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The Risk Profession
by Donald E. Westlake
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 There are a thousand ways to die in the Asteroid Belt, but roving claims investigator Ged Stanton wants to be sure--was the death of Jafe McCann planned or accidental? He knows he has to move carefully on this, or he might end up being the next victim! (Published: 1961)
Words: 10261 - Reading Time: 29-41 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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2
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The Last Spin
by Ed McBain
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Two young men, one loaded gun, one simple mission. For Dave and Tigo, that was all there was to it. Yet in the end, they realize there is more to life, and friendship, than meets the eye. The question remains: Will they be convinced soon enough? (Published: 1956) Edgar Award Winner
Words: 2674 - Reading Time: 7-10 min.
Category: Mystery/Crime
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3
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Slow Djinn
by Mack Reynolds
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Jake O'Gara is quickly losing his movie writer touch, what with all the alcohol in his brain. But his big break finally comes in the form of a djinn. Or so he thinks.... (Published: 1957)
Words: 4925 - Reading Time: 14-19 min.
Category: Fantasy
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4
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A Bullet For Cinderella
by John D. MacDonald
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Her veneer was big city--but one look and you knew that Toni Rassell's instincts were straight out of the river shack she came from. I watched her as she toyed with the man, laughing, her tumbled hair like raw blue-black silk, her brown shoulders bare. Eyes deep-set, a girl with a gypsy look. So this was the girl I had risked my life to find. This was the girl who was going to lead me to a buried fortune in stolen loot.
Words: 56257 - Reading Time: 160-225 min.
Category: Mystery/Crime
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5
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Poor Superman and Others
by Fritz Leiber
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Veritable Classics and Forgotten Gems! A fantastic collection containing some of the most thought-provoking stories by science fiction and fantasy great, Fritz Leiber. From the strange shared universe of Poor Superman and Coming Attraction to forgotten gems like the Chthulu Mythos story, The Dreams of Albert Moreland. Diverse stories like No Great Magic (A story of the Change War) to the fan favorite, A Pail of Air. Tales from the darkly disturbing--A Bit of the Dark World--to the hilarious and ... more info>>
Words: 100455 - Reading Time: 287-401 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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6
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The Men Return and Others
by Jack Vance
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Five vintage stories from the 1950s by Science Fiction Grand Master, Jack Vance. SF stories of adventure, detection, horror, and humor. Stories include The Men Return; The Devil On Salvation Bluff; A Practical Man's Guide; Worlds of Origin; and the haunting, When the Five Moons Rise.
Words: 25245 - Reading Time: 72-100 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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7
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The Velvet Glove
by Harry Harrison
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Despite the Robot Equality Act, being a robot is tough. Jon Venex, a robot designed for work on Venus, needed a job bad or it could mean the scrap heap. When he found a job listing for Venex robot, it sounded too good to be true. And when you're a second-class citizen, like a robot, it usually is. He soon finds himself embroiled in a scheme with underground crime--literally and figuratively! (Published: 1956)
Words: 7734 - Reading Time: 22-30 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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8
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Now Die In It
by Ed McBain
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Matt Cordell was on his way down. Since he lost his license as a detective for attacking his wife and her lover, his goal is seeking oblivion with a bottle. But P. I. work came to him in spite of himself. His buddy's sister-in-law is pregnant and he wants to know who the daddy is. The case takes on extra emphasis when his buddy's sweet sister-in-law turns up dead. With the help of a nympho, Matt finds out the person he's seeking name is Freddie. Now with only about 100,000 Freddies in NY, Matt C... more info>> (Published: 1953)
Words: 11098 - Reading Time: 31-44 min.
Category: Mystery/Crime
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9
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Hang By Your Neck
by Henry Kane
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Peter Chambers is a private richard who has a real affinity for trouble. He hasn't any notion at all who polished off the nasty blonde with the round hole between her eyes--or the little man swinging by the neck from a bedroom window. Peter has strong incentives for finding out the answers--partly because the only thing he can do is break the case wide open before the going gets too rough; but mainly because his fee is Miami Moonbeam, six feet of ravishing, red-haired woman. (Published: 1949)
Words: 62222 - Reading Time: 177-248 min.
Category: Mystery/Crime
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10
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The Golden Slave
by Poul Anderson
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100 B.C. The Cimbrian hordes galloped across the dawn of history and clashed in screaming battle against the mighty Roman legions. Eodan, son of Chief Boierek, has been on the war campaign for many years. The Cimbrain army has become a hungry homeless pagan tribe. Their sworn enemy, the Romans, they have battled against gloriously. But for all the burning towns, the new-caught women weeping, the wine drunk, the gold lifted, the Cimbri did not find a home. And after a mighty clash, the battle is ... more info>> (Published: 1960)
Words: 69268 - Reading Time: 197-277 min.
Category: Historical Fiction
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11
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Summer Guests
by James Schmitz
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Mel just wanted to enjoy his stay-at-home vacation in his mostly quiet apartment. But when a he looked into a birdhouse and saw beautiful slanted golden eyes staring back at him his vacation was going to be anything but boring. They were certainly alive! One was green, a tiny body of jade, and the other was silkily human-colored, which was why he had been confused on that point. The wings could hardly be anything else, though they were very odd-looking, almost like thin, flexible glass. Soon he ... more info>> (Published: 1959)
Words: 11661 - Reading Time: 33-46 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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12
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Tongues of the Moon
by Philip Jose Farmer
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Earth was dying. Possibly the only human beings left in the Universe were those on the Moon. On this last outpost of humanity, the age-old controversy between ideologies continued to tear the human race apart, as each group prepared to unleash the deadly ...Tongues of the Moon (Published: 1961)
Words: 10331 - Reading Time: 29-41 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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13
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The Web of the Worlds
by Harry Harrison, Katherine MacLean
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"This must be another world altogether, separate from his own in time and space. He wasn't sure about the details―it had been a long time since he had read H. P. Lovecraft―but this theory seemed the most tenable." Grant O'Reilly was not the adventurous type. A sheltered invalid as a child, who used books for accompaniment, he had barely begun to live his life before the great change occurred. Suddenly, about to be married, he is taken by a seizure to wake in a land like none he had k... more info>> (Published: 1953)
Words: 28164 - Reading Time: 80-112 min.
Category: Fantasy
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14
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Gunman's Chance
by Luke Short
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A tale of big Texas, of cattle, ranges and saloons; of punchers, cowboys and Ute Indians; and where the possibilities of fulfillment are as endless as the desert, and just as unpredictable. Jim Garry is a hard, embittered cowboy, who believes there is no hope left for his soul. But the headstrong and impulsive Amy Lufton proves him wrong! His erstwhile friend Tate Riling, prodded by greed, invades Sun Dust with the perfect rip-off scheme involving extortion, bribery, coercion and deceit. The tar... more info>> (Published: 1941)
Words: 69653 - Reading Time: 199-278 min.
Category: Historical Fiction
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15
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Heel & The Wounded
by Philip Jose Farmer
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Two stories from Science Fiction Grand Master, Philip José Farmer. Heel--There's a great movie being made thousands of years in our past. The Director is Zeus and the screenplay writer is Apollo. Their actors are Achilles and the cast of the Trojan war. Only they're not aware of even what a movie may be. The gods/crew of the movie all have different motives. But it should all make for a great epic. The Wounded--What happens when the Master of Love gets smitten? (Published: 1954)
Words: 7399 - Reading Time: 21-29 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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16
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The Skull
by Philip K. Dick
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In the future, an authoritarian government is battling the uprising of The First Church. One man, Conger, must be sent back in time to around 1960. Conger's mission: Assassinate the man who is the founder of The Church. A man hidden in the secrecy of the past. Conger's only way of identifying this man is a two hundred year old skull. (Published: 1952)
Words: 7782 - Reading Time: 22-31 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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17
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The Gun
by Philip K. Dick
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A small crew aboard a spaceship exploring planets are reluctant to land on a planet that show signs of fission. A planet likely destroyed by nuclear war. Mile after mile of unbroken ruin stretched out, blackened slag, pitted and scarred, and occasional heaps of rock. Before the crew can leave the atmosphere, they are struck by an atomic shell. Soon they are falling to the dead planet. But if it's dead what fired that weapon? Originally published in the September, 1952 issue of Planet Stories. (Published: 1952)
Words: 4870 - Reading Time: 13-19 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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18
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Mr. Spaceship
by Philip K. Dick
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The war continues as a stalemate. The Yucconae, an alien race, are living organisms that can traverse outer space. The Earth's drone rockets do not have a chance against the flexibility of a living organisms. Working in a military research facility, Kramer comes up with a system of installing a man's brain as the central processor of a rocket. Since a pilot could not withstand the pressures of deep space flight, a willing sacrifice will need to be made. Kramer's ex-wife, Dolores, remembers an ol... more info>> (Published: 1953)
Words: 10665 - Reading Time: 30-42 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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19
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Piper in the Woods
by Philip K. Dick
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Doctor Harris has a strange case as Corporeal Westerburg is convinced that he is a plant. The corporeal just arrived from the Asteroid Y-3. Harris believes the young man is working to hard--too much stress. Then he's notified that there are five new cases coming from Asteroid Y-3, all believing that they're plants! The Doctor doesn't know what's happening, but he needs to find out fast before they're all convinced they're plants because the Pipers told them so. He has no choice but to go to Aste... more info>> (Published: 1953)
Words: 7412 - Reading Time: 21-29 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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20
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Queen of the Deep
by Philip Jose Farmer
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Jones was on his way on a Luxury Liner when it was suddenly blown up. He is captured by a robotic enemy submarine. The secret high-tech sub has a robot with a definite female voice and character and "she" is a weapon of war. It drugs, prods him and even probes his psyche, then announces it needs Jones's help. But Jones's problem is he needs to overcome his claustrophobia of dark places to save himself. And to save himself he needs to save the submarine. This story under the varient title "Son" i... more info>> (Published: 1954)
Words: 7382 - Reading Time: 21-29 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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21
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The Imaginary Blonde
by Ross Macdonald
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Lew Archer was in a dismal mood when he checked into a sleepy motel. He had just lost the man he was trailing and then got into a crazy highway chase with a Cadillac. Now he just wanted to get some sleep. But his thoughts of sleep ended when a screaming brunette woke him with her screams and a hand covered in blood. It looked like a murder, but where was the victim? And Lew Archer only had one suspect―an imaginary blonde that nobody seems to have seen. (Published: 1953)
Words: 12277 - Reading Time: 35-49 min.
Category: Mystery/Crime
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22
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Scanners Live in Vain
by Cordwainer Smith
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Man has conquered space, but not without costs. To maintain the space lanes, Scanners have to undergo an operation in which their brain is severed from their sensory inputs to block the Pain of Space. Martel has made this sacrifice. He must monitor his vital functions via implanted dials and instruments in his chest. His only respite from this isolated existence is his ability to occasionally "cranch" and return to some sort of normalcy with his wife, Luci. But now a man named Adam Stone has cla... more info>> (Published: 1949)
Words: 13159 - Reading Time: 37-52 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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23
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The Guilty Ones
by Ross Macdonald
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Lew Archer didn't like his client, J. Reginald Harlan, M.A. Of course Archer generally didn't like people whose names started with a single syllable. Harlan hired Lew to find his sister. A respectable school mistress that has run off with a bohemian artist type. But he finds more than what he expected when he has a corpse literally dumped on him! (Published: 1952)
Words: 8846 - Reading Time: 25-35 min.
Category: Mystery/Crime
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24
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The Syndic
by C.M. Kornbluth
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Syndic versus Mob! The Syndic operated as a sort of gigantic protective league in what had once been the states east of the Mississippi. Here was a totally hedonistic society--moral inhibitions had gone the way of the horse. (Polo was played in jeeps with 50-calibre machine guns.) The hopelessly corrupt old North American government had been driven literaly into the sea, but make occassional forays onto the mainland from bases on the coastal fringes of a Europe that had returned to the Dark Ages... more info>>
Words: 52935 - Reading Time: 151-211 min.
Category: Science Fiction
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25
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The Sleeper Caper
by Richard S. Prather
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Richard S. Prather's creation, Shell Scott, was the second most popular private detective (after Spillane's Mike Hammer) of the 1950s. With over 40 million books sold. The Shell Scott stories were as powerful as a gut-wrenching Spillane story, but used more tongue-in-cheek humor. In The Sleeper Caper, Shell is sent to Mexico to find who is rigging the horse races. When the most honest jockey south of the border is drugged and literally bites the dust on the race track. Shell is not only out to c... more info>> (Published: 1953)
Words: 9693 - Reading Time: 27-38 min.
Category: Mystery/Crime
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![Short [10261 words]](/images/short.gif "Short [10261 words]")
![Very Short [2674 words]](/images/veryshort.gif "Very Short [2674 words]")
![Long [56257 words]](/images/long.gif "Long [56257 words]")
![Mid-Length [25245 words]](/images/medium.gif "Mid-Length [25245 words]")
