Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee is a professor of political economy at Miskatonic University. Following a fainting spell in 1908 he returns to his senses in 1913 with no recollection of the last five years of his life. As he endeavors to discover the truth about his lost years, he becomes increasingly tormented by vivid... read more »
Our narrator is hired by the New York Zoological Society to assist a professor who is in charge of their gardens and exhibits. He embarks on his search for a Great Auk, a species that was extinct for fifty or so years. read more »
The Army had a new theme song: 'Anything you can do, we can do better!' And they meant anything, including up-to-date hornpipes! read more »
On the eve of World War I, an all-female society is discovered somewhere in the distant reaches of the earth by three male explorers who are now forced to re-examine their assumptions about women's roles in society. read more »
Far in the future, Earth's empire has grown to include dozens of different civilizations, many of which have been subjugated to serve humanity's growing need for cheap labor. In the short story Tony and the Beetles, a young boy hatches an unlikely friendship with some of the insect-like creatures that are treated as... read more »
Having achieved international fame with The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, Kim, and his Just So Stories, in 1905 Kipling serialized a thrilling science fiction novella, With the Night Mail: A Story of 2000 A.D, in which the reader learns — while following the exploits of an intercontinental mail dirigible... read more »
It is 1984. The world is in a state of perpetual war and Big Brother sees and controls all. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party and propaganda-writer at the Ministry of Truth, is keeping a journal he should not be keeping and falling in love with Julia, a woman he should not be seeing. Outwardly compliant... read more »
This classic short story from sci-fi luminary Harry Harrison offers a sympathetic glimpse into the inner lives of robots. In the future, society has grown ever more dependent on these super-intelligent machines, but despite their increasing autonomy, robots are still looked down on as second-class citizens. The... read more »
Nobody blends satire and science fiction like renowned luminary of the genre Philip K. Dick. This short but utterly memorable tale tells the story of a man who is utterly convinced that the world is being overrun by aliens. Is he correct, or wildly off-base? read more »
Take an intergalactic trip with renowned science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. In The Gun, the crew of a spaceship are sent out to recover a remarkable weapon that seems to be capable of causing nearly inconceivable levels of damage. How will they protect humanity from the deadly device? read more »
In the mood for a thought-provoking read from the golden age of science fiction? Dip into Arm of the Law from mid-century SF virtuoso Harry Harrison. In this tale, Harrison recounts an experiment in robotic law enforcement that goes awry -- with an array of horrifying unforeseen consequences. read more »
TV repairman Ed Loyce sets out for what he thinks will be a typical day at work -- and finds himself in a world in which everything has been turned topsy-turvy. The first indication that things are amiss occurs when Loyce spies a stomach-turning abomination in the town park -- and none of his fellow citizens seem to... read more »
Written in response to Edgar Allan Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, this follows the adventures of the narrator and his journey from the Kerguelen Islands aboard Halbrane. The story is set in 1839, eleven years after the events in Arthur Gordon Pym. The narrator is a wealthy American... read more »
Spaceman Peterson buys a "wub" from a local before his departure from Mars and takes it back aboard the ship on which he is a crew member. But the captain Franco cites his concerns about the extra weight of having this huge pig-like creature on-board, although he really seems more interested in how it might taste... read more »
The Disintegration Machine is a short story written about Professor Challenger by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Professor Challenger is arguing with people who are persistently calling him on the telephone when his young friend Malone, a reporter for the Gazette, enters and requests Challenger accompany him to inspect the... read more »
Under extreme duress, the human mind can come up with an array of impossibly complex coping mechanisms. Is that what's behind the strange epidemic that army physician Henry Harris has noticed overtaking soldiers who have returned from the distant celestial body known as Asteroid Y-3? Harris makes a trip to the... read more »
Take an intergalactic journey with science fiction luminary Harry Harrison. In The Repairman, Harrison recounts the travails of a lone skilled laborer who is charged with the frustrating task of making a crucial repair to malfunctioning equipment on a far-flung planet. read more »
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World. Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth... read more »
A classic novel blending romance, adventure, and science fiction, The Tremendous Event is sure to appeal to fans of LeBlanc's detective fiction. The tremendous event of the 4th, of June, whose consequences affected the relations of the two great Western nations even more profoundly than did the war, has called... read more »
Varta, the last priestess of Asti, lives alone with Lur, a telepath of the lizardfolk, in Asti's isolated mountain retreat. Decadent Memphir has long since drifted away from the austere paths of Asti, and now the barbarians of Klem are sacking the city, and the smoke of its burning drifts up to the temple. read more »
A brilliant but maniacal scientist is determined to unleash a virulent plague that threatens to drive humankind to the brink of extinction. The evil doctor matches wits with two top-notch detectives, one of whom happens to be a young woman. Fans of classic thrillers will relish every minute of The Green Rust. read more »
After a devastating war between the United States and the Soviet Union mankind has taken refuge beneath Earth’s surface. But the war continues above ground, with robots called “leadys” fighting on our behalf, or so the humans think. The Defenders was later expanded into a full-length novel entitled The... read more »
Leblanc's first foray into pure science fiction. Scholar Dorgeroux dies before completing his mysterious message--whether it's a formula or the name of his murderer remains unclear. Added the mystery, a revelation that Dorgeroux has been in televisual contact with impossibly intelligent, three-eyed Venusians. read more »
Harrison's great science fiction short, The Toy Shop. The gadget was strictly, beyond any question, a toy. Not a real, workable device. Except for the way it could work under a man's mental skin. read more »
Normally, Shann Lantee, most menial of the Terrans attached to the survey camp on the planet Warlock, and Ragnar Thorvald, an officer in the elite First-In Scouts, would never had been friends, or even speaking acquaintances. Now, as sole survivors of the invasion of the planet by bettlelike Throgs, their only hope... read more »
This, the sixth book in the Tom Corbett series is, something special. It's another tale of the three young men who serve in the Solar Guard as Space Cadets. The Titan crystal freight contracts are up for bid, and the powers that be have decided to put the contracts out competitively to the folks who can deliver... read more »
For the young cadets of the famous Space Academy Polaris unit a month's leave would seem to be a perfect time for rest. But they have other ideas when they plan a trip to the jungles of Venus. There they hope to hunt the most terrifying of all big game––the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex! read more »
Travis Fox, once the unwilling captive of the runaway spaceship Galactic Derelict, has volunteered - eagerly this time - for the mission to colonize Topaz. But when he and his fellow Apaches find themselves reverting to the ways their ancient warrior-race, just as the expedition from Russia has been transformed into... read more »
Imagine a distant future when the ability to travel through time becomes a central part of each country's national security program. That's the premise of this fascinating sci-fi novel from author Andre Norton. The Time Traders zooms in on one such agent, Ross Murdock, who is tasked with the challenge of journeying... read more »
This, the fourth book in the Tom Corbett series by Carey Rockwell, is, like all of the Tom Corbett books, something special. It's another tale of the three young men who serve in the Solar Guard as Space Cadets. The Solar Guard is establishing its first colony on a star far away in space, and of course, our heroes... read more »