Prospero’s Isle

"CHILDREN of YESTERDAY" - Jan Valtin’s dramatic eyewitness account of the Pacific War in the Philippines 1944-45
After the quite phenomenal success of his monumental political memoir Out of the Night in 1941, Richard Krebs (nom-de-plume: Jan Valtin) was (...)
After the quite phenomenal success of his monumental political memoir Out of the Night in 1941, Richard Krebs (nom-de-plume: Jan Valtin) was arrested and tried for an attempted (political) murder he was accused of having committed in (...)
After the quite phenomenal success of his monumental political memoir Out of the Night in 1941, Richard Krebs (nom-de-plume: Jan Valtin) was arrested and tried for an attempted (political) murder he was accused of having committed in the twenties – for which he was acquitted – in 1942, and then (...)

"The Weapon Shops of Isher" (1949) - a major golden-age novella by A. E. van Vogt never before republished!
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the (...)
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the powers of the world-dominant Isher dynasty some 7000 years in the future, was first (...)
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the powers of the world-dominant Isher dynasty some 7000 years in the future, was first published as the cover story of the February 1949 issue of Thrilling (...)

"Farewell to the Master (The Day the Earth Stood Still)" (1940) by Harry Bates
First published in the splendid October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , this extremely ambitious 50-page novella became the basis of (...)
First published in the splendid October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , this extremely ambitious 50-page novella became the basis of one of the most highly-regarded science-fiction films of its time and even all time, the (...)
First published in the splendid October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , this extremely ambitious 50-page novella became the basis of one of the most highly-regarded science-fiction films of its time and even all time, the quite wonderful "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), (...)

The funniest golden-age s-f story: "The Proud Robot" (1943) by Henry Kuttner (Lewis Padgett)
We just loved this lively and often frankly hilarious account of how a very gifted (when under the influence of the demon Drink) scientist (...)
We just loved this lively and often frankly hilarious account of how a very gifted (when under the influence of the demon Drink) scientist struggles to come to grips with the wackiness of his almost-perfect robot - which he had just (...)
We just loved this lively and often frankly hilarious account of how a very gifted (when under the influence of the demon Drink) scientist struggles to come to grips with the wackiness of his almost-perfect robot - which he had just created with quite extraordinary powers, for a purpose which (...)

"The World of Null-A" (1945) by A. E. van Vogt - the full text
First published in monthly instalments in the August-October 1945 issues of Astounding Science Fiction, this fast-paced and very ambitious (...)
First published in monthly instalments in the August-October 1945 issues of Astounding Science Fiction, this fast-paced and very ambitious blockbuster novel set in 2580 A.D. was A. E. van Vogt’s fourth major novel in that glorious (...)
First published in monthly instalments in the August-October 1945 issues of Astounding Science Fiction, this fast-paced and very ambitious blockbuster novel set in 2580 A.D. was A. E. van Vogt’s fourth major novel in that glorious heyday-decade of science fiction, the golden forties. Regularly (...)

The complete short stories of Jack London - synopses and ratings
Jack London (1876-1916) wrote an almost incredible number of short stories (198) before his premature death at the age of 40, as well as 21 (...)
Jack London (1876-1916) wrote an almost incredible number of short stories (198) before his premature death at the age of 40, as well as 21 novels and a considerable number of essays, plays, poems, and articles. The sheer volume of his (...)
Jack London (1876-1916) wrote an almost incredible number of short stories (198) before his premature death at the age of 40, as well as 21 novels and a considerable number of essays, plays, poems, and articles. The sheer volume of his output and the wide variety of his subjects, ranging from (...)

"The Shadow Men (1950)" - the full text of an outstanding golden-age science-fiction novel by A. E. van Vogt never before republished
This striking novel from the golden age of science-fiction (the nineteen-forties and early fifties) was never republished in either magazine or (...)
This striking novel from the golden age of science-fiction (the nineteen-forties and early fifties) was never republished in either magazine or book form after its initial appearance in the January 1950 issue of Startling Stories , (...)
This striking novel from the golden age of science-fiction (the nineteen-forties and early fifties) was never republished in either magazine or book form after its initial appearance in the January 1950 issue of Startling Stories , where it was highlighted on the quite spectacular cover by (...)

The complete stories and novels of A. E. van Vogt: synopses, comments and ratings
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Biographical Notice 2. The 103 short stories, novelettes and novellas 3. The 35 Novels 4. References 1. (...)
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Biographical Notice 2. The 103 short stories, novelettes and novellas 3. The 35 Novels 4. References 1. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE A. E. van Vogt (1912-2000) was born on a farm in the vicinity of Winnipeg, (...)
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Biographical Notice 2. The 103 short stories, novelettes and novellas 3. The 35 Novels 4. References 1. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE A. E. van Vogt (1912-2000) was born on a farm in the vicinity of Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) in a family of Dutch extraction. He spoke (...)

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Latest articles

  • A Selection of Nelson Algren’s Best Short Stories

    by Nelson Algren

    Nelson Algren (1909-1981), author notably of the novels Never Come Morning (1942), The Man With the Golden Arm (1949) and A Walk On the Wild Side (1956), of the essay Chicago, City on the Make (1951) and of the short-story anthology The Neon Wilderness (1947), had a special talent (...)

  • Mot pour Maman

    by Vincent Smith

    L’oraison funèbre pour Marie Smith prononcé par son fils Vincent le 6 juillet 2018 :
    Maman a tenu, longtemps. Sur la fin elle était très faible mais s’accrochait encore. Elle ne parlait plus, avait du mal à nous regarder, mais elle faisait encore des bisous quand on approchait la joue. She did not go (...)

  • "The Ghost" (1942) by A. E. van Vogt

    by A. E. van Vogt

    This rare excursion of van Vogt into the realm of fantasy first appeared in the August 1942 issue of the highly regarded Unknown Worlds bi-monthly magazine.
    This unusual 12,500-word ghost novelette with whodunit and time-conundrum elements, written during van Vogt’s Canadian days when he was (...)

  • "The Witch" (1943) by A. E. van Vogt

    by A. E. van Vogt

    One of van Vogt’s few ventures into the fantasy realm (if witch stories can be so described that is, sometimes one wonders. . .), this solid, nicely-developed novelette about a very old – but not for long if she gets her way with the lovely body of the hero’s wife – and particularly tricky one (...)

  • Three Grimm Brothers "Witch Tales" (1812-1815)

    by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

    The brothers Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), co-authors of an extremely monumental modern German-language dictionary, are first and foremost renowned in the academic circles of their homeland as two of the main founders of German philology.
    But of course among us lesser (...)

  • "In the Penal Colony" (1919) by Franz Kafka

    by Franz Kafka

    A visiting European researcher is invited by the military commander of a penal colony to witness the execution of a soldier condemned for insubordination that is to be carried out in a very special manner by a very special machine that has performed the same task very many times in the past – (...)

  • "Liberation of Earth" (1953) by William Tenn

    by William Tenn

    First published in the May 1953 issue of the Future Science Fiction monthly magazine, this amusing, insightful and thought-provoking satire of human pretentiousness in a galactic environment – the Earth is invaded by warring very-superior, very-different and very-uncaring aliens, with very (...)