Cities in the Sky

"Cooking," explained Biggs, "is simply a matter of chemistry." But little did he know he'd have to prove that statement in order to save the crew of the Saturn from pirates!

"Lancelot Biggs cooks a pirate" appeared in "Fantastic Adventures," February 1940, pages 40 - 46.

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Nelson Slade Bond (November 23, 1908 – November 4, 2006) was an American writer. His works included books, magazine articles, and scripts used in radio, for television and on the stage.

The 1998 recipient of the Nebula Author Emeritus award for lifetime achievement, Bond was a pioneer in early science fiction and fantasy. His published fiction is mainly short stories, most of which appeared in pulp magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. Many were published in Blue Book magazine. He is noted for his "Lancelot Biggs" series of stories and for his "Meg the Priestess" tales, which introduced one of the first powerful female characters in science 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/.

Lancelot Biggs was perhaps the worst second mate Captain Hanson had ever shipped, and he was convinced of it when he ruined their cargo. But how dumb a man is, may sometimes be a matter of opinion.

This short story appeared in the November 1939 issue of Fantastic Adventures.

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Nelson Slade Bond (November 23, 1908 – November 4, 2006) was an American writer. His works included books, magazine articles, and scripts used in radio, for television and on the stage.

The 1998 recipient of the Nebula Author Emeritus award for lifetime achievement, Bond was a pioneer in early science fiction and fantasy. His published fiction is mainly short stories, most of which appeared in pulp magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. Many were published in Blue Book magazine. He is noted for his "Lancelot Biggs" series of stories and for his "Meg the Priestess" tales, which introduced one of the first powerful female characters in science fiction.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, let me know at [email protected].

A man who refused to wear a Skin was labeled a "devil." Rastignac was such a man. He was a meat eater, adhered to the Philosophy of Violence, and was the leader of the Legal Underground of the Kingdom of L'Bawpfey. He could also see the end of Homo Sapiens on their adopted planet. All he wanted to do was to get to the Six Flying Stars—the space-ships that had brought humanity to this planet—and fly away to the stars.

This novella appeared in the May 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe.

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Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He is best known for the World of Tiers (1965–93) and Riverworld (1971–83) series. He is noted for the reworking of the lore of celebrated pulp heroes. Farmer often mixed real and classic fictional characters and worlds. Such works as The Other Log of Phileas Fogg (1973) and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (1973) are early examples of literary mashup novels.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, let me know at [email protected].

People had been telling Henry Westing, who just wanted to live his own life in his own manner, that he should belong to something, that he should join. When The Organization started to pester him to join them, he knew they would evetually wear him down, unless...

This short story appeared in the October 1958 issue of Infinity Science Fiction.

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Thomas Edward Purdom (born 1936) is an American writer best known for science fiction and nonfiction. His story "Fossil Games" was a nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2000.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, let me know at [email protected].

The U.S. Army was calling for the abolition of the anachronistic U.S. Navy, and they had a strong case to make. The U.S. Navy, however, would not go without a fight...

This short story appeared in the January 1954 issue of Worlds of If Science Fiction.

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Harry Max Harrison (March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012) was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, please let me know at [email protected].

A Mark III beacon, one of the earliest beacons deployed, possibly even the first, had broken down, and he had to go and fix it. Trouble was, there was a religious war going on around it. Time to get creative with the rules surrounding interactions with native species...

This short story appeared in the February 1958 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

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Harry Max Harrison (March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012) was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, please let me know at [email protected].

Colonel "Biff" Hawton knew it was a trick when the salesman opened the 'toy,' revealing the cheap components inside. He bought one anyway. His engineer buddies would get a kick out of his little magic show at their next poker night...

This short story appeared in the April 1962 issue of Analog Science Fact & Fiction.

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Harry Max Harrison (March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012) was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, let me know at [email protected].

Satellite Number Four had been knocked out of its orbit, disrupting communications around the world. James Fitzpatrick MacIlheny, "Mac" to his colleagues and "Fitz" to his friends, the Operational Vice-President of Circum-Global Communications had to get Number Four back into its correct orbit, and fast! However, what they found when they sent up the repair drone was beyond what anyone could have imagined...

This short story appeared in the January 1958 issue of Infinity Science Fiction.

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Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett (December 16, 1927 – December 31, 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for the Lord Darcy books set in an alternate world where a joint Anglo-French empire still led by a Plantagenet dynasty has survived into the twentieth century and where magic works and has been scientifically codified. The Darcy books are rich in jokes, puns, and references, particularly of detective and spy fiction; Lord Darcy is modeled on Sherlock Holmes.

Garrett wrote under a variety of pseudonyms including: David Gordon, John Gordon, Darrel T. Langart (an anagram of his name), Alexander Blade, Richard Greer, Ivar Jorgensen, Clyde Mitchell, Leonard G. Spencer, S. M. Tenneshaw, Gerald Vance. He was also a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, as "Randall of Hightower" (a pun on "garret.") The short novel Brain Twister, written by Garrett with author Laurence Janifer (using the joint pseudonym Mark Phillips), was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, let me know at [email protected].

The Hunter's Lodge Case

Even from his sick-bed, Hercule Poirot's famous "little gray cells" solve an apparently unsolvable murder mystery.

"The Hunter's Lodge Case" appeared in "The Blue Book Magazine," June 1924, pages 54 - 59. 

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The Plymouth Express Affair

The murder of an American steel magnate's daughter on a train from Plymouth to Bristol. A box of jewels worth over $100,000 stolen. A mysterious stranger, an estranged husband, and a playboy Count. Hercule Poirot's 'little gray cells' are put to the test again.

"The Plymouth Express Affair" appeared in "The Blue Book Magazine," January 1924, pages 136 - 142. 

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Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction," Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery." She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

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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/.

There is always a disparity of power between the conquered and the conqueror, a desire to exercise that power, to exert control, to exact revenge, in whatever small way one can.

This short story appeared in the February 1957 issue of Fantastic Science Fiction, under the pen name of Clyde Mitchell.

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Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 – April 2, 2002) was an American author and playwright. He is famous for his use of irony and twist endings. After reading Slesar's "M Is for the Many" in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock bought it for adaptation and they began many successful collaborations. Slesar wrote hundreds of scripts for television series and soap operas, leading TV Guide to call him "the writer with the largest audience in America."

In 1955, he published his first short story, "The Brat" (Imaginative Tales, September, 1955). While working as a copywriter, he published hundreds of short stories—over forty in 1957 alone—including detective fiction, science fiction, criminal stories, mysteries, and thrillers in such publications as Playboy, Imaginative Tales, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine; he was writing, on average, a story per week.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, please let me know at [email protected].