page_title: Roman Frederick Starzl
section_title: Short stories
hierarchical_section_title: Roman Frederick Starzl / Partial list of works / Short stories
caption_attribution_description: English: R. F. Starzl c. 1932
context_page_description: Roman Frederick Starzl was an American author. He, and earlier, his father, owned the Le Mars Globe-Post newspaper of Le Mars, Iowa. Roman Frederick was also the father of physician Thomas E. Starzl. His writing is largely forgotten now, but he was called a "master" by the pioneer of space opera E. E. Smith. Starzl's Interplanetary Flying Patrol, in The Hornets of Space, may have influenced Smith's Galactic Patrol. There is an extensive interview with Thomas Starzl about his father in Eric Leif Davin's Pioneers of Wonder.
context_section_description: Out of the Sub-Universe (Summer, 1928), first published in Amazing Stories Quarterly. Professor Halley (the protagonist) has conducted experiments with cosmic rays, discovering a method of resizing (both shrinking and enlarging) items and living beings. He has also discovered the existence of sub-universes within the structure of the atom. He has managed to send items to an atomic world, and then successfully retrieve them. The story begins when Halley attempts to send two human volunteers to this atomic world, using the same method of shrinking them. The volunteers are his daughter Shirley and her prospective fiancé Hale. They are supposed to stay in sub-atomic size for a mere half-an-hour. When Halley attempts to retrieve them, he is surprised to see a population of about 200 individuals emerge from the sub-atomic world. He learns that time within the sub-universe passes at an accelerated pace. While only half-an-hour passed for him, untold millennia passed within the atom. Shirley and Hale are long dead, and the newcomers consider them founding figures of their culture. In other words, as subjects became smaller their subjective time became faster. Minutes of Halley's time translated to the passing of entire generations of descendants for Shirley and Hale. While this was far from the first story concerning shrinking, concerning differences in time was a new element. The story is considered a pioneer in the use of "differential time", time passing in different paces. But E. F. Bleiler points that it was not the first of its kind, as it had a precursor in The Man from the Atom (1923) by Green Peyton Wertenbaker. Gary Westfahl calls attention to another element of the story. Accidentally or not, humanity colonizes a subatomic world. Making this an early use of the frontier theme in science-fiction. The theme is represented by tales where humans seek new homes in space (notably used by Robert A. Heinlein and Ray Bradbury), underneath the sea (Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement), on the upper atmosphere (Hugo Gernsback, Edmond Hamilton), underground (Daniel F. Galouye, Harlan Ellison), in alternative realities (Clifford D. Simak, Philip K. Dick), through time-traveling to the distant past (Robert Silverberg, Clifford D. Simak), or entering cyberspace (William Gibson, Greg Egan). Westfahl considers this to be a major theme of the entire genre. Robert A. W. Lowndes praised the story's "surprise" ending as "not only logical but necessary".
  Madness of the Dust (May 1930), first published in Amazing Stories. Set in the early 21st century, "not too long" after the year 2025. The main action takes place on planet Mars, with a description of its surface deriving from the theories of Giovanni Schiaparelli. There is also mention of planet Venus as a vacation center. The native Martians are depicted as gentle humanoid giants. There is reference to a native aristocracy with superior cognitive skills, but the only representatives of the race actually depicted are simple-minded workers. The protagonist is an Earthman, John Farrington, who serves as a supervisor in the borium mines. The position pays well but comes at a high cost. All Earthmen who work in the mines eventually succumb to "dust madness", a chemical side-effect which drives them to "homicidal fury". Farrington took the risk willingly, because it was the only way he could afford to marry his beloved Alfreda. When he starts showing symptoms of madness, a spaceship arrives to collect him. Its pilot, Steve, is both an old friend and a rival suitor for the hand of Alfreda. In his madness, Farrington suspects that Steve is there to undermine him. When Steve experiences his own medical emergency, appendicitis, in mid-flight, there begins a period of inner struggle for Farrington. His mind constantly alternates between periods of murderous rage towards Steve, and more lucid moments of feeling responsible and trying to provide medical assistance.
  The Planet of Dread (August 1930), first published in Astounding Stories. Set in the 23rd century, on the fictional planet Inra. The main chara
caption: Roman F. Starzl as depicted in an illustration accompanying the publication of "The Power Satellite" in Wonder Stories in 1932
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