Armchair Fiction presents extra large editions of classic science fiction double novels. The first novel is veteran science fiction author Chester S. Geier’s Minions of the Tiger. Chester S. Geier will never be remembered as an upper tier writer of science fiction and fantasy. That mantle falls on the shoulders of Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein and others. But there’s no doubt that Geier knew how to tell a good, entertaining story. Minions of the Tiger is one such tale. It’s well-written and chock full of supernatural peril and action-filled situations. It’s obvious that Geier was a big fan of Universal horror movies of the 1940s, because Minions of the Tiger’s storyline is much in the vein of films like Night Monster and The Mad Ghoul. While you’re reading along it’s easy to imagine Bela Lugosi as the mad Hindu scientist and Evelyn Ankers as the lady in distress, all set to a Hans J. Salter music score flowing along in the background. No…Geier will never be remembered as one of the greats, but Minions of the Tiger is clear evidence of his prowess as a first-rate storyteller. The second novel is Founding Father by a very underrated sci-fi author J. F. Bone. It’s not often we would describe a science fiction short novel as being delightful but that’s exactly the word to describe J. F. Bone’s wonderful tale, Founding Father. It’s the story of two small, lizard-like alien creatures-both vastly intelligent-who are stranded on a distant planet far from home. Bone describes these two creatures, Eu and Vin, as being similar in many ways to human beings, yet far beyond them in terms of intelligence and emotional control. In order to help them procure the materials needed to repair their crippled spacecraft and leave the detestable planet known to its inhabitants as Earth, Eu and Vin employ (through implanted brain-control devices) the aid of two reluctant humans, Donald and Edith. These two human slaves prove to be a handful for their alien captors, with their wild fits of unpredictable behavior, unstable emotions, and fits of anger. But soon Eu and Vin come to the startling realization they are far more like their human captives than they could have dared imagine. Founding Father is full of unique, poignant situations that will leave you laughing out loud and give you pause to think about the ups and down of human frailties.
