Showing results by author "H. Beam Piper" in All Categories

The chartered Zarathustra Company had it all their way. Their charter was for a Class III uninhabited planet, which Zarathustra was, and it meant they owned the planet lock stock and barrel. They exploited it, developed it and reaped the huge profits from it without interference from the Colonial Government. Then Jack Holloway, a sunstone prospector, appeared on the scene with his family of Fuzzies and the passionate conviction that they were not cute animals but little people.

Conn Maxwell returns from Terra to his poverty-stricken home planet of Poictesme, “The Junkyard Planet”, with news of the possible location of Merlin, a military super-computer rumored to have been abandoned there after the last war. The inhabitants hope to find Merlin, which they think will be their ticket to wealth and prosperity. But is Merlin real or just an old rumor? And if they find it, will it save them - or tear them apart?

What if the history you learned in school were only one version of events? In Crossroads of Destiny, H. Beam Piper turns an ordinary conversation about alternate history into something increasingly difficult to dismiss. A group of travelers debate how Columbus, political elections, wars, and...

Sci Fi Shorts is a collection of classic science fiction stories from the golden age of space stories. This group of five unabridged short stories by various authors covers such adventures as space-going disasters, culture-shocked Martians, minds being stolen, alien flying cities and ancient artefacts being discovered in the far future.

Welcome to New Texas, where the name says it all. The Solar League ambassador faces a daunting challenge convincing the fiercely independent New Texans that a sSrauff attack is not just a possibility, but an imminent threat. With a species evolved from canine ancestors, it‚As hard to instill fear in a population that sees talking dogs as little more than a curiosity. Time is running out, and unless he can rally the Texans to take swift action, their way of life‚Aîand their very existence‚Aîmay be at stake!

Fenris isn't a hell planet, but it's nobody's bargain. With 2,000-hour days and an 8,000-hour year, it alternates blazing heat with killing cold. A planet like that tends to breed a special kind of person: tough enough to stay alive and smart enough to make the best of it. And when that kind of person discovers he's being cheated out of wealth he's risked his life for, that kind of planet is ripe for revolution.

So the Ulleran challenge begins, with the rantings of a prophet and a seemingly incidental street riot. Only when a dose of poison lands in the governer-general's whiskey does it become clear that the "geeks" have had it up their double-lidded eyeballs with the imperialist Terran Federation's Chartered Uller Company. Then, overnight, war is everywhere.

"There are incredible things still undiscovered; most of the important installations were built in duplicate as a precaution against space attack. I know where all of them are. But I could find nothing, not one single word, about any giant strategic planning computer called Merlin!" Nevertheless the leading men of the planet didn't believe him. They couldn't - the search for Merlin had become an abiding worldwide obsession. Merlin meant everything to them: power, pleasures and profits unlimited.

FNH Audio presents an unabridged reading of H. Beam Piper's classic and much-loved science fiction novel Little Fuzzy. Jack Holloway lives a solitary life in a wilderness of the planet Zarathustra. But then a strange intelligent animal walks into his life from out of the forest. The animal that he names 'Little Fuzzy' seems sapient and that threatens the charter of the company that owns the planet. With the company profits threatened, Jack realises that both his life and that of Little Fuzzy are in danger.

When Pennsylvania state trooper Calvin Morrison is swept into a parallel universe by a freak accident, he finds himself in a world where gunpowder is the key to power—and its production is tightly controlled by a ruthless theocracy known as Styphon’s House. While stranded in the Princedom of Hostigos, a small territory on the brink of obliteration, Calvin must use his understanding of modern chemistry and warfare to help the people of this new world fight for their freedom.

In this volume of the short story series, we present five more exciting classic science fiction tales. World wide pandemics, missing battleships, super scientists, spies, and the settling of a new world. The stories are: 'A Question of Courage' by J. F. Bone, 'Genesis' by H. Beam Piper, 'Pandemic' by J. F. Bone, 'The Mercenaries' by H. Beam Piper, and 'The Misplaced Battleship' by Harry Harrison.

Sci-Fi Shorts is a collection of classic science fiction stories from the golden age of space stories. This group of five unabridged short stories by various authors covers such adventures as crazy scientists stealing souls, time traveling miners, trouble behind enemy lines, gambling for the future of a world, and gateways through space.

In the far future the ruler of the world is losing as the rebels fight their way into his palace. He retreats upwards to the room where his newly developed time machine sits waiting. His plan is to jump back in time to recruit an unstoppable army which he’ll use to take back the entire world. Of course, plans don’t always come off without a hitch.

On the distant planet of Kwannon, the inhabitants fear their world is on the brink of destruction. In their frantic attempts to prepare for the apocalypse, they may be unwittingly sealing their fate. With a bureaucratic government paralyzed by red tape and a military stretched thin, can one determined newsman turn the tide and save an entire civilization? Discover the gripping tale of hope and resilience in Oomphel in the Sky. (by Mark Nelson)

In the far future, The Company has taken up the franchise for planet Uller and are employing the saurian natives. However, some native Ulleran leaders don't like how life is changing and seek to destroy the human company agents. There are desperate times ahead for the humans on Uller, with no one coming to help, they're surrounded and cut off.

In this volume of the series of short science fiction stories we discover new sapient races, a race to Mars, planets disintegrating, psionic interlopers, hidden ancient worlds, explosive exploits and time travel. The stories are: 'Atom Drive' by Charles Louis Fontenay, 'Hot Planet' by Hal Clement, 'Nobel Redman' by Jesse Franklin Bone, 'Seed of the Arctic Ice' by H. G. Winter, 'Silver Dome' by Harl Vincent, 'The Vortex Blaster' by Edward Elmer Smith and 'Time and Time Again' by H. Beam Piper.

Dive into the imaginative worlds of H. Beam Piper, a pioneering voice in science fiction, with this collection of five captivating short stories that explore the boundaries of technology, society, and the human experience.

X Minus One premiered in April 1955 on NBC and ran until January 1958. Like its predecessor series, Dimension X, X Minus One featured stories by the greatest names in modern science fiction: Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Clifford Simak, Robert Bloch, and many more.

H. Beam Piper was one of the classic writers of science fiction's Golden Age. Among his most famous creations are the "Little Fuzzy" novels and the "Paratime" alternate history series. This volume collects all six of Piper's short stories and novellas in the Paratime universe, including the classic tales "He Walked around the Horses", "Police Operation", and "Time Crime".

Join an extraordinary expedition to Mars as a team of explorers uncovers the remnants of a once-advanced civilization that vanished thousands of years ago. Among the ruins, they find ancient books and documents filled with mysteries. Will they be able to discover the elusive Rosetta Stone that unlocks the Martian language and reveals the secrets of this long-lost race? (Summary by Mark Nelson)