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The Planet with No Nightmare
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
28 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2010
About the author
Jim Harmon
111 books5 followersJames Judson Harmon, aka Jim Harmon (born 1933), was an American short story author and popular culture historian who has written extensively about the Golden Age of Radio. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Judson Grey, and occasionally he was labeled Mr. Nostalgia.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 21, 2022
✔️Published in If Worlds of Science Fiction, July 1961..
This is a well-written and edge-on-your-seat short from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. I appreciated it greatly.
I enjoyed Jim Harmon’s writing style. He is a new-to-me science fiction writer:
This deserves a re-read at some time, because it was that good.
🟣Kindle version.
The creatures on the little planet were real bafflers. The first puzzler about them was that they died so easily. The second was that they didn't die at all.
This is a well-written and edge-on-your-seat short from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. I appreciated it greatly.
I enjoyed Jim Harmon’s writing style. He is a new-to-me science fiction writer:
The camp was a cluster of aluminum bubbles, ringed with a spy web to alert the Earthmen to the approach of any being. Each man had a bubble to himself, privacy after the long period of enforced intimacy on board the ship.
This deserves a re-read at some time, because it was that good.
🟣Kindle version.
September 14, 2026
A really thoughtful and well written story that I really enjoyed, with some Interesting and Fun Speculative Science going on. And a Trio of Well Defined Characters who felt like Real People. And yes, there was even Character Development going on in the story.
The Theoretical Science of the story is based on Facts that are told to the Reader at the Beginning of the story which, through the Course of the Narrative, lead to the Conclusions that are arrived at in the Dénouemont of the Story. The story Reads like, ah.....a Scientific Discovery.
It is established at the start of the story that the Planet Yancy-6 is part of a Cluster of Planets in Close Proximity to Each Other. And that Yancy-6 shows almost Zero Radiation from the Planet's Minerals And that its Atmosphere Shields the Planet from Solar Radiation. These Points will become Important Factors Later in the Dénouemont of the Story.
And then there are Pigs. And the Sex Life of those Pigs. Now why would Our Hero of the story, Ekstrohm, be interested in the Sex Lives of Alien Pigs? Well, as is established earlier in the story, during His long Sleepless Nights, that Ekstrohm was In the Habit of reading Tomes by Iwan Bloch. Hmmm.....
Speaking of Ekstrohm, He was a Protagonist I could really Cheer for. He was constantly, throughout His life, the Victim of Prejudice just because He was a Little Bit Different. He was Not like Everybody Else. Being Someone who is "On The Spectrum", He had My Sympathy.
And Ryan, the Captain of the Expedition, was extremely Bigoted towards Ekstrohm, constantly Falsely Accusing him of trying to Undermine the Mission.
So when Ekstrohm Punched the Bloated Crap out of Ryan, I was clapping My Hands and Cheering.
So, all in all, the story was a lot of Fun to Read. Not only did it satisfy my Literary Desires, it had My Scientific Mind Buzzing. What more could a Reader ask for?
A Recommended Read.
What follows is a Bit of a Spoiler, but it really doesn't give the Plot away. It's just something in the story that an Anthropologist like Me found really Interesting:
[About the Planet They had Landed on was ]"....a belt of minor planets, almost like the asteroid belt in the original Solar System. These planets were much bigger, nearly all capable of holding an atmosphere......"
[Ekstrohm explained] "......."These worlds are close. The gravity is low. You wouldn't need much more than a jet plane to get from one of these planetoids to another. Some animals have developed the power to travel from one of these planetoids to another—like a squid jetting out water. They harnessed some natural power system."
"What does that prove?" Ryan wanted to know.
"It proves that this world and others in this belt are prepared for interplanetary travel. It's probably a part of [these animals] basic evolutional structure, unlike [animals that have evolved on] heavy, independent planets....."
That's some Pretty Cool Stuff in My Opinion.
The Theoretical Science of the story is based on Facts that are told to the Reader at the Beginning of the story which, through the Course of the Narrative, lead to the Conclusions that are arrived at in the Dénouemont of the Story. The story Reads like, ah.....a Scientific Discovery.
It is established at the start of the story that the Planet Yancy-6 is part of a Cluster of Planets in Close Proximity to Each Other. And that Yancy-6 shows almost Zero Radiation from the Planet's Minerals And that its Atmosphere Shields the Planet from Solar Radiation. These Points will become Important Factors Later in the Dénouemont of the Story.
And then there are Pigs. And the Sex Life of those Pigs. Now why would Our Hero of the story, Ekstrohm, be interested in the Sex Lives of Alien Pigs? Well, as is established earlier in the story, during His long Sleepless Nights, that Ekstrohm was In the Habit of reading Tomes by Iwan Bloch. Hmmm.....
Speaking of Ekstrohm, He was a Protagonist I could really Cheer for. He was constantly, throughout His life, the Victim of Prejudice just because He was a Little Bit Different. He was Not like Everybody Else. Being Someone who is "On The Spectrum", He had My Sympathy.
And Ryan, the Captain of the Expedition, was extremely Bigoted towards Ekstrohm, constantly Falsely Accusing him of trying to Undermine the Mission.
So when Ekstrohm Punched the Bloated Crap out of Ryan, I was clapping My Hands and Cheering.
So, all in all, the story was a lot of Fun to Read. Not only did it satisfy my Literary Desires, it had My Scientific Mind Buzzing. What more could a Reader ask for?
A Recommended Read.
What follows is a Bit of a Spoiler, but it really doesn't give the Plot away. It's just something in the story that an Anthropologist like Me found really Interesting:
[About the Planet They had Landed on was ]"....a belt of minor planets, almost like the asteroid belt in the original Solar System. These planets were much bigger, nearly all capable of holding an atmosphere......"
[Ekstrohm explained] "......."These worlds are close. The gravity is low. You wouldn't need much more than a jet plane to get from one of these planetoids to another. Some animals have developed the power to travel from one of these planetoids to another—like a squid jetting out water. They harnessed some natural power system."
"What does that prove?" Ryan wanted to know.
"It proves that this world and others in this belt are prepared for interplanetary travel. It's probably a part of [these animals] basic evolutional structure, unlike [animals that have evolved on] heavy, independent planets....."
That's some Pretty Cool Stuff in My Opinion.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews