CSFP 006 - The Defenders by Philip K. Dick

According to the ISFDB, The Defenders first appeared in the January 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine. Interestingly enough, that issue is available on Amazon:

The story has been reprinted many times now, and is also available on Project Gutenberg.

Thanks for listening!

James

jamesaaron.net/books

patreon.com/jamesaaron

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This episode is sponsored by Cyborg Corps by JN Chaney and Chris Winder

CSFP 005 - Tourists by Lisa Goldstein

Tourists first appeared in the February 1985 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and has been republished in several anthologies since then. Its most recent publication is in the collection Travelers in Magic, available on Amazon and in audio.

Lisa Goldstein has been nominated for the Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. Her most recent novel is The Red Magician, which won the National Book Award.

You can support Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine with a Kindle Subscription for only $2.99 a month.

Thanks for listening!

James

jamesaaron.net/books

This episode is sponsored by Cyborg Corps by JN Chaney and Chris Winder

CSFP 004 - Hunter’s Dawn by J. Steven York

I found Hunter's Dawn by J. Steven York in Nanodreams, an anthology from 1995 edited by Elton Elliott. According to the Internet Science Fiction Database, Nanodreams is the only place this short story appeared.

It's really cool to discover J. Steven York. He's written Battletech, Conan, X-Men and edited Star Trek anthologies, for just a start. You can find his website here: http://www.yorkwriters.com/ as well as his Amazon author page.

Thanks for listening!

James

jamesaaron.net/books

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CSFP 003 - The Phoenix on the Sword by Robert E. Howard

The Phoenix on the Sword is the first Conan story Robert E. Howard wrote but tells a story from later in the character's life.

I read this from the Del Rey collection The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, one of a trilogy of books that collects all the original Conan stories chronologically, and returns the text to Howard's original state. 

I've been a fan of Conan since I was twelve, but I first read the paperbacks from the 60s and 70s, which were apparently chopped up by editors who are now persona non grata among Howard enthusiasts. 

I love the passion in this story. You can probably tell from my voice that it was fun to read, and I have a hard time believing it's almost 100 years old at this point.

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CSFP 002 - Duty Calls by Anne McCaffrey

Well, Anne McCaffrey needs no introductions from me. 

I do have to admit that I wasn't familiar with her work outside of the Pern novels, so I found one of her hard SF stories from the mid-80s: Duty Calls, a story told from the POV of a human-brain piloted ship providing and escort mission for an alien infiltrating a hostile planet.

I like how the story assumes some things of the reader, like knowledge of C/Speed of Light travel, and uses the challenges of moving a massive fleet at the speed of light, including strategic planning. This story feels like the groundwork for a series, and it looks like there were at least a few other stories in the same universe.

According to the ISFDB, Duty Calls was first published in 1988, in an anthology called The Fleet, edited by David Drake.

I found Duty Calls in McCaffrey's collection The Girl Who Heard Dragons.

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CSFP 001 - Hired Man by Richard C. Meredith

"Hired Man" by Richard C. Meredith from the anthology Body Armor:2000, edited by Joe Haldeman, 1986

Unfortunately, Richard Meredith died at 41 in 1979. I only found a few novels on Amazon. You can read more about him on Wikipedia:

Richard Carlton Meredith (October 21, 1937 – March 8, 1979), was an American writer, illustrator and graphic designer, best known as the author of science fiction short stories and novels including We All Died at Breakaway Station (which David Drake called "Military Science Fiction of the highest order,") and The Timeliner Trilogy.

and here is his bibliography at the Internet Science Fiction Database, which lists Hired Man as originally appearing in If Magazine in 1970.

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