Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

World War I infantry captain Ulysses Paxton is transported to Barsoom, where he encounters evil scientist Ras Thavas and his diabolical brain transplant experiments. Paxton falls in love with the beautiful Valla Dia, whose body has been swapped with the cruel Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. Can Paxton save Valla Dia from a hideous fate and win her hand?

Time travel may have its consequences. We can only speculate. Philip K. Dick takes us there.

There were ten humanoid robots somewhere in the United States, each one carrying a fragment of a TC bomb. TC! The race for sheer horror in bomb-ery had ended there. TC! Total Conversion! The sun was no longer a synonym one could use. Total conversion made the sun a penny candle.

Hugo didn’t ask for this gift that his father, brilliant biologist Abednego Danner, bestowed upon him; a “gift” that promises a life of greatness. From being a baby that can launch himself from a second-story window unscathed, a boy that can leap canyons and hurl boulders, a football star that can beat an opposing team single-handed, a man capable of crushing an entire enemy platoon with his bare hands; surely such a person could steer the entire world to their whims. But, does the world hold any post for a man of such strength?

"Time Pawn" is a novelette by Philip K. Dick published in Thrilling Wonder Stories. Vol. 44, no. 1, summer 1954. Travel with award-winning audiobook narrator, Mike Vendetti, and Dr. Parsons to our world in the distant future where everyone and everything is perfect. But wait; there's more!

Written as a sequel to Second Variety, this is an exciting and thought-provoking view into a different world than the one left in "Second Variety". We have a fascination with time travel. But what could go wrong? Give this a listen, and see what you think.

A child goes into the garage and finds his father talking to himself. No, really talking to himself, as in two identical people. The boy; however, can sense the "thing" from his father. And then the thing comes to the dinner table...

The Invisible Man was the fourth sci-fi novel written by Wells in the 1890s. The main character, Griffin, is one of the intimidating villains in all popular literature. The archetypal "mad scientist," Griffin devotes himself to an obsessive study of optics and realizes his ambition to render livings things permanently invisible. After making a cat invisible, he successfully applies the procedure to himself. After causing chaos in London, he travels to the village of Iping in Sussex and takes up residence in a local hotel.

A German scientist discovers an ancient runic message, which when translated proves to be a map to the center of a hollow Earth! The professor and his nephew then embark on a dangerous adventure down an Icelandic volcano to explore a fantastic world in the interior of the Earth. A classic tale from Jules Verne, one of the originators of science fiction, and author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and From the Earth to the Moon.

"Youth" is a surprisingly complex short tale, with a deep core of thought-provoking reasoning. What is our motivation? Where is our growth? What do we consider valuable? These questions and more are brought to light in this story by Isaac Asimov. Youth is one of the rare Asimov stories with alien characters.

Kurt Vonnegut creates a near-perfect world. There are no prisons, no slums, no insane asylums, no cripples, no poverty, and no wars. All diseases were conquered. So is old age. Death, barring accidents, was an adventure for volunteers. The population of the United States is stabilized at forty-million souls. Have a problem? Not really, just call the Federal Bureau of Termination. Nothing to it. Just pick up the phone and call 2BR02B. Thus the title, "To be or not to be".

Charming and thought-provoking, this short story from American master of science fiction Ray Bradbury and narrated by Mike Vendetti follows the misadventures of a group of elderly women who have poured their life savings into a final trip to an outer-space paradise, only to find out that the promised journey doesn't pan out quite the way they expected it to.

Some short stories are amusing and soon forgotten, and others set one thinking. "Oh yeah, or what if". This collection narrated by award-winning audiobook narrator, Mike Vendetti is in the latter category.

Imagine being trapped in the millisecond between the past and the future. All Dave Miller wanted to do was commit suicide in peace, but here he was. Trapped.

Communication is the key to getting along. Space travel makes communication with alien races imperative, but before the language problem could be resolved the war started. A highly intelligent cat-like race able to communicate telepathically is discovered that offers to help. But wait how can you trust an alien or anyone that can hear your thoughts?

Canna III is a water planet with a single large island. The island is bordered by a high cliff. Civilians irrigating the land has caused issues where soil and bedrock meet. The land has been turned into a saltwater swamp, turned upside down. The swamp is sliding into the ocean, taking inhabitable land with it. Compounding the problem is a fuel leak from underground tanks threatening to detonate. Two Colonial Survey troubleshooters have been called to the planet to try and rectify the situation.

When a large deposit of an immensely valuable mineral has been located on Earth's moon, an expedition has been sent to mine it in secret. But when the secret gets out, underhanded elements of the people of Mars, Venus, and Earth launch their own secret plot to hijack the claim and make a fortune. It is up to our hero, Gregg Haljan, and his trusted ally Snap Dean to safeguard Earth's acquisition of the Moon treasure and protect the brave men of the expedition from... the BRIGANDS OF THE MOON!

A lovable but mischievous marionette hopes to become a real boy, but first must learn to work hard, overcome peer pressure, and stop telling lies before his wish is granted. Pinocchio has enraptured the hearts of children and adults alike since 1881. The tale revolutionized Italian children's literature by using comedic characters and minimal adult intrusion to tell a story with a moral lesson. Published as a serial in the Giornale per i bambini, or "Children's Magazine", the stories were compiled into one volume in 1883.

Critical Difference is the story of a Colonial Survey Officer named Massey assigned to a barren, frozen planet to check and approve colony installations. He discovers that this world's temperature is gradually getting colder. Eventually, the declining temperature will make the colony uninhabitable. The colony receives a coded message that the same thing is happening to their home world. The colonists rely on Massey to find a solution.

James Arthur Fradin, an eminent professor and scientist, has a new theory about radio waves. He believes he has found that radio waves and power are transmitted through the fourth dimension. He is met with disbelief and disdain when presenting his unique and controversial view to a distinguished group of scientists at a conference. However, one individual, a spy at the meeting, listens with extreme interest. If Fradin is correct, power becomes unlimited and is used for evil purposes. The spy, Marvak, needs to be stopped, but how?