Non-Spoiler Summary

Derek is coming home to visit his family – you know, one of those awkward visits after a rebellious child has been away for a long time. Yeah, and to make matters worse Derek has had a lot of changes since the last time he was home. For one he has altered his throat so he can speak with the alien Phoeng. Oh, and there is the little matter of him getting married to not one but two aliens! And to top it all off he is carrying their baby! I wonder how his conservative Catholic family will handle all his strangeness – not too well I think.

Some Juicy Tidbits About This Story

• Word count: 5,225 (9 pages)

Where To Find Join

• This short story first appeared in the September 2011 edition of Lightspeed Magazine – where you can still read it online for free!

Craving More SF Stories Like This One?

If you liked "Join" then you might also enjoy “Blood Child” by Octavia E. Butler – about an alien world run by a race of insect like creatures called the Tlic who use humans as hosts to lay eggs inside them to reproduce.

A Dream Come True!

A planet of all women? Sign me up for the next flight baby! Isn’t that every man’s dream? Maybe, but maybe not – especially if the trip would kill him.

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Bowren has been given a very special assignment by the men of Earth – to infiltrate a spaceship returning to Mars. Doesn’t sound too tough does it? One small problem though… men are physiologically incapable of space travel. And since this demoralizing discovery many years ago, the women of Earth have taken charge of all space exploration. They apparently like it so much that all of them have moved to Mars – and that is where Bowren comes in. He is going to test a new hypo that will (hopefully) allow him to make the trip to the Red Planet, and once there he is to discover the alluring secret of the women’s new society. But will he like what he finds? I’m betting he doesn’t.

Interesting Tidbits About This Story:

• Page Count: 14
• Word Count: 7,879
• I had a difficult time finding biographical information about Bryce Walton – anybody out there know anything about him?

Where You Can Find Thy Name Is Woman:

• This story was originally published in the March 1953 issue of IF Worlds of Science Fiction under the pen name Kenneth O’Hara.
• You can read (or download) a free version of “Thy Name Is Woman” at Project Gutenberg.

If you liked this story then you may also be interested in The Menace from Earth by Robert Heinlein – about a 15 year old girl who lives on the Moon and gets jealous when her partner acts as a tour guide for a beautiful Earth woman.

This Is Why I Don’t Hunt

When I was younger I used to go deer and elk hunting with my father and older brother. There were several things that I did not like and I didn’t go very many times before I got tired of it. Although I wasn’t as bad off as the characters in this story, I was reminded of why I don’t go hunting anymore. At least I wasn’t on another planet!

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Kreega is an old, cantankerous Martian. In fact that is why he is singled out when the famous hunter Riordan comes to Mars to hunt illegally. Riordan, or course, tries to gain the advantage by using a radio-active net, a rockhound and a hawk, but Kreega has a few tricks up his sleeve that the great Riordan knows nothing about! Who will prevail in this age old battle of wits and strategy? Hmm… I know who my money’s on.

My Two Cents…

• This is the first story I’ve ever read by Poul Anderson and I was greatly impressed! A very cool story with some excellent writing – what could be better?
• Honestly, it is fun to read stories that come from a time when people still hoped there might actually be aliens on the other planets in our solar system. The creativity that goes into imagining those aliens is amazing!
• Kreega was a great character! I know the story was written to make me want to root for him, but still – it was totally fun seeing the cool ideas he came up with.

Interesting Tidbits:

• Page Count: 11
• Word Count: 6,532
• Did you know that Poul William Anderson’s daughter is married to another famous SF author? Yep. You can learn who it is at Wikipedia.
• Special thanks to Free SF Reader for recommending this story.

Where You Can Find Duel on Syrtis:

• This short story was originally published in the March 1951 issue of Planet Stories.
• You can read “Duel on Syrtis” online for free at Project Gutenberg.
• This story is also included in the short collection Two Worlds of Poul Anderson: Science Fiction from the Golden Age.

Craving More Science Fiction Short Stories?

If you liked “Duel on Syrtis” then you may also enjoy Hunting Problem by Robert Sheckley – about an alien scout who must hunt a fearsome adult Mirash in order to salvage his troop’s honor.

An Aside

Today I am going to do something that I don’t normally do, and something that I generally don’t like doing: I am going to review a non-free story that was suggested to me by the author. This is, of course, a big exception to reviews that I usually do, however I felt this story was so good that it warranted a change of protocol. Geoffrey Thorne contacted me out of the blue and offered me a free preview copy of this story. After looking at some of the other stuff he has written I decided to take him up on his offer – and am I glad I did! It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable story, and one which I highly recommend.

Non-spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

“Red/Shift” is ultimately about a brutal, red-robed killer who is “working” his way through the upper-crust of society on a future Mars. The story, however, is told from a few different points of view. For example, there is officer Elzin who has heard some incredible tales but can’t quite catch up to him. And there is Amina – a woman with a deep, dark secret who seeks Mr. Red for her own brand of quirky justice. The problem is that this killer is more dangerous than either of them imagine – I hope they have some good back-up plans!

My Two Cents…

• I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy stories that don’t force details down your throat, but rather let the reader come to his or her own conclusion about what is going on. “Red/Shift” is excellent in this regard – bravo!
• I thought Amina was a great character! Both her secret and how she portrays herself was very well done – and a little bit sexy!
• The ending was awesome – and incredibly fulfilling! A fitting end to a great story.

Interesting Tidbits:

• Page Count: 28
• Did you know that Geoffrey Thorne worked for a time as a staff writer on USA network’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent? Yep. You can learn more about the many activities of this talented author at Wikipedia.

Where You Can Find Red/Shift:

• This story was originally a finalist for Writers of the Future 22.
• Although “Red/Shift” is not available for free, you can sample the first 7 pages at Smashwords.
• This story is part of Thorne’s short story collection Dreamnasium, which you can purchase at Amazon.com. (The Kindle version is really inexpensive!)

Craving More Science Fiction Short Stories?

If you liked “Red/Shift” then you may also enjoy A Spy in Europa by Alastair Reynolds – a techno-thriller set on one of the moons of Jupiter.

Let’s say a person was born, raised and lived their entire life on a colony orbiting the Earth – could such a person ever truly comprehend the natural beauty found on Earth? Well, one medical officer is about to find out.

Read The View From Below online for free.

How does a Martian inspector handle the wreckage of a crashed space ship? Why, very carefully – very carefully indeed!

Read Crash Protocol online for free.

Have a great weekend!

Non-Spoiler Summary in a Nutshell

Recently a bevy of early 1900′s movie reels have been turning up in Southern California. When a film restoration company cleans up the films and shows two of them at the L.A. film festival the audience is blown away by the amazing special effects in them – especially Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars. One of the skeptical journalists in the audience tells us exactly what he sees and how he is determined to prove that they are hoaxes. But what he ends up discovering is even more amazing than the movies!

Things I Liked:

• Santa’s Nosferatu elves
• Jahde Isthor
• All the weird inconsistencies between the old film and Burroughs book

Interesting Tidbits About This Story:

• Page Count: 7
• Word Count: 3,781
• My Rating: 4.0 out of 5
• Read Geoff Ryman’s bio at Tor.com

Where You Can Find “The Film-makers of Mars”:

• This short story first appeared in December 2008 on Tor.com, where you can still read it online for free.

Craving More Stories?

If you liked this story then you’ll probably also enjoy “Impossible Dreams” by Tim Pratt.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Red Planet Adventures is a company that provides tours of the Martian landscape. Although they are not perfect they have done a pretty good job in providing the resources needed for tourists to have fun and stay safe. Those nasty Martian dust storms are one problem they are trying to overcome – as is the lack of 100% communication coverage. But there is one situation that they forgot to take into account, and one of their latest adventurers finds out about it the hard way!

The individual pods in the habitat are constructed from titanium-reinforced buckyplastic, equipped with double air locks, and connected to each other with inflatable tunnels of neoKevlar. Spacesuits are provided for all visitors and included in the tour package. However, it is not recommended that tourists attempt to explore Gusev Crater or nearby Ma’adim Vallis without an experienced tour guide.

If you’d like—

You have chosen the topic “Safety Considerations”:

Tours with Red Planet Adventures have been optimized for safety—

I’m sorry, did you say ‘vacuum’?

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The style of this story is perfect! It allows the reader to piece together small clues in order to figure out what is going on. Very well done indeed!
• I liked all the factual information about Mars. Of course I am one of those people who likes reading encyclopedias, so if you are a fact hound too then you’ll probably like “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide”.

• The bad:

• Not anything really – just an excellent story!

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 4
• Word Count: 2294
• “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” garnered the following awards:

• It has been nominated for the 2008 Nebula Award for Best Short Story.

Where you can find “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide”:

• This short story first appeared in the January 2008 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
• You can read a free online version of “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” at the Fantasy & Science Fiction web site – sorry, link no longer available…
• …but you can listen to an audio version of this story at StarShipSofa!

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Ruth Nestvold lives on the outskirts of Stuttgart, Germany? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author by checking out her web site.
• Special thanks to John at SF Signal for recommending this great little story.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like A Walk In The Sun, about an astronaut stranded on the moon who must stay in the sunlight until she is rescued, by Geoffrey A. Landis.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Douglas Quail is driving his wife crazy with his constant wishing to go to Mars. She is good at pointing out why he’ll never go though, such as the enormous amount of money it would cost to actually go there, and the fact that he isn’t important enough to be considered for a trip anyway. See – it’s good to have a practical spouse in life! Douglas decides that if he can’t go there he can do the next best thing – get memories of a trip implanted in his brain. Enter “Rekal, Inc.” a company that specializes in memory implants, and which prepares a fake Mars trip (complete with an identity as an Interplan agent) for Mr. Quail. Yeah, there is a little problem though, for when they try to implant the memories they discover that he really has been to Mars, and really was an Interplan agent! Whoops! That is not the kind of information anyone wants to stumble upon, and now some very scary people are looking for Mr. Quail.

I will go, he said to himself. Before I die I’ll see Mars.

It was, of course, impossible, and he knew this even as he dreamed. But the daylight, the mundane noise of his wife now brushing her hair before the bedroom mirror – everything conspired to remind him of what he was. A miserable little salaried employee, he said to himself with bitterness.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The idea of false vacation memories being implanted is pretty cool! As I read “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” I wondered which fake vacations I would get implanted – a month long trip to Italy perhaps?
• This is a fun story to read, what with all the action, plot twists and surprise ending!

• The bad:

• You’ve got to remember that “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” was written in 1966, so there are some far-fetched ideas: a bare breasted receptionist for one, and the ending was a bit of a stretch also. Oh well, it was still a super fun read!

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 17
• Word Count: 8,159
• “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” garnered the following awards:

• It was ranked 32nd in the 1999 Locus All-Time Poll.

Where you can find “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”:

• This novelette first appeared in the April 1966 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
• “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” is included in the excellent short story collection The Philip K. Dick Reader.

Some Interesting Links:

• You can read a very nice biography about Philip K. Dick on his official website.
• “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” was the basis for the 1990 movie “Total Recall” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone. Have you seen it? Here is the trailer:

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Hunted Heroes, about a team of uranium miners who are captured by a madman on Mars, by Robert Silverberg.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

“Omnilingual” follows the story of Martha Dane, an archaeologist working with a team of the first explorers on Mars. While other scientists are busy exploring the red landscape, excavating buried skyscrapers and classifying the local fauna, Martha is working hard to crack the Martian language. How hard? Well, some of her esteemed colleagues are accusing her of being narrow minded and risking too much of her scholarly reputation. They may very well be right, because she has nothing to show for all her long hours spent pouring over Martian books – not even one word! But when the expedition stumbles into a well preserved university she finally gets her chance to prove the others wrong – as long as their own amazing discoveries don’t steal the show!

One of the civilian volunteers, a woman professor of natural ecology from Penn State University, was looking up and down the hall.

“You know,” she said, “I feel at home here. I think this was a college of some sort, and these were classrooms. That word, up there; that was the subject taught, or the department. And those electronic devices, all where the class would face them; audio-visual teaching aids.”

“A twenty-five-story university?” Lattimer scoffed. “Why, a building like this would handle thirty thousand students.”

“Maybe there were that many. This was a big city, in its prime,”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• This is a well written and fascinating story about the discovery of an ancient culture. If you have any interest in archeology, or linguistics, or anthropology then you will most likely enjoy this story.
• Another in the long line of great short stories that are about (or take place on) Mars.
• This is a rather famous short story. Best to read it now so that you can keep up with intellectual conversations about science fiction!

• The bad:

• This is not an action story. It is about the careful process of discovering an ancient alien culture. If you are the kind of person who has to have lasers and car chases in a story then you may want to skip this one.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 30
• Word Count: 16,420
• “Omnilingual” garnered the following awards:

• It placed 30th in the 1971 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll for short fiction.

Where you can find “Omnilingual”:

• This novelette first appeared in the February 1957 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.
• “Omnilingual” is included in the excellent collection of classic science fiction stories The World Turned Upside Down.
• You can read a nice HTML or plain text version of “Omnilingual” (complete with illustrations) at Project Gutenberg.

Some Interesting Links:

• You may enjoy this story more if you know a little bit about the real Rosetta Stone.
• Did you know that H. Beam Piper, the author of “Omnilingual”, never attended college but instead went to work on the Pennsylvania Railroad? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author at Wikipedia.
• Do you like my title for this post? It is part of a group writing project about “killer titles”.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like A Rose for Ecclesiastes, about a gifted linguist who is the first human allowed to read sacred Martian texts, by Roger Zelazny.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Dick Jarvis is the chemist on the famous crew The Ares – the first manned flight to Mars. While filming the Martian landscape his plane crashes some 800 miles south of base camp. With only 20 days left until The Ares returns to Earth he decides to try walking back to camp. Along the way he encounters some bizarre life forms, including Tweel – a humanoid / ostrich-oid being with an 18 inch beak that it uses as a landing pad for its 70 foot jumps! But Tweel isn’t the strangest life form on Mars, as Jarvis soon finds out! Could it be the walking blades of grass, the vicious dream monster, or the brick-crapping silicon based pyramid maker? (!) Wow – so many to choose from! But the award for testiest aliens goes to the mound-building barrels who get very upset when Jarvis and Tweel invade their inner sanctum – Eeek!

“That’s right,” agreed Jarvis. “I didn’t know what, so I sneaked over to find out. There was a racket like a flock of crows eating a bunch of canaries–whistles, cackles, caws, trills, and what have you. I rounded a clump of stumps, and there was Tweel!”

“Tweel?” said Harrison, and “Tveel?” said Leroy and Putz.

“That freak ostrich,” explained the narrator. “At least, Tweel is as near as I can pronounce it without sputtering. He called it something like ‘Trrrweerrlll.’”

“What was he doing?” asked the Captain.

“He was being eaten! And squealing, of course, as any one would.”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• Ah – the good old days when people still believed that Mars could contain life. That is what makes this story so fun – no would write something about bizarre aliens living on Mars now, but Stanley Weinbaum sure knew how to dream ‘em up!
• Do you like adventure / exploration stories? Like, um… I don’t know… The Odyssey? Well, then you are sure to enjoy the many splendid wonders found in “A Martian Odyssey”!

• The bad:

• “A Martian Odyssey” was written a long time ago in 1934 – as such there are some scientific ideas that have come and gone. Take, for example, the author’s prediction of atomic energy being harnessed by a mad scientist in the late twentieth century (seems like he missed that one by a few years!) There are some other examples as well, but they are mostly funny and serve to remind us of the true nature of science *fiction*.
• There is a handful of mild profanity. And be sure to watch out for the outdated adverbs – which seem a little bit “colorful” now-a-days!

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 23
• Word Count: 10,277
• “A Martian Odyssey” garnered the following awards:

• It placed third in the 1971 Astounding / Analog All-Time Poll for best Pre-1940 short fiction.
• It placed twenty-sixth in the 1999 Locus All-Time Poll for best novelette.
• It placed twenty-first in the 1971 Astounding / Analog All-Time Poll for best short fiction.

Where you can find “A Martian Odyssey”:

• This novelette first appeared in the July 1934 issue of Wonder Stories.
• “A Martian Odyssey” is included in Stanley Weinbaums collection Interplanetary Odysseys.
• It has also been collected in Robert Silverberg’s very excellent anthology The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One.
• You can read a free version (in several different formats) at the feedboooks website. (Be sure to check out the nifty picture of Tweel on the cover!)
• Read a nice HTML version of this story in our very own Science Fiction Short Story Library.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Stanly G. Weinbaum, the author of “A Martian Odyssey”, died at age 33 – only one year after writing this story? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author at Wikipedia.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like A Walk In The Sun, about an astronaut stranded on the moon who must stay in the sunlight until she is rescued, by Geoffrey A. Landis.