“The Minority Report” is a 1956 science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. It is about the man who heads the pre-crime division and what he does when his name shows up as a potential murderer.

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“Alien Offer” is a 1959 science fiction short story by Al Sevcik. It is about an alien fleet who offers to evacuate the world’s children after learning of Earth’s impending doom.

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“Yokel with Portfolio” is a 1955 science fiction short story by Robert Silverberg. It is about a man from a backwater, forgotten world who comes to New York City to ask for technological help from the Colonial Minister of Earth.

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“It’s a Good Life” is a 1953 science fiction short story by Jerome Bixby. It is about a small boy who uses his special powers to terrorize the small town in which he lives.

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“The Game of Rat and Dragon” is a 1955 science fiction short story by Cordwainer Smith. It is about the telepaths, and their partners, who use mind altering pin-sets to protect spaceships traveling in interstellar space.

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“Chance Encounter” is a 1959 science fiction short story by A. Bertram Chandler. It is about two men who accept dangerous but lucrative assignments as crewmen on an exploration ship to the edge of the galaxy.

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Wouldn’t it be cool if Mars once held a civilization similar to our own? That is the premise of H. Beam Piper’s 1957 science fiction novelette “Omnilingual” where a group of specially trained scientists travel to the Red Planet to uncover an ancient Martian city. The scientists find themselves stumped by the aliens’ language until one dedicated and tenacious archaeologist finds a “Rosetta Stone” that opens the proverbial floodgates.

continue reading "Discover How Archaeologists Translated Secret Martian Writings!"

“The Sentinel” is a 1951 science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It is about an ancient monument discovered on the moon.

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“All You Zombies-” is a 1959 science fiction short story by Robert Heinlein. It is about an agent of the Temporal Bureau who travels back in time to recruit a young writer.

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“The Cold Equations” is a 1954 science fiction novelette by Tom Godwin. It is about a pilot who finds a stowaway girl on his Emergency Dispatch Ship.

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“A Sound of Thunder” is a 1952 science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury. It is about a man who travels back in time to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

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“The Hunted Heroes” is a 1956 science fiction short story by Robert Silverberg. It is about a team of uranium miners who are captured by a madman on Mars.

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“Profession” is a 1957 science fiction novella by Isaac Asimov. It is about a young man in the 65th century who dreams of being a computer programmer.
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“All Summer in a Day” is a 1954 science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury. It is about a class of children on Venus who are eagerly awaiting the one day every seven years when the rain will briefly stop and the sun will shine.

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“The Last Question” is a 1956 science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It is about a super computer that is asked a question about the end of the universe - and the very, very long time it takes to come up with an answer.

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Arthur C. Clarke, one of the most famous science fiction authors ever, and part of the “Big Three” of the genre (along with Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein), passed away today.

In memory of this great science fiction writer I present “The Nine Billion Names of God”, the 1953 science fiction short story that was so good it won a retrospective Hugo award. It is about a company that sells a computer to a Tibetan monestary so they can quickly finish listing all the possible names of God and fulfill their destinies.

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Allamagoosa

by Eric Frank Russell

• Word count: 4665
• Page count: 11

“Allamagoosa” is an award winning 1955 science fiction short story by Eric Frank Russell. It is about the crew of the spaceship Bustler, and their attempts to make everything spic and span prior to an official inspection.

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The Veldt

by Ray Bradbury

• Word count: 4612
• Page count: 11

The Veldt is a 1950 science fiction short story by the classic science fiction author Ray Bradbury. It is about a couple who become concerned when their children use the virtual nursery to recreate a realistic African veldt.

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The Star

by Arthur C. Clarke

• Word count: 2475
• Page count: 6

The Star is a classic science fiction short story by one of the genre’s most famous authors: Arthur C. Clarke. It is a story told from the point of view of a Jesuit astrophysicist aboard a starship that is investigating the Phoenix Nebula. The site of a supernova some 6,000 years earlier, the nebula has yielded knowledge that shakes his faith to its very core.
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The Feeling of Power

by Isaac Asimov

• Word count: 3283
• Page count: 10

The Feeling of Power is a cool little science fiction short story by one of the giants of the genre: Isaac Asimov. Written in classic Asimov fashion, the story explores the idea of a society so dependent on computers that they have forgotten basic math skills.
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