Audiobooks by Francis Stevens

50 Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories 8 Audiobook

"50 Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories Vol. 8 Step into a time machine of imagination with 50 Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories Vol. 8 — a thrilling audio collection featuring over 32 hours of classic science fiction from the golden age of the genre: the 1890s through the 1960s. These mind-bending tales come from legendary authors who shaped the future before it arrived — including Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Edgar Allan Poe, Harlan Ellison, H. P. Lovecraft, Jack London, H. G. Wells, Clifford D. Simak, Robert Silverberg, Fritz Leiber, Harry Harrison, Robert Sheckley, Michael Shaara, Noel Loomis, Zenna Henderson, Alfred Bester, Henry Kuttner, Katherine MacLean, Donald E. Westlake, Mack Reynolds, Raymund Z. Gallun, Nelson S. Bond, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald A. Wollheim, Randall Garrett, Alfred Coppel, Lyn Venable, William Tenn, Robert Moore Williams, Francis Stevens, Miriam Allen DeFord, Frank Belknap Long, Harl Vincent, James Rosenquest, Edward Page Mitchell, Winston Marks, G. Peyton Wertenbaker and Clyde Beck. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or just discovering the genre, this anthology delivers thought-provoking adventures, speculative visions, and timeless storytelling that defined an era. Relive the past. Imagine the future. Own a piece of sci-fi history."

Alfred Bester, Alfred Coppel, Arthur C. Clarke, Charles Dye, Clark Ashton Smith, Clifford D. Simak, Clyde Beck, Donald A. Wollheim, Donald E. Westlake, Edgar Allan Poe, Edward Page Mitchell, Francis Stevens, Frank Belknap Long, Fritz Leiber, G. Peyton Wertenbaker, H.G. Wells, H.P. Lovecraft, Harl Vincent, Harlan Ellison, Harry Harrison, Henry Kuttner, Isaac Asimov, Jack London, James Rosenquest, Katherine MacLean, Lyn Venable, Mack Reynolds, Michael Shaara, Miriam Allen DeFord, Nelson S. Bond, Noel Loomis, Philip K. Dick, Randall Garrett, Raymond Z. Gallun, Robert Moore Williams, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn, Winston Marks, Zenna Henderson (Author), Scott Miller (Narrator)

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The Citadel of Fear: Lovecraft raved about this terrifying journey into a Aztec temple

"Gertrude Barrows Bennett’s The Citadel of Fear (1918) is one of the greatest dark fantasy classics, a gorgeously written and imaginatively conceived masterpiece. In a career that spanned a mere three years, Bennett published half a dozen books under the pseudonym of Francis Stevens which came to define a number of later genres. She is most popularly known as the woman who invented dark fantasy, but along the way she also invented a new, creepier kind of dystopian sci-fi. When The Citadel of Fear first appeared in The Argosy, H.P. Lovecraft raved of its “wonderful and tragic allegory,” describing it as a “masterful” and “huge mystery” — a “gigantic tragedy.” Although set during the first world war, the story centres around the forgotten (yet active) Aztec civilisation of Talapallan, tucked away in an eerie underworld of the Mexican wilds. Among its many temples stands the black fetid shrine, where the dark god Nacoc-Yaotl is worshipped. When an Irishman and an American from modern-day United States stumble into Talapallan one falls in love, while the other is possessed by Nacoc-Yaotl. Their return to the quiet suburbs of the US is anything but, bringing in their lucid wake a world of rampaging monsters, mutated civilians, and battling gods. Romance, magic, adventure, and scrumptious writing are embedded in this lengthly, yet unavailable and often overlooked, masterwork."

Francis Stevens, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Nightmare!: The First Ever Dark Fantasy Novel

"Also published as Nightmare! A Tale of Waking Terror by Francis Stevens. Come now and see a strange island peopled with monstrous beings and carnivorous plants, on which vie two brother princes on opposite sides of a great conflict, with a woman who is more than match for either between them. Nightmare was the first in a type of fiction that became known as dark fantasy, and remains a high water mark in the genre. First published in 1916, this debut novel began the three year career in which Francis Stevens became the person that launched entire genres of modern fictions. With her vast imagination and flair for the unusual and exciting, Gertrude Barrows Bennett created a seed that has grown into thousands of great works. An exciting adventure tale in which 'The air of mystery and the atmospheric buildup are superbly done, indicating a ranking talent.' [Sam Moskowitz] Come along for a voyage on a great ocean liner to an uncharted land, filled with strange beast and secrets of alchemy, and a woman strong enough to win over them. Gertrude Barrows Bennett is better known by her pen-name, Francis Stevens. With a career that only spanned three years between 1917 and 1920, when she stopped writing after her mother's death, she is credited as 'the woman who invented dark fantasy'. She was a direct influence on H.P. Lovecraft, and in the words of Sam Moskowitz was the 'greatest woman writer of science fiction in the period between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and C.L. Moore''"

Francis Stevens, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Serapion: A tale of Demonic Possession from the Victorian Era

"In a career that spanned a mere three years, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (writing as Francis Stevens) published half a dozen books that came to define the genres that followed on. she is most popularly known as the woman who invented dark fantasy, but on the way she also invented a new, creepier kind of dystopian Sci Fi. Today, you would call this a tale of trauma-onset schizophrenia, or perhaps a terrible descent into Dissociative Identity Disorder, foretold by genetics. In 1920, the best way to make sense of it was demonic possession. A true masterwork of psychological horror, from before psychology existed. 'One of the most intense, complete and unrelenting tales of psychological horror ever put together. No gore, guts and physical putrescence so common to horror, but the utter dissolution of a human spirit, as told by the victim. It is also perhaps the saddest book I've ever read, a perfectly realized story of unredeemed personal degradation and its effects on all it touches. Clayton Barbour, the narrator, is a protected bourgeois son just weak enough to allow himself to be overwhelmed by a sly, dissembling force of evil, just strong enough to be constantly tormented by his weakness. Invited to a séance by a casual acquaintance, Moore, who sees in him a psychic force, he becomes the inadvertent victim of Moore's wife's contact with a channeled malignant force. From this point on, the life of Clayton, his family and his friends is slowly, inextricably ripped asunder by events and in ways that seem unconnected but are manipulated by the Fifth Presence within him. Bennett pulls no punches, provides no happy ending. In that, it is her most honest work (and perhaps a summing summing up of her own life to this point, when she had lost a husband, father and invalid mother)... Dark, wrenching, truly horrifying, but a book I can recommend without the least reservation.' [Derek Davis, Goodreads]"

Francis Stevens, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Sunfire!: Collected pulp magazine tales from the original mistress of fantasy

"Getrude Bennet has been called the 'most important woman writer of fantasy between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1759-1797) and C.L. Moore (1911-1987)'. This is a complete collection of short stories by the woman who first explored the dark fantasy worlds of the modern era. this book contains tales that were originally published in Weird Tales, Argosy, and All-Story Weekly between 1918-1923. Also included is the first known sci fi story published by a woman writer in America, 'The Curious Experience of Thomas Dunbar', which was the very first story sold by Bennett, under the pen-name of GM Barrows. This story predates her otherwise 6-year long writing career by 14 years, when she was just 21."

Francis Stevens, Gertrude Barrows Bennett (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Citadel of Fear (Unabridged)

Francis Stevens (Author), Bryan Godwin (Narrator)

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Women of the Pulps

"Historically, science fiction has a reputation of being created by men for other men. Women who wrote speculative fiction often used their initials or male pseudonyms to conceal their gender. During the '50s and ‘60s, only ten percent of pulp fiction stories were written by women, many of whom have since been lost or forgotten.This anthology attempts to preserve the place of women in American society and imagination by collecting some of the best stories by women pulp writers, including Katherine MacLean, Greye La Spina, Judith Merril, Sonya Dorman, Alice Eleanor Jones, Sophie Wenzel Ellis, and Francis Stevens."

Alice Eleanor Jones, Francis Stevens, Greye La Spina, Judith Merril, Katherine Maclean, Sonya Dorman, Sophie Wenzel Ellis (Author), Rachael Endrizzi (Narrator)

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The Heads of Cerberus (Unabridged)

"The Heads of Cerberus is a science fiction novel by American writer Francis Stevens. The novel was originally serialized in the pulp magazine The Thrill Book in 1919, and it was first published in book form in 1952 by Polaris Press in an edition of 1,563 copies. It was the first book published by Polaris Press. A scholarly reprint edition was issued by Arno Press in 1978, and a mass market paperback by Carroll & Graf in 1984. - The novel concerns people who, after inhaling a grey dust, are transported to a future totalitarian Philadelphia in 2118."

Francis Stevens (Author), Sam Kusi (Narrator)

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Audiobooks by Francis Stevens

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