Golden Age Fiction

How Deep the Grooves

Dr. James Carroad was prepared to experiment on his own unborn son to demonstrate that he could condition unquestioning loyalty in potential citizens, removing certain freedoms. However, Nature, or God, or the universe, had beaten him by a long way....

"How Deep the Grooves" appeared in "Amazing Stories," February 1963, pages 106 - 117.

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The Wounded

No one was supposed to be able to recognize him. But those damned polaroid glasses they give you at the 3D movies...

"The Wounded" appeared in "Fantastic Universe," October 1954, pages 69 - 73. 

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

The aliens wouldn't accept help, though their world was about to explode. They were adolescents. Adolescence is the time when you aren't smart enough to ask for help....

"The Untouchable Adolescents" appeared in the February 1957 issue of "Super-Science Fiction" on pages 68 - 86. It was published under the pen name of "Ellis Hart", which Ellison used when publishing short stories.

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Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published works include more than 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, comic book scripts, teleplays, essays, and a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media.

Some of his best-known works include the 1967 Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", considered by some to be the single greatest episode of the Star Trek franchise (he subsequently wrote a book about the experience that includes his original teleplay), his "A Boy and His Dog" cycle (which was made into a film), and his short stories "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman".

He was also editor and anthologist for Dangerous Visions (1967) and Again, Dangerous Visions (1972). Ellison won numerous awards, including multiple Hugos, Nebulas, and Edgars.

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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/.

Stopover Planet

Early morning deliveries were part of the Honeychile Bakery Service. But on this particular morning the bakery was collecting, not delivering!

"Stopover Planet" appeared in "Imagination," August 1953, pages 132 - 140.

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The Space Between

Jak and Drusilla were on their way back to Earth, to the Wollongong Obstetric Hospital to be precise, for Drusilla had developed an acute case of pregnancy, when they were waylaid by ... pirates!?

"The Space Between" appeared in "Planet Stories," Spring 1955, pages 60 - 66.

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Robert E. Gilbert (May 6, 1924 – April 4, 1993) was an American science fiction writer.

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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/.

What was he prepared to do to pursue his life's ambition become the foremost microscopist? It turned out, almost anything. But what he discovered was to change, and ruin, his life.

"The Diamond Lens" appeared first in "Atlantic Monthly," January 1858, pages 354 - 367, and later in "Amazing Stories," October 1933, pages 600 - 615.

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Fitz James O'Brien (also spelled Fitz-James; 25 October 1826 – 6 April 1862) was an Irish-American Civil War soldier, writer, and poet often cited as an early practitioner of science fiction.

He wrote for the Home Journal, the New York Times, and the American Whig Review. His first important literary connection was with Harper's Magazine, and beginning in February 1853, with The Two Skulls, he contributed more than sixty articles in prose and verse to that periodical. He likewise wrote for the New York Saturday Press, Putnam's Magazine, Vanity Fair, and the Atlantic Monthly.

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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/.

Infiltration

Werewolves don't necessarily conform to all the superstitions people have. They may even know fear...

"Infiltration" appeared in "Infinity Science Fiction" October 1958, pages 114 - 123.

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Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John A. Sentry, William Scarff, and Paul Janvier. He is best known for the influential 1960 novel Rogue Moon.

Incorporating his family's experience, Budrys's fiction depicts isolated and damaged people and themes of identity, survival, and legacy.

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And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

He knew, to the exact minute, when he was going to die. And Earth was too far away to reach. But his aged parents would never know that their son was dead...

"And Miles To Go Before I Sleep" appeared in "Infinity Science Fiction," August 1958, pages 88 - 92.

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William Francis Nolan (March 6, 1928 – July 15, 2021) was an American author who wrote hundreds of stories in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and crime fiction genres. Nolan is perhaps best known for coauthoring the novel "Logan's Run," with George Clayton Johnson, but wrote literally hundreds of pieces, from poetry to nonfiction,to prose, for many publications.Nolan wrote several mystery novels, including the "Challis" series. He also had a long career in the movie industry, primarily working for Dan Curtis, and co-wrote the screenplay for the 1976 horror film Burnt Offerings which starred Karen Black and Bette Davis.

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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/.

Steena was background stuff, never out of her baggy shapeless gray space-alls, with the gray personality of the machines she minded. Her only companion was a gray cat called Bat. So when she told Cliff Moran, a down-on-his-luck spacer, that it was time to seek out the famed "Empress of Mars" and bring it into port, he had no choice but to take her seriously. Little did he know that he'd have two extra passengers, nor that this trip would change his life...

"All Cats are Gray" appeared in "Fantastic Universe Science Fiction," August-September 1953, pages 129 - 134.

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Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North and Allen Weston. She was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, to be SFWA Grand Master, and to be inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

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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/.

Violet Marsh's uncle had written two wills—one public, one hidden—and challenged his niece, and his sole heir, to pit her educated wits against his uneducated wits and find the hidden will. Knowing that she was outmatched, Violet contacted an expert in solving riddles...

"The Missing Will" appeared in "Blue Book Magazine," January 1925, pages 146 - 150. 

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

Ades has vanished! And kings, emperors and despots are annexing the planets Kim Rendell, matter-transmitter technician, inter-galactic criminal, and space explorer, and Dona, his wife and ship-mate, freed from the Sinab Empire. In his ship, the Starshine, Kim must investigate what has happened to Ades, and then devise a plan to free those planets from further tyranny...

"The Boomerang Circuit" first appeared in "Thrilling Wonder Stories," June 1947, pages 11 - 37. It was later published as the third part of a full novel titled "The Last Spaceship" in 1949 by "Galaxy Publishing Corp."

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

The planet Sinab II has altered the fighting-beams to kill only men, and they're spreading across the First Galaxy by wiping out all the men on a planet, waiting until the women are desperate, and then re-colonizing it with their own men, creating the first Galactic Empire. The planet Ades is in line to be colonized and become part of the Sinab Empire. But Kim Rendell, matter-transmitter technician and inter-galactic criminal, has a plan to stop them... 

"The Manless Worlds" first appeared in "Thrilling Wonder Stories," February 1947, pages 11 - 35. It was later published as the second part of a full novel titled "The Last Spaceship" in 1949 by "Galaxy Publishing Corp."

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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/.

Kim Rendell, matter-transmitter technician, has defied the government of Alphin III by nullifying the Disciplinary Circuit, the system used to keep the planet's citizens under control in a condition of virtual slavery. He is given a choice, stay on the planet as a blocked man with no access to any facilities the planet provides and suffering daily the increasing pain of the Disciplinary Circuit, or exile. Kim chooses a third option...

"The Disciplinary Circuit" first appeared in "Thrilling Wonder Stories," Winter 1946, pages 44 - 63. It was later published as the first part of a full novel titled "The Last Spaceship" in 1949 by "Galaxy Publishing Corp."

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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/.