Backlash

Marks, Winston K. (Winston Kinney), 1915-1979Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 53K words
Chapters: 6

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.Backlash by Winston K. MarksAuthor: Marks, Winston K. (Winston Kinney), 1915-1979,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 15, 2010

Editor's review

Backlash is a science fiction short story by Winston K. Marks, classified under American and Canadian literature and now released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. Marks was active in the mid-twentieth-century pulp science fiction magazines, and his work often uses spare narrative to probe the tension between technology and human nature. The story is short and tightly paced, making it a useful sample of the era's science fiction short form. As a public-domain ebook, it is easy to open on any device and suits either English reading practice or supplementary reading in the history of science fiction. Readers might note how the author builds a turn within limited space, and how the story imagines the consequences of technology. Since the source material provides only bibliographic information and no plot details, readers should enter the text with an open mind, treating it as a brief genre-fiction experience rather than a substantial novel.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want an English science fiction short story for fragmented reading time
Genre fiction fans interested in mid-twentieth-century pulp science fiction
Learners who need light English-language source material for extensive reading practice
Researchers interested in public-domain ebooks and digital reading resources

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a long, complex world and deep character development
Readers who need a Chinese translation and are not comfortable reading English
Researchers seeking detailed biographical and bibliographical scholarship

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then revisit the key turning point to see how it was set up.
When using it for English extensive reading, guess unfamiliar words from context first and look them up after finishing.
For reading in the history of science fiction, compare it with other short stories from the same period to observe similarities and differences in genre conventions.
Use bookmarks on your e-reader to mark passages worth returning to.

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 book a novel or a short story?

According to the Project Gutenberg record, this is a short story by Marks, part of the public-domain ebook project. The material does not give a word count, but pulp science fiction short stories of this kind can usually be read in one sitting and suit fragmented reading time.

What English level is needed to read it?

The work is in the original English and belongs to mid-twentieth-century pulp science fiction writing, with a relatively direct style. Readers with intermediate English can finish it with a dictionary, and beginners can use it for extensive reading practice with an electronic dictionary.

Why is there no information about a Chinese translation?

The book is released free in English by Project Gutenberg, and the material shows no Chinese translation. Project Gutenberg mainly provides original-language public-domain ebooks; readers can read the English original directly or use translation tools for support.

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About the author

Marks, Winston K. (Winston Kinney), 1915-1979 Author

Winston K. Marks (1915–1979) was an American science fiction writer, born Winston Kinney Marks. Public information about his life and education is limited, and what is known comes mainly from his published work. The library holds 15 of his works, including "...So They Baked a Cake," "The Mind Digger," "Tabby," "Mate in Two Moves," "Unbegotten Child," "Brown John's Body," "Backlash," and "Breeder Reaction." These are mostly short science fiction stories dealing with technological ethics, human weakness, and social absurdity. They often use a light, humorous tone to frame a cool-headed look at technology out of control and the human condition; some titles are also classified under inspirational growth. He was active during the mid-twentieth-century boom of American science fiction magazines, and his stories appeared in popular science fiction periodicals, exerting some influence on later short-form science fiction writing.