The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast &#8211; Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories

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Today’s author, Samuel John Sackett wrote only 6 short sci-fi stories from 1953 to 1955. He spent 25 years as an English Professor. He also wrote a sequel to Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, entitled Huckleberry Finn Grows Up, published in 2012 when he was 84.

Our story today is the last of his 6 sci-fi stories. From Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy in October 1955, The Last Plunge by S.J. Sackett

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast… It was a new and mysterious plant. It could make its own weather; it was sentient, and it prospered on Venus. But Earth needed it desperately. And Bat Kendo, the radar-mutant, was told to bring it in. That’s next week onThe Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode.

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The Beachcomber by Damon Knight Jun 28, 2022

Show notes

Today’s author is yet another sci-fi fan turned sci-fi writer. But unlike many sci-fi writers he was also a harsh sci-fi critic. Damon Francis Knight was born September 19th, 1922 in Baker City, Oregon. A brave soul, Knight moved across the country to New York City when he was 17 to live in poverty in a number of shared apartments with science-fiction fans, writers and editors. He was a member of the Futurians along with CM Kornbluth, Frederic Pohl and others.

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His first real impact in the world of science fiction came from his first review, which appeared in a fanzine, when the original version of AE Van Vogt's “The World Of A” appeared in Astounding Science Fiction magazine in 1945. By the way “The World Of A” was the first hardcover science fiction novel published after World War II in 1948.

When Van Vogt revised his novel in 1970, he commented on Knight's review saying "I foresaw a brilliant writing career for the young man who had written so poetical an attack." Damon Knight is generally acknowledged to have been the first outstanding Science Fiction critic. He wrote around 17 novels and more than 100 short stories.

His work found its way to TV when the short story “To Serve Man” appeared on The Twilight Zone in 1962. It’s been said that it’s one of the best known and highly regarded episodes of the series. “To Serve Man” won a 50-yearRetro-Hugoin 2001 as the best short story of 1950.

From Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy in December 1952 turn with me to page 76 for The Beachcomber by Damon Knight...

The Beachcomber by Damon Knight. Damon Francis Knight, sci-fi fan, writer, award winner, critic and teacher died April 15th, 2002. He was 79.

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast Granting the need for money, a man will doany dangerous job that comes along; Borgmann was such a man; air lion diving off Uranus—the job! That’s next week onThe Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode.

https://lostscifi.com/podcast/the-beachcomber-by-damon-knight-episode-23/

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Paradise Planet by Richard S. Shaver Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

When you think of science fiction the word controversy doesn’t normally come to mind, but today’s author stirred up more than his share of controversy in the 1940s.

Born Richard Sharpe Shaver in Berwick Pennsylvania in 1907 he claimed to have worked in a factory in 1932 when a welding gun, ‘by some freak of its coil's field atunements’ was allowing him to hear the thoughts of the men working around him. If that’s not weird enough he also said he telepathically received record of a torture session conducted in caverns deep within the earth. When retelling the story of how he first learned of this cavern world, Shaver's stories didn’t remain consistent.

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Shaver said he quit his job and became a hobo. He was hospitalized briefly for psychiatric problems in 1934, but there does not appear to have been a clear diagnosis. For almost 10 years after that we don’t know what happened to him or where he lived. Then in 1943 he wrote a letter to Amazing Stories magazine claiming to have discovered an ancient language. When the editor wrote back to him, Shaver wrote that extremely advanced prehistoric races had built cavern cities inside the Earth before leaving the Earth for another planet, but leaving some of their offspring behind. The editor of the magazine, Ray Palmer, took Shavers 10,000 word response about these cavern dwellers, rewrote the manuscript and “I Remember Lemuria!” was published in the March 1945 edition of Amazing Stories.

The issue sold out and elicited quite a response. The magazine editor, Ray Palmer, said that tens of thousands of letters were sent to Amazing Stories saying that Shavers story was true. How popular was Richard S. Shaver? Well the “Shaver Mystery” as his work was known, appeared in the June 1947 issue of Amazing and the entire magazine featured his stories and only his stories.

Shaver had his share of critics who were quick to point out that the author was suffering from several of the classic symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

Today’s science fiction short story was written after the “Shaver Mystery” stories had ended and contains no references to alien cave dwellers or their offspring. From Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy in April 1953, Paradise Planet by Richard S. Shaver…

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast Alice saw the Beachcomber as a glorious hunk of man; Maxwell saw him as a super being from the future. Tragically, he was both!... That’s next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode.

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The Old Martians by Rog Phillips Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

How does a plumber, construction worker, carpenter, power plant engineer, shipyard welder and longshoreman become a science fiction writer? Rog Phillips seems like the kind of guy you’d want to sit down and have a beer with, a hard-working blue-collar guy. Born in 1909 in Spokane Washington, Roger Phillip Graham wasn’t only a man with many different jobs, he was also a man of many names. In fact, Phillips had more pseudonyms than any sci-fi writer that we’ve discovered so far. Twenty of them!

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He wrote more than 160 short sci-fi stories published in the 1940s and 50s, and 3 more in the early 60s. His first published work was a detective story, "Murder Note," credited to Charles Mann. “Murder Note” appeared in the Winter 1943 issue ofThe Masked Detective. Raymond Palmer, the editor of Amazing Stories started Rog on his science fiction career with a $500 advance in 1945 for his first story, "Let Freedom Ring! That was a hefty sum in 1945, worth more than $7,000 today.

Today’s story can be found in the March 1952 edition of If Worlds of Science Fiction, you can find it on ebay for $12.99. The Old Martians by Rog Phillips.

Phillips, the blue-collar guy, turned sci-fi writer once taught a writing course to prisoners at San Quentin.

He died of heart failure in California in 1966 days after his 57th birthday.

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast It was a nice little world; everything about it reminded Steve of Earth—except for the people. They looked as human—as steel could make them!... Thanks for listening and we hope you’ll join us next week onThe Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode.

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Let The Ants Try by Frederik Pohl Jun 07, 2022

Show notes

Thank you for listening to The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast and thanks for your reviews and ratings. Special thanks to our new listeners in The Canary Islands, Iceland, Finland, South Africa, the Czech Republic and New Zealand. If we haven’t mentioned your city, state or country send an email to scott@lostscifi.com and please let us know where you’re from.

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You’ve heard of the man who had everything, well today’s author is the man who did everything! He accomplished far more in his life than most, yet he was a high school dropout. Born in November 1919 in New York, as is often the case, this science fiction author started out as a sci-fi fan. Along with Isaac Asimov, C.M. Kornbluth, and others he formed a group known as the Futurians which broke off from the Greater New York Science Fiction Club. The author once said and I quote, “We changed clubs the way Detroit changes tailfins, every year had a new one, and last year's was junk.” He would form lasting relationships with members of the group and many of them rose to sci-fi success.

Frederik Pohl’s work was first published in 1937 and he began his career as a literary agent that same year. He was Isaac Asimov’s agent, the only one he ever had, then he started editing not one, but two magazines, Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories. He was only 20! His stories often appeared in these magazines but never under his own name. Stories he wrote with C.M. Kornbluth were credited to S. D. Gottesman or Scott Mariner, other stories were credited to Paul Dennis Lavond or, as is the case with today’s story James MacCreigh.

Then came World War II. Pohl served as an Army weatherman in Italy. After the war he wrote advertising copy, became a literary agent again, and started writing a lot, quite often with his friend C.M. Kornbluth.

He would become an editor for two magazines again, this time, Galaxy and If, Worlds of science Fiction. Pohl won more than his share of awards, a Hugo for best magazine in 1966, 1967 and 1968. In 1976 he won the Nebula award given by the group now known as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He won another Nebula the next year and a Hugo in 1978. There are simply too many awards to mention them all. He wrote more than 65 novels, more than 150 short stories and he kept writing. His last collaborative effort was 2008’s The Last Theorem with Arthur C. Clarke and he won his last Hugo in 2010!

Let’s go back in time more than 72 years ago to the pages of Planet Stories magazine and listen to the words from a Sci-Fi Superstar, Let The Ants Try by Frederic Pohl...

In 1936 Pohl and around a dozen other sci-fi enthusiasts gathered in the back room of a bar in Philadelphia for what many regard as the world’s first science fiction “convention.”

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast They opened the ruins to tourists at a dollar a head but they reckoned without The Old Martians. Thanks for listening and we hope you’ll join us next week onThe Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, with at least one lost vintage sci-fi short story in every episode.

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Morgue Ship by Ray Bradbury May 31, 2022

Show notes

The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast continues to grow all over the world and we have you to thank for that. In the last few weeks we’ve added new listeners in Germany, Greece, Spain, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India and in the US, Mesa, Phoenix, Midland Texas, Birmingham and Montgomery Alabama and the big island of Hawaii. There are many more. Wow! Thanks for listening and sharing the Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

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Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter and one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers. Born on August 22nd, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. His mother, Esther, was a Swedish immigrant and his father, Leonard, was of English ancestry. He was given the middle name Douglas after the actor Douglas Fairbanks, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the 1910s and 1920s.

The Bradbury family lived in Tucson Arizona for a year from 1926 to 1927 then it was back to Waukegan. They tried Tucson again from 1932 to 1933 and then on to Los Angeles in 1934. The 14-year-old loved Hollywood and met radio star George Burns. Most people know of Ray Bradbury the writer, but did you know his first paid gig as a writer came when the 14-year-old sold a joke to Burns to use on the Burns and Allen radio show which ran from 1933 to 1950, when Burns and Allen then transitioned to television.

Bradbury was an avid reader of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe and Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1936 at a secondhand book store, young Ray learned about a weekly meeting of the Los Angeles Fiction Society and at 16 he joined their Thursday-night get together. The teenager would sell newspapers on a street corner and then roller skate to the meetings!

The avid sci-fi enthusiast wrote his first published sci-fi story in 1938, Hollerbochen’s Dilemma. Bradbury would later say about his first story, "no one enjoyed my story" and "I think it was terrible myself". Keep in mind he was only 17. However, in 2014, Hollerbochen’s Dilemma was nominated for the 1939Retro-Hugo Award for Best Short Story.Although Ray Bradbury lived a long and successful life he died two years before the nomination at the age of 91 on June 5th 2012 in Los Angeles.

Was Ray Bradbury destined for success and fame? Well, to answer that question we share the words from Ray Douglas Bradbury himself. In his 1938 Los Angeles High School Yearbook he wrote, likes to write stories, admired as a thespian and headed for literary distinction! That’s amazing. There’s much more we could share with you about the legendary author, but we’ll save it for another Ray Bradbury short story in future episodes of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Okay, I couldn’t help myself, one more thing… to say he was prolific would be a gross misrepresentation of the facts, Bradbury wrote more than 30 books and more than 600 short stories.

Today’s story comes from the Summer 1944 edition of Planet Stories, which was sold for 20 cents. Turn with me to page 51 for Morgue Ship by Ray Bradbury…

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Stop, You're Killing Me! By Stephen Marlowe - Time Travel Science Fiction Short Stories May 25, 2022

Show notes

Today’s episode of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast features another short science fiction story from an author we’ve heard from before, but if you’re scouring past episodes for Darius John Granger you won’t find him.

Darius John Granger was actually a pen name for Stephen Marlowe which was also a pen name for Brooklyn New York born Milton Lesser. You’ll find his story Pariah in Episode 11.

By the way over the next 10 episodes of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast you’ll hear from 10 different authors and we haven’t showcased their work in any previous episodes.

Special thanks to Jack from the UK. Jack sent us an email and shared with us a screenshot of his 5-star rating and review, the first on Apple Podcasts UK, which said Fabulous podcast. Really enjoy listening from the UK. Jack. Thanks Jack! Jack’s email said, “I’ve been listening to the podcast and really enjoying it, thanks so much for your hard work! Big love from England."

Today’s story comes from the February 1956 edition of Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy, which is on sale now on Amazon for only $5, which, considering the price of other magazines we’ve seen, is a really good deal.

As a private eye I get a lot of screwball cases, but nothing to match my own; my wife and kid trying to kill me—and neither aware of it! FromImagination Stories of Science and Fantasy, in February 1956, our story starts on page 50, enjoy Stop, You’re Killing Me! by Darius John Granger...

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, This was Burnett's last trip. Three more shelves to fill with space-slain warriors—and he would be among the living again. Ray Bradbury! That’s next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

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Task of Kayin by William Morrison May 17, 2022

Show notes

Today’s episode of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast features another short science fiction story from one of our favorite authors, William Morrison, whose real name was Joseph Samachson.

Two of Morrison’s stories can be heard in episode 13, Unwelcomed Visitor and Spoken For.

Welcome to our new listeners in Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Denmark, India, Madagascar, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and the US. We appreciate you, and your comments and suggestions, and we’d love to hear from you. Send us an email anytime, scott@lostscifi.com.

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Task of Kayin originally appeared in 1953 but was also published in the Australian magazine Science Fiction Monthly in February 1957. It’s believed to be the last issue of the magazine from the land down under which lasted a short three years. Morrison wrote over 80 short sci-fi stories many of which were translated into French, Portuguese, Italian, German and Russian and then republished.

If you enjoy his work, as I do, you will happy to know that you will hear many more William Morrison stories in future episodes of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

From out beyond the second sun he came; a fugitive froma dead and sterile world… from the July 1953 edition of Planet Stories Magazine, let’s turn to page 4 and enjoy Task of Kayin by William Morrison...

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Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, As a private eye I get a lot of screwball cases, but nothing to match my own; my wife and kid trying to kill me—and neither aware of it! Time Travel anyone? That’s next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

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Sales Pitch by Philip K. Dick - Author Philip K Dick Short Stories May 10, 2022

Show notes

Ed Morris didn’t know what sales technique was until the fasrad invaded his life…There are pushy salesmen and then there are PUSHY salesmen who refuse to give up… until they make the sale! Turn with me to page 71 in Future Science Fiction magazine in June 1954 for Sales Pitch by Philip K. Dick...

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Today we once again hear the words from one of the greats in science fiction. A man whose work wasn’t appreciated enough when he was alive but is celebrated today, Philip K. Dick. Dick struggled with anxiety and drug addiction throughout much of his life. In 1982 he called his therapist and said he was going blind. He was told to go to the emergency room but instead he stayed home. He was found unconscious and suffered a stroke on the way to the hospital. When his family was told there was no brain activity, he was removed from life support. Philip K. Dick died March 2nd, 1982.

This is the 3rd Philip K. Dick short sci-fi story we’ve featured on our podcast. In Episode 11 you’ll hear The Eyes Have It and Episode 1 contains The Hanging Stranger. Rest assured there will be more.

Next week on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, From out beyond the second sun he came; a fugitive froma dead and sterile world ... seeking solace, friends, ahome, on Earth—a planet of even greater terrors…https://lostscifi.com/podcast/sales-pitch-by-philip-k-dick-episode-16/

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WANTED: One Sane Man by Frank M. Robinson May 03, 2022

Show notes

Do you remember the 1974 Hollywood blockbuster, The Towering Inferno? The movie starred Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Susan Blakely, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner and Richard Chamberlain. So what does that have to do with the author of our lost sci-fi short story? Well, after writing sci-fi for more than two decades Frank M. Robinson switched gears and started writing disaster novels with a partner. And one of those novels “The Glass Inferno” was used to create the Hollywood movie with a budget of $14 million that did more than $200 million at the box office. Robinson received a hefty payday.

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