Robert Moore Williams' "The Sound of Bugles" (short story)

Adventure involving a well intentioned human researcher & a greedy human villain - both trying to figure out how Martians are able to literally create material things out of thin air. Villain will die trying; scientist will learn that their technique cannot be replicated by humans because it involves biological capability we lack, & that he's dealing with super-beings.

Collected in.

1. Donald A Wollheim (ed)'s "Adventures on Other Planets".

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, September 1949.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Robert Moore Williams.

Roger Dee's "The Obligation" (novelette, free, first contact): An alien's adventures at a human camp on Venus

A shape-shifting surveyor ("Cseth Abrii of Pselpha from the binary suns Kornephoros") from an alien elder race saves a human fisherman on Venus in a storm. Alien's later friendly gestures at the human camp drive another man mad with fear - so we have a madman hunting the alien & other humans of the habitat trying to save the alien. Eventually, the madman will die & so will the saved man's wife, but does the man need to know his wife is dead? Alien thinks he has an obligation towards the friendly man who lost his wife trying to save him...

Collected in.

1. Donald A Wollheim (ed)'s "Adventures on Other Planets".

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, September 1952.
Read online at UNZ.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Roger Dee.

Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "The Mask of Circe" (novel, supermen, free): Gods of Greek mythology are actually mutants & machines!

This is an adventure - a science fictional retelling of some Greek legends. But an adventure more in line with "doc" Smith's soap opera - enjoy the unbelievable fun ride but don't think much, please. I didn't enjoy first half - there is just too much unfamiliar Greek mythology, but second half was easy to follow.

Story summary.

A modern man, while playing subject for a new sedative drug, ends up importing the memories of a long dead ancestor from 3000 years ago! And through much of the story, he is magically transported back 3000 years, to the time of this ancestor - to have adventures in time of Greek legend.

Notes.

1. Some commentators have noted that this story is a tribute to Abraham Merritt's "Ship of Ishtar". I haven't personally read this Merritt story.
2. "Mask" of title refers to a machine that holds the brain dump of someone long dead; its wearer assumes the personality of that long dead individual. "Circe" of title is a women who fell in love with the hero, hero who won't be born for another 3000 years! "Mask" is to help her meet him when he's eventually born!

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, May 1948.
Read online at UNZ.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Henry Kuttner, C L Moore.

Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "Dream's End" (short story, recursive dreaming, free)

It has at least one episode of recursive dreaming - dream within a dream. I'm not sure of the other episodes - they're either independent hallucinations, or even deeper dream in a dream in a dream...

I'll put it among the less interesting stories of authors.

Story summary.

A doctor in a sanatorium has found what he thinks is a cure for most forms of insanity - what he call "empathy surrogate therapy". It involves a device whose electrodes are put on the head of the sane doctor & of insane patient. And something happens involving empathy. Only the first experiment seems to have gone seriously wrong - for the doctor, at least...

See also.

1. Henry Kuttner's "All is Illusion" (read online): A much better story about dreaming.

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, March 1947.
Read online at UNZ.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Henry Kuttner, C L Moore.

Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "The Dark Angel" (short story, superman, free)

What happens when one member of a couple is a prodigy? In this case, the wife is superhuman - first of the new species of homo superior. Story is about the reactions of the couple to this realization.

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, March 1946.
Read online at UNZ: part 1 & part 2.
Note: Story begins several pages down on part 1; last page of part 1 is the same as first page of part 2.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Henry Kuttner, C L Moore.

Henry Kuttner's "Music Hath Charms" (short story, detective, free)

An ace detective solves a complex murder attempt at Sky City, a city hollowed into an asteroid. A rather colorful murder attempt: some animals escape from a zoo, a virus on a far off world to which locals are immune, a business where one partner is trying to swindle the other, ...

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, December 1943.
Read online at UNZ.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Henry Kuttner.

Eric Frank Russell's "Take a Seat" (short story, body snatching)

ArchiveHub records that F&SF turned down this story because of its "peculiar language".

Story summary.

Some sort of alien entity has taken possession of a human body, somewhere, using a newly developed "psycheport machine". Story is of its exploration of the new body, & of nearby humans' reaction to very unexpected behavior of their colleague, now possessed.

Fact sheet.

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

L Sprague de Camp's "The Guided Man" (novelette, humor): Call center to help the socially awkward

I seem to be picking up stories with risque elements lately. This one has nudism & a contest to select the bustiest woman. Another one I recently read - Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" - requires everyone in the US to be nude when in public, by a Presidential decree!

This also is probably the oldest story I've seen so far with chip implants. It also has wireless 2-way communications at city-size distances & short range wireless communications akin to bluetooth.
PS: Puppet Masters too has aliens whose memory works in ways similar to modern electronic devices! But more on Puppet Masters some other time.

Story summary.

Say you are one of those people uncomfortable in certain social situations. Like during job interviews, or when talking to a girl you find attractive. Now here is a call center service just for you.

They'll plant a chip in your head. And they'll give you a little device with a button that goes in your pant pocket. When you press the button, the chip in your head allows a call center agent to take over your head: you're aware of everything, but your body language, speech, body movements, etc are controlled by the agent. To regain control, press the switch again. Before the event, brief your agent about it & give him the time, so he'll be prepared.

This is a funny story of a man who hires the call center services to get a job, & to get help impressing the girl he's mooning. Only the call center agent assigned himself gets interested in the girl...

See also.

1. Mary Shelley's "Transformation" (download): Hero (in good faith!) exchanges his body with an evil magician, only the magician now gets interested in hero's girlfriend.

Collected in.

1. "The Best of L Sprague de Camp".

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, October 1952.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of L Sprague de Camp.

"Startling Stories", January 1939 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

This is the first ever issue of Startling Stories - Vol 1 No 1.

Scans as a CBR file & text as HTML of the magazine are online.

Table of contents.

1. [novel] Stanley G Weinbaum's "The Black Flame": "Thomas Conner pits ancient knowledge against immortals who have ruled a strange new world for centuries! Like a phoenix, this adventurer from the past rises to view the land of time to come".
2. D D Sharp's "The Eternal Man".
3. Eando Binder's "Science Island": "A metal Napoleon threatens to dominate mankind!"

See also.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1930s.

"Startling Stories", Winter 1955 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of the magazine are online as a CBR file.

Note: This issue includes a table detailing Poul Anderson's Future History - pattern to which some of his stories fit.

Table of contents.

1. [novel] Poul Anderson's "The Snows of Ganymede": "They came to the hostile, frozen moon of Jupiter to solve an engineering problem - & ran into a political puzzle".
2. [novelet] Robert F Young's "More Stately Mansions": "The poor girl & the rich man's son both faced an age-old situation - & each with a different idea of happiness!"
3. [ss] Winston Marks' "Only with Tine Eyes": "George was certainly able to kill a bottle with a glance".
4. [ss] Philip K Dick's "Human Is": "Her husband changed, but she had married for better or worse".
5. [ss] Robert Zacks' "Have Your Past Read, Mister?": Why read the future when you don't really know your past?"
6. [ss] Thomas Kersh's "Audrey's Moon": "She loved him - until the day she began to read his mind!"

See also.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

"Startling Stories", April 1953 (ed Samuel Mines) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of the magazine are online in CBR format.

Table of contents.

1. [novel] Kendell Foster Crossen's "Halos, Inc": "It was pretty difficult to fall for a girl on a planet with light gravity - but Jerry Ransom was willing to attempt it!"
   
   I've not read this story, but description sounds like Arthur Clarke's "Cosmic Casanova".
2. [novelet] Ross Rocklynne's "Fulfillment": "They accused him of being asleep, Jig had to prove that only a sleeping man can have the conviction of his dreams!"
3. [ss] Robert Sherman Townes' "Earth is the Evening Star": "They got a key to the dead city from a race no longer there".
4. [ss] Robert Donald Locke's "Threshold": "He knew that some day he would leave the earth of his youth".
5. [ss] Sam Merwin, Jr's "Distortion Pattern": "She was the boss's secretary, but sat in the lap of the gods".
6. [ss] Leslie Bigelow's "Clockwork": "Was the professor a prophet - or, perhaps, was he a demon?"
7. [ss] Peter Phillips' "Lila": "He simply had to stop the girl from asking so many questions".
8. [ss] Richard Barr & Wallace West's "Rubberneck": "They were on a pleasure jaunt to a primitive town, New York".

See also.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

"Startling Stories", November 1939 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of the magazine as a CBR file are online.

Table of contents.

1. [novel] Jack Williamson's "The Fortress of Utopia": "On a lifeless mystery satellite, five lone mortals summon secret forces of the citadel of science to free the earth from the doom of the dark nebula!"
2. Jack Binder's "They Changed the World".
3. Lloyd Arthur Eschbach's "Three Wise Men": "A time-traveling machine explodes on a millionaire's doorstep".
4. Stanley G Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey"; download: A man makes a trek across Mars, meeting a variety of aliens.
   
   This is one of the most famous stories of science fiction - said to be the first one that depicted aliens as truly alien rather than hominid variations. A few months later came C L Moore's "The Bright Illusion" - also depicting aliens as truly alien, but Weinbaum was there first.
   

Related.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories.
2. "Pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1930s.

Startling Stories (British Edition), #8 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

 

Scans of the magazine are online in CBR format.

There is no mention of date of publication or editor's name on either cover or ToC page.

Table of contents.

1. [novelet] Leigh Brackett's "The Last Days of Shandakor": "An earthman discovers that both love & tragedy live on in a long-dead city of Ancient Mars which denies reality."
2. [novelet] Edmond Hamilton's "Birthplace of Creation": "Curt Newton & the Futuremen are called on to protect the cosmos from the destructive activity of a dangerous madman."
3. [ss] Oliver Saari's "The Intruder": "What's it like to have an exact duplicate of you show up?"
4. [ss] Robert Moore Williams' "Tame Me This Beast": "Professor Shaler thought his experiment would free humanity."

Related: Fiction from Startling Stories; "Pulp" magazines.

"Startling Stories", Vol 24 No 2 (November 1951) (ed Samuel Mines) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Scans of this magazine in CBR format are online as part of a larger package.

Table of contents. 

Links on authors fetch more fiction by author.

1. [novel] Eric Frank Russell's "The Star Watchers" (B): "Posted on every life-bearing planet are these oddly selfless guardians--amiable, but vengeful & merciless in striking down any who menace man's long agonizing climb to the stars".
2. [novelet] Mack Reynolds & Fredric Brown's "The Gamblers": "Bob Thayer was no card sharp, but he managed to get into a poker game on the Moon--with the fate of the Earth at stake".
3. [ss] Sam Merwin, Jr's "Grease in the Pan": "This was their purpose--to discover new planets to populate".
4. [ss] William Morrison's "The Cupids of Venus": "Couples for colonizing Cygnus were selected scientifically!"

See also.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

Henry Kuttner's "The Creature From Beyond Infinity" aka "A Million Years to Conquer" (novel, free): Superfast evolution considered harmful

This one is for Kuttner fans. If you aren't one already, begin with one of his first rate stories instead (there are several of them). This is among his more pulpy ones.

Story summary.

There are actually two stories here.

First is of Ardath, the sole survivor of a group of super-advanced aliens shipwrecked on a pre-life earth while escaping doom of their own world, Kyria. He's, in fact, the sole survivor of his race. Passing the civilization of their race to something intelligent will become his mission in life. He can already foresee there will be intelligence on earth; his project is to collect individuals with good potential from various eras to eventually build a super-race here.

Over the eons, he will periodically awaken from hibernation - to choose a potential candidate for his future super race. We see three stories here: of a Roman hero, of a pristess from Atlantis, & of a war strategist from somewhere in Asia.

Second is of a plague. Sol is apparantly passing through some weird part of space, & a strange & highly contagious disease has began affecting individuals - their bodies go through future evolution at a superfast pace. Only, there is no time for them to mentally mature with their advanced body; they've become ... kind of ... monsters.

Stephen Court, a genius scientist will identify the disease & work towards eradicating it. Of course, he will be eventually helped by the alien guardian angel of earth.

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, November 1940.
Download full text from Manybooks, Feedbooks, or this unnamed site.
Download audio from LibriVox.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Henry Kuttner.

"Startling Stories", "Thrilling Wonder Stories", & "Fantastic Story Magazine" as a single magazine issue - Summer 1955 (magazine, free): Annotated ToC

This is an unusual "magazine" issue - three magazines combined in a single bound form & a single ToC that for all practical purposes reads like a single magazine! I've no idea how to correctly refer to this issue in other articles - may be by naming any of the 3 included "magazines" should do!

Scans of the magazine are online in CBR format.

Table of contents.

1. [novelet] Robert F Young's "An Apple for the Teacher": "Her pupils handed in the usual run of compositions - & she never expected to find one that was out of this world".
2. [novelet] Murray Leinster's "White Spot": "There was only one possible planet to land on, & it had a strange white spot that burst into a flaming blackness!"
3. [novelet] Bryce Walton's "Awakening": "Perhaps humans cannot live without loving - but Alice, the android, soon found out that she could love without living".
4. [ss] Gordon R Dickson's "Moon, June, Spoon, Croon": "I love thee with my coils & tubes - & my gamma rays!"
5. [ss] Richard R Smith's "The Angry House": "The house faced this riddle: When is a guest not a guest?
   
   I've not read this story, but description sounds too much like last year's "Live and exclusive" (download) by Aditya Sudarshan.
6. [ss] Alfred Coppel's "Touch the Sky": "The infinite can be beautiful, but it can have its limits".
7. [ss] Leslie Waltham's "The Thirteen Juror": "From a ship in space, he saw his wife in another man's arms".
8. [ss] Miriam Allen deFord's "Timeout for Redheads": "It took a trip in time in order to make a man out of Mikel".
9. [ss] R W Stockheker's "The Rogue Waveform": "Freddy the Wrestler was only happy when everybody hated him".

See also.

1. Fiction from Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories.
2. Fiction from old "pulp" magazines.
3. Fiction from 1950s.

Startling Stories (New Zealand Edition), #14 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

There is no mention of publication date or editor's name on cover or ToC page.

Scans of the magazine are online in CBR format.

Table of contents.

1. [novelet] Murray Leinster's "Overdrive": "He was one man against mutiny - with only the secret of his skill to help him match the formidable weapons of the aliens."
2. [ss] Jack Vance's "Three-Legged Joe": "He proved to be the triple threat to the fortune awaiting them."
3. [ss] Roger Dee's "No Charge to the Membership": "Would you believe a dream - if it should happen to come true?"
4. [ss] Isaac Asimov's "Button, Button": "Even the old professor wasn't really able to foresee the past."
5. [ss] Jack Lewis' "Who's Cribbing?": "A glimpse into the editorial correspondence of an stf writer."
   
   I guess "stf" is short for "scientifiction"?
6. [poem] Philip Jose Farmer's "Sestina of the Space Rocket".
   

Related: Fiction from Startling Stories; Old "pulps".

Jack Williamson's "Gateway to Paradise" (novel, doomsday, free): A British invasion of US in future

I'll call it a "time pass" story - to use a colloquial term popular in India. Leave your brains somewhere, & enjoy the generally mindless adventure. I actually started liking it once the adventure really began, but it's a mindless story anyway.

Story summary.

A passing Dwarf sometime in 1940s sucked away earth's atmosphere, oceans & moon, leaving earth sterile of life. Everywhere except in US, where someone with forethought to cover in some kind of a force field ("Ring", "Barrier") that bars any kind of material transfer. So now, 200 years later, US continues to live happily in its transparent cocoon, but there is no life anywhere else.

OK - there is life elsewhere. Some British survivors built domed cities of New Britain somewhere on the now dry Atlantic bed - some 3000 miles from US eastern shore.

And these Britishers are angry at US - for having survived. So they're out to destroy the machine that keeps the US screen. And they've found a way to cross the Barrier.

Of course, a US hero will save the motherland. And because the enemy is Britain (rather than Russia - see similar Murray Leinster stories, e.g.), US continues to have friendly feelings towards attackers. And of course, we later discover the British aren't all evil - only some are extremists (& they too are finally converted).

Happy ending for all, as the lost moon returns now - on an impact course with earth! Which makes both sides join hands to shift its trajectory - Britain for its rockets, US for its force field that can be made to even stop gravity transfer across the screen! Earth will get some of its atmosphere & water back, & become habitable again as moon breaks up on near approach. You see, moon was hoarding part of earth's atmosphere sucked away earlier! And didn't you know moon is mostly ice?

See also.

H G Wells' "The Star" (download as part of a Wells' collection at Project Gutenberg) is probably the most widely read story of a large cosmic body passing near earth & wrecking havoc here due to gravitational interference.

A transparent force-field barrier covering a part of space is a very common trope. Some stories that immediately come to mind:

1. Arthur Clarke's "The Sentinel" & "What Goes Up": Former has a barrier aliens erected around one of their artifacts on moon. Later has a spherical barrier created by a nuclear accident in Australia.
2. James Blish's "Cities in Flight" series of stories has whole cities covered in a barrier that keeps atmosphere etc & then plucked off ground, to wander through space! Most stories are told from the point of view of this avatar of Manhattan part of the New York city.
3. Murray Leinster's "Invasion": A single invader immobilizes most of US air force using such a barrier.

Collected in.

1. Samuel Mines (ed)'s "Wonder Story Annual, Vol 2 No 1 (1953 Edition)".
   

Fact sheet.

First published: Startling Stories, July 1941.
Download full text as part of a larger package.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Jack Williamson.

"Startling Stories", Vol 7 No 1 (January 1942) (ed Oscar J Friend) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Available online at Internet Archive in multiple formats.

Table of contents.

1. [novel] Manly Wade Wellman's "Devil's Planet": "Fresh from Earth, Young Dillon Stover is plunged into a mystery on Mars! Tour Pulambar, the Martian Pleasure City, with this intrepid Earthman as your guide".
2. [ss] Isaac Asimov's "Christmas on Ganymede" (A); humor: "The Yuletide season brings turmoil on Jupiter's moon".
   
   Features in my Tuesday Classics.
3. [ss] Dr Miles J Breuer's "The Fitzgerald Contraction": "An outstanding classic from scientifiction's hall of fame".
4. [ss] Raymond Z Gallun's "Gears for Nemesis": "There was only one way to save the day for the Trail Blazer's passengers".

Credits: I could not find editor's name on cover or ToC page. This information is from ISFDB.

Related: Fiction from Startling Stories, 1940s; old "pulp" magazines.

Free fiction: 7 issues of "Startling Stories" magazine

At Crosseyed Cyclops, in 3 RAR files. Mostly scans in CBR format; in one case, as HTML file too.

Here is what individual RAR files contain (links on individual issues opens their table of contents):

1. "Startling rar 1": Contains 3 issues: "Startling Stories (British Edition), No 8"; "Startling Stories (New Zealand Edition), No 14"; & a very unusual magazine that is supposed to be a combined edition dated Summer 1955 of Startling Stories + Thrilling Wonder Stories + Fantastic Story Magazine with a single ToC page. There is no mention of publication date of first two on either cover or ToC page.
   
   Includes fiction by Murray Leinster, Jack Vance, Isaac Asimov, & Gordon R Dickson - among others.
2. "Startling rar 2": Contains 3 issues, only two of which could be extracted because of WinRAR errors: dated November 1939 & Winter 1955.
   
   Includes fiction of Poul Anderson, Philip K Dick, Jack Williamson, Jack Binder (I think one of the brothers of the Eando Binder pseudonym), & Stanley G Weinbaum - among others.
3. "Startling rar 3": Contains 3 issues, only two of which could be extracted because of WinRAR errors: January 1939 (CBR + HTML), April 1953.
   
   Includes fiction of Stanley G Weinbaum, Eando Binder, & Ross Rocklynne - among others.

Related: Fiction form Startling Stories.