The Test Colony

by Winston K. Marks

[...] A crew of craftsmen with their busy little power saws had constructed a sloping ship's ramp of rough planks sawed from the nearest trees. We stepped through and over the assembled people who were lying around in the grass at the base of the ramp, and Benson mounted twenty feet above us at the entrance to the ship. Everyone was in high spirits, and a light cheer rippled through the assembly. Benson, however, ignored it and bent a thoroughly serious gaze out over his "flock."[...].

38 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 2011

About the author

Born Winston Kinney Marks, this US writer of sf short stories also wrote as Win Marks and used the pseudonyms Win Kinney and Ken Winney, each for just one story. He began publishing with "Mad Hatter" for Unknown in May 1940, but then, after "Manic Perverse" (October 1941 Astounding), was not heard of again until 1953 when he published The Water Eater (June 1953 Galaxy; 2010 ebook). He was then quite prolific, publishing nearly 60 further stories to 1959, with two final SF Magazine appearances in the late 1960s.

Reviews

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun short uplifting tale about the fears, faults, and strengths that can come from cultures colliding.

I'd like to once again thank Randy from Horror Aficionados for his updated lists of free kindle stories.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining space listening 🎶🔰

Another will written space fantasy Sci-Fi adventure thriller short story by Winston K. Marks about earthlings arriving on a planet that should have no inhabitants. But there are interesting inhabitants who become friendly and save mankind when they become sick. I would recommend this novella to readers of fantasy space novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do because of health issues. 2022 👒😊💑🏡

[Susan Molloy · Rating 4 out of 5]

🖍️ In this short adventure, a space crew is on a mission to investigate the habitability of an apparent primitive world. The descriptive writing was enjoyable, and the story is OK. The Project Gutenberg version has the original illustrations, while the Kindle version does not.

📙Published in If: Worlds of Science Fiction - September 1954 - Vol. 4, No. 1.

🟢The e-book version can be found at Project Gutenberg.
🟣 Kindle.
🚀●▬●💫🪐💫●▬●🚀

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Survival of the fittest.

Old fashioned sci fi. Winston k marks brings us a story of human colonization. The science is a little off but the interactions between human and fuzzy seems realistic.

[Robert RICHARDSON JR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humans Folly

It was a good story, befitting human perception that we are so smart. Let it be an alien race that knocks us down a few pegs, just to open our eyes that we aren't as smart as we think we are.