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The Monsters (short Story)
"The Monsters" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert Sheckley. It was first published in 1953 in F&SF and has appeared in various collections, including'' Untouched by Human Hands'' (1954) and'' The Starlit Corridor'', edited by Roger Mansfield in 1967. The story deals with first contact between human beings and an alien species, as told from the point of view of the aliens. Plot A distant planet is inhabited by sentient aliens that call themselves "humans," although they bear little physical resemblance to humans from Earth; they are vaguely reptilian in nature, oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ..., with smooth bodies, cyclopean eyes, tails, and tentacled limbs. While the aliens consider themselves to be both rational and ethical b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Sheckley
Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical. Nominated for Hugo and Nebula Awards, Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001. Biography Sheckley was born to an assimilated Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City. In 1931 the family moved to Maplewood, New Jersey. Sheckley attended Columbia High School, where he discovered science fiction. He graduated in 1946 and hitchhiked to California the same year, where he tried numerous jobs: landscape gardener, pretzel salesman, barman, milkman, warehouseman, and general laborer "board man" in a hand-painted necktie studio. Finally, still in 1946, he joined the U.S. Army and was sent to Korea.Jonas, Gerald"Robert Sheckley, 77, Writer of Satirical Science Fiction, Is Dead" ''The New York ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Untouched By Human Hands
''Untouched by Human Hands'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Robert Sheckley. It was first published in 1954 simultaneously by Ballantine Books (catalogue number 73), both in hardback and paperback. Contents The collection includes the following stories (magazines in which the stories originally appeared given in parentheses): * " The Monsters" (''F&SF'', March 1953) *Cost of Living (Galaxy 1952/12) * "The Altar" (''Fantastic'', July/August 1953) *Keep Your Shape (''Galaxy'', November 1953; also known as "Shape") * "The Impacted Man" ( ''Astounding SF'', December 1952) * "Untouched by Human Hands" (''Galaxy'', December 1953; also known as "One Man's Poison") * "The King's Wishes" (''F&SF'', July 1953) *Warm (''Galaxy'', June 1953) * "The Demons" (''Fantasy Magazine'', March 1953) * " Specialist" (''Galaxy'', May 1953) * " Seventh Victim" (''Galaxy'', April 1953) * "Ritual" (''Climax'', 1953; also known as "Strange Ritual") * "Beside Still Wate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raygun
A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon that releases energy, usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, laser pistol, phaser, zap gun, etc. In most stories, when activated, a raygun emits a ray, typically visible, usually lethal if it hits a human target, often destructive if it hits mechanical objects, with properties and other effects unspecified or varying. Real-world analogues are directed-energy weapons or electrolasers: electroshock weapons which send current along an electrically conductive laser-induced plasma channel. History A very early example of a raygun is the Heat-Ray featured in H. G. Wells' novel ''The War of the Worlds'' (1898).Van Riper, op. cit., p. 46. Science fiction during the 1920s described death rays. Early science fiction often described or depic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back to early civilizations such as Sumer and the Indus Valley Civilisation, and was popularized in the Western world in the 16th century. Some lipsticks contain traces of toxic materials, such as lead and PFAS, which prompted health concerns and regulation. Lipstick has been prominent in several women's fashion trends, often associated with women's sexuality. The color of lipstick has aesthetic and cultural significance as different colors carry different connotations. Red lipstick has historically been associated with sensuality or women's independence while black lipstick is worn by both men and women in alternative subcultures, especially punk and goth. Celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, and Taylor Swift have contributed to the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclopes
In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguished. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', the Cyclopes are the three brothers Brontes, Steropes, and Arges, who made for Zeus his weapon the thunderbolt. In Homer's ''Odyssey'', they are an uncivilized group of shepherds, the brethren of Polyphemus encountered by Odysseus. Cyclopes were also famous as the builders of the Cyclopean walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. In ''Cyclops'', the fifth-century BC play by Euripides, a chorus of satyrs offers comic relief based on the encounter of Odysseus and Polyphemus. The third-century BC poet Callimachus makes the Hesiodic Cyclopes the assistants of smith-god Hephaestus; as does Virgil in the Latin epic ''Aeneid'', where he seems to equate the Hesiodic and Homeric Cyclopes. From at least the fifth century BC, Cyc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviparity
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and monotremes. In traditional usage, most insects (one being ''Culex pipiens'', or the common house mosquito), molluscs, and arachnids are also described as oviparous. Modes of reproduction The traditional modes of reproduction include oviparity, taken to be the ancestral condition, traditionally where either unfertilised oocytes or fertilised eggs are spawned, and viviparity traditionally including any mechanism where young are born live, or where the development of the young is supported by either parent in or on any part of their body. However, the biologist Thierry Lodé recently divided the traditional category of oviparous reproduction into two modes that he named ovuliparity and (true) oviparity respectively. He distinguished the tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Mansfield
Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages, Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ("spear", "lance") (Hrōþigēraz). The name was introduced into England by the Normans. In Normandy, the Franks, Frankish name had been reinforced by the Old Norse cognate '. The name introduced into England replaced the Old English cognate '. ''Roger'' became a very common given name during the Middle Ages. A variant form of the given name ''Roger'' that is closer to the name's origin is ''Rodger''. Slang and other uses Roger is also a short version of the term "Jolly Roger", which refers to a black flag with a white skull and crossbones, formerly used by piracy, sea pirates since as early as 1723. From up to , Roger was slang for the word "penis". In ''Under Milk Wood'', Dylan Thomas writes "jolly, rodgered" sugges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Starlit Corridor
''The Starlit Corridor'' is a 1967 science fiction anthology edited by Roger Mansfield. It was published by Pergamon Press. Contents * '' Space: Third Millennium'', poem by Denis Pethebridge * ''Before Eden'' (1961), short story by Arthur C. Clarke * '' Return of the Moon Man'' (1955), short story by Eric Malpass * '' The Space Pilot'', poem by J. Blackie * '' Space Probe to Venus'', poem by Constantine FitzGibbon * '' Disappearing Act'' (1953), short story by Alfred Bester (first published in ''Star'' 1953) * '' To See the Rabbit'', poem by Alan Brownjohn * ''Pawley's Peepholes'' (1951), short story by John Wyndham * '' Tea in a Space-Ship'', poem by James Kirkup * '' The Monsters'' (1953), short story by Robert Sheckley * ''Harrison Bergeron'' (1961), short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. * '' The Happy Man'' (1963), novelette by Gerald W. Page * ''Bedtime Story'' (1963), poem by George MacBeth * ''The Liberation of Earth'' (1953), short story by William Tenn * ''Science Fiction'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination of the three. Definition In the technical sense a ''journal'' has continuous pagination throughout a volume. Thus '' Business Week'', which starts each issue anew with page one, is a magazine, but the '' Journal of Business Communication'', which continues the same sequence of pagination throughout the coterminous year, is a journal. Some professional or trade publications are also peer-reviewed, for example the '' Journal of Accountancy''. Non-peer-reviewed academic or professional publications are generally ''professional magazines''. That a publication calls itself a ''journal'' does not make it a journal in the technical sense; ''The Wall Street Journal'' is actually a newspaper. Etymology The word "magazine" derives from Arabic , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title, ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. The first issue was titled ''The Magazine of Fantasy'', but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. ''F&SF'' was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley "set ''F&SF'' apart, giving it the air and authority of a superior magazine". ''F&SF'' qu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
