Return to Earth by Willis Knapp Jones
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"Return to Earth by Willis Knapp Jones" is a science fiction short story written in the early 20th century. It follows a resurrected pilot who returns to his hometown with an alien guide, aiming to prove his interplanetary voyage, and probes the clash between advanced beings and a fear-driven, war-prone humanity. Told by the alien Usru, the tale recounts how Henry Sanborn comes back to the small town he left eighteen years
earlier, expecting glory for his achievement. Instead, he meets scorn: a former sweetheart flees, his wealthy friend Todd Van Horne spits on him for deserting wartime duty, and a cobbler denounces him as a coward. Hoping for validation, Henry appeals to the local asylum’s physician, Dr. Bender, explaining his anti-gravity ship inspired by the patient Menkowitz and insisting that Usru and the invisible craft are nearby. Skeptics fail to see the G-ray-hidden ship, mockery mounts, and Usru briefly reveals superior powers to drive home the truth. Concluding that Earth’s emotions and violence make contact dangerous, Usru immobilizes the situation, retrieves the terrified Henry—whose life Urcanus science restored after his fatal crash—and departs, resolving that their world will not communicate with humanity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Jones, Willis Knapp, 1895-1982 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Brundage, Margaret, 1900-1976 |
| Illustrator | Finlay, Virgil, 1914-1971 |
| Title | Return to Earth |
| Original Publication | Indianapolis, IN: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 1937. |
| Series Title | Produced from Weird Tales June 1937. |
| Credits | Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net. |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 75.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Extraterrestrial beings -- Fiction |
| Subject | Human-alien encounters -- Fiction |
| Subject | Space travelers -- Fiction |
| Subject | Earth (Planet) -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 76645 |
| Release Date | Aug 7, 2025 |
| Last Update | Aug 10, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 365 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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