Frank Carlson Library

In the future, technological advancements have rendered the heartbreak of unrequited love a thing of the past. One enterprising researcher has discovered a way to zap human brains into a state in which they become receptive to a particular person's romantic overtures. But one fellow whose love interest has been forced to undergo the procedure against her will is more than a little peeved about the whole thing—and decides to take action.

The Sensitive Man is one of science fiction scribe Poul Anderson's novels about the Psychotechnic Institute and its members, many of whom possess extraordinary extrasensory powers. In this installment, prominent member Michael Tighe has been snatched by a power-hungry politician who is part of a fascist group called the Actionists. Will Tighe's friends and family be able to rescue him in time?

Before Star Trek or Gene Roddenberry and before Star Wars and George Lucas, the science fiction writers of the 1950s and 1960s were writing some of the hippest genre literature of the era. Here are three imaginative novellas from some of these pioneers of pulp science fiction.

Star Ways by Poul Anderson is an action-packed saga of the Nomads, space gypsies voyaging endlessly through the cosmos, and of Joachin of the starship Peregrine, who

The importance of personal freedom is a key theme that runs throughout the work of science fiction writer Poul Anderson, and it is perhaps most directly explored in the novella Security. The story imagines a future in which the United States has attained absolute power, instituting a police state with the justification that a severe restriction of liberty is the only way to preserve security.