Showing results by narrator "Arthur Vincet" in All Categories

"Operation: Outer Space" is a science fiction novel by Murray Leinster. It was first published in 1954. The novel introduces the first interstellar flight, financed by making it into a television show! In fact, this very funny work is much more of a biting satire on the world of television, the media and the rich than a regular space opera but with some elements of sci-fi still there of course.

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.

"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...

"Shadows in Zamboula" is one of the original Conan the Cimmerian (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian) books, first published in 1935. Its original title was "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula". The story takes place over the course of a night in the desert city of Zamboula, with political intrigue amidst streets filled with roaming cannibals. It features the character Baalpteor, one of the few humans in the Conan stories to be a physical challenge for the main Cimmerian character himself.

This work by Keith Laumer, published in 1959, stems from the classic age of science fiction! The Earth is dying from something mysterious. Humanity has to find a colony deep in space that will enable them a sufficient level of technology to fight back. Surprisingly though, almost the whole crew of the ship sent to search for the colony want go back to Earth... Will our hero, Captain Greylorn, be able to suppress the mutiny and make some kind of future for mankind?

"The Little Nugget" is a novel by the undisputed master of comedy P. G. Wodehouse, first published in 1913. Mrs. Nesta Ford, in her London hotel room, reveals to her new friend Lord Mountry that she hopes to take her son Ogden on a yachting trip proposed by Mountry, despite her ex-husband having won custody of the boy. As Mountry leaves, Cynthia Drassilis arrives with Ogden, whom she has led away from his father's country house.

"Invaders from the Infinite" is a science-fiction novel by author John W. Campbell, Jr. E. F. Bleiler, noted editor of science-fiction literature, described the novel as "the early John W. Campbell story par excellence: weak novelistic skills combined with very strong speculative, imaginative theoretical physics. While one may be bored with the interminable lectures and rendered drowsy by the repeated space battles, but one must also admire Campbell's ingenuity in creating novel artifacts".

"The Time Machine" is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. Wells is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposely and selectively forwards or backwards in time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle.

The diminutive Kandarian Air Fleet would fight courageously until its last ship was blown into infinity. At worst, it would be completely pulverized... To our hero, the young Captain Bors, either course was unbearable. The ruthless Dictator of Mekin had already control over twenty-two planets. Now he had his eyes set on Kandar... Enjoy this thrilling tale of sci-fi by master craftsman Murray Leinster! Published in 1962.

"Orejas de ellos" ("the things that listen") whispered the superstitious fishermen when the strange occurrences began off the Philippine coast. How else explain the sudden disappearance of a vessel beneath a mysterious curtain of foam? The writhings of thousands of maddened fish trapped in a coffin-like area of ocean? What monsters gorged at the bottom of the Luzon Deep and what were their plans? Radar expert Terry Holt and the crew of the Esperance had to devise a weapon against the horrifying creatures.

A sci-fi novel by Murray Leinster, published in 1962. An unidentified space ship lands in a Colorado lake. The creatures subsequently begin taking human prisoners with paralyzing laser weapons. A land surveyor and a journalist are the only remaining hope for humankind now, as the army is powerless.

"Lord Tedric" was a smith (both blacksmith and whitesmith) residing in a small town near a castle in a situation approximately equivalent to England of the 1200s. He received instruction in advanced metallurgy from a time-traveler that wanted to change the situation in his own time by modifying certain events of the past. From this instruction he was able to build better suits of armor and help defeat the villains of the piece... in this case, the villain is Time itself, and its immutability; but as always Tedric and Skandos One come up with a great idea and distraction: a naked woman.

"The People of the Black Circle" is one of the original novels about Conan the Cimmerian (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian). It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan kidnapping a regal princess of Vendhya (pre-historical India) and foiling a nefarious plot of world domination by the Black Seers of Yimsha. Due to its epic scope and atypical Hindustan flavor, the story is considered an undisputed classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales.

Gertrude Barrows Bennett has been called "the woman who invented dark fantasy". She wrote under the pseudonym Francis Stevens. "Citadel of Fear", republished and rediscovered as a "lost classic" in 1970 (then published as a book for the first time) was considered a masterpiece by fellow writer H. P. Lovecraft. A pair of adventurers discover a lost city in the Mexican jungle. One of the adventurers succumbs to an evil god while the other one falls in love.

"Space Platform" is a YA science fiction novel by author Murray Leinster. It is the first novel in the author's Joe Kenmore series. The novel concerns the sabotage of attempts to place a platform in Earth orbit. The book is remarkable for its sense of realism and technical exactitude whilst always being a chilling and breathtaking tale!

Generally by now thought to be Machen's greatest work, the novel, published in 1907, recounts the life of a young man, Lucian Taylor, focusing on his dreamy childhood in rural Wales, in a town based on Caerleon. "The Hill of Dreams" of the title is an old Roman fort where Lucian has strange sensual visions, including ones of the town in the time of Roman Britain. Later it describes Lucian's attempts to make a living as an author in London, enduring poverty and suffering in the pursuit of art.

A super-robot called Snookums discovers how to build his very own superbombs in this thrilling sci-fi tale by Randall Garrett! Now Earth is by no means the safest place for him to be, to say the least. Dr. Fitzhugh, his designer, and Leda Crannon, a child psychologist serving as Snookums' nursemaid, therefore agree to set up Operation Brainchild, a plan to transport Snookums to a very distant planet. Only one big problem: Snookums is none too keen on this idea.

"Rebels of the Red Planet" is a science fiction novel by Charles L. Fontenay. MARS FOR THE MARTIANS! Dark Kensington had been dead for a long time, though. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, full of energy, aiming to overtake the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to overthrow the tyranny that ran the lives of the settlers on Mars. The Phoenix had already been crushed several times but this time the resurrected Dark had new plans of deadly experiments in mutation and psionics.

"Wandl the Invader" is a sci-fi novel by Ray Cummings, published in 1932. It has been described as a classic tale of interplanetary warfare. The planets concerned are Earth and Mars (both under attack) and Wandl the Invade, the strange and dangerous planet, populated by minds and monsters, doing the attacking.

A chilling sci-fi book published in 1962 by Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds. A work of dystopia that paints a depressing picture of a future society in which capitalism has become completely dominant to the detriment of the majority of the population and to the great advantage of a very small elite. Sound relevant for today?