Fredric Brown's "Sentry" (flash fiction, war, free)

In a long drawn galactic war, the "good" side is still not used to the sight of ugly monsters that comprise the enemy.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, February 1954.
Download full text & audio from SFFAudio. [via QuasarDragon]
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Fredric Brown.

William Tenn's "Time in Advance" (novelette, free): 50% discount on pre-murder conviction!

I'd recently read a story from Astounding, August 1958 (British ed) where I liked the concept: Stanley Mullen's "Fool Killer". Looks like that was an imitation of this excellent original.

Story summary.

On this future earth, you get a 50% discount on a murder sentence, provided you seek conviction before committing the murder! 7 years on deadly prison planets. You can, of course, change your mind part way through the sentence & return without prejudice, but then you forfeit the served sentence. But on successful completion of the sentence, you've earned the right to murder one human being!

One such precriminal, just returned after serving the pre-murder sentence, will actually get some completely unexpected enlightenment...

Collected in.

1.  William Tenn's "Time in Advance".

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, August 1956.
Note: I'd read this in an anthology, but scans of the issue where this story originally appeared is online.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of William Tenn.

Evelyn E Smith's "The Venus Trap" (short story, free): Man brings hope to a dying alien species

Man has just began colonizing an alien world called Elysium, a world full of intelligent native plants. But most males of these plants died out of a disease; the world is now full of female intelligent plants, with no hope of a future generation.

One of the colonists men will develop a special relationship with Magnolia, one of these female plants, leading to much acrimony & jealousy on the part of his wife. But things turn hopeful near end, with a new arrival from earth...

See also.

1. Eric Frank Russell's "P.S."; download as part of a larger package: A man has had an alien as a pen-pal for a number of decades. Now, old & alone, he learns that his life long pen friend is actually a tree & a rather smelly one at that! How should he react to the news?

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, June 1956.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks. [via John Grayshaw @ClassicScienceFiction]
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Evelyn E Smith; Vegetable SF.

Fritz Leiber's "The Creature from Cleveland Depths" aka "The Lone Wolf" (novella, gadgets, free): Who could imagine mobile phones would be so evil?

Well, the story is from long before mobile phones were around, so the gadget (the "tickler") here looks different & works differently.

It begins as an organizer - you tell it to remind you of certain events, & it will at the right time. Reminding is by telling about the event in your ear via an in-ear headphone, plus an insistent "tickling" using two rollers mounted on your shoulder. It runs a very long (audio) magnetic tape - one run lasts a week, with buttons to forward quickly to a certain time. To set an event, you move it specific date/time next week, then speak of the event into it. After you've set the events, the device runs the tape continuously. But most of it is blank, so you don't hear anything till an event is due.

Soon improvements in upgraded versions give it a life all its own, threatening the very human existence...

Very funny early parts & ending, but I thought it was draggy in the middle as the mood begin to set for impending disaster.

Notes.

1. "Depths" of the title has cold war linkage - "Free World" vs Soviet Union. Because of bomb scare most people live in massive underground caverns that double as bomb shelters. Only a few "outers" live on the surface.
2. "Creature" of the title is an advanced form of the tickler gadget.

See also.

1. L Sprague de Camp's "Alanias" (download as part of a larger package): Another story where a voice whispers propaganda into your ear without your conscious self realizing you are being manipulated.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, December 1962.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks. [via Becky@ClassicScienceFiction]
Download audio version read by Gregg Margarite from LibriVox.
Alternate audio link at Internet Archive.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Fritz Leiber.

A few relatively minor stories

All stories are online. List is in no particular order.

1. [ss] Brian Aldiss' "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" (B); download; Harper's Bazaar, December 1969: In this overpopulated world, people prefer living in a dream world instead - via a combination of virtual reality & robots.
2. [ss] Harl Vincent's "High-Frequency War" (B); download; Astounding, February 1940: A patriot will overcome an enemy mole in the US to win a war for the country. Text is littered with fancy-sounding but meaningless jargon about frequency weapons.
3. [ff] Desi Babu's "The giant mosquitoes" (B); download; 3 August 2012 at author's blog: When a pharma company working with growth hormones dumped their lab waste carelessly in the open, they could not have seen the consequences...
4. [ss] A Bertram Chandler's "Naval Engagement" aka "Left-Hand Way" (B); download; Australian Science Fiction Review, #10 (Jun 1967): A robot monk contemplates its "naval"...
5. [ss] Stephen A Kallis, Jr's "The Untouchable" (B); download; Analog, December 1960: A man invented an instrument that lets you pass through solid material horizontally (e.g., lets you walk through the walls). Now he's dead, his instrument has reached government, & has been accidentally thrown on a table which accidentally flicked the button on. So now both the table & the instrument are visible but untouchable - your hands just pass through them!
6. [ss] Robert Sheckley's "Forever" (as by Ned Lang); download; Galaxy, February 1959: Rulers should be immortal but not the ruled!

"Galaxy Science Fiction", March 1952 (ed H L Gold) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Where I am aware of a story elsewhere, I include that link too. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on title goes there. Links on author fetch more works of author.

1. [novelet] Robert A Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot".
2. [ss] H B Fyfe's "Manners of the Age"; download: "With everyone gone elsewhere, Earth was perfect for gracious living--only there was nothing gracious about it!"
3. [ss] Jerry Sohl's "The Seventh Order" aka "The 7th Order"; download: "History is filled with invincible conquerers. This one from space was genuinely omnipotent, but that never keeps humanity from resisting!"
4. [ss] Damon Knight's "Catch That Martian" (B); download: A "Martian" in New York is turning people into ghosts!
5. [serial - 3/3] Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man".

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol 3 No 6.
Download whole issue from Internet Archive (does not include pages for 3 stories - "The Year of the Jackpot", "Catch That Martian", & "The Demolished Man").
Related: Fiction from Galaxy (whole issues only); old pulps.

Large collection of old pulps

Somebody has recently been posting these collections as torrents:

1. Wonder Stories & Science Wonder Stories (note this collection is mislabeled as of If magazine). (9 GB).
2. Fantastic Adventures. (12 GB).

There is also a Galaxy magazine torrent doing the rounds, but it includes an issue from 90s too (probably a resurrected version of the magazine) - so I won't link it. Search for "Galaxy magazine 253 issues" & you might get lucky. It's about 17 GB.

I haven't downloaded any yet - so not sure how healthy or accurate the contents are. Mostly CBR/CBZ files.

Update 1 Nov 2012:  There is now one more torrent by the same guy - Famous Fantastic Mysteries. (4 GB).

Related: Fiction from old pulps.

"Galaxy Science Fiction", June 1958 (ed H L Gold) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Link on author fetches more stories of author.

1. [novella] Frederik Pohl's "Mars by Moonlight" (as by Poul Flehr): "Certainly they were criminals -- they were in a Martian penal colony. But what were their crimes -- & how much time would they serve?"
2. [novelet] Frederik Pohl's "The Gentlest Unpeople" aka "The Gentle Venusian": "Unswervingly considerate & ever so polite, they were helpful to a fault ... even if the fault happened to be a monster out of space!"
3. [novelet] Robert Sheckley's "The Minimum Man": "Perceveral had a nerve asking for nothing more than his own small cubicle & a bit to eat! He'd take the whole world or else!"
4. [ss] Fritz Leiber's "The Last Letter": "Who or what was the scoundrel that kept these couriers from the swift completion of their handsomely appointed rondos?"
5. [ss] Robert Sheckley's "The Gun Without a Bang" (as by Finn O'Donnevan).
6. [ss] Joseph Wesley's "Perfect Answer" (as by L J Stecher, Jr): "Getting there may be half the fun ... but it is also all of a society's chance of survival!"

Fact sheet.

The issue is labeled "Vol 16 No 2".
Download the magazine from Internet Archive (this copy is missing all stories but Flehr's, Leiber's & Stecher's).
Related: Fiction from Galaxy magazine (whole issues only), 1950s, "pulps".

Couple of stories from Galaxy magazine

Both these stories are from Galaxy, August 1958, & are online. McIntosh's story has last few sentences missing in the online copy, but that didn't come in the way for me. Keyes' is only the second story I've seen of the author yet, besides the seminal "Flowers for Algernon".

Both stories are humorous, but I'll prefer McIntosh's from among these two.

1. J T McIntosh's "In Black and White" (B): A couple of alien traders selling
   "ergeron", the stuff needed to fuel interstellar craft, have arrived on earth. Since humanity is barely on the verge of reaching moon, they've to help expedite the process of colonizing solar planets - so there will be demand for their product a few of centuries down!
   
   And the way to do this is by introducing a rejuvenation elixir - so mankind is fitter & less neurotic...
2. Daniel Keyes' "The Trouble with Elmo" (B): "Elmo" is "ELectronic MOnitor", an AI. Originally built to solve humanity's problems, but now on the death row because it's expensive to maintain. To stay alive, it designs solutions that invariably create new & bigger problems!
   
   Eventually, Elmo & its human attendant, Jake Busby, will figure out a way to keep Elmo alive, but without taxing the US taxpayer.

"Galaxy Science Fiction", August 1958 (ed H L Gold) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Links on author fetch more of author's fiction. If I have a longer post on a story, link on story title goes there.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

1. [ss] J T McIntosh's "In Black & White" (B): A salesman launches a target audience towards a more prosperous future, so they can later feel the need for the product he's selling!
2. [ss] Daniel Keyes' "The Trouble with Elmo": An AI on the death row, with the help of its human operator, figures out a way to stay alive...
3. [novella] Theodore Sturgeon's "To Marry Medusa": "Problem: the human race is complex; answer: put the problem in a nutshell--& this was the organization that could do exactly that!"
4. [novelet] Poul Flehr's "Seven Deadly Virtues": "With fares so high & colonists so scarce, something had to be done to prevent frontier killings ... like ruthlessly enforcing the ..."
5. [ss] Charles Scatterfield's "Third Offence".

Fact sheet.

Download full text from Internet Archive (does not include the text of 3 stories - "To Marry Medusa", "Seven Deadly Virtues" & "Third Offence"; "In Black & White" has a few sentences missing near end).
Labeled: Vol 16 No 4.
Related: Fiction from Galaxy (whole issues only); fiction from "pulps"; fiction from 1950s.

"Galaxy Science Fiction", April 1952 (ed H L Gold) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I'm aware of an online copy of individual stories, I include those links too.

Table of contents.

1. [novella] F L Wallace's "Accidental Flight"; download: "Outcasts of a society of physically perfect people, they couldn't stay & they couldn't go home again -- yet there had to be some escape for them. Oddly enough, there was!"
2. [novelet] Damon Knight's "Ticket to Anywhere".
3. [ss] J T M'Intosh's "Katahut Said No": "When the machine ordered any course of action, the answer was always yes. Except when---"
4. [ss] Fritz Leiber's "The Moon is Green"; download: "Anybody who wanted to escape death could, by paying a very simple price -- denial of life!"
5. [ss] Lucius Daniel's "Martians Never Die"; download: "It was a wonderful bodyguard: no bark, no bite, no sting ... just conversion of an enemy!"
6. [ss] Peter Phillips' "She Who Laughs": "It's really a very simple story -- if you refuse to believe in ghosts & know that time is circular!"

Fact sheet.

Download full text from Internet Archive (does not include the text of Damon Knight's story).
Labeled: Vol 4, No 1.
Related: Fiction from Galaxy (whole issues only); fiction from "pulps".

"Galaxy Science Fiction", September 1954 (ed H L Gold) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Where I've read the story, my rating appears in brackets. Links on author fetch more fiction by author.

Table of contents (6 stories, best first, unread last).

1. [ss] Philip K Dick's "Shell Game" (B): A group of stranded spacemen somewhere is being repeatedly attacked by...
2. [novella] F L Wallace's "The Man Who Was Six": "There is nothing at all like having a sound mind in a sound body, but Dan Merrol had too much of one--& also too much of the other!"
3. [novelette] Clifford D Simak's "Dusty Zebra": "Who or what the trader was & where he came from, nobody knew--or cared--until one of his gadgets began to play dirty!"
4. [novelette] Daniel F Golouye's "Satan's Shrine": "No torment that had ever been inflicted on mankind was more feindish than Satan ... for he was worse than a devil ... he was a man!"
5. [ss] Arthur Sellings' "A Start in Life": "What a problem for a robot ... having all of the answers, but not knowing when to give them!"
6. [ss] Robert Sheckley's "Milk Run": "What are Smags, Firgels & Queels? Cats in a bag ... & Gregor was holding the bag!"

Fact sheet.

Download whole issue from Internet Archive. [via Michael@ClassicScienceFiction]
This issue is labeled Vol 8, No 6.
Related: Fiction fro Galaxy, pulps, 1950s.
Legend: ss = short story

Galaxy magazine issues index

This post is to help me keep track of whole Galaxy issues I already have posts on, so I don't post a dup. These are whole issues only; all Galaxy fiction posts - whole issues & single stories - are here.

1. October 1950.
2. November 1950.
3. February 1951.
4. October 1951.
5. November 1951. 
6. March 1952.
7. April 1952.
8. February 1954.
9. September 1954.
10. December 1954.
11. January 1955.
12. June 1958.
13. August 1958.
14. September 1958.

Related: Fiction from Galaxy, all pulps.

Eric Frank Russell's "A Little Oil" (novelette): Even precision machinery needs a bit of lubricating!

Most stories on this theme tend to be melancholy - a very few people, packed together in a small spaceship for years, with little hope of ever locating home, cracking up one after the other. This one, on the other hand, is sometimes funny, & made me laugh once.

There is something here I don't think I've seen in this kind of stories before: main thing driving the crew crazy is noise the ship's drive is making - relentless, day after day, with no respite for years.

Story summary.

First 2 manned starships never returned. Story is set on 3rd one - 4 years out from earth - 2 of them going to an unnamed target star, 2 returning. Sol should have been located by now & is not, & everyone seems to be cracking up. Everyone, that is, except ...

Notes.

1. Title comes from analogy to a precision machine - cogs & wheels working together generate friction - so you oil the interfaces to cut friction. Here precision components are highly skilled crew members, & oil is...
2. There was "a film offer by Metro Goldwyn Mayer, MGM, for A Little Oil". Looks like the movie never came through. 

Collected in.

1. "Major Ingredients" (ed Rick Katze). 

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, October 1952.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Eric Frank Russell (annotated list).

Isaac Asimov's "Galley Slave" (novelette): How to make a 3-laws obeying robot harm a human...

This story pits for-automation folks against those against-automation, because it will result in job losses & loss of human purpose (in remaining busy doing certain occupations?)

Most of the story is a courtroom trial. Prof Simon Ninheimer was against Robot EZ-27's employment by his university from the very beginning; the idea that a new type of robot can take over routine intellectual tasks like proofreading was totally unpalatable. So he set out to destroy the reputation of US Robots, its makers, by an unusual court case...

Collected in.

1. Groff Conklin (ed)'s "Six Great Short Science Fiction Novels".

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, December 1957.
Rating: A. 
Related: Stories of Isaac Asimov.

Alice Sheldon's "Beam Us Home" (as by James Tiptree, Jr) (short story, Star Trek fanfic, free): A US soldier's life, & death

Mostly beautifully done, it describes the life story of Hobie. Scenes from different life stages of him, with vague hints that he may be an alien...

Later parts, I suppose are a criticism of some US war or the other; US readers with '60s political background should be better able to see the point.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, April 1969.
Download full text from Internet Archive, Lexal.
Rating: B.
Among the classics of Sci Fiction, edited by Ellen Datlow.
Related: Stories of Alice Sheldon (as by James Tiptree, Jr).

James H Schmitz's "Trigger & Friends" (ed Eric Flint) (collection, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Nothing really extraordinary here, though "Forget It" & "Sour Note on Palayata" have cool ideas.

Whole collection is available at Baen CD here, but contains substantially edited versions of "Legacy" & "Forget It". Links with the stories below go to original unedited versions.

List of contents below is in order of my preference, rather than ToC order.

1. [novelette] "Forget It" aka "Planet of Forgetting" (B); download; Galaxy, February 1965: An unusual animal defense against predators.
2. [novelette] "Sour Note on Palayata" (B); download; Astounding, November 1956: An unusual evolution of brain.
3. [ss] "Aura of Immortality" (B); download; If, May/June 1974: Criminals are after the immortality potion the scientist has.
4. [novel] "Legacy" aka "A Tale of Two Clocks" (B); download; 1962; space opera: Lot of parties are after "plasmoids", artificial-life agricultural robots left by apparently long dead "Old Galactics". Currently in care of government, sundry villains are after the loot.
   This story is a sequel to "Harvest Time".
5. [novelette] "Harvest Time" (B); download; Astounding, September 1958: Ancient galactic fortune hunters on a new-to-man virgin world. An evil government officer hell bent on claiming booty discovered by someone else gets justice.
6. [novella] "Lion Loose" (B); Analog, October 1961; adventure: Villains, comprising of two mutually mistrusting gangs, have taken control of a space station that is about to receive some valuable cargo. They plan to rob cargo & fly away, after bombing away the space station to avoid leaving evidence. Hero will get them justice & protect the space station.
   See also: Murray Leinster's "Checkpoint Lambda": Very similar plot - hero must save the space station from its hijackers who plan to loot valuable cargo expected soon & who also intend to destroy the space station before leaving.

Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Forget It" aka "Planet of Forgetting" (novelette, free): An unusual animal defense against predators

An intelligence agent, carrying a secret coded (paper?) file to another world, is captured by the enemy on the way. Story is of him outwitting the entire enemy ship taking him to their world. Features telepathic plants capable of moving around.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, February 1965.
Note: "this cover story was mistakenly listed as "Planet of Forge" on Galaxy's TOC."
Eric Flint on online version I've linked in download link below: 'we changed the name of the hero, did some rearranging of paragraphs in the early sections of the story, somewhat modified a few paragraphs of background material to make it fit the Hub setting, and cut a short "trick ending" that wasn't really part of the story itself and wouldn't fit the Hub setting.'
Download full text from BaenCD.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Nebula Award 1966 in novelette category.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

Jack Vance's "The Dragon Masters" (novella, alien invasion): Masters are also the slaves!

This is a fast-paced very-readable action story. I have a couple of nits, though:

1. Why would aliens bother to make interstellar raids to carry off a few humans each time as slaves? Particularly when they already have a large stock of human slaves, bred as beasts for specific desirable traits.
2. Aliens travel interstellar distances & have death rays, but bring with them beasts of burden for local land transport, rather than powered machinery!

Story summary.

Most of the story is about three human communities, living in close proximity, on a world called Aerlith. This world has long since lost all contact with rest of humanity. In fact, they may be the last remnants of humanity.

Two of the three communities are feudal: Banbeck Vale is ruled by Joaz Banbeck, & Happy Valley is ruled by Ervis Carcolo. Former is smart, progressive, & technically savvy. Later is a barbarian, never looking beyond the immediate. They also have a variety of pet "dragons" - used as beasts of burden & war animals.

Third community is "sacerdotes", mysterious hermits living in subterranean caves below the two feudals' lands. They appear to be technologically very competent, but they're secretive.

Much of the story is about interactions of these 3 communities. In the background of periodic raids, every few generations, of lizard-like aliens called "Basics" or "grephs". Joaz has recently discovered that these raids occur whenever a star called Coralyne of their local cluster makes the nearest approach. And it's approaching now...; alien slave takers could be
arriving any time.

Later parts are, of course, arrival of aliens. Only they'll meet resistance this time - all 3 human communities coming together will beat them.

See also.

1. Eric Frank Russell's "Diabologic": Only thing I remember about this story is that it's about carefully using language to drive other people nuts, & using it as a political tool. One of the interviews of Joaz & a sacerdote had this feel too.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, August 1962.
Rating: A.
Winner of Hugo award 1963 in short fiction category.
Related: Stories of Jack Vance.

Damon Knight's "Catch that Martian" (short story, detective, free): A "Martian" in New York is turning people into ghosts

This could be a satire, on people who don't behave well in public - like speaking loudly in a theater during performance, or eating in a restaurant in a certain way, ...

Whether there is a Martian in the story is a matter of conjecture. Story is told by a police officer. Based on available information, he believes a Martian recently arrived in New York city, is posing as a human, & is finicky about manners of people around him. When he doesn't like someone's behavior, he does something to move him to another dimension, so he won't be bothered anymore! The people moved become like ghosts - they can see us & we can see them, but their voice cannot reach us, they cannot touch any physical object
here, ...

Story is of the policeman working towards catching this suspected "Martian".

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, March 1952.
Download full text from Internet Archive. [via Marooned]
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Damon Knight.