7881 books
Short Fiction by R. A. Lafferty (2021)
<p>Though often packed into the genre of science fiction, <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/r-a-lafferty">R. A. Lafferty</a> might fit better into a category of the bizzare. Through a blend of folk storytelling, American tall tales, science fiction, and fantasy, all infused with his devout Catholicism, he has created an inimitable, genre-bending, sui generis style.</p> <p>Lafferty has received many Hugo and Nebula Award nominations and won the Best Short Story Hugo in 1973.</p> <p>Collected here are all of his public domain short stories, all of which were originally published in science fiction pulp magazines in the 1960s.</p>
Short Fiction by Ray Bradbury (2021)
<p><a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/ray-bradbury">Ray Bradbury</a> is a giant of science fiction and fantasy. His childlike imagination, yearning for Mars, and love of all that is scary, horrible, and mysterious, reverberate throughout modern speculative fiction and our culture as a whole.</p> <p>He has received countless awards including the Sir Arthur Clark Award, the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, an Emmy Award, and a National Medal of Arts. Along with terrestrial honorary street names, there are many extraterrestrial locations named in Bradbury’s honor such as Bradbury Landing, the landing site of the Mars <i>Curiosity</i> rover.</p> <p>Some of his first published stories appear in <i>Futuria Fantasia</i>, a fanzine he created when he was 18 years old. All of his stories published in <i>Futuria Fantasia</i> are included in this collection. This collection also includes stories written well into his career, like “Zero Hour,” a story that was later republished in his famous collection <i>The Illustrated Man</i>.</p>
Short Fiction by Robert Sheckley (2021)
<p><a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/robert-sheckley">Robert Sheckley</a> was one of science fiction’s most prolific short story writers. Though less known today than he was in his heyday, he was a giant of his time and was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards.</p> <p>Even though many of his stories deal with serious topics, they are most widely remembered for their comedic wit. His writing was compared to that of Douglas Adams, who held Sheckley in high regard: “He’s a very, very funny writer. He’s also a stylist. Very few science fiction writers write English well. Robert Sheckley can.” Sheckley was also well-respected by Kingsley Amis who, in his book <i>New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction</i>, included Sheckley in a list with Frederik Pohl and Arthur C. Clarke, and said their volumes should “be reviewed as general fiction, not tucked away, as one writer has put it, in something called ‘Spaceman’s Realm’ between the kiddy section and dog stories.”</p> <p>Sheckley wrote about and pioneered many science fiction concepts, such as in his story “Watchbird,” where he explores the ability to detect murder before it happens—three years before <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/philip-k-dick">Philip K. Dick’s</a> “The Minority Report.” Or in “Ask a Foolish Question,” a story about an all-knowing Answerer to whom people pose the ultimate question of life—twenty-six years before Douglas Adams’ <i>The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</i>. Alongside these two stories, this collection includes all of his public domain short fiction ordered by date of first publication.</p>
Ten Wanted Men by Dan Doc Thomas (2021)
This is a book about the settling of a new world and the struggle for law and order. Rahm Tjarl, like many others, came to the mining world of MMP20, a planet of rich grasslands and verdant forests. He was seeking to escape his violent past as a member of an elite law enforcement organization. Like all new worlds there was no law. When his friends were murdered in his own house while he was away, Rahm set out to track down those responsible and bring them to justice, something he was uniquely equipped to do. What he uncovers brings with it serious consequences for the people of the planet and the political leadership. Powerful men and women’s dreams of empire using alien technology were at stake. If he is successful in bringing them to justice he might just get what he has hope for all of his life and bring law and order to the planet. If he is not successful, all he will find is death and an unmarked grave.
Don't Look Back by Kate Sheeran Swed (2021)
From science fiction and fantasy author Kate Sheeran Swed, DON'T LOOK BACK is a short story collection that blends space travel with ghostly encounters and explores the possibilities of near-future technology—the good, the suspect, and the outright alarming. -In 'The Rest is Silence,' a powerful corporation buys the government—and pays its citizens in cash for each day they don't speak; -In 'Windfall,' a would-be wizard aims to con his classmate out of a magical inheritance; -In a reimagining of the Orpheus myth, the collection's title story features a rock star who chooses virtual reality over the real world in an attempt to save his true love. From intergalactic ghost-hunting museums to magical road trips through Upstate New York, DON'T LOOK BACK's stories promise adventure, romance, and an ever-present hint of revolution.
Envoy of the Flame by Sylvia Engdahl (2021)
Ardith Moran is elated by the prospect of discovering extraterrestrial civilizations and stakes her life on her conviction that they exist. The last thing she expects is to fall in love with an alien, much less for their love to play a key role in getting Earth to welcome contact.
