionably was more widely read by the public on that topic than anyone prior to his time. In his private life Serviss was an enthusiastic mountain climber, describing his reaching the summit of the Matterhorn at the age of 43 as part of an effort “to get as far away from terrestrial gravity as possible... | |
![]() Edison’s Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss, is one of the many science fiction novels published in the nineteenth century. Although science fiction was not at the time thought of as a distinct literary genre, it was a very popular literary form, with almost every fiction magazine regularly publishing science fiction stories and novels. “Edison’s Conquest of Mars” was published in 1898 as an unauthorized sequel to H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, but did not achieve the fame of its predecessor. The book was endorsed by Thomas Edison, the hero of the book — though not by Wells. |
By: George A. Whittington | |
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![]() The Wild West, reimagined as the Martian landscape, where law is defined by whoever has the biggest weapons, be they guns, ships, or things more mysterious. As stand-ins for Indigenous Americans, the Martians themselves. When Barry Williams, special investigator for the Terrestrial Bureau of Martian Affairs, finds out the state of play, he seeks to change the status quo and relieve destruction and suffering. He's going up against the nature of law itself. - Summary by Edmund Bloxam |
By: George Griffith (1857-1906) | |
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![]() Olga Romanoff is a science fiction novel by the English writer George Griffith, first published as The Syren of the Skies in Pearson's Weekly. The novel continues the tale of a worldwide brotherhood of anarchists fighting the world armed with fantastical airships, ending on an apocalyptic note as a comet smashes into the earth. - Summary by Wikipedia | |
![]() Our narrator, a researcher, finds himself snowed in at a Scottish prison. The resident doctor, an observer of criminal psychology, offers him hospitality and entertainment in the form of this story, an account of the bizarre case of a strange prisoner in motorcycle goggles, why he must wear them, and what he did to earn a life sentence. - Summary by A. Gramour | |
![]() The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror (1893) is a science fiction novel by English writer George Griffith. It was his first published novel and remains his most famous work. It was first published in Pearson's Weekly and was prompted by the success of The Great War of 1892 in Black and White magazine, which was itself inspired by The Battle of Dorking. A lurid mix of Jules Verne's futuristic air warfare fantasies, the utopian visions of News from Nowhere and the future war invasion literature of Chesney and his imitators, it tells the tale of a group of terrorists who conquer the world through airship warfare... |
By: George O. Smith (1911-1981) | |
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![]() QRM-Interplanetary is one of eleven science fiction novelettes by George O. Smith published in Astounding Science Fiction magazine between 1942 and 1945. It was re-released in the anthology Venus Equilateral with nine other Smith stories in 1949. - Summary by sjmarky | |
![]() Haedaecker’s Theory claims that real-time communications across space is impossible. Paul Grayson believes that Z-wave technology will make real time communication possible. Paul sets out to prove his theory but there are those who don’t want him to succeed. Follow Paul’s adventures while he tries to prove his theory correct in the face of stiff opposition from those who do not want him to succeed. |
By: Gerald Vance (1916-2013) | |
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![]() A world weary space pilot on the lam from earth for crimes unspecified; the most beautiful (earthly) tri-D woman in the universe who is determined to be the most powerful too; a planet of crafty and unscrupulous giant frogs intent on kicking out all aliens; and finally beings who live outside of time. Mix them all together and some very interesting things happen. Very interesting. And disastrous. But there's more! Why did 3000 worlds across the galaxy suddenly blossom almost simultaneously with very similar life and intelligence? Could there have been a common ancestor? Well, give or take a million years, simultaneously... | |
![]() Three Science Fiction stories by the great Gerald Vance: Monsoons of Death is a very nice blend of horror story and a study of true bravery on the planet Mars. A newly commissioned lieutenant finds out a lot about both! In Larson's Luck, Vance takes us on a light hearted jaun into hot shot space ship pilots, piracy and the good part of breaking the rules. The last story, Vital Ingredient, takes the listener far into the future when the sport of boxing still has two musceled opponents battling it out in a ring, but they are simply puppets, every muscle, feint and jab controlled by ring side 'managers'; ex fighters who have moved up... |
By: Grant Allen (1848-1899) | |
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![]() After Civil Servant Philip Christy crosses paths with the mysterious Bertram Ingledew in the respectable suburb of Brackenhurst, Philip and his sister Frida, married to the wealthy Scot Robert Monteith, become friends with the stranger. Bertram has some unconventional concepts about society, and as the story unfolds, his beliefs and actions cause much disruption in the family and the neighbourhood.Who is Bertram? Where does he come from? Allen explores some interesting ideas about society, some of which are curiously relevant today... |
By: Gregory Casparian (1856-1942) | |
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![]() Described by io9 as “the first lesbian science fiction novel,” An Anglo-American Alliance is a quasi-farcical tale of love, transformation, and geopolitics set in the far-flung futuristic year of 1960. In it, the titular Anglo-American Alliance has established itself as the world government, ushering in new age of technological and social revolution. However, even in this halcyon period, the “love that dare not speak its name” remains an anathema. The novel’s central narrative follows the long-burgeoning but secret romance between two women at a ladies’ seminary school in Cornwall: Margaret MacDonald and Aurora Cunningham... |
By: H. Beam Piper (1904-1964) | |
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![]() A galactic war has left the Terran Federation in ruins. Formerly civilized planets have decivilized into barbarism. Space Vikings roam the wreckage, plundering and killing for gain. Lord Lucas Trask of Traskon was no admirer of the Space Vikings, but when murder takes his wife on his wedding day, Trask trades everything he has for his own Space Viking ship and sets out on a galaxy-wide quest for revenge. | |
![]() An expedition to Mars discovers the remains of an advanced civilization, which died out many thousands of years ago. They recovered books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Would the team find their “Rosetta Stone” that would allow them to unlock the Martian language, and learn the secrets of this long-dead race? | |
![]() Two-hundred years after a global nuclear war, two explorers from a research outpost, that largely survived the cataclysm, discover a settlement of humans who have managed to maintain their civilisation despite ferocious cannibal neighbours, the Scowrers. However, the explorers must turn detective in order to understand the mystery of their hosts philosophy and religion. (Description by Reynard) | |
![]() Uller Uprising is the story of a confrontation between a human overlord and alien servants, with an ironic twist at the end. Like most of Piper’s best work, Uller Uprising is modeled after an actual event in human history; in this case the Sepoy Mutiny (a Bengal uprising in British-held India brought about when rumors were spread to native soldiers that cartridges being issued by the British were coated with animal fat. The rebellion quickly spread throughout India and led to the massacre of the British Colony at Cawnpore.). Piper’s novel is not a mere retelling of the Indian Mutiny, but rather an analysis of an historical event applied to a similar situation in the far future. | |
![]() Natives of the distant planet of Kwannon believe that their world is about to end, and in preparing for the apocalypse, may be unnecessarily bringing about their own demise. The planetary government can’t overcome its own bureaucracy to help them, and the military is overwhelmed. Can a single newsman change the course of a whole people, and save their world? | |
![]() The Terro-Human Future History is Piper’s detailed account of the next 6000 years of human history. 1942, the year the first fission reactor was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973, a nuclear war devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork for the emergence of a Terran Federation, once humanity goes into space and develops antigravity technology.The story “The Edge of the Knife” (collected in Empire) occurs slightly before the war, and involves a man who sees flashes of the future. It links many key elements of Piper’s series. | |
![]() Jack Holloway, a prospector on the planet Zarathustra discovers small furry creatures. These creatures are obviously intelligent, but are they animals or are they sapient? If they are sapient the planet will be declared a protected zone and the company that is developing the planet commercially will lose their exclusive rights to the resources… | |
![]() H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of “Paratime” alternate history tales. | |
![]() An undercover Paratimer has disappeared on assignment while in an alternate time line, and it’s up to Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police to save her. To do so, he must infiltrate a universe in which assassination is an honorable profession, and reincarnation a scientific fact. Will Verkan Vall survive in a world of killers and the undead? | |
![]() The Galactic Empire is slowly 'welcoming' into the family of civilized worlds those systems so far off in the backwater of the galaxy that they have been overlooked and ignored for the past 500 years or so. This is purely routine work because every planet offered the chance has eagerly accepted the invitation. Mainly because the enlightened Empire lets the planetary government continue to rule and do whatever it wants...with a few minor restrictions of course; and because the they are shown what happens to planets who decide not to accept the invitation... | |
![]() "There's some reaction these days that holds scientists responsible for war. Take it one step further: What happens if "book-learnin'" is held responsible ...?" | |
![]() I'll bet you did not know that our little earth is not limited to the single time line on which we happen to exist. That's right; There are actually thousands, no many millions of parallel times, each existing alongside all the rest, using the same real estate, but following their own path. Some extremely primitive, some very advanced, but all blissfully unaware of the others. Of course this does not affect us at all, unless ... unless one of these time lines discovers the existence of the others and then a way to move easily back and forth from one to the other... | |
![]() The Paratime Police had a real headache this time! Tracing one man in a population of millions is easy--compared to finding one gang hiding out on one of billions of probability lines! | |
![]() Naudsonce? What does THAT mean? Well, to find out you will need to listen to this story where Piper's unique mind explores what we mean by 'communication' and how it happens. The joint Space Navy-Colonial Office expedition was looking for new planets suitable for colonization; they had been out, now, for four years, which was close to maximum for an exploring expedition. They had entered eleven systems, and made landings on eight planets. Three had been reasonably close to Terra-type but were all disqualified by terrible animals or warlike inhabitants... |
By: H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire | |
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![]() New Texas: its citizens figure that name about says it all. The Solar League ambassador to the Lone Star Planet has the unenviable task of convincing New Texans that a s’Srauff attack is imminent, and dangerous. Unfortunately it’s common knowledge that the s’Srauff are evolved from canine ancestors—and not a Texan alive is about to be scared of a talking dog! But unless he can get them to act, and fast, there won’t be a Texan alive, scared or otherwise! |
By: H. Beam Piper and John McGuire (1904-1964) | |
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![]() World War IV has dragged on for 12 years and the whole world is drained and tired of the killing and destruction. One man, a high school chemistry teacher from St. Louis in the USA, is serving his latest forced stint in the UN forces when something strange happens to him. He dies but yet he doesn't. What if you had the power to bring peace to the entire world? What would you do? This story explores a frightening and strange journey into the murky depths of human needs and desires and how they can twist and turn back upon us. |
By: H. G. Wells (1866-1946) | |
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![]() One of the first instances of science fiction, Wells’ classic tale published in 1986 examines various controversial philosophical issues active at the time of its publication, most notable being the implications of vivisection and degeneration. Narrated by its everyman protagonist Edward Prendick, the novel follows the events of his stay at a mysterious island, home to ghastly secrets, horrors, and incomprehensible experiences. Furthermore, the novel features innovative themes which have become iconic in the modern science fiction genre, including moral and ethical responsibility, evolution, and man’s interference with the course of nature... | |
![]() Written nearly seven decades before Neil Armstrong's historic “Giant leap for Mankind” this book by one of the most influential sci-fi writers in English is an interesting read. The First Men in the Moon by Herbert George Wells, the English author who is today called the Father of Science Fiction, describes a strange and fantastic voyage. Businessman and budding playwright, John Bedford takes a sabbatical from his work and decides to write a play. He moves to a lonely cottage in Kent where he hopes to come up with a theatrical masterpiece... | |
![]() Two stuffy English scientists, always looking to further their scientific knowledge, create a substance called Herakleophorbia, which in its fourth incarnation – known as Herakleophorbia IV – has the special ability of making things increase greatly in size. As the scientists begin experimentation on some chicks, the substance is misused by some “country folk” who don’t take it seriously and soon Herakleophorbia IV is running rampant throughout England and then across the globe, creating giant plants and animals that wreak havoc on the land and then the people... | |
![]() This story is of a time beyond the memory of man, before the beginning of history. . . | |
![]() William ("Willie") is a student living in the British town of Clayton. As a Socialist, he tries to move power from the upper class to the working class. Interestingly, in a fictitious confrontation Britain declares war on Germany. Willie falls in love with Nettie, but when she elopes with an upper-class man, Willie resolves to kill them both. Throughout the novel there is present in the sky a large comet which gives off a green glow. As Willie prepares to shoot the lovers, two battleships appear and begin shelling the coast, causing Willie to nearly lose his targets... | |
![]() Richard Hardy, a member of the British gentry, tries to resolve problems in his marriage as he travels with a psychiatrist. The book is to a great extent autobiographical. H. G. had read some brilliantly composed articles by a writer who wrote under the name Rebecca West. In one piece she called H. G. "pseudo-scientific." He contacted her and asked what she meant. When they met for lunch, it was the beginning of a very intense and volatile relationship. Soon she was pregnant, so he divided his time between her and his wife Jane with their two sons... | |
![]() Mr. Bensington and Professor Redwood have invented a substance that causes living things to grow - and grow - and grow! As their experiments progress, the substance quickly gets out of control and the fun begins as insects and plants receive the benefit of the Food of the Gods. Surely nobody would dream of feeding such a thing to a human child… would they? In this little-known science fiction satire, Wells takes potshots at every member of society: scientists, ministers, charitable heiresses, revolutionaries, and everyone in between. Yet in the end, Wells shows his faith both in humanity and its never-ceasing progress. - Summary by Catharine Eastman | |
![]() In the summer of 1921, a disenchanted journalist escapes the rat race for a drive in the country. But Mr. Barnstaple's trip exceeds his expectations when he and other motorists are swept 3,000 years into the future. The inadvertent time travelers arrive in a world that corresponds exactly to Barnstaple's ideals: a utopian state, free of crime, poverty, war, disease, and bigotry. Unfettered by the constraints of government and organized religion, the citizens lead rich, meaningful lives, passed in pursuit of their creative fancies... | |
![]() An other-worldly creature visits a small English village, and H. G. Wells uses humour and satire to convey some of the imperfections of Victorian society, as ‘angel’ and humans view each other with equal incomprehension.( | |
![]() A collection of short science fiction stories, written by H.G. Wells. - Summary by Krista Zaleski |
By: H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) | |
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![]() Howard Phillips Lovecraft, better known as H.P. Lovecraft, was an American author of horror, fantasy, poetry and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction and many feel he is the acknowledged master of creepy, weird and unsettling stories. These are seven stories by Lovecraft that literally span his career; some being written when he was barely a teenager and one (The Shunned House) only published after he had died. Each story is unique and strange in it's own way but all of them come from the same mind that gave us the Cult of Cthulhu and other wonderful tales that generations now have enjoyed for their strangeness that resonates with our own inner fears... | |
![]() "Herbert West—Reanimator" is a story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft that was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication Home Brew. The story was the basis of the 1985 horror film Re-Animator and its sequels, in addition to numerous other adaptations in various media. You want zombies? Listen to this because Lovecraft was one of the very first and he got zombies right: scary, evil, implacable and out to get you. |
By: H.B. Fyfe (1918-1997) | |
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![]() Five citizens of Terra were being held on other worlds -- and the ultra-secret Department 99 existed only to set them, and others like them, free. |
By: Hal Clement (1922-2003) | |
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![]() They had been captured, but by whom? And why where they allowed to build anything they wanted to escape? The space cruiser was powerful and built to fight anything in the galaxy, but somehow, in the empty rift between galaxies, they had been rendered helpless and brought to this prison. Even stranger was that their captors had not harmed any of them at all, used no weapons and allowed them to use all equipment brought from their ship inside the prison. And did not utter a sound. Stranger and stranger... | |
![]() The planet was an enigma. Among the thousands of inhabitable planets that had been discovered and visited, Veridis alone seemed to defy the laws of planetary development and evolution. It was extremely young, barely 10 million years had passed since it was completely molten and yet now it was covered with life of all kinds; kinds that should have not had a chance to even begin to develop, much less reach their current stage. To investigate this anomaly among the stars, a team of experienced specialists was sent out to delve further into the mystery and if possible, solve it... |
By: Harl Vincent (1893-1968) | |
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![]() This is the second issue of the classic science fiction Astounding Magazine. It contains the finale of The Beetle Horde by Victor Rousseau, as well as stories by Harl Vincent, Charles Willard Diffin, Hugh B. Cave, Sophie Wenzel Ellis, Sterner St. Paul, Anthony Pelcher and Captain S. P. Meek. | |
![]() Issue eight of this seminal science-fiction magazine CONTENTS Murder Madness by Murray Leinster - the conclusion of this novel Earth the Maurader by Arthur J. Burks - Part 2 of a 3 Part novel as well as short Stories The Planet of Dread by R.F. Starxl, The Lord of Space by Victor Rousseau, The Second Satellite by Edmund Hamilton, Silver Dome by Harl Vincent and The Flying City by H. Thompson Rich | |
![]() Issue no. 10 of the magazine brings you:- Stolen Brains by Captain S.P. MeekThe Invisible Death by Victor Rousseau Prisoners on the Electron by Robert H. Leitfred Part 2 of Jetta of the Lowlands by Ray Cummings An Extra Man by Jackson Gee along with the Readers' Corner and interesting scientific facts | |
![]() This issue includes "Slaves of the Dust" by Sophie Wenzel Ellis, Part B of "The Pirate Planet" by Charles W. Diffin, "The Sea Terror" by Captain S. P. Meek, "Gray Denim" by Harl Vincent, and "The Ape-Men of Xlotli" by David R. Sparks. | |
![]() The Copper-Clad World: Blaine awakes to find himself deep inside Jupiter’s 5th moon Io. Creatures of Vibration: Space vagabonds meet the vibration maddened people of Saturn’s satellite Titan. Vulcan's Workshop Luke Fenton gets sentenced to 6 months hard labor at Vulcan’s workshop to mine radioactive ore. Fenton’s goal is to get revenge. The small plantoid Vulcan has 5 times earth's’ gravity and orbits between the Sun and Mercury. Wanderer of Infinity: The Wanderer is an alien who is dedicated to saving worlds from inter-dimensional conquest... |
By: Harry Bates, Editor | |
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![]() This is a collection of short science fiction stories by various writers, circa 1930. Writers include Paul Ernst, Miles Breuer, Ray Cummings, Sewell Wright, and others. |
By: Harry Harrison (1925) | |
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![]() Jason dinAlit, an inhabitant of the planet Porgostrosaand, is a fast talking, conniving, tough as nails, gun toting gambler whose ethics wax and wane with each planet he travels to. He also has amazing psionic abilities which means he is gifted with a variety of psychic abilities including telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis and a host of other interesting capabilities. He is not above using these to tip the odds in his favor while gambling. A chance meeting with Kerk Pyrrus who is the Ambassador of planet Pyrrus ends up with dinAlit traveling back with the Ambassador to Pyrrus... | |
![]() Once in a generation, a man is born with a heightened sense of empathy. Brion Brandd used this gift to win the Twenties, an annual physical and mental competition among the best and smartest people on Anvhar. But scarcely able to enjoy his victory, Brandd is swept off to the hellish planet Dis where he must use his heightened sense of empathy to help avert a global nuclear holocaust by negotiating with the blockading fleet, traversing the Disan underworld, and cracking the mystery of the savagely ruthless magter. Summary by Great Plains. | |
![]() The Ethical Engineer also known as Deathworld II finds our hero Jason dinAlt captured to face justice for his crimes, but the ever-wily gambler crashes his transport on a primitive planet populated by clans that hoard knowledge. It’s a difficult situation for a guy who just wants to get back to Pyrrus. – The Ethical Engineer was first published in the July and August 1963 issues of Analog Science Fact & Fiction. | |
![]() "It might seem a little careless to lose track of something as big as a battleship ... but interstellar space is on a different scale of magnitude. But a misplaced battleship—in the wrong hands!—can be most dangerous." The world class con man and thief known as the Stainless Steel Rat (diGriz) has another very big problem to solve and this science fiction novella by the great Harry Harrison will see if he can solve it and perhaps four or five more like it before this fascinating and funny tale is finished. 'Use a thief to catch a thief' sounds great but it sometimes has unexpected results. | |
![]() A quiet backwater outpost on Mars gets a surprise in the form of a new police recruit - in a box! Yep, it's a prototype robot cop sent to the backwater station for testing. And Harrison tells the strange, funny and scary things that begin to happen after that, as only he can. | |
![]() The human race has reached the stars, colonized many planets and done amazing things in all areas of scientific progress. But humans are still humans and remain both honorable and not so honorable; some with high ideals and others with very low ones indeed. So why hasn't war occurred in several centuries among the hundreds of planets? Has man really changed? Not on your life it hasn't! Read how science has given man peace but at what cost? | |
![]() This is a collection of 3 of Harry Harrison marvelous early stories that were published in Galaxy, Analog and Fantastic Universe. The Repairman (1958) is a straight fun SF story of a man getting a job done. It is most typical of his later style in series like the Stainless Steel Rat; Toy Shop (1962), a short piece exploring bureaucratic blindness and one ingenious way around it and The Velvet Glove (1956), my favorite for its writing style, fun perspective, sly social commentary on the scene in 1956 and just plain delightful imagination. And he manages to pack excitement and mystery in at the same time. |
By: Henry Kuttner (1915—1958) | |
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![]() A lone space traveler arrives on Earth seeking a new planet to colonize, his own world dead. At the same time a mysterious plague has infected Earth that will wipe out all life. Can a lone scientist stop the plague and save the world? Or will the alien find himself on another doomed planet? | |
![]() Celebrated playwright Nicholas Martin didn’t read the small print in his Hollywood options contract. Now he’s facing five years of servitude to a conceited director named Raoul St. Cyr, who’s taken a thoughtful play about Portuguese fishermen and added dancing mermaids. When it seems the plot has changed to include a robot from the future Nicholas looses all hope, but this robot may be just what he needs to win his freedom. – The Ego Machine was first published in the May, 1952 issue of Space Science Fiction magazine. | |
![]() Only one man ever returned from Black Forest of Ganymede-- and it ruined him. Now two adventurers with questionable motives have hired Ed Garth to lead them back to the legendary crypt-city within, where he will be forced to confront crimes and sacrifices he can no longer remember. - Summary by EVKesserich |
By: Hollis Godfrey (1874-1936) | |
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![]() Jim Orrington, news reporter, is at the office when the Secretary of War brings in a letter--mostly likely a prank--that demands all the nations of the world to disarm in one year or have all their battleships destroyed. This letter, signed "The man who will stop all war", is ignored by Orrington's fellow reporters and by the U.S. government, but he decides to dig deeper. With the help of Tom and Dorothy Haldane, Jim Orrington embarks on an adventure around the world trying to stop the man who is determined to end all fighting before he catapults the entire world into chaos and war! - Summary by Adele de Pignerolles |
By: Homer Eon Flint (1888-1924) | |
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![]() A doctor, an architect, an engineer, and a geologist step into a space car. In their new invention, they set off on an expediton to Mercury, planning to visit Venus on the return voyage. On Mercury they find a strange city eerily abandoned. Sculptures of giant figures alarm them. In a building they discover a machine. The engineer gets it running, and blaring out of the machine a thundering voice speaking Mercurian begins to sound in a way that conveys to them that it is telling a story. After an enormous effort the men translate the audio book... | |
![]() In the Devolutionist, space travelers experiment with Venusian methods of telepathic space travel. They leave our solar system to discover and explore the earthlike planet Capellette of the star Capella. In the Emancipatrix, they go to the planet Sanus of the star Arcturus. In both unique worlds, they become embroiled in the struggles and challenges of the inhabitants, and much more. This is Book Two of the Dr. Kinney adventures. |
By: Jack Adams | |
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![]() Nequa or The Problem of the Ages is one of the first feminist science fiction books published in the United States. It was first serialized in the newspaper Equity, and two editions were published in Topeka, Kansas in 1900. The voyage described in Nequa is to the Arctic. The captain of the ship is amazed to find that when they reach a certain spot, which should be close to the North Pole, the compass shows that the ship is suddenly traveling south. Actually they have sailed into the interior of the earth, where they meet the Altrurians, a people who have developed into a more cooperative society than those of the outer earth... |
By: Jack London | |
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![]() Known mainly for his tales of adventure, this work of science fiction by Jack London is set in a post-apocalyptic future. It’s 2072, sixty years after the scarlet plague has depopulated the planet. James Howard Smith is one of the few survivors of the pre-plague era left alive in the San Francisco area, and as he realizes his time grows short, he tries to impart the value of knowledge and wisdom to his grandsons. Through his narrative, we learn how the plague spread throughout the world and of the struggles of the handful of survivors it left in its wake. The Scarlet Plague was originally published in London Magazine in 1912. | |
![]() A dystopian novel about the terrible oppressions of an American oligarchy at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, and the struggles of a socialist revolutionary movement. (Introduction by Matt Soar) | |
![]() "Before Adam is a mixture of sound science and sci-fi speculation. It is based around Darwin's theory of evolution and the idea of racial memory. The main character lives in the current world but has dreams and nightmares that he relives the pre-stone age life of one of his proto-human ancestors. Those who are scientifically inclined may enjoy this novel more than fans of "standard" science fiction such as Edgar Rice Burroughs. |
By: Jack Williamson (1908-2006) | |
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![]() This issue includes "When the Mountain Came to Miramar" by Charles W. Diffin, "Beyond the Vanishing Point" by Ray Cummings, "Terrors Unseen" by Harl Vincent, the conclusion of "Phalanxes of Atlans" by F. V. W. Mason, and "The Meteor Girl" by Jack Williamson. | |
![]() This is an SF tale of excitement, danger, derring-do and strangely enough, love. A lonely and very poor asteroid miner, slowly collecting bits of metallic ore in the asteroid belt on his slowly accumulating 'planet' of debris, sees and captures a derelict space ship with a horrible monster aboard .. as well as a dead but lovely girl. How does it all end? Well you will need to listen to find out. One of Jack Williamson's early tales that earned him his reputation as a master story teller. |
By: James Blish (1921-1975) | |
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![]() Honath the Pursemaker is a heretic. He doesn’t believe the stories in the Book of Laws which claims giants created his tree-dwelling race. He makes his opinion known and is banished with his infidel friends to the floor of the jungle where dangers abound. Perhaps he’ll find some truth down there. – The Thing in the Attic is one of Blish’s Pantropy tales and was first published in the July, 1954 edition of If, Worlds of Science Fiction magazine. |
By: James Harmon (1933-2010) | |
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![]() 19 Science Fiction short stories by Jim Harmon from Galaxy Science Fiction and Worlds of If Science Fiction Magazines - Summary by kirk202 |
By: James Schmitz (1911-1981) | |
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![]() Ancient living machines that after millennia of stillness suddenly begin to move under their own power, for reasons that remain a mystery to men. Holati Tate discovered them—then disappeared. Trigger Argee was his closest associate—she means to find him. She's brilliant, beautiful, and skilled in every known martial art. She's worth plenty—dead or alive—to more than one faction in this obscure battle. And she's beginning to have a chilling notion that the long-vanished Masters of the Old Galaxy were wise when they exiled the plasmoids to the most distant and isolated world they knew.... |
By: Jane C. Loudon (1807-1858) | |
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![]() The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century is about a wise Egyptian mummy who is reanimated far in the future. With a different take on what lies ahead for civilization inspired from the exciting developments of the era, it is a strange, entertaining story and an early science fiction work by a woman novelist. |
By: Jay Franklin (1897-1967) | |
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![]() When an atomic explosion destroys the battleship Alaska, Lt. Commander Frank Jacklin returns to consciousness in New York and is shocked to find himself in the body of Winnie Tompkins, a dissolute stock-broker. Unable to explain his real identity, Jacklin attempts to fit into Tompkins' way of life. Complications develop when Jacklin gets involved with Tompkins' wife, his red-haired mistress and his luscious secretary. Three too many women for Jacklin to handle. His foreknowledge of the Alaska sinking... |
By: Jeff Sutton (1913-1979) | |
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![]() The four men had been scrutinized, watched, investigated, and intensively trained for more than a year. They were the best men to be found for that first, all-important flight to the Moon--the pioneer manned rocket that would give either the East or the West control over the Earth.Yet when the race started, Adam Crag found that he had a saboteur among his crew ... a traitor! Such a man could give the Reds possession of Luna, and thereby dominate the world it circled.Any one of the other three could... |