Product Description
This collection assembles eight of Leinster's classic pulp stories, ranging from science fiction to fantasy to mystery to adventure. Here are "The Runaway Skyscraper," "The Gallery Gods," "The Street of Magnificent Dreams," "Nerve," "Stories of the Hungry Country: The Case of the Dona Clotilde," "Morale," "Grooves," and "Footprints in the Snow." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Tales From the Past
The Runaway Skyscraper and Other Tales from the Pulps (2007) is a collection of stories from early years.It contains eight short stories, mostly from adventure magazines.

The Runaway Skyscraper (1919, Argosy) is about a New York City building that took 2000 people back into ancient times.

The Gallery Gods (1920, Argosy) tells about a man who wanted public fame.

The Street of Magnificent Dreams (1922, Argosy) relates the career and reward of a man who selected the best.

Nerve (1921, Argosy) changes the attitude of a parachutist.

Stories of the Hungry Country: The Case of the Dona Clotilde (first publication) explains why it is unwise to violate the traditions of a land.

Morale: A Story of the War of 1941-43 (1931, Astounding) discloses an innovative method of breaking morale.

Grooves (1918, Argosy) shows how people restrict their thoughts.

Footprints in the Snow (1919, All-Story Weekly) is a story about werewolves.

These stories are all about people in unusual situations.Two of them are science fiction, but most are drawn from the more remote cultures of the day.While none are among his best works, it is easy to see the talents that led to such stories as First Contact and the Med Ship series.

Murray Leinster is a pseudonym of William Fitzgerald Jenkins (1896-1975).His first short story was published in 1916.Under the name of Murray Leinster -- as well as Will F. Jenkins -- he wrote about a wide range of subjects throughout his career, earning him many fans and the title of Dean of SF.

Recommended for Leinster fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales from the author's early days.

-Arthur W. Jordin ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / General; ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Science Fiction / General; Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera; Fiction / Science Fiction / General; Fiction / Science Fiction / Adventure; Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera; ... Read more

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YOU ARE THERE!-
Centuries, eons from now the peculiar, fantastic, astounding MIND OF MAN will conquer strange, new worlds, presently beyond the reaches of imagination-and probe the meaning of the central core of infinity with instruments of incredible scientific precision!

YOUR ARE THERE!-
In the far-off era when man will defy gravity, space, time-to explore the UNIVERSE and make immensity his own!

Murray Leinster is widely acknowledged by fans as the "Dean of Science Fiction" and even as "Mr. Science Fiction." LIFE has reported that he reads more technical literature than most research scientists. He is also a successful inventor in his own right. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Some Problems ofCharacter
This book was originally published by Gnome Press under the title of _Colonial Survey_ and was later reprinted in paperback form as _The Planet Explorer_ (1959). It was based on four novelets published in _Astounding_ between 1955 and 1956. One of the stories, "Exploration Team" (_ASF_, 1956), won the Hugo for best novelet of the year, allowing the blurb writer for Avon to imply that the book as a whole was the Hugo winner.

Originally, the four stories were written with completely different characters. Leinster rewrote the material so that one character, Bordman, is in all of the stories. This gives some continuity to the novel, but the character is not always consistent. In three quarters of the novel, Bordman is a rather insecure troubleshooter who manages to solve some difficult engineering problems. But in the section based on "Exploration Team," he is depicted as a rather officious bureaucrat who wants to throw the real troubleshooter in prison.

Despite the inconsistencies with the character of the hero, _The Planet Explorer_ is one of Leinster's best novels. Certainly it is his most mature novel. Much of the reason for this has to do with the way that Leinster sets up the conflict in his plot. Most of Leinster's novels deal with conflicts between heroes and stock villains (space pirates, spies, dictators, comic opera rascals, and the like). In _The Planet Explorer_, the primary conflict is that of man against nature. The characters are concerned with insuring the survival of a human colony on an ecologically hostile environment.

When there is a conflict between characters in the novel, it is a conflict of values or perception rather than a simple good-guys-versus-bad-guys scenario. This allows Leinster to explore more complex human relationships than usual: The way that Indians or Africans view the world that is different from that of the white man, for example; or the way that an engineer looks at a crisis that is different from that of a colonist; or the way that a nonconformist views the world that is different from an organization man; or the way that a seasoned old pro operates that is different from the _modus operandus_ of a young Turk.

One theme that consistently runs throughout the novel is the tension between rational bureaucracy and irrational individualism. The first is represented by the Colonial Service, which provides the training, technology, and authority to solve difficult problems. But Leinster warns against too much authority: "For mental health a man has to be assured of his own free will, and over-regimentation is deadly in any society" (58). The individualists tend to be colonists, but the most vocal spokesman for individualism is Huygens, the illegal explorer who warns repeatedly against the dangers of a "robot society" and urges that men be free to "act irrationally". By this, Huygens means that people should not live by the rule book and that they should have emotional and humane motivations as well as rational ones.

The novel as a whole is more complex than "Exploration Team," however. In the novelette, Leinster makes a plea for individualism over authority. But in the novel, Leinster makes it clearthat a balance between the two forces is necessary. Too much regimentation is indeed unhealthy, but too much individualism can be a liability as well. In order to solve big problems, mankind needs a certain amount of bureaucracy and authority. Bordman ("Board Man") is a kind of company man whose authority and training can save colonies from extermination. He and Huygens are foils to one another, but both types of men are needed.

It must be acknowledged that the seriousness of _The Planet Explorer_ causes it to be a bit more pedestrian than some of Leinster's other novels. It doesn't have the zip of, say, _Operation: Outer Space_ (1952) or _The Pirates of Zan_(1959). But it is a demonstration that Leinster was sometimes capable of doing more than writing well-crafted entertainments. Sometimes he could say something serious to the reader. I can't honestly claim that this novel is a classic or a landmark of science fiction. But it is a good, thoughtful novel. It holds up well, and it is worth your attention.

Will knock your socks off!
Murray Leinster was the pen name of American author William Fitzgerald Jenkins (1896-1975), a prodigious author of fiction and non-fiction. He is rightly considered one of the fathers of science fiction; with his story "The Runaway Skyscraper" appearing in 1919! This 1954 book is a collection of nine of Jenkins' science fiction short stories.

All of the stories are quite interesting, and feature fascinating world in which a desperate adventure takes place. Overall, I loved the stories (especially the first four, featuring Senior Colonial Survey Officer Bordman!), finding them to be some of the most interesting sci-fi stories I have read in a long time. So, if you want to read some good old-fashioned sci-fi that will knock your socks off, then I highly recommend that you get this book!

For your information, the nine stories are:

Solar Constant - Lani III has recently been established as a mining colony for the world of Lani II, but when an unknown sunspot cycle hits bottom and cuts warmth for both worlds, a lot of people are doomed. Senior Colonial Survey Officer Bordman has less than 200 days on Lani III to figure out how to pull a rabbit out of his hat and save millions of lives.

Sand Doom - Unknown to the visiting Bordman, a freak disaster has doomed the inhabitants of Xosa II, including himself. Life can only exist on this hot world with power for air conditioning and so forth, and there is no power to be had. But, unlike the colonists of Xosa II, Bordman is not used to giving up without a fight.

Combat Team - When Bordman lands at what he expects to be a robot colony on Loren II, he is surprised to find a lone frontiersman, living illegally on a world filled with hungry, superior carnivores. But, what became of the robot colony and the humans who were to run it?

The Swamp Was Upside Down - On Canna III, a colony was built on the only island in a water world, an up-thrust piece of ocean floor with formerly-abyssal mud. However, when the colonists started irrigating the soil, the water soaked down to the bedrock and there created a swamp below the surface. And now the soil of the island is preparing to slip down the bedrock, into the ocean, carrying the Canna III colonists to a watery grave. Can Bordman save this situation?

Anthropological Note - The natives of Venus have a valuable pearl that the humans want. Anthropologist Miss Cummings goes in to find out how to get the pearls, and so does the vile criminal Ray Hale. Together, they will find out quite a bit.

Scrimshaw - Pop Young's memory was lost when a vicious young man attacked him and murdered his family. And now they both work on the Moon. And the only way the young man can get out is past Pop...

Assignment on Pasik - When Stannard arrives on Pasik, he finds a world of insectoid natives hopelessly enslaved by the humans living there. The humans are murderous pirates who don't want to be found by the law. So, now it's up to Stannard to survive.

Regulations - Fahnes works for the company on the planet Oryx, and the company has many regulations, regulations that serve a purpose. But, when Fahnes realizes that the natives have something valuable, he decides to break a lot of regulations.

The Skit-tree Planet - When the crew of a research vessel found a plantation of skit-trees, they knew that man wasn't alone in the universe. But, where did that other race go? Now, they seem to have found the home world of the skit-trees. Those aliens must be here somewhere, right?
... Read more

Product Description
UK imported Soft Cover. Book Condition: G-VG. First Thus. Book has some discolouration on the covers, light creasing, but is otherwise a reasonable copy of a hard to come by book.. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Historical; Fiction / Science Fiction / Short Stories; Fiction / Science Fiction / General; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Many Problems Are Circular In Nature
This is one of 1500 short stories that Murray Leinster published during his writing career.It appeared in the December 1955 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

"Sand Doom" tells the story of a ship stranded in orbit, with a crew about ready to mutiny, and a colony of laborers, steel workers, and electricians on the planet below down to their last six months of food and water.All of them have given themselves up for dead, since no rescue ship can possibility arrive in less than a year and perhaps as many as five years.

Against this backdrop, one man must somehow find a way to motivate everyone to look for a solution to their common problem before time runs out for everyone, and he must do it while fighting against his own feeling of inadequacy in the strange environment that is Xosa II.

"Sand Doom" is typical of pulp scfi in the mid 20th century, when things were pretty much black and white, with no deep moral and philosophical ideas to weigh the reader down.The writing is easy and straight forward for a relaxing evening read.I give the story 4-stars because it certainly is not a piece of classical literature, but one cannot deny that Leinster was one of the very best.Indeed, in the scifi short story business, he has to rank up there close to Asimov and Clark. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The hypnoglyph
I read this collection of short stories the year it came out. I was in highschool.That was fifty-four years ago.I have never forgotten the Hypnoglyph. The book is an excellent collection of science fiction stories. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook collection contains twelve novels and novellas by acclaimed science fiction/mystery writer Murray Leinster (William Fitzgerald Jenkins).Leinster was a mainstay of the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s, and following World War II he broadened his audience by writing for Radio, Television, and Hollywood.Among his accomplishments, Leinster is credited with popularizing the notion of parallel universes and the internet.

This ebook is DRM free and includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.


Contents

Fifth-Dimension Tube
Long Ago, Far Away
Murder Madness
Operation Outer Space
Operation Terror
Pariah Planet
Space Platform
Space Tug
Talents, Incorporated
The Pirates of Ersatz
The Wailing Asteroid
This World is Taboo
... Read more

Product Description
Kim Rendall will not yield to the tyranny of the power-madrulers of Alphin III. Branded an outlaw, he is in danger of psychological torture worse than death from the Disiplinary Circuit, which keeps the masses in check.

His one hope lies in the Starshine, an outmoded spaceship. In a world where teleportation is the norm, no one travels by interstellar vessel anymore. Rendall plans to use the Starshine to save his girlfriend and himself -- and possibly his entire planet! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

found, an old classic from my child hood.
The last spaceship was read by me at age 13 in Anchorage, Alaska Territory in 1952. IT was published in 1949 and not reprinted by the original author.

The story plot is that of an outcast in a future society where space travel is only by teleportation.
The planets had to have a space ship deliver a teleportation gate before it was able to be colonized.

This story starts with an outcast from the political system controlled by a man who wants his fiancee.Any one accused of being a criminal is simply transported from his home, or location to prison when he uses one of the transportation gates.

The Spaceship which brought the Teleport gates to the planet is in a Museum but lacks the essential ingredent to function, "Hafium"the central individual in the story is trying to escape the planet, but knows that he is registered on the teleport machines and any travel by teleport willsend him to a one way trip to a prison planet where no one returns. He needs to rescue his fiancee, excape and rescue some of his friends on the prison planet.I have been searching for this book for many years, but it was out of print. Try it, as it is "Space Opera" for old Sci Fi buffs. I think the title was stolen by more recent authors who wrote about entirely different scenarios. ... Read more

Product Description
Abridged from the 1953 edition, containing 12 of the original 23 stories. Includes: Yesterday Was Monday (1941) by Theodore Sturgeon; Endowment Policy (1943) by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett]; Other Tracks (1938) by William Sell; And It Comes Out Here (1951) by Lester del Rey; The Mist (1952) by Peter Grainger [as by Peter Cartur]; Ambition (1951) by William L. Bade; Tiger by the Tail (1951) by Alan E. Nourse; Business of Killing (1944) by Fritz Leiber; The Middle of the Week After Next (1952) by Murray Leinster; Night Meeting (1950) by Ray Bradbury; What If... (1952) by Isaac Asimov; The Flight That Failed (1942) by A. E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull [as by E. M. Hull]. ... Read more

Product Description
THE PUBLIC ABRUPTLY ceased to be interested in news of the signals. Rather, it suddenly wanted to stop thinking about them. The public was scared. Throughout all human history, the most horrifying of all ideas has been the idea of something which was as intelligent as a man, but wasn't human. ... Read more

Product Description
Because Bron Hoddan was a serious electronics engineer, he didn't want any part of his particular planetary heritage. For he was from Zan - and Zan's only occupation was space-ship piracy! Therefore, Bron went to Walden, the most civilized planet of all. His first step to making himself a good reputation was to invent a machine that would save the government millions. But when instead he was seized and jailed as the most unspeakable criminal in Walden's history, he realized that there was only one way open to remedy this "civilized" disaster - and that was by putting into use some of Zan's old-fashioned buccaneering techniques! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Penzance in Deep Space
This novel is probably one of Murray Leinster's most popular science fiction stories. It was serialized in _Astounding_ as"The Pirates of Ersatz" in 1959, was favorably reviewed, and was a Hugo nominee for best novel of the year. It is one of Leinster's most frequently reprinted books. I don't really believe that it is-- or ever was-- anything more than a competently written space opera, but it is still great fun to read.


Leinster was reportedly an admirer of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and I believe that it's fair to say that _The Pirates of Zan_ is a comic novel with many of the characteristics of a Gibert and Sullivan play. To begin with, all of the characters are broadly comic. The hero is a descendent of space pirates trying to make a living as an honest engineer who runs afoul of respectable authorities on a respectable planet. He becomes a pirate in order to survive as an inventor. On the way, he encounters an unscrupulous banker, his horribly proper daughter, bumbling policemen, a suave and crafty ambassador, a warlord on a feudal planet, his delightfully ruthless daughter, assorted soldiers and cutthroats, a shipload of naive pilgrims, a company of lawyers with flexible ethics, and --near the end-- his buccaneer grandfather.


The plot is pure Gilbert and Sullivan, also. The amiable hero gets into one series of scrapes after another; but with a bit of cleverness and luck, he perseveres, and everyone lives happily ever after. There are plots, there are threats, and there are fights; but nobody in the novel suffers more than unconsciousness from a stun gun or rage at being foiled. We enjoy the novel because we instinctively know that everything will turn out all right.


The novel also contains some broad satire in the vein of Gilbert and Sullivan. Much of the satire involves an inversion of expected social roles. Pirates, it is argued, serve a benevolent purpose. They shock complacent and stagnent cultures into making social reforms, and they stimulate the economy. "Rebels and crackpots and revolutionaries," the ambassador tells the hero, "prevent hardening of the arteries of commerce and furnish wholesome exercise to the body politic"(22). Indeed, it is the respectable people-- bankers, politicians, and lawyers-- who cheat the helpless.


The main reason that _The Pirates of Zan_ is similar to a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, however, is its lightness of tone. One of the techniques that Leinster uses to maintain this tone is dialogue that tellingly reveals the character's personality:

"Deploreable!" said the ambassador mildly. "I don't mean outlawry is deplorable, you understand, or defiance of the government, or being disreputable. But trying to use one's brains is bad business! A serious offense! Are your legs all right now?"(18)

"I need not say," said the Lady Fani with dignity, "that I thank you very much. But I do say so."(68)

The bearded man said coldly:
"I can understand that. The hearts of the rich are hardened. The existence of the poor is a reproach to them."(96)

"I always like to talk to people," [the grandfather] observed, "when they're worryin' about what I'm likely to do to them, instead of what they can do to me."(153)

Novels like _The Pirates of Zan_ aren't likely to be Hugo nominees nowadays. But is it unreasonable to wish that a few more novels of light comedy were still being written?
... Read more

Product Description
Included in this volume of Murray Leinster's work are four short stories, "Sand Doom," "Atmosphere," "Attention Saint Patrick," "The Leader," plus one novel, "The Wailing Asteroid." Introduction by John Gregory Betancourt. ... Read more

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This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. Sam, This is You is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Murray Leinster is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Murray Leinster then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Trials (Political crimes and offenses)/ Canada; Political crimes and offenses/ Canada/ History; Political crimes and offenses Canada History; Trials (Political crimes and offenses); Political crimes and offenses; Trials (Political crimes and offenses) - Canada; Political crimes and offenses - Canada - History; History / Canada / Pre-Confederation (to 1867); Law / Legal History; Law / General; History / Canada / General; ... Read more

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#62 ... Read more

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This title has fewer than 24 printed text pages. The Hitch Hikers is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Vernon L. McCain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Vernon L. McCain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more