• A Thought For Tomorrow, by Robert E Gilbert
    Jun 18 2025

    Orville Potts couldn't escape the asylum to the past, as he didn't have detailed knowledge of it to create an adequate visualization. The future, though, was unwritten; he could visualize it however he wanted...

    "A Thought for Tomorrow" appeared in "Galaxy Science Fiction," November 1952, pages 83 - 94.

    Robert E Gilbert (May 6, 1924 – April 4, 1993) was an American science fiction writer.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    34 mins
  • The Vortex Blaster Makes War, by Edward E 'Doc' Smith
    Jun 15 2025

    From the end of Time it came, a call for help as brave, as ageless as the very galaxies: "Save us or die, Vortex Blaster—but if you die, two worlds shall perish with you!"

    Today's story is "The Vortex Blaster Makes War" by Edward E "Doc" Smith. It appeared in the October 1942 issue of "Astonishing Stories" on pages 39 to 55.

    Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965) was an American food engineer and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera. In 1963, he was presented the inaugural "First Fandom Hall of Fame" award at the 21st World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, D.C.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • The Closed Door, by John F Wilson & Mary A Miller
    Jun 12 2025

    Everyone thought Harry Owen had gone mad when he wrecked his own ship, the Shearwater, to save the passenger liner, the SS Western Pacific, from running aground in a violent storm. The story that Gorham related, however, explained that, while it was indeed madness that caused him to do it, it was a particular, but very common, kind of madness...

    "The Closed Door" appeared in Ainslee’s magazine, October 1922, pages 53 - 61.

    John F Wilson

    John Fleming Wilson, (February 22, 1877 – March 5, 1922), was an American author, newspaperman, and prolific writer of short stories and adventure novels, best known for his travel books about sea life. Many of his books and short stories were made into films during the 1910s through the 1930s.

    Mary A Miller

    If you have information about this author, I would be grateful if you could let me know on the email address provided in the 'About' section of this channel.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    42 mins
  • The Man Who Found Out, by Roger D Aycock
    Jun 8 2025

    It's one thing to blow a bubble of glib, journalistic lies. Quite another to have that bubble burst in a nightmarish, green beyond.

    "The Man Who Found Out" appeared in the September 1954 issue of "Fantastic Universe" on pages 70 to 76.

    Roger D Aycock (6 December 1914 – 5 April 2004) was an American author who wrote under the pseudonym Roger Dee. He primarily wrote science fiction.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    21 mins
  • A World to Die For, by Sam Carson
    Jun 6 2025

    The crew of the Markab had been sent by Galactic Service to intercept and stop the alien ship that had attacked ships of the fleet. But Rik Guelf, who was on this mission to search for his father, was hoping to make contact with the crystal woman who apparently commanded the five-mile-long translucent ship...

    "A World to Die For" was published in "Fantastic Universe," July, 1954, pages 74 - 82.

    Sam Carson was an American science fiction writer. He was a TV and radio reporter, and newspaperman.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    29 mins
  • The Seven Missionaries, by H C McNeile
    Jun 3 2025

    One would have thought, with the invention of the wireless radio, that piracy would be a thing of the past. Jim Maitland, and the passengers and crew of the SS Andaman were to discover that modern pirates could use the wireless, too.

    "The Seven Missionaries" appeared in "McClure’s Magazine," October 1923, pages 35 - 41.

    Herman Cyril McNeile, MC (28 September 1888 – 14 August 1937), publishing under the name H C McNeile or the pseudonym "Sapper," was a British soldier and author. Drawing on his experiences in the trenches during the First World War, he started writing short stories for the Daily Mail. As serving officers in the British Army were not permitted to publish under their own names, he was given the pen name "Sapper" by Lord Northcliffe, then owner of the Daily Mail; the nickname was based on that of his corps, the Royal Engineers. After the war, McNeile left the army and continued writing, although he changed from war stories to thrillers. He was one of the most successful British popular authors of the inter-war period before his death in 1937 from throat cancer, which has been attributed to damage sustained from a gas attack in the war.

    In 1920 he published "Bulldog Drummond," whose eponymous hero became his best-known creation. The character was based on McNeile himself, on his friend Gerard Fairlie, and on English gentlemen generally. McNeile wrote ten Bulldog Drummond novels, as well as three plays and a screenplay. McNeile interspersed his "Drummond" works with other novels and story collections that included two characters who appeared as protagonists in their own works; Jim Maitland and Ronald Standish.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    43 mins
  • The Last Question, by Isaac Asimov
    Jun 1 2025

    Generations of men came and went while the computer pondered the data.

    "The Last Question" appeared in the November 1956 issue of "Science Fiction Quarterly" on pages 6 to 15.

    Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

    Asimov's most famous work is the "Foundation" series, the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. His other major series are the "Galactic Empire" series and the "Robot" series. He also wrote more than 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    37 mins
  • Woman's Touch, by Evelyn E Smith
    May 28 2025

    Their orders were to leave the natives of the new planet strictly alone. But those surveyors' wives were women, and women don't obey orders—or leave people alone!

    "Woman's Touch" appeared in "Super-Science Fiction," February 1957, pages 46 to 66.

    Evelyn E Smith (25 July 1922 – 4 July 2000) was an American writer of science fiction and mysteries, as well as a compiler of crossword puzzles.

    During the 1950s, under her own name, Smith regularly published short stories and novelettes in such publications as Galaxy Science Fiction, Fantastic Universe and the The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Her short fiction ranges from satires set in a post-apocalyptic setting such as "The Last of the Spode" and "The Hardest Bargain," to "BAXBR/DAXBR," where she explores the dangers of Martian crossword puzzles. Her science fiction novels chiefly deal with questions of gender identity and, like all of her work, are characterized by their wit and humor.

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    "Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

    If there's a story you'd like me to narrate, or a genre you'd like me to include more of, please let me know using the Contact Form.

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    50 mins