Showing results by narrator "Harry Shaw" in All Categories

The absentmindedness. The nonsensical ramblings. The blank stares. Ward Ayers, physically disabled and confined to his Jersey Shore home, can only watch in dismay as his beloved wife Malina slips further and further into dementia. But when Ward catches a glimpse of a strange appendage in place of Malina’s tongue, he fears the woman he’s loved for half a century isn’t succumbing to Alzheimer’s but transforming into something...not quite human.

Oscar Frosell, wealthy Swedish businessman, philanthropist, and family man, survived the Nazi occupation of Paris and, like many of his countrymen, was looking forward to being a part of France’s postwar future. But in the rapacious, score-settling chaos of the new French State, Frosell’s fortune - rare art, priceless jewels, antique furniture, gold, platinum, a valuable stamp collection, and especially his opulent Paris apartment - worth over $40 billion today, was an irresistible temptation for some thieves.

Homer's epic poem in plain English, from the origin of the Siege of Troy, the deaths of Hector, Achilles, and Paris through to the Trojan Horse and the rescue of Helen, "the face that launched a thousand ships." Children and adults alike will enjoy this re-telling of this classic Greek legend of the Trojan War.

Conan the Barbarian spends a night in a cheap tavern in Zamboula, and is swept up in a dark world of roaming cannibals, a naked woman and her deranged lover, the strangler Baal-pteor and the evil high priest he serves.

In the beginning Charlie McVee wanted nothing more from life than to raise a family in his suburban Cincinnati home, write his novels, and find time to go hiking with his wife, Annie. Two hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail awaited them down in Tennessee, beckoning them come and see it firsthand. What they found in a remote area of the mountains, off the beaten track, was a small town virtually unknown to the outside world....

Bishop Berkeley's famous question about the sound of a falling tree may have no standing in Science. But there is a highly interesting question about "sound" that Science needs to consider... A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction in 1962.

Poictesme is known as the junkyard planet. A poor, sparse population ekes out a meager existence by scavenging the remains of abandoned military bases left behind after the last interstellar war. Young Conn Maxwell returns from school on Terra with the news that Merlin, a military super-computer, may be among the spoils, which they think might be their ticket out of poverty. But is Merlin just a myth? And if they find it, will it make them rich, or tear them apart?

An apocalyptic event by a biological attack causes life as we know it to cease to exist. The world, now in chaos, throws society into a time reminiscent of colonial America. The country, divided into domains, is controlled by different cultures from the old civilization.

Fenris isn't a hell planet, but it's nobody's bargain. With 2,000-hour days and an 8,000-hour year, it alternates blazing heat with killing cold. A planet like that tends to breed a special kind of person: tough enough to stay alive and smart enough to make the best of it. When that kind of person discovers he's being cheated of wealth he's risked his life for, that kind of planet is ripe for revolution. Four-Day Planet is one of H. Beam Piper’s “Terro-Human Future History” novels, along with Ullr Uprising, The Cosmic Computer, and Space Viking.

Chaos followed the untimely end of Princess Kylee’s marriage to Prince Maju. Although Queen Miyako is too worried about her missing daughter’s safety to blame her, she has no problem blaming Taren Platinum. When a recording device containing diary entries is found in the princess’s room, the queen begins to question if she’s been wrong the whole time. Jael wants nothing more than to return to her family, but Taren gave her an assignment to take care of the kids. When she runs into an enemy intent on avenging their fallen leader, they are caught in the cross fire.

Anthony is young, handsome, and well-educated. He marries the ravishingly beautiful Gloria, and together they plan for the day that Anthony receives his inheritance. But what will they make of themselves in the meantime as they look forward to a life of wealth and idle leisure? What is the role of purpose in a well-lived life?

Twentysomething ex-swimsuit model turned television news anchor Lori Matrix wants to prove her producers wrong: She can do hard news. The tall, blonde, blue-eyed journalist, hired to boost her station's ratings, gets her chance when legendary actor Rex Hampton turns up dead at the first gathering of six Hollywood movie legends during the screening of his favorite movie.

When a super-robot named Snookums discovers how to build his own superbombs, it becomes obvious that Earth is by no means the safest place for him to be. And so Dr. Fitzhugh, his designer, and Leda Crannon, a child psychologist acting as Snookums’ nursemaid, agree to set up Operation Brainchild, a plan to transport the robot to a far distant planet. Mike the Angel has devised the power plant that is to propel the space ship Branchell to its secret destination, complete with its unusual cargo.

During World War I, an American secret service agent, Evelyn Erith, opens and deciphers a coded letter. It says the Germans believe that Kay MacKay, an American concentration camp escapee, knows The Great Secret. And that MacKay must be eliminated. Erith finds McKay, saves him from German agents and convinces him to join U.S. Intelligence. Together they venture undercover into the Swiss Alps to discover and expose The Great Secret. The future of Europe depends on it!

Hunted and hated in two worlds, Hradzka dreamed of a monomaniac's glory, stranded in the past with his knowledge of the future, but he didn't know the past quite well enough. A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in 1950 in Future magazine.

Brothers Greg and Tom Hunter are shocked at the news that their father Roger had died in an accident while prospecting for ore in the Asteroid Belt, but a too-generous buy-out offer from the powerful but unethical Jupiter Equilateral Corporation suggests it may not have been an accident at all. Roger had hit something big - really big - and Greg and Tom want to find out what. But will they live long enough to solve the mystery out in the lawless Belt with an evil corporation poised to jump their claim?

There's some reaction these days that holds scientists responsible for war. Take it one step further: What happens if "book-learnin'" is held responsible? A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1953.

Harry Shaw performs this classic science fiction from master writer Murray Leinster. Something lurks in the depths of the Luzon Deep off the Philippine Islands. Something unearthly. Perhaps sinister. Entire ships disappear. Schools of fish go mad. Denizens of the deep come to the surface, perhaps on a mission. But from what? And why? Radar expert Terry Holt and the crew of the Esperance seek answers to these questions, and perhaps don’t want to the know the truth.

Jed Cochrane and his crew are embarking on the first-ever interstellar voyage, thanks to his invention of the faster-than-light drive. His mission: Keep the TV viewers and sponsors happy! FTL meets Reality TV in this classic tale by science fiction master Murray Leinster. What new worlds will they see? What alien creatures will they meet? And most important, what will be the overnight ratings?

Dark Kensington had been dead for 25 years. It was a fact; everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to overthrow the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars.The Phoenix had been destroyed not once, not twice, but three times. But this time the resurrected Dark had new plans, plans which involved dangerous experiments in mutation and psionics. And now the rebels realized they were in double jeopardy.