Astounding Stories (October, 1930)

Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930

20¢

On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher
HARRY BATES, Editor
DR. 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 Oils from a Scene in "The Invisible Death."


Stolen Brains by Captain S. P. Meek

Dr. Bird, Scientific Sleuth Extraordinary, Goes After a Sinister Stealer of Brains.


The Invisible Death by Victor Rousseau

With Night-Rays and Darkness-Antidote America Strikes Back, at the Terrific and Destructive Invisible Empire. (A Complete Novelette.)


Prisoners of the Electron by Robert H. Leitfred

Fate Throws Two Young Earthians into Desperate Conflict with the Primeval Monsters of an Electron's Savage Jungles.


Jetta of the Lowlands (Part 2 of 3) by Ray Cummings

Into Remote Lowlands, in an Invisible Flyer, Go Grant and Jetta—Prisoners of a Scientific Depth Bandit. (Part Two of a Three-Part Novel.)


"An Extra Man" by Jackson Gee

Sealed and Vigilantly Guarded Was "Drayle's Invention, 1932"—for It Was a Scientific Achievement Beyond Which Man Dared Not Go.



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

Astounding Stories (August, 1930)

Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930

On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher
HARRY BATES, Editor
DR. 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 "The Planet of Dread."


"The Planet of Dread" by R. F. Starzl

A Stupid Blunder—and Mark Forepaugh Faces a Lifetime of Castaway Loneliness in the Savage Welter of the Planet Inra's Monster-ridden Jungles.


The Lord of Space by Victor Rousseau

A Black Caesar Had Arisen on Eros—and All Earth Trembled at His Distant Menace.


The Second Satellite by Edmond Hamilton

Earth-men War on Frog-vampires for the Emancipation of the Human Cows of Earth's Second Satellite. (A Novelet.)


Silver Dome by Harl Vincent

In Her Deep-buried Kingdom of Theros, Phaestra Reveals the Amazing Secret of the Silver Dome.


Earth, the Marauder (Part 2 of 3) by Arthur J. Burks

Deep in the Gnome-infested Tunnels of the Moon, Sarka and Jaska Are Brought to Luar the Radiant Goddess Against Whose Minions the Marauding Earth Had Struck in Vain. (Part Two of a Three-Part Novel.)


Murder Madness (Part 4 of 4) by Murray Leinster

Bell Has Fought through Tremendous Obstacles to Find and Kill The Master, Whose Diabolical Poison Makes Murder-mad Snakes of the Hands; and, as He Faces the Monster at Last—His Own Hands Start to Writhe! (Conclusion.)


The Flying City by H. Thompson Rich

From Space Came Cor's Disc-city of Vada—Its Mighty, Age-old Engines Weakening— Its Horde of Dwarfs Hungry for the Earth!



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

Astounding Stories (July, 1930)

Astounding Stories (July, 1930)

On Sale the First Thursday of Each Month

W. M. CLAYTON, Publisher
HARRY BATES, Editor
DR. 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 "Earth, the Marauder."


"Beyond the Heaviside Layer" by Capt. S. P. Meek 

For Eighty Vertical Miles Carpenter and Bond Blasted Their Way—Only to Be Trapped by the Extraordinary Monsters of the Heaviside Layer.


Earth, the Marauder (Part 1 of 3) by Arthur J. Burks 

 Out of Her Orbit Sped the Teeming Earth—A Marauding Planet Bent on Starry Conquest. (Beginning a Three-part Novel.)


"From an Amber Block" by Tom Curry

A Giant Amber Block at Last Gives Up Its Living, Ravenous Prey.


The Terror of Air-Level Six by Harl Vincent 

From Some Far Reach of Leagueless Space Came a Great Pillar of Flame to Lay Waste and Terrorize the Earth. (A Novelet.)


The Forgotten Planet by Sewell Peaslee Wright

The Authentic Account of Why Cosmic Man Damned an Outlaw World to Be, Forever, a Leper of Space.


"The Power and the Glory" by Charles Willard Diffin 

Sadly, Sternly, the Old Professor Reveals to His Brilliant Pupil the Greater Path to Glory.


Murder Madness (Part 3 of 4) by Murray Leinster

More and More South Americans Are Stricken with the Horrible "Murder Madness" That Lies in the Master's Fearful Poison. And Bell Is Their One Last Hope as He Fights to Stem the Swiftly Rising Tide of a Continent's Utter Enslavement. (Part Three of a Four-part Novel.)

Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

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

Astounding Stories (August, 1931)

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

Astounding Stories (December, 1930)

(Cover by H. W. Wesso)

Astounding Stories (December, 1930)


Slaves of the Dust By Sophie Wenzel Ellis

"Fate’s Retribution Was Adequate. There Emerged a Rat with a Man’s Head and Face."


The Pirate Planet By Charles W. Diffin

"It is War. Interplanetary War. And on Far-Distant Venus Two Fighting Earthlings Stand Up Against a Whole Planet Run Amuck." (Part Two of a Four-Part Novel.)


The Sea Terror By Captain S. P. Meek

"The Trail of Mystery Gold Leads Carnes and Dr. Bird to a Tremendous Monster of the Deep."


Gray Denim By Harl Vincent

"The Blood of the Van Dorn’s Ran in Karl’s Veins. He Rode the Skies Like an Avenging God."


The Ape-Men of Xlotli By David R. Sparks

"A Beautiful Face in the Depths of a Geyser—and Kirby Plunges into a Desperate Mid-Earth Conflict with the Dreadful Feathered Serpent." (A Complete Novelette.)

Astounding Stories (May, 1931)

Project Gutenberg provides us with another full issue of Astounding Stories from May, 1931. This issue includes a story by pulp duo Nat Schachner and Arthur L. Zagat, plus another installment in Ray Cumming's serial novel, The Exile of Time. And be sure not to miss Grand Master Frederik Pohl's series of blog posts about Astounding Stories.

Astounding Stories (May, 1931)


Dark Moon by Charles W. Diffin

Mysterious, Dark, Out of the Unknown Deep Comes a New Satellite to Lure Three Courageous Earthlings on to Strange Adventure. (A Complete Novelette.)


"When Caverns Yawned" by Captain S. P. Meek

Only Dr. Bird's Super-Scientific Sleuthing Stands in the Way of Ivan Sarnoff's Latest Attempt at Wholesale Destruction.


 The Exile of Time by Ray Cummings

Young Lovers of Three Eras Are Swept down the Torrent of the Sinister Cripple Tugh's Frightful Vengeance. (Part Two of a Four-Part Novel.)


"When the Moon Turned Green" by Hal K. Wells

Outside His Laboratory Bruce Dixon Finds a World of Living Dead Men—and Above, in the Sky, Shines a Weird Green Moon.


"The Death-Cloud" by Nat Schachner and Arthur L. Zagat


The Epic Exploit of One Who Worked in the Dark and Alone, Behind the Enemy Lines, in the Great Last War.

Monsters of Mars

Today Project Gutenberg adds another full issue of Astounding Stories featuring the writings of sf greats like Edmond Hamilton and Jack Williamson. Also included are another of Sewell Peaslee Wright's Commander John Hanson stories, and the first installment of a novel by Ray Cummings of The Girl in the Golden Atom fame.

Astounding Stories, April, 1931

Monsters of Mars By Edmond Hamilton

"Three Martian-Duped Earth-Men Swing Open the Gates of Space That for So Long Had Barred the Greedy Hordes of the Red Planet." (A Complete Novelette.)


The Exile of Time By Ray Cummings

"From Somewhere Out of Time Come a Swarm of Robots Who Inflict on New York the Awful Vengeance of the Diabolical Cripple Tugh." (Beginning a Four-Part Novel.)


"Hell's Dimension" By Tom Curry

"Professor Lambert Deliberately Ventures into a Vibrational Dimension to Join His Fiancée in Its Magnetic Torture-Fields."


"The World Behind the Moon" By Paul Ernst

"Two Intrepid Earth-Men Fight It Out with the Horrific Monsters of Zeud's Frightful Jungles."


Four Miles Within By Anthony Gilmore

"Far Down into the Earth Goes a Gleaming Metal Sphere Whose Passengers Are Deadly Enemies." (A Complete Novelette.)


"The Lake of Light" By Jack Williamson

"In the Frozen Wastes at the Bottom of the World Two Explorers Find a Strange Pool of White Fire—and Have a Strange Adventure."


"The Ghost World" By Sewell Peaslee Wright

"Commander John Hanson Records Another of His Thrilling Interplanetary Adventures with the Special Patrol Service."

Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1955

"Blind Spot" by Bascom Jones

"Everyone supported the Martian program—until it struck home!"

Astounding Stories (January 1931)

Another complete issue of editor Harry Bates' Astounding Stories, featuring another of S. P. Wrights' Star Trekish Commander John Hanson tales and a novelette by the renowned Murray Leinster.

“The Gate to Xoran.” by H. W. Wesso

Astounding Stories (January, 1931)

The Dark Side of Antri By Sewell Peaslee Wright

Commander John Hanson Relates an Interplanetary Adventure Illustrating the Splendid Service Spirit of the Men of the Special Patrol.


The Sunken Empire By H. Thompson Rich

Concerning the Strange Adventures of Professor Stevens with the Antillians on the Floor of the Mysterious Sargasso Sea.


The Gate to Xoran by Hal K. Wells

A Strange Man of Metal Comes to Earth on a Dreadful Mission.


The Eye of Allah By C. D. Willard

On the Fatal Seventh of September a Certain Secret Service Man Sat in the President’s Chair and—Looked Back into the Eye of Allah.


The Fifth-Dimension Catapult By Murray Leinster

The Story of Tommy Reames’ Extraordinary Rescue of Professor Denham and his Daughter—Marooned in the Fifth Dimension. (A Complete Novelette.)


The Pirate Planet By Charles W. Diffin

Two Fighting Yankees—War-Torn Earth’s Sole Representatives on Venus—Set Out to Spike the Greatest Gun of All Time. (Part Three of a Four-Part Novel.)

Astounding Stories (March, 1931)

A lone Golden Age story today, plus another complete issue of Astounding Stories, featuring stories by the late doyen of sf, Jack Williamson, and the prolific Harl Vincent.

Lonesome Hearts by Russell Robert Winterbotham (If Worlds of Science Fiction, July 1954)

"Mjly is Yljm's love life. She is her sisters, her mothers, herselves and her ancestors. But poor old Yljm can never be a mother or a sister—just himself!"

"Beyond the Vanishing Point" by H. W. Wesso

Astounding Stories (March, 1931)

When the Mountain Came To Miramar By Charles W. Diffin

It is Magic against Magic As Garry Connell Bluffs for His Life with a Prehistoric Savage in the Heart of Sentinel Mountain.

Beyond the Vanishing Point By Ray Cummings

The Tale of a Golden Atom—an Astounding Adventure in Size. (A Complete Novelette.)

Terrors Unseen By Harl Vincent

One after Another the Invisible Robots Escape Shelton's Control—and Their Trail Leads Straight to the Gangster Chief Cadorna.

Phalanxes of Atlans By F. V. W. Mason

Never Did an Aviator Ride a More Amazing Sky-Steed Than Alden on His Desperate Dash to the Great Jarmuthian Ziggurat. (Conclusion of a Two-Part Novel.)

The Meteor Girl By Jack Williamson

Through the Complicated Space-Time of the Fourth Dimension Goes Charlie King in an Attempt to Rescue the Meteor Girl.

Astounding Stories (February, 1931)

Today from Project Gutenberg comes a complete issue of Astounding Stories (February, 1931).

"The Tentacles from Below" by H. W. Wesso

Werewolves of War By D. W. Hall

The Story of the "Torpedo Plan" and of Capt. Lance's Heroic Part in America's Last Mighty Battle with the United Slavs.


The Tentacles From Below By Anthony Gilmore

Down to Tremendous Ocean Depths Goes Commander Keith Wells in His Blind Duel with the Marauding "Machine-Fish." (A Complete Novelette.)


The Black Lamp By Captain S. P. Meek

Dr. Bird and His Friend Carnes Unravel Another Criminal Web of Scientific Mystery.


Phalanxes of Atlans By F. V. W. Mason

Only in Dim Legends Did Mankind Remember Atlantis and the Lost Tribes—Until Victor Nelson's Extraordinary Adventure in the Unknown Arctic. (Beginning a Two-Part Novel.)


The Pirate Planet By Charles W. Diffin

From Earth and Sub-Venus Converge a Titanic Offensive of Justice on the Unspeakable Man-Things of Torg. (Conclusion.)

Vagabonds of Space

From Project Gutenberg comes a complete issue of Astounding Stories (November, 1930).



The Wall of Death By Victor Rousseau

"Out of the Antarctic It Came—a Wall of Viscid, Grey, Half-Human Jelly, Absorbing and Destroying All Life That It Encountered."

The Pirate Planet By Charles W. Diffin

"A Strange Light Blinks on Venus, and Over Old Earth Hovers a Mysterious Visitant—Dread Harbinger of Interplanetary War." (Beginning a Four-Part Novel.)

The Destroyer By William Merriam Rouse

"Slowly, Insidiously, There Stole Over Allen Parker Something Uncanny. He Could No Longer Control His Hands—Even His Brain!"

The Gray Plague By L. A. Eshbach

"Maimed and Captive, in the Depths of an Interplanetary Meteor-Craft, Lay the Only Possible Savior of Plague-Ridden Earth."

Jetta of the Lowlands By Ray Cummings

"Black-Garbed Figures Move in Ghastly Greenness As the Invisible Flyer Speeds on Its Business of Ransom." (Conclusion.)

Vagabonds of Space By Harl Vincent

"From the Depths of the Sargasso Sea of Space Came the Thought-Warning, "Turn Back!" But Carr and His Martian Friend Found It Was Too Late!" (A Complete Novelette.)

Astounding Stories of Super-Science

Project Gutenberg continues to add public domain science fiction stories to its shelves. Here's a few more recent acquisitions.

(Kang and Kodos drop by unexpectedly.)

Astounding Stories of Super-Science (September, 1930)

A complete issue of this legendary magazine, featuring another of Sewell P. Wright's thrilling Commander John Hanson space operas, this one with the unbeatable title, "The Terrible Tentacles of L-472."


Made in Tanganyika by Carl Richard Jacobi (Fantastic Universe, May 1954)

"See what happens when two conchologists get caught in a necromantic nightmare of their own."


Reel Life Films by Sam Merwin (Fantastic Universe, May 1954)

"Pity the poor purveyor of mere entertainment in today's world. He can't afford to offend a soul, yet must have a villain."



Be It Ever Thus by Robert Moore Williams (Fantastic Universe, January 1954)

"The planet's natives were so similar to their conquerors that no one could tell them apart -- except for their difference in thinking."

Dream Town

If Project Gutenberg keeps up this pace I'll never get all these stories read, but I'll sure as hell try. Today, four more tales from the Golden Age, plus a complete issue of Astounding from 1930.


G-r-r-r...! by Roger Arcot (Fantastic Universe, January 1957)

"He had borne the thousand and one injuries with humility and charity. But the insults! These were more than he could suffer...."


It's All Yours by Samuel Merwin, Jr. (Fantastic Universe, November 1956)

"It was a lonely thing to rule over a dying world—a world that had become sick, so terribly sick...."


Mutineer by Robert J. Shea (If, July 1959)

"For every weapon there was a defense, but not against the deadliest weapon—man himself!"


Dream Town by Henry Slesar (Fantastic Universe, January 1957)

"The woman in the doorway looked so harmless. Who was to tell she had some rather startling interests?"


Astounding Stories, July 1930 Complete issue.



Featuring another of Sewell P. Wright's Commander John Hanson space operas, "The Forgotten Planet". "The Authentic Account of Why Cosmic Man Damned an Outlaw World to Be, Forever, a Leper of Space."

And the always dependable Harl Vincent's novelette, "The Terror of Air-Level Six". "From Some Far Reach of Leagueless Space Came a Great Pillar of Flame to Lay Waste and Terrorize the Earth."

Astounding Stories

Project Gutenberg has just place a complete issue of Astounding (February 1930) online. They've hosted many individual stories from sf magazines before, but this is the first entire magazine that I'm aware of. The editor at the time was Harry Bates, best remembered today for his short story "Farewell to the Master," which was adapted for the screen as the classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

The contents are pretty standard pulp fare, although a few names stand out. Harl Vincent was a prolific contributor to the early sf pulps penning such colorful tales as "Microcosmic Buccaneers" and "Lethal Planetoid." Also contributing a story is Hugh B. Cave who was an author of pulp horror tales. And then there's Captain S. P. Meek who is best known for his stories "Submicroscopic" and its sequel "Awlo of Ulm" that recount the adventures of humans reduced to microscopic size only to discover that atoms are entire worlds.

If you read these tales don't expect much from the prose you encounter. Many of these writers would crank out stories two at a time, jumping from one typewriter to the other. And don't be shocked to find offensive attitudes expressed toward women and minorities. These yarns reflect the times in which they were created, warts and all. But if you do read them you'll be treated to some cheap and colorful thrills from the early days of the genre.