1896 — 1974 · Cincinnati
The writings of Charles R. Tanner
This website is dedicated to the memory of Charles R. Tanner. All stories — published, unpublished, and incomplete — are here for your enjoyment.
The corridors
Tumithak
In the fifty-third century, two thousand years after the Shelks of Venus drove humanity underground, a young man of Loor climbs toward the sun. The four stories that made Tanner immortal among the first generation of science-fiction fans.
Tumithak of the Corridors
Two millennia after the Shelks of Venus drove mankind into the tunnels, a young man of Loor finds an ancient book and climbs toward the sun to kill a Shelk.
114 min read
Tumithak in Shawm
The sequel. Tumithak leads a war-party back to the surface to take the fight to the Shelks — and finds other human nations waiting in the light.
144 min read
Tumithak and the Towers of Fire
The third Tumithak adventure. The war for the surface reaches the burning towers, and the corridors send up another generation of fighters.
61 min read
Tumithak and the Ancient Word
Written in 1952, unpublished until the 2005 collection. Tumithak’s reconquest of the surface and the long work of rebuilding a world.
69 min readFrom the pulps
A career in the magazines
The Color of Space
Hugo Gernsback’s $150 first-prize winner. A kidnapped chemist is shown a shuttered window onto the stars — and the one scientific error on a magazine cover becomes the twist.
10 min read
The Flight of the Mercury
From the winner of the Science Wonder cover contest: a voyage toward Mars aboard a ship that still believes in the ether.
29 min read
The Vanishing Diamonds
Written for Amazing’s first Ziff-Davis issue. Professor Isaac N. Stillwell — Tanner’s favorite of his own characters — investigates jewels that will not stay stolen.
22 min read
Out of the Jar
A weird-fantasy bottle story: something old, sealed, and unwise is let back into the world.
20 min read
The Stillwell Degravitator
Professor Stillwell returns with a machine that argues with gravity — and with anyone standing underneath it.
25 min read
The Improbable
A compact puzzle of chance, invention, and the one outcome no reasonable man would bet on.
23 min read
