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

A brilliant scientist creates a mechanical mind capable of reasoning beyond its maker, then discovers it has begun building for itself. When towering machines march against entire cities, one man must find a way to destroy an intelligence that can outthink every human opponent. The Metal Giants by Edmond Hamilton. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

I’ve been searching through old issues of Weird Tales, looking for great stories for our new podcast, Weird Tales Reborn, when I came across this story by Edmond Hamilton. And with all the talk lately about artificial intelligence, robots building robots, and whether machines might someday pose a threat to humanity, I knew instantly that I had to narrate The Metal Giants.

What makes it even more fascinating is when this story was written.

Let’s go back almost 100 years to the December 1926 issue of Weird Tales. The Metal Giants was the cover story and the very first story in that issue, beginning on page 724. Now, I know—page 724 doesn’t make much sense for the first story in a magazine, but that’s the way Weird Tales numbered the pages back then.

From the December 1926 issue of Weird Tales, here is The Metal Giants by Edmond Hamilton.

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Captain Hannah has found people who can reshape a spaceship with their minds, but their astonishing powers come with the judgment of ordinary kids. When a helpful teenager starts “giffling” with the Delta Crucis, Hannah realizes that getting home may be easier than surviving the repairs. When You Giffle… by Joseph Wesley.

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Gummitch knows he was meant for more than the ordinary life of a house cat, but finding an outlet for his restless imagination isn’t easy. When his baffled humans finally discover what he has been doing in the kitchen, they realize their cat may be creating something they never thought an animal could make. Kreativity For Kats by Fritz Leiber. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Fritz Leiber wrote some wonderfully zany science fiction. Nice Girl With 5 Husbands, Later Than You Think, The Last Letter, and my personal favorite among his humorously strange tales, What’s He Doing in There? Leiber had a knack for taking a ridiculous idea completely seriously—and somehow making it work.

And then there’s Gummitch.

Gummitch is a cat, but calling him a cat doesn’t really do him justice. He thinks about other dimensions, studies the strange worlds inside mirrors, remembers when he dreamed of becoming a man and traveling into space, and has some very definite ideas about what constitutes a worthwhile life. Unfortunately, his humans have absolutely no idea what’s going on inside his head.

Kreativity For Kats appeared in the April 1961 issue of Galaxy Magazine, three years after Leiber first introduced Gummitch in Space-Time for Springers. This time Gummitch is restless, frustrated, and looking for something that will put his considerable imagination to work.

What he comes up with leaves his humans scratching their heads—and might make you look a little differently at the next mess your cat makes on the floor.

Kreativity For Kats by Fritz Leiber.

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A brilliant scientist creates a mechanical mind capable of reasoning beyond its maker, then discovers it has begun building for itself. When towering machines march against entire cities, one man must find a way to destroy an intelligence that can outthink every human opponent. The Metal Giants by Edmond Hamilton.

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A dead man discovers that hatred can survive the grave—and that the living may be far more vulnerable than they realize. Richard Devaney refuses to surrender the woman he loves, even if reaching her means stealing control of another man’s body. The Dead Man’s Tale by Willard E. Hawkins. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

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Welcome to the very first episode of Weird Tales Reborn. I’m Scott Miller, and if my voice sounds familiar, you may know me as the host of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

For more than a century, the name Weird Tales has meant strange places, supernatural mysteries, dark fantasy, horror, bizarre creatures and stories that simply refused to fit neatly into any other category. And that is exactly what Weird Tales Reborn is all about.

We’re going back to the original pages of the legendary magazine and bringing those forgotten stories to life again, one story at a time. And there is only one place we could possibly begin.

Weird Tales was introduced to the world with its March 1923 issue. Open that very first issue, turn past the opening pages, and on page 7 you arrive at the first story ever presented to readers of Weird Tales.

The Dead Man’s Tale by Willard E. Hawkins.

Hawkins was born in Fairplay, Colorado, in 1887. He was an author, editor and public speaker who founded a magazine for writers that eventually became known as The Author & Journalist. He continued writing for decades, with stories appearing in science fiction and fantasy magazines into the 1950s.

More than a hundred years ago, this was where Weird Tales began. And more than a hundred years later, it is where Weird Tales Reborn begins too.

From the March 1923 issue of Weird Tales, turn to page 7, The Dead Man’s Tale by Willard E. Hawkins…

Next on The Weird Tales Reborn Podcast, A prosperous merchant is forced into a secret brotherhood whose members hunt as beasts and obey an ancient master who can reach into their minds. When that obedience threatens the people Wladislaw loves most, escaping the pack may require him to turn its own savage nature against it. The Werewolf of Ponkert by H. Warner Munn.

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A government believes it has created the perfect biological weapon: a virus that kills only the people it considers dangerous. But Dr. Joseph Euge knows the plague is making a very different judgment, and soon an entire world may learn what truly makes someone vulnerable. Righteous Plague by Robert Abernathy. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

More new 5 star reviews on Apple Podcasts US! Snowcrash2020 says, “Thanks. Great stories with good narration. Keep it simple, keep it coming!”

That’s the plan Snowcrash2020! And thank you for your comment and the 5 stars.

If The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast has introduced you to a forgotten story, brought back an old favorite, or simply given you a good way to escape for a while, we’d love to hear about it. A 5-star rating and a few words on Apple Podcasts—or wherever you listen—helps more people discover these great old stories, and we truly appreciate every one.

A few months ago, Robert Abernathy wasn’t even on my radar. Now I’m hooked. Every story I discover makes me want to find another—and you’ll be hearing a lot more from him on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Turn to page 75 in Science Fiction Quarterly published in May 1951 for, Righteous Plague by Robert Abernathy…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Gummitch knows he was meant for more than the ordinary life of a house cat, but finding an outlet for his restless imagination isn’t easy. When his baffled humans finally discover what he has been doing in the kitchen, they realize their cat may be creating something they never thought an animal could make. Kreativity For Kats by Fritz Leiber.

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A historian joins a late-night conversation about worlds where one altered event sends nations down roads no one remembers. Then a stranger leaves behind something impossible to explain, suggesting one of those other histories may be much closer than anyone imagined. Crossroads of Destiny by H. Beam Piper. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Our new podcast, Weird Tales Reborn, will be available within the next 48 hours—possibly even sooner—and we think you’re going to love it.

We’ve featured stories from Weird Tales magazine on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast before, but Weird Tales Reborn is devoted entirely to stories published in this legendary magazine, bringing its strange, fantastic, and unforgettable fiction back to life.

You can listen to the trailer and subscribe right now, so you’ll be ready when our very first episode arrives. You’ll find links to Weird Tales Reborn in the description.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/weird-tales-reborn/id6812494670

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KgAyqHo9HPkU9gu6yrgQB

Author H. Beam Piper makes his debut on the podcast today. Henry Beam Piper was born in 1904 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and was largely self-educated. He developed a fascination with history as a boy—several of his ancestors had fought in the Civil War—and by his teens he had decided he wanted to become a writer. Around that time he discovered speculative fiction through H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Edgar Rice Burroughs and A. Merritt.

At 18, Piper went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Altoona, where he worked as a laborer and later a night watchman while writing and submitting stories in his spare time. Remarkably, he spent about 26 years trying to make his first sale before John W. Campbell bought “Time and Time Again,” which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1947. His deep knowledge of history became one of the signatures of his fiction, particularly in his Paratime stories and alternate-history tales like “Crossroads of Destiny.”

Piper went on to write more than two dozen short stories and roughly a dozen novels and book-length works, depending on how collaborations and posthumously published books are counted. His best-known books include Little Fuzzy, Space Viking, Four-Day Planet and The Cosmic Computer. Little Fuzzy was nominated for the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Writer Jerry Pournelle recalled that Piper once told him, apparently with a straight face, that he believed he had been born in another timeline.

From Fantastic Universe in July 1959 we will find our story on page 4, Crossroads of Destiny by H. Beam Piper…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A government believes it has created the perfect biological weapon: a virus that kills only the people it considers dangerous. But Dr. Joseph Euge knows the plague is making a very different judgment, and soon an entire world may learn what truly makes someone vulnerable. Righteous Plague by Robert Abernathy.

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