The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack: 25 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Stories

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jason Andrew lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Lisa. He is an associate member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and member of the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. By day, he works as a mild-mannered technical writer. By night, he writes stories of the fantastic and occasionally fights crime. As a child, Jason spent his Saturdays watching the Creature Feature classics and furiously scribbling down stories; his first short story, written at age six, titled ‘The Wolfman Eats Perry Mason’ was rejected and caused his Grandmother to watch him very closely for a few years. You can read more about him at www.jasonbandrew.com.

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) was a Russian American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards.

John Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mysteries. He is the author of four Star Trek novels and the new Chronicles of Amber prequel series (to Roger Zelazy’s “Amber” books), as well as a dozen original novels, including The Blind Archer, Johnny Zed, Rememory, and Master of Dragons. He has published more than 100 short stories. His essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as Writer’s Digest, The Washington Post, and Amazing Stories.

Ray Cluley is the co-editor of the anthology Darker Minds (with Gary McMahon). His short fiction has appeared in such diverse markets as Interzone, Black Static, Black Gate, Not One Of Us, and Best Horror of the Year.

Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered states. In his later works Dick’s thematic focus strongly reflected his personal interest in metaphysics and theology. He often drew upon his own life experiences in addressing the nature of drug abuse, paranoia and schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS.

John Russell Fearn (1908–1960) was a British author and one of the first British writers to appear in American pulp science fiction magazines. Fearn was a prolific writer who wrote Westerns and crime fiction as well as science fiction. His writing appeared under numerous pseudonyms. He wrote series like Adam Quirke, Clayton Drew, Golden Amazon, and Herbert. At times these drew on the pulp traditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

“David Grinnell” is a pseudonym used by Donald A. Wollheim. See his entry for more info!

Harry Harrison is an American science fiction author best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). Before becoming an editor, Harrison started in the science fiction field as an illustrator, notably with EC Comics’ two science fiction comic books, Weird Fantasy and Weird Science. He has used house names such as Wade Kaempfert and Philip St. John to edit magazines, and has published other fictions under the names Felix Boyd, Leslie Charteris, and Hank Dempsey. Harrison is now much better known for his writing, particularly his humorous and satirical science fiction, such as the Stainless Steel Rat series and the novel Bill the Galactic Hero (which satirises Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers).

Harry’s contribution to The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack is the alternate, 1961 magazine version of his novel, Planet of the Damned.

Larry Hodges is an active member of SFWA with numerous short story sales. He was the 2010 Garden State Horror Writers Short Story Competition Grand Prize Winner. He’s a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and a full-time writer with four books and over 1300 published articles. Visit him at www.larryhodges.org.

Henry Kuttner (1915–1958) was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Kuttner was known for his literary prose and worked in close collaboration with his wife, C. L. Moore. They met through their association with the “Lovecraft Circle”, a group of writers and fans who corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft.

Murray Leinster (1896–1975) was the nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays. Wildside Press has many of his works in print.

Stephen Marlowe (born Milton Lesser, 1928–2008) was an American author of science fiction, mystery novels, and fictional autobiographies of Christopher Columbus, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, and Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his detective character Chester Drum, whom he created in the 1955 novel The Second Longest Night.

Marissa writes: “Like many people who write fiction for a living, I’m a good deal more comfortable making things up about other people who don’t exist than I am figuring out what to say about myself. I’ve sold enough short stories at this point that I have a standard one-sentence biography: ‘Marissa Lingen is a freelance writer who lives in Minnesota with two large men and one small dog.’ This is true but not perhaps optimally illuminating!”

Katherine Anne MacLean (born January 22, 1925) is an American science fiction author best known for her short fiction of the 1950s which examined the impact of technological advances on individuals and society.

James K. Moran writes: “My horror story, “Glimpses through the trees,” which appeared in Curtain Call: The Rolling Darkness Revue 2010, was included by editor Ellen Datlow in her ‘Honourable Mentions’ list for Best Horror of the Year 3. My fiction has also appeared in the Algonquin Roundtable Review and the Peter F. Yacht Club, while my poetry has appeared in various Canadian literary magazines.

Edgar Pangborn (1909–1976) was an American mystery, historical, and science fiction author. For the first 20 years of Edgar’s writing career, which started when he was 21, Edgar wrote what he referred to as “literary hackwork” for the pulp magazines. His serious work began in 1951, with the publication of his first science fiction story, “Angel’s Egg”, in Galaxy Science Fiction. By 1954 Edgar was well-known and his second science fiction novel, A Mirror for Observers won the International Fantasy Award.

Carmelo Rafalá’s stories have appeared in Jupiter, Estronomicon, Neon Literary Journal, and the anthologies The West Pier Gazette and Other Stories (Three Legged Fox Books) and Rocket Science (Mutation Press). Carmelo is Senior Editor for Immersion Press and lives on the south coast of England with his wife and daughter.

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.

George H. Scithers won the Hugo Award 4 times—twice for editing Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and twice for editing Amra, a sword & sorcery fan magazine. He went on to edit Amazing Stories and Weird Tales (with Darrell Schweitzer and John Gregory Betancourt).

James C. Stewart appeared in the debut issue of Paradox: The Magazine of Historical & Speculative Fiction. He’s currently seeking a publisher for two novels, and is at home working on his third. He lives in North Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Theodore Sturgeon (born Edward Hamilton Waldo; 1918–1985) was an American science fiction and horror author. His most famous novel is More Than Human (1953).

Edwin Charles Tubb (1919–2010) was a British writer of science fiction, fantasy and western novels. The author of over 140 novels and 230 short stories and novellas, Tubb is best known for The Dumarest Saga (US collective title: Dumarest of Terra) an epic science-fiction saga set in the far future. Michael Moorcock wrote “His reputation for fast-moving and colourful SF writing is unmatched by anyone in Britain.”

Mary A. Turzillo is an American science fiction writer noted primarily for short stories. She won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 2000 for her story “Mars is No Place for Children,” (published originally in Science Fiction Age), and her story “Pride,” (published originally in Fast Forward 1), was a Nebula award finalist for best short story of 2007. Her first novel, An Old Fashioned Martian Girl was serialized in Analog magazine in 2004.

She was formerly a professor of English at Kent State University, where she wrote articles and several books of science fiction criticism under the name Mary T. Brizzi, including Reader’s Guide to Anne McCaffrey and Reader’s Guide to Philip Jose Farmer. She attended the Clarion Workshop in 1985, and she founded the Cajun Sushi Hamsters writing workshop in Cleveland, OH.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922–2007) was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat’s Cradle (1963), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) and Breakfast of Champions (1973) blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. As a citizen he was a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a critical liberal intellectual. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.

Cynthia Ward was born in Oklahoma and lived in Maine, Spain, Germany, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Tucson before moving to the Los Angeles area. A 1992 graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, she has sold stories to Asimov’s Science Fiction, and numerous other anthologies and magazines. Cynthia’s reviews appear regularly on Amazon.com and SciFiWire.com and irregularly in other websites and publications. She is working on her first novel, a futuristic mystery tentatively titled Stone Rain.

Donald Allen Wollheim (1914–1990) was an American science fiction editor, publisher (of DAW Books), writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell. A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th century United States.