Martyr
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Science fiction fans who want to read a complete short story in fragmented time such as a commute
- Readers interested in mid-twentieth-century British and American science fiction short stories
- English learners who want to practice reading with a shorter English text
- Teachers of science fiction or literature electives who need short classroom material
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting a long hard science fiction world and complex setup
- Readers who need a Chinese translation and cannot easily read the English original
- Younger readers who prefer contemporary science fiction pacing and style
Reading tips
- Read the English original through once to grasp the plot, then look back at how the title echoes the characters' choices.
- Note the characters' key decisions as you read, and after finishing consider the author's attitude toward sacrifice.
- If using it as English study material, pick three to five long sentences for structural analysis and retelling.
- Read it alongside other Project Gutenberg science fiction short stories to observe how authors of the same period handled ethical themes.
About the publisher
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.
Contents
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About the author
Alan Edward Nourse (1928-1992) is a science fiction author with 24 works held in this collection, though public information about him is limited and biographical details remain to be filled in. Judging from the available titles, he wrote both novels and short stories, often centering on space exploration, medical ethics, and the risks of technology: titles such as Star Surgeon and Brightside Crossing suggest an interest in the intersection of interstellar travel and surgery, while An Ounce of Cure, Consignment, and Marley's Chain reveal a cool scrutiny of technological consequences. He was skilled at carrying speculation through tight plotting, placing ordinary people in extreme situations and using professional detail to heighten realism. Some short pieces, such as Meeting of the Board, adopt a satirical tone, showing that his style was not monolithic. His work had some influence among mid-twentieth-century English-language science fiction readers, but details of awards and sales cannot be verified and are therefore not speculated upon.
