Sci Fiction Classics
Volume 2
version 1.3
Editor's Note
Sci Fiction was an online magazine published by the Sci Fi channel between 2000 and 2005. In it was published short science fiction, both original material and classic stories. After the magazine was discontinued, much of the content remained available for a few years, until the website was removed a few years later.
Most of the stories are still available online with a little searching, mostly via mirrors of the website captured before it was shut down. The format is somewhat inconvenient for reading, however, especially if using mobile devices or e-readers. This project grew from a desire to have a high-quality, convenient e-book version of these stories.
The primary changes made to the source material is to strip out most of the website-specific formatting from the files, and to present each story as a single file as opposed to the multi-page format used in the original magazine. Formatting of the stories themselves has been generally standardized; when something was questionable I consulted hardcopies (when available) to determine what the author's intention was. The stories have also been proofread and obvious errors corrected.
The files themselves have also been standardized; which is probably of interest only to those who may want to work with the text in the future. Most of the formatting was done by hand in a generic text editor.
The stories are presented in chronological order by the date that they were published in Sci Fiction. This volume contains "classics" -- older stories that were republished online in the magazine.
The Wikipedia entry for Sci Fiction at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci_Fiction was invaluable in compiling this collection. Stories were sometimes removed from the archive, and the list from the above Wikipedia article is incomplete, so I have also relied on captures of the Sci Fiction archive page from the Internet Archive (https://archive.org) to compile a full list.
The source of each story in this volume is listed below.
"The Market in Aliens" by Barry N. Malzberg, published 22-Aug-2001. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/malzberg/index.html.
"The Other Celia" by Theodore Sturgeon, published 5-Sep-2001. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020202012010/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sturgeon/.
"Light of Other Days" by Bob Shaw, published 19-Sep-2001. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/shaw/index.html.
"How Beautiful With Banners" by James Blish, published 3-Oct-2001. Retrieved 21-Jan-2014 from http://www.lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/blish2/index.html.
"Men Without Bones" by Gerald Kersh, published 17-Oct-2001. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/kersh/index.html.
"Bad Medicine" by Robert Sheckley, published 7-Nov-2001. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheckley2/index.html.
"Dance of the Dead" by Richard Matheson, published 28-Nov-2001. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from http://www.general-ebooks.com/book/705012-dance-of-the-dead.
"The Heat Death of The Universe" by Pamela Zoline, published 12-Dec-2001. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/zoline/index.html.
"The Thousand Cuts" by Ian Watson, published 2-Jan-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/watson/index.html.
"Auto-da-Fé" by Roger Zelazny, published 16-Jan-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/zelazny2/index.html.
"Outside" by Brian W. Aldiss, published 6-Feb-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/aldiss/index.html.
"One of Those Days" by William F. Nolan, published 20-Feb-2002. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020606152613/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/nolan/.
"Sundance" by Robert Silverberg, published 6-Mar-2002. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020807173351/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/silverberg2/.
"The Funeral" by Kate Wilhelm, published 19-Mar-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/wilhelm2/index.html.
"Carcinoma Angels" by Norman Spinrad, published 3-Apr-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/spinrad/index.html.
"The Geezenstacks" by Fredric Brown, published 17-Apr-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/brown2/index.html.
"Land of the Great Horses" by R. A. Lafferty, published 01-May-2002. Retrieved 30-Jan-2014 from http://www.worldtracker.org/media/library/English%20Literature/L/Lafferty,%20R.A/Lafferty,%20R%20A%20-%20Land%20of%20the%20Great%20Horses.rtf.
"They Bite" by Anthony Boucher, published 15-May-2002. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020607085526/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/boucher/.
"Hop-Friend" by Terry Carr, published 5-Jun-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/carr2/index.html.
"Clerical Error" by Mark Clifton, published 17-Jun-2002. Retrieved 24-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/clifton/index.html.
"The Animal Fair" by Robert Bloch, published 10-Jul-2002. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020808142141/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/bloch/.
"Cordle To Onion To Carrot" by Robert Sheckley, published 24-Jul-2002. Retrieved 26-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheckley3/index.html.
"Come Lady Death" by Peter S. Beagle, published 7-Aug-2002. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from https://web.archive.org/web/20020813190423/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/beagle/.
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr., published 21-Aug-2002. Retrieved 26-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree2/index.html.
"It Becomes Necessary" by Ward Moore, published 11-Sep-2002. Retrieved 26-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/moore/index.html.
"Mrs. Pigafetta Swims Well" by Reginald Bretnor, published 25-Sep-2002. Retrieved 26-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/bretnor/index.html.
"The Screwfly Solution" by Raccoona Sheldon, published 9-Oct-2002. Retrieved 26-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheldon/index.html.
"Flash Point" by Gardner Dozois, published 23-Oct-2002. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/dozois/index.htm.
"The Queen of Pig Island" by Gerald Kersh, published 6-Nov-2002. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/kersh2/index.html.
"Waiting for Billy Star" by Tom Reamy, published 20-Nov-2002. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/reamy2/index.html.
"Protection" by Robert Sheckley, published 11-Dec-2002. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheckley4/index.html.
"More Spinned Against …" by John Wyndham, published 25-Dec-2002. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/wyndham2/index.html.
"Party of the Two Parts" by William Tenn, published 8-Jan-2003. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tenn2/index.html.
> "Let's Be Frank" by Brian W. Aldiss, published 22-Jan-2003. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/aldiss2/index.html.
"The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World" by Philip José Farmer, published 5-Feb-2003. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/farmer/index.html.
"Casablanca" by Thomas M. Disch, published 19-Feb-2003. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/disch2/index.html.
"Humpty Dumpty had a Great Fall" by Frank Belknap Long, published 5-Mar-2003. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/long/index.html.
"Narrow Valley" by R. A. Lafferty, published 19-Mar-2003. Retrieved 29-Jan-2014 from https://web.archive.org/web/20030604191408/http://scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/lafferty3/.
"Frog Pond" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, published 2-Apr-2003. Retrieved 27-Jan-2014 from http://lexal.net/scifi/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/yarbro2/index.html.
Version history:
version 1.0 - 27-Jan-2014. Initial compilation.
version 1.1 - 28-Jan-2014. Moved some stories between volumes to make the volumes of consistent length.
version 1.2 - 30-Jan-2014. Added "The Other Celia," "One of Those Days," "Sundance," "They Bite," "The Animal Fair," "Come Lady Death," "Narrow Valley," "Dance of the Dead," and "Land of the Great Horses."
version 1.3 - 13-Feb-2014. Text of all stories proofread and errors corrected.
I may be contacted for feedback or questions at [email protected].
The Market in Aliens
Barry N. Malzberg
The first thing I did when I brought the alien home from auction was to plop him right into the tub. No sense in taking chances, even though they had assured me as usual that he was strong enough to exist out of the aqueous environment for several days. These were the same boys who had learned only after a lot of trial and error that they needed an aqueous environment in the first place, of course. The one thing I couldn't take would be an alien dying on me right off, and thanks to the liars and cheats who run these farces, there's a lot of precedent.
The next thing I did, after I established that he was going to lie there quietly, breathing slowly, turning the water their characteristic black, was to make a strong drink and call Intercontinental. I didn't even want to try making conversation with him; I had gone through that with the earlier ones, and it always came down to the same frustration, backed by whistling. Some day they're going to establish communication with them, and when they do, I'll be happy to talk. But until then, it's absolutely pointless. Besides, there is absolutely nothing an alien could say that would interest me in the slightest, not at this stage of the game.
I was lucky. I got Black, my contact, on only the fourth or fifth try at the switchboard—Inter is in administrative collapse like almost everything these days—and after reminding him of all the favors I had done for him, I laid it right on the line.
"I've got one in the bathtub," I said. "A clean healthy male, in the pink of maturity, I'd say. All reflexes in order, highly responsive and probably as intelligent as hell; he's piping a blue streak. I just got him this afternoon."
Black shrugged, a common business technique, and then cut off his viewscreen. "Don't need it," he said. "We're already overstocked."
"You need this one. Prime of life and all that. Furthermore, I was able to get him reasonable, and I can pass that saving right on to you."
"Sorry," Black said. "We just don't need it right now. These things haven't been moving as well as we had hoped in the last month. People are tired of them, and I think there's a lot of guilt building up too. What the hell, they may be intelligent with these space machines and all. Speaking personally, I think the bottom has fallen out of your craze."
"Never," I said. "You're talking about the whole appeal."
"You don't understand psychology. Not to get involved, though, and just because I'm curious, what would you want for it?"
"Five hundred."
"Five hundred what?"
"Dollars," I said. Black was my contact at Inter; I had sold him eight aliens at more or less fair prices. Nevertheless, all that sentiment aside, he could drop dead most of the time, as far as I'm concerned.
"Oh. I thought you meant five hundred cents. At that level, we might have something to talk about, for taxidermic purposes anyway. But I can't use it, Harry. We can't move the stock we got. I tell you, the word is out on these things, now with the research. We don't know what we've hooked into."
"Three hundred," I said, cutting out my own viewscreen, letting Black drift in uncertainty for a few moments, a legitimate business technique. "For you. Just for the turnover. Hell, I got him at 275 so you can see that I'm practically crying."
"No, Harry. Speaking seriously, I probably could take him off your hands at 150, maybe 175 if he shapes up. We could sneak it through. But I couldn't ask you to take a loss like that, could I? A friend is a friend. Try Franchise."
"I will if I have to. But I don't like Franchise. I consider you my closest friend in this business, Black. Just to keep that relationship alive, I'll let you have him at cost price. All right, say 250. Just to have the lines opened." I had bought the alien for 100, and the auctioneer had been practically begging for that figure; Black was right about the bottom having fallen out. Nevertheless, I hated to concede a point. It was the first step to losing money, and I hadn't lost a cent on the freaks yet. Not one. And not ever.
Black sighed and put his viewscreen on again, gave me a good view of some cigarette-work. "200," he said, "and you'll have to deliver, and the beast better pass."
"225 and you make the pickup. And he'll pass. He was trying to sing me a lecture in there before."
Black showed me some smoke. "210 and I'll make pickup."
"Done," I said, and flipped on my own viewscreen, projected some sensitive profile-action. "How soon you be over?"
"We'll have a crew in about half an hour. You better get it sedated, Harry. Some of the crews are getting nervous about this whole business, now. I don't want any of that whistling."
"Leave it to me."
"Don't overdose him now."
"Don't worry about a thing," I said. "I treat them right. He's in perfect shape and he'll stay that way, and he'll be quiet as the tomb on the way over. You'll have the usual certificate for me, won't you?"
"Of course. You know how we do business. Personally, Harry, to loosen up a bit, I tell you that I don't see much of a future in this business for either of us, not with these latest reports. But I agree that you always came across with fair merchandise, and if he's a nice specimen, we might be able to turn him over to a lab, skip the zoo-route completely. I'll do this for old time's sake, but the lab pays only about 300, I want you to know, so who's taking the loss here?"
"Maybe the alien, is that what you're trying to tell me?" I said, and switched off altogether. The hell with them. Unctuous bastard. If anybody was going to get crucified first, though, it was going to be the Blacks, not me. I was only performing a service for a public demand, and I could prove it.
I went into the bathroom, feeling pretty disgusted with the whole conversation, and looked at the alien for a while. He was in a semi-doze, one of the usual comas, the eyes bright and fixated on me as he moved slowly on his back. His tentacles were twitching. No whistling, no gestures though.
"Only a few minutes for you here and you're gone, boy," I said. I always try to communicate with them; I never said they weren't intelligent. Deep inside me there is the belief that a bit of soul exists in everything. Hell, maybe they came to earth to cure us; how the hell do I know? When I see it, I'll believe it, that's all I know.
I locked the bathroom door and went into the den and watched television for a time, waiting for the crew to come. As usual, Black's boys were late. A bulletin came on saying that yet another of their ships had landed somewhere near Lake Mich
igan, the second in a week in that general area, and that the usual procedures were being followed. That relieved the depression a bit. It meant that if they were efficient there for a change, the auction would probably be ready to go by day after tomorrow. Detroit was a nice city; I hadn't seen it for a while. So I called United and booked a flight, taking coach; no sense overdoing pleasure with business.
Some time after that, just before the crew finally came, one of those damned scientists came on in an interview with the usual recent crap about mass guilt and stellar communication, and I switched that right off. The profit on the sale, less the airline deposit, left me with fifty clear and what I did was to call Ginny and take her out. We went to the zoo where I showed her the two specimens which were mine. On my own level, I'm very sentimental about the freaks.
The End
© 1968, by Galaxy Publishing Corporation; copyright renewed 1996, by Barry N. Malzberg. Originally appeared in Galaxy under the pseudonym "K.M. O'Donnell".
The Other Celia
Theodore Sturgeon
If you live in a cheap enough rooming house and the doors are made of cheap enough pine, and the locks are old-fashioned single-action jobs and the hinges are loose, and if you have a hundred and ninety lean pounds to operate with, you can grasp the knob, press the door sidewise against its hinges, and slip the latch. Further, you can lock the door the same way when you come out.
Slim Walsh lived in, and was, and had, and did these things partly because he was bored. The company doctors had laid him up—not off, up—for three weeks (after his helper had hit him just over the temple with a fourteen-inch crescent wrench) pending some more X-rays. If he was going to get just sick-leave pay, he wanted to make it stretch. If he was going to get a big fat settlement—all to the good; what he saved by living in this firetrap would make the money look even better. Meanwhile, he felt fine and had nothing to do all day.
"Slim isn't dishonest," his mother used to tell Children's Court some years back. "He's just curious."
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