The Slizzers

Bixby, Jerome, 1923-1998Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 17K words
Chapters: 2

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.The Slizzers by Jerome BixbyAuthor: Bixby, Jerome, 1923-1998,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 10, 2010

Editor's review

Jerome Bixby's The Slizzers is a short work in English, included in the free eBook library of Project Gutenberg. Bixby was active in the American pulp science fiction magazine scene of the mid-twentieth century, and his work often carries the genre's tension and unexpected twists. This short piece is limited in length but embodies the typical pleasures of old-school magazine science fiction: setting the scene with concise strokes, advancing the narrative within a compact space, and arriving at a suspenseful close. For readers who want a sense of American science fiction short stories from the mid-twentieth century, or who hope to use public-domain electronic resources for extensive reading in English, this work offers an accessible entry point. Note that this edition is the English-language electronic text from Project Gutenberg and contains no Chinese translation; its language and narrative rhythm bear clear marks of their era and differ from modern science fiction conventions, so it should be read within the historical context of genre literature. It is suitable as extensive reading material for English-language science fiction short stories or as a supplementary text for researchers of genre literature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English learners who want to read short stories in English extensively through public-domain eBooks
Genre readers interested in mid-twentieth-century American pulp science fiction
Literature enthusiasts studying the narrative features of old-school magazine science fiction
Readers who want low-cost access to English-language electronic reading material

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking in-depth literary analysis or long, complex narratives
Readers accustomed only to modern science fiction styles
Beginner readers who hope to read a Chinese translation directly

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot, then read a second time to notice details of dialogue and suspense setup.
Don't look up every unfamiliar expression immediately; finish a passage first and deal with them together to keep your reading rhythm.
Read alongside other English-language science fiction short stories from the same period to appreciate the shared traits of genre writing.

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 in Chinese or English?

This edition is an English-language eBook provided by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English and no Chinese translation. Chinese readers need some English reading ability or a dictionary tool to read it.

What are the characteristics of Project Gutenberg eBooks?

Project Gutenberg is known for providing free public-domain eBooks, usually transcribed from the original text with clean layout, easy to download and read offline. This work belongs to that series of English-language electronic读物 and is suitable for low-cost extensive reading.

Do I need science fiction background knowledge to read this short story?

No specialized background knowledge is needed. The work is short and the plot relatively focused, so ordinary readers can understand it from the text itself. Familiarity with common tropes of mid-twentieth-century American magazine science fiction will make its genre pleasures easier to appreciate.

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About the author

Bixby, Jerome, 1923-1998 Author

Jerome Bixby (1923–1998) was an American science fiction writer, though public information about him is limited. Nine of his works are held in this collection, including The Draw, Where There's Hope, The God-Plllnk, Zen, The Holes Around Mars, Little Boy, Laboratory and Our Town. Judging from these titles, he wrote mainly short science fiction, often building his imaginative premises around space exploration, strange devices and everyday settings. His titles tend to carry an ironic or suspenseful edge, and his narratives are concise, frequently closing with an unexpected twist. Among his stories, It's a Good Life became widely known through its television adaptation, but since that piece is not included here, it is not discussed further. On the whole, Bixby belonged to the mid-twentieth-century circle of American short science fiction writers; his output was modest, yet he was noted for ingenious conceptions and clean, brisk storytelling, and he exerted some influence on later short science fiction.