Accidental Flight

Floyd Lee WallaceProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 125K words
Chapters: 13

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Accidental Flight by F. L. WallaceAuthor: Wallace, F. L. (Floyd L.), 1915-2004,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 30, 2010

Editor's review

Accidental Flight is a short science fiction work by the American writer F. L. Wallace, released as an English ebook by Project Gutenberg. Wallace was active in the mid-twentieth-century science fiction magazine era, and his work often centers on technological accidents, human situations, and unknown environments; this piece likewise has the compactness and speculative appeal of short science fiction from that period. As a public-domain ebook, it works well as an introduction to early English-language short science fiction: limited in length, direct in setup, easy to read, and able to convey the golden age's fondness for "accident" and " improvisation." While reading, pay attention to how the author builds suspense and lays out the setup within a limited space, and how the characters choose when facing sudden situations. For readers who want to practice English reading with short pieces or who are interested in classic short science fiction, this is a light and enjoyable choice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early English-language short science fiction
Learners who want to practice English reading with shorter texts
Science fiction fans who like setups involving technological accidents and unknown situations
People who need lightweight public-domain ebooks for daily reading

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long-form worldbuilding and deep character development
Readers expecting contemporary hard-science-fiction-style scientific detail
Beginners with very little English reading experience who need line-by-line annotations

Reading tips

Read it through once to grasp the overall suspense, then go back to the passages where the author sets up the premise.
While reading, note the logic of the characters' decisions when facing the accident; this can serve as discussion material.
Read it alongside other golden-age science fiction shorts to see similarities and differences in period style.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a novel or a short story?

The information does not give a specific word count, but judging from the form in which Project Gutenberg includes it and Wallace's background, it is a short science fiction work suitable for reading in one or two sittings.

Do I need a science fiction background?

No. The setup is relatively direct, and ordinary readers can enter it smoothly. If you are familiar with the writing style of mid-twentieth-century science fiction magazines, you will more easily appreciate its period flavor.

How difficult is the English?

As an early science fiction short story, the language is generally plain, but it may contain period technical terms and expressions. Readers with intermediate English reading ability can finish it with a dictionary.

Comments

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About the author

Floyd Lee Wallace Author · American · 1915–2004

F. L. Wallace (Floyd Lee Wallace, 1915–2004) was an American science fiction and mystery writer and a mechanical engineer. He was born in 1915 in Rock Island, Illinois, and died in 2004 in Tustin, California. From the 1950s onward he wrote short stories for science fiction magazines such as Galaxy as well as novels. Thirteen of his works are held in this collection, including Delay in Transit, The Man Who Was Six, End as a World, Forget Me Nearly, Address: Centauri, Student Body, Bolden's Pets and Accidental Flight. His writing often starts from the practical details of engineering and technology, combining precise speculation with suspense and reversal, and his subjects frequently involve space travel, mistaken identity and sudden crises. Public information about his life and career is limited, and readers' knowledge of him and his work still rests mainly on these short stories and novels scattered across various publications.