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Cities in the Sky episodes
- The Cottage, by Frank Belknap Long
There was a savage cruelty in Durkin's hatred of his children. Little did he know that on other worlds—cruelty boomeranged.
"The Cottage" appeared in the September 1954 issue of "Fantastic Universe" on pages 58 to 69.
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Frank Belknap Long Jr. (April 27, 1901 – January 3, 1994) was an American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known for his horror and science fiction short stories, including contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos alongside his friend, H. P. Lovecraft. During his life, Long received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement (at the 1978 World Fantasy Convention), the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement (in 1987, from the Horror Writers Association), and the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award (1977).
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
37 min - Prize of the Air, by Ben Conlon
Bill Barlow, a former war ace, now took passengers for rides in his plane. One loop-the-loop too many however, and the airfield superintendant was forced to revoke his passenger license—friend or no friend. Luckily, his latest passenger, a Frank C Saxton, had a solution to this predicament that would take Bill on his most exciting adventure yet...
"Prize of the Air" appeared in "Argosy All-Story Weekly," March 27, 1928, pages 601 - 611.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
49 min - Thy Rocks and Rills, by Robert E Gilbert
They were out of place in the Manly Age--Stonecypher, a man who loved animals; Moe, a bull who hated men. Together, they marched to inevitably similar destinies...
"Thy Rocks and Rills" appeared in "If, Worlds of Science Fiction", September, 1953, pages 76 to 98.
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Robert E Gilbert (May 6, 1924 – April 4, 1993) was an American science fiction writer.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
1 hr 16 min - The Missionary, by Jesse F Bone
He had been sent to kill the Father of Evil, to purge his corruption from this world. But Wolverton had shot him down, captured him, and now, injured, he had to endure conversation with this loathed man.
"The Missionary" appeared in "Amazing Stories," October 1960.
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Jesse Franklin Bone (1916-2006) was an American author and veterinarian whose writing gained prominence during the 'Golden Age of Science-Fiction' in the 1950's. His first story, "Survival Type" was published in "Galaxy," March 1957. His short-story Triggerman was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1959.
In addition to his science fiction books and short stories, he also authored the textbook "Animal Anatomy and Physiology," which was used widely in universities throughout the United States and internationally.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
1 hr 6 min - The Vortex Blaster, by E E Smith, PhD
Neal "Storm" Cloud, atomic physicist, through personal tragedy, is destined to become the most noted figure in the galaxy.
"The Vortex Blaster" appeared in "Comet", July 1941, pages 2 to 17.
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Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965) was an American food engineer and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera. In 1963, he was presented the inaugural "First Fandom Hall of Fame" award at the 21st World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, D.C.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
1 hr - The Monster Maker, by Ray Bradbury
"Get the pirate Gunther," were their orders. But Click and Irish were marooned on the pirate's asteroid—their only weapons a single gun and a news-reel camera.
"The Monster Maker" appeared in "Planet Stories," Spring 1944, pages 39 - 47.
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Ray Douglas Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.
Bradbury is widely known by the general public for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951). Most of his best known work is speculative fiction, but he also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including "Moby Dick" and "It Came from Outer Space." Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books.
The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream."
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
43 min - Trajectory to Taurus, by Les Cole
Why were Fred Kirr's shipmates calling the planet Gamma Tauri II, which they were surveying for evidence of intelligent life, a paradise, when it was in reality a desolate hell? Why was he the only one who could see the truth? Or was he the one going mad?
"Trajectory to Taurus" appeared in "Amazing Stories," September 1960, pages 39 to 56.
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Lester Hines Cole (14 July 1926 - September 2019) was an American writer of science and historical fiction.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
49 min - The Terrors of the Upper Air, by Frank Orndorff
Kidwell and Dexter, the daredevil aviators, were attempting to break the world altitude record at the State Fair. But, they were also muderers and thieves, and Pemberton, the renowned detective, had to wait until they returned from their adventures in the upper air before he could bring them to justice...
"The Terrors of the Upper Air" appeared in "Amazing Stories Quarterly", Winter 1928, pages 138 to 143.
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Frank Milliken Orndorff (22 October 1885 - 10 April 1971) was an American writer of adventure fiction.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
41 min - Quinquepedalian, by Piers Anthony
What kind of creature could make a nine-foot diameter, two-inch deep footprint in the soil of a forest? Charles Tinnerman and his companions were about to find out...
"Quinquepedalian" appeared in "Amazing Stories," November 1963, pages 106 - 121 and 130.
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Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
46 min - The Trap, by Murray Leinster
Colby's murder plan was perfect—except at one point...
"The Trap" appeared in "Munsey's Magazine", August 1929, pages 467 to 477.
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Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know at [email protected].
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Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
43 min
About Cities in the Sky
From the publisher's feed
Classic Stories of Science and Fantasy Fiction.
Science fiction and fantasy stories have captivated audiences for as long as stories have been told. The Epic of Gilgamesh, written around 2000…
BCE, is often cited as one of the earliest science fiction, or fantasy fiction, stories, depending who you talk to.
Speculative fiction began to take shape prior to and during the European Enlightenment, encouraged by the new scientific discoveries being made. Thomas More's 1516 book, "Utopia", describes an island nation whose inhabitants have developed a seemingly perfect society. Several books from this period deal with voyages to, or societies living on, the moon; Johannes Kepler's "Somnium", 1634, Francis Godwin's "The Man in the Moone", 1638, and Cyrano de Bergerac's "Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon", 1656. Voltaire's "Micromégas", 1752, suggests that people of other worlds may be more advanced than those of Earth.
Mary Shelley's classic novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus", published in 1818, contains the archetypal 'mad scientist' experimenting with advanced technology. Another of her novels, "The Last Man", in 1826, is cited as the first Dystopian story.
Alexander Veltman's novel "The forebears of Kalimeros: Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon", 1836, was the first Russian science fiction novel and the first novel to use time travel, although via a magical hippogriff rather than technological means.
Samuel Butler's 1872 novel "Erewhon" describes machines that could become sentient and replace humans. Edward Everett Hale's "The Brick Moon", published serially in 1869 in The Atlantic Monthly, was the first story to describe an artificial satellite. "The Case of Summerfield" written by William Henry Rhodes and published in 1871 in the Sacramento Union newspaper, introduces the first 'weapon of mass destruction' used by a 'mad scientist' to blackmail the world. Edward Page Mitchell published science fiction short stories in The Sun for more than a decade, from 1874 onwards, dealing with invisibility, faster than light travel, teleportation, time travel, cryogenics, mind transfer, mutants, cyborgs and mechanical brains.
In the 19th Century, Jules Verne and H G Wells represented divergent styles of speculative fiction. Verne's mix of accurate technology and daring romantic adventures could be considered the earliest 'hard' science fiction. Well's more didactic approach skipped over much of the science and technology in order to critique Victorian society, and could be considered the first 'soft' science fiction. Both were commercially successful, and showed that a comfortable living could made writing such stories.
American author L. Frank Baum's book "Tik-Tok of Oz", 1914, contains the first literary appearance of handheld wireless communicators. Jack London's science fiction short stories "The Unparalleled Invasion", published in McClure's in 1910, and "The Red One", published in Cosmopolitan in 1918, contain germ wafare and extraterrestrials, respectively.
Then came the so-called golden age of science fiction from around the mid-1920s to the mid-1940s. Pulp magazines such as Astounding Stories, Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories, Galaxy, If Magazine, and Weird Tales filled newstands and helped launch the writing careers of many of the giants of science fiction; household names such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Leigh Brackett, and Frank Herbert. The rich heritage upon which they drew, and to which they contributed, continues to influence modern science fiction and fantasy writers, and will undoubtedly do so far into the future.
Please note that performance of a story is not a condoning, endorsement, or promotion of attitudes, prejudices, biases or opinions therein—particularly of gender and gender roles, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality—that an inhabitant of modern times would find distasteful.
If there's a story that you'd like me to narrate, let me know at [email protected].