Step by grueling step the four of them slogged their way toward a tenuous safety. It was a magnificent display of their will for survival. The only question was, whose survival?

"The Survivors" appeared in "Amazing Stories," August 1961.

T. D. Hamm (real name Thelma Hamm Evans, 1905 – 1995) was a science fiction writer with stories published in If, Tomorrow's Universe, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and several others.

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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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A strange and curious little story, about the moonlight mating of flowers.

Today's story is "Vallisneria Madness", by Ralph Milne Farley. It appeared in the May 1937 issue of Weird Tales on pages 612 to 616.

Ralph Milne Farley was the pen name of the science fiction writing collaboration between Roger Sherman Hoar, state senator and assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts, and his daughter Caroline Prescott Hoar.

Vallisneria is a genus of submerged freshwater aquatic plant, commonly called eelgrass, tape grass or vallis, that spreads by runners and sometimes forms tall underwater meadows. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Single female flowers grow to the water surface on very long stalks. Male flowers grow on short stalks, become detached, and float to the surface.

Roger Sherman Hoar (April 8, 1887, Waltham, Massachusetts – October 10, 1963) was an American state senator and assistant Attorney General for the state of Massachusetts. He wrote and published science fiction under his own name, and from 1932 in collaboration with his daughter, Caroline Prescott Hoar, under the pseudonym of Ralph Milne Farley.

He was a great-great-grandson of Founding Father Roger Sherman.

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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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Professor Halley had perfected his machine for shrinking objects to sub-atomic size, and his trusty assistant, Hale McLaren was ready to make the journey into the sub-atomic universe. His daughter, Shirley, who loved Hale, was also determined to go, and Halley reluctantly agreed.

The plan was to bring them back in half an hour, but Halley had made one vital miscalculation...

"Out of the Sub-universe" appeared in "Amazing Stories Quarterly," Summer 1928, pages 378 - 381.

Roman Frederick Starzl (1899–1976) was an American writer. He, and earlier, his father (John V. Starzl), owned the Le Mars Globe-Post newspaper of Le Mars, Iowa. His writing is largely forgotten now, but he was called a "master" by the pioneer of space opera E. E. "Doc" Smith. Starzl's Interplanetary Flying Patrol, in "The Hornets of Space," may have influenced Smith's Galactic Patrol.

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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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Whatever goes up must come down. Including moon rockets. But there's no law saying what they must come down to.

Today's story is "Down to Earth" by Harry Harrison. It appeared in the November 1963 issue of Amazing Stories on pages 53 to 71.

Harry Max Harrison (March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012) was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

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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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A blunder by a stock clerk meant that Mark Forepaugh and his servant, Gunga, were stranded on Inra without power until the relief ship arrived. But they couldn't stay in an unpowered trading station; they had to venture out and get to the Mountains of Perdition where they had a better chance of being rescued. That trip, however, necessitated a trip through the hostile jungle of Inra...

"The Planet of Dread" appeared in "Astounding Stories of Super-Science," August 1930, pages 147 - 157.

Roman Frederick Starzl (1899–1976) was an American writer. He, and earlier, his father (John V Starzl), owned the Le Mars Globe-Post newspaper of Le Mars, Iowa.

His writing is largely forgotten now, but he was called a "master" by the pioneer of space opera E E "Doc" Smith. Starzl's Interplanetary Flying Patrol, in "The Hornets of Space," may have influenced Smith's Galactic Patrol.

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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.

When is a suicide not a suicide? When there is an aging husband concerned about his health, a beautiful young wife, and a large life insurance policy. Hercule Poirot is called in by the insurance company to investigate.

Today's story is "The Marsdon Manor Tragedy," by Agatha Christie. It appeared in the March 1924 issue of "The Blue Book Magazine" on pages 121 to 126.

"The Marsdon Manor Tragedy" first appeared in "The Sketch" in 1923 in the UK. In 1924 it appeared in the short story collection "Poirot Investigates." In 1991 it was broadcast in episode 6 of season 3 of the BBC's "Poirot" series, titled "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor."

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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Vincenzo and Aziz had a plan to steal one of the ice-sweepers orbiting Saturn and use it as their pirate base. Henry, for whom this was his first job, was 'volunteered' to be stranded in space in the path of the ice-sweeper and be 'rescued' and gain access to the ship. But when Ranjit saved Henry's life, he started having second thoughts. And then, Joachim and the beautiful Morna came aboard.

"Outside Saturn" appeared in "Infinity Science Fiction," January 1958, pages 104 - 123.

Robert E Gilbert (May 6, 1924 – April 4, 1993) 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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For a man who never flew before to step from an airplane into space thousands of feet above the earth--that takes nerve! Yet old Beth knew that was the only slim chance for his fire-trapped logging crew.

"Fire of Retribution" appeared in "Argosy All-Story Weekly," October 20, 1928, pages 712 - 717.

Lawrence Louis Donovan (July 1885 – March 11, 1948) was an American pulp fiction writer who wrote nine 'Doc Savage' novels under the pseudonym "Kenneth Robeson",' a pen name that was used by other writers of the same publishing house. However, there are nine 'Doc Savage' novels duly credited to Donovan, published between November 1935 and July 1937. Three of his Doc Savage novels were "adapted" as early Superman comic book stories.

He employed various pen names; "Austin Gridley", "Patrick Everett", "Patrick Lawrence", "Wallace Brooker" and "Clifford Goodrich". Other pen names included "Don Lewis", "Don Lawrence" and "Larry Dunn", by which Donovan concealed his identity in the lurid Spicy Stories magazines.

After a falling out with his editor in 1938, Donovan moved over to the rival Thrilling Publications, where he wrote under the house name of "Robert Wallace".

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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.