Wandering Through the Public Domain #15

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A regular exploration of public domain genre works available through Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, and Librivox.

By Colleen McMahon:  E. Everett Evans (1893-1958) is one of those names I had never heard of before getting involved with Librivox. Based in the Los Angeles area, he was a long-time science fiction fan and minor author with a handful of short stories and novels to his name.

I stumbled onto him because one of Librivox’s current recording projects is The Planet Mappers, a YA novel from 1955. In this story, a family of space explorers (mom, dad and two teenage sons) are out in the galaxy attempting to independently map and explore a newly discovered solar system. Dad has taken loans to finance the expedition, so failure is potentially ruinous. Unfortunately, he takes a bad fall on the journey and his injuries put him out of commission. The two boys have to take the lead and complete their mission (Mom, of course, isn’t much use for anything but worrying and making hot meals).

The bits that I skimmed made me curious about Evans’ other public domain books available through Project Gutenberg. It turns out that there are three other novels. Man of Many Minds and Alien Minds star the same protagonist, a psychic secret agent taking part in interplanetary intrigue for the unfortunately-abbreviated S.S. (Secret Service!).

Masters of Space is probably Evan’s best known book, as it was co-written with E.E. “Doc” Smith. Masters of Space is the only Evans book available through Librivox, but The Planet Mappers should wrap up in the next couple of months.

Evans’ writing career only spanned the last decade or so of his life, but he was well-established in fandom through that period. After his death in 1958, Forrest J. Ackerman established the Big Heart award in Evans’ memory. The award is given annually at Worldcon to a fan who “embodies ‘good work and great spirit long contributed’” according to the Fancyclopedia website. Over the years the Big Heart award has been renamed twice, in 2006 in memory of Ackerman and in 2018 in memory of David A. Kyle.

Although it’s an award for fans rather than authors or SFF “celebrities”, there are some well-known names on the list of recipients over the years, including Robert Bloch, Bjo Trimble, and Julius Schwartz. And of course, our own Mike Glyer was recognized with the award in 2018!

Favorite fun fact I discovered while reading up on Mr. Evans: based on his initials, his nickname was Triple-E, or Tripoli. It speaks to my nerdiness that I think that is pretty cool.

Some recent birthday celebrants:

John Russell Fearn (1908-1960) was a British pulp writer who was one of the first to cross over to U.S. publications. He wrote under his own name and various pseudonyms. Most of his stories appeared between the late 1930s and mid 1950s. Unfortunately, Project Gutenberg does not have any of his works, but The Faded Page, based in Canada, has several of Fearn’s stories available through its site. As they note, public domain status outside of Canada is not confirmed. Internet Archive’s Pulp Magazine Archive also has several magazines containing Fearn’s writings, but again, public domain status is uncertain. It’s worth a click just to take a peek at the insanely awesome cover art in this selection, however!

Tom Godwin (1915-1980) has one novel and six stories available on Project Gutenberg:

The last two weeks have produced a bumper crop of new Librivox releases in the realms of science fiction and fantasy:

  • Snowball by Poul Anderson (1926-2001)

    Simon’s new source of power promised a new era for Mankind. But what happens to world economy when anyone can manufacture it in the kitchen oven?… Here’s one answer!


  • Korean Fairy Tales by William Elliot Griffis (1843-1928)

    Everywhere on earth the fairy world of each country is older and perhaps more enduring than the one we see and feel and tread upon. So I tell in this book the folk lore of the Korean people, and of the behavior of the particular kind of fairies that inhabit the Land of Morning Splendor.



  • Studies in Love and in Terror by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868-1947)

    This is a collection of five stories by Marie Belloc Lowndes. The stories are neither love stories nor ghost and horror stories but they each combine elements of both.


  • The Goddess of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw (1851-1927)

    An accident during a polar expedition leads the crew of the Polar King to the discovery of an entire world within the earth. Within the interior realm lies a vast ocean with continents and civilisations unknown to the outside world. The societies within possess new technologies and magics unknown to the outside world and these are lovingly described in great detail by the author. The crew proceed to explore and in true Victorian fashion then conquer the new world. An extraordinary feat of imagination and inventiveness by this obscure author.


  • The Magic Wand by Tudor Jenks (1857-1922)

    Three short children’s fantasy stories. The stories are light and humorous and can spark a child’s imagination.

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