Strange Stories (1884)

Strange Stories (1884) by Grant Allen

"I may perhaps also venture to plead in self-defence that though these stories do not profess to be anything more than mere short sensational tales, I have yet endeavoured to give to most of them some slight tinge of scientific or psychological import and meaning."

Includes the stories "Pausodyne", "an early tale about Suspended Animation", "A Child of the Phalanstery", "about a future society's Eugenic practices", as well as "New Year's Eve Among the Mummies", "The Mysterious Occurrence in Piccadilly", "Our Scientific Observations on a Ghost" and others.


Produced by Annie R. McGuire. This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print archive.

The Star-Treader and other poems

The Star-Treader and other poems (1912) by Clark Ashton Smith


Produced by David Starner, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

The Lonely Ones (1953)

If, July 1953

"The Lonely Ones" by Edward W. Ludwig

"The line between noble dreams and madness is thin, and loneliness can push men past it...."


Produced by Frank van Drogen, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

We're Civilized! (1953)

Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953 

"We're Civilized!" by Alex Apostolides and Mark Clifton

"Naturally, the superior race should win ... but superior by which standards ... and whose?"


Produced by Frank van Drogen, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

The World Masters

The World Masters (1903) by George Griffith

When a device capable of controlling all the electricity on the planet falls into a young engineer's hands can he keep it safe from French and Russian imperialists and use it to bring about world peace? Bleiler comments, "An invention, exploitation, plots, peace vigilantes, and extended romances. More romance and less action than in the earlier works."


Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Psyche

(Cover by Jan Toorop)

Psyche (1898, trans. by B. S. Berrington, 1908) by Louis Couperus

A fairy tale like Maeterlinck's later play The Blue Bird, based on the ancient story of Psyche.


Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Etidorhpa, or The End of Earth

Illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp

Etidorhpa or the End of Earth (1896) by John Uri Lloyd


From The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:

Lloyd, John Uri (1849-1936) US chemist, author of Etidorhpa, or The End of Earth: The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of a Remarkable Journey (1895; rev vt 1901), a metaphysical FANTASTIC VOYAGE in which the narrator – whose manuscript has been discovered by Lloyd – is led by a blind humanoid named I-Am-The-Man to a LOST WORLD in the interior of the Earth, which he excitedly explores while gaining occult enlightenment into the higher forms of love (the title is Aphrodite reversed). Etidorhpa, which went through eleven or more editions, is noteworthy for its bitter attack on the rational sciences. Like other notable HOLLOW-EARTH works of the period, the geography of Etidorhpa derives from the theories of John Cleves SYMMES. [JE/JC]

Produced by Pat McCoy, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Sentiment, Inc.

Science Fiction Stories, #1 1953

Sentiment, Inc. by Poul Anderson

"The way we feel about another person, or about objects, is often bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the person or object at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart" comes about sheerly from a change in the many associations which make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose that these associations could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was in charge of the process...."



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

The Great War in England in 1897

The Great War in England in 1897 (1894) by William Le Queux


Another reactionary future war story of the kind Michael Moorcock anthologized in Before Armageddon (1975) and England Invaded (1977). The author makes no bones about his intention.

"In writing this book it was my endeavour to bring vividly before the public the national dangers by which we are surrounded, and the absolute necessity which lies upon England to maintain her defences in an adequate state of efficiency."

He forgot to add "Harrumph"! Bleiler dryly comments, "Routine adventure, not remarkable for geographical accuracy or much else." 


I accidentally quoted Bleiler's comment on The Eye of Ishtar (1897) there. What he said about this book was that it is "By no means as significant as the author's later The Invasion of 1910."


Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Comet's Burial

Science Fiction Stories, #1 1953

Cover by Alex Schomburg

"Comet's Burial" by Raymond Z. Gallun

"A man may be a scoundrel, a crook, a high-phased confidence man, and still work toward a great dream which will be worth far more than the momentary damage his swindles cost."


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

The City in the Clouds

The City in the Clouds (1922) by C. Ranger Gull

"A stirring story of love, crime and adventure by the author of 'The Air Pirate'"


Produced by Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

The Image and the Likeness

(Cover by Ralph Joiner )

IF Worlds of Science Fiction, November 1952

The Image and the Likeness by John Scott Campbell

"Up from the horror of Hiroshima came a god. He gave the people hope and for this they killed him—as they have always killed their gods."


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

Summer means tourists...

"Thunder Child attacking Martian Tripod War Machines"

"Martian Tripod War Machines Attacking London"

Some gratuitous War of the Worlds, just because I ran across these cool renders by czarnyrobert.

Progress Report

If, July 1953

(Cover by Ken Fagg)

"Progress Report" by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides

"Progress is relative; Senator O'Noonan's idea of it was not particularly scientific. Which would be too bad, if he had the last word!"



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

The Scapegoat

Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1956

(Cover by Emsh)

"The Scapegoat" by Richard Maples

"Who would not have pity for a poor, helpless victim? Nobody —except another poor victim!"


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

Amazing Stories #2 c2c

The Internet Archive has added several more early issues of Amazing Stories to their collection, including #2 which contains some of the earliest sf fan mail.

Amazing Stories #2, May 1926

"And it was with a feeling of gratification that we noted the almost unanimous condemnation of the so-called "sex-appeal" type of story that seems so much in vogue in this country now. Most of our correspondents seemed to heave a great sigh of relief in at last finding a literature that appeals to the imagination, rather than carrying a sensational appeal to the emotions. It is that which justifies our new venture — our expenditure of time and money.

The letters, extracts from which are printed below, seem to best express the general trend of opinion.

Mr. George W. Anderson, of Fairmount, W. Va., in addition to giving us a good suggestion, says: "Print all scientific facts as related in the stories, in italics. This will serve to more forcefully drive home the idea upon which you have established your magazine. Personally, when I have some such system blazing forth before my eyes I am inclined to stop and consider what I have learned, for future reference."

A. Lee Gladwin, of Ames, Iowa, writes: "....Amazing Stories is entertaining and has food for thought that no other fiction work could begin to compete with."

Raymond E. Dickens, Air Mail Radio Station, Iowa City, Iowa, says: "I can read these stories over several times and each time get something new from them."

Michael H. Kay, Brooklyn, N, Y., says : "You will generally find that when one has read your magazine he will become so enthusiastic, so elated over his discovery, that he will deem it a pleasure to extol its virtues to his friends. Even now my wife is anxiously waiting for me to finish this first issue, so that she may read it herself."

Lack of space precludes adding to the list indefinitely."

I'm very appreciative of the Archive's efforts, but it has to be said that while the "Read Online" version is fine, the PDFs are rather poor quality and the text conversions are a bit garbled. Hopefully the volunteers at Project Gutenberg will pick them up and give us some properly proofread versions.

Amazing Stories #1 c2c

Some enterprising soul over at the Internet Archive has uploaded a scan of the very first science fiction magazine.

Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 01 (April 1926). Scanned copy of a pulp magazine published by Experimenter Publishing Co. and edited by Hugo Gernsback. Periodical copyright not renewed. Individual contributions' copyrights not renewed. This magazine and its contents are now in the public domain. This is the first issue of the first science fiction magazine in history.

The Slayer of Souls

The Slayer of Souls (1920) by Robert W. Chambers

"Only when the Nan-yang Maru sailed from Yuen-San did her terrible sense of foreboding begin to subside.

For four years, waking or sleeping, the awful subconsciousness of supreme evil had never left her.

But now, as the Korean shore, receding into darkness, grew dimmer and dimmer, fear subsided and grew vague as the half-forgotten memory of horror in a dream."

Produced by Chris Curnow, Michael, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading

The Beautiful People

If, September 1952

"The Beautiful People" by Charles Beaumont

"Mary was a misfit. She didn't want to be beautiful. And she wasted time doing mad things—like eating and sleeping."


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

The Invasion of 1910

The Invasion of 1910: with a Full Account of the Siege of London (1906) by William Le Queux and H. W. Wilson

"The Invasion of 1910 is a 1906 novel written mainly by William Le Queux (with H. W. Wilson providing the naval chapters). It is one of the more famous examples of Invasion literature and is an example of pre-World War I Germanophobia, as it preached the need to prepare for war with Germany." Wikipedia

There were many, many stories of this type published in that era as I. F. Clarke made a career of showing. The European nations were itching for WWI. Other notable examples are The War in the Air (1908) by H.G. Wells, "The Swoop!, Or, How Clarence Saved England" (1909) by P. G. Wodehouse, and "The Secret of the Army Aeroplane" (1909) by A. A. Milne, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh.