We’re Not in 1948 Anymore Toto!

This is a fun story to read, but there are some out-dated and chauvinistic ideas about how to treat women, so watch out for that. Just keep telling yourself that this is a pulp fiction story from 1948 – maybe that will help you overlook its defects.

Non-Spoiler Summary

Karn has been kicked out of his tribe – he was the up-and-coming male and all that. Anyway, while wandering around on his own he comes across a strange site: an alien space ship with 3 aliens! The intriguing part is that one of those aliens is a pretty female who captivates Karn. When she is threatened by a wild animal Karn steps in to save the day. Needless to say she is impressed, and the aliens end up taking Karn back to their home planet – where all their cities are under attack by a strange race of green, slimy lizard people. Karn is appalled at the lack of the aliens’ courage and defensive skills, so he plans to teach them a few things.

Some Interesting Tidbits

• Word count: 5,435 (10 pages)
• Did you know that the Cro-Magnon people mentioned in this story lived on Earth about 30,000 years ago? Yep. Learn more about Cro-Magnon men at Wikipedia.
• Special thanks to Variety SF for recommending this story!

Where To Find The Frightened Planet

• This short story was first published in the October 1948 edition of Amazing Stories.
• You can download or read "The Frightened Planet" for free online at Project Gutenberg.

Craving More SF Stories Like This One?

If you liked "The Frightened Planet" then you may also enjoy “The Hunted Heroes” by Robert Silverberg – about a team of uranium miners who are captured by a madman on Mars.

Doctor Hugo Pinero invents a device for measuring the length of life and predicting the date and time of death. This leads to the protests of insurance companies and the potential collapse of the industry, not to mention many personal concerns, and the dilemma of a humanity confronted with knowledge that they perhaps should not have.

The good: Pinero’s devise is unlike anything I’ve seen in any other SF story. It is a fascinating riff on a theme usually reserved for psychics and mediums.

The bad: Unfortunately, the story has rather flat characters. Most of them become symbols of a particular viewpoint instead of fully integrated personalities with interests outside the story line.

The interesting: The society reflects Heinlein’s own Kansas City of his younger days. It hearkens back to a reality that, truthfully, most of us would be just as happy without, an alternative to the golden-age view of the early 1900s.

"Life-line" is Heinlein’s first published story. This and the next two stories in the Future History are firmly set in the sociology of the 1940s. The heavy-handed, goon-squad politics countered by simplistic hucksteristic charm are from a less complicated era. The courtroom antics are reminiscent of tales from the Scopes Monkey Trial. The ruling is obviously that of a judge not beleaguered by unreasonable precedents. He is a stock RAH character, the cantankerous Mark Twainesque voice of wry, stubborn wisdom. Heinlein expresses his free-trade ideals with the moral triumph of his protagonist. It would be interesting to know what kind of protectionist legal decisions had been made that RAH is railing against. The importance of his viewpoint is underscored by the fact that Pinero is the only real character in the story. The other characters are almost silhouettes, props.

Pinero’s conflict with his relatives and his compassion on the young couple who go to him for a reading put his character in the third dimension. He is not a simple opportunist or a cold scientist. He is a man in charge of his own will and aware of the down side of his invention. His ultimate calm paints an interesting picture for Heinlein. Lazarus Long certainly doesn’t have this attitude… not when he’s in a good mood.

"Life-line" bears none of the polish of Heinlein’s later work. It lacks the complex characterization that makes for excellent story telling. However, it does bear the marks of RAH’s later tropes, a tantalizing inhale before a significant breath.

"Life-line" is available free on-line from the publisher as part of Heinlein’s eclectic collection Expanded Universe. Baen Books has graciously also restored the story to its original collection The Man Who Sold The Moon, from which it had been removed for reasons that seem to escape analysts. It seems likely that it was removed to make the book shorter and cheaper to publish, but it is back (though not in RAH’s recommended order), and Baen can be given much credit for that.

Thanks to Tim for this providing this article. You can read more of Tim’s stuff on his blog: The Darling Virtual Mind.

Non-Spoiler Summary

Mr. Flannigan is a schmuck! Well, he is really a down-on-your-luck theater booker, but he is also a schmuck. He hasn’t been able to catch a break lately, what with the War and all, and what he needs is a big break. As luck would have it that is exactly what happens when Mr. Flannigan meets Horatio – an invisible young man who visits him to ask for help. Horatio really just wants to join the military, but Mr. Flannigan has other, more lucrative, plans for this freak of nature. As the schmuck deceives Horatio with a stream of constant lies, he forgets about the other people who are part of his plans – and that proves to be his downfall. Watch out below!

Some Juicy Tidbits About This Story

• Word count: 5,000 (12 pages)
• A fun and easy story to read that is a typical 1940′s yarn – including cheesy dialog and all!
• Did you know that one of William P. McGivern’s novels, The Big Heat, was made into an award winning movie in the 1950′s? Yep, you can learn more about this mystery writer at Wikipedia.
• Special thanks to QuasarDragon for pointing out this great little story!

Where To Find The Chameleon Man

• This story originally appeared in the January 1943 issue of Amazing Stories.
• You can download or read a free online version of "The Chameleon Man" at Project Gutenberg.

Craving More SF Stories Like This One?

Enjoyed "The Chameleon Man" did you? Then give this story a try: “Desertion” by Clifford D. Simak – about the director of a Jovian survey dome who keeps losing men to Jupiter’s open atmosphere.

Are You Afraid Of Mice?

I actually think mice are kind of cute, and cool. (But keep spiders away from me please!) My mother, however, doesn’t agree with me and I have many a happy and mischievous memory of pranks involving my mom, a fake mouse and lots of screaming! Gosh, sometimes I miss my childhood.

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Bill Wheeler is a research biologist who lives next to New York’s Central Park – and that gives him a great view when a small alien space craft lands in the park! As a crowd gathers around the ship, the government takes over and encloses the landing site, but Bill is given first hand observations when he is called in to examine the tiny occupant of the craft. The little alien looks kind of like a mouse, but upon closer inspection many differences are found. Oh, and there is one huge difference between the small Earth rodent and the alien which becomes painfully clear as time goes by. Eeek!

Interesting Tidbits:

• Page Count: 9
• Word Count: 4,000
• You can learn more about science fiction author Fredric Brown at Wikipedia.
• Special thanks to Variety SF for recommending this great short story.

Where You Can Find Mouse:

• This short story first appeared in the June 1949 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories.
• You can read “Mouse” online for free at the Way Back Machine’s archive – be patient, this page takes a long time to load!
• “Mouse” is also included in the acclaimed collection From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown.

Craving More Science Fiction Short Stories?

If you liked “Mouse” then you may also enjoy these 2 other short stories from Fredric Brown.

Predicting The Internet But Not Behavior

The most amazing thing about this story is that it predicts a network of machines that people use to get information, news and entertainment – sound like anything we know? Being written in 1946 I find it remarkable that the author foresees a type of internet and gets several aspects of it right. The disappointing part, however, is that Mr. Leinster assumes people are generally bad and that the only reason they don’t do terrible things is because they lack the knowledge. Luckily, today’s internet hasn’t had that effect on the current population… or has it?

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

“Ducky” is a logic repairman who has a problem. What is a logic you ask? Well, it is a type of advanced machine that is connected to a giant network of relays – a network that literally holds all knowledge! That’s pretty powerful, so it’s a good thing that information is kept under tight control. But something strange has recently happened – when people log onto their logic machine they are getting messages stating that the logic can answer any question they have! Bust out the craziness! Once this is discovered people go hog wild asking juicy gossip about neighbors, how to make loads of money quickly, how to rob banks, how to kill people they don’t like and a lot of other terrible things. Needless to say, this doesn’t make for a happy society. “Ducky” has his own problems as a psycho ex-girlfriend is intent on hooking up with him, and he needs some answers fast. Hey – that gives him a really good idea… but will it be enough? Hmm… any guesses on what he will do?

Interesting Tidbits About This Story:

• Page Count: 13
• Word Count: 6,733
• Did you know that Murray Leinster is the pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins? Yep. You can learn more about this talented science fiction author at Wikipedia.
• Special thanks to Variety SF for pointing out this great story!

Where You Can Find A Logic Named Joe:

• This story was first published in the March 1946 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.
• You can read "A Logic Named Joe" online for free at Webscription.
• This story is included in Murray Leinster’s short story collection, also entitled A Logic Named Joe.

Craving More Science Fiction Short Stories?

If you liked "A Logic Named Joe" then you might also enjoy “Jeffty is Five” by Harlan Ellison – about a small boy who never ages and the strange pocket of time in which he lives.

Feeling a Wee Bit Irish

Did you ever see the movie Darby O’Gill and the Little People? It is an old Disney movie about leprechauns, and I couldn’t help but think about it while I was reading this amusing story. "Housing Problem" is better than the movie – especially with the awesome creepy tone it invokes with the covered bird cage! Good stuff, and maybe it will get you more in the mood for St. Patrick’s Day.

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Eddie and Jackie are going through a bit of a financial crunch, so they have recently rented out a room in their house. It is a small town, so they are grateful to have a tenant – even if it is the crusty old Mr. Henchard. No problem, they can deal with his gruff personality. The difficult part, however, is dealing with the covered bird cage he keeps in his room – the one with all the strange sounds coming from it! They are not prying people, they are just… concerned, so when Mr. Henchard leaves for a few days they have their chance – but will they be able to handle what they find?

Interesting Tidbits About This Story:

• Page Count: 17
• Word Count: 5,489
• Special thanks to Free SF Reader for pointing out this story.

Where You Can Find Housing Problem:

• This story was first published in the October 1944 issue of Charm magazine.
• You can read "Housing Problem" online for free at henrykuttner.Bravehost.com.
• It is also included in the Henry Kuttner anthology of short stories The Last Mimzy: Stories.

Craving More Science Fiction Short Stories?

If you liked "Housing Problem" then you will probably also enjoy “The Faery Handbag” by Kelly Link – the award winning story about a girl whose grandmother has a handbag with a whole village of fairies in it.

Scary Robots Rule

I’ll admit it – I love a good robot story! From Asimov to Clarke I just can’t get enough of them. Here is another great one to add to my list.

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Cliff Sutherland is a photographer who has been covering the strange events in Washington D.C. You see, recently a UFO landed there and a humanoid and robot emerged. Most of the onlookers were amazed and excited, but there was one nut-job who decided to take matters into his own hands and assassinated the humanoid. Since that time the robot and space ship have not moved an inch – in fact the Smithsonian built around them and now they are part of the permanent collection. But when Cliff spends the night in the exhibit he sees something amazing – and once the rest of the world finds out what is happening all pandemonium breaks loose!

My Two Cents…

• This was a fun and easy story to read! Cliff’s descriptions of the happenings inside the museum were a blast to read about.
• The strange relationship that Cliff builds with the robot is pretty cool – especially given what happens at the end.
• A few times during this story I had to take a deep breath and just remember that it was written in 1940. You really have to stretch your suspension of disbelief in some places, but overall the story is worth it.

Interesting Tidbits:

• Page Count: 33
• Word Count: 15,779
• Did you know that Harry Bates was originally NOT a fan of science fiction? Yep. You can learn more about this multi-tasking author at Wikipedia.
• "Farewell to the Master" was the basis for the 1951 and 2008 films "The Day the Earth Stood Still" – here is the trailer for the more recent one, which will hopefully wet your whistle for reading the story!

Where You Can Find Farewell to the Master:

• This novella first appeared in the October 1940 edition of Astounding Stories of Science Fiction.
• You can read "Farewell to the Master" for free by downloading it (in a variety of formats) from ManyBooks.net.
• This story is also part of the 2008 collection The Day the Earth Stood Still & Other Sf Classics.

Craving More Science Fiction Short Stories?

If you liked "Farewell to the Master" then you might also enjoy "Scanners Live in Vain" by Cordwainer Smith – about a sensory deprived man who tries to stop his Scanner brothers from killing a human who has just made a great scientific breakthrough.

NON SPOILER SUMMARY

A greedy man discovers an alien “egg” on a crashed spaceship.  He takes it for himself, along with some flower seeds, to see if he can make a profit from either.  The seeds grow into beautiful flowers that he immediately makes a fortune with.  The egg produces a little lizard that quickly grows into a big lizard, and before long is a gargantuan reptile akin to a dinosaur.  This “beast” is ugly and scary, but respects life here on Earth, and has a very important message to deliver.  However, he may not get the chance to pass on the information before the humans kill him.

MY THOUGHTS

I enjoyed the story, especially as it was mostly from the alien’s point of view.  It was an entertaining struggle in his mind, as he tries to remember life on Venus, and tries to communicate with the humans, who always misinterpret his intentions and think he is attacking them.  It was written in a very simple manner, at times reminding me of a children’s story.  Some typographical errors were a minor annoyance, but easily overlooked because my interest was held by the great storyline.  Oh, and can you say “IRONY”?  Yes, irony is always a great way to end a story.

INTERESTING TIDBITS

• Word Count: 5760
• Page Count: 14
• Published: 1940
• “Beauty and the Beast” won a handful of awards back in the 40’s.
• Henry Kuttner and his wife C.L. Moore were avid writers, and known for co-writing to the point that, often neither one could remember who wrote what part of a story.  Read more about Henry Kuttner at Fantastic Fiction or at Wikipedia.  Many hold the opinion that he was one of the groundbreaking science fiction authors of his day.

WHERE TO FIND THIS STORY

Read this story for free at Bravehost.

The End Of The World… Once Again

One trend I’ve noticed among both classic and modern writers of science fiction is the tendency to write about “the end of the world” – so to speak. Here is another classic story by the great Arthur C. Clarke about that very topic – only this one is told from the aliens’ point of view.

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Alveron is captain of the Galactic Survey Ship S9000, which has recently been ordered to save a young civilization from its exploding star. Arriving hours before the sun goes supernova, Alveron sends two teams to rescue people – but the planet seems deserted. One team finds a working (but recently abandoned) communications station, while the other team finds a bit of trouble when they stumble upon a working subway. Now the question is whether Alveron can save his crew before the end of the world – literally!

My Two Cents…

• The various races of aliens which make up the crew of the S9000 are really cool! One of the reasons I love classic science fiction like this is because of the fun and unique life forms.
• The feeling of a recently abandoned planet about to meet its doom worked very well in this story. It created both a sense of urgency to the story, as well as a cool setting.
• Like most of Arthur C. Clarke’s stories, the ending was great!

Interesting Tidbits About This Story:

• Page Count: 17
• Word Count: 10,337
• Did you know that Arthur C. Clarke built his first telescope at age thirteen? Yep. You can read his biography at the arthurcclarke.net web site.
• Guess what? This story placed 9th in the 1971 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll – very cool!

Where You Can Find Rescue Party:

• This story was originally published in the May 1946 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.
• “Rescue Party” is included in the fantastic anthology The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke – a book I highly recommend.
• You can read a very nice online version of this story at the Baen CD web site – where it is part of their awesome free book The World Turned Upside Down.

Craving More Stories?

If you enjoyed “Rescue Party” then you might also like Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick – about a group of anthropological aliens who are studying the long and brutal empire of mankind.

Some New Players in The Foundation

The second story in this novel spans just under 50 pages, and is divided into 7 small chapters. It is now nearly 50 years since the great psychologist Hari Seldon has set up the Foundation on the planet Terminus. Consequently, this story deals with different characters and events than the first part of the book dealt with. This part of the book is focused on two general entities: the recently elected mayor of Terminus: Salvor Hardin, and the stodgy Foundation Board of Trustees led by the condescending Lewis Pirenne.

In the past 5 decades Terminus has been working faithfully on collecting knowledge and preserving it in the Encyclopedia Galactica, but there are getting to be a lot of support people who aren’t directly involved in the Encyclopedia. Hence Mayor Hardin is elected to represent their interests. The problem in that the Board of Trustees still holds most of the political power, and they seem to be making some very unwise (at least politically) decisions. It is true that Terminus is still under the protection of the Emperor on Trantor, but out here on “the periphery” there have been several break-away kingdoms – the largest of which is Anacreon. Anacreon is getting nervous about the Foundation and seeks to build military bases on Terminus to “protect it.” Yeah, right. Anyway, after they make sure that the Emperor really can’t do anything, they decide to force the matter. And it is here that we see the brilliance of Salvor Hardin – and of Hari Seldon.

The Novel’s Downfall

It is in this section of the Foundation that its true colors really show. On one hand I was immediately bombarded by two of the loudest criticisms of Foundation. The first was outdated technology. On the very first page of this section we see Pirenne using a stylus to write on paper. Really? Sometimes I think that Asimov must not have been trying very hard to be creative. And not only do we see crappy old technology, but we are also plunged deep into several pages of pure conversation. Honestly, a good deal of The Encyclopedists is made up entirely of conversations between people.

The Novel’s Redemption

Ok, enough of the Asimov stereotypes, let us turn our attentions to the positive aspects of this story, of which there are many. First off, while you would think that 50 pages of mostly conversation would be horrifically boring it really wasn’t. Quite the opposite in fact – I found these chapters to be very interesting. I’m not sure what it was, perhaps it was the way Asimov skillfully manipulated the conversations to carefully mete out only the requisite chunks of information. I found the tension high throughout, and rapidly turned the pages to find out what would happen – which is all the more interesting considering the fact that I have read this book two times before!

It is also in this section that we begin to understand how powerful Psychohistory is, and what a great scientist Hari Seldon was. The ending of this story, in which Seldon holographically appears, was terrific! The message he delivers is timely, scientifically sound, and of the utmost importance to the Foundation. Well done that.

Finally, the political intrigue in The Encyclopedists is fantastic. The political love triangle between Anacreon, the Empire and Terminus is beautifully orchestrated and keeps the reader guessing. But truthfully – we know who is going to win in the end right? Still, very fun to read.

How Does The Foundation Hold Up On A 3rd Reading?

So, how does The Encyclopedists hold up over time and on multiple readings? Very well I think. I enjoyed reading about the maneuverings of Hardin the most – seeing how Terminus and the Foundation struggle to get the upper hand in the region was fascinating. And when it comes to outdated technology, well, I just used my imagination (imagine that!) to picture an updated and futuristic version of the story. Overall I was quite pleased. Hopefully you will be too. Let me know what you thought of this section.

If this book sounds like something you might be interested in reading you can find a used copy at eBay, or buy it new on Amazon.com.

If you enjoyed this article please see my other posts on The Foundation Project.