Written by Stephen Marlowe
World Without Glamor
by Stephen MarloweMarsden had filled a basin with well water and began to lather his hands and face with soap when Marie entered their cabin. He looked up and clucked his tongue in disapproval. "Lord," he said. "Look at yourself."Marie scowled at him as she removed her bandanna and shook loose her short-cropped hair. "How do you expect me to look?" Her plain but pre..
It's Raining Frogs!
by Stephen MarloweThe frogs fell on him. They seemed to be concentrated most heavily in the center of the cone, and a good percentage of them landed on him—mostly on his head—and then bounced off to fall on the sand. George didn't like it.He moved. He got up off the sand and ran half a dozen paces closer to the surf, but he still felt the little red frogs striking h..
The Old Way
by Stephen MarloweGramps stood apart from all this, and when he saw me he came running through the mob on spindly legs, waving his arms frantically so that I wouldn't miss him. As if I would. If there was anything more incongruous here on the Martian landscape, anything that seemed more out of place than did old Gramps, I didn't see it. Two hundred years ago in anot..
Pariah
by Stephen MarloweCaptain Greene shook his shaggy head and studied Allerton with patient eyes. "You're making a mistake," he said. "You'll be back." The inside of the spaceship was quiet now, not with the silence of the tomb, but with the silence of barely inaudible echoes as if Allerton might still be able to hear the crew clomping about the companionways on ..
Slaves to the Metal Horde
by Stephen MarloweJohnny Hope backed off warily, retreating toward the sun-dried creek bed, a jagged brown scar across the parched grassland. He carried no weapon and as the others closed in about him in a tightening semi-circle his eyes darted furtively in all directions. But all the faces were stamped, as from a mold, with uncompromising hostility.Nearly the entir..
No-Risk Planet
by Stephen MarloweThe natives got a big kick out of it when I told them what the name of their planet means in English. It means peaceful. From what I could gather, the first Terran to land here fifty years ago was so impressed with the balmy climate and pleasant rolling terrain and almost tideless oceans that he named the planet Halcyon. The only catch is, the nati..
Revolt of the Outworlds
by Stephen MarloweThere was a tremendous roar from the crowd as Alan Tremaine climbed the long flight of steps leading to the platform in the center of the plaza. It's really my father they're applauding, Alan Tremaine thought. The elder Tremaine, dead these two weeks, had made the dream of independence a reality for the Outworlds. Then, on the eve of success, he ha..
Es Percipi
by Stephen MarloweNicholson ducked into the room and squinted myopically through contact lenses which made his eyes look watery and far away. "Better scram out the back way, boss," he said. "That dame from the Department of Health and Public Welfare is here again."Bryan Channing allowed himself ten seconds of barely audible swearing. Finally, he said, "What does she..