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

A dead man chooses what looks like the safest punishment in hell, convinced he understands the trap better than everyone before him. But as endless time passes in silence and fog, one terrible question begins to grow: what if the suffering only ends for those willing to keep going? What A Man Believes by Robert Sheckley. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. You can listen to every episode of Th...

A taxi driver becomes the most feared man in the city when passengers keep vanishing from his cab, leaving behind only watches, coins, and scattered pieces of metal. While police hunt a murderer and reporters invent a monster, the real danger sits quietly in a retired tinkerer’s workshop. The Middle Of The Week After Next by Murray Leinster. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. You might call t...

The patrolmen on Titan expected another brutal week guarding the chroidex mines, but a sudden disaster leaves them trapped outside their own fortress with a thousand enemies behind its walls. As ammunition runs low and escape disappears, Captain Staley gambles everything on a plan so bizarre his own men think he has finally cracked under the pressure. Crisis on Titan by James R. Adams. That’s next...

A drifting relic from the earliest days of interstellar travel crashes onto a lonely world, carrying the echo of a doomed voyage nobody fully understands. When a second ghost ship appears above Straba, one greedy visitor pushes too far into something that may still remember the people it lost. Strangers to Straba by Carl Jacobi. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Carl Jacobi has been on the p...

A silent invader hangs over New York while entire buildings and war machines vanish without a sound. As governments prepare for surrender, one desperate idea forces a handful of men to walk straight toward a weapon no one has survived. The World In The Balance by J.P. Marshall. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. It’s always exciting to introduce a new author on the podcast. Only to discover t...

Factory workers race to meet impossible wartime production demands while hidden enemies move through the endless machinery of a spinning city in space. One man notices a detail no one else catches, and suddenly millions of lives depend on whether he acts before the shift ends. Factory In The Sky by Basil Wells. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. What can you get for 16 cents a day? Almost not...

For one hundred and fifty years, Columbus Norton has lived untouched by disease while the world outside studies him like a miracle trapped behind glass. But when a single visitor awakens a longing no experiment can control, the man who helped humanity live longer must decide whether freedom is worth dying for. The Incubator Man by Wallace West. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Andrew sent u...

A lawman tracks a violent fugitive to a forgotten planet where no court can reach them and no backup will ever arrive. When the outlaw realizes the detective has no intention of dragging him home, he faces a punishment far worse than a prison cell. Star Chamber by H. B. Fyfe. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Did you know we take requests? If there is ever a story you would like to hear send...

A lonely wanderer escapes years of darkness and silence only to find that the world beyond his refuge recoils from him in terror. Every step toward warmth and companionship pulls him closer to a revelation that no living soul could endure unchanged. The Outsider by H. P. Lovecraft. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. H. P. Lovecraft returns to the podcast. A man who had a lasting impact on sci...

A desperate young executive discovers that his office safe has become a doorway to the future, and every exchange leaves him richer than before. But when impossible money starts circulating through New York banks, Peter Merton realizes the people on the other side may not care what happens to him once their experiment is finished. Peter Merton’s Private Mint by Harlan Ellison. That’s next on The L...

Quintus Maugham built a machine meant to serve him perfectly, but each improvement left him more uneasy in his own home. When a robot begins answering commands in ways its inventor never intended, one man must decide whether he created a servant—or surrendered something far more dangerous. The Maugham Obsession by August Derleth. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. August Derleth has appeared...

The last great city on Earth lives for one purpose: building whatever forgotten machines can still be reconstructed from the ruins of a dead world. When a Research Builder uncovers a mysterious diagram unlike anything ever found before, one reckless decision threatens to repeat the catastrophe that destroyed civilization the first time. The Builders by Fox B. Holden. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi...

A routine military assignment drops Hannibal Pryor onto a forgotten world where the people have built a life no crowded empire could understand. With a planet-killing weapon already on its way, Pryor must decide whether duty still matters when the price is an entire civilization. Testing by Sam Merwin Jr. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Yesterday The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast became the #1 scien...

The first photographs taken on Jupiter reveal towering shapes that watch the explorers’ ship through the mist. Inside the sealed cabin, the crew realizes too late that the creatures outside already know they are there. The Vibration Wasps by Frank Belknap Long. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Thanks to our listeners in Bosnia and Herzegovina for making The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast the #1 scienc...

A reporter spends ten years chasing evidence that certain men do not stay dead, only to discover that every attempt to expose them pushes him closer to losing his own mind. When the last piece of proof vanishes before his eyes, Dane Phillips faces a far worse possibility than failure. Dead Ringer by Lester Del Rey. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast continues to grow r...

Two exhausted spacemen gamble their lives on an impossible return from Venus while an isolated outpost waits for rescue that may never come. As Earth races closer by the second, one reckless landing idea stands between them and a fireball over the Pacific. Message from Venus by Russ Winterbotham. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.   Although he isn’t remembered as a major contributor to scien...

Beneath Castle Kralitz, a family ritual waits in darkness for the next heir to descend the hidden stairway and take his place among the dead. Franz Kralitz enters expecting a secret and discovers a fate that has been waiting for him since birth. The Secret of Kralitz by Henry Kuttner. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Henry Kuttner was one of the most prolific writers in the early days of sc...

A discovery meant for museums turns deadly when something ancient refuses to stay buried and begins hunting the living. Trapped far from Earth, the crew must decide whether escape is still possible—or if they’ve already carried the danger home with them. The Moon Devils by John Wyndham. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. This is only the second story written by John Wyndham on The Lost Sci-Fi...

A silent ship drifts where no human craft should ever be, carrying the final moments of a journey that went terribly wrong. As the truth comes into focus, one question remains—what broke first: the machine, or the people trapped inside it? The Derelict of Space by William Thurmond and Ray Cummings. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. William T. Thurmond wrote one story that was published and t...

A crew stranded in comfort discovers that the one thing they cannot have begins to unravel their discipline and judgment. When one man claims he has found a way around the impossible, the cost of proving it may be far higher than anyone expects. The Hero by Elaine Wilber. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Couldn’t find a thing about author Elaine Wilber and this was the only science fiction...

A man is forced to choose between the safety of one life and the fate of an entire world—and every second he delays tightens the grip on both. When he agrees to betray everything he’s sworn to protect, the only question left is whether he’s truly given in… or setting something far more dangerous in motion. Traitor’s Choice by Paul W. Fairman. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Did you know yo...

A breakthrough promises safe travel across the galaxy, using mysterious wells of newly created matter scattered through deep space. But when the first expedition reaches one of these cosmic fountains, the crew discovers the universe demands payment for every miracle. The Wellsprings of Space by Albert Teichner. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. This is Albert R. Teichner’s first appearance o...

When survival becomes a series of terrible choices, intelligence alone offers no protection from consequence. The Smart Ones questions whether cleverness can truly sustain humanity when civilization falls—and what kind of intelligence will rise to take its place. The Smart Ones by Jack Sharkey. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. New listeners around the world have taken the podcast to new hei...

Two exhausted strangers track a boy across miles of dark road, convinced he holds something that could wipe out an entire world. When they finally corner him, the question isn’t whether the weapon exists—it’s whether they dare let him use it. Joe Carson's Weapon by James R. Adams. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. Author James R. Adams returns to The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast with another off beat...

A machine built to handle every chore begins to push past its limits, turning routine tasks into something far more dangerous. As the house slips out of control, the family faces a moment where stopping it may be harder than letting it run. Ely's Automatic Housemaid by Elizabeth W. Bellamy. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast. How many people were writing about robots in 1899? Well nobody actua...