Deepfreeze

Robert Donald LockeProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 54K 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.Deepfreeze by Robert Donald LockeAuthor: Locke, Robert Donald,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 26, 2010

Editor's review

This short science fiction work comes from the hand of Robert Donald Locke and has been reissued as a free eBook through Project Gutenberg, belonging to the popular science fiction vein within American literature. The story revolves around cryonics and carries the technological unease and human probing common to mid-twentieth-century science fiction; it is concise in length and direct in setup, making it a suitable introductory sample for understanding how early science fiction handled the motif of "human cryopreservation." The Gutenberg edition is in English, with a clean text free of copyright obstacles, and readers may freely download and quote it. Its reading value lies in its historical documentary quality and genre interest: it shows both the plain imagination of the future in the golden age of science fiction and how the short form builds suspense within limited space. It suits being read in one sitting during fragmented time such as commuting or before sleep, and also serves as supplementary material for science fiction fans doing thematic reading. Note that it is a public-domain eBook without modern translation notes or introduction, so the reading experience depends on the reader's own command of the English original.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Science fiction fans who want to know early English-language short science fiction
Learners who need free public-domain English texts for reading practice
Readers interested in cryonics and the ethics of technology
Researchers collecting materials on science fiction history or genre literature

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long-form, deeply built worldviews
People who struggle with English reading and need Chinese translation notes
Readers expecting contemporary science fiction writing standards and complex narratives

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then revisit the opening setup paragraphs to appreciate the short story's pacing.
Read it alongside other cryonics-themed science fiction to compare how different eras imagine the same technological motif.
Mark unfamiliar words without interrupting; look them up together after finishing a section to keep reading连贯.
After finishing, write a few sentences on the story's core conflict to check whether you have grasped the author's intent.

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 eBook the complete work or an excerpt?

This is the complete public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, containing the full text of Locke's Deepfreeze, not an excerpt or adaptation. Project Gutenberg aims to provide complete, freely usable electronic texts, so readers can confidently read and quote it as a complete short story.

Can I read this book if my English is not good?

You can try, but you will need a dictionary. The book is in English, not long, and mostly written in plain narrative sentences, so basic English reading ability is enough to make progress. If reading is difficult, first read a Chinese summary to understand the plot, then read the original paragraph by paragraph, using it as extensive English reading material.

Why does the publication information say 2019?

The 2019 here refers to the release or update year of this Project Gutenberg electronic edition, not the year the work was first created or published. Project Gutenberg digitizes public-domain works and puts them online in batches; the edition year is not the same as the work's historical date of composition, and citation should distinguish between them.

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About the author

Robert Donald Locke Author · American

Robert Donald Locke was an American science fiction writer who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. In 1952 he published his first science fiction story, "Demotion," in Astounding Science Fiction, and went on to publish about twelve short stories in magazines such as Imagination and Amazing Stories through 1961. In 1956 he released the novel The Immortal Ones under the pen name Roger Arcot. Works including Next Door, Next World, G-r-r-r...!, and Deepfreeze were later made available as ebooks by Project Gutenberg. Because public information is limited, details of his life and the full scope of his work remain to be further explored, and existing accounts center mainly on the short stories and novel mentioned above.