Cities in the Sky

He told how murderers walk the earth

Beneath the curse of Cain,

With crimson clouds before their eyes

 And flames about their brain:

For blood has left upon their souls

 Its everlasting stain. — Hood

This short story appeared in the January 1929 issue of "Weird Tales".

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Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American writer who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre.

From the age of nine, Howard wanted to become an adventure fiction writer but did not have real success until he was 23. Thereafter Howard's writings were published in a wide selection of magazines—mainly Weird Tales—journals, and newspapers, and he became proficient in several subgenres.

Howard was a fan of boxing, eventually taking up amateur boxing; he also spent some time in his late teens bodybuilding.

Howard remains a highly read author, with his best works still reprinted.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

It was a perfectly natural mistake for men to make...

This short story appeared in the December 1952 issue of Dynamic Science Fiction.

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Charles Dudley Dye (October 1925 - December 1960) was a US author who was active for less than half a decade. His first science fiction story, "The Last Orbit" was published in Amazing in February 1950. In 1952, he publishws his only science fiction novel, “Prisoner in the Skull”, in which ordinary Homo sapiens and a form of Superman engage in thriller-like confrontations. After publication this novel was also serialized in New Worlds from December 1954 to February 1955.

He was married briefly (1950-1953) to Katherine MacLean, who wrote “The Man Who Staked the Stars” (Planet Stories, July 1952) and "Syndrome Johnny" (Galaxy, July 1951) under his name. The latter story containing an amazingly early account of a Genetic Engineering technique (gene splicing), in which a "piggyback" virus transports genetic material (a silicon-using gene) into human cells.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

A new planet had qualified for entry into the Galactic Federation, but...

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

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Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

Asimov's most famous work is the "Foundation" series, the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. His other major series are the "Galactic Empire" series and the "Robot" series. He also wrote more than 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

A mangled corpse held them captive in that dark tunnel beneath the Earth's surface—and taught them a lesson about what freedom really means!

This short story appeared in the December 1956 issue of Infinity Science Fiction.

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Allen Kim Lang (b. 31 July 1928) is an American Science Fiction author who began publishing for Planet Stories in November 1950 and published a good number of action stories in the following decade: twenty titles are recorded, including the the comic novella "Cinderella Story" (May, 1961, "If"), and "Blind Man's Lantern" (December, 1962, "Analog").

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If there's a particular story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

How far would you go to visit vengeance on the killer of someone you'd only just met, someone you didn't know.

This novelette appeared in the August 1928 issue of Weird Tales.

This was Howard's first published Soloman Kane story.

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Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American writer who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre.

From the age of nine, Howard wanted to become an adventure fiction writer but did not have real success until he was 23. Thereafter Howard's writings were published in a wide selection of magazines—mainly Weird Tales—journals, and newspapers, and he became proficient in several subgenres.

Howard was a fan of boxing, eventually taking up amateur boxing; he also spent some time in his late teens bodybuilding.

Howard remains a highly read author, with his best works still reprinted.

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

-----

Music: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

How do you lie by telling the truth? Well, when your life, and the life of the human race is on the line, you find a way.

This short story appeared in the July 1957 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, under the pen name of David Gordon.

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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 particular story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

How do you fight those who have the power to steal suns? Captain Dur Nal and his crew of the Interstellar Patrol are about to find out.

This novelette appeared in the April 1934 issue of "Weird Tales".

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Edmond Moore Hamilton (October 21, 1904 – February 1, 1977) was an American writer of science fiction during the mid-twentieth century. He is known for writing most of the Captain Future stories.

Hamilton was a central member of the remarkable group of Weird Tales writers assembled by editor Farnsworth Wright, that included H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. Through the late 1920s and early 1930s Hamilton wrote for all of the science fiction pulp magazines then publishing, and contributed horror and thriller stories to various other magazines as well. He was popular as an author of space opera, a subgenre he created along with E. E. Smith. His story "The Island of Unreason" (Wonder Stories, May 1933) won the first Jules Verne Prize as the best science fiction story of the year (this was the first science fiction prize awarded by the votes of fans, a precursor of the later Hugo Awards).

In 1942 Hamilton began writing for DC Comics, specializing in stories for their characters Superman and Batman. He and artist Sheldon Moldoff created Batwoman in Detective Comics #233 (July 1956).

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If there's a particular story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

Royal babies were pretty important on Dynak, even if they did hatch out of eggs. So when Boccaccio di Vino mated with the Shannil, everyone held their breath. Especially di Vino. He might not have much more of it.

"The Price of Eggs", by Randall Garrett appeared in the December 1959 issue of "Fantastic Science Fiction Stories" on pages 96 to 119.

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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 particular story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

Can a robot be a person? Can a robot have feelings? Can a robot fall in love? Can one fall in love with a robot? With the latest technology and the right programming, the answer appears to be ... yes.

"Helen O'Loy" appeared in the December 1938 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" on pages 118 to 125.

It was one of the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. Consequently, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929–1964.

It was also a nominee for the 1939 Retro Hugo award for best short story.

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Lester del Rey (real name Leonard Knapp) (June 2, 1915, Saratoga Township, Minnesota, – May 10, 1993, New York City, New York), was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the fantasy editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of Ballantine Books (subsequently Random House.)

Del Rey first started publishing stories in pulp magazines in the late 1930s, at the dawn of the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.

He was a member of a literary banqueting club, the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers. Del Rey was the model for "Emmanuel Rubin."

He was awarded the 1972 E. E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (the "Skylark") by the New England Science Fiction Association. He won a special 1985 Balrog Award for his contributions to fantasy, voted for by fans and organized by Locus magazine. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him its 11th SFWA Grand Master in 1990, presented 1991.

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If there's a particular story you'd like me to narrate, 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/.

A robot must obey orders, but must also, on the other hand, have sense enough to disobey if the order would destroy it. But that can lead to a most embarrassing sort of situation, when a robot gives its owners a handsome runaround! 

Today's story is "Runaround", by Isaac Asimov. It appeared in the March 1942 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" on pages 94 to 103.

"Runaround" is the first story to feature explicitly the Three Laws of Robotics. It appears in the collections "I, Robot" (1950), "The Complete Robot" (1982), and "Robot Visions" (1990). In 2018, "Runaround" was nominated for a retrospective 1943 Hugo Award for best short story.

The story also features engineers Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan, recurring characters in several of Asimov's robot stories.

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Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

Asimov's most famous work is the "Foundation" series, the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. His other major series are the "Galactic Empire" series and the "Robot" series. He also wrote more than 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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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/.