The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast - Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories

A veteran Mech fighter steps into what should be another routine match, only to discover that someone has turned the arena into a death trap with thousands cheering for the bloodshed. If he survives long enough to expose the deception, he’ll have to do it against the deadliest machine he has ever faced. The Mech Fighter by Stuart McIver. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Another 5-star review on Apple Podcasts Canada. Mistercloth says, “Stories to enjoy while in space flight. I have been enjoying these wonderful stories just about every day as I relax in my capsule. Terrific narration!”

Thanks, Mistercloth! We’re grateful for your 5-star rating and wonderful review. Now, about that capsule… we have questions.

There is only one known science fiction story by Stuart McIver, and unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find any other information about him.

We discovered today’s story while searching for Pass the Oxygen by Frank Bryning. In the June 1955 issue of Fantastic Universe, just before Pass the Oxygen, on page 77, we found a story we had never encountered before.

It appears to be Stuart McIver’s only published science fiction story.

The Mech Fighter by Stuart McIver…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Frank Ridley has been given centuries to live, but the woman he loves may have only decades. To keep her, he must ask her to accept the same extraordinary future that has already separated him from everyone else. Forever is So Long by John Jakes.

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A routine first contact becomes far more complicated when two spacefaring expeditions discover they have misunderstood almost everything about one another. Just as genuine friendship begins to replace suspicion, a far more dangerous question demands an immediate answer: who actually lives in the abandoned city around them? The Contact Point by Jack Sharkey. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Thanks to our incredible listeners across Australia, The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast has climbed all the way to #3 in Science Fiction on Apple Podcasts in your country.

Every listen, every follow, every rating, and every time you tell someone about the podcast helps introduce these great vintage science fiction stories to another listener. Now there are only two spots left to climb.

Someday we will get to #1 in Australia—and when that happens, it will be because of you. Thank you, Australia. We’re incredibly grateful to have you along for the journey!

Jack Sharkey was the working name of Chicago-born author and playwright John Michael Sharkey. He wrote more than 80 plays! He entered science fiction in 1959 with “The Captain of His Soul” in Fantastic and produced roughly fifty sci-fi stories over the next several years.

Appearing in the January 1961 issue of If on page 75, The Contact Point by Jack Sharkey…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A veteran Mech fighter steps into what should be another routine match, only to discover that someone has turned the arena into a death trap with thousands cheering for the bloodshed. If he survives long enough to expose the deception, he’ll have to do it against the deadliest machine he has ever faced. The Mech Fighter by Stuart McIver.

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$200 Someone

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$75 James Van Maanenberg

$50 James Van Maanenberg, MizzBassie, Anonymous Listener

$25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

$15 Every Month Someone

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$10 David, Anonymous Listener

$5 Every Month Eaten by a Grue

$5 Tammy, Owen, Bruce, Someone, TLD, David, Denis Kalinin, Timothy Buckley, Andre'a, Martin Brown, Ron McFarlan, Tif Love, Chrystene, Richard Hoffman, Anonymous Listener

Listen without commercials and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes every month with Lost Sci-Fi Premium—start your free 7-day trial today. https://lostscifi.supercast.com/

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A young researcher risks his career, his freedom, and his sanity to prove that madness can be reversed with a single injection. But when the only way to demonstrate the cure is from inside a locked ward, he must decide whether to stake his life on the very drug that put him there. Open All Doors by Harry Harrison and Hubert Pritchard. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Harry Harrison is one of my favorite authors. His spacefaring sci-fi, The Stainless Steel Rat and The Misplaced Battleship are two of my favorites. And I enjoy his robot stories too, Arm of the Law, The Robot Who Wanted to Know and others.

However, this Harry Harrison story isn’t like the others. Perhaps that’s because of his co-author Hubert Pritchard. This is the first Pritchard story on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast and there won’t be many more, if any. Hubert Pritchard wrote only two science fiction stories that were published.

So how did he and Harry Harrison team up? They were friends in high school and reconnected in New York after World War II. As the story goes Pritchard was training to be a doctor but ill health prevented him from continuing his medical education.

However, he put that education to good use in this story which was published in the February 1958 issue of Fantastic Universe magazine on page 4, Open All Doors by Harry Harrison and Hubert Pritchard…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A routine first contact becomes far more complicated when two spacefaring expeditions discover they have misunderstood almost everything about one another. Just as genuine friendship begins to replace suspicion, a far more dangerous question demands an immediate answer: who actually lives in the abandoned city around them? The Contact Point by Jack Sharkey.

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Thanks to Our Listeners Who Bought Us a Coffee

$200 Someone

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$75 James Van Maanenberg

$50 James Van Maanenberg, MizzBassie, Anonymous Listener

$25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

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$15 Steve, Someone, SueTheLibrarian, Joannie West, Amy Özkan, Someone, Carolyn Guthleben, Patrick McLendon, Curious Jon, Buz C., Fressie, Anonymous Listener

$10 David, Anonymous Listener

$5 Every Month Eaten by a Grue

$5 Tammy, Owen, Bruce, Someone, TLD, David, Denis Kalinin, Timothy Buckley, Andre'a, Martin Brown, Ron McFarlan, Tif Love, Chrystene, Richard Hoffman, Anonymous Listener

Listen without commercials and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes every month with Lost Sci-Fi Premium—start your free 7-day trial today. https://lostscifi.supercast.com/

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A quiet man spends decades chasing an impossible invention, only to discover that success carries a responsibility far greater than wealth or fame. When the future reveals a disaster that has not happened yet, one ordinary bartender must decide whether he is willing to become the man history needs. Probability by Louis Trimble. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Louis Preston Trimble makes his debut on the podcast today and it’s probably the only time he will be here. Born in Seattle Washington in 1917 Trimble wrote more than 60 novels, some sci-fi, mostly westerns and mysteries but only one science fiction short story.

This is the fourth story we’ve featured from the April 1954 issue of If, following The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick, Breeder Reaction by Winston Marks, and Way of a Rebel by Walter M. Miller Jr.

We will find our story on page 99, Probability by Louis Trimble…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A young researcher risks his career, his freedom, and his sanity to prove that madness can be reversed with a single injection. But when the only way to demonstrate the cure is from inside a locked ward, he must decide whether to stake his life on the very drug that put him there. Open All Doors by Harry Harrison and Hubert Pritchard.

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$200 Someone

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$75 James Van Maanenberg

$50 James Van Maanenberg, MizzBassie, Anonymous Listener

$25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

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Listen without commercials and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes every month with Lost Sci-Fi Premium—start your free 7-day trial today. https://lostscifi.supercast.com/

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A scientist condemned to a punishment unlike anything ever devised watches centuries slip past while every civilization around him rises, changes, and disappears. As the world transforms beyond recognition, only one question remains: what will finally bring his endless sentence to an end? Pendulum by Ray Bradbury and Henry Hasse. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

You can never have too many 5-star reviews. Never.

Every one reminds us why we do this, but some hit a little differently. This one from Apple Podcasts Canada absolutely made our day.

wethesheep-not wrote:

“Delightful. Best narrator ever! Hands down best audiobook podcast! You can’t compare this podcast with any other.”

Wow.

To everyone who has taken a minute to leave a rating or review, thank you. Those reviews help more listeners discover The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, and they remind us that these classic stories are still finding new fans all over the world.

And to wethesheep-not—thank you for such incredibly kind words. We truly appreciate you listening and taking the time to share your thoughts.

Ray Bradbury and Henry Hasse joined forces on just three stories. We featured one of them, Final Victim, about two and a half years ago.

From the November 1941 issue of Super Science Stories on page 102, Pendulum by Ray Bradbury and Henry Hasse…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A quiet man spends decades chasing an impossible invention, only to discover that success carries a responsibility far greater than wealth or fame. When the future reveals a disaster that has not happened yet, one ordinary bartender must decide whether he is willing to become the man history needs. Probability by Louis Trimble.

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Thanks to Our Listeners Who Bought Us a Coffee

$200 Someone

$100 Tony from the Future

$75 James Van Maanenberg

$50 James Van Maanenberg, MizzBassie, Anonymous Listener

$25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

$15 Every Month Someone

$15 Steve, Someone, SueTheLibrarian, Joannie West, Amy Özkan, Someone, Carolyn Guthleben, Patrick McLendon, Curious Jon, Buz C., Fressie, Anonymous Listener

$10 David, Anonymous Listener

$5 Every Month Eaten by a Grue

$5 Tammy, Owen, Bruce, Someone, TLD, David, Denis Kalinin, Timothy Buckley, Andre'a, Martin Brown, Ron McFarlan, Tif Love, Chrystene, Richard Hoffman, Anonymous Listener

Listen without commercials and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes every month with Lost Sci-Fi Premium—start your free 7-day trial today. https://lostscifi.supercast.com/

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