Clean Break

Roger Dolphus AycockProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 34K words
Chapters: 4

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.Clean Break by Roger D. AycockAuthor: Aycock, Roger D., 1914-2004,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 2, 2010

Editor's review

Clean Break is a short English-language science fiction story by Roger D. Aycock (1914–2004), published in the mid-twentieth century and made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Aycock's work is known for brisk pacing and unexpected endings; this piece is concise enough to finish in a commute or a lunch break, offering the pleasure of an early science fiction magazine short. As a public-domain electronic text, it is also a small sample of the conventions of American mid-century short science fiction: a clear premise, a focused conflict, and an ending that often carries a twist. Readers should not expect a grand world-building or a deep exploration of technological ethics; it is better approached as a neatly crafted science fiction sketch from an earlier era. For those studying early English-language short science fiction or hoping to encounter original science fiction with a relatively low language barrier, this book offers a friendly length and a complete structure as a starting point.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to finish a complete English short story in fragmented time
Beginner readers interested in mid-twentieth-century English-language short science fiction
Learners who want to practice reading original English with short texts
Readers collecting public-domain ebooks from Project Gutenberg

Not a good fit for

Science fiction readers who prefer long works with grand world-building and complex settings
Readers hoping for deep technological ethics or social critique
Readers who are not comfortable reading in English

Reading tips

Read through once to follow the plot, then revisit the opening to see how its foreshadowing serves the ending
Guess unfamiliar words from context first, then look them up after finishing the whole piece
Read alongside other short science fiction from the same period in Project Gutenberg to observe shared conventions
After finishing, retell the story's core twist in three to five sentences to check whether you have grasped its structure

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 Project Gutenberg's listing, this is an English-language short story. It is concise enough to read in one sitting or two, so you do not need to plan your reading pace as you would for a novel.

How difficult is the English?

The work comes from the mid-twentieth-century English-language short science fiction tradition, with language mainly in narration and dialogue and generally accessible. Readers with intermediate English reading ability can finish it with a dictionary, though some older expressions require contextual understanding.

Why is this book available for free?

The book is edited and released by Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg was the first project to provide free ebooks, launched by Michael Hart in 1971, and it specializes in public-domain works, so readers can legally read it for free.

Can I learn about the author's life from this book?

The materials provide only basic birth and death information for the author, Roger D. Aycock (1914–2004), and no detailed biography. To learn about the author's life, consult reliable biographical or bibliographic sources separately; it is not advisable to infer it from this story itself.

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About the author

Roger Dolphus Aycock Author · American · 1914–2004

Roger D. Aycock (1914–2004) was an American science fiction writer, born Roger Dolphus Aycock in Floyd County, Georgia, and best known by the pen name Roger Dee. He made his debut in 1949 with "The Wheel Is Death" and during the 1950s and 1960s wrote more than fifty short stories for magazines such as Galaxy and If. His work often centers on space exploration, encounters with alien worlds, and human dilemmas, with tight plotting and frequent twists at the end, combining popular entertainment with thoughtful speculation. His representative works include "Traders Risk," "Control Group," and "Assignment's End," and he also wrote the novel An Earth Gone Mad. Twelve of his works are held in the collection, including "The Feeling," "Pet Farm," and "Wailing Wall"; public information on his classification is limited, and his influence rests mainly on magazine science fiction of the later Golden Age.