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Another great SF short story for this Free Fiction Friday!

The Corkscrew of Space by Poul Anderson

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The story appears in the recently released eBook, The High Ones and Other Stories by Science Fiction Grand Master, Poul Anderson, You can purchase the whole eBook at:

AMAZON KINDLE | FICTIONWISE

 

The High Ones and Other Stories by Poul Anderson

Now was Eben Holbrook’s chance to play hero—and win his lady love.
Eben Holbrook was not much of a spaceman; he was just a simple nucleonics engineer, not even close to being a scientist. Yet a rare burst of inspiration on his part was what saved them from harm … or maybe just the thought that his dear Ekaterina was in danger.
After having landed on a planet which had the makings of a new Earth, Rurik’s troop discovered that someone else beat them to it. The Zolotoyans—a more highly intelligent race—started an arbitrary attack, which forced an investigation into the reason for their hostility.
Holbrook, Ekaterina and Grushenko were assigned to the task, and set out for Zolotoy. Much to their surprise, the natives did not attack them once they landed; in fact, they seemed altogether indifferent to their guests’ presence, though they were required to stay indefinitely. Holbrook knew that the atmosphere and environment weren’t conducive for humans, and sought immediately to escape, but Grushenko insisted on trying to reason with the Zolotoyans no matter what the cost.

From a Science Fiction Grand Master comes ten exciting stories from the 1950s. Over 100,000 words of the future from the past.

Also includes the stories: OUT OF THE IRON WOMB!, TURNING POINT, THE APPRENTICE WOBBLER, STAR SHIP, THE CORKSCREW OF SPACE, LORD OF A THOUSAND SUNS, THE SOLDIER FROM THE STARS, SWORDSMAN OF LOST TERRA, THE CHAPTER ENDS

 

Welcome to our fantastic first Free Fiction Friday! The plan is to release a short story every Friday.

The Beachcomber by Damon Knight

Alice saw the Beachcomber as a glorious hunk of man; Maxwell saw him as a super being from the future. Tragically, he was both!

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The story appears in the recently released eBook, The Star Beast and Other Stories by Science Fiction Grand Master, Damon Knight. You can purchase the whole eBook at:

AMAZON KINDLE | FICTIONWISE

 

 

 

 

The Star Beast and Other Stories by Damon Knight

Six vintage stories from Science Fiction Grand Master, Damon Knight. First published in the 1940s & 50s, these stories show his diversity from galactic adventure to nihilistic philosophy.

Doorway to Kal-Jmar–Two men had died before Syme Rector’s guns to give him the key to the ancient city of Kal-Jmar–a city of untold wealth, and of robots that made desires instant commands.

The Beachcomber–Alice saw the Beachcomber as a glorious hunk of man; Maxwell saw him as a super being from the future. Tragically, he was both!

The Star Beast–They called this strange tentacle-headed blob that had floundered into the System Oscar. They were to learn a better name.

The Worshipers–Destiny reached out a hand to Algernon Weaver–but he was a timid man, at first. But on the strange world of Terranova, there was much to be learned–of destiny, and other things….

Blackout– A short short story that mentions Charles Fort. And it has an idea as strange as any conjectured by Mr. Fort.

The Earth Quarter–The Niroi permitted refugees from Earth to live in their cramped little ghetto conditionally: that they do so peacefully. But there will always be patriotic fanatics, like Harkway and Rack, who must disturb the peace …

F.W. Murnau was the avant garde, expressionist director of such classic movies as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Sunrise, and Nosferatu. Today I stumble across one of his major movies, Faust. The richest tones of contrast, the use of shadows and light, and strong oblique compositions were all major elements of craft that the Film Noir directors borrowed to fine effect. I wouldn’t call Murnau’s films noir exactly, although Sunrise comes close, they do show share the same toolbox of technique of that genre. The special effects are done really well for this time period. It most have been as jaw-dropping in its day.

I don’t know who does the soundtrack for this version. I found it to be modern and very effective though.

Did you know there’s not only life on Uranus, but it comes as a cylindrical metallic device that lives in a hole (with a small Oscar the Grouch inside). And it’s just possible that it has a vibrate mode.

Okay, I’m done with the double entendres. These images are from the back covers of Fantastic Adventures magazine from the first nine issues that started in 1939. They’re all by Frank Paul the first of the original SF pulp artists. They’re a bit quaint now, but I’m sure they were viewed with awe-inspired sense of wonder in their day.

More brain art for you and this one’s a dozy. We got Brain Bats and we got Zombies! Basil Wolverton had a one of a kind style. This story comes from Mr. Mystery #7 from 1952. And if you prefer it, here’s a CBR file.

[via: Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

What classic SF audio drama actually adapted contemporary stories from great science fiction authors like:
Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Robert Sheckley, Robert Bloch, Fredric Brown, Ray Bradbury, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber, and Philip K. Dick to name several? Well, that would be X Minus 1. The show started as Dimension X in 1950-51 for NBC Radio with stories adapted from Astounding Stories. But continued as X Minus 1 in 1955 and adapted their stories from Galaxy Science Fiction. There were also original scripts by George Lefferts & Ernest Kinoy which hold their own against the SF greats. There’s a total of 126 episodes.

The Flash Player below doesn’t show the playlist. There’s a better a one at Internet Archive. Plus, if you wish, you can download the shows there.

The very versatile artist, Ed Emshweller (AKA Emsh), did a series of Christmas covers for Galaxy SF magazine in the 50s and early 60s. They all feature a four-armed Santa. I wonder if the Santa is a cyborg, mutant, or an alien. My vote is for a Mutant. All that mutative radiation from the magic dust.

Something special for the Christmas season. This film is from 1908 and was thinking it most be the first film adaptation of the Charles Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol, but I’d be wrong. There was an earlier film from 1901. This version is a very short film but captures the highlights. The music is by Vox Lumiere and they’ll be performing it live on Christmas Eve in L.A. Visit their site for more info. I’m a big fan of Vox Lumiere and did a posting earlier about them.

Here’s what the Vox Lumiere newsletter says about this film:

Inventor Thomas Edison filmed this version of the classic Dicken’s tale in 1908 at The Essanay Studios in Chicago. Check out the sophisticated film – on film – on film layering (yes, I meant all three) that Edison employs to show Scrooge, the visiting Christmas Ghosts, as well as the scene each Ghost presents to Scrooge. CGI has got nothing on this “old school” film making – amazing.

I’ve got to say, for 1908, the film quality is excellent. And here’s something was thinking about. The story was published in 1843. This movie was made 65 years later. And now it’s over a hundred years since this film was made. My point is that the time of the movie was closer to the time of the book than our own time is to the movie. Okay, not that profound, but I thought it interesting in that it brought home how really old this movie is.

IMDB lists this movie’s running time at 15 minutes and this video is less than six. But we all know the story, so enjoy …

Vox Lumiere – A Christmas Carol from Vox Lumiere on Vimeo.

It was the early 70s and I would rush home after school to watch the Marvel Super-Heroes on a local UHF station. I’ve recently found some of the episodes online. I learned they were originally aired in 1966. I loved watching the Marvel Super-Heroes on my little Black & White TV in my room.

I’ve heard cheap TV animation referred to as illustrated radio. That definitely apply to the following cartoons. But I’d like to think of them as audio comic books. Yes the animation is minimal but they used the actual artwork from the comics in addition to top voice-over actors. So experience some Stan Lee and Jack Kirby magic from the silver age. I site these cartoons as how I got hooked on comic books. In my teens I became a Marvel zombie and these cartoons gave me a background to the Marvel Universe. They were made in 1966 and was the first cartoon series based on Marvel Comics characters. Each weekday had a different character. There was Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, and Thor. I decided to feature Thor for this posting. Thanks to RenaudMan for posting them.

My favorite SF TV show of all time is Firefly. I’ve often heard the opinion of the classic movie, The Maltese Falcon, as having the perfect cast. I’d have to agree and that goes double for this too short-lived TV series. At the time of this posting, Hulu only has five episodes available (see them if you haven’t already!). Our Mrs. Reynolds is my favorite episode, so I’m glad I can embed it. This episode has Christina Hendricks of Madmen fame. And is she super awesome in everyway? You betcha! She also reprised her roll as Saffron in another Firefly episode called Trash, which is almost as good as Our Mrs. Reynolds.