Philip Chenevert
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Science fiction from the 50s by one of the masters, Alfred Bester. Society has committed itself to complete stability. Nothing is allowed to upset this stability, nothing that is not planned and approved and accounted for in advance. Yes, this is hard to imagine but this has produced decades, nay, centuries of predictable prosperity and peace. Even the newspapers have very little to write about. One reporter however is curious about the "Prog" building,...
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Moklins are the friendliest aliens humans ever encountered. They LOVE humans, and want to imitate them in every way they can. And evolution on Moklin is very helpful in this regard and extremely fast. After 40 years on Moklin, the humans on the planet enjoy the friendship of these helpful 'people'. There might be one little problem though. Just a tiny thing that will cause the humans to leave in a very big hurry. Not that it will do any good of course....
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This is a recording of a booklet given to new naturalized American citizens, it contains an explanation of fundamental documents, symbols and anthems of the United States. "Today you are a citizen of the United States of America- becoming "a peer of kings" as President Calvin Coolidge once said. This occasion is a defining moment that should not soon be forgotten, for it marks the beginning of a new era in your lifetime as a U.S. citizen. Naturalized...
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The Apology is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he defended himself in 399 BC against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" . "Apology" here has its earlier meaning of speaking in defense of a cause or of one's beliefs or actions. The general term apology, in context to literature, defends a world from attack (opposite of satire-which...
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This famous Pohl story explores cybernetic robots and implanted personalities (long before they were cool) in a way that certainly expanded my way of looking at reality. Is that wall really a wall? or is it just kinda, sorta real? And who am I? The protagonist, Guy Burckhardt, wakes up screaming from a horrible dream of explosions, searing fire, choking gas and other terrible ways to die. But he wakes up so it must have been just a bad nightmare,...
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An exciting story of a toddler being raised by wolves in the jungles of India. A pair of wolves raising a family of cubs, are furious to learn from Tabaqui the jackal that Shere Khan the lame tiger is hunting in their territory because he might kill men and bring human retribution upon the jungle. But when Father Wolf hears something approaching their den, it turns out to be not the tiger, but a naked human baby. Mother Wolf decides to adopt the hairless...
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Fritz Leiber speculates on whether the growing divide between pedestrians and car drivers will continue and bloom into full scale war in the future. Will society fracture due to intense economic pressure and become this type of homicidal war where powerful cars equipped with razor sharp hooks on their hoods, try to gather points and scraps of clothing for their trophy walls by blasting the people in the 'city' as they try to cross the street? And...
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Sometimes an invention is so good that no one will believe you. There you are, with a fabulous new piece of technology that is worth millions and you are still starving to death because you are a 'crackpot'. Well, if you are smart, like the inventor in this story, you learn your lesson and start telling people your invention is just something they know and use every day, just a bit better. Sure it's a lie but people have to believe before they will...
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As I write this, I have before me on my desk, propped up against the telephone, an old rag doll. Dear old Raggedy Ann! The same Raggedy Ann with which my mother played when a child. There she sits, a trifle loppy and loose-jointed, looking me squarely in the face in a straightforward, honest manner, a twinkle where her shoe-button eyes reflect the electric light. Evidently Raggedy has been to a "tea party" today, for her face is covered with chocolate....
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O. Henry, the pen name for William Sydney Porter wrote over 600 short stories. Naturally I have my personal top 20 stories that just seem to stand out because of their form, writing style and ability to convey real personalities in a very few words. From these 20 I've chosen five that seem outstanding examples of the short story art form. Stories like The Gift of the Magi; The Cop and the Anthem; Man about Town; A Cosmopolite in a Cafe and Mammon...
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Randall Garrett had this story first published in Astounding Science Fiction September and October of 1959. His twisted sense of humor and gift for the bizarre situation with believable characters shines here. In the not too distant future, Ken Malone, young but promising FBI agent , is given the most important and difficult assignment of his career: find a spy who is stealing information from the Ultra Top Absolute Secret project to develop a non-rocket...
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This is the handwritten book that Carroll wrote for private use before being urged to develop it later into Alice in Wonderland. It was generously illustrated by Carroll and meant to entertain his family and friends. When a sick child in a hospital enjoyed it so much, the mother wrote him saying it had distracted her for a bit from her pain and led eventually to Carroll expanding the story. The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and the Reverend Robinson...
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Flip Miller was a man about the universe, surviving one harrowing escapade after another and seeking for the lucky break that would make his fortune. Finally he had found in in a scrap of a map to a lost mine on Venus. Only he was foolish enough to search it out in the steaming jungle of that mud covered planet. But it was true and unbelievable riches were soon to be his. Well, as soon as he could get a ride out of the mud island where his plane had...
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Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were popular in her lifetime and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), Cimarron (1929; made into the 1931 film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), and Giant (1952; made into the 1956 Hollywood movie). Dancing Girls contains her unique mix of real people, sadness, joy and always humor and...
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"Guide a black galleon to the lost, fear-haunted Citadel of the Xanthi wizards-into the very jaws of Doom? Corun, condemned pirate of Conahur, laughed. Aye, he'd do it, and gladly. It would mean a reprieve from the headsman's axe-a few more precious moments of life and love ... though his lover be a witch!" Witch of the Demon Seas is an entertaining romp with pirates, witches, wizards and bizarre sea aliens. And yet there are some more serious elements...
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The importance of a matter is almost entirely a matter of your attitude. And whether you call something "a riot" or "a war" ... well, there is a difference, but what is it? Someone steals a space ship? The local police know how to handle that. A broken down freighter in a far distant solar system? That's their normal job too. A bunch of idiots want to start a war? Just another days' work for the boys in blue. The twisted mind of Murray Leinster takes...
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Edna Ferber, known for her prize winning novels such as Show Boat, Cimarron and Giant, writes a delightful story here of Emma McChesney, no longer a successful traveling salesperson for a New York dress manufacturer, as she now enjoys her marriage to a wonderful man. Both successful in their areas they live in New York and have two children. But this is during the Great War and Emma goes from designing better uniforms for the doughboys to actually...