Golden Age Fiction

Avoid Planetoid 787. Lush and sunny, with fine air and no dangerous beasts, it'll tempt you to land and stay the night for some welcome fresh air and a good night's sleep on solid ground. Whatever you do, DON'T! "Asleep in Armegeddon" was published in "Planet Stories," Winter, 1948, pages 58 - 65. Ray Douglas Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction. Bradbury is widely known by the general public for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951). Most of his best known work is speculative fiction, but he also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream". Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

Dillingham's assistant had to be land-going, esthetic, competent, free and female—more than less! Today's story is "Equals Four" by Piers Anthony. It appeared in the July-August 1970 issue of Worlds of If Science Fiction on pages 51 to 63 and 155 to 157. Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

They had found the perfect narcotic quite by accident on an asteroid. A silicon-based germ that induced euphoria and a sense of well-being with no side effects. It may even be good for humanity. But, there had to be a cost, right? You don't get something for nothing, right? "The Happiness Rock" appeared in "Amazing Stories," January 1964, pages 97 - 122. Albert Teichner was an American science fiction writer. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

Half of Earth, Half of Mars—the half-breed, the Tweenie—is reviled on Earth. But, as scientist and inventor Jefferson Scanlon discovers, there is more to them than people realize. Welcome to Golden Age Fiction - new stories every week from the golden age of pulp fiction. Today's story is Half-Breed by Isaac Asimov. It appeared in the February 1940  issue of Astonishing Stories on pages 38 to 53. Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction. Asimov's most famous work is the "Foundation" series, the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. His other major series are the "Galactic Empire" series and the "Robot" series. He also wrote more than 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

Dr. Marsten thought he'd failed completely to prove mental telepathy, but he'd forgotten one peculiar, but very important, facet of those extraordinarily gifted with 'pshychic ability.'   "Too Close to the Forest" was published in "Fantastic Universe," July, 1954, pages 63 - 73. Bryce Walton Bryce Walton (May 31, 1918 – February 5, 1988) was an American pulp fiction writer, beginning his freelance writing career in 1945. He was credited as a writer for the TV serial Captain Video and His Video Rangers. He wrote three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and two of his stories were adopted for the series, including "The Greatest Monster of Them All". Al Reynolds I could find no information about the science fiction author, Al Reynolds. If you have any information on them, please let me know. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

No one had ever escaped from Venus' dread Stellar Legion. And, as Thekla the low-Martian learned, no one had ever betrayed it and—lived. Today's story is "The Stellar Legion," by Leigh Brackett. It appeared in the Winter 1940 issue of Planet Stories on pages 95 to 103.   The "Stellar Legion" was awarded the Retro Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2016. Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915, Los Angeles, California – March 24, 1978, Lancaster, California) was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera", she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. She worked on an early draft of "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production. In 1956, her book "The Long Tomorrow" made her the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2020, she posthumously won a Retro Hugo for her novel "The Nemesis From Terra," originally published as "Shadow Over Mars" (Startling Stories, Fall 1944). Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

The Sun was finally dying, the astronomers having predicted its demise within a few days. Unable to leave Earth, humanity had excavated accommodation deep underground for what was left of the population. But even though they would never see the Sun, the sky, or the stars again, life for the young astronomers Ramo and Kuila Rei now had its own light. "When the Sun Went Out" appeared in "Science Fiction Series" No. 4, 1929. Leslie Frances Silberberg (June 8, 1905 – March 21, 1991), known by the pen name Leslie F Stone, was an American writer and one of the first women science fiction pulp writers, contributing over 20 stories to science fiction magazines between 1929 and 1940. By the time she was in high school in Norfolk, Virginia, Stone was publishing fantasy stories in the local newspaper. She went on to be one of the first women to publish in the science fiction pulp magazines of the era. She often worked with Hugo Gernsback in Amazing Stories and Wonder Stories. Stone wrote space operas and thought experiments as well as stories featuring both women protagonists as well as black protagonists. After writing more than 20 short fiction pieces, Stone stopped writing fiction which she suggested was a combination of seeing the horrors of war making it hard to write about the future and increasing conflicts with male editors who refused to publish her work because she was a woman. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

Mr. Satterthwaite witnesses a brutal fight outside an opera house. What could have caused such behaviour? Today's story is The Face of Helen, by Agatha Christie. It appeared in the July 1951 issue of Black Mask Detective Magazine on pages 37 to 48. The Face of Helen was first published in "The Story-Teller," a monthly British pulp fiction magazine which ran from 1907 to 1937, in April 1927. With thanks to the Agatha Chrsitie Wiki at agathchristie.fandom.com. Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction," Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery." She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

She was the last priestess of Asti, and the barbarians were approching. She had no choice but to escape to the surface world, taking with her the gifts of Asti. She wasn't to know, however, that one more ancient gift awaited her on the surface... "The Gifts of Asti" appeared in "Fantasy Book" vol. 1, no. 3 in 1948, pages 8 - 17. Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North and Allen Weston. She was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, to be SFWA Grand Master, and to be inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

All Ed Blair wanted was a fluff piece, a brightener for page two of the Tokyo Tribune, for which he was a reporter. His Editor, Murdock, had heard stories of the 'magic tricks' that the monks of the Hataka Shrine could do. "The Shrine" appeared in "Fantastic Universe," December 1956, pages 77 - 86. Walter James Sheldon (9 January 1917 - 9 June 1996) was an American author of science fiction. He is best known for his novel "Jimsy and the Monsters." Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

Being a wizard missionary to the Free'l needed more than magic—it called for a miracle! Today's story is The Autumn After Next, by Margaret St Clair. It appeared in the January 1960 issue of Worlds of If Science Fiction on pages 101 to 107. Margaret St Clair (17 February 1911, Hutchinson, Kansas – 22 November 1995, Santa Rosa, California) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer who also wrote under the pseudonyms Idris Seabright and (on one occasion) Wilton Hazzard. St. Clair wrote and published, by her own count, some 130 short stories. She first tried her hand at detective and mystery stories, and the so-called 'quality' stories, before finding her niche writing fantasy and science fiction for pulp magazines. She wrote "Unlike most pulp writers, I have no special ambitions to make the pages of the slick magazines. I feel that the pulps at their best touch a genuine folk tradition and have a balladic quality which the slicks lack." Her early output included the Oona and Jick series of eight stories published from 1947 to 1949, chronicling the comic misadventures of "housewife of the future" Oona and her devoted husband Jick. The stories were ostensibly set in an idealized future but cast a satirical look at post-war domestic life, with its focus on acquiring labor-saving household devices and "keeping up with the Joneses." Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

All inventors seek success. Some few achieve it. And now and then a Quintus Maugham is a bit too successful for his own health. "The Maugham Obsession" appeared in "Fantastic Universe," June-July 1953, pages 107 - 115. August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. He was the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. He made contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the cosmic horror genre and helped found the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK). Derleth was also a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

An expedition from Earth had gone to investigate the Crab Nebula. And—an expedition from Somewhere was already there! Now what is a spaceship skipper to do under such circumstances? Lead the possibly-deadly aliens home? Try to detsroy them? What can he do?   Today's story is "First Contact" by Murray Leinster. It appeared in the May 1945 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" on pages 7 to 33.   In the original printing, there was no section two.   Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

The human race has deteriorated, and will die when the machines that have kept them alive in Subterannea for tens of millennia after the supposed death of the Sun eventually stop working. But there are those who believe that the Sun did not die, and the survival of humanity depends on it once again venturing Outside. "If the Sun Died" appeared in "Astounding Stories," August 1931, pages 198 - 213. Roman Frederick Starzl (1899–1976) was an American writer. He, and earlier, his father (John V. Starzl), owned the Le Mars Globe-Post newspaper of Le Mars, Iowa. His writing is largely forgotten now, but he was called a "master" by the pioneer of space opera E. E. "Doc" Smith. Starzl's Interplanetary Flying Patrol, in "The Hornets of Space," may have influenced Smith's Galactic Patrol. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

Agent Cameron had the unenviable task of protecting the Galactic Capitol building from the Damakoi, fanatical beings 70 percent of whom hated the Galactic Federation and all it stood for. And now he had one of the Damakoi in front of him, warning him of a plot by another Damakoi to deploy a Theta Bomb inside the Capitol building. But, knowing the Damakoi well, he wasn't taking any chances. "Deadly Decoy" appeared in "Amazing Stories," February 1957, pages 48 - 65. Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, 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. He has attended every Hugo Award ceremony since the inaugural event in 1953. Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett (December 16, 1927 – December 31, 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for the Lord Darcy books set in an alternate world where a joint Anglo-French empire still led by a Plantagenet dynasty has survived into the twentieth century and where magic works and has been scientifically codified. Lord Darcy is modeled on Sherlock Holmes. The short novel Brain Twister, written by Garrett with author Laurence Janifer (using the joint pseudonym Mark Phillips), was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960. Links Reaper: reaper.fm LibSyn: libsyn.com "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.