# Short Fiction — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Short Fiction by Frank Belknap Long.

- [The Hounds of Tindalos](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-hounds-of-tindalos.md): A man experiences a terrifying encounter with otherworldly entities known as the Hounds of Tindalos, which pursue him through angles and dimensions, leading to a descent into madness and a desperate struggle for survival
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/i.md): The narrator recounts a disturbing encounter with Chalmers, who has experimented with a drug to perceive time and space beyond normal limits. Chalmers describes terrifying visions of beings from angular time—the Hounds o
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/ii.md): The narrator reluctantly agrees to help a hysterical Chalmers, who believes that entities called the Hounds of Tindalos can only reach him through angles. They spend hours plastering all corners and crevices of the room 
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iii.md): Two newspaper announcements from the Partridgeville Gazette for July 3, 1928, report an earthquake that damaged the financial district and the murder of occult writer Halpin Chalmers. Chalmers was found nude, decapitated
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iv.md): James Morton, a chemist and bacteriologist, reports on a fluid sample sent by Mr. Douglas. He describes it as living protoplasm lacking enzymes, which should make it immortal, challenging fundamental biological assumptio
- [V](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/v.md): Halpin Chalmers reflects on the possibility of a parallel dimension where life does not die, and describes his encounters with the Doels and visions of a strange entity beyond time and matter.
- [The Red Fetish](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-red-fetish.md): Bill Cullen and Wellington Van Wyck, stranded on a desolate atoll, are driven to the brink of madness by thirst and starvation. Their mutual suspicion and murderous impulses culminate in a desperate swim to a nearby isla
- [I: Out in Space](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/i-out-in-space.md): Richard and Joan Langford are en route to Ganymede in their atomotor-propelled space vessel. Richard expresses caution about the dangers of Jupiter's gaseous envelope, while Joan is eager for exploration. Their argument 
- [II: Through the Cloud Blanket](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/ii-through-the-cloud-blanket.md): Richard and Joan plummet through Jupiter's atmosphere in their vessel, surviving a violent landing on a solid world. After the crash, they assess their injuries and prepare to test the alien atmosphere for breathability,
- [III: What the Camera Showed](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iii-what-the-camera-showed.md): Richard and Joan examine photographic plates from a small horizon camera, revealing wasplike creatures on Jupiter's surface. As they discuss the implications, the creatures suddenly appear inside the ship, paralyzing the
- [IV: Eddington's Oscillations](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iv-eddington-s-oscillations.md): Richard and Joan are trapped in a web aboard their ship, surrounded by giant wasp-like aliens that have been implanting eggs in the crew. Richard realizes the wasps are shrinking due to Eddington's oscillations—a cyclica
- [The Sky Trap](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-sky-trap.md): Aboard the stratoship Perseus, Lawton and the crew face a terrifying alien bubble that traps them with rapidly growing, noxious vegetation. The crew's morale collapses as they struggle against the suffocating growth and 
- [The Mercurian](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-mercurian.md): Rawley confronts a frog-like alien being that has drained the energy from his frozen crewmates. The alien reveals it can absorb and restore atomic energy, and that the ship is being towed by other Mercurians to a museum.
- [I: Graveyard of Old Ships](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/i-graveyard-of-old-ships.md): Lucky Jim Sanders, down on his luck after losing his fortune, meets Pete in a valley of derelict spaceships. Together they devise a scheme to acquire a ship by bluffing the yardmaster into thinking Jim still has money. J
- [Planet Shift](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/ii-planet-shift.md): Jim and Pete are disoriented when they see Saturn instead of Jupiter outside their viewpane, leading to a crisis of sanity. A mysterious woman in an old spacesuit appears, glides past them, and exits through a gravity pa
- [III: The Mirage Pup](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iii-the-mirage-pup.md): Jim recounts his harrowing experience on the hull of the spaceship, where he encounters a terrifying electrolube and a woman he cannot save. After returning inside, Pete explains that the woman was a mirage projected by 
- [IV: New York Kid](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iv-new-york-kid.md): The narrator lands at La Guardia spaceport in New York with Pete and the mirage pup, Flipover. The pup leads them through the city to a house where a woman, Barbara, recognizes the pup as her grandmother's long-lost pet,
- [Time Trap](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/time-trap.md): Charley Grimes, a seasoned space explorer, recounts a harrowing experience on the dark side of the Moon where he encountered a time-dissolving alien entity. After sliding into a valley, he finds footprints that are not h
- [The Miniature Menace](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-miniature-menace.md): The chapter explores the unsettling discovery of miniature alien beings and the psychological and survival challenges they pose to the human characters, highlighting themes of fear, isolation, and the unknown.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/i.md): Captain Ralph Langford returns to Mars City and is immediately arrested on orders of Commander Gurney for letting an alien ship escape. Langford argues that attacking the aliens would have been murder, and demonstrates t
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/ii.md): Dr. Crendon removes Joan Langford's bandages, and she regains her sight, though her clairvoyant abilities as a mutant are confirmed. Langford is relieved and expresses his need for her inner vision, while Crendon reflect
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iii.md): Langford tends to Joan's bandaged eyes and learns the nature of her clairvoyant powers. Joan describes her ability to see across space and time, and together they locate the alien ship that has crashed in the Brazilian j
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iv.md): Langford and Joan fly to the Amazon Basin to locate the alien ship. They find a divided island with a charred rent in the foliage and descend through it. Upon landing, they discover Commander Gurney half-submerged in the
- [The Mississippi Saucer](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-mississippi-saucer.md): Jimmy and his sister Pigtail Anne witness a flying saucer crash into the Mississippi River, but their uncle Al is more concerned about an impending feud with the Harmon family. After a tense encounter with the Harmons, J
- [Lake of Fire](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/lake-of-fire.md): Steve discovers a Martian mirror in the desert, which contains the living image of a woman from a dead civilization. Despite warnings from his companion Tom about the dangers of such mirrors, Steve becomes obsessed. They
- [The Timeless Ones](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-timeless-ones.md): Ned and Cynthia Jackson return to a colony world after ten years to find that the Sweeney family and others have not aged. The child Mary Sweeney appears unchanged, and Tommy Sweeney demonstrates the ability to walk thro
- [Little Men of Space](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/little-men-of-space.md): John Elwood, a scientist, interacts with his children Mary Anne and Melvin, showing them his rocket in the basement. Later, the children encounter three small alien beings who communicate telepathically and threaten them
- [The Man the Martians Made](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-man-the-martians-made.md): A man is transformed by Martians into a being with enhanced abilities and a new purpose, navigating his altered identity and the reactions of those around him.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/i.md): Tom awakens in a Mars construction camp with a sense of death nearby. He recounts the harsh realities of life on Mars—privation, dust, and theft—and introduces the legendary figure Larsen, a scapegoat for the camp's misd
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/ii.md): The narrator and Harry discover the body of Ned, a beloved camp member, with his skull crushed. They find large footprints nearby and suspect murder, possibly motivated by jealousy over Molly Egan. They decide to consult
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iii.md): Bill and Tom interrogate the camp after Ned's murder, focusing on Jim Kenny as a suspect due to his interest in Molly. However, Kenny's shoes don't match the footprints, shifting suspicion to Tom himself when his shoes a
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/iv.md): The narrator is pursued by a lynch mob on Mars, but the attack is interrupted by the appearance of a brutal, monstrous figure who kills several men. The mob turns on the creature, which is shot and falls into a canal. Th
- [The Man from Time](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-man-from-time.md): Daring Moonson, a time traveler from the year 3689, grapples with an overwhelming 'Time Fear' that threatens to consume him. Despite his proud name and his role as a scholar traveling through history in the Time Observat
- [The Calm Man](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-calm-man.md): Sally Anders recalls her youth and her whirlwind romance with a mysterious, calm man who becomes her husband. Years later, she is summoned to his office, where she discovers he is not human but a Martian who has spent ei
- [Mr. Caxton Draws a Martian Bird](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/mr-caxton-draws-a-martian-bird.md): Peter and Susan Ashley, left in the care of the cruel and ill-tempered Mr. Caxton while their parents explore the Martian desert, report seeing a large bird. Mr. Caxton mocks them, insisting no animal life exists on Mars
- [The Cottage](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-cottage.md): Will Durkin returns from town with a dollhouse, intending to use it to spy on his stepchildren's true feelings. His harshness and cruelty are contrasted with the children's innocent play. As Durkin's malice grows, a stra
- [Two Way Destiny](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/two-way-destiny.md): The narrator and Kallatah find themselves in a dangerous jungle on Dracona, where they are attacked by native poltergeists using mental powers. The narrator explains that the natives are angered by Kallatah's capture of 
- [Preview](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/preview.md): Mr. Scanlon introduces a 'stripped' actress named Stella to a group of critics during a film preview. The film begins as a Western but is interrupted by a bizarre, alien-like creature and Stella's transformation into a b
- [Young Man with a Trumpet](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/young-man-with-a-trumpet.md): After Man leaves Earth, the animals attempt to create music to fill the void left by humanity. Various animals try and fail to produce beautiful sounds, until a monkey plays a golden trumpet, producing music that surpass

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