Delayed Action

De Vet, Charles V., 1911-1997Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 36K 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.Delayed Action by Charles V. De VetAuthor: De Vet, Charles V., 1911-1997,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 21, 2010

Editor's review

Delayed Action is a mid-twentieth-century English-language science fiction short story by Charles V. De Vet, made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Compact in length, it builds on the central conceit of "delay," carrying the suspense and speculative flavor characteristic of early science fiction. Rather than relying on an elaborate world, it presents the pleasures of imagination through a single concentrated plot. For Chinese readers, it is a window into the narrative style of the American pulp science fiction magazine era; the language is moderately difficult and suits light reading of an original English short story. Read it as a brief thought experiment: notice how the author builds tension within a limited space and how the ending brings closure. As a public-domain ebook, it is mainly plain text, so a reader with adjustable fonts is recommended. It is not for those seeking long-form depth or contemporary hard science fiction detail, but for fragmented moments like a commute or bedtime it offers a complete and resonant read.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to finish a complete English short story in spare moments
Readers interested in mid-twentieth-century American pulp science fiction
Learners who want light practice reading English in the original
Those who enjoy short stories with a concentrated premise and a twist ending

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a long-form world and complex character arcs
Science fiction fans who prefer contemporary hard SF technical detail
Readers who find reading original English difficult without assistance

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then revisit how the foreshadowing at the start echoes the ending.
When you meet unfamiliar words, first guess from context and look them up after finishing the whole piece.
Use the Project Gutenberg plain-text version with a reader that adjusts font size and line spacing.

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 long or short?

According to the Project Gutenberg record, Delayed Action is a short work, suitable for reading in one or two sittings. It succeeds not by length but through a concentrated premise and suspenseful progression, so it can be finished in fragmented time.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for beginners?

As a mid-twentieth-century popular science fiction short story, its vocabulary and sentence patterns are generally not very difficult, though there are period language habits and science fiction terms. Readers with intermediate English reading ability will find it easier to enter; beginners should use a dictionary or read alongside a translation and should not take it as their first original book.

What should I note when reading the electronic edition?

This book comes from Project Gutenberg's free electronic text and is mainly plain text, so it may lack carefully proofread formatting. Use a reader with adjustable font and line spacing and pay attention to paragraph breaks; if quoting, rely on the actual text rather than summaries in the introduction.

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About the author

De Vet, Charles V., 1911-1997 Author

Charles V. De Vet (1911–1997) is an English-language science fiction author about whom little biographical information is publicly available; the library holds nine of his works. Judging from titles such as There is a Reaper ..., Infinity's Child, Monkey On His Back, Wheels Within, Vital Ingredient, Delayed Action, Metamorphosis, and Growing up on Big Muddy, he mainly wrote short science fiction, often centering on unknown threats, unusual situations, and individual choices under pressure, with the compactness and suspense typical of mid-twentieth-century science fiction magazine stories. Though his output was modest, his bizarre premises and brisk storytelling left an impression on readers. Because public information is limited, details of his life and the full scope of his work remain to be verified; this introduction is based only on the library's holdings and confirmed public common knowledge.