I was there to recruit the Unmarried Mother. But first I had to gain his confidence by allowing him to 'settle' with the one who'd gotten him pregnant when he was a woman, and had ruined his chances of joining the Space Corps. I trusted that he wouldn't kill him. That would be problematic...

"All You Zombies" appeared in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction," March 1959, pages 5 - 15.

Robert Anson Heinlien (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction.

He was considered one of the "Big Three" of English-language science fiction authors, and a best-selling science-fiction novelist for many decades. Notable Heinlein works include "Stranger in a Strange Land," "Starship Troopers" (which helped mold the space marine and mecha archetypes) and "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress." His work sometimes had controversial aspects, such as plural marriage in "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress," militarism in "Starship Troopers" and technologically competent women characters who were formidable, yet often stereotypically feminine—such as Friday. Heinlein also coined terms that have become part of the English language, including 'grok', 'waldo' and 'speculative fiction'.

Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974. Four of his novels won Hugo Awards, and fifty years after publication, seven of his works were awarded "Retro Hugos"—awards given retrospectively for works that were published before the Hugo Awards came into existence.

Links

Reaper: reaper.fm

LibSyn: libsyn.com

"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.

They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea,
Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be.
— Chesterton: Lepanto.

Today's story is The Black Kiss, by Robert Bloch & Henry Kuttner. It appeared in the June 1937 issue of Weird Tales on pages 678 to 690.

Although Robert Bloch is credited, "The Black Kiss" was written entirely by Henry Kuttner.

Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917, Chicago, Illinois – September 23, 1994, Los Angeles, California) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror, and a relatively small amount of science fiction. He was a protégé of H. P. Lovecraft, who was the first to seriously encourage his talent. He is best as the writer of Psycho (1959), the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock.

He won the Hugo Award (for his story "That Hell-Bound Train"), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America (1970) and was a member of that organization and of Science Fiction Writers of America, the Writers Guild of America, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Count Dracula Society. In 2008, The Library of America selected Bloch's essay "The Shambles of Ed Gein" (1962) for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American true crime.

Bloch was a contributor to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter and a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general.

Henry Kuttner (April 7, 1915, Los Angeles, California – February 3, 1958, Los Angeles, California) was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He contributed several stories to Lovecraft’s Cthulu Mythos, adding a few lesser-known deities to the Mythos pantheon.

Kuttner wrote under a plethora of pseudonyms which many believe prevented him from garnering the fame that he should have had.

Links

Reaper: reaper.fm

LibSyn: libsyn.com

"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.

The Relict, Finn, retained a few tattered recollections of Old Earth, ruled by the laws of cause and effect, which enabled the environment to be subject to the dominion of man. The Organisms survived because they were mad, the Relicts because they were the most strongly charged with cause and effect, which was enough to allow control of their metabolisms, but no further...

"The Men Return" appeared in "Infinity Science Fiction," July 1957, pages 56 - 65.

John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work was published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names, including Ellery Queen.

His first publications were stories in science fiction magazines. As he became well known, he published novellas and novels. A 2009 profile in The New York Times Magazine described Vance as "one of American literature's most distinctive and undervalued voices"

Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984, and he was a Guest of Honor at the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 15th Grand Master in 1997, and the Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001.

His most notable awards included Hugo Awards in 1963 for The Dragon Masters, in 1967 for The Last Castle, the Nebula Award in 1966, also for The Last Castle; the Jupiter Award in 1975 and the World Fantasy Award in 1990 for Lyonesse: Madouc, and the Edgar Award in 1961 for the best first mystery novel for The Man in the Cage.

Links

Reaper: reaper.fm

LibSyn: libsyn.com

"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.