The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast - Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories

They built a machine to handle chores, not to wait by the door or feel the sting of being left behind. When affection stops being programmable, someone has to decide whether turning it off is an act of mercy or something far worse. Helen O’Loy by Lester Del Rey. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

One week from today we celebrate the 4th Anniversary of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. This is episode 493 and our 500th episode arrives on our Anniversary. So that’s 7 stories in the next 7 days.

Today’s story is recognized as one of the best science fiction stories during the Golden Age of Sci-Fi. You’ll understand in a few minutes. It has been republished almost 100 times in various publications over the last nine decades.

Helen O’Loy was chosen in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the finest science-fiction short stories published before the establishment of the Nebula Awards, earning it a place in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964.

The story was also a finalist for the 1939 Retro Hugo Award for Best Short Story, where it placed second behind How We Went to Mars by Arthur C. Clarke.

What makes its success even more remarkable is that it was only the second story by Lester del Rey ever to be published.

From Astounding Science Fiction in December 1938 on page 118, Helen O’Loy by Lester Del Rey…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Three men realize their ship will never slow down, and the silence between them grows more dangerous than empty space. When a final option appears, it forces them to decide what kind of survival they are actually asking for. Death Wish by Robert Sheckley.

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When a glimpse of tomorrow reveals how the world is undone, a scientist is given a narrow window to act. The risk isn’t failure—but coming back unable to remember what he changed. World’s End by Henry Kuttner. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Your 5 star reviews are greatly appreciated. This comes from Benjermano 01 on Apple Podcasts Australia, “Cracking Podcast. Couldn’t ask for more in these episodes, variety, excitement, suspense. Awesome.” Thank you Benjermano 01!

More of you listen to us on Apple Podcasts than any other place and we would love it if you would leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts in your country. If you think we deserve it of course.

I can never tell enough time travel stories, just cannot get enough of them. This one was first published in Weird Tales magazine in February 1938 on page 204, World’s End by Henry Kuttner…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, They built a machine to handle chores, not to wait by the door or feel the sting of being left behind. When affection stops being programmable, someone has to decide whether turning it off is an act of mercy or something far worse. Helen O’Loy by Lester Del Rey.

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A factory worker wakes up far from Earth after a routine job triggers something no one warned him about. What he learns there forces a choice between keeping quiet—and deciding who gets to live longer back home. Welcome to Paradise by Allyn Donnelson. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

If you consider yourself the biggest science-fiction fan on the planet and you’ve never heard of Allyn Donnelson, you’re forgiven. He appears to have published only a single story, and beyond that, nothing. We don’t know when or where he was born or anything about him. I’ve said this before about authors with just one published story—and I’ll say it again, I can’t help wishing there had been more.

Published in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy in September 1954 on page 86, Welcome to Paradise by Allyn Donnelson…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, When a glimpse of tomorrow reveals how the world is undone, a scientist is given a narrow window to act. The risk isn’t failure—but coming back unable to remember what he changed. World’s End by Henry Kuttner.

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Earth’s most powerful leader discovers that the counsel he trusted most may soon be gone—just as the stakes become irreversible. When guidance disappears, the final responsibility cannot be delegated, delayed, or avoided. Final Exam by Sam Merwin Jr. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

When you’re diving into the early days of sci-fi, one name you keep bumping into — even if you don’t always recognize it — is Sam Merwin Jr., who makes his debut on the podcast today. Born Samuel Kimball Merwin Jr. on April 28, 1910, in Plainfield, New Jersey, he came into the world with storytelling in his blood: his father, Samuel Merwin Sr., was an established novelist and playwright.

After finishing his BA at Princeton University in 1931, he also studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, and then spent the early 1930s in journalism — reporting for the Boston Evening American and later serving as New York bureau chief for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

His first published science fiction story arrived in 1939, a tale called “The Scourge Below” in Thrilling Wonder Stories. In 1940 wrote a mystery novel, Murder in Miniatures, and over the years he continued to write both mysteries and science fiction, often under his own name and occasionally under pseudonyms like Matt Lee, Jacques Jean Ferrat, Carter Sprague, and others.

Like many of his peers he even wrote a few comic book stories for DC's Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space.

What really makes Merwin’s impact in the genre interesting isn’t just the fiction he wrote, but the work he did behind the scenes. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he became a key editor at some of the era’s most influential science fiction magazines — Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fantastic Story Quarterly, and Wonder Stories Annual.

Our story comes near the end of his career as a science fiction author, published in Fantastic Universe in November 1955 on page 61, Final Exam by Sam Merwin Jr…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A factory worker wakes up far from Earth after a routine job triggers something no one warned him about. What he learns there forces a choice between keeping quiet—and deciding who gets to live longer back home. Welcome to Paradise by Allyn Donnelson.

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A wandering old man keeps selling something no one believes can still exist, and two children decide it’s time to demand proof. What follows forces a choice between safety and a single moment that can never be taken back. Seller of the Sky by Dave Dryfoos. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Dave Dryfoos made his debut on the podcast less than two weeks ago and I enjoyed Some Like it Cold so much I began searching for another one of his stories.

This one was the last story ever published by Dryfoos. His first made the his presence known late in 1950 and this wrapped up his science fiction career less than five years later. First published in If Worlds of Science Fiction in February 1955 on page 22, Seller of the Sky by Dave Dryfoos…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Earth’s most powerful leader discovers that the counsel he trusted most may soon be gone—just as the stakes become irreversible. When guidance disappears, the final responsibility cannot be delegated, delayed, or avoided. Final Exam by Sam Merwin Jr.

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