Astounding Stories (June, 1930)

Astounding Stories (June, 1930)

On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor

The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees

That the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by the Authors' League of America;

That such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American workmen;

That each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;

That an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages.


Cover Design by H. W. Wessolowski

Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "The Moon Master."


"Out of the Dreadful Depths" by Charles Willard Diffin (as by C. D. Willard)

Robert Thorpe Seeks Out the Nameless Horror That Is Sucking All Human Life Out of Ships in the South Pacific.


Murder Madness (Part 2 of 4) by Murray Leinster

Bell, of the Secret "Trade," Strikes into the South American Jungle to Find the Hidden Stronghold of the Master—the Unknown Monster Whose Diabolical Poison Swiftly and Surely Is Enslaving the Whole Continent. (Part Two of a Continued Novel.)


"The Cavern World" by James P. Olsen

A Great Oil Field Had Gone Dry—and Asher, Trapped Far under the Earth Among the Revolting Petrolia, Learns Why.


Brigands of the Moon (Part 4 of 4) by Ray Cummings

The Besieged Earth-men Wage Grim, Ultra-scientific War with Martian Bandits in a Last Great Struggle for Their Radium-ore—and Their Lives. (Conclusion.)


Giants of the Ray by Tom Curry

 Madly the Three Raced for their Lives up the Shaft of the Radium Mine, for Behind Them Poured a Stream of Hideous Monsters—Giants of the Ray!


The Moon Master by Charles Willard Diffin

Through Infinite Deeps of Space Jerry Foster Hurtles to the Moon—Only to be Trapped by a Barbaric Race and Offered as a Living Sacrifice to Oong, their Loathsome, Hypnotic God. (A Complete Novel.)


Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team

Astounding Stories (May, 1930)

Astounding Stories (May, 1930)

On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor

The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees


That the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid, by leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by the Authors' League of America;


That such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American workmen;


That each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;


That an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages.


Cover Design by H. W. Wessolowski

Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "The Atom-Smasher."


Into the Ocean's Depths by Sewell Peaslee Wright

To Save Imee's Race of Men-Who-Returned-To-The-Sea, Two Land-Men Answer the Challenge of the Dreaded Rorn, Corsairs of the Under-Seas.


Murder Madness (Part 1 of 4) by Murray Leinster

Murder Madness! Seven Secret Service Men Had Completely Disappeared. Another Had Been Found a Screaming, Homicidal Maniac, Whose Fingers Writhed Like Snakes. So Bell, of the Secret "Trade," Plunges into South America After The Master—the Mighty, Unknown Octopus of Power Whose Diabolical Poison Threatens a Continent! (Beginning a Four-part Novel.)


Brigands of the Moon (Part 3 of 4) by Ray Cummings

Gregg and Anita Risk Quick, Sure Death in a Desperate Bluff on the Ruthless Martian Brigands. (Part Three of a Four-part Novel.)


"The Jovian Jest" by Lilith Lorraine

There Came to Our Pigmy Planet a Radiant Wanderer with a Message—and a Jest—from the Vasty Universe.


The Atom-Smasher by Victor Rousseau

Four Destinies Rocket Through the Strange Time-Space of the Fourth Dimension in Tode's Marvelous Atom-Smasher. (A Complete Novelette.)



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

Astounding Stories (April, 1930)

Astounding Stories (April, 1930)

On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor

The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees:

That the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid; by leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by the Authors' League of America;

That such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American workmen;

That each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;

That an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages.


Cover Design by H. W. Wessolowski
Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "Monsters of Moyen."

"The Man Who Was Dead" by Thomas H. Knight
As Jerry's Eyes Fell on the Creature's Head, He Shuddered—for the Face Was Nothing but Bone, with Dull-brown Skin Stretched Taut over It. A Skeleton That Was Alive!

Monsters of Moyen by Arthur J. Burks
"The Western World Shall be Next!" Was the Dread Ultimatum of the Half-monster, Half-god Moyen.

"Vampires of Venus" by Anthony Pelcher
Leslie Larner, an Entomologist Borrowed from the Earth, Pits Himself Against the Night-flying Vampires That Are Ravaging the Inhabitants of Venus.

Brigands of the Moon (Part 2 of 4) by Ray Cummings
Out of Awful Space Tumbled the Space-ship Planetara Towards the Moon, Her Officers Dead, With Bandits at Her Helm—and the Controls Out of Order!

"The Soul Snatcher" by Tom Curry
From Twenty Miles Away Stabbed the "Atom-filtering" Rays to Allen Baker in His Cell in the Death House.

"The Ray of Madness" by Captain S. P. Meek
Dr. Bird Uncovers a Dastardly Plot, Amazing in its Mechanical Ingenuity, Behind the Apparently Trivial Eye Trouble of the President.



Produced by Greg Weeks, Meredith Bach, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Astounding Stories (March, 1930)

Astounding Stories (March, 1930)

On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher HARRY BATES, Editor DOUGLAS M. DOLD, Consulting Editor

The Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees:
That the stories therein are clean, interesting, vivid; by leading writers of the day and purchased under conditions approved by the Authors’ League of America;
That such magazines are manufactured in Union shops by American workmen;
That each newsdealer and agent is insured a fair profit;
That an intelligent censorship guards their advertising pages.


Cover Design by H. W. Wessolowski

Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in “Brigands of the Moon.”


"Cold Light" by Capt. S. P. Meek

How Could a Human Body Be Found Actually Splintered––Broken into Sharp Fragments Like a Shattered Glass! Once Again Dr. Bird Probes Deep into an Amazing Mystery.


Brigands of the Moon (Part 1 of 4) by Ray Cummings

Black Mutiny and Brigandage Stalk the Space-ship Planetara as She Speeds to the Moon to Pick Up a Fabulously Rich Cache of Radium-ore.


The Soul Master by Will Smith and R. J. Robbins

Desperately O’Hara Plunged into Prof. Kell’s Mysterious Mansion. For His Friend Skip Was the Victim of the Eccentric Scientist’s De-astralizing Experiment, and Faced a Fate More Hideous than Death.


"From the Ocean’s Depths" by Sewell Peaslee Wright

Man Came from the Sea. Mercer, by His Thought-telegraph, Learns from the Weirdly Beautiful Ocean-maiden of a Branch that Returned There.


Vandals of the Stars by A. T. Locke

A Livid Flame Flares Across Space––and Over Manhattan Hovers Teuxical, Vassal of Malfero, Lord of the Universe, Who Comes with Ten Thousand Warriors to Ravage and Subjugate One More Planet for His Master.



Produced by Greg Weeks, Katherine Ward, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

NYT interviews Alan Moore

There's a great interview with noted comic book author Alan Moore over at the NYT. Definitely worth checking out.

Despite the radical change in format, the “Unearthing” project is no less significant to Alan Moore, a prolific (and prodigiously bearded) 56-year-old resident of Northampton, England. To him it is a tribute to a colleague and mentor, and a demonstration that he has transcended the boundaries of the graphic novels for which he is best known.

“After all those years of working within the comics industry and quietly going mad, this is what erupts,” Mr. Moore said in a telephone interview.

Also worth a visit is Moore's groovy Dodgem Logic site.

Pohl on Budrys

Frederik Pohl blogged yesterday about his late freind and sf great Algis Budrys. While he doesn't enjoy the high profile of some of his contemporaries, Budrys wrote some great novels that still hold up today.

His most famous novel is the Cold War sf thriller Who? (1958) which was turned into a film nearly twenty years later in 1973.

My personal favorite of his books, Rogue Moon (1960) is a psychologically astute novel about the exploration of a mysterious and deadly alien artifact on the moon.

Another great book by Budrys, Michaelmas (1977) is one of the best novels of the era and compares favorable to some of Brunner's famous books of the time.

Lord of the Sands

Can the Galaxy Ramgers survive after crash landing on a desert planet in the Empty Zone? Written by Mick Farren who blogged about his experience working on the show yesterday.

Tron

I love Tron. It's one of the best beats The Panacea ever laid down. What's that? A movie? What movie?

Nobody calls me Flynn. You got the wrong guy. I'm the Dude, man.

[hat tip to EXONAUTS!]

Gundam is go!

Today is the official unvailing of the 1:1 scale RX-78-2 Gundam at its new home guarding the Higashi-Shizuoka station. Let's see those neo-Zeon try to commute now.

Rogue Arm

Mick Farren wrote this episode of the Galaxy Rangers. Too bad they didn't also let him write the theme song.

Sunset

by H. P. Lovecraft

The cloudless day is richer at its close;
A golden glory settles on the lea;
Soft stealing shadows hint of cool repose
To mellowing landscape, and to calming sea.

And in that nobler, gentler, lovelier light,
The soul to sweeter, loftier bliss inclines;
Freed from the noonday glare, the favour'd sight
Increasing grace in earth and sky divines.

But ere the purest radiance crowns the green,
Or fairest lustre fills th' expectant grove,
The twilight thickens, and the fleeting scene
Leaves but a hallow'd memory of love!

Commodore Grimes and the Dirty Pair?

Who'd have thought? It turns out there's a link between the famous sf character John Grimes and the Lovely Angels.

"The instigation of "the DP Concept" was a visit to Japan by the British Australian SF author A. Bertram Chandler, probably in 1978. On his itinerary was a stop at the young Studio Nue, which Takachiho co-founded. As something to entertain their guest, two of the staffers there, Yuri Tanaka and Keiko Otoguro, hit upon the idea with Takachiho of taking Chandler to a tournament of the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling organization, which was a member of the World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA). The card included the highly-popular wrestling (and singing) team, the Beauty Pair. Something that passed among the foursome during that match led Chandler to remark to Takachiho something to the effect that "the two women in the ring may be the Beauty Pair, but those two with you ought to be called 'the Dirty Pair'."

This became the germ of an idea for a novella Takachiho decided to write, transplanting the rough-housing of pro-wrestling to the realm of space-opera mystery stories, with which he already had experience in his already successful Crusher Joe series. The team code-name "Lovely Angels" is also play on the names of certain women's teams of the time, such as the Queen Angels."

Can you image what a Rim Worlds and Dirty Pair crossover would be like? The story ""The Dark Dimensions" is all about characters from parallel universes wandering into Grimes' back yard, so it's not hard to picture Kei and Yuri showing up and causing mayhem. Grimes isn't an uptight cat, but even he might reach his limit if he had to deal with those two.

Bureau of Slick Tricks

D-99 by H. B. Fyfe

"When the interstellar diplomats and the space fleets can't handle the job, it's up to Department 99."

Scarecrow's Revenge

Another rootin' tootin' episode of The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers written by the groovy Mick Farren. "Scarecrow! Eat light!"

Meanwhile, in outer space...

Captain Victory laughs at your primitive iPad. It can't compare to his helmet-like portable command post.

Song of a Comet

by Clark Ashton Smith

Pale plummet of the stark immensities,
From perished heavens cast, I fall and flare
Through gulfs by stellar orbits girdled round;
And spaces bare
Of sparkless night between the galaxies—
By path of sun nor circling planet bound.
No star allots my lone and cyclic gyre;
I mark the systems vanish one by one;
Among the swarming worlds I lunge,
And sudden plunge
Close to the zones of solar fire;
Or ' mid the mighty wrack of stars undone,
Flash, and with momentary rays
Compel the dark to yield
Their aimless forms, whose once far-potent blaze
In ashes chill is now inurned.
Upon the shadowy heavens half-revealed,
I show their planets turned,
Whose strange ephemerae,
On adamantine tablets deeply written,
In cities long unlitten,
Have left their history
And lore beyond redemption or surmise.
Adown contiguous skies,
I pass the thickening brume
Of systems yet unshaped, that hang immense
Along mysterious shores of gloom;
Or see—unimplicated in their doom—
The final and disastrous gyre
Of blinded suns that meet,
And from their mingled heat
And battle-clouds intense,
Overspread the deep with fire.

Upon the Lion's track,
Or far beyond the abysms of the Lyre,
I thread, through mazes of the zodiac,
Mine orbit placed amid
The multiple and irised stars, or hid,
Unsolved and intricate,
In many a planet-swinging sun's estate.
At times I steal in solitary flight
Along the rim of the exterior night
That rounds the universe;
And then return,
Past outer footholds of sidereal light,
To see the systems gather and disperse;
And learn
What vast and multifarious marvels wait
In the dim void that has no ultimate;
What wraiths of suns extinguished long ago
On alien welkins burn;
What flaming blossoms grow
From the black battlefields of cosmic wars;
What stellar hells, or ampler spheres sublime,
Enisled in diverse time,
Are wrought from sharded moons and meteors;
And haply I discern
What paler fires, to mine own self akin,
Still haunt the night's eternal corridors,
Or in the toils of great Arcturus spin.
Then, restless still, I rise
Through vaults of mightier gloom, to watch the dark
Snatch at the flame of failing suns;
Or mark
That midden of the stagnant nadir skies
Where many a fated orbit runs.
An arrow sped from some forgotten bow,
Through change of firmaments and systems sent,
And finding bourn nor bars,
I fly, nor know
For what remoter mark my flight is meant.

Macross Zone

Macross Zero pwns Top Gun. Even cheesy '80s music can't slow down a variable fighter.

Star Wars Subway Car

Next time, Jar Jar!

The Ware Tetralogy

The Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker


Summary of the Wares

Your Guide to the 21st Century!

It starts with Software, where rebel robots bring immortality to their human creator by eating his brain. Software won the first Philip K. Dick Award.

In Wetware, the robots decide to start building people­—and people get strung out on an insane new drug called merge. This cyberpunk classic garnered a second Philip K. Dick award.

By Freeware, the robots have evolved into soft plastic slugs called moldies­—and some human “cheeseballs” want to have sex with them. The action redoubles when aliens begin arriving in the form of cosmic rays.

And with Realware, the humans and robots reach a higher plateau.



The electronic versions of the text are distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-No Derivative License.

The Stainless Steel Rat

Astounding/Analog Science Fact & Fiction, April 1960

The Misplaced Battleship by Harry Harrison

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.



Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Enterprise alternative theme music

I think there are some people who liked the opening theme music of Star Trek: Enterprise, but not many. I know I didn't. It reminded me of the opening of Cheers. Maybe if they had gone with this music I would have been predisposed to like the show more, but I probably still would have bailed after that cowboy planet episode.

The Exile

by Clark Ashton Smith

Against my heart your heart is closed; you bid me go:
What ways are left in all the world for love to know ?
Desolate oceans, and the light of lonely plains,
Dead moons that wander in the wastes of ice and snow—

These, these I fain would see, and find the splendid bourn
Of sunset, or the Brazen deserts of the morn,
That I might lose this ever-aching loneliness
In vaster solitude; and love be less forlorn,

Faring to seek with alien sun and alien star
The strange, the veiled horizons infinite and far;
Spaces of fire and night, the skies of steel and gold,
Or sunset-haunted seas where foamless islands are.

Star Trek: Aurora

Star Trek: Aurora Part 1 (Updated 2/2010) from Tim Vining on Vimeo.

Tim Vining's Star Trek: Aurora is an original animated movie set in the Star Trek universe, but it isn't your typical ST:TOS adventure. Following the exploits of interstellar merchants, and partially inspired by the novels of C. J. Cherryh, it almost seems like it would be more at home in the Traveller universe. But it's still very well made and fun to watch.

Aliens Vs. Predator

It's not what you think... (by Zerofriends)

Hawkwind - Space Is Deep

Hawkwind

Song in a Minor Key

Fantastic Universe, January 1957

"Song in a Minor Key" by C. L. Moore

"Northwest Smith is one of the great adventurers of Science Fiction, one of that group of cool, gray-eyed men who roam the spaceways and provide much of the inspiration for the legends that are a part of the folklore of space. Here is Northwest Smith, in a rare moment of peace, in a remarkable vignette, published here by permission of the author."



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

Onion News From 2137

Future: News From The Year 2137 Trailer

Galaxy Rangers - The Ax

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986–1989) is a space opera/western that revolves around the adventures of a group of enhanced rangers who patrol the galactic frontier. Since I'm the only person I know who didn't think much of either Oblivion (1994) or Firefly/Serenity (2002/2005) I'd normally roll my eyes at this kind of thing. But since episodes like this one and several others were written by hep cat sf author Mick Farren, I'll go along for the ride. In any case it's interesting to contrast Galaxy Rangers with the anime of the time, like Gundam, Macross and Patlabor.

Solar Queen

Plague Ship by Andre Norton

"Lured by its exotic gems, the space trader Solar Queen lands on the little-known planet of Sargol, only to find the ruthless Inter-Solar Company there ahead of them. Adapting quickly to the culture of Sargol's feline inhabitants, the crew of the Queen beat out their rivals and successfully make a deal with the natives. But soon after takeoff, the Queen's crew is stricken with a plague, and they are now banned from landing on any inhabited planet. Will the Queen's crew save themselves, or be condemned to drift forever through space?" (Summary by Mark Nelson)

Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton

"The sequel to Plague Ship, Voodoo Planet finds the Solar Queen banned from trade and starting her supposed quiet two-year stint as an interstellar mail carrier. But instead her crew accepts a visit to the safari planet of Khatka, where they find themselves caught in a battle between the forces of reason and the powers of Khatka's mind-controlling wizard." (Summary by Mark Nelson)



Produced by Jason Isbell, Greg Weeks, Cori Samuel, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Ode for July Fourth

by H. P. Lovecraft

As Columbia’s brave scions, in anger array’d,
Once defy’d a proud monarch and built a new nation;
‘Gainst their brothers of Britain unsheath’d the sharp blade
That hath ne’er met defeat nor endur’d desecration;
So must we in this hour
Show our valour and pow’r,
And dispel the black perils that over us low’r:
Whilst the sons of Britannia, no longer our foes,
Will rejoice in our triumphs and strengthen our blows!

See the banners of Liberty float in the breeze
That plays light o’er the regions our fathers defended;
Hear the voice of the million resound o’er the leas,
As deeds of the past are proclaim’d and commended;
And in splendour on high
Where our flags proudly fly,
See the folds we tore down flung again to the sky:
For the Emblem of England, in kinship unfurl’d,
Shall divide with Old Glory the praise of the world!

Bury’d now are the hatreds of subject and King,
And the strife that once sunder’d an Empire hath vanish’d.
With the fame of the Saxon the heavens shall ring
As the vultures of darkness are baffled and banish’d;
And the broad British sea,
Of her enemies free,
Shall in tribute bow gladly, Columbia to thee:
For the friends of the Right, in the field side by side,
Form a fabric of Freedom no hand can divide!

The Ramones - Spider-Man

Gundam redeployed

1/1 scale Gundam in Shizuoka, Japan : Construction is almost Completed from darwinfish105 on Vimeo.


The life-sized RX-78-2 Gundam that was built to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Yoshiyuki Tomino's (富野 由悠季) classic mecha anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam (機動戦士ガンダム), has been relocated form Tokyo to Shizuoka Prefecture. The amount of detail they put into this is amazing, and it seen like it could start moving at any second. Let's just hope no Zakus show up and start trouble.

The Eye of Wilbur Mook

Amazing Stories, November, 1948

"The Eye of Wilbur Mook" by H. B. Hickey

"When the world's most cowardly man met the world's bravest—history was changed"



Produced by Greg Weeks, Karina Aleksandrova and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

In Saturn

by Clark Ashton Smith

Upon the seas of Saturn I have sailed
To isles of high primeval amarant,
Where the flame-tongued, sonorous flowers enchant
The hanging surf to silence; all engrailed

With ruby-colored pearls, the golden shore
Allured me; but as one whom spells restrain,
For blind horizons of the somber main
And harbors never known, my singing prore

I set forthrightly. Formed of fire and brass,
And arched with moons, immenser heavens deep
Were opened—till above the darkling foam,

With dome on cloudless adamantine dome,
Black peaks no peering seraph deems to pass
Rose up from realms ineffable as sleep!