Showing posts with label pulp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pulp. Show all posts

Sunday, February 23, 2014

"Fanscient", Fall 1948 (ed Donald B Day) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Cover of fanzine Fanscient, Fall 1948 issue. Uncredited image shows a photograph of JaephusLink on author fetches more of his fiction. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. Where I've read a story, my rating appears in brackets.

Table of contents (best first).

  1. [ss] Henry Kuttner's "Extrapolation" (B); satire: Science fiction vs fantasy wars in fandom.
  2. [ss] Donald B Day's "Jaephus" (B); humor.
  3. [ss] Miles Eaton's "The Watcher in the Snow" (C); fantasy: Snowclad approach to a beautiful & mysterious city is infested with ferocious & strange "beasts", with upper part human female & lower part a giant centipede.

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol 2 No 3 (Whole No 5)".
Download scans as a cbz file or pdf. (I haven't tried pdf) [via judgemagney@pbscans]
Or read online as HTML.
Related: Fiction from 1940s; old pulps.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

"Astounding Science Fiction", November 1943 (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Cover by Timmins of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, November 1943 issue.Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating appears in brackets.

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] George O Smith's "Recoil": "The near impossibility of hitting a spaceship with a shell has been discussed. But even an electron gun would, curiously, tend to defeat itself! The weapon protects the target!"
  2. [novelette] A E van Vogt's "The Beast": "Given time, even a fumblewitted Neanderthal could learn to be sly & deadly opponent. And The Beast had time--& was master over a long forgotten power--"
  3. [novelette] Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "Gallegher Plus" (as by Lewis Padgett) (A); humor: "Galleger, as usual, was in  a jam. It wasn't his fault; It was due to Galleger-Plus, the highly successful, if sufficiently high!--other self."
  4. [ss] Isaac Asimov's "Death Sentence": "Our psychologists of today have set up colonies of monkeys & other animals as experiments. On a larger scale, with larger means, a greater experiment could be undertaken--"
  5. [ss] Murray Leinster's "--If You Can Get It": "The formula was was wonderful, & worked every time--unless someone said it couldn't! And working in that world was nice work--"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XXXII No 3".
Download scans as a cbr file. [via David T @pulpscans]
Related: Stories from Astounding/Analog (only issues edited by John Campbell) (whole issues only); old "pulps"; 1940s.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

"Astounding Science Fiction", July 1955 (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Cover by Kelly Freas of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, July 1955 issue.Most, but not all, stories here are the same as those in Astounding (British ed), December 1955. Even the cover is the same.

Where I've a separate post on a story, link on its title goes there. For read stories, my rating appears in brackets. Links on authors fetch more works of author.

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] Algis Budrys' "In Clouds of Glory": "Combat of Champions is an old method of settling disputes--but when hiring champions, there is a certain danger they aren't fighting for the goals you think..."
  2. [novelette] Eric Frank Russell's "The Waitabits" (A): Different people run their lives at different pace. What happens when faster ones try to bring up the slower ones to their pace? 
  3. [novelette] Frank Herbert's "Rat Race" (A): Rats are to men as men are to...
  4. [ss] Robert Sheckley's "Earth, Air, Fire and Water": "The best way to use anything is the way it will do you the most good in the situation you happen to be in. Sometimes that's not all the way it was intended to be used..."
  5. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Tieline" (as by Duncan H Munro) (B): "When you've got to put a lone man on a beacon-operator job, ten dozen solar syatems away from any other human--he needs an emotional tieline to Earth. But finding one isn't always easy."
  6. [serial - part 4/4] Poul Anderson's "The Long Way Home": "Sooner or later, every adult human being makes a discovery--or lives dissatisfied, unhappy. That there never was, & never will be, a way to go home ... but there is always a way to make home."

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol LV No 5".
Download scans as a cbr file. [via Alexander@pbscans]
Note: Download link points to a rar file that needs to be renamed cbr.
Related: Stories from Analog/Astounding (whole issues only) (only issues edited by John Campbell); old "pulps"; 1950s.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

"Infinity Science Fiction", April 1957 (ed Larry T Shaw) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Cover by Ed Emsh of Infinity Science Fiction, April 1957 issue. Image illustrates the story The Martian Shore by Charles L Fontenay.Where I have a separate post for a story, link on story title goes there. Link on author fetches more fiction by author.

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] Harlan Ellison's "Deeper than the Darkness": "Controlled, his weird power might have been a blessing--uncontrolled, it made his life a literal, flaming hell!"
  2. [ss] Arthur C Clarke's "The Case of the Snoring Heir" aka "Sleeping Beauty" (A): "Sigmund's problem was simply stated: no sleep, no wife; no wife, no money! But how can a man control his snores?"
  3. [ss] E C Tubb's "The Eyes of Silence": "The choice was his: a solitary cell on Earth, or a solitary cell in space--& both paths led only to madness!"
  4. [ss] Fritz Leiber's "Friends & Enemies": "In a world blasted by super-bombs & run by super-thugs, Art vs Science can be a deadly debate!"
  5. [ss] John Christopher's "The Noon's Repose": "To control genetics, you must control love--& if Cupid is human, will he enjoy slavery?"
  6. [ss] Charles L Fontenay's "The Martian Shore": "Shaan made the longest crawl in history--to avoid crawling before tyrants!"
  7. [ss] John Victor Peterson's "The Gently Orbiting Blonde": "Anti-gravity may be hard to handle--but a woman scorned is still harder!"
  8. [ss] Richard Wilson's "Deny the Slake":
           "Those couplets held
              (unless they lied)
            The reason why
              a world had died!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol 2 No 2".
Download the scans as a CBR file. [via Alexander@pbscans]
Note: Link fetches a RAR file that needs to be renamed CBR.
Related: Stories from Infinity SF; 1950s; old "pulps".

Thursday, October 3, 2013

"Astounding Science-Fiction", July 1942 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Link on an author fetches more fiction of the author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating appears in brackets.

Note: The flash fiction pieces don't have their own entry in ToC; they are all clubbed under the heading "Probability Zero". And nearly all of them are rather forgettable.

Table of contents (best first).

  1. [novella] A E van Vogt's "Secret Unattainable" (A): Revenge of a scientist against Nazi establishment. 
  2. [novelette] Malcolm Jameson's "Brimstone Bill" (A): Crooks are useful too! 
  3. [novelette] Clifford D Simak's "Tools" (B): Introducing very weird radioactive gaseous aliens... 
  4. [novella] David V Reed's "Penance Cruise" (B); space opera: A ragtag group goes out to catch a dangerous brigand...
  5. [novella] Jack Williamson's "Collision Orbit" (as by Will Stewart) (B): Mad scientist tames antimatter.

    This story is supposed to have invented the term "terraforming", which really makes it a classic.
  6. [ff] Ray Bradbury's "Eat, Drink, and Be Wary" (B); humor: How to eat librally without upsetting your stomach! 
  7. [ff] Frank Holby's '"The Strange Case of the Missing Hero"' (B); grandfather paradox: A man traveling to past discovers he is his own father!
  8. [ff] Wilson Tucker's "The Mysterious Bomb Raid" (as by Bob Tucker) (B); time travel: To remove Japan from equation in WWII, a couple of Americans have dropped a drum full of incendiary oil on Tokyo around the year 1900 using their time machine; but a delay in drop has put it in a later year - so now, in 1942, they're expecting Tokyo to go up in flames any time for reasons the world will see a mysterious.
  9. [ff] Selden G Thomas' "The Floater"  (B): A group is discussing modern fighter aircraft vs vintage ones. One of them tells a tall tale of how he fought with a far superior vintage one & how it kept floating in ocean till he was rescued many days after crash, in spite of being riddled with bullet holes because of fighting, because "It was made of pure potassian, which is lighter than water."
  10. [ff] R Creighton Buck's "The Querty of Hrothgar"(C): An extremely implausible hunting story. Querty, a huge beast with 4 foot thick armor, on its native world of Hrothgar, is chasing a man. Man survives & eventually kills the beast using a totally crazy device.
  11. [ss] L Sprague de Camp's "The Contraband Cow" (C): One of the most forgettable stories of de Camp.

    In an international Federation, there is a ban on cow slaughter. I'm not sure where the story is set - in US or in Mexico?

    Some confrontation between artificial in-lab steak makers, smugglers, cops & politicians. Hero will eventually get the ban lifted by threatening with a politician with something totally silly.
  12. [ss] L Ron Hubbard's "Space Can" (C); space opera: Description of a space battle where a lone US warship beats two better armed "saturnian" warships. Much of the text of the story went over my head.
  13. [ff] Randall Hale's "De Gustibus" (C): A man on Mercury without food for 50 days, has survived on water & potassium cyanide!
  14. [ff] John Pierce's "About Quarrels, About the Past" (C); time travel: "Quarrels" of title is the name of a person. He's gone time traveling to a past Egypt, & is currently is in some, but not ours, past Egypt.

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XXIX No 5".
Download the scans as a CBR file. [via David T @pulpscans]
Caution: This is a very large file - nearly 195 MB & without resume. I had the connection broken twice near 90% & could download it only on the third attempt.
ISFDB notes: 'Cover illustration, untitled, by William Timmins, not Rogers as credited in the table of contents. Correction "In Times to Come," September 1942.'
Same ISFDB page also corrects some of the novelette/ss classifications on the ToC page; I've preferred ISFDB label above, whenever it contracts ToC.
Related: Stories from Analog/Astounding (whole issues only) (only issues edited by John Campbell); old "pulps".

Monday, September 9, 2013

"Future Science Fiction", Fall 1957 (ed Robert A W Lowndes) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Cover by Emsh of Future Science Fiction magazine, Fall 1957 issue. Picture illustrates the short story The Lonely Stars by Scott Nichols.
I haven't read any story yet. Links on author fetch more fiction by author.

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] Gordon R Dickson's "Cloak & Stagger": "It would have been hilarious if Earth's acceptance into the Federation hadn't depended on how Torm Lindsay carried out his mission--because no one, particularly Lindsay, had the faintest notion of what he was expected to do, or not do!"
  2. [ss] Margaret St Clair's "Starobin": "They needed a hero like Starobin--but a hero like Starobin was just the kind who didn't care..."
  3. [ss] Scott Nichols' "The Lonely Stars": "Would humanity ever be able to undo that worst of blunders?"
  4. [ss] Robert Silverberg's "Force of Mortality": "The greatest boon can also be the deadliest curse..."
  5. [ss] Thomas N Scortia's "Last Meeting Place": "Garth was one of the few who understood history--but could he avoid repeating it?"
  6. [ss] Bruce Tucker & Irving Cox, Jr's "The Professor from Pyjm": 'Was Mytohell just another "crazy scientist" or ...?'
  7. [ss] F M Busby's "A Gun for Grandfather": "So you have a time machine, so you can go back in time & shoot grandpa? But why bother? Barney had a reason..."
  8. [ss] George R Hahn's "The Round Peg": "Basil Thorpe was the most bizarre of phonies..."

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "No 34". "Published quarterly".
Download scans as a cbr file. [via pulpbox@pulpscans]
Note: Link fetches a RAR file that needs to be renamed CBR.
Related: Old pulps; fiction from Future SF, 1950s.

Friday, August 30, 2013

"Astounding Science-Fiction", June 1943 (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Cover by Timmins of Astounding Science-Fiction magazine, June 1943 issueFor stories where I have a separate post, link on story title goes there. Links on authors fetch more fiction by author. For read stories, my rating appears in brackets.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

  1. [novelette] Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "The World is Mine" (as by Lewis Padgett) (B): "Galleger, the mad--or at least cockeyed--scientist, really got himself in a jam that time. A plague of corpses, all murdered, descended upon him--"
  2. [novelette] George O Smith's "Calling the Empress": 'Physics says that a thing which cannot be detected by any means does not exist. So their problem was to make a "nonexistent" spaceship somewhere between Mars & Venus change it course--'
  3. [ss] Anthony Boucher's "Pelagic Spark": "One man, to prove a point, cooked up a phony prophecy. And other men, believing it implicitly, made it come true!"
  4. [ss] E M Hull's "Competition": "Artur Blord backed down like a scared cur when faced with real danger. But it so happened he was backing rapidly in a direction he'd never have been able to go face forward!"
  5. [ss] Lester del Rey's "Whom the Gods Love": "The Japs murdered his personality; their terrible error was that they didn't murder him. They gave him something that was a magnificent antithesis of Death--for him. For them it was Death."
  6. [ss] Anthony Boucher's "Sanctury" (as by H H Holmes): "The commondoman knew the Nazis were close on his heels; his one though was to get to some other place in a hurry. The professor had another idea--& the Villa had a ghost that haunted parties!"
  7. [serial - 2/2] Fritz Leiber, Jr's "Gather, Darkness!": "The Hierarchy was a phony religion based on super-scientific "miracles" & rigid tyranny. And the revolution was a magnificent buffoonery of super-scientific witchcraft based on military tactics!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XXXI No 4"
Download scans as a cbr file. [via David T @pubscans]
Alternate, supposedly better version, of scan. [via ka280al@pbscans]
Note: I have personally seen only the first (original) version.
Related: Fiction from Astounding/Analog, whole issues only, only issues edited by John Campbell; 1940s; old pulps.

Friday, August 23, 2013

"The Thrill Book", 1 October 1919 (magazine, free): Table of contents

Cover the The Thrill Book magazine, 1 October 1919 issue.I've never read this magazine before, but Murray Leinster published here - so it probably is not out of place.

ToC labels some of the fiction as "storiette". I wonder if that means flash fiction?

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] H Bedford-Jones' "Mr Shen of Shensi".
  2. [novelette] Harry Golden's "A Step & a Half".
  3. [serial - 2/4] Rupert Hughes' "The Gift-Wife".
  4. [serial - 4/5] Francis Stevens' "The Head of Cereberus".
  5. [ss] Ray W Hinds' "Recoiling Sparks".
  6. [ss] Ada Louvie Evans' "Between Two Worlds".
  7. [ss] Roy Leslie's "An Eccentric".
  8. [ss] Anthony T Lorenz's "Ghosts of Chaacmol".
  9. [ss] Will H Greenfied's "The Mouse & the Cheese".
  10. [ss] Newton A Fuessle's "A Perfect Melody".
  11. [ss] Mary Carolyn Davies' "Words That Came Alive".
  12. [ss] Everett McNeill's "At the Hands of the Master".
  13. [ss] Mordaunt Hall's "The Escape".
  14. [storiette] Harold de Polo's "Violets?".
  15. [storiette] Ted Robbins' "Crimson Flowers".
  16. [storiette] Pearl Bragg's "The Song from the Dead".

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol III No 1".
Download scans as a cbr file. [via pulpmaniacal@pulpscans]
Caution: Downloaded rar needs to be renamed cbr.
Caution: Scan quality is quite bad, though readable.
Related: Old "pulps".

"Fantastic Stories of Imagination", February 1965 (ed Cele G Lalli) (magazine): Annotated table of contents

Cover by Heidi Coquette of Fantastic Stories of Imagination magazine, February 1965 issue, illustrating the story A Fortnight of Miracles by Randall Garrett
Another one whose download link I seem to have lost.

While I haven't read any of the stories yet, descriptions suggest these are mostly fantasy.

Table of contents.

  1. [novelet] Randall Garrett's "A Fortnight of Miracles": "It is hard on a man to have not one ... nor two ... but three vexish spells upon him. Such a man has need of a worthy mage & a goodly goblin ... & an author like this one who can get him out of black magic trouble without leaving any loose ends about."
  2. [ss] Roger Zelazny's "Passage to Dilfar": "A day & a night had Dilvish ridden to warn of the coming slaughter, for all hope now rested with Dilfar--& with the horse that carried him there."
  3. [ss] Ron Goulart's "Winterness": "When dealing with the spirit world, you can do things three ways: rarely, well-done, or medium. When a vanished judge & a buxom columnist are involved, it is perhaps better to settle for the medium."
  4. [ss] Thomas M Disch's "The Vamp": "Once you marry a Transylvanian count, things are never what they used to be. Not even a good steak."
  5. [serial - 2/2] John Brunner's "The Repairman of Cyclops".

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol 14 No 2.
Related: Fiction from old pulps; 1960s.

Free fiction: Two novelette scans from Frank Reade Library (1890s)

Both via Pulpshmoo@pbscans. Both links fetch rar files that need to be renamed as cbr. Both are by an anonymous author using the pen name "Noname".
  1. "Six Weeks in the Great Wirlpool; or, Strange Adventures in a Submarine Boat"; download; Frank Reade Library, No 46 Vol 2, 5 August 1893.
  2. "Lost in a Comet's Tail; or, Frank Reade, Jr's Strange Adventure With His New Air-Ship"; download; Frank Reade Library, Vol 122 No V, 13 December 1895.
Related: 19th century fiction.

Friday, August 16, 2013

"Imaginative Tales", July 1957 (ed William M Hamling) (magazine): Annotated table of contents

Cover painting of Imaginative Tales magazine, July 1957 issue, by Malcolm Smith, illustrating the story World of Never-Men by Edmond Hamilton
Oops. I downloaded its CBR a while back but the link seems to have gone dead now. Will post the link separately if I can find it elsewhere.

I haven't read any story yet.

Table of contents.

  1. [novella] Edmond Hamilton's "World of Never-Men": "Barker set out on a trail of vengeance that would lead him to retribution--or death. It would also, inevitably, bind him to Mars' dark secret..."
  2. [ss] Robert Moore Williams' "The Red Rash Deaths": "There wasn't a cure for the sickness that struck humans down in horrible agony. And Keeton lacked any clues to follow in his race to stop..."
  3. [ss] Randall Garrett's "Devil's World": "Every secret agent sent to Mercury turned up dead; now Courtney volunteered for the task of trapping Thurston, the man who ruled this--".
  4. [ss] Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett's "Hot Trip for Venus" (as by Ralph Burke): (ToC lists Ralph Burke as author; story lists Randall Garrett as author!). Alex Mayne knew somebody wanted to keep him out of the spacelanes. And that could only mean someone was afreaid he'd learn about the--"
  5. [ss] Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett's "Pirates of the Void" (as by Ivar Jorgensen): "Brant's job was to check the robot relays on tiny stations scattered through space. It was not his job to risk death after an attack from--"
  6. [ss] Robert Silverberg's "The Assassin": "Bigelow had a grand idea; he would travel more than a hundred years through time to Ford's Theatre, see the President, & warn him about--"

Fact sheet.

Related: Old pulps.; fiction from 1950s.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Murray Leinster's "Planet of Dread" (novelette, free): Adventure on a world of giant insects & fungi

One of the illustrations by Adkins accompanying the original publication in Fantastic Stories magazine of the short story Planet of Dread by Murray Leinster. Image shows adventurers fighting a giant ant on a far off world.How many variants of the excellent "The Mad Planet" (download) did Leinster pen? I know of at least two novelette or novella length sequels, plus a fix-up novel, besides the current one.

May be I've read too much of the series. It's readable & fast moving - among my faster finishes of a story of this length. But it's very pulpy & with sensibilities of a different era.

Story summary.

With mankind spanning the galaxy, a group of revolutionaries escape their world, & intend to lie low elsewhere for a while. During a port, their ship is hijacked by a local fugitive - the hero of the story who's eventually overpowered. For complicated reasons, they land of an uninhabited world to maroon the hijacker - only this world turns out to be a forgotten & unfinished terraforming job of mankind, & a nightmare world now.

They'll have adventure there, & strike treasure left by a shipwreck 150 years old, & finally all will end well.

Fact sheet.

First published: Fantastic Stories of Imagination, May 1962.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg.
Download audio read by Phil Chenevert from LibriVox. [via QuasarDragon]
Rating: B.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

"Astounding Science Fiction", December 1942 (ed John W Campbell, Jr) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Cover by William Timmins of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, December 1942 issue"The Weapon Shop" is among the best known stories of the genre. "Piggy Bank" is among the more pulpish stories of Kuttner/Moore, but features a very curious robot.

Where I have a separate post on a story, link on its title goes there. Link on author's name fetches more fiction of author.

Note: Flash fiction pieces in this issue don't have their individual entries in table of contents, but are bunched together in a single entry called "Probability Zero".

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] A E van Vogt's "The Weapon Shop": "The shop was small--a little place that materialized out of nowhere. Yet, though the old man didn't realize--all the power of a world empire could not break it!"
  2. [novelette] Cleve Cartmill's "Some Day We'll Find You" (B): Three groups of capitalists want to fund the commercialization of a certain invention by a broke engineer...
  3. [novelette] Henry Kuttner & C L Moore's "Piggy Bank" (as by Lewis Padgett) (B): "The robot was a rabbit--or had that psychology. He had a diamond-studded body, & was trained to be untouchable. Even his owner could not touch him--without giving information that was suicide!"
  4. [ss] A E van Vogt & E Mayne Hull's "The Flight That Failed" (as by E M Hull) (C): Making a future happen where Germany loses the WWII!
  5. [ss] Ross Rocklynne's "Interlude" (B): When a caveman freed an advanced civilization of a dictator...
  6. [ss] Frank Belknap Long's "To Follow Knowledge": "A strange tale of pluralities of worlds, of a theory based on the hypothesis that, in infinity, everything must happen not once, but many times."
  7. [ss] Robert Moore Williams' "Johny Had a Gun": "Johny was a gangster, a small-time punk. But Johny showed up with a gun one night, in an alley fight, that was not small-time stuff--"
  8. [ff] William M Danner's "True Fidelity".
  9. [ff] Stanley Woolston's "The Human Bomb".
  10. [ff] Jack Bivins' "Valadusia".
  11. [ff] T D Whitenack, Jr's "O'Ryan, the Invincible".
  12. [ff] Frank J Smythe's "My Word!".
  13. [ff] L M Jensen's "Take-Off".

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XXX No 4.
Download scans as a CBR file. [via David T @pulpscans]
Related: Fiction from Astounding/Analog (only from issues edited by John Campbell) (whole issues only); old pulps; 1940s.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British edition), August 1958 (magazine, free) (ed John W Campbell): Annotated table of contents

Cover by Van Dongen of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, British edition, August 1958 issue. Image illustrate the novel Close to Critical by Hal Clement.Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I've read the story, my rating appears in brackets. If I have a separate post on a story, link on its title goes there.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

  1. [novel - 1/3] Hal Clement's "Close to Critical" (A): "Meet Tenebra, the planet where raindrops are fifty feet through ... & hard quartz rocks dissolve away like salt. Under three gravities, & a monstrously deep atmosphere, with oily seas of sulphuric acid, two children touch off a political situation that is ... close to critical".
  2. [ss] Frank Herbert's "You Take the High Road" (A); detective: Is this village really of peaceful people?
  3. [ss] Stanley Mullen's "Fool Killer" (A): What if law allowed you one murder!
  4. [ss] John Rackham's "One-Eye" (B): A man has an unusual gift - he "sees" bad things happen just before they do happen. And figuring out the nature of this "gift" gets him in trouble.

    Title is from the story about a one-eyed man among the blind ones. As is the man with the gift among the ordinary humans.
  5. [novelette] Charles V de Vet's "Special Feature": "What constitutes public entertainment changes with the mores of a society. The Romans liked the circuses ... but the feline devil loose in their city might have been a bit too stimulating for them..."
  6. [ss] Gordon R Dickson's "The Question": "It wasn't too surprising that aliens couldn't answer the Question. After all, we've been trying for millenia ourselves!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XIV No 8.
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link points to a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around some hosting service file naming constraints.
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1950s.

Free fiction: Universe, #1 (June 1953)

Someone posted scans of this issue as pdf via a torrent.

Includes a then controversial story of Theodore Sturgeon, & one of the minor stories of Murray Leinster (assuming I'm recollecting the right story of Leinster!) Other notable authors include Mack Reynolds & Mark Clifton.

Related: Old pulps; fiction from 1950s.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

"Astounding Science-Fiction" (British Edition), August 1939 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Cover of August 1939 British edition of Astounding Science-Fiction magazineThree rather well-known stories here - "The Blue Giraffe", "Heavy Planet", & "Life-Line".

Where I've read a story, my rating appears in brackets. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. Link on an author's name fetches more fiction by author.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

  1. [ss] Robert Heinlein's "Life-Line" (A): Soothsaying considered harmful...

    This is the first published story of Heinlein.
  2. [novelette] L Sprague de Camp's "The Blue Giraffe" (B); humor: When a man was honored with the opportunity to marry an uplifted baboon!
  3. [ss] Lee Gregor's "Heavy Planet" (B): "A dead spaceship drifted down to the heavy planet--& whichever side would learn her secrets, ruled the planet!"
  4. [ss] Nelson S Bond's "Stowaway" (B): A Venusian electricity-eating "ampie", a pet of a Venusian stowaway aboard a Venus to Earth ship, has got loose & wrecking havoc to ship's systems. Until they figure out it need not be a pest but can be an essential part of the ship...
  5. [serial - 1/2] Frederick Engelhardt's "General Swamp, C.I.C.": "The General that ruled that war was--Swamp--swamp that made half Venus!"
  6. [novelette] Lester del Rey's "The Luck of Ignatz": "Meet Ignatz--who sleeps in boiling water or on superheated steam pipes!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XXXIII No 6.
No mention of editor's name on Toc page (but it's probably John Campbell).
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link fetches a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around file the naming constraints of hosting service.
Related: Fiction from Astounding/Analog (whole issues only); old pulps; 1930s.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British edition), April 1957 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Cover by Van Dongen of British edition of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, April 1957 issue.
I think I've read "2066: Election Day" in one of the "Issac Asimov Presents Great SF Stories" books. An unusual "election" for a US President, an election where people don't vote at all, & one that was actually rigged by a small coterie. I don't think I came back happy with it, & the ending invoked in me an angry reaction - "how could the author propose this to be a good outcome?" type of reaction.

Links on author fetches more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For stories I've read, my rating is in brackets.

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] Robert Silverberg & Randall Garrett's "False Prophet" (as by Robert Randall): "There are times when it is exceedingly unwise to tell the truth--& the Nidorian was dedicated to truth. The Earthmen were wiser; they lied about him."
  2. [ss] Michael Shaara's "2066: Election Day": "There is a limit to any process you can name ... & sooner or later that limit will be reached. Then ... somehow you have to fumble togeather a new thing..."
  3. [ss] Algis Budrys' "Look on My Works" (B): Tourist guides milking a tourist from Centaurus with fakes, in a far future New York city...
  4. [ss] Robert Silverberg's "To Be Continued" (A): Slow life is frustrating!
  5. [serial - 3/3] Isaac Asimov's "The Naked Sun": "Lije Baley had a triple-decker problem to solve--& solved it only because a robot tried to give him a hand. And thereby taught him to define his terms with a new exactness!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XIII No 4 (British Edition)".
Download scans as a CBR file [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: The link fetches a RAR file that contains the target CBR, probably to work around hosting service's file naming constraints.
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1950s.

Monday, February 4, 2013

"Astounding Science-Fiction", May 1941 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Cover by Rogers of Astounding Science-Fiction magazine, May 1941 issue.
I've read stories of Heinlein, Asimov & Russell elsewhere; am posting this only for the two unread shorts - "Fish Story" & "Subcruiser".

Links on author fetch more stories of author. Where I've a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. My rating for stories I've read & still remember appears in brackets.

Table of contents.

  1. [novelette] Robert Heinlein's "Universe"; MP3 of radio adaptation: "an unique & fascinating civilization in a spaceship that missed its goal!"

    Collected in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A" (ed Ben Bova).

    See also: its sequel, "Common Sense", in Astounding, October 1941.
  2. [novelette] Robert Heinlein's "Solution Unsatisfactory" (as by Anson MacDonald): "a story of the very near & grimly probably future. Man's apt to have that irresistible weapon soon--& no method of control!"
  3. [ss] Isaac Asimov's "Lier!": "Herbie was a robot; he was also a mistake. Somewhere in the assembly, an accident made him telepathic, with inevitable & disturbing consequences!"
  4. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Jay Score" (A): A passenger ship on earth to Venus voyage is hit by a meteor, & is now headed for Sun! 
  5. [ss] Vic Phillips & Scott Roberts' "Fish Story" (B): A "fishing" adventure on Venus.
  6. [ss] Harry Walton's "Subcruiser" (B): Foiling a warship hijack.
  7. [serial - 2/2] L Sprague de Camp's "The Stolen Dormouse": "In a slightly delirious world of the future where noble Sir Businessman feuds, & the times are more than a little out of joint."

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XXVII No 3".
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1940s.

Monday, January 28, 2013

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British Edition), June 1951 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Cover of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, British edition, June 1951 issue.
Links on author fetch more matching fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating appears in brackets. Where I'm aware of alternate availability of a story on the web, I include those links too.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

  1. [novelette] Poul Anderson's "The Helping Hand" (A); read online: International "aid" considered harmful...
  2. [ss] Jack Vance's "The Potters of Firsk" (A); download radio adaptation: Hero peacefully frees a tribe from oppression by its ferocious neighbors.
  3. [ss] Miles M Acheson's "The Apprentice" (B): Adventure on Venus...

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "VII, No 10 (British Edition)".
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link points to a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around some hosting service file naming constraints.
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1950s.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British Edition), August 1956 (ed John Campbell) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents

Cover by Ed Emshwiller of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, August 1956 issue, British edition. Cover illustrates the story Exploration Team by Murray Leinster.
I've read "Exploration Team" & "Minor Ingradient" elsewhere before, but don't recall much of them now.

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating appears in brackets.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

  1. [ss] Herbert L Cooper's "A Nice Little Niche" (B): When vitamin K craving alien bacteria invaded human guts...
  2. [ss] Algis Budrys' "Man in the Sky" (B): Cold engineering vs public opinion.

    It's a story about early spaceflight, before there was space flight.
  3. [novelette] Murray Leinster's "Exploration Team": "The perfect machine for exploring a new plant would, of course, be self-repairing, self-maintaining, able to construct its own repair parts from local materials, & even able to replace itself with a new unit..."
  4. [ss] Eric Frank Russell's "Minor Ingradient": "A critically necessary lesson any true officer must learn is the crushing burden it is to be Master of a slave..."
  5. [serial - 2/3] Robert Heinlein's "Double Star": "Lorenzo, the conceited pipsqueak, was stretched & inflated to fill a mold. But Lorenzo, while conceited beyond question--was not a fool!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: "Vol XII No 8 (British Edition)".
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link points to a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around some hosting service file naming constraints.
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1950s.