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The Gallery
There was no conceivable trouble of terrestrial origin that could touch her—or would want to. And, as it turned out, I was right in that respect. I was right in another respect too. By finishing my thesis I became a Ph.D. on schedule, and if I had abandoned all that and rushed to Sumac the moment I received the telegram it could not have materially altered the outcome of things. And Aunt Matilda, hanging on the wall of my study, knitting things for the Red Cross, will attest to that.
30 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 12, 2026
A fun little 1960's Paranoid Sci-Fi/Twilight Zone style story.
Arthur, a Ph D student, is on a Mission of Mercy. Something is troubling his Aunt Matilda who lives in the small town of Sumac, which located in Nowheres Ville South Wisconsin.
When he arrives at Sumac, Arthur is beset by an uncanny feeling of disconnection. Something is wrong in Sumac. Something unnatural and unsettling. And ground zero is Aunt Matilda's home.
And it's "The Pictures". Too real to be mere photographs. Too invasive to be natural. A real Night Gallery of Terror, to use another Rod Serling reference. (Great show, btw).
A creepy, surreal take on American Red Scare paranoia and 1950's Technophobia. And a scary idea if you are someone who even the smallest bit of a Persecution Complex.
As for Lana the Alien, with her Dark Velvet Underground Shades and her Mantram Camera......I'm in Love!
Arthur, a Ph D student, is on a Mission of Mercy. Something is troubling his Aunt Matilda who lives in the small town of Sumac, which located in Nowheres Ville South Wisconsin.
When he arrives at Sumac, Arthur is beset by an uncanny feeling of disconnection. Something is wrong in Sumac. Something unnatural and unsettling. And ground zero is Aunt Matilda's home.
And it's "The Pictures". Too real to be mere photographs. Too invasive to be natural. A real Night Gallery of Terror, to use another Rod Serling reference. (Great show, btw).
A creepy, surreal take on American Red Scare paranoia and 1950's Technophobia. And a scary idea if you are someone who even the smallest bit of a Persecution Complex.
As for Lana the Alien, with her Dark Velvet Underground Shades and her Mantram Camera......I'm in Love!
July 19, 2025
nice science fiction story
September 30, 2018
In Librivox SSF Collection Vol 019 & ???. Deliciously weird, a PhD finals student gets an urgent telegram which he feels he has to ignore. Belatedly arriving , the guilt ridden hero investigates the feeling of eerie unreality that pervades the heretofore unremarkable location of his previously distressed aunt. The plot thickens from thereon as the details in his recollections accumulate mysterious errors. By Rog Phillips.
July 2, 2011
Live pictures - doesn’t seem so far fetched now.
Audio Book MP3 downloaded from
http://librivox.org/short-science-fic...
Public Domain stories from Project Gutenberg, that are read by volunteers.
I listen to these short stories while walking to and from work.
Play Duration: 00:40:33
Read By: Ted Ryan
Audio Book MP3 downloaded from
http://librivox.org/short-science-fic...
Public Domain stories from Project Gutenberg, that are read by volunteers.
I listen to these short stories while walking to and from work.
Play Duration: 00:40:33
Read By: Ted Ryan
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews