Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Doctor Who rocks Glastonbury



Glastonbury is an annual UK festival of music and arts that this year featured a special appearance by the Eleventh Doctor performing with legendary electronica duo Orbital. Awesome.

Update: The Beeb killed that right quick. To see the video you now need to click here.

A Place in the Sun



A Place in the Sun by Milton Lesser (as by C. H. Thames)

"Mayhem, the man of many bodies, had been given some weird assignments in his time, but saving The Glory of the Galaxy wasn’t difficult—it was downright impossible!"



Produced by Greg Weeks, Barbara Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Astounding Stories (August, 1931)




The Danger from the Deep by Ralph Milne Farley

"Marooned on the Sea-Floor, His Hoisting Cable Cut, Young Abbot Is Left at the Mercy of the Man-Sharks."


Brood of the Dark Moon by Charles Willard Diffin

"Once More Chet, Walt and Diane Are United in a Wild Ride to the Dark Moon. But This Time They Go as Prisoners of Their Deadly Enemy Schwartzmann." (Beginning a Four-Part Novel.)


If The Sun Died by R. F. Starzl

"Tens of Millenniums After the Death of the Sun There Comes a Young Man Who Dares to Open the Frozen Gate of Subterranea."


The Midget From the Island by Harry Bates and Desmond W. Hall (as by H. G. Winter)

"Garth Howard, Prey to Half the Animals of the Forest, Fights Valiantly to Regain His Lost Five Feet of Size."


The Moon Weed by Harl Vincent

"Unwittingly the Traitor of the Earth, Van Pits Himself Against the Inexorably Tightening Web of Plant-Beasts He Has Released from the Moon."


The Port of Missing Planes by Captain S. P. Meek

"In the Underground Caverns of the Selom, Dr. Bird Once Again Locks Wills with the Subversive Genius, Saranoff."



Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Monday, June 28, 2010

Doctor Who: The Anime Movie Trailer



This is too cool. Paul "OtaKing" Johnson gives us a glimpse of just how awesome Doctor Who would be as an anime. The trailer stars the Third Doctor, though for some reason he dosn't use Venusian aikido in the fight scene. There's also some sweet Dalek vs. Cybermen action. Now if only somebody would do a Star Trek anime...

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Happy Murray Leinster Day!


Let's join Murgatroyd in a hot cup of coffee in honor of the late, great Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 - June 8, 1975). This might even be a good time to reread some of his classic works, like The Pirates of Ersatz (1959), or "A Logic Named Joe" (1946).

A Modern Wizard

(picture via Dr. Steel)


A Modern Wizard (1894) by Rodrigues Ottolengui

"Crime and the Napoleonic scientist, also fantastic history. A curious work. At times melodramatic in the worst way, yet at other times intellectually rigorous." - Everett F. Bleiler, Science Fiction: The Early Years

Friday, June 25, 2010

Futurama

FuturamaThursdays 10pm / 9c
Preview - e-Waste Delivery
www.comedycentral.com
Futurama New EpisodesFuturama New EpisodesUgly Americans

If you were worried that being off the air for years would make Futurama stale, rest easy. It's back and just as funny as ever. Even Zapp is back, and just as obnoxious as ever.

Islands of Space



Islands of Space by John W. Campbell, Jr.

'As Earth's faster-than-light spaceship hung in the void between galaxies, Arcot, Wade, Morey and Fuller could see below them, like a vast shining horizon, the mass of stars that formed their own island universe. Morey worked a moment with his slide rule, then said, "We made good time! Twenty-nine light years in ten seconds! Yet you had it on at only half power...."

Arcot pushed the control lever all the way to full power. The ship filled with the strain of flowing energy, and sparks snapped in the air of the control room as they raced at an inconceivable speed through the darkness of intergalactic space.

But suddenly, far off to their left and far to their right, they saw two shining ships paralleling their course! They held grimly to the course of the Earth ship, bracketing it like an official guard.

The Earth scientists stared at them in wonder. "Lord," muttered Morey, "where can they have come from?"
'





Invaders from the Infinite by John W. Campbell, Jr.

"GALAXIES IN THE BALANCE


The famous scientific trio of Arcot, Wade and Morey, challenged by the most ruthless aliens in all the universes, blasted off on an intergalactic search for defenses against the invaders of Earth and all her allies.


World after world was visited, secret after secret unleashed, and turned to mighty weapons of intense force—and still the Thessian enemy seemed to grow in power and ferocity.


Mighty battles between huge space armadas were but skirmishes in the galactic war, as the invincible aliens savagely advanced and the Earth team hurled bolt after bolt of pure ravening energy—until it appeared that the universe itself might end in one final flare of furious torrential power...."



John W. Campbell first started writing in 1930 when his first short story, When the Atoms Failed, was accepted by a science-fiction magazine. At that time he was twenty years old and still a student at college. As the title of the story indicates, he was even at that time occupied with the significance of atomic energy and nuclear physics.

For the next seven years, Campbell, bolstered by a scientific background that ran from childhood experiments, to study at Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote and sold science-fiction, achieving for himself an enviable reputation in the field.

In 1937 he became the editor of Astounding Stories magazine and applied himself at once to the task of bettering the magazine and the field of s-f writing in general. His influence on science-fiction since then has been great. Today he still remains as the editor of that magazine's evolved and redesigned successor, Analog.


Produced by Bruce Thomas, Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Quest of the Golden Ape

Amazing Stories, January, February, March 1957


Quest of the Golden Ape by Milton Lesser and Randall Garrett (as by Adam Chase and Ivar Jorgensen)

"How could this man awaken with no past—no childhood—no recollection except of a vague world of terror from which his mother cried out for vengeance and the slaughter of his own people stood as a monument of infamy?"



Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Star Trek: Tik Tok



[via AOTS]

Sci-Fi Airshow


"The Sci-Fi Airshow Mission

The SCI-FI AIR SHOW’s purpose is to preserve and promote the rich and varied history of Sci-Fi/fantasy vehicles. Through display and education we seek to celebrate the classic design and beauty of these ships and the rich imaginations that created them. When the cameras stopped rolling, many of these proud old ships were lost and forgotten. Please join us in working to keep these rare and beautiful birds soaring! "


[via Mick Farren]

The Black Star Passes


The Black Star Passes (1953) by John W. Campbell, Jr.


THREE AGAINST THE STARS


A sky pirate armed with superior weapons of his own invention....

First contact with an alien race dangerous enough to threaten the safety of two planets....

The arrival of an unseen dark sun whose attendant marauders aimed at the very end of civilization in this Solar System....

These were the three challenges that tested the skill and minds of the brilliant team of scientist-astronauts Arcot, Wade, and Morey. Their initial adventures are a classic of science-fiction which first brought the name of their author, John W. Campbell, into prominence as a master of the inventive imagination.

JOHN W. CAMPBELL first started writing in 1930 when his first short story, When the Atoms Failed, was accepted by a science-fiction magazine. At that time he was twenty years old and still a student at college. As the title of the story indicates, he was even at that time occupied with the significance of atomic energy and nuclear physics.

For the next seven years, Campbell, bolstered by a scientific background that ran from childhood experiments, to study at Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote and sold science-fiction, achieving for himself an enviable reputation in the field.

In 1937 he became the editor of Astounding Stories magazine and applied himself at once to the task of bettering the magazine and the field of s-f writing in general. His influence on science-fiction since then cannot be underestimated. Today he still remains as the editor of that magazine's evolved and redesigned successor, Analog.



Produced by V. L. Simpson, Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Urashima Taro

"Urashima Tarō (浦島太郎) is a Japanese legend... The tale has been identified as the earliest example of a story involving time travel."


URASHIMA TARO

A very long time ago there lived in Japan a young fisherman named Urashima Taro. His father before him had been a very expert fisherman, but Urashima's skill in the art so far exceeded that of his father, that his name as a fisher was known far and wide beyond his own little village. It was a common saying that he could catch more fish in a day than a dozen others could in a whole week.

But it was not only as a fisher that Urashima excelled. Wherever he was known, he was loved for his kindly heart. Never had he hurt even the meanest creature. Indeed, had it not been necessary to catch fish for his living, he would always have fished with a straight hook, so as to catch only such fish as wished to be caught. And as for teasing and tormenting animals, when he was a boy, his tenderness towards all the dumb creation was a matter for laughter with his companions; but nothing would ever induce him to join in the cruel sport in which some boys delight.

One evening, as Urashima was returning from a hard day's fishing, he met a number of boys all shouting and laughing over something they were worrying in the middle of the road. It was a tortoise they had caught and were ill-treating. Between them all, what with sticks and stones and other kinds of torture, the poor creature was hard beset and seemed almost frightened to death.

Urashima could not bear to see a helpless thing treated in that way, so he interfered.

'Boys!' he said, 'that's no way to treat a harmless dumb creature. You'll kill the poor thing!'

But the boys merely laughed, and, taking no further notice, continued their cruel sport.

'What's a tortoise?' cried one. 'Besides, it's great fun. Come on, lads!' And they went on with their heartless game.

Urashima thought the matter over for a little, wondering how he could persuade the boys to give the tortoise up to him. At last he said with a smile, 'Come, boys! I know you're good-hearted young fellows: I'll make a bargain with you. What I really wanted was to buy the tortoise,—that is, if it is your own.'

'Of course it's our own. We caught it.' They had begun to gather round him at the prospect of a sale, for they relished the money to buy sweetmeats even more than the cruel sport of tormenting an innocent creature.

'Very well,' replied Urashima, bringing a string of coins out of his pocket and holding them up. 'See! you can buy a lot of nice things with this. What do you say?'

He smiled at them so sweetly and spoke so gently that, with the cash dangling before their eyes, they were soon won over. The biggest boy then grabbed the tortoise, and held it out to him with one hand, while he reached for the string of coins with the other. 'All right, uncle,' he said, 'you can have the tortoise.'

Urashima handed over the money in exchange for the poor, frightened creature, and the boys were soon making their way to the nearest sweetmeat shop.

Meanwhile Urashima looked at the tortoise, which looked back at him with wistful eyes full of meaning; and, though it could not speak, the young fisherman understood it perfectly, and his tender heart went out to it.

'Poor little tortoise!' he said, holding it up and stroking it gently to soothe its fears, 'you are all right with me. But remember, sweet little one, you've had a narrow squeak of losing a very long life. How long is it? Ten thousand years, they say;—that's ten times as long as a stork can boast of. Now I'm going to take you right back to the sea, so that you can swim away to your home and to your own people. But promise me you will never let yourself be caught again.'

The tortoise promised with its eyes. So wistful and grateful were they, that Urashima felt he could never forget them.

By this time he was down on the seashore, and there he placed the tortoise in the sea and watched it swim away. Then he went home feeling very happy about the whole thing.


Monday, June 21, 2010

To the Sun

by Clark Ashton Smith


Thy light is an eminence unto thee
And thou art upheld by the pillars of thy strength.
Thy power is a foundation for the worlds:
They are builded thereon as upon a lofty rock
Whereto no enemy hath access.
Thou puttest forth thy rays, and they hold the sky
As in the hollow of an immense hand.
Thou erectest thy light as four walls
And a roof with many beams and pillars.
Thy flame is a stronghold based as a mountain:
Its bastions are tall, and firm like stone.




The worlds are bound with the ropes of thy will,
Like steeds are they stayed and constrained
By the reins of invisible lightnings.
With bands that are stouter than iron manifold,
And stronger than the cords of the gulfs,
Thou withholdest them from the brink
Of outward and perilous deeps,
Lest they perish in the desolations of the night,
Or be stricken of strange suns;
Lest they be caught in the pitfalls of the abyss,
Or fall into the furnace of Arcturus.
Thy law is as a shore unto them,
And they are restrained thereby as the sea.
Thou art food and drink to the worlds:
Yea, by the sustenance are they sustained,
That they falter not upon the road of space
Whose goal is Hercules.
When thy pillars of force are withdrawn,
And the walls of thy light fall inward,
And thy head is covered with the Shadow,
The worlds shall wander as men bewildered
In the wasteness void of life and barren.
Athirst and unfed shall they be
When the springs of thy strength are dust
And thy fields of light are black with dearth.
They shall perish from the ways
That thou showest no longer,
And emptiness shall close above them.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Cosmic Deflector



"Rats in the Belfry" by David Wright O'Brien (as by John York Cabot)

"This house was built to specifications that were strange indeed; and the rats that inhabited it were stranger still!"


"The Cosmic Deflector" by Stanton A. Coblentz

"It's one thing to force the Earth out of its orbit, and another to force it back in again!"





"Phantom of the Forest" by Leroy Yerxa (as by Lee Francis)

"Every year men slaughter deer by the thousands; it seems only fitting that the tables be turned once in a while...."





"You Too Can Be A Millionaire" by Noel Loomis

"Money was worthless, yet no man dared go broke. It was all pretty confusing to Mark until "Point-Plus-Pearlie" told him—YOU TOO CAN BE A MILLIONAIRE"





"The Victor" by Bryce Walton

"Under the new system of the Managerials, the fight was not for life but for death! And great was the ingenuity of—The Victor."

"Thy Name is Woman" by Bryce Walton (as by Kenneth O'Hara)

"Women of earth had finally attained their objective: a new world all their own and—without men! But was it?"





"The Huddlers" by William Campbell Gault

"He was a reporter from Venus with an assignment on Earth. He got his story but, against orders, he fell in love—and therein lies this story."



Space Science Fiction, May and July, 1953


Cue for Quiet by T. L. Sherred

"After too many years, T. L. Sherred returns with a story that gets our SPACE SPECIAL rating. It's the story of a man with a headache—who found a cure for it! And the cure gave him more power than any man could dream of."





"The Merchants of Venus" by A. H. Phelps, Jr.

"A pioneer movement is like a building—the foundation is never built for beauty!"





"Home Is Where You Left It" by Milton Lesser (as by Adam Chase)

"How black is the blackest treachery? Is the most callous traitor entitled to mercy? Steve pondered these questions. His decision? That at times the villain should possibly be spoken of as a hero."



Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Mask of Death



Mask of Death by Paul Ernst

"A weird and uncanny tale about a strange criminal who called himself Doctor Satan, and the terrible doom with which he struck down his enemies"



Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Saturday, June 19, 2010

A Stitch in Time



Written by sf author Steven Barnes this uncharacteristically good episode of The (nu) Outer Limits is one of the best time travel tales ever to make it on television.

Thy Rocks and Rills


"Death Makes a Mistake" by William P. McGivern (as by P. F. Costello)

"Mr. Demise had Reggie Van Fiddler's name in his book, but Reggie didn't want to be on any list, so he set out to correct the mistake!"





"Castle of Terror" by E. J. Liston

"What strange dimension was this where giants, gangsters, Lucretia Borgia, dwarfs and Rip Van Winkle lived at the same time?"






"Circle of Flight" by Richard Stockham

"Thorus, the vengeful, had determined his way. Aria, the healer, had determined her way. Which determined this classic meeting of the twain."





Thy Rocks and Rills by Robert E. Gilbert

"They were out of place in the Manly Age—Stonecypher, a man who loved animals; Moe, a bull who hated men. Together, they marched to inevitably similar destinies...."



Produced by Greg Weeks, Dianna Adair, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Friday, June 18, 2010

Pioneer One


An object in the sky spreads radiation over North America. Fearing terrorism, U.S. Homeland Security agents are dispatched to investigate and contain the damage. What they discover will have implications for the entire world.

This is the first episode of a 7-episode first season. What's going to happen to this mysterious cosmonaut? Is his story true? What will happen to our agents, now operating on their own? Help the creators tell this story, along with a further 4 seasons mapped out for the future.

The Tree of Life




The Tree of Life by C. L. Moore

"A gripping tale of the planet Mars and the terrible monstrosity that called its victims to it from afar—a tale of Northwest Smith."





Beyond The Thunder by H. B. Hickey

"What was this blinding force that came out of a hole in the sky, and was powerful enough to destroy an entire city? Case thought he knew...."





Bedside Manner by William Morrison

"Broken, helpless, she had to trust an alien doctor to give her back her body and mind—a doctor who had never seen a human before!"





"Perchance to Dream" by Richard Stockham

"If you wish to escape, if you would go to faraway places, then go to sleep and dream. For sometimes that is the only way...."


"The Genius" by Con Pederson

"Sethos was a great artist, a talented man, quite possibly the most famous man of his time and world. But, alas!—there were other worlds. And is not the grass always greener...?"





In the Cards by Alan Cogan

"It is one thing to safeguard the future ... and something else entirely to see someone you love cry in terror two years from now!"


Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Check and Checkmate



Check and Checkmate by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

"Victory hinges not always on the mightiest sword, but often on lowly subterfuge. Here is a classic example, with the Western World as stooge!"





"When the Mountain Shook" by Robert Abernathy

"Dark was the Ryzga mountain and forbidding; steep were its cliffs and sheer its crevasses. But its outward perils could not compare with the Ryzgas themselves, who slept within, ready to wake and conquer...."



Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

The Door into Infinity



The Door into Infinity by Edmond Hamilton

"An amazing weird mystery story, packed with thrills, danger and startling events."


Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Piper in the Woods




Daughter of the Night by Richard S. Shaver

"The evil magic of the Goddess Diana turned men to stone. Would the power of the strange Eos be strong enough to turn them back to living men?"





"Piper in the Woods" by Philip K. Dick

"Earth maintained an important garrison on Asteroid Y-3. Now suddenly it was imperiled with a biological impossibility—men becoming plants!"





Backlash by Winston K. Marks

"They were the perfect servants—they were willing to do everything for nothing. The obvious question is: How much is nothing?"





A Woman's Place by Mark Clifton

"Home is where you hang up your spaceship—that is, if you have any Miss Kitty along!"





Think Yourself to Death by Milton Lesser (as by C. H. Thames)

"If you've never read a Johnny Mayhem story before, you are in for a treat. Johnny, who wears different bodies the way ordinary people wear clothes, is one of the most fascinating series characters in science fiction."


Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

The Goddess of Atvatabar


The Goddess of Atvatabar (1892) by William R. Bradshaw

"As soon as the astonishment consequent on discovering a sun in the interior of the earth had somewhat subsided, we further discovered that the earth was indeed a hollow sphere. It was now as far to the interior as to the exterior surface, thus showing the shell of the earth to be at the pole at least 500 miles in thickness. We were half way to the interior sphere."

The Lost Door



The Lost Door by Dorothy Quick

"An alluring but deadly horror out of past centuries menaced the life of the young American—a fascinating tale of a strange and eery love"


Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

World Beyond Pluto



"Elegy" by Charles Beaumont

"It was an impossible situation: an asteroid in space where no asteroid should have been—with a city that could only have existed back on Earth!"





"World Beyond Pluto" by Milton Lesser (as by C. H. Thames)

"Johnny Mayhem, one of the most popular series characters ever to appear in Amazing, has been absent too long. So here's good news for Mayhem fans; another great adventure of the Man of Many Bodies."

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Impossible Voyage Home



"The Plotters" by Richard S. Shaver (as by Alexander Blade)

"He came from a far planet to find some of the Earth's secrets. But Marko found other things, too—like his love for beautiful Beth."


"Tillie" by Rog Phillips (as by Craig Browning)

'She was just a blob of metal, but she had emotions like any woman. She, too, wanted ROMANCE, and wasn't coy about running after her "guy".'




The Impossible Voyage Home by F. L. Wallace

"The right question kept getting the wrong answer—but old Ethan and Amantha got the right answer by asking the wrong question!





Mezzerow Loves Company by F. L. Wallace

"There were pride and indignation in Mezzerow's mission to Earth and yet a practical reason ... but maybe he should have let bad enough alone!"



Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Asteroid of Fear



"Once Upon A Planet" by J. J. Allerton

"The mighty King Miotis came down to Earth to recapture his lost desire for war. But what he saw on this planet, caused him to feel differently."





Asteroid of Fear by Raymond Z. Gallun

"All space was electrified as that harsh challenge rang out ... but John Endlich hesitated. For he saw beyond his own murder—saw the horror and destruction his death would unleash—and knew he dared not fight back!"





"The Dark Goddess" by Richard Sharpe Shaver

"Deep within her caverns the great mer-woman longed for death to end her loneliness. But then came a voyager from space—a man—also lonely...."



Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Moorcock's Doctor Who novel



"Big news!

Moorcock's Miscellany is honored to announce Michael Moorcock's new Doctor Who novel THE COMING OF THE TERRAPHILES! This exciting new novel is brought to you by BBC Books and is to be released October 28, 2010. See this announcement for all the details.

Thank you,
RdF"

The Ties That Bind



"Success Story" by Robert Turner

"What is to be will be. Our only refuge lies in that which might not have been."





The Ties that Bind by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

"The Earth was green and quiet. Nature had survived Man, and Man had survived himself. Then, one day, the great silvery ships broke the tranquillity of the skies, bringing Man's twenty-thousand-year-lost inheritance back to Earth...."



Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team