Short Story Books

An Eel by the Tail

Allen Kim Lang

Mr. Tedder wanted to give his class a good show. So, with more feeling for dramatic effect than for scientific good sense, he'd wound the three solenoids with heavy insulated silver wire rather than w..

The Vagaries of Tod and Peter

L. Allen Harker

At Christmas time the papers seemed full of descriptions of blasé children who insisted on going to expensive shops to choose their own presents, who scoffed at fairies or Santa Claus, and scouted the..

Prisoner of War

Randall Garrett

There wasn't much point in trying to break away, now. Marten was trapped—thoroughly and unarguably. The little scout ship didn't carry a tenth the power he would need to break from the grasp of the bi..

The Fall of Archy House

Tom W. Harris

A week later things were still bad. Archy, June and Otto were still in Washington, and the President had called another conference. Of all the projections, the one of himself distressed Archy the most..

Apes and Angels

Richard Edward Connell

Papa Chibou went away to his little hole in the wall. He sat on his cot and fingered his mustache for an hour; the news had left him dizzy, had made a cold vacuum under his belt buckle. From under his..

The Answer

Emil Petaja

John Reeve sighed. Because now he remembered the one important thing he had to remember. He remembered why he had come here, to Lisa's uptown apartment, now in the darkest corner of the hot summer's n..

The Martians and the Coys

Mack Reynolds

Commander of the observation group, Baren Darl, has enjoyed the reputation of being our most outstanding authority on Earthlings. It has been principally through his recommendations that the secret, s..

The Mistake of Christopher Columbus

Jules Archer

Nothing more was heard of Herbert Fitzgrone after this tragedy. Presumably frightened that he might be held responsible for the editor's death, the scientist disappeared. Fortunately for posterity, ho..