Second Sight

Wells, Basil, 1912-2003Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 25K words
Chapters: 3

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. Second Sight by Basil Wells. Author: Wells, Basil, 1912-2003. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Aug 28, 2009

Editor's review

Second Sight is a work by Basil Wells (1912–2003), released as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Wells was active in mid-twentieth-century American pulp magazines, and his work often carries the imaginative flavor of genre fiction; this piece is short and serves as a light sample of the pulp literature and genre storytelling of the period. The title points to the theme of "second sight," with its overtones of extrasensory perception and premonition, and the narrative typically revolves around anomalous perception, making for a brisk read. As a public-domain electronic text, the book is easy to search and carry, suitable for extensive reading in the original English, casual browsing by genre-fiction fans, and use as a sample text by readers studying mid-twentieth-century American pulp magazine literature. Note that the electronic edition generally contains no modern introduction or annotations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in mid-twentieth-century American pulp genre fiction
Learners who want to practice extensive reading in English with a short text
Readers studying pulp magazine literature and extrasensory themes
Casual readers who enjoy light, fast-paced narrative

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long-form, in-depth character development
First-time readers who need modern annotations and background introductions
Readers uninterested in extrasensory themes who read only realist works

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the overall plot, then revisit key turning points for foreshadowing and hints.
Read it in the context of mid-twentieth-century pulp magazines and watch for genre conventions.
English learners can read it in two passes: first for fluency, then to look up unfamiliar words and sentence patterns.
After finishing, note how "second sight" is specifically manifested in the text, for comparison with similar works.

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 suitable for English beginners?

The text is in the original English. It is short but contains period usage and genre-specific expressions. It suits readers with intermediate reading ability; beginners can read paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, or read a plot summary first before tackling the original, to avoid getting stuck on too many unfamiliar words.

What does "Second Sight" refer to?

Literally it means "second sight," usually referring to perception beyond the ordinary senses, such as premonition or extrasensory perception. The book builds its narrative around this theme; for the specific setup and plot direction, refer to the main text, and watch how the author presents this ability through details.

Does the Gutenberg edition include an author introduction?

Project Gutenberg electronic texts generally provide only basic bibliographic information, such as author, language, classification, and release date, and usually contain no detailed author biography or commentary on the work. To learn about Basil Wells's writing background, consult other sources.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wells, Basil, 1912-2003 Author

Basil Wells (1912–2003) was an author active in the field of popular fiction in the mid-twentieth century. Public information about him is limited: his life details, nationality, and educational background are not reliably documented, and his work can only be understood through the titles that survive. Four of his works are held in this collection: Stalemate, Second Sight, Pioneers, and Moment of Truth. Judging from these titles, his writing tends to center on suspense, conflict, and human choices, with tight plots that build tension and turn sharply within a limited space. Such works commonly appeared in magazines and popular reading matter of the period and were aimed at a broad general readership, so they emphasize readability and narrative pace rather than literary experiment. Though Wells did not enter the mainstream literary canon, his works remain useful examples for studying mid-twentieth-century genre fiction.