For this Sci-Friday, I’m passing along some free classic scifi short stories that I think you’ll enjoy. One of them is over a hundred years old and predicts email and video projectors. Short stories introduce complex topics and share ideas in bite-sized chunks. I learned to write short stories by reading what other authors have done. Here are four you can enjoy with your kids (Although I wouldn’t read ‘Smear’ to small children). Take a look:
- Smear by Brian Evans
- The Egg by Andy Weir
- And then there were none by Eric Frank Russell
- The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster (1909)
You might want to learn more about these authors. For example, E.M. Forster was Edward Morgan Forster OM CH (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924). He also wrote numerous short stories, essays, speeches and broadcasts, as well as a limited number of biographies and some pageant plays. He also co-authored the opera Billy Budd (1951). Today, he is considered one of the most successful of the Edwardian era English novelists.
That’s not all! Eric Frank Russell (January 6, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a British writer best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell‘s Astounding Science Fiction and other pulp magazines. Russell also wrote horror fiction for Weird Tales and non-fiction articles on Fortean topics. Up to 1955 several of his stories were published under pseudonyms, at least Duncan H. Munro and Niall(e) Wilde.
Even short stories can become rabbit holes of discovery. I hope these free classic scifi short stories create a sense of curiosity and wonder about the universe, yourself … that glorious ‘itch’ that comes from wondering ‘hey, what if?’ That’s what makes scifi fun, and it’s something anyone can enjoy.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll be looking for more scifi short stories to enjoy. May I humbly recommend some of my brain tacos? If you enjoyed this discussion, please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend! 🙂
