Today on Project Gutenberg #46

Today on Project Gutenberg, we have... The Master of the World by Jules Verne AW YEAH, IT'S VERNE TIME, Y'ALL. Wait, is it even legal to use "Verne" and "y'all" in the same sentence? Out of all the 19th-century authors that I enjoy, I must admit I have a soft spot for Jules Verne. Throughout …

Today on Project Gutenberg #41

Today on Project Gutenberg, we have... Hail to the Chief by Randall Garrett I know, I know, we're all sick and tired of hearing about presidential elections. But this one's gonna be fun, I promise. This story comes to us from the February 1962 issue of Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction. It was written …

Today on Project Gutenberg #38

Today on Project Gutenberg, we have... Unbegotten Child by Winston Marks The only thing scarier than being pregnant is being unwillingly pregnant. And the only thing scarier than being unwillingly pregnant is when you have no idea how you got that way. Inexplicable or simply impossible pregnancies have been a trope in fiction for literally …

Today on Project Gutenberg #25

Today on Project Gutenberg, we have... Sonny by Rick Raphael With a title as short and nondescript as "Sonny," it's all too easy to overlook this short story at first. But the transcriber's note at the beginning of the PG text tells us that this story was originally published in the April 1963 issue of …

Short Story: “Snapshot of an Apocalypse”

I wanted to throw another story up on here since I haven't done that in a while. This one is actually from about three years ago, and it's kind of weird even for me. I wanted to write something that was based around a description of a creature, and I also tried experimenting with second-person …

The Work of Worldbuilding: Part 2

After I published the previous article, I realized I hadn't said everything I wanted to say about worldbuilding just yet. To be specific, I want to go into more detail about what I called "worldbuilding pieces" and what that term means. We learn best through example, so today, I'm going to show you guys various …

Film Review! “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”

Spoilers for the film are included here, so if you haven't seen it yet, consider this your warning!   I like to say I don't have a favorite movie, but if I were to make a list of the possible contenders for that title, the original Jurassic Park would be near the top. A classic …

Short Story: “The Digital Bullet”

I wrote this story a few years ago, inspired by a nonfiction book my mother was reading about hacking and web security. I subsequently published it in the Spring 2016 issue of Stylus, my university's annual fiction magazine. While I don't strictly classify it as science-fiction, I think it does have a near-future cyberpunk feel …

Short Story: “The Mechanical Theater”

For the inaugural work of fiction here on HH, I've chosen a piece that I wrote a few years ago, during my first or second year of college. I remember being inspired by 1930s-style dieselpunk and especially the little robot on the webpage of Clarkesworld Magazine. I think of it as a "worldbuilding piece," something …