Hugh A. D. Spencer

For the first time in print, Spencer's radio plays "Amazing Struggles, Astonishing Failures, and Disappointing Success", together with the follow-up four-part audio drama "Cult Stories", tell the tales of disillusioned science fiction writers over the course of the mid-20th century. AMAZING STRUGGLES! In the Golden Age of science fiction, a group of aspiring young authors, the Fabulists, is ready to wow the world with tales of interplanetary heroism and technological supremacy. ASTONISHING FAILURES! Unfortunately, their dreams of fame and fortune are consistently dashed by the dastardly rejections of the compulsively conservative and out-of-touch editor of Tremendous Stories of Super Science. DISAPPOINTING SUCCESS (PARTS I & II)! While some of the Fabulists see middling success as teachers and television writers, another becomes a science fiction mega-star whose writing (and the author's own pathology) spawns a cult religion with wild ideas that may be a bit less bogus than his short stories. CULT STORIES! And like an artistic pandemic, some forms of science fiction can get very ugly. Only extreme measures will save us. "Virtually every line is written to amuse and amaze, yet it’s bang on accurate in its overall account of the actuality of the decade. A lot of thought went into noting the humour inherent in the activities and pretensions of First Fandom." - Amazing Stories "A delightfully cracked and deeply savvy romp through the history of science fiction, and perforce our world, all told through two quartets of scripts for radio plays! You’ll meet real people, thinly veiled characters, and even fully dressed folk you never heard of in this mind’s ear theater that could have appeared in Mad Magazine. What, me worry? No, but I’d love to hear these scripts enacted in a podcast." - Paul Levinson, author of It’s Real Life, award-winning alternate history radio play

The Fabulist Play Cycle: A radio play collection

Twice Aurora Award-nominated author Hugh A. D. Spencer collects more of his previously published short fiction in this fun collection. Featuring a series of interconnected stories about the Progressive Apparatus, a sometimes anti-muse, sometimes amoral high-tech firm, and a Galactic Super-culture that meddles in human life through heavy drugs and museum exhibits, this collection asks the big questions in science fiction. Like what happens to those breakthrough scientific projects when the funders pull the plug? What if that crazy scifi religious cult is actually on to something? How can a heartless multi-galactic corporation be affected by a small act of rebellion, like driving a truck through their headquarters? Stories in this collection Five Stories About Alan The Progressive Apparatus ...And the Retrograde Mentor ...Experience Denial Then Acceptance The Heritage Drug Project Sticky Wonder Stories The Meaning of Steel Ammonite City Cult Stories John, Paul, Xavier, Ironside and George (But Not Vincent)

The Progressive Apparatus and More Fantasticals

Hugh A. D. Spencer’s weird, wonderful, side-splitting short fiction has been delighting audiences for over 25 years. His stories have been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies and broadcast on National Public Radio satellite networks. Now collected together for the first time, Why I Hunt Flying Saucers And Other Fantasticals contains thirteen of his best-loved stories, along with all-new introductions by the author. Malfunctioning household robots, an endless apocalyptic loop, potash-fuelled interstellar travel, and more—these stories stretch science fiction to its limit and bring it into our backyards at the same time. Includes the Aurora Award-nominated story “Why I Hunt Flying Saucers”! Foreword by Dr. John Colarusso, Professor of Linguistics, McMaster University Stories in this collection Why I Hunt Flying Saucers Icarus Down/Bear Rising The Triage Conference The Robot Reality Check Strategic Dog Patterning The Z-Burger Simulations Mormonism and the Saskatoon Space Programme Pornzilla The Hospital for Sick Robots Problem Project A 21st Century Scientific Romance When Bloomsbury Fails (Coping With) Norm Deviation

Why I Hunt Flying Saucers and Other Fantasticals

David Rae

Stephen B. Pearl

Simon A. G. Spencer

Dale E. McClenning

Gary Girod

J. R. Dwornik

Erynn Q

JD DeLuzio

Stories of wonder and courage from the farthest stars to the ground beneath our feet Charging selflessly into danger, facing the mortality of an artificially extended life, plumbing the deepest depths of space, fighting to expose truths others want to keep hidden... This collection of all-new stories from Brain Lag authors features never-before-seen glimpses into favourite worlds as well as new characters and places to love. From starkly beautiful to brashly funny and everything in between, these stories showcase the range of voices Brain Lag has been proud to publish over the years. Why do we tell such tales of hardship and bravery, honesty and reflection? Because in the darkness between the stars, there are no heroes. There are only regular people who step up. Featuring all-new stories by: JD DeLuzio J. R. Dwornik Catherine Fitzsimmons Gary Girod Dale E. McClenning Stephen B. Pearl Erynn Q David Rae Hugh A. D. Spencer Simon A. G. Spencer

Hugh A. D. Spencer

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