Showing results by author "H. Beam Piper" in All Categories

The Edge of the Knife, by H Beam Piper is one of the pivotal not felt was by Piper in his "Terra-Human Future History". Piper wrote this novella in 1957 at the height of the Cold War between the Soviet Union, and the United States of America, and seeing into the future could get you locked up in the sanitarium for dissolution all thinking. The protagonist, Charmers, a modern history professor has just such a problem.

Sci Fi Shorts is a collection of classic science fiction stories from the golden age of space stories. This group of five unabridged short stories by various authors covers such adventures as space-going disasters, culture-shocked Martians, minds being stolen, alien flying cities and ancient artefacts being discovered in the far future.

Sci-Fi Shorts is a collection of classic science fiction stories from the golden age of space stories. This group of five unabridged short stories by various authors covers such adventures as crazy scientists stealing souls, time traveling miners, trouble behind enemy lines, gambling for the future of a world, and gateways through space.

In this volume of the short story series, we present five more exciting classic science fiction tales. World wide pandemics, missing battleships, super scientists, spies, and the settling of a new world. The stories are: 'A Question of Courage' by J. F. Bone, 'Genesis' by H. Beam Piper, 'Pandemic' by J. F. Bone, 'The Mercenaries' by H. Beam Piper, and 'The Misplaced Battleship' by Harry Harrison.

Benson is the leader of the secretive military unit Benson's Butchers, and is leading the group behind enemy lines. Having planted the explosives and destroyed the ammunition dump, his team disperses and attempts to get back to the United Nations lines and safety. When a strange blue mist envelopes Benson it's the start of a strange adventure that will change his life for ever.

"Last Enemy" is a science fiction story written by H. Beam Piper, and is a part of his "Paratime" series. The title is a reference to 1 Corinthians 15:26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (KJV) It made its first appearance in August 1950, in Astounding Science Fiction magazine (now Analog). The story begins at a dinner party given by Garnon of Roxor. The party is a voluntary discarnation feast, or suicide party.

"Little Fuzzy" is a science fiction novel by H. Beam Piper. Protagonist Jack Holloway lives a solitary life in a wilderness of planet Zarathustra, itself "owned" by the Chartered Zarathustra Corporation, which installed basic services and colonial outposts initially, and now reaps the benefits of new discoveries, such as the valuable "sunstones" mined by Holloway until he befriends a tiny, golden-furred humanoid that he names "Little Fuzzy."

Verkan Vall and behind him the entire Paratime Police organisation work to keep the other time lines safe from contamination while at the same time allowing resources to be extracted back to the home time line. One of the time lines has a problem: a Venusian Nighthound has been taken back by someone who should have known better, to a time line in the 1940s. Worse, it's escaped to cause havoc amongst the farm stock. Verkan Vall has to drop onto that line and eliminate this terrible beast before its discovery corrupts the time line.

In this volume of the series of short science fiction stories we discover assassins, the dangers of centralisation, escapes through time, evolving AI’s and the depths of reality. The stories in this collection were written by J. F. Bone, H Beam Piper, Fritz Leiber and Fitz-James O’Brien.

In this volume of the series of short science fiction stories we discover new sapient races, a race to Mars, planets disintegrating, psionic interlopers, hidden ancient worlds, explosive exploits and time travel. The stories are: 'Atom Drive' by Charles Louis Fontenay, 'Hot Planet' by Hal Clement, 'Nobel Redman' by Jesse Franklin Bone, 'Seed of the Arctic Ice' by H. G. Winter, 'Silver Dome' by Harl Vincent, 'The Vortex Blaster' by Edward Elmer Smith and 'Time and Time Again' by H. Beam Piper.

"There are incredible things still undiscovered; most of the important installations were built in duplicate as a precaution against space attack. I know where all of them are. But I could find nothing, not one single word, about any giant strategic planning computer called Merlin!" Nevertheless the leading men of the planet didn't believe him. They couldn't - the search for Merlin had become an abiding worldwide obsession. Merlin meant everything to them: power, pleasures and profits unlimited.

In this story a galactic empire of thousands of planets has been at peace for hundreds of years. Production all across the empire is regulated to keep markets and economies stable. With this kind of system in place, why is there suddenly a plot to overthrow the current emperor, and who is behind it?

A wounded soldier is transported back in time to the days of his childhood. Based on a story by H. Beam Piper, this episode of Dimension X originally aired on July 12, 1951.

In the far future the ruler of the world is losing as the rebels fight their way into his palace. He retreats upwards to the room where his newly developed time machine sits waiting. His plan is to jump back in time to recruit an unstoppable army which he’ll use to take back the entire world. Of course, plans don’t always come off without a hitch.

The planet Fenris has an extremely slow rotation rate, causing days and nights lasting 1000 hours each! This makes its population live underground but for sunrise and sunset. The story unfolds around a conflict between corrupt local politicians and the equivalent of earthly whale hunters. A robust and action-packed sci-fi tale by H. Beam Piper, published in 1961.

There has always been strong sympathy for the poor, meek, downtrodden slave - the kindly little man, oppressed by cruel and overbearing masters. Could it possibly have been misplaced? A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction in 1962.

Bishop Berkeley's famous question about the sound of a falling tree may have no standing in Science. But there is a highly interesting question about "sound" that Science needs to consider... A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in Analog Science Fact-Science Fiction in 1962.

"Naudsonce" is a science fiction classic about the first contact between humans and non-humans. Here, it's not really violence or weapons that will decide things - its communication, plain and not so simple! The work is written by H. Beam Piper, published in 1962.

H. Beam Piper's "Time Crime" is part of his series of alternate history stories which concern the Paratime Police, a law enforcement outfit from a parallel world which has learned how to move between timelines. They jealously guard the secret, even as they mine other worlds for their resources. Notably, it appears that humans are in fact Martian refugees who escaped a calamity on their home planet and migrated to Earth!

Hunted and hated in two worlds, Hradzka dreamed of a monomaniac's glory, stranded in the past with his knowledge of the future, but he didn't know the past quite well enough. A classic science fiction novelette by H. Beam Piper, first published in 1950 in Future magazine.