Golden Age Fiction

The Lady on the Stairs, by Agatha Christie

10 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hercule Poirot, the famous detective, pits his 'little gray cells' against a powerful crime syndicate. Today's story is "The Lady on ...

Rhythm Rides the Rocket, by Bob Olsen

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

LeDoux, the Interplanetary Company pilot, had flown too close to Callisto in an attempt to get a gravity assist from Jupiter to make up for lost time....

The Man who Saved New York, by Ray Cummings

04 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Porky's ego wouldn't stay in his own body, and that, believe it or not, was what saved the city! Today's story is "The Man who Saved New York" by Ray ...

The Vanguard of Venus, by Landell Bartlett

01 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Venusians had kidnapped Stanley Murdock, shown him around their underground base in the desert of New Mexico and told him of their plans to conque...

Office Call, by Charles E Fritch

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All Dr. Rawlings could think about was having a chicken farm. And Miss Austin. But he had these pesky patients to deal with. Patients who thought they...

Redemption, by Robert F Young

28 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To love a saint is hard. To be one, that is harder. Today's story is "Redemption" by Robert F Young. It appeared in the July 1963 issue of "Amazing St...

Strangers to Straba, by Carl Jacobi

24 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All Cap Barlow cared about was his golf course on the lonely planet of Straba. But when Clarence Raine landed to conduct a survey, and the ship of leg...

Descending, by Thomas M Disch

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Next time you're on an escalator someplace, keep your wits about you.  Today's story is "Descending," by Thomas M Disch. It appeared in the July 1964...

The Great Illusion, by Manly Bannister

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There was something not quite right about the planet Hume, something counterfeit about the natives' culture. The higher-ups were satisfied with the cu...

"Sexton, Sexton, in the Wall," by August Derleth

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Cornillo Martens wanted a quiet life, to enjoy his garden. But old man Garner, with his experiments, and Garner's grandchildren, with their unpleasant...

Once a First Wife, by Norman Arkawy

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

She writhed under the judges' merciless scrutiny. The charge against her was surely a most grievous one—marital fidelity—and sexual incompetence! ...

Asleep in Armageddon, by Ray Bradbury

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Avoid Planetoid 787. Lush and sunny, with fine air and no dangerous beasts, it'll tempt you to land and stay the night for some welcome fresh air and ...

Equals Four, by Piers Anthony

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dillingham's assistant had to be land-going, esthetic, competent, free and female—more than less! Today's story is "Equals Four" by Piers Anthony. I...

The Happiness Rock, by Albert Teichner

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

They had found the perfect narcotic quite by accident on an asteroid. A silicon-based germ that induced euphoria and a sense of well-being with no sid...

Half-Breed, by Isaac Asimov

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Half of Earth, Half of Mars—the half-breed, the Tweenie—is reviled on Earth. But, as scientist and inventor Jefferson Scanlon discovers, there is ...

Too Close to the Forest, by Bryce Walton & Al Reynolds

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Marsten thought he'd failed completely to prove mental telepathy, but he'd forgotten one peculiar, but very important, facet of those extraordinar...

The Stellar Legion, by Leigh Brackett

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

No one had ever escaped from Venus' dread Stellar Legion. And, as Thekla the low-Martian learned, no one had ever betrayed it and—lived. Today's sto...

When the Sun went out, by Leslie F Stone

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Sun was finally dying, the astronomers having predicted its demise within a few days. Unable to leave Earth, humanity had excavated accommodation ...

The Face of Helen, by Agatha Christie

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mr. Satterthwaite witnesses a brutal fight outside an opera house. What could have caused such behaviour? Today's story is The Face of Helen, by Agath...

The Gifts of Asti, by Andre Norton

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

She was the last priestess of Asti, and the barbarians were approching. She had no choice but to escape to the surface world, taking with her the gift...

The Shrine, by Walt Sheldon

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All Ed Blair wanted was a fluff piece, a brightener for page two of the Tokyo Tribune, for which he was a reporter. His Editor, Murdock, had heard sto...

The Autumn After Next, by Margaret St Clair

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Being a wizard missionary to the Free'l needed more than magic—it called for a miracle! Today's story is The Autumn After Next, by Margaret St Clair...

The Maugham Obsession, By August Derleth

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All inventors seek success. Some few achieve it. And now and then a Quintus Maugham is a bit too successful for his own health. "The Maugham Obsession...

First Contact, by Murray Leinster

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An expedition from Earth had gone to investigate the Crab Nebula. And—an expedition from Somewhere was already there! Now what is a spaceship skippe...

If The Sun Died, by R F Starzl

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The human race has deteriorated, and will die when the machines that have kept them alive in Subterannea for tens of millennia after the supposed deat...

Deadly Decoy, by Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Agent Cameron had the unenviable task of protecting the Galactic Capitol building from the Damakoi, fanatical beings 70 percent of whom hated the Gala...

An Eye for the Ladies, by Stephen Marlowe

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You're a detective and you have an assignment to find a client's wife. This good-time gal has found herself a nicer body and is masquerading as some o...

Rocket Summer, by Ray Bradbury

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Rocket was ready to take the first intrepid pioneers to the Moon. But the world's excitement turned to hate when William Stanley, president of the...

The Man who Knew Everything, by Randall Garrett

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pst! This is top secret. Don't let it get around, but we've got the Russians right where we want them. They haven't got a secret left to their name. W...

Blow the Man Down, by Charles L Fontenay

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Albrekt Verbrug was confident in his ability to hijack the Mars-Titan freighter 'By Jove,' and deliver its cargo of lithium and other materials to his...

Clicking Red Heels, by Paul Ernst

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nobody knew that Gruin had killed his sweetheart, but her little red heels tapped a march of death wherever he went, driving him to a desperate resolv...

Go to Sleep, My Darling, by Winston K Marks

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bertrand Baxter was a man's man living in a household of women, most of whom baffled him. But, when he discovered a unique connection to his youngest ...

The Survivors, by T D Hamm

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Step by grueling step the four of them slogged their way toward a tenuous safety. It was a magnificent display of their will for survival. The only qu...

Vallisneria Madness, by Ralph Milne Farley

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A strange and curious little story, about the moonlight mating of flowers. Today's story is "Vallisneria Madness", by Ralph Milne Farley. It appeared ...

Out of the Sub-Universe, By R F Starzl

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Halley had perfected his machine for shrinking objects to sub-atomic size, and his trusty assistant, Hale McLaren was ready to make the jour...

Down to Earth, by Harry Harrison

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whatever goes up must come down. Including moon rockets. But there's no law saying what they must come down to. Today's story is "Down to Earth" by Ha...

The Planet of Dread, by R F Starzl

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A blunder by a stock clerk meant that Mark Forepaugh and his servant, Gunga, were stranded on Inra without power until the relief ship arrived. But th...

The Marsdon Manor Tragedy, by Agatha Christie

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When is a suicide not a suicide? When there is an aging husband concerned about his health, a beautiful young wife, and a large life insurance policy....

Outside Saturn, By Robert E Gilbert

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Vincenzo and Aziz had a plan to steal one of the ice-sweepers orbiting Saturn and use it as their pirate base. Henry, for whom this was his first job,...

Fire of Retribution, by Laurence Donovan

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For a man who never flew before to step from an airplane into space thousands of feet above the earth--that takes nerve! Yet old Beth knew that was th...

The Machine Stops, by E M Forster

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

"The Machine," they exclaimed, "feeds us and clothes us and houses us; through it we speak to one another, through it we see one another, in it we hav...

All You Zombies, by Robert A Heinlein

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I was there to recruit the Unmarried Mother. But first I had to gain his confidence by allowing him to 'settle' with the one who'd gotten him pregnant...

The Black Kiss, by Robert Bloch & Henry Kuttner

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea,  Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be.  — Chesterton: Lepan...

The Men Return, by Jack Vance

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Relict, Finn, retained a few tattered recollections of Old Earth, ruled by the laws of cause and effect, which enabled the environment to be subje...

The Star-stealers, by Edmond Hamilton

31 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ran Rarak, captain of a cruiser belonging to the Federation of Stars, has been called back from duty to confront an extraordinary threat. The Dark Sta...

One Touch of Terra, by Hannes Bok

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Trixie O'Neill had had enough of the miners in Finchburg not treating her like a lady. So, she was going to go to Saturday Wells with Goreck, the Mart...

Answer, Please Answer, by Ben Bova

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Looking for signs of intelligent life on other planets by trying to detect radio signals was a waste of time; it would take too much power to broadcas...

Henry Goes Prehistoric, by W C Tuttle

24 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Sheriff of Tonto City could expect anything to come out of the night in Wild Horse Valley—even an idea... Today's story is "Henry Goes Prehistor...

Die, Shadow! by Algis Budrys

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David Greaves began as a hero with his ship, Defiance, crash landing on Venus, but surviving unconscious in his Crash Capsule by using an experimental...

The Little Black Bag, by C M Kornbluth

17 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The normal progress of a technology produces simpler and simpler gadgets involving more and more complex fundamental laws. And, of course, requiring l...

The Mystery of Deneb IV, by Robert Silverberg

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When is an SOS not an SOS? When it's a trap. Lieutenant Dave Carter is lured to Deneb IV while on his way to recuperate on the vacation planet of Ophi...

Reason, by Isaac Asimov

10 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The robot was strictly logical, reasoning, as only its perfect machine mind could, from observed facts to inevitable—if wacky—conclusion.  Today'...

Jonah of the Jove Run, by Ray Bradbury

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The old man could feel orbits, sense trajectories, and calculate faster than the best computators. But he couldn't be trusted when he got a drink insi...

The Towers of Titan, by Ben Bova

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Across the frozen cliffs they loomed—the unbelievably ancient towers with the unimaginable engines deep inside them still pouring out their endless ...

The Adventure Of the Cheap Flat, by Agatha Christie

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

No crime had been committed; no untoward event had occurred. But the astute Poirot saw, in the mere advertisement of a flat at too low a price, the ma...

No Star's Land, by Joseph Samachson

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A year in total isolation exploring distant galaxies is too long to spend with just one other person, even for newlyweds on their honeymoon. Wanting t...

Second-hand Stonehenge, by Ernest Taves

27 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this century, as before, women and Stonehenge share one trait; they serve both men! Today's story is "Second-hand Stonehenge" by Ernest Taves. It a...

The Deadly Ones, by F L Wallace

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Life for their kind was becoming more difficult. So, Rathsden conceived a plan to stow away on a flying saucer and travel in secret to another planet....

Anton's Last Dream, by Edwin Baird

20 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A brief tale of the dismal success of a scientist's experiment. Today's story is "Anton's Last Dream" by Edwin Baird. It appeared in the May 1937 issu...

Little Men of Space, by Frank Belknap Long

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The children were told not to mess with the rocket while their father slept. And they didn't. They really didn't. It was the little men. The little me...

The Lost Race, by Robert E Howard

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Returning home to his native land from a secret mission to the tribes of Cornwall, Cororuc is captured by a strange people, a people out of myth and l...

Boots, by Murray Leinster

13 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In San Teodoro De Los Angeles, a gentleman was a man who wears shoes. One of the madmen who stumbled into Juan's camp had on a pair of boots... Today'...

Battleground, by Lester del Rey

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The crew of the Clarion had found the remains of civilizations in decreasing states of advancement the farther they got from Earth. Had they all destr...

An Enemy of Peace, by Robert Silverberg

06 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When enemies of peace threaten the System, they must be eliminated. There are many ways to do this. And if all else fails, you can always go to war wi...

Hystereo, by Maurice Baudin

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A quiet concert in the evening by the lake ... a harmless hi-fi hobbyist ... yet why did Woodard tremble at the sound, sound, sound. "Hystereo" appear...

Death of a Mutant, by Charles V de Vet

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The boy and his siblings were born with strange powers, but were also criminally insane. They had killed countless people and had been hunted down, on...

Sentinel of Eternity, by Arthur C Clarke

29 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before there were men on Earth, that signal-sending pyramid had stood alone on a lifeless moon. What would happen now that its alarm was silenced?  T...

From Beyond the Stars, by Murray Leinster

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Jansky Radiation was emanating from a single source in space, according to Tommy's father, which meant that it was artificial, produced by a civil...

The Strike at Too Dry, by Willis Brindley

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

His parents had sent young Percival out to Too Dry, Montana, to live with his Uncle to make a man of him, and for his health. But all Percival wanted ...

The Western Star, by Agatha Christie

22 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two priceless diamonds, stolen from their original owner, but destined to be returned. Threatening letters from a mysterious Chinaman. A noblewoman's ...

A Thought For Tomorrow, by Robert E Gilbert

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Orville Potts couldn't escape the asylum to the past, as he didn't have detailed knowledge of it to create an adequate visualization. The future, thou...

The Vortex Blaster Makes War, by Edward E 'Doc' Smith

15 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From the end of Time it came, a call for help as brave, as ageless as the very galaxies: "Save us or die, Vortex Blaster—but if you die, two worlds ...

The Closed Door, by John F Wilson & Mary A Miller

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone thought Harry Owen had gone mad when he wrecked his own ship, the Shearwater, to save the passenger liner, the SS Western Pacific, from runni...

The Man Who Found Out, by Roger D Aycock

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's one thing to blow a bubble of glib, journalistic lies. Quite another to have that bubble burst in a nightmarish, green beyond. "The Man Who Found...

A World to Die For, by Sam Carson

06 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The crew of the Markab had been sent by Galactic Service to intercept and stop the alien ship that had attacked ships of the fleet. But Rik Guelf, who...

The Seven Missionaries, by H C McNeile

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One would have thought, with the invention of the wireless radio, that piracy would be a thing of the past. Jim Maitland, and the passengers and crew ...

The Last Question, by Isaac Asimov

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Generations of men came and went while the computer pondered the data.  "The Last Question" appeared in the November 1956 issue of "Science Fiction Q...

Woman's Touch, by Evelyn E Smith

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Their orders were to leave the natives of the new planet strictly alone. But those surveyors' wives were women, and women don't obey orders—or leave...

Storm Cloud on Deka, by Edward E 'Doc' Smith

25 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Civilization is established. Lensmen safeguard every world. But the threat of the Atomic Vortices still lingers. Neal 'Storm' Cloud, atomic physicist ...

Box Garden & I, Gardener, by Allen K Lang

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Box Garden The stranger had big ears, was terribly fearful of, and yet pitied, TV commercials, and kept going on about 'bansai,' with an 's.' "Box-gar...

His to Fly, by Richard Howells Watkins

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One Parachute and Two Men—and the Ship Couldn't Land. What Happened? "His to Fly" appeared in "The Popular Magazine", August 7th 1929, pages 106 to ...

A Time to Die, by Harold Calin

17 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Captain Kingsford, the only survivor of the Essex's ill-fated mission to Aldebaran IX, was recruiting another crew to revisit Aldebaran IX, mine the h...

The Stainless Steel Rat (Short Story,) by Harry Harrison

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

"We are the rats in the wainscoting of society—we operate outside of their barriers and outside of their rules. Society had more rats when the rules...

The Cottage, by Frank Belknap Long

11 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There was a savage cruelty in Durkin's hatred of his children. Little did he know that on other worlds—cruelty boomeranged. Today's story is "The Co...

Prize of the Air, by Ben Conlon

07 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bill Barlow, a former war ace, now took passengers for rides in his plane. One loop-the-loop too many however, and the airfield superintendant was for...

Thy Rocks and Rills, by Robert E Gilbert

04 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

They were out of place in the Manly Age--Stonecypher, a man who loved animals; Moe, a bull who hated men. Together, they marched to inevitably similar...

The Missionary, by Jesse F Bone

01 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

He had been sent to kill the Father of Evil, to purge his corruption from this world. But Wolverton had shot him down, captured him, and now, injured,...

The Vortex Blaster, by E E Smith, PhD

27 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Neal "Storm" Cloud, atomic physicist, through personal tragedy, is destined to become the most noted figure in the galaxy. "The Vortex Blaster" appear...

The Monster Maker, by Ray Bradbury

25 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

"Get the pirate Gunther," were their orders. But Click and Irish were marooned on the pirate's asteroid—their only weapons a single gun and a news-r...

Trajectory to Taurus, by Les Cole

22 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why were Fred Kirr's shipmates calling the planet Gamma Tauri II, which they were surveying for evidence of intelligent life, a paradise, when it was ...

The Terrors of the Upper Air, by Frank Orndorff

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kidwell and Dexter, the daredevil aviators, were attempting to break the world altitude record at the State Fair. But, they were also muderers and thi...

Quinquepedalian, by Piers Anthony

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What kind of creature could make a nine-foot diameter, two-inch deep footprint in the soil of a forest? Charles Tinnerman and his companions were abou...

The Trap, by Murray Leinster

13 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Colby's murder plan was perfect—except at one point... "The Trap" appeared in "Munsey's Magazine", August 1929, pages 467 to 477.  Murray Leinster...

Manners and Customs of the Thrid, by Murray Leinster

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Thrid were the most intelligent creatures in the universe—they said so themselves. So intelligent that they had the perfect government that coul...

The Marching Morons, by C M Kornbluth

06 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man, of course, is king. But how about a live wire, a smart businessman, in a civilization of 100% pure chum...

For Service Rendered, by J F Bone

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Enid Twilley's life was lived vicariously through shows on the TV. So, when a malfunction caused her television to stop working, she thought her life ...

Morgue Ship & Lazarus Come Forth, by Ray Bradbury

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Morgue Ship This was going to be Sam Burnett's last trip collecting bodies from the debris of space battles in this war. Once all one hundred shelves ...

The Minstrel's Curse, by Mrs Alex McVeigh Miller

30 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Minstrel's Curse had plagued the Chilton women for almost two centuries, and Edith Chilton, namesake of the one who had been the cause of the curs...

Rivals of the Clouds, by Raoul Whitfield

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Flying through a clinging, blinding fog, Lieutenant Adams flew straight into a death trap of flashing enemy planes and flaming, stuttering machine gun...

Peter Merton's Private Mint, by Harlan Ellison

23 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Your name is Merton and you find that all you have to do is reach into your safe to get money. The more you take, the more you find. And just when Qui...