Lost Sci-Fi Books 461–480 brings together 20 classic science fiction stories from some of the genre’s greatest writers, alongside forgotten authors whose imaginative tales deserve to be heard again.
Travel from the hidden dangers of Arthur C. Clarke’s Hide and Seek to the unsettling future of Jack Vance’s The Men Return. Encounter a world where kindness has taken an unexpected turn in Arthur Sellings’ The Age of Kindness, journey to Mars with The Hermit of Mars, and cross the solar system in Robert Silverberg’s Postmark Ganymede. Walter M. Miller Jr. delivers the moving Death of a Spaceman, while Frank M. Robinson explores an extraordinary scientific promise in Guaranteed—Forever!
The collection reaches back to early science fiction with Jack Williamson’s The Metal Man and ventures into the eerie unknown with H. F. Arnold’s The Night Wire. Along the way are strange planets, malfunctioning machines, unexpected visitors, warped futures, and experiments that refuse to behave.
Harry Harrison, Murray Leinster, Alfred Coppel, Frank Belknap Long, Michael Shaara, Nelson S. Bond, Randall Garrett, and others add even more variety. Silverberg appears several times, including his collaboration with Garrett on Bleekman’s Planet.
There’s humor too. Nelson S. Bond’s The Genius of Lancelot Biggs returns to one of classic science fiction’s most memorable accidental heroes, while James Bell’s Thirty Degrees Cattywonkus takes things in another unexpected direction.
From Mars and Ganymede to futures where civilization has changed beyond recognition, these stories capture the remarkable range of classic science fiction. Some are famous, others nearly forgotten, but each offers another journey into yesterday’s tomorrow.
