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 he hasn't! Listen to Harry Harrison's unique story of how science has given man peace but at what cost?
'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 world class con man and thief known as the Stainless Steel Rat (diGriz) has another very big problem to solve and 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
DEATHWORLD! A world that actively seeks to kill the colonists. Not passively, but actively it want's you dead. Not a pleasant place. The hordes of ferocious animals all come with deadly poisons and a will to kill as many humans as possible. Even the plants have teeth and claws and toxins dripping from every surface. They fly, crawl and run for the chance to sink something terrible into a human arm or leg. Oh, and did I mention the 2G gravity? Pyrrus is it's name. The settlers there were supermen... twice as strong as ordinary men and with instantaneous reflexes. They had to be. For their business was murder...a 3 year old Pyrrian had a loaded gun strapped to his forearm and knew how to use it or he was a dead 3 year old. It was up to Jason dinAlt, interplanetary gambler, to discover why Pyrrus had become so hostile during man's brief habitation...if he could stay alive long enough to even make a start -
Space Travelers and Nothing But Space Travelers 5 - 13 Lost Sci-Fi Short Stories from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s
- Beside Still Waters by Robert Sheckley
- Home is the Spaceman by George O. Smith
- Welcome Martians by Evan Hunter
- Souvenir by Philip K. Dick
- Unfortunately by Fredric Brown
- The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
- The Cosmic Express by Jack Williamson
- Chicken Farm by Ross Rocklynne
- Before Eden by Arthur C. Clarke
- The Call From Beyond by Clifford D. Simak
- The World That Couldn't Be by Clifford D. Simak
- The Moon That Vanished by Leigh Brackett
- The Shipshape Miracle by Clifford D. Simak
This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.
When astronauts Gino and Dan return from mankind's first trip around the moon, they are shocked to find Nazi Germany occupying the American southwest. Rescued by a ragtag band of resistance fighters, the bewildered spacemen learn this is not the America they left behind. Guided by the renowned physicist Albert Einstein, the astronauts embark on a daring mission to return home and prevent global domination by the Third Reich.
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, especially one trying to get a job without all his parts working. Well, he had been through bad times before and would make it through this one if only he could scrape together enough to get replacement parts.
This is the story that inspired and kicked off the Stainless Steel Rat series of stories and novels by Harry Harrison. A slippery con man and thief, frustrating every police force on every planet for years, he finally meets a worthy adversary in the Special Corps. Slippery Jim deGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat himself, goes on to have many adventures but this is the first...and the last in a way. After this, his cunning and crooked mind is put to the bigger task of saving the universe from itself. Which he does with zest, self interest and sense of fun that describe the Stainless Steel Rat.
This is one of Harry Harrison's marvelous early stories that were published in Galaxy Magazine. The Repairman (1958) is well written and a fun SF story of a man getting a job done when the situation seems stacked against him. As his boss tells him when he tries to wriggle out of working on this latest assignment “According to this document, you can’t quit. Ever. Therefore I have a little job I know you’ll enjoy. Repair job. The Centauri beacon has shut down. It’s a Mark III beacon.…”
“What kind of beacon?” I asked him. I have repaired hyperspace beacons from one arm of the Galaxy to the other and was sure I had worked on every type or model made. But I had never heard of this kind.
“Mark III,” the Old Man repeated, practically chortling. “I never heard of it either until Records dug up the specs. They found them buried in the back of their oldest warehouse. This was the earliest type of beacon ever built—by Earth, no less. Considering its location on one of the Proxima Centauri planets, it might very well be the first beacon.”
Thus begins an exciting story of a man in the distant future with the frustrating but rewarding job of fixing big problems all over the galaxy. His ingenuity and ability to think out of the box enable him, usually with chewing gum, a piece of string and his ingenuity, to 'fix' almost anything.
It was a big, coffin-shaped plywood box that looked like it weighed a ton. This brawny type just dumped it through the door of the police station and started away. I looked up from the blotter and shouted at the trucker's vanishing back.
'What the hell is that?'
'How should I know?' he said as he swung up into the cab. 'I just deliver, I don't X-ray 'em. It came on the morning rocket from earth is all I know.' He gunned the truck more than he had to and threw up a billowing cloud of red dust.
In the box the letter accompanying it said ' ... robots, correctly used will tend to prove invaluable in police work ... they want us to co-operate in a field test ... robot enclosed is the latest experimental model; valued at 120,000 credits.' So begins the saga of Ned, experimental robot policeman.
Fourteen Killer science fiction short stories from some of the best sci-fi authors of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
- Slay-Ride by Winston Marks
- Wreck Off Triton by Alfred Coppel
- Retribution by George T. Spillman
- The Skull by Philip K. Dick
- Prison of a Billion Years by C. H. Thames
- The Misplaced Battleship by Harry Harrison
- Monsters That Once Were Men by Robert Silverberg
- Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley
- Birkett's Twelfth Corpse by August Derleth
- Hero From Yesterday by Robert Silverberg
- The Foxholes of Mars by Fritz Leiber
- Watchbird by Robert Sheckley
- Cry Silence by Fredric Brown
- The Power by Fredric Brown
The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison - All human history shows that not all humans are men; some are mules, and some are wolves–and there are always a few rats.
When the office door opened suddenly I knew the game was up. It had been a money-maker—but it was all over. As the cop walked in I sat back in the chair and put on a happy grin. He had the same somber expression and heavy foot that they all have—and the same lack of humor. I almost knew to the word what he was going to say before he uttered a syllable.
'James Bolivar diGriz I arrest you on the charge—'
I was waiting for the word charge, I thought it made a nice touch that way. As he said it I pressed the button that set off the charge of black powder in the ceiling, the crossbeam buckled and the three-ton safe dropped through right on the top of the cop's head. He squashed very nicely, thank you. The cloud of plaster dust settled and all I could see of him was one hand, slightly crumpled. It twitched a bit and the index finger pointed at me accusingly. His voice was a little muffled by the safe and sounded a bit annoyed. In fact he repeated himself a bit.
'... On the charge of illegal entry, theft, forgery—'
He ran on like that for quite a while, it was an impressive list but I had heard it all before. I didn't let it interfere with my stuffing all the money from the desk drawers into my suitcase. The list ended with a new charge and I would swear on a stack of thousand credit notes that high that there was a hurt tone in his voice.
'In addition the charge of assaulting a police robot will be added to your record. This was foolish since my brain and larynx are armored and in my midsection—'
'That I know well, George, but your little two-way radio is in the top of your pointed head and I don't want you reporting to your friends just yet.'
11 Kinda Short Sci-Fi Stories from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s - More than 3 hours of vintage sci-fi!
This collection of amazing short stories includes stories by several legendary vintage science fiction authors, Ray Bradbury, Robert Silverberg, Harry Harrison and some authors you've probably never heard of. They're kinda short, spooky, unusual, shocking and surprising.
