What exactly was it the placid Argonians had done to themselves to stop wars, crime and suffering in their race eight thousand years ago? The future of Earth depended upon it!

This story gets rather dark when you think about it, touching on themes of mental illness and self-ending in a theoretical, abstract sort of way.

John D. MacDonald is mostly known for this thrillers, having sold around 70 million copies of his novels, several of whom have been adapted into movies and TV, the most well known being adapted under the name Cape Fear.
He also published some Science Fiction and Fantasy, such as this story.

No background music, by popular demand. Only my voice, croaks, wheezes, and all. Enjoy!

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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. There will be inaccurate accents and the occasional strange pronunciation. No mockery is ever intended.

These stories are also 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!


A note about channel donations:
At this point in my life I do not need nor ask for your money. I do this for the love of the short story and to help promote the enjoyment of science fiction and fantasy literature.

However, if you enjoy my readings and would like to put your money where my mouth is, I would suggest instead to pay it forward to a good cause. Please consider donating to [ Ссылка ] to help them keep up the good work. Project Gutenberg is an organization dedicated to promoting the free distribution of written works in electronic formats. I make no secret that I find the majority of the public domain stories I read here on their website [ Ссылка ]. There you will find a massive collection of ebooks that are free for anyone to read and download. Most of them are vintage with either lapsed or expired copyrights.

I am not affiliated with Project Gutenberg in any way other than that I use their website.

Now, if you still want to throw me a dollar or two, feel free to use [ Ссылка ]
After all, it’s not as if I’ll say no to money freely given. Any tips I receive will go towards better audio equipment for a cleaner sound in the future, and I will make sure to pay a portion forward to gutenberg.org myself.

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Copyright notice:
The written text of this story is in the public domain, as determined by the researchers and transcribers at Project Gutenberg. The story is and should be free for anyone to enjoy. However, you may not reuse my narration in whole or in part without prior agreement with me. Contact info is in the about section.

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.”

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If you would like to read some of my own paltry writings, they can be found at [ Ссылка ]

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