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Dawn of All

Robert Hugh Benson
In a former book, called "Lord of the World," I attempted to sketch the kind of developments a hundred years hence which, I thought, might reasonably be expected if the present lines of what is called "modern thought" were only prolonged far enough; and I was informed repeatedly that the effect of the book was exceedingly depressing and discouraging to optimistic Christians. In the present book I am attempting -- also in parable form -- not in the least to withdraw anything that I said in the former, but to follow up the other lines instead, and to sketch -- again in parable -- the kind of developments, about sixty years hence which, I think, may reasonably be expected should the opposite process begin, and ancient thought (which has stood the test of centuries, and is, in a very remarkable manner, being "rediscovered" by persons even more modern than modernists) be prolonged instead.

We are told occasionally by moralists that we live in very critical times, by which they mean that they are not sure whether their own side will win or not. In that sense no times can ever be critical to Catholics, since Catholics are never in any kind of doubt as to whether or no their side will win. But from another point of view every period is a critical period, since every period has within itself the conflict of two irreconcilable forces. It has been for the sake of tracing out the kind of effects that, it seemed to me, each side would experience in turn, should the other, at any rate for a while, become dominant, that I have written these two books. (From the preface of The Dawn of All)
Bad Day For Vermin by Keith Laumer

Keith Laumer
For your listening pleasure, here are three stories by the ingenious Keith Laumer from the glorious days of Science Fiction in the early 1960s: A Bad Day for Vermin, The King of the City and Doorstep. They were all published in various Science Fiction magazines then flourishing in the United States at that time. I won't spoil your fun of listening to them by giving detailed story outlines, but be assured that there are aliens of various disgusting and/or beautiful shapes involved in several and a sad view of our future life when the US government collapses. (phil chenevert )
Three Science Fiction Novellas by Leigh Brackett

Leigh Douglass Brackett
ENCHANTRESS OF VENUS: Laughing, she cast him down into the hideous depths, beneath the seas of flaming gas, to where dead blossoms swayed, whispering, over strangely jumbled ruins.... But there he found the secret of her power, and came surging back—up from the depths, up from the seas, the tortured swamps—to storm her forbidding shrine and seek her within, death like a gift in his hands.

SHANNACH—THE LAST: Even in this grip of alien horror a man could not throw away his lifetime goal ... not stand idly by as endless rows of alabaster shapes, seated in their chairs of stone, thought-ruled this gargoyle planet from the dead blackness of deep Mercurian caverns.

THE VANISHING VENUSIANS: For years they had wandered the eternal seas of Venus, seeking the home that was their birthright, death walking in their wake. And now they were making their final bid—three of them fighting toward the promised land, battling for a hopeless cause.
Enchantress Of Venus

Leigh Douglass Brackett
Eric John Stark, the Conan of the Spaceways, continues his adventures in this exciting story. This time he is on the shores of Venus' gaseous red seas seeking the whereabouts of a missing comrade. The villains, a cruel and power-hungry family that rules over the pirate enclave of Shuruun do all they can to stop him but his mighty muscles and quick reflexes might, just might get him through. Listen along and see.
Planet of Dread

Murray Leinster
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.
Swordsman of Lost Terra

Poul William Anderson
Proud Kery of Broina felt like a ghost himself; shade of a madman flitting hopelessly to the citadel of Earth's disinherited ... to recapture theresonant pipes of Killorn—weapon of the gods—before they blared forth the dirge of the world. A great one from Poul Anderson!
Breaking Point

James Edwin Gunn
Machines are infallible. Humans are not. The crew of The Ambassador knew their ship could not possibly fail, but what of themselves? And how could they defend against an unknown enemy with unknown motives and superhuman abilities, intent on driving each one of them beyond his own personal breaking point?
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Randall Garrett: 3 Science Fiction stories

Randall Garrett
The irrepressible Science Fiction author Randall Garrett wrote a wide array of short stories for the SF magazines of his day poking fun at many of the then current cherished beliefs, but he had a habit of writing under many different names. These three stories were all published in the 1960's and no matter what the by-line may look like, be assured they were all written by him in his quirky, imaginative and very entertaining style. The three here for your enjoyment are: With No Strings Attached; The Destroyers and In Case of Fire
Anything You Can Do ... (version 2)

Randall Garrett
The Alien did not intend to crash land on earth, but he did. The alien tried to communicate with humans, but he could not. The alien did not wish to be captured, and so he wasn't. For over 5 years he roamed, looting and killing as necessary. Why could the combined forces and brains of all the nations on earth not deal with him or it? Well, Earth was faced with a strange problem indeed. They had to have a superman. And there weren't any available. So perhaps one had to be made....
Bullet With His Name

Fritz Leiber
In "Bullet with His Name," two alien beings have come to give gifts to an Earthman. But this is not altruism; it is, rather, a test. "The fate of his race hangs on his reactions to [the gifts]." And one of the aliens mentions that he himself is "a sort of snake." The gifts do not include an apple from the Tree of Knowledge, but they might be just as likely to lead mankind astray.
World That Couldn't Be (Version 2)

Clifford D. Simak
The planet where his new plantation was established was very strange, with a complete lack of sex; all of his workers and all the animals and plants had no sex at all; they were all 'its'. But like every farmer on every planet, Duncan had to hunt down anything that damaged his crops—and whatever animal ate his vua plants was going to die. Of course he had no idea what this one looked like or what it was like, but whatever it was, he would track it and his rifle would bring it down. It was a very interesting hunt with a very interesting ending. Simak has written another delightful story that will keep you listening and wondering to the very end. With maybe a chuckle and guffaw on top. Listen and find out why.
Warlord of Kor

Carr, Terry
Terry Carr never really shone as a writer, though he did write some remarkably thoughtful stories. However, his talents as an editor and anthologist were important and undeniable, and he brought many good writers and authors into sf and fantasy. His first couple of novels, of which Warlord of Kor was one, did not have their copyright renewed by Mr. Carr on purpose, one understands. So enjoy the blood and thunder, but don't think it's representative of his work!
Kreativity for Kats & Other Stories

Fritz Leiber
Here are three stories by the inimitable Fritz Leiber, all from Galaxy Magazine: Kreativity for Kats 1961 - aliens do live among us; The Last Letter from Galaxy 1958 - a hand written letter paralyzes the postal service; and The Big Engine, 1962 - what makes everything go? perhaps this man is right. All are different and all are very enjoyable.
Warlord of Kor (version 2)

Terry Carr
GOD, MACHINE--OR LISTENING POST FOR OUTSIDERS?

Horng sat opposite the tiny, fragile creature who held a microphone, its wires attached to an interpreting machine. He blinked his huge eyes slowly, his stiff mouth fumblingly forming words of a language his race had not used for thirty thousand years.
"Kor was ... is ... God ... Knowledge." He had tried to convey this to the small creatures who had invaded his world, but they did not heed. Their ill-equipped brains were trying futilely to comprehend the ancient race memory of his people.
Now they would attempt further to discover the forbidden directives of Kor. Horng remembered, somewhere far back in the fossil layers of his thoughts, a warning. They must be stopped! If he had to, he would stamp out these creatures who were called "humans."
Adaptation

Mack Reynolds
In 1960 when this was published, the Cold War was at its height. Communism and Free Enterprise (Democracy) were locked in a ferocious struggle to prove that their political ideology was the best form of government for human kind. No holds were barred in this fight; propaganda was poured forth by both sides in a constant push to be seen as better, more progressive, more productive. Nuclear war was a constant threat. I know, I lived through that time. Thankfully the world came through that stressful time without a hot war but the question was not really settled: which is the better system? This story explores that question. "Hardly had man solved his basic problems on the planet of his origin than he began to fumble into space. Barely a century had elapsed in the exploration of the Solar System than he began to grope for the stars. And suddenly, with an all but religious zeal, mankind conceived its fantasy dream of populating the galaxy." summary by Phil chenevert and the author
Hunter Patrol

Piper, H. Beam
World War IV has dragged on for 12 years and the whole world is drained and tired of the killing and destruction. One man, a high school chemistry teacher from St. Louis in the USA, is serving his latest forced stint in the UN forces when something strange happens to him. He dies but yet he doesn't. What if you had the power to bring peace to the entire world? What would you do? This story explores a frightening and strange journey into the murky depths of human needs and desires and how they can twist and turn back upon us.
Project Mastodon

Simak, Clifford D.
Clifford Simak deals with the implications of time travel in his own unique way in this story. What if a group of guys did it on their own, without any help from government or industry? On a shoestring,so to speak? Would anyone believe them? What would you do if you could go back 150,000 years to a time when mastodons and saber toothed tigers roamed North America? And what happens when they run out of money? All these questions are explored in the usual humorous, wry Simak way in this story.
Happy Unfortunate

Robert Silverberg
Here are two early stories by the well known SF Author Robert Silverberg.

The Happy Unfortunate was published first in Amazing Stories in 1957 and 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.

The Hunted Heroes was published in Amazing stories a year earlier, in 1956. It is a futuristic story that holds great hope for the resilience of the human race after the war destroys most of the world.
Spaceship Named McGuire, A

Garrett, Randall
Can a spaceship go crazy? Well, yes it can if it has a brain. And the new MG (magnetogravitic drive) experimental robot space ship does indeed have a 'brain'. Completely bewildered as to why the first six models of their supposedly perfect new ship model, the MG-YR, nicknamed the McGuire, have gone totally bonkers after activation and before they could ever be used, the company has called in the services of Daniel Oak. They suspect sabotage of course. Daniel Oak is the hard boiled private investigator with nerves of steel and a mind of the same substance. He is extremely expensive to hire but gets results; and he knows his way around crime, space ships and especially women. What he finds out is surprising!
Lord of a Thousand Suns

Poul William Anderson
A Man without a World, this 1,000,000-year-old Daryesh! Once Lord of a Thousand Suns, now condemned to rove the spaceways in alien form, searching for love, for life, for the great lost Vwyrdda. A great Poul Anderson story.
Master of Life and Death

Robert Silverberg
When Roy Walton becomes the new director of the UN division of population control, after the director is assassinated, he becomes the most hated man in the world. Being Director involved him in not only population control, but a terra-forming project on Venus, and negotiations with aliens. Not only that, but some people were trying to kill him. To stay alive, he had to become The Master of Life and Death
Inheritors

Joseph Conrad
The Inheritors: An Extravagant Story (1901) is a quasi-science fiction novel on which Ford Madox Ford and Joseph Conrad collaborated. It looks at society's mental evolution and what is gained and lost in the process. Written before the first World War, its themes of corruption and the effect of the 20th Century on British aristocracy appeared to predict history. In the novel, the metaphor of the "fourth dimension" is used to explain a societal shift from a generation of people who have traditional values of interdependence, being overtaken by a modern generation who believe in expediency, callously using political power to bring down the old order.
Let'em Breathe Space (version 2)

Lester del Rey
Eighteen men and two women in the closed world of a space ship for five months can only spell tension and trouble—but in this case, the atmosphere was literally poisoned. Who is trying to kill them and sabotage the mission? And why would they be doing this when they will die too? A deadly mystery unfolds inside the cramped space ship with fear growing daily as their air runs out.
Push Of A Finger

Alfred Bester
Science fiction from the 50s by one of the masters, Alfred Bester. Society has committed itself to complete stability. Nothing is allowed to upset this stability, nothing that is not planned and approved and accounted for in advance. Yes, this is hard to imagine but this has produced decades, nay, centuries of predictable prosperity and peace. Even the newspapers have very little to write about. One reporter however is curious about the "Prog" building, where pronouncements are issued every day just as Moses issued the commandments. Everyone is locked out of course but he wants to know more, he wants in by any means and the results of that obsession are more far reaching than anyone can imagine. What would happen if just a tiny push with a finger to a critical element is made at the very beginning of a process? A little nudge that sends it in a completely different direction? Hmmm?
Gambler's World and The Yillian Way

Laumer, Keith
Here are two stores 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 these two stories is a delight to hear.
Exile from Space

Judith Merril
“Who was this strange girl who had been born in this place—and still it wasn't her home? ‘They’ worried about the impression she'd make”. “They” worried she would go and never come back. She was returning to a place that was not hers, with ways of living that she didn’t understand. “They” failed to prepare her for what happened.
Blue Behemoth

Leigh Douglass Brackett
Shannon's Imperial Circus was a jinxed space-carny leased for a mysterious tour of the inner worlds. It made a one-night pitch on a Venusian swamp-town—to find that death stalked it from the jungle in a tiny ball of flame.
Lion Loose

James H. Schmitz
The most dangerous of animals is not the biggest and fiercest—but the one that's hardest to stop. Add intelligence to that ... and you may come to a wrong conclusion as to what the worst menace is....
Anchorite

Randall Garrett
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 jerks and incompetents are weeded out by hard physical laws 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.
Police!!!

Robert W. Chambers
Further adventures of zoologist Percy Smith (In Search of the Unknown). Humorous, science fiction tales, focusing on the pursuit of fantastical animals, weird monsters, strange relics, and beautiful women!
Queen Of The Martian Catacombs

Leigh Douglass Brackett
This is the very first story with the Conan-like barbarian hero, Eric John Stark. There were more written by Brackett and all just as exciting so look for them if you like swashbuckling space stories. This is not the fantastical Mars of Burroughs, nor the hard science of a Bradbury with ray guns, but there are ancient alien civilizations all over the place reacting to the influx of humans. With a title like this, how can it not be a fabulous tale, eh? First published in Planet Stories 1949.
Naudsonce

Piper, H. Beam
Naudsonce? What does THAT mean? Well, to find out you will need to listen to this story where Piper's unique mind explores what we mean by 'communication' and how it happens. The joint Space Navy-Colonial Office expedition was looking for new planets suitable for colonization; they had been out, now, for four years, which was close to maximum for an exploring expedition. They had entered eleven systems, and made landings on eight planets. Three had been reasonably close to Terra-type but were all disqualified by terrible animals or warlike inhabitants. Now, finally here was an ideal world; their last chance before returning in disgrace. Now the only thing was to get an agreement from the local king or whatever to the colonization. Easy, right? Well first, you've got to talk to them ...... and there the trouble starts. Listen to this captivating story by H. Beam Piper published in Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction, January 1962.
Nor Iron Bars A Cage ...

Garrett, Randall
Iron bars do not confine a Man—only his body. There are more subtle, and more confining bindings, however....Police methods of the future will naturally use complex new technology but police will still need to deal with the same old sad human nature, forever doing horrible deeds. The night stick may be replaced by the hypo-gun but is prison the only solution? Listen to this neat story by Randall Garrett and see.
Snowball (Version 2)

Poul William Anderson
Simon's new source of power promised a new era for Mankind. But what happens to world economy when anyone can manufacture it in the kitchen oven?... Here's one answer! and it isn't pretty
Matter of Importance

Murray Leinster
The importance of a matter is almost entirely a matter of your attitude. And whether you call something "a riot" or "a war" ... well, there is a difference, but what is it? Someone steals a space ship? The local police know how to handle that. A broken down freighter in a far distant solar system? That's their normal job too. A bunch of idiots want to start a war? Just another days' work for the boys in blue. The twisted mind of Murray Leinster takes on an Earth empire of thousands of planets and that has moved beyond armies or navies. No need for 'em any more when you have an experienced police force, eh? They've seen it all and everything is routine to the guys and gals of the Empire Police.
Snowball

Poul William Anderson
Simon's new source of power promised a new era for Mankind. But what happens to world economy when anyone can manufacture it in the kitchen oven?... Here's one answer! Summary by Realisticspeakers
Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent

Sarah Scott
Utopian novel by Sarah Scott, published in 1762 describes women living in complete harmony
Preferred Risk

Frederik Pohl
The Company insures you against everything. Everything except war, that is. But they've put an end to wars (or so they claim). The Company also controls everything. Including all the sources of weapons. The Company is dedicated to the happiness of mankind (or so they claim). Medical Treatment and Law Enforcement are just a few of the other services they provide to the entire world. Claims Adjuster Wills was a happy Company employee until his path crossed those of a man with no legs and a mysterious woman. All of a sudden, his world was turned upside down, and his decisions could determine the future of the planet. This collaborative work was originally published under the pseudonym Edson McCann. It was the winner of the 1955 Galaxy-Simon & Schuster novel contest.
Citadel of Lost Ships

Leigh Douglass Brackett
"It was a Gypsy world, built of space flotsam, peopled with the few free races of the Solar System. Roy Campbell, outcast prey of theCoalition, 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."
Anthem (Version 5)

Ayn Rand
Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in the United Kingdom. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when mankind has entered another Dark Age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated. A young man known as Equality 7-2521 rebels by doing secret scientific research. When his activity is discovered, he flees into the wilderness with the girl he loves. Together they plan to establish a new society based on rediscovered individualism.
Sentry of the Sky

Evelyn E. Smith
There had to be a way for Sub-Archivist Clarey to get up in the world—but this way was right out of the tri-di dramas.
Temple Trouble

Piper, H. Beam
Did you know that our little earth is not limited to the single time line on which we happen to live? There are actually thousands, no millions of parallel times, each existing alongside all the rest. Some extremely primitive, some very advanced, bot all unaware of the others. Of course this does not affect us at all, unless ... unless one of these time lines discovers the existence of the others and then a way to move easily back and forth from one to the other. Then a few problems might happen. Well, it has happened and the ParaPolice are kept busy sorting out things like what happened here ...
Anything You Can Do...

Randall Garrett
An alien crash lands on Earth, and for ten years terrorizes the planet, hiding, periodically killing and eating people and stealing materials for some unknown purpose. The only hope is Bart Stanton, a medically-engineered superman, designed for the sole purpose of confronting the “Nipe”.
Status Quo

Mack Reynolds
Larry Woolford is a government agent, tasked with investigating subversive activity. He does everything an ambitious young man should do if he wants to succeed: wear the right clothes, listen to the right music, even drink vodka martinis. Then he stumbles across a conspiracy of Weirds plotting to overthrow the entire existing social order. It's a race against time. Can he stop their fiendish plan, and keep America safe for shallow judgements based on status symbols?

Status Quo was nominated for the 1962 Hugo Award for short fiction.
Five Stories by Alan Nourse

Nourse, Alan
These Five Stories were written by Alan Edward Nourse, an American science fiction (SF) author and physician. He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about medicine and science. His SF works generally focused on medicine and/or psionics. Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche. ( Summary compiled from Wikipedia.org )
Make Mine Homogenized (Version 2)

Raphael, Rick
Just sixty miles from ground zero in Nevada there lies Circle T Ranch run by Hetty Thompson the owner, Barney Hatfield the farmhand, and Johnny Culpepper the assistant manager. It was just another ordinary ranch until, that is, the two cows and the rooster hit the nuclear jackpot.
3 SF Stories by Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson
Three classic SF stories by Jack Williamson: The Cosmic Express, The Pygmy Planet and Salvage in Space. All were published in Astounding Stories in the very early 1930's. and all are fine examples of the far ranging imagination of science fiction writers of the day.
Attitude

Hal Clement
They had been captured, but by whom? And why where they allowed to build anything they wanted to escape? The space cruiser was powerful and built to fight anything in the galaxy, but somehow, in the empty rift between galaxies, they had been rendered helpless and brought to this prison. Even stranger was that their captors had not harmed any of them at all, used no weapons and allowed them to use all equipment brought from their ship inside the prison. And did not utter a sound. Stranger and stranger. Where were they, and how could they escape? And where could they go if they did? Follow these space men as they match wits with an utterly unknown life form ... and win. This story was first published in Astounding Science-Fiction September 1943.
His Master's Voice

Randall Garrett
This is a follow up story to Randal Garrett's original story, A Spaceship Named McGyer. The intrepid protagonist, now that he has become the completely unintended and unwilling master of the robot spaceship McGyer, is called in by the owners, very reluctantly. to see if he can help their experts fix the problem. Since he is the only human McGyer will listen to they must have him there to get the ship to comply with any request at all. But there are rival corporations that wish the ship and the project, robot spaceships, to fail so he is indeed in great danger. But the real question of this story revolves around Asimov's three laws of robotics and the messy problems of how to define a human being. That can get very messy indeed. Enjoy another fascinating story by Randall Garrett.
Beast-Jewel of Mars

Leigh Douglass Brackett
Following the suspicious death of his girlfriend, Captain Burk Winters sets off down the dangerous path of a Martian vice called 'Shanga'-- the Going Back. What starts out as an effort to rescue Jill Leeland will pit the former starship captain against the dark underbelly of the canal cities, conspiracies of greed and, above all, the vengeance of a planet that will not bow to economic conquest without a fight.
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