Philip K Dick's "Piper in the Woods" (short story, free): A world that turns men into plants!

Asteroid Y-3 in asteroid belt is actually an earth-like world - earth gravity, natural air & water, native animals & plants, ... Even native intelligent inhabitants, probably descended from Martians.

Man has set up a sort of immigration station there, The Garrison. All outer space traffic is cleared here.

A mysterious contagion has began affecting the men working here: they claim they've become plants, but are otherwise rational; they bask in the sunlight all day & don't work; it's impossible to awaken them from sleep at night.

Dr Henry Harris on earth is assigned the job of unraveling the mystery. He will succeed, with the results you can already guess...

See also.

1. John Taine's "The Ultimate Catalyst": Technology to actually turn men into plants! Set in a jungle in South America.

Fact sheet.

First published: Imagination, February 1953.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Philip K Dick.

Voltaire's "The Dog and the Horse" (short story, non-genre, free): Never look at pugmarks of royal animals!

From editor's introduction in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, October 1954, where it was reprinted: "One of the earliest detectives in history--the prototype of Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin".

Indian readers will find a lot of similarity with Akbar/Birbal stories; & equally funny. Though not exactly with a happy ending that characterizes local variety.

Story summary.

Zadig, a philosopher who's extensively studied "the properties of plants & animals", is walking through the woods on the banks of Euphrates when he is accosted by queen's eunuch & king's huntsman. Looks like queen's bitch & king's horse have escaped.

Zadig becomes prime suspect -- nah, convict for having stolen the animals -- because of his superb reasoning abilities! Fun ensues.

See also.

1. Plato's "Apology" (download English translation): Innocent & funny interactions of Zadig with royal animal searchers reminded me of similar naivete of Socrates in this mostly funny classic.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1747? Where?
Download full text from ebooks@Adelaide. A much more readable translation is available as a somewhat less convenient download - in scans of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, October 1954, included in this larger package.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Voltaire.

"Weird Tales", Vol 38 No 4 (May 1947) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

This is probably the Canadian edition. There is a note, in small print, on ToC page: "This magazine was produced in Canada, on Canadian paper, by Canadians." And the ToC as well as cover is different from the same issue's description at ISFDB (which I assume is the US edition?)

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

1. [novelette] Stephen Grendon's "Mr George": "A child must be guarded in its tender years against those who follow false gods down dim paths to oblivion".
2. [novelette] Harold Lawlor's "The Terror in Teakwood": "What was the Macabre secret of the black casket, more precious than life, more dangerous than death?"
3. [novelette] Eric Frank Russell's "Venturer of the Martian Mimics" (A): "Our young sciences, like our imaginings, have limits but where facts end possibilities start--& they're truly boundless".
4. [ss] Seabury Quinn's "Hoodooed": "When the time comes to fix the hoodoo there is no power in heaven or earth to avert it".
5. [ss] Theodore Sturgeon's "Fluffy": "Don't make enemies with a cat. Why? Well, try it, & find out!"
6. [ss] Allison V Harding's "The Immortal Lancer": "There are places in this world & out of it that you have never dreamed of in your wildest nightmares!"
7. [ss] Robert Bloch's "Sweets to the Sweet": "She wanted a broomstick & a black cat; after all, don't witches have both?"
8. [ss] Herbert Scanlon's "Lizzie Borden Took an Axe": "A locked room, moldering books, muttered curses, in rotting hulk of a house--add up to tragedy".
9. [verse] Stanton A Coblentz's "On a Weird Planet".

See also.

1. Fiction from Weird Tales.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1940s.

Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations & Other Stories" (ed Eric Flint) (collection, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Entire collection is online at Baen CD. One story in this online version, "The Gulf Between", has been extensively edited by Eric Flint because it "was very dated". I personally prefer originals, even if dated; download link for this story below, therefore, goes to an unedited copy elsewhere.

Table of contents (9 stories, best first, unread last).

If I have a separate post on a story, link on title goes there. Links on publisher or year fetch more matching fiction. My rating is in brackets.

1. [novelette] "The Cold Equations" (A); download; Astounding, August 1954: An innocent girl is to be executed due to apathy of administration (according to author, due to nature's laws, but that's now how it comes across in the story). Intensely emotional.
2. [novel] "The Survivors" aka "Space Prison" (A); download; 1958; survival: Never give up hope.
3. [novelette] "--And Devious the Line of Duty" (A); download; Analog, December 1962; diplomacy: A young man gets his heart broken as part of his work!
4. [novelette] "No Species Alone" (A); download; Universe Science Fiction, November 1954: Snakes are afraid of cats!
5. [novelette] "Empathy" (A); download; Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, October 1959: Actions speak louder than words.
6. [novella] "Mother of Invention" (B); download; Astounding, December 1953; problem solving: Marooned space explorers find a way to end their predicament.
7. [ss] "Brain Teaser" (B); download; If, October 1956: Solving an impossible physics problem!
8. [novella] "The Gulf Between" (B); download; Astounding, October 1953: Man & machine (AI) will forever think differently.
9. [ss] "The Harvest" (C); download; Venture Science Fiction, July 1957: Something I cannot make out head or tail of.
   
   Biblical(?) "angels" are carnivorous energy beings living outside earth's atmosphere, & they feed of "fralings" - (probably) souls of people who've died on surface? Something.

Fact sheet.

First published: 2003.
Related: Stories of Tom Godwin.

Eric Frank Russell's "Afternoon of a Fahn" aka "Rainbow's End" (short story, free): When human explorers landed on a "trap" world

Idea is very familiar - Ray Bradbury's "Mars is Heaven!" (download radio adaptation), Eric Frank Russell's "Mesmerica", Fredric Brown's "Nothing Sirius" (download scans as part of a larger package), ... But I still liked it.

There is a reference to an apparently European legend I'm unfamiliar with: midget people with magical powers go away to another earth-like world because they're not welcome on earth. Does "fahn" mean anything to anyone?

Story summary.

A human scout ship with a crew of 4 has discovered a very earth-like world, rich in uranium. They land to explore.

Then they meet its midget humanoid natives, & things begin to get both pleasing & annoying...

Fact sheet.

First published: Imagination, April 1951.
Download full text as part of scans of the magazine it originally appeared in.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated & ranked list).

"Startling Stories", Vol 24 No 2 (November 1951) (ed Samuel Mines) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author.

1. [novel] Eric Frank Russell's "The Star Watchers": "Posted on every life-bearing planet are these oddly selfless guardians--amiable, but vengeful & merciless in striking down any who menace man's long agonizing climb to the stars".
2. [novelet] Mack Reynolds & Fredric Brown's "The Gamblers": "Bob Thayer was no card sharp, but he managed to get into a poker game on the Moon--with the fate of the Earth at stake".
3. [ss] Sam Merwin, Jr's "Grease in the Pan": "This was their purpose--to discover new planets to populate".
4. [ss] William Morrison's "The Cupids of Venus": "Couples for colonizing Cygnus were selected scientifically!"

See also.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

Winston K Marks' "Unbegotten Child" (short story, cancer, free): Evolution's retaliation against birth control!

Very light & totally non-sentimental read for a story about a serious case of cancer - one that changes the meaning of cancer itself! "The high incidence of various tumors evidences Nature's experiments in developing a asexual reproduction."

Story summary.

When Ms Sara Caffey was examined by Dr Phillipe Sansome at Cancer Institute in Paris, she had a serious case of inoperable cancer. Old doctor had his cancer as alternate reproduction technique theory cooking, & administered treatment called for by that assumption - medication that encourages cancer growth rather than retards it!

A few months later, she began having signs of pregnancy rather than tumor! And in time, gave birth to a healthy baby girl, normal in all respects except...

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, April 1953.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Winston K Marks; stories about evolution, cancer.

Clyde Brown's "First Man" (short story, humor, free): Record of the first manned trip to moon

Harold Ferguson, a tinkerer who has built a spaceship to take him to moon, accidentally ended up with his neighbor Orville Close too in the ship during takeoff! A ship fashioned from junk that took off from Harold's backyard!

The two had a successful trip to moon without anyone in the world knowing about it! Even after their return, no one believes they've been to moon - since they landed in Siberia, & had to leave the ship there when finding passage home.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, April 1958.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks.
Rating: B.

"Imagination: Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy", Vol 2 No 2 (April 1951) (ed William L Hamling) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Bradbury's excellent story is probably logically a part of "The Martian Chronicles", though it doesn't appear to be in the official version.

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

1. [novella] Robert W Krepps' "Beyond the Fearful Forest" (as by Geoff St Reynard): "No hunter dared to venture past the Fearful Forest into the land of--The Nameless..."
2. [ss] Ray Bradbury's '"In This Sign..."' aka "The Fire Balloons" (A): "The Fathers had come to convert the Martians. The question was: did they really exist?"
3. [ss] Hal Annas' "The Longsnozzle Event": "What will the future private detective be like? Meet Len Zitts, Galactic Shamus!"
4. [ss] Richard Matheson's '"Drink My Red Blood..."': "Jules was a strange little boy with a peculier ambition: he wanted to be a vampire..."
5. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Afternoon of a Fahn" aka "Rainbow's End" (A): "Here was the planet of a spaceman's dreams--it made every one of them come true..."
6. [novelette] Robert Bloch's "The Hungry House": "Were they afraid of the house, or the thing that lived there--waiting for tenants..."
7. [ss] Mack Reynolds' "Not in the Rules": "Earth's Warrior faced death in the Martian Arena with an untested weapon--strategy!"
8. [ss] Allen K Lang's "An Eel By the Tail": "A physics class was no place for this strip teaser--nor was the Earth for that matter!"

See also.

1. Fiction from Imagination.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

William P McGivern's "The Chameleon Man" (short story, invisible man, free)

Variation of invisible man theme, but a kind of invisibility I've not yet seen in fiction: for unspecified reasons, a young man has turned into something of a chameleon - he can perfectly blend into the background. Not completely invisible - you stare long enough & you see some sort of a ghost. And by exerting energy, he can make himself visible for short periods.

Story is supposed to be funny. There is a war on, & he wants to enlist in army, but army doesn't think he'll be useful. A conman running a magic show promises him help, but soon we have complications...

Fact sheet.

First published: Amazing Stories, January 1943.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks.
Rating: B.

Eric Frank Russell's "Postscript" aka "P.S." (short story, philosophy, free): How appearances affect our perception

Unlike some of Ted Chiang's philosophical stories, this one is a human story. And while not a hilarious one, as many of the author's most memorable works are, it made me smile in later parts - as the idea stuck home.

Story summary.

Dr Malcolm Harrison, now 77, had made a pen-pal 65 years ago with Gaily (aka Vandashanda), a "girl" who's a native of the far away world Reba. They've been good friends ever since, & still exchange letters.

One fine day, Doc accidentally stumbles into Jim Corlett, a much younger acquaintance in Space Service who'd recently returned from 17 years in space. Among the gossip exchanged is Jim's 2 days stop at Reba, & his repulsive reaction to its intelligent smelly native fungi! He even has brought back a picture of 6 natives - among them one Vandashanda!

How should the Doc be affected by the revelation that his long time friend "Gaily" is not a woman but smelly fungus?

Fact sheet.

First published: Science-Fiction Plus, October 1953.
Download full text as part of the scans of the magazine it originally appeared in.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated & ranked list); Tuesday Classics.

Eric Brown's "Laying the Ghost" (short story, grief, free)

Katerina Reverte was bereaved in a massacre 25 years ago, only member of the family that survived. Now, she wants to visit where her family is buried, to grieve & to ...

Fact sheet.

First published: Clarkesworld, #49 (October 2010).
Download full text/audio from publisher's site.
Rating: A.
Added to my "best of 2010" list.

"Science Fiction Plus", Vol 1 No 6 (October 1953) (ed Hugo Gernsback) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

There is an interesting call for authors on ToC page: "$100.00 will be paid by this magazine for each Short-Short Science-Fiction Story. These stories must be real science fiction, not fantasy, & should not run over 1,000 words.The Short-Short + will occupy one full page." Doesn't that make it the highest paying flash fiction market of its time?

Note: Magazine seems to interchangeably use "Science Fiction Plus" & "Science Fiction +" as its titles. Cover logo blends the two.

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

1. [novelette] Thomas Calvert McClary's "The Celestial Brake".
2. [short novel] Philip Jose Farmer's "Strange Compulsion": "The conquest of many of the most distressing infirmities is made difficult by the veil of prudery which covers such illnesses as venereal diseases, & even today there exists the absurd notion that it is not respectful to have cancer or a hernia. It seems logical that even the most careful preparation will not avoid the contraction of new diseases when man conquers space--& should those ills be fostered by prudery, the result might prove tragic."
3. [ss] Jack Williamson's "Operation: Gravity": "at present we simply have no concept of the nature of gravity. If ... we should have the opportunity of studying gravity under special conditions, we may arrive at an understanding that will make science-fiction notions about gravitation a possibility."
4. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Postscript" aka "P.S." (A): 'How great are the odds against human beings feeling emotions of sympathy, understanding, & compassion for any alien races that may be discovered on distant worlds in the years following interplanetary travel? View the great difficulty the peoples of the world seem to have in getting along with human beings who are different only in color of skin. Consider the tendency to treat groups of opposing religious or political thought as "different," & something less than human.'
5. [ss] Roger Dee's "Worlds Within Worlds": "what would happen if we discovered that an insuperable barrier imprisoned us to the surface of the Earth forever"?
6. [ff] Anne McCaffrey's "Freedom of the Race".

See also.

1. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
2. Fiction from 1950s.

Samuel R Delany's "Aye, and Gomorrah" (short story, free): Fetish of sexually normal towards sexually abnormal

This is my second or third Delany story; none have worked for me so far. May be it will work better with readers familiar with US of 1960s? In any case, it appears to be among the better known stories of author.

I've no idea how the title relates to the story.

Story summary.

Maintenance of infrastructure on moon, Mars, & the satellites of Jupiter requires "altered" people ("Spacers"), because of long exposure to radiation. This alteration kills their sexual nature - they're now neither male nor female. The operation is done when they're still kids - "children whose sexual responses are hopelessly retarded at puberty."

Among the normal are "frelks", people with a sexual fetish for spacers. And spacers often oblige, for money.

This story is a collection of vignettes about these contacts - spacers vs frelks. Narrated by an unnamed spacer, part of a group on ground holidays.

Fact sheet.

First published: Harlan Ellison (ed)'s "Dangerous Visions" (1967).
Download full text from Internet Archive.
Rating: B.
Winner of Nebula Award 1967 in short story category.
Nominated for Hugo Award 1968 in short story category.
Among the Ellen Datlow's Sci Fiction's classics.

Michael Shaara's "Wainer" (short story, evolution, free): What's it like to be an evolutionary link!

This is one of the "first man in the next evolution of humanity" stories.

Caution: A small part of the story deals with a man falling in love with his own mother (mother has received rejuvenation treatment, child hasn't).

Story summary.

In 25th century, electronic "brain" implants are common: a medical procedure attaches the implant to your mind, & you have access to all the memory of mankind. You are also suddenly more rational, hence the recipients called "Rashes" or "lumpheads" (lump formed by implant on the head).

But one in a thousand humans brains rejects the implant, & nothing further can be done. These are Rejects, condemned to lead the life away from trades in demand. But they've a compensation - they can see the world in ways logical Rashes cannot.

And a few among the Rejects have changes not only in brain but elsewhere in the body - a change that makes them a link to next step in the evolution of humanity. This is the sorry story of such a man, William Wainer, who will learn of his great role in progress of humanity only near his last days.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, April 1954.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Michael Shaara.

"Fantastic Universe", Vol 1 No 1 (June-July 1953) (ed Sam Merwin, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Inaugural issue of the magazine. Going by sheer number of stories, this looks more like an anthology than a magazine! Its scans in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

1. [novella] Sam Merwin, Jr's "Nightmare Tower" (as by Jacques Jean Ferrat): "Lynne disliked the man from Mars on sight. Yet drawn by forces beyond her control she let him carry her off to the Red Planet."
2. [novelette] A Bertram Chandler's "Vicious Circle": "It's bad to be trapped in a time warp with anyone. And when anyone is Malaprop Jenkins it can adder a man's wits peppermintly."
3. [ss] Frank Belknap Long's "Little Men of Space": "The Children were very young--& the crisis they were called upon to face would have driven most adults into a straitjacket."
4. [novelette] E Hoffmann Price's "The Fire and the Flesh": "Was Agni Deva flame? Or was she flesh? In either case, the woman of volcano was irresistible."
   
   Note: I wonder whatever made the author make "Agni Deva" female? In Hindu mythology, it's a male. Also, "Deva" (also written "Dev" in English) literally means "god" & is clearly male; "Devi" is "goddess" & female.
5. [ss] August Derleth's "The Maugham Obsession": "All inventors seek success. Some few achieve it. And now & then, a Quintus Maugham is a bit too successful for his own health."
   
   From editor's introduction to story: author was the owner of Arkham press at the time the story was published.
6. [ss] Arthur C Clarke's "The Other Tiger": "When a pair of strollers begin to ponder parallel worlds just about anything can happen. And this time about anything does."
   
   From Clarke's introduction to this story in his "Collected Stories": "Originally entitled 'Refutation', this story was retitled by Sam Merwin, editor of Fantastic Universe, as a nod to Frank Stockton's classic but now forgotten 'The Lady or the Tiger'".
   
   For me, it's among the forgettable stories of Clarke. It's very small though, probably just above the boundary of flash fiction.
7. [ss] Gene L Henderson's "The Small Bears": "The aliens looked cute as Koalas. But there was a little matter of a graveyard of dead spaceships."
8. [ss] Philip K Dick's "Martians Come in Clouds": "Among Man's noblest dreams is that of making friendly contact with other world creatures. But dreams may become nightmares..."
9. [ss] Roger Dee's "The Minister Had To Wait": 'The Brass said, "Turn it on!" So Doc Maxey could but obey--which created one hell of a big mess.'
10. [ss] Milton Lesser's "Finders Keepers": "Amhurst wanted to get married. But then an invisible ingenue moved in on his wedding day..."
11. [ss] Ray Bradbury's "Time in Thy Flight": "The circus, Hallowe'en, the Glorious Fourth may go--yet eternal is their pull on a child's heart."
12. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "It's in the Blood" (B): "Space may flow in a young man's veins. But at times the laws of heredity can take tragic twists."
13. [ss, reprint] Francis G Rayer's "Of Those Who Came" (as by George Longdon); New Worlds, November 1952: "The alien scheme was perfect--a night landing, infiltration, human disguises. Fortunately for us the Policeman was awaiting them."

See also.

1. Fiction from Fantastic Universe.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

Vern Fearing's "The Sloths of Kruvny" (short story, humor, free): Why the hell is there no war!

Generally complete nonsense, but a fun read that brought me smile at several places.

Story summary.

Commander Metternich of Galaxy Patrol is very worried: "Nobody's Attacking The Earth"! "Nobody Is Out To Conquer The Universe! How Come"?

So he dispatches Bradley Broadshoulders & Ugh ("a cross between a Martian and a Texan") to go find out! Duo will eventually land on the world Kruvny, & make contact with Sloths, half its natives. And find out why Sloths aren't attacking earth!

On their way back, they'll also learn that earthmen don't really need aliens to destroy their home, they're quite capable of doing it themselves.

Fact sheet.

First published: Amazing Stories, October-November 1953.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, or Feedbooks.
Rating: B.
Related: Funny stories.

"Clarkesworld", #48 (September 2010) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Whole magazine is available here. I've ignored stuff other than fiction.

Table of contents.

Neither story is particularly remarkable. Link on author fetches more fiction by author.

1. [ss] Robert Reed's "The Cull" (B); download text/audio; horror: A future uninhabitable earth with tiny closed "stations" spread thinly around; these stations are the only human habitats existing. The unnamed slum-like habitat in the story has happiness as its chief goal; an android "doctor" monitoring the brains of all people via implants & tweaking their brain chemicals to make people "happy"!
   14-year Orlando is too energetic & non-conformist. And this society has no place for those who don't conform; he must be culled.
   
2. [ss] Stephen Gaskell's "Paper Cradle" (B); download text/audio: An antiwar protester sabotages a space weapon's test in a suicide mission, temporarily delaying the weapon making effort.

Related: Fiction from Clarkesword; 2010 fiction; best of 2010.

"Other Worlds Science Stories", Vol 1 No 4 (May 1950) (ed Raymond A Palmer) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

"Dear Devil" must be amongst the most loved stories of science fiction, going by the number of personal thank you notes I receive from people who had read it long ago, forgot title & author, kept looking for story based on description for decades, & eventually found it via Google & Variety SF. A kind-hearted Martian explorer chooses to strand himself on earth to uplift back to civilization the once great but now primitive post-apocalypse humanity.

Table of contents. 

Links on author fetch more fiction by author.

1. [novelette] Eric Frank Russell's "Dear Devil" (A): 'Terror drove fathers from their children, & love seemed lost to the Earth. But then came an octopus-armed "devil" to cradle a little boy.'
2. [novelette] A E van Vogt's "War of Nerves"; part of the author's Space Beagle series: "The spaceship flashed through the void--& all at once there began a battle of wits to the death between the crew & a non-human race on a planet still light years away ..."
3. [ss] Raymond F Jones' "Portrait of Narcissus": "Psychaitrists might say that when Narcissus looked into the pool & fell in love with his own image, he was hypnotized; for beauty may well have hypnotic conditioning powers."
4. [ss] Jerome Bixby's "--And All For One": 'a spaceship wreck on the most desolate world in the void--& it was four hungry survivors, "one for all--& all for one"'.
5. [novella] S J Byrne's "Colossus"; sequel to author's "Prometheus II" in Amazing Stories: 'The king sat quietly as the bullets struck his body. "The fourth bullet will be a dud," he predicted. The fourth bullet was a dud.'
6. [ss] Millen Cooke's "Edmund Latimer's Milking Machine": "Edmund invented a miling machine that was perfection in iteself, except for one flaw. "Milk went it, but never came out. But then a strange man showed up who seemed to thing Edmund had done something quite marvelous."
7. [ss] William Wallrich's "The Scissors": "The seemed just an ordinary pair of scissors, but when you opened & closed them, the earth itself opened--& shut."

See also.

1. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
2. Fiction from 1950s.

Eric Frank Russell's "It's in the Blood" (short story, tragedy, free): Don't force your career choice on your child

Much hashed story idea now, & I could see the ending part way through the story, but still quite readable.

Story summary.

Twenty year old Tom Fanshaw is the sixth generation in the family to look at space-pilot as as a profession. His proud dad has driven him to the school where he'll fly a spaceship solo for the first time. You can already guess the results...

See also.

1. Henry Kuttner's "Absalom" (download): Very dark story of a child refusing to accept the career choice his father wants to make for him. Or may be it's about the choice of what he should study in college? It's been a while since I read it.

Fact sheet.

First published: Fantastic Universe, June-July 1953.
Download full text as part of Fantastic Universe, June/July 1953. Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated & ranked list).

Alfred Coppel's "Turnover Point" (short story, revenge, free): A man avenges the killing of his son

A young policeman is killed by a robber "in a back alley in Lower Marsport". Same robber has now hijacked the little spaceship of the cop's dad, forcing dad to pilot him to safety away from Mars.

During escape, Pop Ganlon will learn that this is the killer. Pop himself will get killed by robber, but only after ensuring that the robber gets the justice due him...

Fact sheet.

First published: Amazing Stories, April-May 1953.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, or Feedbooks.
Rating: B.
Related: Mars in fiction.

Milton Lesser's "Prison of a Billion Years" (as by C H Thames) (short story, evolution, free): All life on earth is ultimately descended from...

Central idea is very similar to Alfred Bester's "Adam and No Eve" (download comic book adaptation), but I found it much less interesting.

Story is set on primordial earth - long before there is life here. I've a feeling the descriptions aren't quite accurate & time is certainly inaccurate, but that could be because the story is from 1950s.

Story summary.

There is an ultimate jail - set on earth of a billion years ago, back when there was no life, seas were not yet salty, you never saw sun because of mist, etc.

And there is a condemned prisoner - Adam Slade, where "Adam" is significant, in Biblical sense. Hours before his execution time, he killed a guard, took a woman hostage, & escaped out in the wilds where no one can survive because there is no food. He has a desperate plan to take charge of the local time machine, & escape back to livelier times.

Story is mostly his travelogue on this primordial earth. He will be eventually killed by lightning near the sea coast, & claimed by sea. Of course, we're all descended from the bacteria & microbes that inhabited his body!

Fact sheet.

First published: Imagination, April 1956.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks.
Download audio from LibriVox (read by Mark Nelson).
Caution: Main Project Gutenberg page lists author as "Stephen Marlowe", but text has "C H Thames". I wonder if "Stephen Marlowe" is also one of author's pseudonyms?
Rating: B.

"Fantastic Universe", Vol 11 No 3 (May 1959) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Table of contents. 

Links on author fetch more fiction by author.

1. [novelet] Eric Frank Russell's "The Army Comes to Venus": "He was secretly surprised to find himself enjoying this spell of gallantry. But worse was to happen."
2. Robert F Young's "The Wistful Witch": "Anybody might think that she wanted to be a witch--& anybody thinking so would have been correct."
3. Ron Goulart's "Parlor Game": "Luanne made it almost a challenge. She really was pretty. And there were so few women on Prospero II."
4. Sam Rosenfeld's "Citizen Meekle": "What happens when a little man who's not aggressive--but who does dream--finally makes a startling discovery?"
5. Lloyd Biggle's "Traveling Salesman": "The Feds were getting tough. It was costing too much to distribute the stuff. He'd probably have to go away..."
6. Joy Leache's "Miss Millie's Rose": "a very different story about Tomorrow's Mars."
   
   'The Customs man announced he had an old dame there "with one of them Jap trees." How was he to know what'd happen?'
7. John Victor Peterson's "The Amnesic Men": "Venus! She remembered the harsh record of hostory & shuddered at the thought of the many men who had died."
8. G Harry Stine's "Letter from Tomorrow" (as by Lee Correy): "Maybe the man was nutty as a fruitcake. Maybe he thought he was a little green man--& maybe he was very sane..."

See also.

1. Fiction from Fantastic Universe.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

Notes.

1. There is no mention of editor on ToC page, though Hans Stefan Santesson is noted as the "Editorial Director".

Jack Vance's "The Mitr" (short story): Man is sometimes so heartless

This is the second Vance story I've read about rape; parts of "The Languages of Pao" has women in far worse position.

Story summary.

Mitr is the only human at a place full of large intelligent talking beetles; beetles who are friends, even though they sometimes suck her blood! She's living an animal existence here; apparently, she's been alone since she was a baby.

On this fine day, 3 men arrive in a spaceship - the first she's seen of her own kind. Her curiosity brings her to their notice; their reaction is to rape her!

Notes.

1. There is a Hindi word pronounced "mitr", meaning "friend". I don't know if that is related to title of this story, but beetles use of this term for all humans suggests it might be.

Fact sheet.

First published: Vortex Science Fiction, Vol 1 No 1 (1953).
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Jack Vance.

A E van Vogt's "Final Command" (short story, revolution, free): A man helps contain a revolution by robot slaves

A world where robots are as smart as humans, do most chores, & are looked down upon by men as trash. Barr, one of the smartest of robots, has organized an underground movement: at an appointed hour, robots will do a general massacre of humanity - to pave the road towards glorious robot future.

Marknell, a man, has seen the danger in time, & will gently ensure the massacre is called off, & that steps are taken to ensure the robots begin getting the respect they deserve in human society.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, November 1949.
Download full text as part of the scans of the Astounding issue it originally appeared in.
Among the stories of Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of A E van Vogt.

Joe Haldeman's "More Than the Sum of His Parts" (short story, free): A man's transformation into a cyborg, then monster

This story is ... sort of ... a very abrupt attachment of John Varley's "Bagatelle" (download) to the middle of C L Moore's "No Woman Born".

A serious accident victim is saved by transforming him into a cyborg. He begins to like the new body parts. Then he starts enjoying his new found power too much, & quickly becomes a monster. Monster is easily disposed off, of course, by a techno-gimmick.

Caution: Bits of the story have explicit sex scenes, & describe male anatomy in some detail.

Fact sheet.

First published: Playboy, May 1985.
Download full text from Lightspeed.
Rating: B.

Hugo awards 2010: winners announced

Nothing yet on official page, but here is the twitter stream.

Links on category go to all category nominees. Links on author or publisher find matching stories.

1. [ss] Will McIntosh's "Bridesicle" (B); download text/audio; Asimov's, January 2009.
2. [novelette] Peter Watts' "The Island"; download; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "The New Space Opera 2".
3. [novella] Charles Stross' "Palimpsest" (B); download (available for the duration of Hugo voting in 2010); Wireless (collection?).
4. [novel] Tie between Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl" (download) & China Miéville's "The City & The City".

Related: Past Hugo winners & nominees.

"Astounding Science-Fiction", March 1940 (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Table of contents. 

Links on author fetch more fiction by author.

1. [novelette] Nat Schachner's "Cold": Two worlds dependent utterly on one mine--& the mine gives out! The warmth of two worlds' friendship freezes in the cold of a tiny world--"
2. [novelette] L Sprague de Camp's "The Emancipated": "Johnny Black & Company--& what company! Johnny learns to talk, but when McGinty the ape starts--"
3. [ss] P Schuyler Miller's "In the Good Old Summertime": "He liked heat--was sure he'd like even the hear of a Venus summer, while he set up his kingdom. But a drying mud-puddle meant--"
4. [ss] A M Phillips' "Chapter from the Beginning": "Half a jawbone & the end of a tooth are clues to a new pre-man. But how many species have we missed--how many unknown half-men--"
5. [ss] Willard E Hawkins' "The Dwindling Sphere": "The inventor figured it was a failure. It was an overwhelming success--a success that overwhelmed the Earth--"
6. [serial - part 2/2] Robert Heinlein's "If This Goes On--": "Astounding's second Nova story--one of the most powerful novels of dictatorship science-fiction has produced."

See also.

1. Fiction from Analog/Astounding (only issues edited by Harry Bates, John Campbell).
2. Stories written by John Campbell.
3. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
4. Fiction from 1940s.

Sam Merwin, Jr's "A World Apart" (short story, time travel, free)

A man driving down a road near his childhood hometown suddenly finds himself back 20 years - younger self, older town, his long dead mother still alive, ...

Finally the puzzle will reveal itself, helping him trivially escape to present.

Notes.

1. Sudden travel across time while driving down a particular place also features in at least one story of Philip K Dick. I cannot recollect the title though.

Fact sheet.

First published: Fantastic Universe, May 1954.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg.
Rating: B.
Related: Time travel fiction; fiction from 1950s.

"Astounding Science Fiction", October 1959 (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Table of contents. 

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I'm aware of other online copies of a story, I include them too. If I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

1. [novelette] Christopher Anvil's "The Lawbreakers": "Their mission was sabotage--the destruction of critical installations. Their victims? Hah! Their victims were most eagerly awaiting their hoped-for coming..."
   
   I've a feeling I've seen text version of this story online somewhere, but cannot locate the URL now.
2. [novelette] Jack Vance's "Dodkin's Job": 'The really essential question was, "Who's runnin' this shebang, anyhow?" The rough part of that question is, of course, that one man may think he is--while a quite different man does. So who do you ask?'
3. [ss] Murray F Yaco's "Unspecialist" (A); download: "A machine can be built to do any accurately described job better than any man. The superiority of a man is that he can do an unexpected, undescribed & emergency job ... provided he hasn't been especially trained to be a machine."
4. [serial - part 2/2] Randall Garrett & Laurence M Janifer's "That Sweet Little Old Lady" aka "Brain Twister" (as by Mark Phillips); download text/audio: "It was tough enough for the FBI men to have to hunt out a telepathic spy...but when the only known telepath-locator was a more than somewhat peculiar little old lady who had to be humored..."
   
   ISFDB notes that "Brain Twister" is the title of its 1962 book version.

See also.

1. Fiction from Analog/Astounding (only issues edited by Harry Bates, John Campbell).
2. Stories written by John Campbell.
3. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
4. Fiction from 1950s.

Henry Hasse's "One Purple Hope!" (short story, drug addiction, free)

A good samaritan helps a serious drug addict who was once a competent man shed addiction & start getting his sanity back.

Story is set on Venus.

Fact sheet.

First published: Planet Stories, July 1952.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, or Feedbooks.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Henry Hasse; fiction set on Venus; fiction from 1950s.

Reginald Bretnor's "Unknown Things" (short story, horror, free)

Andreas Hoogstraten is a rich & eccentric antique collector - he buys antiques he cannot figure out the purpose of, & spends time solving the puzzle of what they were meant for. Once he figures out the purpose, he destroys them! And many kinds of objects qualify as worth collecting for him, as the narrator & antique dealer will eventually find, to his horror...

Fact sheet.

First published: Twilight Zone magazine, February 1989.
Download full text.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Reginald Bretnor.

"Astounding Science-Fiction", Vol XXVIII No 2 (October 1941) (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

"By His Bootstraps" & "Universe" (download MP3 of radio adaptation) are among Heinlein's best known stories. Though not among his best stories, in my opinion. Former appears in "The Adventures in Time & Space"; later in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A".

Table of contents. 

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I'm aware of other online copies of a story, I include them too.

1. [novella] Robert Heinlein's "By His Bootstraps" (as by Anson MacDonald) (B); download MP3 of radio adaptation; grandfather paradox: "Bob Wilson met himself--in a highly redundant sort of way. He met himself several times in fact, & became inextricably tangled in Time--"
2. [novelette] Robert Heinlein's "Common Sense": 'The sequel to "Universe", a tale of a civilization that developed aboard a giant spaceship lost in interstellar space for 4,000 years--"
3. [ss] Isaac Asimov's "Not Final!": "The Jovians wanted to get out & destroy every other living thing in the Solar System. They would--if they could find a way to retain their terrific atmosphere in a spaceship--"
4. [ss] Winston K Marks' "Manic Perverse": "Only mechanical violence could bring death in that era--& the force field kept men from committing suicide. And that alone was enough to make some mad--"
5. [ss] Theodore Sturgeon's "Two Percent Inspiration": "A Martian might be as good as any Earthman in most things--but when it came to a short hike on Mercury--"

See also.

1. Fiction from Analog/Astounding (only issues edited by Harry Bates, John Campbell).
2. Stories written by John Campbell.
3. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
4. Fiction from 1940s.

Note: I could not find any mention of editor's name either on cover or on ToC page or with signature at the end of editor's column. ISFDB, however, note that the editor is John W Campbell, Jr.

Lester del Rey's "Over the Top" (short story, war, free): Men go to war, unless distracted!

This is of a class of war stories that don't have an actual war - just a build up towards it. Then a wise man, or circumstances, create a distraction so people can channel their excess energies in a different direction! Probably the best I've seen of this class so far is Fritz Leiber's "Wanted--An Enemy".

Story summary.

Dave Mannen, a midget, is the sole man aboard the first human ship to Mars. He will land, but with a minor shipwreck that makes take-off impossible but life support systems intact. He has a few weeks of air, after that end. Oh, and he'll soon befriend a "Martian farmer" too.

This event - a man in distress in a dramatic situation - brings enemies together on earth. So a repurposed Soviet missile will land supplies for this US man - so he can fix the ship & return.

But the man in distress is seeing more than all humanity is seeing back on earth, & has a plan that will keep humanity distracted a little while longer...

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, November 1949.
Download full text as part of the scans of Astounding issue it originally appeared in.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Lester del Rey; Mars in fiction; Tuesday Classics.

John Scalzi's "The President's Brain is Missing" (short story, satire, free): Ultimate in VIP security!

Technical idea here is a variant of van Vogt's "The Purpose": technology exists to keep a man's heart far away from body, still letting the man live normally. Here, it's the brain - though it's not "kept away", strictly, in the sense of van Vogt's story.

Story summary.

One morning, the personal physician of the US President finds the President's brain physically missing from his head, though he seems to be physically normal in observable ways! Alex Lipsyte of the Presidential staff will solve the mystery...

Fact sheet.

First published: Tor.com, July 2010.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of  John Scalzi.

Ray Bradbury's "The Marriage"

A "The Martian Chronicles" story, published for the first time last year: "about the marriage of a human, Captain Samuel Pace of the Space Service, to Elta, a native Martian woman".
- Marooned.

Related: Stories of Ray Bradbury.

Daniel Alarcón's "Second Lives" (short story, non-genre, free): Portraits of some "typical" people from Mexico of 1980s

Actually, I'm not sure it's Mexico; it's some Spanish-speaking country of South America, probably Mexico.

Story is from the point of view of a 10 year old boy - personalities in his family & neighborhood. Some of his concerns near the end sounded like those of adults - at least I didn't think like that at 10; but may be kids grow up at different rates in different places?

Notes.

Thing that caught my attention & made me write this post was this quote near end: "The new President privatized everything, selling the state off piece by piece and dividing the profits among his friends." Something that has been recently happening in India.

A naive me of an earlier time believed selling public companies could only bring good:

1. They would pay part of government's fund requirements - so we will have less debt & lower taxes.
2. They would bring in responsible management, & should become tax payers instead of receivers of subsidies.

What we are actually seeing is nothing of the first, & only partially of the second. Government overspending way beyond its means, gobbling up all the money generated by selling public companies, & still raising both taxes & deficit even more! And, naturally, most of the money meant for the piously benevolent social service programs with supermassive outlays introduced in recent years goes into the pockets of cronies of the those in power.

Question: Anyone knows why government deficit is stated as a percentage of national GDP rather than as a percentage of government's annual receipts? My naive guess would be: to mislead the public - 7% looks like a smaller number than 35% ! But I'm no economist. Anyone would care to clarify?

Fact sheet.

First published: The New Yorker, 16 August 2010.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.