“Vine Terror”

© 1934

by

Howard Wandrei

Roman Sholla stood perfectly still on his front sidewalk, bewildered. He blinked a few times, and opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. Then he thrust his still unlighted pipe into his pocket and ran.

There was reason enough for his fright. Sholla, proprietor of South's Cut-Rate ( Read more... )

"The Ghoul"

© 1934

by

Clark Ashton SmithDuring the reign of the Caliph Vathek, a young man of good repute and family, named Noureddin Hassan, was hauled before the Cadi Alimed ben Becar at Bussorah. Now Noureddin was a comely youth, of open mind and gentle mien; and great was the astonishment of the Cadi and of all others present when they heard ( Read more... )

"The Witchcraft of Ulua"

© 1934

by

Clark Ashton Smith Sabmon the anchorite was famed no less for his piety than for his prophetic wisdom and knowledge of the dark art of sorcery. He had dwelt alone for two generations in a curious house on the rim of the northern desert of Tasuun: a house whose floor and walls were built from the large bones of ( Read more... )

NOTE:  I posted an earlier version of this to Fantastic Worlds this morning, but hadn't yet added my "Comments" section.  Now, the whole thing is available.

Here is the undeservedly less-famous sequel to “A MartianOdyssey,” another epic tale of Martian exploration by the crew of the good ship Ares …

“Valley of Dreams”

© 1934

by

Stanley G. Weinbaum

( Read more... )

Strange remnants in a lost and ruined city of Zothique, the Earth's last continent ...

"The Tomb-Spawn"

© 1934

by

Clark Ashton SmithEvening had come from the desert into Faraad, bringing the last stragglers of caravans. In a wine-shop near the northern gate, many traveling merchants from outer lands, parched and weary, were re-freshing themselves ( Read more... )

This story is justly famous as an example of the sheer scope possible in science fiction within even a short story in science fiction.  Here, faced with the death of the Sun, the humanity of a future Solar System comes up with a grand solution to the problem of interstellar migration -- and faces perils on an equally-grand scale.  This tale was one ( Read more... )

I've been saving this one for a long time.  Without further ado, here's one of the best and most influential science-fiction stories of all time, the one that first set the standard for tales of alien ecosystems and sapient life.  Here's

"A Martian Odyssey"

© 1934
by
Stanley G. Weinbaum Jarvis stretched himself as luxuriously as he could in the ( Read more... )

Reprint: "The Last Poet and the Robots" (1934) by A. A. Merritt

Note:  This was originally Part 11 of the great round robin serial Cosmos (published 1932-34), but stands on its own as a short story.  The serial is about an extradimensional invasion of the Solar System in the 30th century by the "Wrongness of Space," a very alien being.  In this ( Read more... )