They had found the perfect narcotic quite by accident on an asteroid. A silicon-based germ that induced euphoria and a sense of well-being with no side effects. It may even be good for humanity. But, there had to be a cost, right? You don't get something for nothing, right?

"The Happiness Rock" appeared in "Amazing Stories," January 1964, pages 97 - 122.

Albert Teichner was an American science fiction writer.

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"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Half of Earth, Half of Mars—the half-breed, the Tweenie—is reviled on Earth. But, as scientist and inventor Jefferson Scanlon discovers, there is more to them than people realize.

Welcome to Golden Age Fiction - new stories every week from the golden age of pulp fiction.

Today's story is Half-Breed by Isaac Asimov. It appeared in the February 1940 issue of Astonishing Stories on pages 38 to 53.

Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

Asimov's most famous work is the "Foundation" series, the first three books of which won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. His other major series are the "Galactic Empire" series and the "Robot" series. He also wrote more than 380 short stories, including the social science fiction novelette "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted the best short science fiction story of all time by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Dr. Marsten thought he'd failed completely to prove mental telepathy, but he'd forgotten one peculiar, but very important, facet of those extraordinarily gifted with 'pshychic ability.'

"Too Close to the Forest" was published in "Fantastic Universe," July, 1954, pages 63 - 73.

Bryce Walton

Bryce Walton (May 31, 1918 – February 5, 1988) was an American pulp fiction writer, beginning his freelance writing career in 1945. He was credited as a writer for the TV serial Captain Video and His Video Rangers. He wrote three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and two of his stories were adopted for the series, including "The Greatest Monster of Them All".

Al Reynolds

I could find no information about the science fiction author, Al Reynolds. If you have any information on them, please let me know.

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"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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No one had ever escaped from Venus' dread Stellar Legion. And, as Thekla the low-Martian learned, no one had ever betrayed it and—lived.

Today's story is "The Stellar Legion," by Leigh Brackett. It appeared in the Winter 1940 issue of Planet Stories on pages 95 to 103.

The "Stellar Legion" was awarded the Retro Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2016.

Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915, Los Angeles, California – March 24, 1978, Lancaster, California) was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera", she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. She worked on an early draft of "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production.

In 1956, her book "The Long Tomorrow" made her the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2020, she posthumously won a Retro Hugo for her novel "The Nemesis From Terra," originally published as "Shadow Over Mars" (Startling Stories, Fall 1944).

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"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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The Sun was finally dying, the astronomers having predicted its demise within a few days. Unable to leave Earth, humanity had excavated accommodation deep underground for what was left of the population. But even though they would never see the Sun, the sky, or the stars again, life for the young astronomers Ramo and Kuila Rei now had its own light.

"When the Sun Went Out" appeared in "Science Fiction Series" No. 4, 1929.

Leslie Frances Silberberg (June 8, 1905 – March 21, 1991), known by the pen name Leslie F Stone, was an American writer and one of the first women science fiction pulp writers, contributing over 20 stories to science fiction magazines between 1929 and 1940.

By the time she was in high school in Norfolk, Virginia, Stone was publishing fantasy stories in the local newspaper. She went on to be one of the first women to publish in the science fiction pulp magazines of the era. She often worked with Hugo Gernsback in Amazing Stories and Wonder Stories. Stone wrote space operas and thought experiments as well as stories featuring both women protagonists as well as black protagonists. After writing more than 20 short fiction pieces, Stone stopped writing fiction which she suggested was a combination of seeing the horrors of war making it hard to write about the future and increasing conflicts with male editors who refused to publish her work because she was a woman.

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"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Mr. Satterthwaite witnesses a brutal fight outside an opera house. What could have caused such behaviour?

Today's story is The Face of Helen, by Agatha Christie. It appeared in the July 1951 issue of Black Mask Detective Magazine on pages 37 to 48.

The Face of Helen was first published in "The Story-Teller," a monthly British pulp fiction magazine which ran from 1907 to 1937, in April 1927.

With thanks to the Agatha Chrsitie Wiki at agathchristie.fandom.com.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952.

A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction," Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery." She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

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"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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She was the last priestess of Asti, and the barbarians were approching. She had no choice but to escape to the surface world, taking with her the gifts of Asti. She wasn't to know, however, that one more ancient gift awaited her on the surface...

"The Gifts of Asti" appeared in "Fantasy Book" vol. 1, no. 3 in 1948, pages 8 - 17.

Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North and Allen Weston. She was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, to be SFWA Grand Master, and to be inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

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"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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All Ed Blair wanted was a fluff piece, a brightener for page two of the Tokyo Tribune, for which he was a reporter. His Editor, Murdock, had heard stories of the 'magic tricks' that the monks of the Hataka Shrine could do.

"The Shrine" appeared in "Fantastic Universe," December 1956, pages 77 - 86.

Walter James Sheldon (9 January 1917 - 9 June 1996) was an American author of science fiction. He is best known for his novel "Jimsy and the Monsters."

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"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.