Showing results by author "H Beam Piper" in All Categories

H. Beam Piper's "Time Crime" is part of his series of alternate history stories which concern the Paratime Police, a law enforcement outfit from a parallel world which has learned how to move between timelines. They jealously guard the secret, even as they mine other worlds for their resources. Notably, it appears that humans are in fact Martian refugees who escaped a calamity on their home planet and migrated to Earth!

FNH Audio present an unabridged reading of The Keeper. Raud is the Keeper, the holder of a sacred duty that has passed to him down through the generations since the sky was filled with starships. When men from a distant planet come to visit Raud, his life changes forever, and his duty calls him to take up his rifle and hunt his fellow man.

"Naudsonce" is a science fiction classic about the first contact between humans and non-humans. Here, it's not really violence or weapons that will decide things - its communication, plain and not so simple! The work is written by H. Beam Piper, published in 1962.

X Minus One premiered in April 1955 on NBC and ran until January 1958. Like its predecessor series, Dimension X, X Minus One featured stories by the greatest names in modern science fiction: Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Clifford Simak, Robert Bloch, and many more.

A wounded soldier is transported back in time to the days of his childhood. Based on a story by H. Beam Piper, this episode of Dimension X originally aired on July 12, 1951.

To translate writings, you need a key to the code - and if the last writer of Martian died forty thousand years before the first writer of Earth was born…. how could the Martian be translated? A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1957.

The natives of Kwannon practiced ritualistic magic under supervision of their Terran rulers. Hunting, farming and raising children required the spells only a shoonoon could cast. But when prophecies of the end of the world send the natives of Kwannon swarming, it may also be the end for the Earth and its humans! The natives actually desire the end of the world, as they've been promised a much better life by the shoonoon.

Jasper Lanning, a wealthy firearm collector, has been murdered under odd circumstances, and Jeff Rand is the private investigator hired to solve the case. As Jeff begins investigating, he discovers an interwoven game of deceit, secrets and jealousy with a labyrinth of twists and turns that delve deeper and deeper into the shadowy truth.

From Astounding Tales Published February and March 1955 The Paratime Police had a real headache this time! Tracing one man in a population of millions is easy—compared to finding one gang hiding out on one of billions of probability lines! This story from 1955 has rocket ships, time travel, slaves, post-hypnotic suggestions, drugged citizens, and a complete disregard for human rights. And those are the good guys. As a look back in time at "classic" science fiction, it's an interesting snapshot of a time when tobacco was common, sexism was unconscious, and female characters were a long way ...

"Last Enemy" is a science fiction story written by H. Beam Piper, and is a part of his "Paratime" series. The title is a reference to 1 Corinthians 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (KJV) It made its first appearance in August 1950, in Astounding Science Fiction magazine (now Analog). The story begins at a dinner party given by Garnon of Roxor. The party is a voluntary discarnation feast, or suicide party.

"Omnilingual" is an unusual sci-fi story as it focuses on archaeology on an alien culture. An expedition from Earth to Mars discovers a deserted city, the remains of an advanced civilization that died out 50,000 years before. The human scientists recover books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Earnest young archeologist Martha Dane deciphers a few words, but the real breakthrough comes when the team explores what appears to have been a university in which the last few civilized Martians made their last stand...

H. Beam Piper wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of Paratime alternate history tales. This short story is the first of his Paratime tales. Verkan Vall is investigating the death of Gavran Sarn, a First Level noble who was killed in an auto accident on a Fourth Level timeline that might well have been our own....

Poictesme is known as the junkyard planet. A poor, sparse population ekes out a meager existence by scavenging the remains of abandoned military bases left behind after the last interstellar war. Young Conn Maxwell returns from school on Terra with the news that Merlin, a military super-computer, may be among the spoils, which they think might be their ticket out of poverty. But is Merlin just a myth? And if they find it, will it make them rich, or tear them apart?

There's some reaction these days that holds scientists responsible for war. Take it one step further: What happens if "book-learnin'" is held responsible? A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1953.

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?

Fenris isn't a hell planet, but it's nobody's bargain. With 2,000-hour days and an 8,000-hour year, it alternates blazing heat with killing cold. A planet like that tends to breed a special kind of person: tough enough to stay alive and smart enough to make the best of it. When that kind of person discovers he's being cheated of wealth he's risked his life for, that kind of planet is ripe for revolution. Four-Day Planet is one of H. Beam Piper’s “Terro-Human Future History” novels, along with Ullr Uprising, The Cosmic Computer, and Space Viking.

The Last Enemy is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller featuring Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police. When an undercover agent vanishes in an alternate reality where assassination is honorable and reincarnation is real, Vall must navigate a world of deadly killers and twisted morality to complete his mission.

"Hunter Patrol" is a 1959 sci-fi story co-authored by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire. A soldier travels into the future to kill a dictator. After completing the mission and returning home to his present time, he doesn't remember what he has done. With him he has an envelope with the formula for a fizzy drink that would make him able to conquer the whole world... possibly.

Natives of the distant planet called "Kwannon" think their world is about to end due to their religious beliefs, and in preparing for the apocalypse, they may be unnecessarily bringing about their own demise. The planetary government can't overcome its own bureaucracy to help them, and the military is overwhelmed. A single newsman tries to change the course of a whole people's belief system but, can he do it in time and to save their world?

Hunted and hated in two worlds, Hradzka dreamed of a monomaniac's glory, stranded in the past with his knowledge of the future, but he didn't know the past quite well enough. A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in 1950 in Future magazine.