Showing posts with label John Pierce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Pierce. Show all posts

Thursday, April 10, 2014

John R Pierce's "Period Piece" (as by J J Coupling) (short story)

A modern man finds himself in 31st century, with no recollection of how he got there. He's being treated very well & kindly, but he's smelling something fishy - why's is no one curious about the period he's come from, not even an eminent historian?

Very curious & unexpected ending.

Collected in.

  1. Everett F Bleiler & T E Dikty (eds)' "The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1949".

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, November 1948.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of John R Pierce.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

John R Pierce's "Invariant" (short story): Serious consequences of rejuvenation treatment

Quote from short story titled Invariant by John R PierceDr Homer Green used his invention, a rejuvenation treatment that lets your body always heal any damage to it perfectly, on himself. That was on September 11, 1943. Now it's August 4, 2170 - more than 200 years later. He looks exactly as he did on the date he gave himself the treatment - no aging whatever - his body always repairs any damage perfectly. His tissues are invariant.

There is only one catch. Even his brain tissue is invariant - exactly the way it was before he treated himself! He cannot get any more memories or otherwise adapt to environment, because his mind always repairs itself to the state just before the treatment!!

Collected in.

  1. Isaac Asimov & Martin H Greenberg (Eds)' "Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 6 (1944)".
  2. John W Campbell, Jr (ed)'s "The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology".

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, April 1944.
Rating: A.
Listed among the stories from John Campbell's Astounding/Analog.
Related: Stories from Analog/Astounding.