Free summaries
Novels — page 43
2,236 public-domain novels books, summarised. Page 43 of 47.
Momentum
Charles Dye
A solitary spacer fights against the unforgiving vacuum of an asteroid and his partner's murderous greed, racing his own fading oxygen to solve an impossible mechanical puzzle.
Mutiny
Larry Offenbecker
A young space captain facing a mutinous veteran crew must rely on science, mathematics, and quick thinking to deliver a life-saving plague serum across the stars.
Nine points in the law
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
Sun-bleached Montana dust, a fake African movie queen weighing two hundred and forty pounds, and a stolen circus elephant lead to total municipal war and twelve hundred dollars sewn into a blue coat.
Oliver Constable, miller and baker, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Sarah Tytler
An idealistic miller and baker strives to reform trade ethics while quietly rescuing his reckless brother-in-law from financial and personal ruin abroad and at home.
Rastignac the Devil
Philip José Farmer
A man imprisoned on a planet of mind-controlling parasites plots to seize an ancient starship, only to discover that true freedom requires facing the chaos he sought to escape.
Revolt in the Ice Empire
Ray Cummings
A naive crew of adventurers journeys to a wandering asteroid, only to discover that human nature travels faster than their ship.
That's Not Love
Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
Amid a relentless summer whirl of hollow luxury and artificial gaiety, an impoverished young companion and a reckless, magnetic guest find themselves drawn toward a tragic reckoning.
The Issahar Artifacts
Jesse F. (Jesse Franklin) Bone
The Issahar Artifacts is a contemplative, claustrophobic science fiction story framed as an archaeological discovery. It captures the psychological toll of isolation and the chilling, inevitable collision between a human survivor and an alien intellect.
The Pit of Nympthons
Stanley Mullen
Deep in the mutant jungles of a savage Venus, a hardened convict and a wealthy politician's daughter hunt for a lost sister trapped inside an ancient, sentient city of nightmare.
Tulan
C. C. MacApp
The fate of a dying world rests upon the shoulders of a commander who must transform his military discipline into a desperate, final act of salvation.
Voyage to Far N'jurd
Kris Neville
HOOK Isolated in deep space, a crew and their officers prepare for a ritualized, lethal end to their voyage. They treat their impending deaths not as a tragedy, but as a bureaucratic duty.
Where the Gods Decide
James McKimmey
Stranded in a steaming Venusian jungle, a weary pilot and a volatile married couple tear each other apart in desperate pursuit of a mythical treasure.
The World for Sale, Volume 2
Gilbert Parker
A visionary industrialist strives to unite two rival frontier towns, only to find himself hunted by ancient tribal vendettas and blinded by sudden violence.
A Question of Courage
Jesse F. (Jesse Franklin) Bone
Courage is not the absence of terror, but the quiet willingness to do what must be done despite it.
Abbr
Frank Riley
Visiting Earth from a distant colony, a young visionary discovers a hyper-efficient future where classic culture is reduced to fleeting seconds—and risks everything to rescue humanity's artistic heritage.
Bruggil's bride
Robert F. Young
A manufactured opera android, built to sing Wagner, is stolen and set adrift across the galaxy, unwittingly serving as a catalyst for the men who fall in love with her.
Equation for Time
R. R. (Russell Robert) Winterbotham
When a brilliant physicist invents a machine that bends space and time, a ruthless corporate rival tries to destroy her, leaving her body split across the galaxy.
Quest on Io
Robert Moore Williams
Stranded on the desolate, cratered surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, a stranded navigator and his talking honey-bear stumble into a desperate fight for survival when a fierce space-girl and ruthless claim-jumpers cross their path.
Sibylla
A. (Agnes) Vollmar
Amid social pretension and spiritual doubt, a passionate young woman navigates the heavy burdens of an unloving marriage and the search for genuine purpose.
The Downhill Side of Thirty
Virgil F. Shockley
In a world where aging brings strict government bans on physical intimacy and tobacco, a thirty-five-year-old man risks everything to reclaim his lost pleasures.
The gold of Ophir
D. Howard (David Howard) Gwinn
A young Chicago university graduate heads to Leadville, Colorado, where a chance partnership with an eccentric veteran prospector leads to the discovery of a fabulous lost biblical city of gold and ancient secrets.
The Heritage of the Kurts, Volume 1 (of 2)
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
A wealthy, eccentric family cursed with madness and cruelty collides with a fiercely independent educator determined to transform their oppressive inheritance into a sanctuary for women's enlightenment.
The Music Master
F. L. (Floyd L.) Wallace
In a heavily automated future where robots manufacture standard culture and humanity merely consumes, a secret boy prodigy dares to play a forbidden instrument.
The Venus Evil
Chester S. Geier
In the sweet Venusian spring, a pilot's hand is forced to destroy his fellow explorer, shattering a golden dream of planetary wealth against a backdrop of strange, iridescent danger.
Contact, and Other Stories
Frances Noyes Hart
A chance encounter with an airplane in the moonlight transforms a tired woman’s life, echoing through a collection of stories shaped by war, love, and quiet defiance.
Edward Burton
Henry Wood
A spiritual and social awakening guides a young man from orthodox confines toward universal love and inner emancipation.
Graveyard of Dreams
H. Beam Piper
Returning home to a decaying colonial world after years of study on Earth, a young scientist must confront his community's desperate obsession with finding a mythical wartime supercomputer.
Martyr's Flight
Hank Searls
High above a fractured Earth, a dedicated crew aboard a space station faces the ultimate choice when nuclear war reaches the heavens.
Revolution
Mack Reynolds
A Cold War operative infiltrates the Soviet Union to spark a revolution, only to realize the rebels he is helping might be a greater threat to Western interests than the regime they intend to replace.
Saknarth
Donald A. Wollheim
A solitary astronomer on a dying world risks his life to peer at a distant blue planet and discovers a long-hidden truth that threatens to shatter the absolute power of his planet's ruling priesthood.
Scent Makes a Difference
James Stamers
When a physicist takes strong new tranquilizers to cure his insomnia, his sleeping mind begins plucking alternative versions of himself—and their breakfasts—straight out of other probabilities.
The Martian Circe
Raymond F. Jones
When a hypnotic tavern singer lures lonely space miners into a fatal dream world, an investigative agent uncovers a terrifying Martian conspiracy stretching deep beneath the desert sands.
The Queen of Farrandale: A Novel
Clara Louise Burnham
A down-on-his-luck veteran adopts a false name to infiltrate his wealthy, formidable aunt's estate, upending a conniving secretary's plans and finding unexpected family.
Wanted: One Sane Man
Frank M. Robinson
When a corporate titan who boasts that his agency can supply the man for any job is challenged to find a sane pilot for a lunar rocket, he discovers that the only person who can survive the journey is one driven by an uncompromising monomania.
Willie's Planet
Mike Ellis
A man chooses to stay behind on a sterile, fern-covered world, unknowingly bringing the very seeds of life and decay to a silent planet.
Alarm Clock
Everett B. Cole
An unjustly expelled cadet finds himself trapped in a planetary labor prison, only to discover that his grueling penal servitude is an elaborate awakening for a secret elite corps.
Assignment on Venus
Carl Jacobi
With a sealed message bound for his own disgrace, a green colonial officer paddles deep into Venus's lethal swamps to shatter an illicit rejuvenation scheme.
Half Brothers
Hesba Stretton
A concealed past and a secret marriage rise from the quiet corners of English and Alpine life to shatter a wealthy family's peace.
Interference
B. M. (Bithia Mary) Croker
A marriage built on a lie unravels in the high-altitude heat of India, where one woman’s selfishness and another’s stoic resignation collide with tragic, irrevocable force.
Meg, of Valencia
Myra Williams Jarrell
A name can shape a life, but the heart often finds its own way despite the best-laid plans. This narrative explores the tension between identity, duty, and the unexpected pull of love.
Misrule
Robert Scott
The annual ritual of legalized destruction offers a society built on total administrative control its only safety valve against revolution.
Skid Row Pilot
Randall Garrett
Stranded on a cold, unforgiving Mars after a rigged medical exam wrecks his career, a desperate space pilot uncovers a criminal conspiracy and plots a dangerous revenge.
Terror Out of Space
Leigh Brackett
A hardened space policeman escorts a captured, maddening alien entity across the drowned ruins of Venus, battling hypnotic despair and ravenous undersea predators.
The black alarm
George O. (George Oliver) Smith
Steve Hagen chooses a dangerous life as a Guardian to escape his powerful foster father’s shadow. But when a catastrophic space disaster strikes, he realizes that the conflict between them is not so easily discarded.
The Executioner
Frank Riley
In a sterile future, a professional executioner faces his most difficult assignment: ending the life of a woman from his own long-buried past. He discovers that duty and desire are impossible to reconcile.
The Hunted Heroes
Robert Silverberg
On a desolate, uranium-starved Mars, a married prospecting team falls prey to a bitter, legless survivor of Earth's atomic wars who hunts human volunteers for sport.
The Red Miriok
Annie Maria Barnes
A young woman’s mission trip into the rugged Korean interior transforms into a spiritual quest when she attempts to rescue a superstitious boatman from the grip of his mysterious, idolized charm.
The survivors
T. D. Hamm
The crew of a downed Martian exploration ship faces a grim, dwindling march toward the planet’s polar ice cap, where the only hope for sustenance lies. This harrowing narrative explores the limits of human endurance against a hostile and possibly sentient environment.