The Winged Men of Orcon: A Complete Novelette

This is 1930s pulp science fiction at its most gleefully absurd. Scientist Dr. Frederick Weeks is kidnapped by winged humanoid aliens, handcuffed in a crashed space vessel on the hostile planet Orcon, and thrust into a desperate survival mission alongside Captain Virginia Crane and the surviving crew. Their task: stop the rogue scientist Ludwig Leider from unleashing a devastating weapon called kotomite on Earth. The story barrels through alien battles, daring escapes, and the strange civilization of the Orconites with the breathless pacing of a Saturday morning serial. It's ridiculous in all the best ways, the kind of book that opens with a scientist being abducted by aliens and never slows down long enough for you to question why they speak English. What could easily be dismissed as dated pulp instead reveals itself as pure adventure cinema before its time: a story about ordinary people rising to impossible odds, a female captain commanding respect in an era that rarely allowed it, and a hero who simply refuses to let Earth burn. For readers who want their science fiction with maximum velocity and zero pretension.