Planet of the Damned is a Hugo nominated science fiction novel by Harry Harrison. Brion Brandd lives on the planet Anvhar which due to an elliptical orbit experiences a year with a long cold winter and a short hot summer to which the population have become adapted. To avoid social problems during the winter period Anvhar has initiated a planet wide series of mental and physical global competition to test achievements in 20 categories of human activities, called the Twenties. Once in a generation, a man is born with a heightened sense of empathy. Brion Brandd used this gift to win the Twenties, an annual physical and mental -- among the best and smartest people on Anvhar. But before he can enjoy his victory he's forced to leave his homeworld to help salvage Dis, the most hellish planet in the galaxy, where he must use his heightened sense of empathy to help avert a global nuclear holocaust by negotiating with the blockading fleet, traversing the Disan underworld, and cracking the mystery of the savagely ruthless magter. Planet of the Damned was Hugo nominated in 1962, originally published in Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction, as "Sense of Obligation." AUDIO: Reading by Phil Chenevert, running time: 6 hours, 27 min. Unabridged full version. E-book: ePUB, 56,000 words, reading time approximately 4 hours 40 min. Harry Max Harrison (1925-2012) was an American science fiction author. Harrison is known for his writing, particularly his humorous and satirical science fiction, such as the Stainless Steel Rat series and the novel Bill, the Galactic Hero (which satirises Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers). Harrison is also known for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The novel was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973).

Planet of the Damned

Search the Sky is a satirical science fiction novel written by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth and first published in 1954 by Ballantine Books. Ross was a junior trader on Halsey's Planet, and had great prospects but was not happy at all. Everything smelled of decay. The whole planet seemed to be slowly disappearing, the population dwindling month by month and year by year and yet no one seemed to care or even notice. Something was very, very wrong. When the first interstellar transport in 30 years arrived on Halsey's Planet, it brought things to a head. The ship had touched on six other colony worlds - and all six had been devoid of human life. Where was everybody? It was almost as if humankind, when separated by cosmic distances from Mother Earth, could not survive. He didn't know the answer but he knew it all smelled highly of decay. Decay and Rot. This highly praised novel by C. M. Kornbluth and Frederick Pohl, first published in 1954, was seen as a wonderful satire on various trends in the society of the 1950's. FROM BACK COVER: ABOUT THE AUTHORS The Space Merchants was not only one of the best-reviewed science-fiction novels in 1953, it was one of the most widely reviewed. Favorable notices appeared in journals ranging from Printer’s Ink to science-fiction magazines, from Tide magazine to the great national dailies. That novel firmly established Messrs. Pohl and Kornbluth as a team, although they had collaborated before under pen names and had established reputations singly. Their new novel, Search the Sky, has the same wit, the same passages of genuinely beautiful writing and—what is most important and most characteristic—the same underlying concern for human beings, whether they are on future Madison Avenues or in the outer galaxies. This is Mr. Kornbluth’s seventh published novel. Two were written in collaboration with Judith Merril under the pen name “Cyril Judd”; one was the notable Takeoff (Doubleday, 1952); one was not science fiction; one was his last collaborative effort with Mr. Pohl; and his most recent was The Syndic (Doubleday, 1953). Mr. Kornbluth, still under thirty, now lives in an upstate New York farmhouse with his wife and child where he devotes himself to writing. This is Mr. Pohl’s sixth published book. Two of them were reprint collections which he edited and two others were the now-celebrated first and second volumes of Star Science Fiction Stories, collections of new stories published by Ballantine Books. At 34, Mr. Pohl lives in a large old house on the Jersey shore—“five rooms for me, four for my wife and two apiece for the children.” He has three more books forthcoming in 1953: two anthologies and his first solo novel. Total Running Time (TRT): 6 hours, 46 min. Frederik George Pohl, Jr. (1919-2013) was an American science fiction writer and editor, with a career spanning more than seventy-five years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy and its sister magazine If; the latter won three successive annual Hugo Awards as the year's best professional magazine. He won four Hugo and three Nebula Awards. The Science Fiction Writers of America named Pohl its 12th recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award in 1993 and he was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1998. Cyril M. Kornbluth (1923–1958) was an American science fiction author and a notable member of the Futurians. He used a variety of pen-names, including Cecil Corwin, S. D. Gottesman, Edward J. Bellin, Kenneth Falconer, Walter C. Davies, Simon Eisner, Jordan Park, Arthur Cooke, Paul Dennis Lavond and Scott Mariner.

Search the Sky

A Spaceship Named McGuire is a science fiction novella by Randal Garrett, first published in 1961. The basic trouble with McGuire was that, though "he" was a robot spaceship, nevertheless "he" had a definite weakness that a man might understand.... Can a spaceship go crazy? Well, yes it can if it has a brain. And the new MG (MagnetoGravitic drive) experimental robot space ship does indeed have a 'brain'. Completely bewildered as to why the first six models of their supposedly perfect new ship model, the MG-YR, nicknamed the McGuire, have gone totally bonkers after activation and before they could ever be used, the company has called in the services of Daniel Oak. They suspect sabotage of course. Daniel Oak is the hard boiled private investigator with nerves of steel and a mind of the same substance. He is extremely expensive to hire but gets results; and he knows his way around crime, space ships and especially women. What he finds out is surprising! Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 42 min. Randall Garrett (1927-1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about Earth bringing civilization to an alien planet.

A Spaceship Named McGuire

Pagan Passions is a science fiction novel byRandall Garrett &Laurence Mark Janifer, published in 1959, under the pen-name Larry M. Harris. Pagan Passions is humorous science fiction from a time when the boundaries between the science fiction and fantasy genres were not so rigid. The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece and Rome had returned to Earth -- with all their awesome powers intact. Overnight, Earth was transformed. War on any scale was outlawed, along with boom-and-bust economic cycles, and prudery. No change was more startling than the face of New York, where the Empire State Building became the Tower of Zeus. In this totally altered world, William Forrester is an acolyte of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, and a teacher of history. Only Maya Wilson, one of his students and a worshipper of Venus, Goddess of Love, had a different sort of grading in mind. Maya is the first of the many Trials of Forrester, every bit as mighty and perilous as the Labors of Hercules. In love with Gerda Symes (like him, a devotee of Athena and a frequenter of the great Temple of Pallas Athena -- formerly known as the 42nd Street Library) and dedicated to the pleasures of the mind -- Forrester falls under the soft, compelling pressure of soft, compelling devotees of Venus and Bacchus. He's going to be in need of all the strength that he and his Goddess, the beautiful and intellectual Athena, can muster! Into this sensuous strife stride the Temple Myrmidons -- religious cops sworn to obey orders without question or hesitation -- with a pickup order for William Forrester. Where he is taken, what happens to him, and the truly fantastic discoveries he makes about himself and the Gods and Goddesses ... here are the ingredients that make up this science fiction novel of suspense, intrigue, mystery and danger! Total Running Time (TRT): 5 hours, 23 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert. Randall Garrett (1927-1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about Earth bringing civilization to an alien planet. Laurence M. Janifer (1933-2002) was an American science fiction author, with a career spanning over 50 years. Though his first published work was a short story in Cosmos magazine in 1953, his career as a writer can be said to have started in 1959 when he began writing for Astounding and Galaxy Science Fiction. He co-wrote the first novel in the "Psi-Power" series: Brain Twister, written with Randall Garrett under the joint pseudonym Mark Phillips.

Pagan Passions

The First Doctor Dolittle Collection includes three full-length novels featuring Doctor Dolittle. Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 The Story of Doctor Dolittle. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in their own languages. He later becomes a naturalist, using his abilities to speak with animals to better understand nature and the history of the world. Doctor Dolittle first appeared in the author's illustrated letters to his children, written from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early Victorian England, where Doctor John Dolittle lives in the fictional English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the West Country. Doctor Dolittle has a few close human friends, including Tommy Stubbins and Matthew Mugg, the Cats'-Meat Man. The animal team includes Polynesia (a parrot), Gub-Gub (a pig), Jip (a dog), Dab-Dab (a goose), Chee-Chee (a monkey), Too-Too (an owl), the Pushmi-pullyu, and a white mouse later named simply Whitey. Included in this collection: 1. The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts (1920), written and illustrated by the British author Hugh Lofting, is the first of his Doctor Dolittle books, a series of children's novels about a man who learns to talk to animals and becomes their champion around the world. It was one of the novels in the series which was adapted into the film Doctor Dolittle. 2. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle was the second of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books to be published, coming out in 1922. It is nearly five times as long as its predecessor and the writing style is pitched at a more mature audience. The scope of the novel is vast; it is divided into six parts and the illustrations are also more sophisticated. It won the Newbery Medal for 1923. It was one of the novels in the series that was adapted into the film Doctor Dolittle. 3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office is the third of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books. Set on the West Coast of Africa, the book follows the episodic format of most other books in the series.

The First Doctor Dolittle Collection

Triplanetary (NOVEL version) is a science fiction novel and space opera by American author E. E. ”Doc” Smith. It was first serialized in the magazine Amazing Stories in 1934. The novel covers several episodes in an eons-long human breeding project by the super-intelligences of the Arisians. This alien race is breeding two genetic lines to become the ultimate weapon in Arisia's cosmic war with their arch-enemies, the Eddorians. “Doc” E.E. Smith pretty much invented the space opera genre, and Triplanetary is a good and well-known example. Physics, time, and politics never stand in the way of a plot that gallops ahead without letup. Having earned a PhD in chemical engineering, it’s understandable that the heroes of Smith’s story are all scientists. He didn’t want to be constrained by the limits of known science, however, so in his hands the electromagnetic spectrum becomes a raw material to be molded into ever-more amazing and lethal forms, and the speed of light is no bar to traveling through the interstellar void. Enjoy this story of yesteryear, set in tomorrow, where real women ignite love at a glance, real men achieve in days what governments manage in decades, and aliens are an ever-present threat to Life-As-We-Know-It! Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. After the Lensman series became popular, Smith took his Triplanetary story and turned it into the first of the Lensman series, using it as a prequel to give the back story for the protaganists in the Lensmen series. He added 6 new chapters, doubling it in size and it's really a different book from the serialized novel, being published 14 years after the first. The expanded Triplanetary was published in book form in 1948. The second prequel, First Lensman, was a new original novel published in 1950. This is the 1948 expanded and reworked edition. Total Running Time (TRT): 10 hours, 31 min. Edward Elmer Smith (also E. E. Smith or E. E. "Doc" Smith; 1890-1965) was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and an early science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. Smith's novels are generally considered to be classic space operas, and he is sometimes called the first of the three "novas" of 20th-century science fiction (with Stanley G. Weinbaum and Robert A. Heinlein as the second and third novas).

Triplanetary (1948 novel version)

The World That Couldn't Be is a science fiction short story by American author Clifford D. Simak. Layard was a curiosity to sociologists. The planet supported thriving tribes of natives but they were genderless. How could tribes form without families? But Gavin Duncan didn’t care. He had come to Layard to farm vua plants. Their berries cured mental illnesses and were one of the most expensive commodities in the galaxy. He was going to make his fortune if he could just keep the Cytha at bay, a big, dumb animal that could munch through 10 rows of vua in a night. Despite native superstitions he was going to have to hunt and kill the pest if he was to protect his crop. It was a dim-witted beast. How hard could it be? – The World That Couldn’t Be was first published in the January 1958 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 30 min. Clifford Donald Simak (1904 -1988) was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo Awards and by colleagues with one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The World That Couldn't Be

Mr. Spaceship is a science fiction novella by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1953. Humanity is at war with "Yuks," an alien life form which does not use mechanical spaceships nor constructions. Instead, it relies on life forms. The war with the Yuks from Proxima Centauri was claimed to be a stalemate but they were really winning. The mine belts they laid seemed to propagate themselves and were slowly strangling Terran planets. How did they do that? What was their secret? The answer was baffling and the best human minds could only conclude that their ships and mines were somehow alive. So, the next desperate step was to ask "If they are using organic ships, why can't we do the same?". Thus Mr. Spaceship was conceived and carried out. But will a conscious warship do what the generals wish? Mr. Spaceship was first published in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy, January 1953. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 11 min. Philip Kendrick Dick (1928-1982) was an American science fiction author. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Dick one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.

Mr. Spaceship

Hellhounds of the Cosmos is a science fiction short story by Clifford D. Simak, from Astounding Stories of 1932. Earth is being attacked by horrible black monsters that appear from nowhere and destroy and kill everything and everyone in their paths. Nothing affects them, nothing stops them; they are impervious to all weapons. Earth is doomed. But there is one hope and it rests on the shoulders of 98 brave men. Can they do it? can they find a way of retaliating? Listen/Read and find out. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 7 min. Clifford Donald Simak (1904 -1988) was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo Awards and by colleagues with one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Hellhounds of the Cosmos

Project Mastodon is a science fiction short story by Clifford D. Simak, first published in March 1955 in the Galaxy magazine. Clifford Simak deals with the implications of time travel in his own unique way in this story. What if a group of guys did it on their own, without any help from government or industry? On a shoestring,so to speak? Would anyone believe them? What would you do if you could go back 150,000 years to a time when mastodons and saber toothed tigers roamed North America? And what happens when they run out of money? All these questions are explored in the usual humorous, wry Simak way in this story. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 10 min. Clifford Donald Simak (1904 -1988) was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo Awards and by colleagues with one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Project Mastodon

"True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid..." Dorothy is in a bit of a pickle. Her house has been swept away in a vicious tornado with just herself and her dog inside, and when she walks out the front door again, she finds that she is not in Kansas anymore. She is in the mysterious lands of Oz. Along with her new friends, a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion, she sets out to find the Wizard, who is said to know how to get her home. But the Wicked Witch of the West has other plans for her. Inspired in part by 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘ (1900) is one of the most beloved children‘s books of all time. It is highly associated with the iconic 1939 movie adaptation staring Judy Garland in which she sings the Oscar-winning song "Over the Rainbow". L. Frank Baum (1956-1919) was an American author, actor, and filmmaker best known for his children‘s books, particularly `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘ (1900) and its thirteen sequels. He started writing young and created a journal with his brother, which they handed out for free.

The Original OZ series

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Apology of Socrates, written by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue of the speech of legal self-defence which Socrates (469–399 BC) spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption in 399 BC. Specifically, the Apology of Socrates is a defence against the charges of "corrupting the youth" and "not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" to Athens (24b). Among the primary sources about the trial and death of the philosopher Socrates, the Apology of Socrates is the dialogue that depicts the trial, and is one of four Socratic dialogues, along with Euthyphro, Phaedo, and Crito, through which Plato details the final days of the philosopher Socrates. Introduction: The Apology of Socrates begins with Socrates addressing the jury of perhaps 500 Athenian men to ask if they have been persuaded by the Orators Lycon, Anytus, and Meletus, who have accused Socrates of corrupting the young people of the city and impiety against the pantheon of Athens. The first sentence of his speech establishes the theme of the dialogue—that philosophy begins with an admission of ignorance. Socrates later clarifies that point of philosophy when he says that whatever wisdom he possesses comes from knowing that he knows nothing (23b, 29b). In the course of the trial, Socrates imitates, parodies, and corrects the Orators, his accusers, and asks the jury to judge him by the truth of his statements, not by his oratorical skill (cf. Lysias XIX 1,2,3; Isaeus X 1; Isocrates XV 79; Aeschines II 24). Socrates says he will not use sophisticated language—carefully arranged ornate words and phrases—but will speak using the common idiom of the Greek language. Socrates says that he will speak in the manner he has used in the agora and at the money tables which he states is his native tongue and the fashion of his country. Although offered the opportunity to appease the prejudices of the jury, with a minimal concession to the charges of corruption and impiety, Socrates does not yield his integrity to avoid the penalty of death. The jury condemns Socrates to death.

Apology of Socrates

The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling. The tales in the book and also those in The Second Jungle Book which followed in 1895, and which includes five further stories about Mowgli, are fables, using animals in an anthropomorphic manner to give moral lessons. The verses of The Law of the Jungle, for example, lay down rules for the safety of individuals, families and communities. Kipling put in them nearly everything he knew or "heard or dreamed about the Indian jungle." Other readers have interpreted the work as allegories of the politics and society of the time. The best-known of them are the three stories revolving around the adventures of an abandoned "man cub" Mowgli who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. The most famous of the other stories are probably "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", the story of a heroic mongoose, and "Toomai of the Elephants", the tale of a young elephant-handler. As with much of Kipling's work, each of the stories is preceded by a piece of verse, and succeeded by another. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. He was born in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, and was taken by his family to England when he was five years old. Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (a collection of stories which includes "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"), Just So Stories (1902), Kim (a tale of adventure) (1901), many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888); and his poems, including "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The White Man's Burden" (1899) and "If—" (1910). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works are said to exhibit "a versatile and luminous narrative gift". Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient.

Svenska Ljud Classica

The Jungle Book

"Herbert West–Reanimator" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written between October 1921 and June 1922. It was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication Home Brew.     The story is the first to mention Lovecraft's fictional Miskatonic University. It is also one of the first depictions of zombies as scientifically reanimated corpses, with animalistic and uncontrollable temperaments.

Herbert West Reanimator

As the title indicates, here are three science fiction stories by Frank Herbert: Missing Link, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, 1959; Operation Haystack, also published in Astounding Science Fiction 1959; and Old Rambling House, published in Galaxy Science Fiction 1958.

3 Science Fiction Stories

The quirky mind of famous science fiction writer Lester del Ray gives us three wonderful tales ranging from zombies (Dead Ringer), time travel - how do you convince your earlier self it is safe to get into the time machine, eh?(And It Comes Out Here) and eternal life (The Dwindling Years). Listen and enjoy.

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, first published in 1938 in England. Anthem is taking place at some unspecified future date. Mankind has entered another dark age as a result of what Rand saw as the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur, if at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the word "I" has disappeared from the language). As is common in her work, Rand draws a clear distinction between the "socialist/communal" values of equality and brotherhood and the "productive/capitalist" values of achievement and individuality. The story also parallels Stalinist Russia, which was currently going on at the time as the story was published. Rooted in her own experiences fleeing from the communist Russia of the 1920’s, as well as the rise of fascism in Italy and National Socialism in Germany, Rand wrote Anthem as a warning to all concerned with losing personal identity in an ever changing and rapidly developing world. Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.

Anthem

The Skull is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1952. Conger agreed to kill a stranger he had never seen. He wasn't concerned about getting the wrong man. He knew what the man looked like. There was no way he could make a mistake about his target's identity -- he had the man's skull under his shoulder. The Skull is a skilful mesh of time travel, unscrupulous governments, prisoners, and religion. With an assassin thrown in for good measure. The Skull was first published in If Worlds of Science Fiction September 1952. Total Running Time (TRT): 52 min. Philip Kendrick Dick (1928-1982) was an American science fiction author. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Dick one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.

The Skull

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a classic comedy of manners in which two flippant young men, in order to impress their respected beloveds, pretend that their names are “Ernest,” which both young ladies believe confers magical qualities on the possessor. It is regarded by many critics and scholars as being the wittiest play in the English language. Little needs to be said about the play itself, a sparkling example of Wilde's amazing ability to poke fun at almost everyone while making you laugh out loud at the witty sayings sprinkled throughout the acts. The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in London in 1895. Audiobook (solo recording of the play, meaning that all parts including stage directions are performed by one person), read by Phil Chenevert, running time 2 hours, 37 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book, ePUB, length 20,700 words, average reading time 1 hour, 45 min.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Vortex Blaster is a science fiction novella by American author E. E. ”Doc” Smith. It was first published in 1930. The novella is part of E.E. "Doc" Smith's classic Lensman series. Uncontrolled, terribly violent Atomic Vortices are slowly destroying civilization on every human planet throughout the galaxy. Nothing can contain or stop them despite the lensmen's best efforts until one destroys the home and family of "Storm" Cloud, the brilliant atomic physicist. The tragedy triggers actions on his part that pit him one-on-one against the horrible vortices. Introducing "Storm" Cloud as The Vortex Blaster. Total Running Time (TRT): 55 min. Edward Elmer Smith (also E. E. Smith or E. E. "Doc" Smith; 1890-1965) was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and an early science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. Smith's novels are generally considered to be classic space operas, and he is sometimes called the first of the three "novas" of 20th-century science fiction (with Stanley G. Weinbaum and Robert A. Heinlein as the second and third novas).

The Vortex Blaster

The Crystal Crypt is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1954. In the Crystal Crypt, taken from the 1954 Planet Stories, the war between Mars and Terra is about to erupt and earth has only merchants and salesmen to fight; can they carry out their mission? Stark terror ruled the Inner-Flight ship on that last Mars-Terra run. For the black-clad Leiters were on the prowl ... and the grim red planet was not far behind. The Crystal Crypt was first published in Planet Stories January 1954. Total Running Time (TRT): 48 min. Philip Kendrick Dick (1928-1982) was an American science fiction author. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Dick one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.

The Crystal Crypt

Gambler's World is a science fiction short story by American author Keith Laumer. Here is a story starring the always unconventional Terrestrial Diplomat, Retief. As a diplomat, Retief does not always follow procedure. Well the truth is that he almost never follows procedure but somehow his wit and strength manage to salvage most situations from the bumbling of the other diplomats. His sardonic approach to inter-galactic negotiations in this story is a delight to read. Gambler’s World was first published in Worlds of If November 1961. Total Running Time (TRT): 55 minutes. Reading by Phil Chenevert. John Keith Laumer (1925-1993) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. Keith Laumer is known for the Bolo and Retief stories. The Bolo stories chronicle the evolution of super tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The Retief stories deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the US Foreign Service.

Gambler's World

Naudsonce is a science fiction novella by H Beam Piper first published in 1962. Naudsonce? What does THAT mean? Well, to find out you will need to read or listen to this story where Piper's unique mind explores what we mean by 'communication' and how it happens. The joint Space Navy-Colonial Office expedition was looking for new planets suitable for colonization; they had been out, now, for four years, which was close to maximum for an exploring expedition. They had entered eleven systems, and made landings on eight planets. Three had been reasonably close to Terra-type but were all disqualified by terrible animals or warlike inhabitants. Now, finally here was an ideal world; their last chance before returning in disgrace. Now the only thing was to get an agreement from the local king or whatever to the colonization. Easy, right? Well first, you've got to talk to them... and there the trouble starts. Naudsonce was first published in Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction, January 1962. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 55 min. Henry Beam Piper (1904-1964) was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales. Piper's stories fall into two camps: stark space opera, such as Space Viking, or stories of cultural conflict or misunderstanding, such as Little Fuzzy or the Paratime stories.

Naudsonce

Arm of the Law is a science fiction short story by Harry Harrison first published in 1958. How could a robot—a machine, after all—be involved in something like law application and violence? Harry Harrison tells what happens when a police robot hits an outpost on Mars. A quiet backwater outpost on Mars gets a surprise in the form of a new police recruit - in a box! Yep, it's a prototype robot cop sent to the backwater station for testing. And Harrison tells the strange, funny and scary things that begin to happen after that, as only he can. Arm of the Law first appeared in Fantastic Universe August 1958. Total Running Time (TRT): 41 min. Harry Max Harrison (1925-2012) was an American science fiction author. Harrison is known for his writing, particularly his humorous and satirical science fiction, such as the Stainless Steel Rat series and the novel Bill, the Galactic Hero (which satirises Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers). Harrison is also known for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The novel was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973).

Arm of the Law

The Dwindling Years is a science fiction short story by American author Lester del Ray, first published in 1956. He didn’t expect to be last— but neither did he anticipate the horror of being the first! A totally different story on eternal life. The Dwindling Years was first published in Galaxy January 1956. Total Running Time (TRT): 38 min. Lester del Rey (1915 - 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of Ballantine Books. Del Rey was awarded the 1972 E. E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (for the Skylark) by the New England Science Fiction Association and a special 1985 Balrog Award for his contributions to fantasy, voted by fans and organized by Locus Magazine. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him its 11th SFWA Grand Master in 1990.

The Dwindling Years

Tony and the Beetles is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1953. Tony and the Beetles takes place far in the future when Earth's enormous colonial empire is well established but the question is, how long can it last? Tony Rossi lives with his father Joseph Rossi and mother Leah Rossi in the Sun of Betelguese. Meanwhile at Orion, the earthlings are waging a fierce battle for power with the beetle fleet. When the tide of hostilities turn against the colonisers from earth, Toni's world begins taking a turn for the worse. Tony and the Beetles was first published in Orbit volume 1 number 2, 1953. Total Running Time (TRT): 34 min. Philip Kendrick Dick (1928-1982) was an American science fiction author. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Dick one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.

Tony and the Beetles

Dead Ringer is a science fiction short story by American author Lester del Ray, first published in 1956. There was nothing, especially on Earth, which could set him free—the truth least of all! A newspaperman is hounded from his jobs because he keeps trying to report aliens who can't be killed--they heal, even from death – just like zombies. And now the authorities want to institutionalize him… Dead Ringer was first published in Galaxy Science Fiction November 1956. Total Running Time (TRT): 29 min. Lester del Rey (1915 - 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of Ballantine Books. Del Rey was awarded the 1972 E. E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (for the Skylark) by the New England Science Fiction Association and a special 1985 Balrog Award for his contributions to fantasy, voted by fans and organized by Locus Magazine. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him its 11th SFWA Grand Master in 1990.

Dead Ringer

Queen Zixi of Ix, or The Story of the Magic Cloak, is a children's book written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Frederick Richardson. It was originally serialized in the early 20th-century American children's magazine St. Nicholas from November 1904 to October 1905, and was published in book form later in 1905 by The Century Company. The events of the book alternate between Noland and Ix, two neighboring regions to the Land of Oz, and Baum himself commented this was the best book he had written. In a letter to his eldest son, Frank Joslyn Baum, he said it was "nearer to the old-fashioned fairy tale than anything I have yet accomplished", and in many respects, it adheres more closely to the fairy tale structure than the Oz books. The book was made into the 1914 film The Magic Cloak of Oz. Although no part of the book's story takes place in the Land of Oz, by the time the movie was made, it had become clear that the Oz franchise was Baum's most popular creation.

Queen Zixi of Ix

Mowgli: is a collection of all 9 wonderful and exciting tales about Mowgli from the first and second Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling. In the Jungle Books, Kipling tells about Mowgli, the human baby raised by a pack of wolves in the jungles of India. His exploits and adventures are many and varied especially his dealing with the other animals such as his wolf mother and father and brother wolves, Baloo the wise bear who teaches him the Law of the Jungle, and in his life long battle with Shere-Kahn, the lame human killing tiger. The stories are put into a chronological order from when Mowgli was a baby in the wolf den (Mowgli's Brothers) to his teen age years when he hears the irresistable call of civilization and being with his own kind (Spring Running). Stories included are: Mowgli's Brothers, Kaa's Hunting, Tiger, Tiger, Mowgli's Song, How Fear Came, Let In the Jungle, Red Dog, Kaa's Ankus, Spring Running and finally ends with The Outsong. Audiobook read by Phil Chenevert, running time: 7 hours, 26 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book: ePUB, 63,600 words, average reading time 5 hours, 20 min. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works are said to exhibit "a versatile and luminous narrative gift". In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient.

Mowgli

The Repairman and Other stories is a science fiction short story compilation by Harry Harrison. This is a collection of 3 of Harry Harrison marvelous early stories that were published in Galaxy, Analog and Fantastic Universe. The Repairman (1958), (35 min.), is a straight fun SF story of a man getting a job done. It is most typical of his later style in series like the Stainless Steel Rat; “Being an interstellar trouble shooter wouldn’t be so bad … if I could shoot the trouble! “ Toy Shop (1962), (11 min.), is a short piece exploring bureaucratic blindness and one ingenious way around it. “The gadget was strictly, beyond any question, a toy. Not a real, workable device. Except for the way it could work under a man's mental skin.... “ The Velvet Glove (1956), (47 min), is a favorite for its writing style, fun perspective, sly social commentary on the scene in 1956 and just plain delightful imagination. And Harrison manages to pack excitement and mystery in at the same time. SF writer and editor Harry Harrison explores a not too distant future where robots—particularly specialist robots who don't know their place—have quite a rough time of it. True, the Robot Equality Act had been passed—but so what? “New York was a bad town for robots this year. In fact, all over the country it was bad for robots....” Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hours, 33 min. Harry Max Harrison (1925-2012) was an American science fiction author. Harrison is known for his writing, particularly his humorous and satirical science fiction, such as the Stainless Steel Rat series and the novel Bill, the Galactic Hero (which satirises Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers). Harrison is also known for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The novel was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973).

The Repairman and other Stories

Second Variety is a science fiction novella by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1953. "The claws were bad enough in the first place—nasty, crawling little death-robots. But when they began to imitate their creators, it was time for the human race to make peace—if it could!" When future war becomes so horrific that humans turn to machines and computers to design ways to kill each other strange things may happen. And DO in this classic Philip K. Dick story! Early victories by the USSR in a global nuclear war cause the United Nations government to retreat to the moon leaving behind troops and fierce autonomous robots called “Claws”, which reproduce and redesign themselves in unmanned subterranean factories. After six bloody years of conflict the Soviets call for an urgent conference and UN Major Joseph Hendricks sets out to meet them. Along the way he will discover what the Claws have been up to, and it isn’t good… Second Variety was first published in the May 1953 edition of Space Science Fiction Magazine. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 54 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert. Philip Kendrick Dick (1928-1982) was an American science fiction author. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states. In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2005, Time magazine named Dick one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.

Second Variety

A Slave Is a Slave is a science fiction novella written by H. Beam Piper, originally published in 1962. There has always been strong sympathy for the poor, meek, downtrodden slave--the kindly little man, oppressed by cruel and overbearing masters. Could it possibly have been misplaced...? The Galactic Empire is slowly 'welcoming' into the family of civilized worlds those systems so far off in the backwater of the galaxy that they have been overlooked and ignored for the past 500 years or so. This is purely routine work because every planet offered the chance has eagerly accepted the invitation. Mainly because the enlightened Empire lets the planetary government continue to rule and do whatever it wants... with a few minor restrictions of course; and because the they are shown what happens to planets who decide not to accept the invitation. Aditya is the system in question here. Forgotten for almost a millennium but surviving, thank you very much, with an economy based entirely on slavery. Everyone is a slave except for the few thousand Lords Master. What happens when the this type of society meets the Constitution of the Galactic Empire which forbids any type of slavery? What happens when the poor, oppressed slaves are given their freedom? Funny you should ask... A Slave is a Slave first appeared in Analog, April 1962. Total Running Time (TRT): 2 hours, 27 min. Henry Beam Piper (1904-1964) was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales. Piper's stories fall into two camps: stark space opera, such as Space Viking, or stories of cultural conflict or misunderstanding, such as Little Fuzzy or the Paratime stories.

A Slave Is a Slave

When Ms. Stoner comes to Sherlock Holmes with a strange story that a mysterious whistle caused her sisters death, Holmes is ready to take on the case. After examining the clues, Watson is sure the gypsies are to blame. Can Holmes prove there is a more sinister plot in play? Follow the clues with Sherlock Holmes in the adventure of the speckled band!

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Re-Imagined

The Adventure of the Speckled Band

In the story, the Cowardly Lion believes that he has depleted the reserve of courage imbued in him by the Wizard (as told in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). Someone soon misdirects the Lion into thinking that he can only replenish his courage by eating a courageous man. Since the Lion dislikes the notion of harming anyone, he resolves to do the deed as quickly as possible, and so embarks on his quest.    Unbeknownst to the Lion, he is being hunted by two would-be hunters: a circus clown named Notta Bit More, and an orphaned boy named Bobby Downs, whom Notta calls Bob Up. Notta accidentally said the magic spell that sent Bob and him to the Munchkin land of Mudge, where the tyrannical and cranky ruler, Mustafa, sends them on their quest: two cowardly lion hunters hunting a Cowardly Lion.

The Cowardly Lion of Oz

The K-Factor is a science fiction short story by Harry Harrison, first published in 1960. The human race has reached the stars, colonized many planets and done amazing things in all areas of scientific progress. But humans are still humans and remain both honorable and not so honorable; some with high ideals and others with very low ones indeed. So why hasn't war occurred in several centuries among the hundreds of planets? Has man really changed? Not on your life it hasn't! Science has given man peace but at what cost? “Speed never hurt anybody--it's the sudden stop at the end. It's not how much change that signals danger, but how fast it's changing.... “ The K-Factor first appeared in Analog December 1960. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 2 min. Harry Max Harrison (1925-2012) was an American science fiction author. Harrison is known for his writing, particularly his humorous and satirical science fiction, such as the Stainless Steel Rat series and the novel Bill, the Galactic Hero (which satirises Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers). Harrison is also known for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The novel was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973).

The K-Factor

The Fisherman and His Soul is a fairy tale first published in Wilde’s A House of Pomegranates. It tells of a fisherman who nets and falls in love with a mermaid. To get what we want is often the greatest curse of all. The fisherman here accidentally catches a mermaid in his net. He falls in love with the Mermaid and tells her that he wants to marry her. She tells him that he can only marry her if he sends away his soul. From a Witch, the Fisherman learns how to send his soul away. The Soul makes several attempts to persuade the Fisherman to take him back, eventually convincing him to do so with the tale of a beautiful dancer who lives nearby. Too late does the Fisherman discover that the soul which he sent out into the world without a heart has become evil. So be careful what you set your heart on. The Fisherman and His Soul was first published in 1891 in A House of Pomegranates. Audiobook read by Phil Chenevert, running time 1 hour, 42 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book, ePUB, length 14,100 words, average reading time 1 hour, 15 min.

The Fisherman and His Soul

Roast Beef, Medium (Emma McChesney trilogy #1), first published in 1913 is a novel by Pulitzer Prize winner, the American novelist Edna Ferber. This book follows the adventures of Emma McChesney, a smart and savvy divorced mother who travels the Midwest as a sales representative for a large skirt and petticoat manufacturer. Her many adventures with people, (including predatory salesmen and hotel clerks), are funny and poignant. She is hardworking and able to outsell the slickest of the men salesmen. She has learned to focus on her work and her seventeen-year-old son, Jock. Experience has taught her that it is usually best to stick to roast beef, medium and not get stomach ache with fancy sauces and exotic dishes. This is the first of three volumes following the career and adventures of Emma McChesney. Edna Ferber rose to fame, in fact, on her short stories about the adventures of Emma, about whom the phrase "one smart cookie" might have been coined. Edna Ferber (1885-1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), Cimarron (1929; made into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), and Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood movie). Ferber's novels generally featured strong female protagonists, along with a rich and diverse collection of supporting characters. She usually highlighted at least one strong secondary character who faced discrimination ethnically or for other reasons; through this technique, Ferber demonstrated her belief that people are people and that the not-so-pretty people have the best character.

Roast Beef, Medium

Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed 1892 in London. The play was first published in 1893. Like many of Wilde's comedies, it bitingly satirizes the morals of Victorian society, particularly marriage and attitudes between the sexes. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who discovers that her husband may be having an affair with another woman. She confronts her husband, but he instead invites the other woman, Mrs. Erlynne, to his wife's birthday ball. Angered by her husband's unfaithfulness, Lady Windermere leaves her husband for another lover. Or does she? Is it really possible to trust delicious gossip? Are all men really bad? These and many other questions are raised and if not answered, then held up for public scrutiny in this biting satire of morals and proper behavior. The best-known line of the play sums up the central theme: We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. —Lord Darlington Audiobook (solo recording of the play, meaning that all parts including stage directions are performed by one person), read by Phil Chenevert, running time 2 hours, 28 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book, ePUB, length 20,100 words, average reading time 1 hour, 40 min.

Lady Windermere's Fan

The Ambulance Made Two Trips is a science fiction short story by Murray Leinster, first published in 1960. Big Jake Connors is taking over his town through violence, intimidation and bribery but Detective Sergeant Fitzgerald can only grind his teeth in frustration. The gangsters seem to have everything going their way until the day that a little dry cleaning establishment declines their offer of 'protection' and strange things start to happen. Murray Leinster gives us another wonderful product of 'what if' from his limitless imagination to enjoy in this gem of a story. The Ambulance Made Two Trips was first published in Astounding Science Fiction April 1960. Total Running Time (TRT): 56 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert. Murray Leinster (1896-1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.

The Ambulance Made Two Trips

It Could Be Anything is a science fiction novella by American author Keith Laumer first published in 1963. A science fiction story by the great Keith Laumer - what more needs to be said? A young man sets out from his rural town to see the world for himself. What is really over the next hill? What does a big city look like? Is there really an ocean? After all, we only have the testimony of others that tell us about these things. Full confidence and belief in himself, he boards the local train, falls asleep and then ..... finds himself alone, the three cars abandoned .... the engine is gone and the tracks; well, the tracks just end in the middle of a grain field. What is going on? What kind of reality is this? Or is what we 'know' just illusions and in fact, It Could Be Anything!!! Keith Laumer, well-known for his tales of adventure and action, shows us a different side of his talent in this original, exciting and thought-provoking exploration of the meaning of meaning. It Could be Anything was first published in Amazing Stories, January 1963. Total running time (TRT): 1 hour, 43 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert. John Keith Laumer (1925-1993) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. Keith Laumer is known for the Bolo and Retief stories. The Bolo stories chronicle the evolution of super tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The Retief stories deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the US Foreign Service.

It Could Be Anything

The King of the City is a science fiction novella by American author Keith Laumer first published in 1961. A fantastic science fiction tale, woven out of the threads of future thinking, by a master of the genre! He was a sort of taxi-driver, delivering a commuter to the city. The tank traps and armored cars were the hazards of the trade! The King of the City was first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1961. Total running time (TRT): 1 hour, 6 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert. John Keith Laumer (1925-1993) was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. Keith Laumer is known for the Bolo and Retief stories. The Bolo stories chronicle the evolution of super tanks that eventually become self-aware through the constant improvement resulting from centuries of intermittent warfare against various alien races. The Retief stories deals with the adventures of a cynical spacefaring diplomat who constantly has to overcome the red-tape-infused failures of people with names like Ambassador Grossblunder. The Retief stories were greatly influenced by Laumer's earlier career in the US Foreign Service.

The King of the City

The Sensitive Man is a short science fiction novel by Poul W. Anderson first published in 1954. Poul Anderson delves into the realm of human potential in this exciting story and asks some penetrating questions for us to think about. What if psychology finally enabled people to even partially control all those automatic reactions of our minds and bodies? What if we were not slaves to anger, fear, emotions, hormones, blood pressure and the thousand other things that our bodies 'take care of' from instant to instant? What if those things could be brought under the control even partially of our reason and minds? In this story one man stood between a power-hungry cabal and their world mastery—but a man of, shall we say, unusual talents. Total Running Time (TRT): 2 hours, 36 minutes. Reading by Phil Chenevert. The Sensitive Man first appeared in the magazine Fantastic Universe in January 1954. Poul William Anderson (1926-2001) was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

The Sensitive Man

Planet of Dread is a science fiction novella by Murray Leinster first published in 1962. Moran cut apart the yard-long monstrosity with a slash of flame. The thing presumably died, but it continued to writhe senselessly. He turned to see other horrors crawling toward him. Then he knew he was being marooned on a planet of endless terrors. Humans have expanded to myriads of worlds throughout the galaxies but they have found that the only way for colonies to be self sustaining, was to reproduce the total ecology of their home world; the original Earth. This meant bringing the entire ecosystem, the good, the bad and the ugly. Viruses as well as grass, goats as well as stink bugs and allowing the whole mixture to ultimately produce an inhabitable world for humans. But what happens when this system is not properly supervised? Moran and the others in the space yacht Nadine find a world where strange things have been brewing for over a hundred years and may or may not survive an environment gone mad. Planet of Dread was first published in Fantastic Stories of Imagination May 1962. Total Running Time (TRT): 2 hours, 12 min. Murray Leinster (1896-1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.

Planet of Dread

The C. Auguste Dupin Trilogy includes the three short stories featuring C. Auguste Dupin. Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin is a fictional character created by Edgar Allan Poe. Dupin made his first appearance in Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), widely considered the first detective fiction story. He reappears in The Mystery of Marie Rogêt (1842) and The Purloined Letter (1844). Dupin is not a professional detective and his motivations for solving the mysteries change throughout the three stories. Using what Poe termed ratiocination, Dupin combines his considerable intellect with creative imagination, even putting himself in the mind of the criminal. His talents are strong enough that he appears able to read the mind of his companion, the unnamed narrator of all three stories. Poe created the Dupin character before the word detective had been coined. The character laid the groundwork for fictional detectives to come, including Sherlock Holmes, and established most of the common elements of the detective fiction genre. Included in this collection: 1. The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been described as the first modern detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his tales of ratiocination. 2. The Mystery of Marie Rogêt, often subtitled A Sequel to The Murders in the Rue Morgue, is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe written in 1842. This is the first murder mystery based on the details of a real crime. It first appeared in Snowden's Ladies' Companion in three installments, November and December 1842 and February 1843. 3. The Purloined Letter is a short story by American author Edgar Allan Poe. It is the third of his three detective stories featuring the fictional C. Auguste Dupin. It first appeared in the literary annual The Gift for 1845 (1844) and soon was reprinted in numerous journals and newspapers.

The C. Auguste Dupin Trilogy

The Red Dust is a science fiction novel by Murray Leinster first published in 1927. You who have read The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster, will welcome the sequel to that story. The world, in a far distant future, is peopled with huge insects and titanic fungus growths. Life has been greatly altered, and tiny Man is now in the process of becoming acclimated to the change. We again meet our hero Burl, but this time a far greater danger menaces the human race. The huge insects are still in evidence, but the terror they inspire is as nothing compared to the deadly Red Dust. You will follow this remarkable story with breathless interest. "Burl raised his spear, and plunged down on the back of the moving thing, thrusting his spear with all the force he could command. He had fallen upon the shining back of one of the huge, meat-eating beetles, and his spear had slid across the horny armour and then stuck fast, having pierced only the leathery tissue between the insect's head and thorax." (summary from the magazine blurb) The Red Dust was first published in January 1927 of Amazing Stories. Total Running Time (TRT): 2 hours, 45 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert. Murray Leinster (1896-1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.

The Red Dust

Common Sense is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776 at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation. It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. As of 2006, it remains the all-time best-selling American title and is still in print today. Common Sense made public a persuasive and impassioned case for independence, which had not yet been given serious intellectual consideration. Paine connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity and structured Common Sense as if it were a sermon. Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era."

Common Sense

"There is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as possible in a short time," said the Wizard. "As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked Dorothy." During an earthquake in California Dorothy and her friends are swallowed up by cracks in the earth and find themselves in a whole new land – the Land of Mangaboos. The Mangaboos are a vegetable people, and they accuse Dorothy and her friends of causing the earthquake and sentence them to death. The 1939 movie, `The Wizard of Oz‘ starring Judy Garland, perfectly told the story of a little girl‘s first adventure, but the story of Oz and Dorothy far from ended then. With his trademark inventions on display, author L. Frank Baum delivers another imaginative and delightful book in the Oz series, though many will agree that this fourth one is darker and more troubling than its predecessors. L. Frank Baum (1956-1919) was an American author, actor, and filmmaker best known for his children‘s books, particularly `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘ (1900) and its thirteen sequels. He started writing young and created a journal with his brother, which they handed out for free.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London, published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand.

The Call of the Wild

"A Witch Shall Be Born" is one of the original sword and sorcery novellas by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian.    The story concerns a witch replacing her twin sister as queen of a city state, which brings her into conflict with Conan who had been the captain of the queen's guard. Themes of paranoia, and the duality of the twin sisters, are paramount in this story but it also includes elements of the conflict between barbarism and civilization that is common to the entire Conan series.

A Witch Shall Be Born

The Complete Alice in Wonderland Collection includes the four original stories about Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a young girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course, structure, characters, and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre. Included in this collection: 1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) 2. Through the Looking-Glass (1871) 3. The Hunting of the Snark (1876) 4. Alice's Adventures Under Ground (1886)

The Complete Alice in Wonderland Collection

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