Flamedown

Fyfe, H. B. (Horace Bowne), 1918-1997Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 8.8K words
Chapters: 1

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.Flamedown by H. B. FyfeAuthor: Fyfe, H. B. (Horace Bowne), 1918-1997,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 8, 2009

Editor's review

Flamedown is a short work by science fiction writer H. B. Fyfe, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. Fyfe was active in the mid-twentieth-century golden age of American science fiction magazines, and his work is known for tight plotting and an engineer's imagination. This piece is short and serves as a sample of the era's science fiction short stories. The electronic edition preserves the original text, giving readers direct access to the narrative pace and language habits of early science fiction. For readers studying American popular literature or the evolution of the genre, such public-domain texts offer low-barrier primary material. Do not expect lengthy world-building; it is better read as a short genre experience, ideally alongside some background on the mid-century science fiction magazine ecosystem, to see how short stories of the time completed setup and twist within limited space. As a public-domain electronic text, the layout is plain text, and font and paragraph display can be adjusted on your reading device.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in mid-twentieth-century American science fiction short stories
Casual readers who want a complete short story in spare moments
Researchers and collectors studying early science fiction magazine texts
Language learners accustomed to reading English public-domain ebooks

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting lengthy world-building and complex character arcs
Those who prefer contemporary science fiction and find old-style pacing hard to take
Beginners who need detailed annotations and introductions

Reading tips

Read through once without stopping to grasp the story's turning point, then go back over the setup details.
Read alongside other science fiction short stories from the same period to compare genre conventions.
Use an e-reader to adjust font size and line spacing to reduce eye strain from the plain-text layout.

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?

As presented in the public-domain ebook, it is a short science fiction work, suitable for reading in one or two sittings; it is not a full-length novel.

What background knowledge do I need?

No special background is required beyond basic English reading ability. Familiarity with common themes in mid-twentieth-century American science fiction magazines will make the genre appeal easier to appreciate.

Why does the electronic edition have no modern annotations?

Project Gutenberg focuses on preserving original public-domain texts and usually adds no modern introductions or annotations, so readers see text close to its original published state.

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About the author

Fyfe, H. B. (Horace Bowne), 1918-1997 Author

H. B. Fyfe (Horace Bowne Fyfe, 1918–1997) is an English-language author with sixteen works held in the collection, though little is publicly known about his life or nationality. Judging from the listed titles, his writing centres on science fiction and speculative fiction, dealing with alien envoys, satellite systems, war and peace, deadly weapons, and the end of the world; titles such as The Envoy, Her, Satellite System, The Outbreak of Peace, Irresistible Weapon, and This World Must Die! suggest a preference for concise, forceful short stories that explore technology, conflict, and human destiny. The works often carry the tension and speculative flavour of Cold War-era science fiction, with tight plotting and endings that frequently turn on irony or warning. Fyfe is not a widely celebrated classic author, but his productivity and breadth of subject matter are noteworthy.