"The Frightened Planet" is a 1948 science fiction short story by Sidney Austen. It is about a Cro-Magnon man who is taken by aliens to their home planet.
continue reading "The Frightened Planet by Sidney Austen"

This is a guest post by Martin Dugas.

“Monument”, a 1961 novelette by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., is about destructive tourism on an idyllic world.
continue reading "Monument by Lloyd Biggle Jr."

"Ass-Hat Magic Spider" is a 2008 science fiction short story by Scott Westerfeld. It is about a teenage boy who is desperately trying to lose weight for his space colonist flight.
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The Boneless One, a 2011 short story by Alec Nevala-Lee, is about a group of scientists at sea that come across an unusual cluster of octopuses.
continue reading "The Boneless One"

"The Merchants of Venus" is a 1972 science fiction novella by Frederik Pohl. It is about a prospecting guide on Venus who leads a rich couple in search of ancient alien artefacts.
continue reading "The Merchants of Venus by Frederik Pohl"

All The Painted Stars, a short story by Gwendolyn Clare, is about an alien that gets roped into helping some humans travel to the home planet of an extinct species.
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This is a guest post by Paul Franceschi.

“Just Like Old Times”, a 1993 short story written by Robert J. Sawyer, is about a disembodied serial killer who is sentenced to travel back in time by linking his mind to that of a Tyrannosaurus rex about to die.
continue reading "Just Like Old Times by Robert J. Sawyer"

"Bubbles" is a 1987 science fiction short story by David Brin. It is about a huge robotic trader that gets stranded between galaxies.
continue reading "Bubbles by David Brin"

"Metamorphosis" is a 1915 science fiction novella by Franz Kafka. It is about a man who awakens to find himself transformed into a horrible, insect-like vermin.
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This is a guest post by Alvina Lopez.

Most people know of Philip K. Dick’s great science fiction novels, but despite having multiple short stories adapted into feature films, a lot of people aren’t as aware of his large proliferation of short stories. The fact of the matter is that Dick wrote around 121 shot stories, many of which appeared in science fiction magazines. While I haven’t had the joy of reading all of them, I recently came across one that was available online for free titled “Beyond the Door.”
continue reading "Beyond the Door by Philip K. Dick"

Mail Order is a short story about a group of explorers that land on an alien planet with the intention of establishing first contact.
continue reading "Mail Order"

"The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn" is a 2011 science fiction novelette by Robert Silverberg. It is about an historian and an archaeologist on an alien world who make a tremendously important discovery.
continue reading "The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn by Robert Silverberg"

The Silence of the Asonu is a 1998 short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, about the Asonu people, who practically become silent by the time they are adults.
continue reading "The Silence of the Asonu"

"The Hammer of God" is a 1992 science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It is about an asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth and the crew that tries to stop it.
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This is a guest post by Rick Buchan.

The Nature Of Man. Since the days of Pinocchio, inanimate devices seem mesmerized by Man and obsessed with trying to discover the answer to what it is and what it means to be human.

This quirky yet wonderful novelette, written by Roger Zelazny in 1966, illustrates the frustratingly perplex struggle to correlate genius with folly, strength with frailty, and all the promise and pratfalls of what it means to be Man! (*)
continue reading "For a Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny"

"A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel" is a 2011 science fiction short story by Yoon Ha Lee. It is about several different alien species and how they view space travel.
continue reading "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee"

This is a guest post by Rick Buchan.

Time Travel. What a compelling, uniquely seductive science fiction theme! The chance to correct a wrong, witness an historical event first hand, or simply escape to a better time when the world made sense; you know – the “good old days”.
continue reading "The Hertford Manuscript by Richard Cowper"

Cinnamon is a short story by Neil Gaiman about a young princess who meets a tiger that teaches her how to talk.
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"Health Hazard" is a 1973 science fiction short story by Howard L. Myers. It is about an inhabitant of another planet whose addiction to an Earth food eventually helps save her species.
continue reading "Health Hazard by Howard L. Myers"

The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains, a novelette by Neil Gaiman, is the story of a man and his guide who travel together in search of a mysterious cave.
continue reading "The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains"