The Tunnel Under The World
4/5
()
About this ebook
Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl (1919-2013) was one of science fiction's most important authors. Among his many novels are Gateway, which won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, the Locus SF Award, and the Nebula Award, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, which was a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and Jem, which won the 1980 National Book Award in Science Fiction. He also collaborated on classic science fiction novels including The Space Merchants with Cyril M. Kornbluth. Pohl was an award-winning editor of Galaxy and If, a book editor at Bantam, and served as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was named a Grand Master of Science Fiction by SFWA in 1993, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Read more from Frederik Pohl
Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Lives He Led: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Boy Who Would Live Forever: A Novel of Gateway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume Two-B: The Great Novellas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 11th Science Fiction MEGAPACK®: 36 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adventures in Time and Space Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrederik Pohl Super Pack Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wolfbane Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hell's Cartographers: Inside The Minds Of Six Legendary Sci-Fi Authors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Knights of Arthur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGladiator-At-Law Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 32nd Golden Age of Science Fiction MEGAPACK®: Frederik Pohl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreferred Risk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreferred Risk: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The First Science Fiction Novel MEGAPACK®: 6 Great Science Fiction Novels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Science Fiction Omnibus #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGravy Planet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrederik Pohl: Golden Age Space Opera Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurvival Kit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwo Dooms: Two Dystopian Novels (Illustrated): The Syndic, Wolfbane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntergalactic Stories: 60+ SF Classics in One Edition (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Tunnel Under The World
Related ebooks
Cocoon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdventures in Time and Space: The Day of the Boomer Dukes; The Tunnel Under The World; The Hated; Pythias; The Knights of Arthur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrederik Pohl Super Pack Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Call Me Joe: Volume 1 of the Short Fiction of Poul Anderson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEbony and Ivory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTriplanetary Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Science Fiction Omnibus #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wine of Violence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings7 best short stories by Washington Irving Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forgotten Planet Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Planet Killers: Three Novels of the Spaceways Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deathworld Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Captive Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Storms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasters of the Vortex Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkylark Three Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5No World of Their Own Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Galaxy’s Edge Magazine: Issue 47 November 2020: Galaxy's Edge, #47 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stars in Shroud Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Edge of Tomorrow: A Novel Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Limits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Georgia On My Mind and Other Places Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Melville Herman: The Complete works (Oregan Classics) (The Greatest Writers of All Time) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings20 Masterpieces of Fantasy Fiction Vol. 1: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Tarzan of the Apes...... Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cosmic Computer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fairest Portion of the Globe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skylark DuQuesne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMessage from Mars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Science Fiction For You
This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wool: Book One of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cryptonomicon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Who Have Never Known Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shift: Book Two of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Psalm for the Wild-Built Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silo Series Collection: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rendezvous with Rama Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brandon Sanderson: Best Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein: Original 1818 Uncensored Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prophet Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Perelandra: (Space Trilogy, Book Two) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Tunnel Under The World
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thanks to subsequent works such as the movie "Dark City", Charles Beaumont's "In His Image", Philip K. Dick's "Ubik", and Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", this 1954 story is not totally unpredictable, but still has a timely punch and its own personality. Could also be seen as "Groundhog Day" gone very bad.I enjoyed reading the still-sharp nonagenarian author's blog until his death in 2013.
Book preview
The Tunnel Under The World - Frederik Pohl
The Tunnel Under The World
by Frederik Pohl
Start Publishing LLC
Copyright © 2015 by Start Publishing LLC
Cover image © .Martin.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
First Start Publishing eBook edition July 2015
Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN 13: 978-1-68299-961-5
Table of Contents
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
I
On the morning of June 15th, Guy Burckhardt woke up screaming out of a dream.
It was more real than any dream he had ever had in his life. He could still hear and feel the sharp, ripping-metal explosion, the violent heave that had tossed him furiously out of bed, the searing wave of heat.
He sat up convulsively and stared, not believing what he saw, at the quiet room and the bright sunlight coming in the window.
He croaked, Mary?
His wife was not in the bed next to him. The covers were tumbled and awry, as though she had just left it, and the memory of the dream was so strong that instinctively he found himself searching the floor to see if the dream explosion had thrown her down.
But she wasn’t there. Of course she wasn’t, he told himself, looking at the familiar vanity and slipper chair, the uncracked window, the unbuckled wall. It had only been a dream.
Guy?
His wife was calling him querulously from the foot of the stairs. Guy, dear, are you all right?
He called weakly, Sure.
There was a pause. Then Mary said doubtfully, Breakfast is ready. Are you sure you’re all right? I thought I heard you yelling—
Burckhardt said more confidently, I had a bad dream, honey. Be right down.
*
In the shower, punching the lukewarm-and-cologne he favored, he told himself that it had been a beaut of a dream. Still, bad dreams weren’t unusual, especially bad dreams about explosions. In the past thirty years of H-bomb jitters, who had not dreamed of explosions?
Even Mary had dreamed of them, it turned out, for he started to tell her about the dream, but she cut him off. "You did? Her voice was astonished.
Why, dear, I dreamed the same thing! Well, almost the same thing. I didn’t actuallyhear anything. I dreamed that something woke me up, and then there was a sort of quick bang, and then something hit me on the head. And that was all. Was yours like that?"
Burckhardt coughed. Well, no,
he said. Mary was not one of these strong-as-a-man, brave-as-a-tiger women. It was not necessary, he thought, to tell her all the little details of the dream that made it seem so real. No need to mention the splintered ribs, and the salt bubble in his throat, and the agonized knowledge that this was death. He said, Maybe there really was some kind of explosion downtown. Maybe we heard it and it started us dreaming.
Mary reached over and patted his hand absently. Maybe,
she agreed. It’s almost half-past eight, dear. Shouldn’t you hurry? You don’t want to be late to the office.
He gulped his food, kissed her and rushed out—not so much to be