Knock (short Story)
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Knock (short Story)
"Knock" is a science fiction short story by American writer Fredric Brown. It begins with a piece of Flash fiction based on the following passage by Thomas Bailey Aldrich: Fredric Brown condensed this text into "a sweet little action story that is only two sentences long". "Knock" then goes on to elaborate on those two sentences and build a more complete plot around them. It was published in the December 1948 issue of ''Thrilling Wonder Stories''. There have been three different radio adaptations ('' Dimension X'', ''X Minus One'' and Sci Fi Channel's ''Seeing Ear Theatre''). The story was reprinted in '' The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1949''Everett F. Bieler & T. E. Dikty, eds., '' The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1949'' New York: Frederick Fell, Aug. 1949, 314 pp. Plot summary The first two lines are a complete story by themselves: Reception The story won the 2012 Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award The Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award honors underread science fict ...
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Thrilling Wonder Stories (1948 --Dec)
''Wonder Stories'' was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, '' Amazing Stories'', when his media company Experimenter Publishing went bankrupt. Within a few months of the bankruptcy, Gernsback launched three new magazines: ''Air Wonder Stories'', ''Science Wonder Stories'', and ''Science Wonder Quarterly''. ''Air Wonder Stories'' and ''Science Wonder Stories'' were merged in 1930 as ''Wonder Stories'', and the quarterly was renamed ''Wonder Stories Quarterly''. The magazines were not financially successful, and in 1936 Gernsback sold ''Wonder Stories'' to Ned Pines at Beacon Publications, where, retitled ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', it continued for nearly 20 years. The last issue was dated Winter 1955, and the title was then merged with ''Startling Stories'', another of Pines' science fiction magazines. ...
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Short Story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed in the form of legends, mythic tales, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables and anecdotes in various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed in the early 19th century. Definition The short story is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance, and other dynamic components as in a novel, but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel, authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques. The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines a short story has been recurrently problematic. A classic definition of a short story ...
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Fredric Brown
Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer.D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. 4. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, 1979. (pp. 1954–1957). He is known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the " short short" form—stories of 1 to 3 pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. Humor and a postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena", was adapted to a 1967 episode of the American television series ''Star Trek''. According to his wife, Fredric Brown hated to write. So he did everything he could to avoid it. He'd play his flute, challenge a friend to a game of chess, or tease Ming Tah, his Siamese cat. If Brown had trouble working out a certain story, he would hop on a long bus trip and just sit and think and plot for days on end. When Brown fin ...
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Flash Fiction
Flash fiction is a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the six-word story; the 280-character story (also known as " twitterature"); the "dribble" (also known as the "minisaga," 50 words); the "drabble" (also known as "microfiction," 100 words); "sudden fiction" (750 words); "flash fiction" (1,000 words); and "microstory".Christopher Kasparek, "Two Micro-Stories by Bolesław Prus," ''The Polish Review'', 1995, no. 1, pp. 99-103. Some commentators have suggested that flash fiction possesses a unique literary quality in its ability to hint at or imply a larger story. History Flash fiction has roots going back to prehistory, recorded at origin of writing, including fables and parables, notably ''Aesop's Fables'' in the west, and Panchatantra and Jataka tales in India. Later examples include the tales of Nasreddin, and Zen koans such as ''The Gateless Gate''. In the Uni ...
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Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (; November 11, 1836 – March 19, 1907) was an American writer, poet, critic, and editor. He is notable for his long editorship of ''The Atlantic, The Atlantic Monthly'', during which he published writers including Charles W. Chesnutt. He was also known for his semi-autobiographical book ''The Story of a Bad Boy'', which established the "bad boy's book" subgenre in nineteenth-century American literature, and for his poetry. Biography Early life and education Thomas Bailey Aldrich was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on November 11, 1836, to Elias T. Aldrich and Sara Aldrich, née Bailey. When Aldrich was a child, his father moved to New Orleans, but after 10 years, Aldrich was sent back to Portsmouth to prepare for college. This period of his life is partly described in his semi-autobiographical novel ''The Story of a Bad Boy'' (1870), in which "Tom Bailey" is the juvenile hero. Early career Aldrich abandoned college preparations after his father's death ...
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Wonder Stories
''Wonder Stories'' was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, ''Amazing Stories'', when his media company Experimenter Publishing went bankrupt. Within a few months of the bankruptcy, Gernsback launched three new magazines: ''Air Wonder Stories'', ''Science Wonder Stories'', and ''Science Wonder Quarterly''. ''Air Wonder Stories'' and ''Science Wonder Stories'' were merged in 1930 as ''Wonder Stories'', and the quarterly was renamed ''Wonder Stories Quarterly''. The magazines were not financially successful, and in 1936 Gernsback sold ''Wonder Stories'' to Ned Pines at Beacon Publications, where, retitled ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', it continued for nearly 20 years. The last issue was dated Winter 1955, and the title was then merged with '' Startling Stories'', another of Pines' science fiction magazines. ...
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Dimension X (radio Program)
Dimension X may refer to: *''Dimension X (radio program)'' a US radio drama that ran from 1950 to 1951 *'' Dimension X (video game)'' 1984 Atari 8-bit family game from Synapse Software *Dimension X (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers (named after ...
, a location in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise {{disambiguation ...
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X Minus One
''X Minus One'' is an American half-hour science fiction radio drama series that was broadcast from April 24, 1955, to January 9, 1958, in various timeslots on NBC. Known for high production values in adapting stories from the leading American authors of the era, ''X Minus One'' has been described as one of the finest offerings of American radio drama and one of the best science fiction series in any medium. Overview Initially a revival of NBC's '' Dimension X'' (1950–51), the first 15 episodes of ''X Minus One'' were new versions of ''Dimension X'' episodes, but the remainder were adaptations by NBC staff writers, including Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts, of newly published science fiction stories by leading writers in the field, including Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, Frederik Pohl and Theodore Sturgeon, along with some original scripts by Kinoy and Lefferts. Included in the series were adaptations of Robert Sheckley's "Skulking Permit", ...
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Syfy
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launched on September 24, 1992, the channel broadcasts programming relating to the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres. As of January 2016, Syfy is available to 92.4 million households in America. History In 1989, in Boca Raton, Florida, communications attorneys and cable TV entrepreneurs Mitchell Rubenstein and his wife and business partner Laurie Silvers devised the concept for the Sci-Fi Channel, and signed up 8 of the top 10 cable TV operators as well as licensing exclusive rights to the British TV series ''Doctor Who'' (which shifted over from PBS to Sci-Fi Channel), ''Dark Shadows'', and the cult series ''The Prisoner''. In 1992, the channel was sold by Rubenstein and Silvers to USA Networks, then a joint venture between Para ...
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1949
Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2024 * January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. * January 11 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place, as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, goes on the air, connecting east coast and mid-west programming in the United States. * January 16 – Şemsettin Günaltay forms the new government of Turkey. It is the 18th government, last single party government of the Republican People's Party. * January 17 – The first VW Type 1 to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models are sold in America th ...
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