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A curious and terrifying story about an artist who sold his soul that he might paint a living picture.

Piracy in the past has acquired the gaudy technicolor of high romance. In the present, piracy is as tawdry as tabloid headlines. But piracy in the far future, when presented as vividly as in this story, can be scary stuff. ''The shortest distance between two points may be the long way around—and a path of dishonor may well turn into the high road to virtue.''

His assignment was to get things done; he definitely did so.Not quite the things intended, perhaps, but definitely done.

William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was an American realist author and literary critic. He wrote his first novel, Their Wedding Journey, in 1871, but his literary reputation really took off with the realist novel A Modern Instance, published in 1882, which describes the decay of a marriage. His 1885...

They came to Mars inquiring after the stuff of Empire. They got—The Terrible Answer

From The Further Adventures of Romney Pringle, a collection of short stories about an engaging crook and literary agent who cycles everywhere, no matter what the scam...

In the Paris of the first half of this century there was no darker, dingier, or more forbidding quarter than that which lay north of the Rue de Rivoli, round about the great central market, commonly called the Halles. The worst part of it, perhaps, was the Rue Assiette d'Etain, or Tinplate Street....

Freedom is a very dangerous thing indeed. It is so catching—like a plague—even the doctors get it.

Almost anything, if it goes on long enough, can be reduced to, first a Routine, and then, to a Tradition. And at the point it is, obviously, Necessary.

Subversive'' is, in essence, a negative term--it means simply ''against the existent system.'' It doesn't mean subversives all agree...

Before you wish for something--or send agents to get it for you--make very, very sure you really want it. You might get it, you know....

Unfortunately, there was only one thing he could bring back from the wonderful future... and though he didn't want to... nevertheless he did....

Flying at 1600 m.p.h. you act with split-second timing after you sight the enemy. And you're allowed only one mistake--your last!

Matthew Phipps Shiell, also known as M. P. Shiel, was a prolific British writer of West Indian descent. His legal surname remained "Shiell" though he adopted the shorter version as a de facto pen name. He is remembered mostly for supernatural and scientific romances. His work was published as serials,...