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Nightmare tower

by Sam Jr. Merwin (1910–1996)

  • Free to read
  • 1 hour to read
  • 8 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"Nightmare Tower" by Sam Merwin is a science fiction novel written in the early 1950s. The story follows Lynne Fenlay, a young woman dealing with personal and emotional turmoil while working as a telepath in a cybernetic team on Mars. As the narrative unfolds, Lynne grapples with complex relationships and a growing awareness of her latent telepathic abilities, set against the backdrop of an enigmatic Martian society facing unforeseen challenges. At the start of the novel, Lynne is struggling with a mysterious headache that complicates her dynamics with her fiancé, Ray Cornell, and their colleague, Janet Downes. Her discomfort intensifies as she begins to experience telepathic connections that unveil emotions and hidden motives between the trio. Amidst the interpersonal tension, Lynne receives shocking news about her unique telepathic talent, which could alter her path dramatically. As she neglects her earthly ties and navigates her new surroundings, readers are drawn into her inner struggles and the eerie invitation from her Martian environment—a planet with a history steeped in both beauty and decay. This sets the stage for a captivating exploration of identity, loyalty, and the burdens of extraordinary abilities.

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  • Science fiction
  • Mars (Planet)
  • Telepathy

Read the opening

Chapter II

Lynne stirred uneasily on her plastomat. She knew she was there, felt sure she was not asleep. Yet the dream persisted, holding her in a grip that was tighter than reality.

She was alone in a strange crystaline chamber, high, high up in a strange crystaline tower. Thanks to the fact there was no metal in its construction, nowhere was there rust. Yet her chamber, like the tower itself, showed definite signs of age and ruin.

An irregular segment of one wall had been penetrated by a missile of some sort and patched with plastic spray to keep out the thin, chill, unending wind. On lower levels, she knew, were larger scars of long-forgotten destruction. Just above the transparent arched ceiling what had been an elaborate tracery of gleaming flying buttresses, their functional purpose long since lost, stood precariously in a pattern of ruin.

Here and there about her, other surviving towers of the city rose in more serious stages of decay. And far below, on the windswept square, huddled the gleaming egg-shaped shelters of the Earthfolk. Beyond the city area the red desert and green oases stippled off to the dark horizon or advanced to invade the steep scarp of the far bank of the great canal.

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Contents

  1. Front Matter
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII

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About this edition

This free edition of Nightmare tower by Sam Jr. Merwin comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #72522, released 2023-12-27. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Science-Fiction & Fantasy, Novels.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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