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

Arthur Holly thinks he has found the surest bet in horse racing when a brilliant scientist discovers how to make an aging nag run like a champion. The scheme works beautifully, but every race leaves their fortune riding on one very fragile piece of technology. Replace the Horse by Laurence M. Janifer. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

I want to take a moment to make a promise to everyone who listens to The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Platforms come and go. Things change, sometimes for reasons beyond our control. The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast may not always be available everywhere it is today, but as long as I’m alive, I will keep narrating these amazing stories and find a way to get them to you.

When I started this podcast, I made a promise to myself: Start and never stop.

More than 600 episodes later, that promise means even more to me than it did then.

So wherever you listen today, and wherever you may listen tomorrow, know this: The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast isn’t going anywhere.

As long as I’m here, the stories will keep coming.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the podcast. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to keep bringing these wonderful old stories back to life.

Laurence M. Janifer made his debut on the podcast almost three years ago with Curse of the Blue Man.

He was born Laurence Mark Harris in Brooklyn, New York, in 1933, and much of his early work appeared under the name Laurence M. Harris. In 1963, thirty years after his birth, he adopted Janifer, the original surname of his Polish grandfather, and from that point forward his work was published under the name Laurence M. Janifer.

Over a career that spanned nearly half a century, Janifer wrote more than 60 short stories and numerous novels, publishing under his own name as well as several pseudonyms. His first published science-fiction story appears to have been “Expatriate,” published in Cosmos in 1953, when he was only 20.

Today’s tale was published in the January 1959 issue of Fantastic on page 75, Replace the Horse by Laurence M. Janifer…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A fugitive believes he has found a world willing to give him everything he has lost, including someone who seems made for him. But the closer paradise comes to matching his deepest desires, the harder it becomes for him to trust what stands before him. Killer by James E. Gunn.

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Deep in the Brazilian jungle, a terrified family has found a way to bargain with something no human being was meant to bargain with. When an American naturalist realizes who—or what—is demanding payment, he begins to understand how easily an army of tiny creatures could become something far more dangerous. Doomsday Deferred by Murray Leinster. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Murray Leinster is one of my favorite authors and this is the 12th story written by Leinster that we have featured on the podcast.

First published in The Saturday Evening Post, September 24, 1949, Doomsday Deferred by Murray Leinster…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Arthur Holly thinks he has found the surest bet in horse racing when a brilliant scientist discovers how to make an aging nag run like a champion. The scheme works beautifully, but every race leaves their fortune riding on one very fragile piece of technology. Replace the Horse by Laurence M. Janifer.

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$25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

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Sidney Davidson can hear his friends in England, feel the furniture beneath his hands, and yet his eyes insist he is somewhere impossibly far away. As the vision refuses to fade, one question becomes harder to dismiss: what if the impossible scene before him is not a dream at all? The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes by H. G. Wells. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Today’s story was first published in the Pall Mall Budget which was a weekly British magazine published in London and served as a weekly digest of articles and news summaries collected from its parent evening newspaper, the Pall Mall Gazette.

Like many of the stories written by H. G. Wells it has been reprinted more than a hundred times.

Let’s go back to Thursday March 28th, 1895 and discover, The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes by H. G. Wells…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Deep in the Brazilian jungle, a terrified family has found a way to bargain with something no human being was meant to bargain with. When an American naturalist realizes who—or what—is demanding payment, he begins to understand how easily an army of tiny creatures could become something far more dangerous. Doomsday Deferred by Murray Leinster.

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$75 James Van Maanenberg

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$25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

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$10 David, Anonymous Listener

$5 Every Month Eaten by a Grue

$5 Tammy, Owen, Bruce, Someone, TLD, David, Denis Kalinin, Timothy Buckley, Andre'a, Martin Brown, Ron McFarlan, Tif Love, Chrystene, Richard Hoffman, Anonymous Listener

Listen without commercials and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes every month with Lost Sci-Fi Premium—start your free 7-day trial today. https://lostscifi.supercast.com/

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This episode of the podcast is dedicated to my Mom who passed two days ago at the age of 86. Thank you Mom, for everything

A desperate father races through flooded mountain wilderness toward a village chapel, convinced only a sacred symbol can save his fever-stricken daughter before nightfall. But every mile costs him time, and the strange stranger he keeps rescuing may be the very reason he returns home too late. Back Before The Moon by S. Omar Barker. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

Today’s author lived an amazing life. Squire Omar Barker was born on a small mountain ranch in Beulah, New Mexico in 1894. He was the youngest in a family of eleven children.

Barker worked as a Spanish teacher, high school principal, forest ranger, sergeant of the 502nd Engineers in France in World War I, trombone player in Doc Patterson's Cowboy Band, and newspaper correspondent. From 1924 to 1926 he was a member of the New Mexico house of representatives.

Although the story you are about to hear is his only science fiction short story he estimated he wrote more than 1,500 short stories and novellas and more than 2,000 poems. His work appeared in pulp magazines and prestigious publications too, including the Saturday Evening Post.

Perhaps his best known work was "A Cowboy's Christmas Prayer," which has been printed more than one hundred times, and recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford and Jimmy Dean. It’s not sci-fi but we will record it too in a few months and put it on our Facebook page.

He won the Western Writers of America Spur Award twice, in 1978 he was the first living author to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of Great Westerners in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He often signed his books with his initials and trademark brand, "Lazy SOB.” S. Omar Barker lived to be 91.

Today’s story was published in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror in March 1932 on page 102, Back Before the Moon by S. Omar Barker…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, Sidney Davidson can hear his friends in England, feel the furniture beneath his hands, and yet his eyes insist he is somewhere impossibly far away. As the vision refuses to fade, one question becomes harder to dismiss: what if the impossible scene before him is not a dream at all? The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes by H. G. Wells.

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$75 James Van Maanenberg

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$25 Fintan Quigley, Curious Jon, David Bell, Steve, Miriam, Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

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$5 Every Month Eaten by a Grue

$5 Tammy, Owen, Bruce, Someone, TLD, David, Denis Kalinin, Timothy Buckley, Andre'a, Martin Brown, Ron McFarlan, Tif Love, Chrystene, Richard Hoffman, Anonymous Listener

Listen without commercials and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes every month with Lost Sci-Fi Premium—start your free 7-day trial today. https://lostscifi.supercast.com/

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Some of you have reached out to ask why there haven’t been any new episodes of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast recently.

My mother is nearing the end of her life, and I am traveling to be with her and spend whatever time we have left together.

Right now, I don’t know when I’ll be able to return to producing new episodes of The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. In the meantime, there are more than 600 episodes already available, and I hope you’ll continue to explore the many stories in the collection and find something you enjoy.

Thank you for listening, and especially for your patience, kindness, and understanding during this difficult time.

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