Showing results by publisher "Wordwooze Publishing" in Science Fiction

Six often overlooked award-caliber sci-fi short novels and novelettes.

Paul W. Fairman (1916-1977) was the author of not one - but two stories for science fiction magazines that were later purchased and transformed into classic 1950s drive-in theater horror fare. Oddly both tales were published in the same year, 1953, two months apart. The first, "Deadly City" appeared in the March 1953 issue of Worlds of If, under Fairman's "Ivar Jorgensen" pseudonym; and was filmed as Target Earth (1954).

As so often happens, just when you think things are beautifully perfect, someone or something comes along to throw a spanner in the works. In Hal’s case, his idyllic life gets hit by a number of airborne wrenches. Then, when he thinks things are about as bad as they can get, they of course get a whole lot worse.

In a remarkable turn of events, a young man with a lot definitely not going for him manages to come to terms with a startling reality. He has to grow up. Being handicapped by having rather nasty acne and an odd eye impediment, he also has to suffer the fact that his name is February. Or, at best, Feb to his very limited number of friends.

In the spring of 1861, the bombardment of Fort Sumter might have ended with the garrison's rapid surrender and their dignified return to the North. Instead, the fort was laid completely waste when its armory was struck, with the loss of every man, provoking a storm of vengeful anger across the North and prompting some moderate Southerners to view the Secessionist cause, and the threat of civil war, with greater concern and alarm.

How did visionary women see the future? Written between 1931 and 1979, these 13 stories show how different women have, in different eras, envisioned the future of their sex. Selecting its contents from lesser known writers, Future Eves is fascinating to listen to, both as science-fiction and as an eye-opening view into futures past.

Her name is Frances Deegan. She wrote 21 stories and 35 articles under her own name for the science fiction pulps between 1944 and 1952, when few other women were selling to them at all. Yet you won't find her listed in any book about science fiction. In fact, in the years since her death, Frances Deegan has become the forgotten woman of the golden age of pulp science fiction, and none of her stories have ever been reprinted.

Levi Levins retires from the army and is off on vacation before starting his new job. He suffers a horrendous loss accompanying "lights out" and must find a way to help humanity in order to keep his own sanity. He has no bug-out bag, no hidden weapons cache, no transportation. What does he do, and how does he do it? Levi will walk us through his path to survival. Perhaps it may also be yours.... This gripping tale takes us on a journey to try to stave off the New Dark Age brought on by a worldwide EMP apocalypse.

Presenting ten tales with elements of mystery, horror, whimsy, fantasy, touches of romance, and some technology run amuck. From the story of a young newlywed couple targeted by a ghost in their chimney, a club of six where one member goes beyond just discussing how to commit a simple murder in a complicated way, a pair of virtual reality goggles that give the wearer a rather deadly experience, a privately owned library where you aren’t just fined when a book is overdue, to a mystery man who leads a young woman into a dangerous situation, each story stretches reality beyond the norm.

Presenting six stories involving science and its interaction with the human psyche. Included are elements of mystery, horror, whimsy, fantasy, touches of romance, and some technology run amuck. From the story of a group of elder humans hoping to ride to the stars, an AI system taking its programming too literally, and a young woman who can really take charge, to a story that will have you watching the night sky in case an ovoid spaceship appears, each story stretches reality beyond the norm and shows how our qualities as humans have to take charge.

Drawn straight from today’s headlines into a soon-to-be America, a broken country gradually beaten down by one-party rule and loss of personal freedoms, Shantyboat follows the story of two homeless men struggling to recover at least a sliver of freedom by building a shantyboat. But their efforts inside a society of surveillance and totalitarian controls soon lead them to commit both theft and murder.

From the warped mind of award-winning sci-fi author Steve Bellinger. Weird things happening in the Earth’s core, environmental pollution from an unexpected source, and a rogue comet with strange properties. Put them all together and you get the end of the world as we know it.