Showing results by author "Murray Leinster" in All Categories

Calhoun was assigned the sector because the previous Med Ship inspector had dropped the ball, and the whole sector had gone to rack and ruin. When he starts his first inspection he becomes embroiled in a pandemic driven war between worlds. What can a simple Med Ship pilot in a 50 ton flitter do to bring peace and health back to two worlds on the brink?

"Orejas de ellos" ("the things that listen") whispered the superstitious fishermen when the strange occurrences began off the Philippine coast. How else explain the sudden disappearance of a vessel beneath a mysterious curtain of foam? The writhings of thousands of maddened fish trapped in a coffin-like area of ocean? What monsters gorged at the bottom of the Luzon Deep and what were their plans? Radar expert Terry Holt and the crew of the Esperance had to devise a weapon against the horrifying creatures.

With a shriek heard around the world, an alien spacecraft appears out of nowhere and crash lands on Antarctica. Its crew consists of just four apparent teenage humans, possessing technology unheard of on Earth. Is this the beginning of an alien invasion set to conquer Earth, or something else? One scientist and a newspaper reporter must solve the puzzle. Classic tale from sci-fi master Murray Leinster.

You who have read The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster, will welcome the sequel to that story. The world, in a far distant future, is peopled with huge insects and titanic fungus growths. Life has been greatly altered, and tiny Man is now in the process of becoming acclimated to the change. We again meet our hero Burl, but this time a far greater danger menaces the human race. The huge insects are still in evidence, but the terror they inspire is as nothing compared to the deadly Red Dust.

Ten classic science fiction stories.

The Moklins long to be just like Earthlings. But is imitation the best form of flattery? Based on a story by Murray Leinster, this episode of X Minus One originally aired on June 12, 1956.

"Operation: Outer Space" is a science fiction novel by Murray Leinster. It was first published in 1954. The novel introduces the first interstellar flight, financed by making it into a television show! In fact, this very funny work is much more of a biting satire on the world of television, the media and the rich than a regular space opera but with some elements of sci-fi still there of course.

When machines can answer any question, are there some questions that shouldn't be asked? Based on a story by Murray Leinster, this episode of X Minus One originally aired on December 28, 1955.

The diminutive Kandarian Air Fleet would fight courageously until its last ship was blown into infinity. At worst, it would be completely pulverized... To our hero, the young Captain Bors, either course was unbearable. The ruthless Dictator of Mekin had already control over twenty-two planets. Now he had his eyes set on Kandar... Enjoy this thrilling tale of sci-fi by master craftsman Murray Leinster! Published in 1962.

"Sam, This is You" is a humorous look at Sam, a telephone lineman and inventor. Sam's invented a device to talk to himself back in time. Unfortunately, Sam's main interest is courting Rosie, and his love life is being sabotaged by his worst enemy - his future self. "The Other Now" is a poignant love story. When Jimmy Patterson loses his beloved wife, Jane, in a car accident, he believes he begins to get messages from her. Can their love be enough to reunite them?

"Space Platform" is a YA science fiction novel by author Murray Leinster. It is the first novel in the author's Joe Kenmore series. The novel concerns the sabotage of attempts to place a platform in Earth orbit. The book is remarkable for its sense of realism and technical exactitude whilst always being a chilling and breathtaking tale!

This is the story of the Space Platform, the first orbiting space station that will serve as launching pad for man’s journey to other planets and the stars. But sinister forces oppose its launching, and will resort to sabotage and murder to stop it! A classic science fiction tale by master Murray Leinster.

"The Runaway Skyscraper" is a science fiction story about Arthur Chamberlain, an engineer who works in a midtown Manhattan office building called the Metropolitan Tower. When the sun suddenly begins moving backwards in the sky, setting rapidly in the east, he is the only one to realize what is actually happening: a flaw in the rock beneath the building has caused it to subside, but instead of moving in space, the building is falling backwards into the past.

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.

The short story "Doctor" chronicles a fear of a virus that has already decimated one planet and is so deadly that there is no cure for it. Planets that are known to have chlorphage are quarantined from the rest of the galaxy. Unknown to others, a small girl who is infected manages to board an interplanetary ship and the ship's doctor tries to combat the virus.

Murray Leinster, whose real name was William Fitzgerald Jenkins, was an award-winning American writer of Science Fiction. Among other things, he is credited with the invention of "parallel universe" stories and in 1956 he won prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novelette. Leinster wrote over 1,500 short stories in his career and two of the best, "First Contact" and "The Aliens", deal with humanities first encounter with an alien race.

X Minus One premiered in April 1955 on NBC and ran until January 1958. Like its predecessor series, Dimension X, X Minus One featured stories by the greatest names in modern science fiction: Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Clifford Simak, Robert Bloch, and many more.

Calhoun is a Med Ship Man in the Interstellar Medical Services, trying to study and prove his way up the Ranks. So when he somehow ends up on the wrong Planet, his First thought is of how his career may suffer for this mistake.The next thing on his mind is how to Escape. Now the lone medical officer on A plague planet. Calhoun and Murgatroyd look for a way to stop the spread of the disease and get back home in this science fiction masterpiece by Murray Leinster.

Murray Leinster's science fiction stories typically dealt with themes of frustration with human frailty and its limitations, cynicism vs. idealistic ethics and romance. When a mysterious alien spacecraft lands in a lake in Colorado and the invaders begin using a parylyzing ray that no one can understand or stop, it takes an ingenious man like Lockley to save the girl and solve the mystery of the aliens.

"Joe Kenmore heard the airlock close with a sickening wheeze and then a clank. In desperation he turned toward Haney. 'My God, we've been locked out!' Through the transparent domes of their space helmets, Joe could see a look of horror and disbelief pass across Haney's face. But it was true! Joe and his crew were locked out of the Space Platform. Four thousand miles below circled the Earth. Under Joe's feet rested the solid steel hull of his home in outer space. But without tools there was no hope of getting back inside. Joe looked at his oxygen meter. It registered thirty minutes to live."