The Outer Quiet by Herbert D. Kastle -Vintage Science Fiction short story sleepstory audiobook human

But was it only to be starved to death that these men, most of them so young, had obeyed? It made no sense and this, more than the conformity to slavery, terrified him. - Many of the authors living through the early Cold War in the 1950s had taken part in in World War 2, and bore the experiences of combat and the fight against tyranny with them. This trauma coupled with the fear of a new hot war against tyrannic communism would manifest itself in a great many science fiction stories that featured humans being subjugated by aliens one way or another, typically already defeated and living in a dystopian nightmare of collectivism, conformity, or downright slavery that was the antithesis of everything the democratic world held dear. The following story is a good example of this sort of thing. It depicts a very bleak existence, where the humans are kept in fear, constantly being monitored and any transgressions, such as talking(!), are severely punished. This story does a good job of pointing at some mechanisms of keeping people downtrodden and in check, something I think is pretty relevant to today's world as well. If only more people would open their eyes to what is happening around them.... Enjoy! Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:15 The Outer Quiet 34:55 About the author 37:31 Project Gutenberg - This story is available as a free ebook at www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31208 - About the author: Herbert David Kastle (1924-1987) is better known for his other fiction than for his Science Fiction. A disabled veteran of the US Air Force after three years service during WWII, he went on to take his Master of Arts at New York University. He is attributed the following quote: "I write because I dislike, intensely, all other forms of making a living." And write he did, across several different genres, including but not limited to hardboiled detective stories, romances, westerns, thrillers, and comic books (mainly the titles Brain Boy and Magnus Robot Fighter), and at last finding commercial success with a number of steamy, fast-paced mainstream thriller novels of the type featuring pretty women in scanty clothing, smoking guns, and/or wealthy men-of-action on the covers, from the 1960s through the 1980s, all of them being heavy on the steamy part. Well, at least for the times. The UK editions went extra hard on this aspect, featuring wrap-around pictures of pretty ladies lying down in various states of déshabillé. He edited the final two issues of Startling Stories in 1955, the same year he started publishing his own writings. In all, he published six Science Fiction short stories between 1955 and 1963, plus a (steamy) Science Fiction novel called The Reassembled Man in 1964. He also wrote The God on the 36th Floor (1963) which is one of my all time favorite short stories. You can find my narration of it in the back library videos section. - This narration was recorded in 2026. - Stories of Futures Past presents a vintage Science Fiction short story, narrated by myself, Tom Trussel. An actual, real living human being, warts and all. Any and all voices and effects are produced live during reading with my actual voice. No obnoxious after effects, synthetic voices or filters used. English is not my first language, inaccurate accents and the occasional strange pronunciation will happen. No mockery is intended. These stories are good for English learners / ESL. The full text is right there on the screen in a big and easy to read font. Read along with me. It's great practice! Copyright notice: The written text of this story is in the public domain, as determined by my research. The story is and should be free for anyone to enjoy. Use of the audio is subject to license. Boilerplate license wording off the Gutenberg website: “This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.”