What happens when robots raise our children, machines are given the power to prevent murder, and the first man to travel faster than light finally comes home? Lost Sci-Fi Books 136 thru 140 brings together five remarkable stories spanning five decades of imaginative fiction.
Progeny by Philip K. Dick — In the future, robots are trusted to raise children without the emotional complications of human parenting. But when Ed Doyle confronts what that philosophy has created, the difference between perfect training and genuine humanity becomes impossible to ignore.
Watchbird by Robert Sheckley — The mission sounds flawless: build intelligent flying machines capable of detecting and stopping murder before it happens. At first, the Watchbirds work perfectly. Then they begin deciding for themselves exactly what “murder” means.
The Door in the Wall by H. G. Wells — Lionel Wallace remembers a mysterious green door that once opened into a beautiful world unlike anything he had ever known. Throughout his life the door appears again, forcing him to choose between the world around him and the possibility of returning to the place he never forgot.
Home is the Spaceman by George O. Smith — Enright is the first Earthman to travel faster than light, and now he has returned. There’s just one problem: he disappeared for eighteen months aboard a spacecraft carrying supplies for only ten days.
The Man From Time by Frank Belknap Long — Somewhere within the immensity of time, one particular man must be found. Locating him across eternity seems impossible—until an unexpectedly human quality offers a way through the mysteries of time and space.
From H. G. Wells to Philip K. Dick, these five stories explore machines that think for themselves, impossible journeys, mysterious worlds and humanity’s uncertain future. Lost Sci-Fi Books 136 thru 140 is a journey through five decades of classic imagination.
