A young mathematician wants to marry the lovely Abscissa Surd, but her father says he must first prove himself worthy. Professor Surd will only allow the protagonist to marry his daughter if he can either accomplish perpetual motion or faster-than-light travel. “The Tachypomp” is a short story for the mathematically-minded. Though first published anonymously in 1874, science-fiction scholar Sam Moskowitz rediscovered and republished it—along with Mitchell’s other forgotten work—in 1973, thus restoring him to his rightful place in contemporary sci-fi discourse.
50 Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories 8
Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Silverberg, Jack London, Arthur C. Clarke, Katherine MacLean, Clyde Beck, Clifford D. Simak, Mack Reynolds, Donald E. Westlake, Harlan Ellison, H.P. Lovecraft, H.G. Wells, Nelson S. Bond, Alfred Coppel, William Tenn, Lyn Venable, Robert Moore Williams, Francis Stevens, Miriam Allen deFord, Robert Sheckley, Harry Harrison, Fritz Leiber, Noel Loomis, Charles Dye, Alfred Bester, Henry Kuttner, Michael Shaara, Zenna Henderson, Isaac Asimov, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald A. Wollheim, Randall Garrett, Philip K Dick, Winston Marks, Frank Belknap Long, G. Peyton Wertenbaker, James Rosenquest, Raymond Z. Gallun, Harl Vincent, Edward Page Mitchell
