"I've got it too," he said in an awed voice. "Something has made this chuck harder than a pawnbroker's heart!"
nedjelja, 31. ožujka 2024.
subota, 30. ožujka 2024.
The Ambassadors from Venus By KENDELL FOSTER CROSSEN - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/64045/pg64045-images.html
Strange. Strange. The empty space ships. The patched
voices. The curt invitation to Venus. But what had Clyde
Ellery and the other atom-plague survivors to lose?
They forgot there are many kinds of death!
petak, 29. ožujka 2024.
The HELLFLOWER A Novel by GEORGE O. SMITH - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/69124/pg69124-images.html
It was a sixty-hour trip from Ganymede to Mars. Each hour was a bit more trying than the one before.
One of the hardest jobs in this business is to justify your standard of living. The financial rewards are large and the hours involved are small. It is patent that a man who has not been granted a large inheritance, or perhaps stumbled on a lucrative asteroid, cannot live in a semi-royal manner without having to work in a semi-royal fury. One of the great risks in this business is the accepting of a recruit whose appearance causes discussion. The day when a man can build a fifty thousand dollar home on a five thousand dollar salary without causing more than a raised eyebrow is gone. If a man has a large income, he must appear busy enough to warrant it—or at least provide a reasonable facsimile
Farradyne blinked. His impulse was to ask in turn why they had become hellflower operators. He stifled the impulse because there was something strangely odd about this set-up. Her question was quite normal to the background she appeared to fill as matron of a happy, successful family.
The aura of respectability extended far, to include the home and its spacious grounds, so that Farradyne burned with resentment at the social structure whereby he, who had committed no more than a few misdemeanors, should be less cultured, less successful, less poised than this family of low-grade vultures. If anything, the attitude of Mrs. Niles shocked him more than the acts of her husband. Men were the part of the race that played the rough games and ran up the score while women occupied one of two positions: they were either patterned after Farradyne's mother or they were slatterns and sluts who looked as well as acted the part. It offended Farradyne's sense of proportion that Mrs. Niles was gracious and well-bred instead of being loud and cheap.
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četvrtak, 28. ožujka 2024.
Parr came to Earth as the advance guard for an invasion. His mission: to see that every person received a package that was being mailed— SPECIAL DELIVERY By Kris Neville - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65886/pg65886-images.html
A cannonade of shell fire met the silver listening post as it zipped across the moonlit desert. It twisted erratically, trying to dodge. Then a radar controlled gun chuckled to itself, and the listening post faltered in flight, slipped air, plunged sandward.
In the Advanceship, far above and to the west, one of the Knougs pressed a button and the listening post exploded in a white flare.
Afterwards, no fragments could be found. The newspapers said the usual thing. The government issued the usual profession of disbelief—and finally even the gunner became convinced of the usual explanation: he had tried to pot Venus.
While on the Advanceship the Knougs continued to prepare for D-Day.
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srijeda, 27. ožujka 2024.
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... and it comes out here By LESTER DEL REY - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/51046/pg51046-images.html
You get up your courage and go up to a boy selling something that might be papers on tapes.
Souvenir," it announces in a well-modulated voice. "This is a typical gem of the twentieth century, properly cut to 58 facets, known technically as a Jaegger diamond, and approximately twenty carats in size. You can have it made into a ring on the third floor during morning hours for one-tenth credit. If you have more than one child, press the red button for the number of stones you desire
utorak, 26. ožujka 2024.
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ponedjeljak, 25. ožujka 2024.
nedjelja, 24. ožujka 2024.
A TRANSMUTATION OF MUDDLES By H. B. FYFE - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24187/pg24187-images.html
The Gemsbok was—or had been—an ungraceful, thick starship on the verge of aging into scrap. Towering here between the village and the huge, bluish-green leaves of the Kappan forest, she was in the process of being transformed into a planet-bound object of a certain weird grace.
subota, 23. ožujka 2024.
ABSOLUTELY NO PARADOX By Lester del Rey - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70464/pg70464-images.html
If time-travel is possible, then
why haven't we been visited bypeople from the future? But Pete
LeFranc found the answer to that.
petak, 22. ožujka 2024.
četvrtak, 21. ožujka 2024.
srijeda, 20. ožujka 2024.
THE HATED By PAUL FLEHR - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29503/pg29503-images.html
THE bar didn't have a name. No name of any kind. Not even an indication that it had ever had one. All it said on the outside was:
Cafe
EAT
Cocktails
which doesn't make a lot of sense. But it was a bar.
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utorak, 19. ožujka 2024.
ponedjeljak, 18. ožujka 2024.
In South-eastern Europe at the present day ceremonies are observed for the purpose of making rain which not only rest on the same general train of thought as the preceding, but even in their details resemble the ceremonies practised with the same intention by the Baronga of Delagoa Bay. Among the Greeks of Thessaly and Macedonia, when a drought has lasted a long time, it is customary to send a procession of children round to all the wells and springs of the neighbourhood. At the head of the procession walks a girl adorned with flowers, whom her companions drench with water at every halting-place, while they sing an invocation, of which the following is part: "Perperia all fresh bedewed, Freshen all the neighbourhood; By the woods, on the highway, As thou goest, to God now pray: O my God, upon the plain, Send thou us a still, small rain; That the fields may fruitful be, And vines in blossom we may see; That the grain be full and sound, And wealthy grow the folks around." In time of drought the Serbians strip a girl to her skin and clothe her from head to foot in grass, herbs, and flowers, even her face being hidden behind a veil of living green. Thus disguised she is called the Dodola, and goes through the village with a troop of girls. They stop before every house; the Dodola keeps turning herself round and dancing, while the other girls form a ring about her singing one of the Dodola songs, and the housewife pours a pail of water over her. One of the songs they sing runs thus: "We go through the village; The clouds go in the sky; We go faster, Faster go the clouds; They have overtaken us, And wetted the corn and the vine. That’s the gist behind Saturday’s Weird Animal Question of the Week from TJ Skelton, who asks via Facebook: “ Can a color-blind animal still tell if another animal is [venomous], even if they can’t see the bright colors? Shades of Prey: Can Color-blind Predators See Warning Colors? Snakes, butterflies, and more have evolved vibrant patterns to advertise their toxicity to predators. Picture of a poison dart frog
EINSTEIN'S PLANETOID An Engrossing Tale of An Incredible World by PAUL DENNIS LAVOND - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/73173/pg73173-images.html
Paul Dennis Lavond is a pseudonym known to be used by three different authors: C. M. Kornbluth, Robert A. W. Lowndes, and Frederick Pohl.
They were the heirs of space-flight: They planned to be the first humans to land on Alpha Centauri, but the original Hartnett expedition had been lost and they had to find it first. They followed the signals and found that they led to what looked like a one-way excursion to the screwiest planetoid in the galaxy!
nedjelja, 17. ožujka 2024.
THE WALLS *** By KEITH LAUMER - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/72410/pg72410-images.html
Four walls do not a prison make—unless
they look out upon a worldthat doesn't exist anymore.
WIND IN HER HAIR By Kris Neville - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65032/pg65032-images.html
The Big Ship, the balanced terrarium of fifty lives, swung downward in her path, rushing toward her parent sun, the first interstellar voyager coming home.
Home. After twenty-one generations had peopled her vast bulk, after four hundred long years in space.
subota, 16. ožujka 2024.
NOT IN THE RULES By Mack Reynolds - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65140/pg65140-images.html
I handed the Martie a kopek and put the yellow envelope in my pocket, as though I was used to getting spacegrams.
Sure, I'm a gladiator, but I've always been strictly a second rater; in fact, some of the sports writers call me a third rater. Anyway, I've always worked in the smaller meets where the gladiators, even when they lose, usually get off with their lives. In the small town stuff, they don't kill expensive gladiators, if they can help it.
I wouldn't have been on Mars in the first place if it hadn't been for an argument I had with Suzi back on Terra just before she was scheduled to blast off for Mars to cover the Interplanetary Games. Suzi is a sports reporter, see. She covers the meets from the woman's angle. What she really wanted to do was write books about primitive culture; and what I wanted her to do was spend the rest of her life being my wife. Neither of us seemed to have much of a chance of making good.
Well, three days after getting the telegram, I met the other two gladiators from Terra in our dressing room at the arena. They weren't much happier about the meet than I was.
It's one of the occupational hazards of our trade. If you get too good, you'll probably be chosen as Terra representative to the Interplanetary Meet and your chances of surviving are almost nil. Of course, the pay is high and your survivors get a big chunk of credits but it's a chilly prospect at best.
The other two were pretty well armored and had chosen spears as weapons, but I left off all armor and took a short sword. I planned on moving fast and the less weight I carried the better.
petak, 15. ožujka 2024.
četvrtak, 14. ožujka 2024.
THE GOOD WORK BY THEODORE L. THOMAS - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/60682/pg60682-images.html
In the cities, 350 billions swarmed
like termites in a hill; but JeremiahWinthrop still called himself a man....
Jeremiah Winthrop rode the spiral escalator up, up to the two-part cubicle he called home on the one hundred and forty-eighth floor. He stood swaying slightly as the escalator wound its serpentine way upwards. Others rode with him, tight people, tense people, pushed together, staring straight as they rode the spiral escalator up.
Winthrop boarded a moving belt that carried him over to his own corridor. He walked down the corridor for ten minutes. It was easy walking, for there were far fewer people now. Finally he came to his own door. He inserted his thumb in the thumbhole, slid the door open and walked in.
Ann took three glasses from the tiny cabinet. She went to the synthetic milk faucet and filled the glasses and then put them on the table. She went to the bread slot and removed six slices of bread. One after the other she dropped the six slices of brown bread through the toaster. She picked up a knife and scooped big gobs of rich yellow synthetic butter out of the butter slot and spread it on the toast. She made a pile of the toast on a plate and then cut the pile in half. "All right," she called. And she put the toast on the table and sat down.
People don't need money, what with free movies and clothes and food and everything else. No one buys food. They all live on Standard Fare and they don't seem to care any more.
Winthrop looked at it and gasped. "An egg. A real hen's egg. I recognize it from the pictures." Winthrop looked up. "But I can't take it, John. I can't."
"I want you to have it, Jeremiah.
Ann nodded, quickly read the cooking instructions, and set about preparing scrambled egg. Winthrop got out the cooking pan, wiped off the dust, and set it down near her. She smiled at him and put a large chunk of butter in it and placed the pan on the heater. When the butter bubbled, she poured the beaten egg into the pan; it hissed as it struck the hot butter. She began to stir the egg as it cooked. Winthrop picked Davy up so he could see into the pan as the egg thickened. In a moment it was done.
Ann lifted three small dishes from a cupboard, placed them on the table, and carefully scraped the egg onto the plates. Buttered toast and milk came next, then they sat down to eat. Winthrop said a grace.
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srijeda, 13. ožujka 2024.
The Burning World By ALGIS BUDRYS - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/71810/pg71810-images.html
Bausch strutting before his cheering crowds, bellowing hysterically about the enemies surrounding them—the lurking armies of the people to the south, to the east, the northwest; every compass point held enemies for Bausch. Against those enemies, there must be mighty armies raised. Against those enemies, there must be Leadership—firm Leadership: Bausch.
I was born in a world where half a billion human beings lived for a generation in worship—in worship—of a man. I was born in a world where that one twisted man could tell a lie and send gigantic armies charging into death, screaming that lie. I was born to huddle, to be a cipher in a crowd, to be spied on, to be regulated, to be hammered to meet the standard so the standard lie would fit me. I was born to be nothing
utorak, 12. ožujka 2024.
OUT OF THE IRON WOMB! By POUL ANDERSON - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/63633/pg63633-images.html
Man, don't you ever see a newscast?" challenged Lundgard. "The Second Industrial Revolution, millions of people thrown out of work by the new automata. They aren't going hungry, but they are displaced and bitter. The economic center of Earth is shifting to Asia, the political power with it, and hundreds of millions of Asians are skeptical aboard this antiseptic New Order the West has been bringing them: cultural resistance, and not all the psychotechnic propaganda in the System can shake it off.
ponedjeljak, 11. ožujka 2024.
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nedjelja, 10. ožujka 2024.
Reign of the Telepuppets By DANIEL F. GALOUYE - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/72555/pg72555-images.html
In all Creation, Bigboss knew there
was nothing superior to him. Yet a naggingin his memory drums hinted that somewhere
were creatures who challenged his rule.
But there you could draw the line. Below was the Photon II's crew. At 44, Nat McAllister, pilot, was well past the age when he might look forward to a supervisory position, thanks to a rash of bad-judgment accidents and a general absence of ambition. And Ship Systems Officer Mortimer, ten years younger, seemed anchored to his niche by an equal measure of minimum ability—if not by the sheer weight of his two hundred and fifty pounds.
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"Top" personnel for a "priority" job? Stewart shook his head dubiously.
The sun had set and the huge, pink planet had already laid claim to the night sky. Just below it was the special grouping of stars that matched, point for point, the referent pattern on his orientation drum.
Programmed functions took over. Sensors hunted out the bright central star and aimed his parabolic antenna at the designated spot seven degrees southeastward. Then he loosed his transmission into subspace. Data stored over long hours of tedious sequencing surged from the tape, bringing a euphoria of relief.
Eventually telemetric transmission ended and Bigboss, as had become his custom, automatically turned his thoughts to the Totem.
All metal it was—sleek and sheening and shaped like a truncated cone as it lay powerless on the plain beyond the hill. How akin it was to him and the clan! Why, it even seemed he could almost remember having once been a part of the huge, polished thing. Perhaps it was the very vessel He had used on His Celestial Tour of Creation.
Yes, it was time for Pilgrimage to Totem. And a fitting reward it would be, as always, for successful transmission.
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The Winning of the Moon BY KRIS NEVILLE - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/61242/pg61242-images.html
The enemy was friendly enough.
Trouble was—their friendship
was as dangerous as their hate!
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subota, 9. ožujka 2024.
THE CHAPTER ENDS by Poul Anderson - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/41064/pg41064-images.html
living alone and dying alone; and yet, he reflected, was that solitude any greater than the one in which all men dwelt all their days?
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petak, 8. ožujka 2024.
četvrtak, 7. ožujka 2024.
The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs was originally published under the title Beyond Thirty - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/149/pg149-images.html
Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by the mystery surrounding the history of the last days of twentieth century Europe.
Then came the fruition of that historic propaganda which is best described by its own slogan: “The East for the East—the West for the West,” and all further intercourse was stopped by statute.
I was born in Arizona, in the United States of North America, in the year of our Lord 2116. Therefore, I am twenty-one years old.
srijeda, 6. ožujka 2024.
utorak, 5. ožujka 2024.
ponedjeljak, 4. ožujka 2024.
THE SKY IS FALLING By LESTER DEL REY - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18768/pg18768-images.html
Whatever
[Pg 13] was going on, he was in no shape to interrupt anything. But he knew that this was no delirium. He didn't have that kind of imagination."Ignorance was bad enough," Ser Perth interrupted in amazement. He stared at Dave, shaking his head in disgust. "You obviously come from a culture of even more superstition than ignorance. Dave Hanson, the sky is no such thing. Put aside the myths you heard as a child. The sky is a solid sphere that surrounds Earth. The stars are no more like the sun than the glow of my cigarette is like a forest fire. They are lights on the inside of the sphere, moving in patterns of the Star Art, nearer to us than the hot lands to the south."
"None remembers truly. He has always been the Sather Karf—at least ten thousand years or more. To attain the art of a Sather is the work of a score of centuries, usually."
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nedjelja, 3. ožujka 2024.
subota, 2. ožujka 2024.
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petak, 1. ožujka 2024.
HUNT the HUNTER BY KRIS NEVILLE - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/51433/pg51433-images.html
Of course using live bait is the best
way to lure dangerous alien animals ...
unless it turns out that you are the bait!
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