The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. 'Sun Tzu's Military Method') is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills (or "art") related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080. The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare and has influenced both Far Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy, lifestyles and beyond. The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training for millennia to come. The book was translated into French and published in 1772 (re-published in 1782) by the French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title The Book of War. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910. Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen, Vietnamese general Võ Nguyên Giáp, and American military general Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. are all cited as having drawn inspiration from the book.

The Art of War

The Defenders is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1953. The terrible destruction of total nuclear war between the Western and Eastern Blocks has succeeded in sterilizing the surface of the earth. No living creature can now exist there and all humans on both sides have fled to the hives, built miles below the surface, where they constantly work to produce the war materials necessary to carry on the battle. For 8 years now, the actual fighting between these super powers has been conducted by robots known as Ledeys since only they can sustain the terrible levels of radiation caused by the constant bombardment. They are the Defenders, standing between the combatant’s far below and ultimate victory or defeat. Life is hard in the tunnels, but liveable, while it is lethal on the surface. The Ledeys keep the generals informed on everything through vids and pictures; but how can this continue? What will happen? Who will win? The Defenders was first published in Galaxy Science Fiction January 1953. Total Running Time (TRT): 58 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 Defenders

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 Willows" is a novella by English author Algernon Blackwood, originally published as part of his 1907 collection The Listener and Other Stories. It is one of Blackwood's best known works and has been influential on a number of later writers. Horror author H.P. Lovecraft considered it to be the finest supernatural tale in English literature. "The Willows" is an example of early modern horror and is connected within the literary tradition of weird fiction.

The Willows

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 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

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

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

"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

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

The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping — rapping at my chamber door. "Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door — Only this and nothing more."". Those sonorous and somber words of Edgar Allan Poe that begin The Raven are part of most everyone's fond educational memories. Beautiful and haunting to hear and even more fun to read aloud. In this recording I have just attempted to express my enjoyment of the beauty in some favorite Poe poems. Beside The Raven, there are Alone; A Dream Within A Dream; Annabel Lee; City In the Sea; The Bells; A Dream Within a Dream; Annabel Lee; Dreamland; Evening Star; Lenore; Eldorado; A Valentine and "The Happiest Day". Hopefully listeners will enjoy hearing them half as much as I enjoyed the selfish pleasure of recording them. Audiobook Summary: 01 - The Raven 02 - Alone 03 - The City in the Sea 04 - The Bells 05 - A Dream Within A Dream 06 - Annabel Lee 07 - Dreamland 08 - Evening Star 09 - Lenore 10 - Eldorado 11 - A Valentine 12 - The Happiest Day

The Raven and Other Poems

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches by Arthur Conan Doyle Audiobook one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the last of the twelve collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in June 1892. Plot summary: Violet Hunter visits Holmes, asking whether she should accept a job as governess—a job with extraordinary conditions. She is enticed by the phenomenal salary which, as originally offered, is £100 a year, later increased to £120 when Miss Hunter balks at having to cut her long copper-coloured hair short (her previous position paid £48 a year). This is only one of many peculiar provisos to which she must agree. The employer, Jephro Rucastle, seems pleasant enough, yet Miss Hunter obviously has her suspicions. She announces to Holmes, after the raised salary offer, that she will take the job, and Holmes suggests that if he is needed, a telegram will bring him to Hampshire, where Mr. Rucastle's country estate, the Copper Beeches, is situated. After a fortnight, Holmes receives such a message, beseeching him to come and see her in Winchester. Miss Hunter tells them one of the most singular stories that they have ever heard. Mr. Rucastle would sometimes have Miss Hunter wear a particular electric blue dress and sit in the front room reading, with her back to the front window. She began to suspect that she was not supposed to see something outside the window, and a small mirror shard hidden in her handkerchief showed her that she was right: a man was standing there on the road looking towards the house. At another such session, Mr. Rucastle told a series of funny stories that made Miss Hunter laugh until she was quite weary. The one astonishing thing about this was that Mrs. Rucastle not only did not laugh but did not even smile. There were other unsavoury things about the household. The six-year-old child that she was supposed to look after was astonishingly cruel to small animals. The servants, Mr. and Mrs. Toller, were quite a sour pair. A great mastiff was kept on the property and always kept hungry. It was let out to prowl the grounds at night, and Miss Hunter was warned not to cross the threshold after dark. Also, Mr. Toller, who was quite often drunk, was the only one who had control over the dog.

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who is raised in the jungle by wolves. The stories are set in a forest in India; one place mentioned repeatedly is "Seonee" (Seoni), in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. A major theme in the book is abandonment followed by fostering, as in the life of Mowgli, echoing Kipling's own childhood. The theme is echoed in the triumph of protagonists including Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and The White Seal over their enemies, as well as Mowgli's. Another important theme is of law and freedom; the stories are not about animal behaviour, still less about the Darwinian struggle for survival, but about human archetypes in animal form. They teach respect for authority, obedience, and knowing one's place in society with "the law of the jungle", but the stories also illustrate the freedom to move between different worlds, such as when Mowgli moves between the jungle and the village. Critics have also noted the essential wildness and lawless energies in the stories, reflecting the irresponsible side of human nature. The Second Jungle Book is a sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. First published in 1895, it features five stories about Mowgli and three unrelated stories, all but one set in India, most of which Kipling wrote while living in Vermont. All of the stories were previously published in magazines in 1894-5, often under different titles. The 1994 film The Jungle Book used it as a source.

The Jungle Books

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 Beast in the Cave by H. P. Lovecraft Audiobook is a short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. The first draft was written in the Spring of 1904, with the final draft finished in April 1905, when Lovecraft was age fourteen. It was first published in the June 1918 issue of the amateur journalism publication The Vagrant, this being the equivalent of a well-edited fanzine today. The tale is to be regarded as an example of Lovecraft's juvenilia, and is classed as such in collections of his works. In the 1930s Lovecraft sometimes sent a copy of the typescript to his promising young correspondents, as an example of what he had produced at their age, and also as a first exercise in re-writing. In this way, he could best judge how much imagination and promise they really had. Plot: A man touring the vast Mammoth Cave becomes separated from his guide and becomes lost. His torch expires and he is giving up hope of finding a way out in the pitch dark when he hears strange non-human footsteps approaching him. Thinking it to be a lost mountain lion or another such beast, he picks up a stone and throws it toward the source of the sound. The beast is hit and crumples to the floor. The guide finds the protagonist, and together they examine the fallen creature with the guide's torchlight. The creature mutters in its last breaths and they see its face. They discover a pale, deformed human, who had also become lost in the cave many years ago.

The Beast in the Cave

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle Audiobook is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the seventh story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in January 1892. Plot: As London prepares for Christmas, newspapers report the theft of a near-priceless gemstone, the "Blue Carbuncle", from the hotel suite of the Countess of Morcar. The police arrest John Horner, a plumber with a criminal record who was in Countess's room repairing a fireplace grate. In Baker Street, Watson finds Holmes contemplating a battered old hat brought to him by Peterson, a commissionaire, who seeks Holmes's help in returning the hat to its rightful owner, along with a Christmas goose. Both had been dropped in the street during a scuffle. Although the goose bears a tag with the name Henry Baker, there is little hope of finding an owner with such a common name. Peterson takes the goose home for dinner, and Holmes keeps the hat to study as an intellectual exercise. Peterson returns excited, carrying the stolen gem, and reports that he found it in the goose's crop. Holmes closely studies the hat and its condition, deducing Henry Baker's age, social standing, intellect, and domestic status. When Baker appears in response to advertisements that Holmes places in the London newspapers, Holmes offers him a new goose. Happily accepting the replacement bird, Baker declines to take away the original bird's entrails, convincing Holmes that he knew nothing about the gem. He tells Holmes that he had purchased the goose at the Alpha Inn, a pub near the British Museum. Holmes and Watson visit the pub, where the proprietor informs them that the bird was purchased from a Covent Garden dealer. The dealer there refuses to help, complaining of the pestering he has endured recently about geese purchased by the Alpha Inn. Holmes, realising that he is not the only one aware of the goose's importance, tricks the irate man into revealing that the bird was supplied to him by its breeder, Mrs Oakshott of Brixton. A trip to Brixton proves unnecessary when the dealer's other "pesterer" appears – James Ryder, head attendant at the hotel where the gem was stolen.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft Audiobook is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in February 1928. Plot: The story consists of three interconnected parts, and is presented as notes belonging to Francis Thurston, a Boston resident investigating the ancient deity Cthulhu. The first part, "The Horror in Clay", concerns a mysterious clay bas-relief depicting Cthulhu. Thurston finds the bas-relief among the belongings of his great-uncle Professor Angell. The bas-relief was created by sculptor Henry Wilcox in March 1925 while half-asleep. At the time Wilcox was haunted by mysterious visions of Cyclopean cities. Angell also discovered reports of local residents — primarily artists, sculptors, architects, and others of a sensitive psyche — experiencing similar nightmares during that period. The next morning, Wilcox was amazed by his creation and took it to Angell, who noted that the bas-relief was reminiscent of a figurine seized by police from members of a New Orleans religious sect in 1907. In the second chapter, "The Tale of Inspector Legrasse", police officer John Legrasse reports at an archaeological society's symposium on his participation in a raid of a sect worshipping Cthulhu, from which the figurine was confiscated. The sect's actions were described as depraved and blasphemous. Local residents feared the sect's orgies, and claimed that human sacrifices were made at these orgies. A team of officers led by Legrasse arrived at the scene in search of several missing squatters. The police detained several sect members, but interrogation yielded little result, as the degraded and insane members stubbornly defended the truth of their cult. One sectarian, Old Castro, proclaimed that Cthulhu's time would come when the stars take a certain position. A phrase chanted by the sect turns out to have been previously used by a tribe of Eskimos, as revealed by one of the symposium's participants.

The Call of Cthulhu

This collection of 35 short poems was first published in 1927, and is a sequel to When We Were Very Young, which was the first anthology of verse dealing with the domestic adventures of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. As the author explains in the introduction: “We have been nearly three years writing this book. We began it when we were very young … and now we are six. So, of course, bits of it seem rather baby-ish to us, almost as if they had slipped out of some other book by mistake. So we want you to know that the name of the book doesn’t mean that this is us being six all the time, but that it is about as far as we’ve got at present, and we half think of stopping there.”

Now We Are Six

The orphan girl Pollyanna moves in with her strict aunt in New England. Despite a difficult start, Pollyanna's exuberance and positivity affect everyone who meets her, and she spreads joy and love wherever she goes. But when tragedy strikes, Pollyanna finds her optimistic attitude tested, and she must learn to find happiness again.    A heartwarming tale that has become one of the most loved children's stories of all time, Eleanor H. Porter's 1913 best-seller—the first in a long series of Pollyanna novels by the author and other writers—is a beautiful story with a powerful moral message.

Pollyanna

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

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

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

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

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 Citadel of Lost Ships is a science fiction novella by Leigh Brackett. This is pure space opera from the undisputed “Queen of Space Opera.” It was a Gypsy world, built of space flotsam and shipwrecks, peopled with the few free races of the Solar System. Roy Campbell, outcast prey of the Coalition, entered its depths to seek haven for the Kraylens of Venus – only to find that it had become a slave trap from which there was no escape. The Kraylens are a dying tribe, a scrap of old Venus, but Campbell is determined to help those that had helped him! "Roy Campbell woke painfully. His body made a blind, instinctive lunge for the control panel, and it was only when his hands struck the smooth, hard mud of the wall that he realized he wasn't in his ship any longer, and that the Guard wasn't chasing him, their guns hammering death.” The Citadel of Lost Ships was first published in Planet Stories magazine in 1943. In 1944 the novella was a finalist to Best Retro Novelette Hugo Award. Reading by Phil Chenevert, total running time (TRT): 1hour, 36 min. Also available as e-book (ePUB). Leigh Douglass Brackett (1915-1978) was an American author, particularly of science fiction, and has been referred to as the Queen of Space Opera. She was also a screenwriter, known for her work on such films as The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959) and The Long Goodbye (1973). She was the first woman shortlisted for the Hugo Award.

The Citadel of Lost Ships

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

Anchorite is a science fiction novella by Randal Garrett first published in 1959. There are two basic kinds of fools--the ones who know they are fools, and the kind that, because they do not know that, are utterly deadly menaces! Randall Garrett sticks a sharp needle into our government and society in this wonderful story. He projects the current trends towards paternalistic government into the future. Yes, we have attained a world government and everyone is equal whether they want to be or not; everyone is taken care of no matter how incompetent, stupid or sleazy they are and everyone is out to undermine everyone else. The author predicts (sadly only too well) what the trends of today will eventually produce if allowed to continue. But wait! There is hope in the asteroid belt where hard physical laws weed out jerks and incompetents and only those who possess common sense and the ability to actually survive are allowed to govern. But will the Earth government allow this to continue? Of course not. Listen to this great story to have a peek into the future. Total Running Time (TRT): 2 hours, 14 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.

Anchorite

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

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 Destroyers is a science fiction novella by Randal Garrett first published in 1959. Any war is made up of a horde of personal tragedies--but the greater picture is the tragedy of the death of a way of life. For a way of life--good, bad, or indifferent--exists because it is dearly loved.... Xedii, an agrarian, feudal planet is attacked by a technologically advanced planet, which offers the inhabitants of Xedii "freedom"--a word the farmers of Xedii don't know and can't understand when it's explained to them. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 6 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.

The Destroyers

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

"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.

The Original OZ series

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

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

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

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

The Misplaced Battleship is a science fiction short story by Harry Harrison first published in 1960. The world class con man and thief known as the Stainless Steel Rat (diGriz) has another very big problem to solve. In this science fiction novella by the great Harry Harrison will see if he can solve it and perhaps four or five more like it before this fascinating and funny tale is finished. 'Use a thief to catch a thief' sounds great but it sometimes has unexpected results. "It might seem a little careless to lose track of something as big as a battleship ... but interstellar space is on a different scale of magnitude. But a misplaced battleship—in the wrong hands!—can be most dangerous." The Misplaced Battleship first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction April 1960. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hours, 11 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 Misplaced Battleship

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

Sentiment, Inc. is a science fiction short story by Poul W. Anderson first published in 1953. The way we feel about another person, or about objects, is often bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the person or object at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart" comes about sheerly from a change in the many associations which make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose that these associations could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was in charge of the process.... Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 13 minutes. Sentiment, Inc. first appeared in the magazine Science Fiction Stories in 1953. 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.

Sentiment, Inc.

The Happy Unfortunate is a science fiction novella by Robert Silverberg, first published in 1957. The story explores the angst caused when the human race reaches into space but at the cost of needing to breed a new species; specialized 'spacers' who can withstand the tremendous rigors of acceleration. Dekker, back from space, found great physical changes in the people of Earth; changes that would have horrified him five years before. But now, he wanted to be like the rest--even if he had to lose an eye and both ears to do it. Spacers had been bred for big bodies and thick bones. Those stuck on the Earth called them apes, and decorated their puny bodies with plastic surgery. They did't mix, and when they did, someone got hurt. The Happy Unfortunate was published first in Amazing Stories in 1957. Total Running Time (TRT): 51 min. Robert Silverberg (born 1935) is a prolific American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand Master of SF.

The Happy Unfortunate

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

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

Planet of the Gods is a science fiction novella by American author Robert Moore Williams. Far, far in the future Earth has achieved real peace and is sending out interstellar expeditions, not to conquer, but to explore. The third such expedition, has made it to the Vega system and discovered to everyone's amazement, not only a solar system but two worlds circling the Vega sun that seem to have atmosphere and water. And apparently intelligent life is there as well because something tries, and almost succeeds, in blasting the expedition ship out of space before it can even get close to either one. Damaged, with 3 dead men aboard, the expedition ship semi-crashes and seeks to hide from this obviously hostile civilization. The three dead members of the crew are buried and four of the local inhabitants pay a friendly call. Then during the second night on this planet, one of the dead bodies knocks on the door and wants to come in. Something very strange is going on here. Planet of the Gods was first published in Amazing Stories December 1942. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 44 min. Reading by Phil Chenevert. Robert Moore Williams (1907–1977) was an American writer, primarily of science fiction. He was a prolific author throughout his career, his last novel appearing in 1972. His "Jongor" series was originally published in Fantastic Adventures in the 1940s and 1950s, and appeared in book form in 1970. By the 1960s he had published over 150 stories.

Planet of the Gods

Watchbird is a science fiction novella by Robert Sheckley, first published in 1953. Strange how often the Millennium has been at hand. The idea is peace on Earth, see, and the way to do it is by figuring out angles. Watchbird was first published in Galaxy Science Fiction February 1953. Total Running Time (TRT): 51 min. Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist and broadly comical. Sheckley was nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.

Watchbird

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

One Basket is a sparkling collection of 7 short stories by Edna Ferber and includes some that are considered her all time best like The Woman Who Tried To be Good and The Maternal Feminine. Writing for and about women, Edna Ferber touches the very heart and soul of what it means to be human; to make good choices and bad; to be weak and strong. The stories included in One Basket are: - The woman who tried to be good (1913) - The gay old dog (1917) - That's marriage (1917) - Farmer in the dell (1919) - Un morso doo pang (1919) - Long distance (1919) - The maternal feminine. (1919) 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.

One Basket

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

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

That Sweet Little Old Lady (Brain Twister) is a science fiction novel by Randal Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer under the pen-name of ”Mark Phillips”, first published in 1959. It was nominated for the Hugo Award in 1960 under the name Brain Twister. In the not too distant future, Ken Malone, young but promising FBI agent, is given the most important and difficult assignment of his career: find a spy who is stealing information from the Ultra Top Absolute Secret project to develop a non-rocket space ship at Yucca Flats Labs in Nevada. But this is not a normal spy, this spy laughs at the FBI and all attempts to find him or her because they use an unknown new method to steal the information directly from the minds of the scientists. And then of course, there is the Sweet Little Old Lady who is immortal and the stunning nurse and the Las Vegas gangsters and ... well, you had better listen to the story to find out the details. His first problem: how do you find a telepath to catch the first telepath? Brain Twister is the first part of their ”Psi-Power series”. The first story they wrote in the series was "That Sweet Little Old Lady," published in the Sept./Oct. 1959 edition of Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact and published in book-form as Brain Twister in 1962. Subsequent stories include The Impossibles (first published as Out Like a Light in Analog, April/May/June 1960), and Supermind (first published as Occasion for Disaster in Analog, November/December 1960 and January/February 1961. This series is one of the highlights of 1960s SF, and still highly recommended. Total Running Time (TRT): 4 hours, 23 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. 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.

That Sweet Little Old Lady (Brain Twister)

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