Traders Risk

Roger Dolphus AycockProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 30K 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.Traders Risk by Roger D. AycockAuthor: Aycock, Roger D., 1914-2004,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 20, 2007

Editor's review

Traders Risk is a short work by Roger D. Aycock, a writer of science fiction's Golden Age, newly available to readers after free digitization by Project Gutenberg. Active in mid-twentieth-century American pulp magazines, Aycock excelled at crafting space-adventure stories with suspense and twists in spare prose, and this piece follows that path: short, briskly paced, and marked by the assumptions of its era, it suits readers curious about early science fiction magazines. As a public-domain ebook, its value lies not only in the story but in offering a sample of mid-twentieth-century American genre fiction and science-fictional imagination. It is best read within the context of a brief history of pulp science fiction; set beside works from the same magazines, it reveals what the tropes we now take for granted first looked like. A good choice for finishing in one sitting during a commute or before bed; afterward, consider how the author builds his premise and closes the plot within a limited length.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in science fiction's Golden Age and early magazine SF
Those who want a complete short story for fragmented reading time
Students and enthusiasts studying the lineage of American popular and genre fiction
English learners who want to read public-domain originals for free

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer long, complex worldbuilding and deep character development
Science fiction fans expecting contemporary hard-SF technical detail
Readers impatient with mid-twentieth-century narrative style and values

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the pacing and twists, then look back at how groundwork and foreshadowing were laid.
Note the author's period language and SF premises, and compare them with magazine science fiction of the same era.
If reading for English study, copy short sentences describing scenes and actions to build a store of genre-fiction expression.

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 science fiction beginners?

Yes. It is a relatively short genre SF story with straightforward plotting that does not depend on complex background knowledge, so beginners can get into it quickly. Its style, however, reflects mid-twentieth-century pulp magazines, so readers used only to contemporary long-form SF may need a little adjustment.

Why is this book a free ebook?

It is released by Project Gutenberg, which works to digitize works in the public domain for free reading. The works of Roger D. Aycock are in the public domain, so this title is available on that platform.

Do I need to know the author before reading this story?

No. The story stands on its own and can be read directly. If it interests you, you can later look into the author's background in the American science fiction magazine era as further reading.

Comments

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About the author

Roger Dolphus Aycock Author · American · 1914–2004

Roger D. Aycock (1914–2004) was an American science fiction writer, born Roger Dolphus Aycock in Floyd County, Georgia, and best known by the pen name Roger Dee. He made his debut in 1949 with "The Wheel Is Death" and during the 1950s and 1960s wrote more than fifty short stories for magazines such as Galaxy and If. His work often centers on space exploration, encounters with alien worlds, and human dilemmas, with tight plotting and frequent twists at the end, combining popular entertainment with thoughtful speculation. His representative works include "Traders Risk," "Control Group," and "Assignment's End," and he also wrote the novel An Earth Gone Mad. Twelve of his works are held in the collection, including "The Feeling," "Pet Farm," and "Wailing Wall"; public information on his classification is limited, and his influence rests mainly on magazine science fiction of the later Golden Age.