Cosmic Tragedy by Thomas S. Gardiner Episode #429
Thomas S. Gardiner | September 19, 2025-
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Cosmic Tragedy by Thomas S. Gardiner Episode #429
Thomas S. Gardiner
COSMIC TRAGEDY
Episode #429 · Written by Thomas S. Gardiner · Narrated by Scott Miller
A sound no one can escape starts to creep into the world. It gets under the skin, scrambles nerves, and turns crowded cities into places people fear to enter.
Then the crisis deepens. The atmosphere itself begins to break down, and the sunlight becomes part of the threat. Iron shielding offers a way to endure, but it cannot rebuild what panic is tearing apart.
Earth’s last response is not a negotiation. It is an engineering strike powered by everything the planet can still control. A single, world-linked surge is prepared to ride the incoming signal back to its source. Once that switch is thrown, there is no undo.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas S. Gardiner wrote only one story: “Cosmic Tragedy.” It appeared in Comet, March 1941.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to Cosmic Tragedy by Thomas S. Gardiner — a vintage science fiction story where a mysterious signal drives humanity toward madness and Earth prepares a desperate counterattack.
LOST VOICES OF VINTAGE SCI-FI
Not every science fiction writer built a long career in the field or became a widely recognized name. Some published only a handful of stories before disappearing from the magazines, leaving behind little biographical record and few surviving details. Others may be remembered for work in different genres, while their contribution to science fiction was brief.
Yet these writers helped shape the texture of the pulp era and beyond. Their stories experimented with bold ideas, filled the pages between the famous names, and added depth to the ever-expanding landscape of vintage science fiction.
The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast exists in part to rediscover these voices. The stories below were written by authors who published briefly, sparingly, or whose science fiction output was small - but whose work still deserves to be heard.
- The Ultimate Paradox by Thorp McClusky
- The Ultimate Wish by E. M. Hull
- Welcome to Paradise by Allyn Donnelson
- Day of Reckoning by Morton Klass
- Zeritskys Law by Ann Griffith
- Up For Renewal by Lucius Daniel
- Patch by William Shedenhelm
- Rabbits Have Long Ears by Lawrence F. Willard
- Electronic Landslide by Clyde Hostetter
- They Reached for the Moon by William Oberfield
- Death Walks on Mars by Alan J. Ramm
- When the Moon Fell by Morrison Colladay
- Know They Neighbor by Elisabeth R. Lewis
- The Other One by A. H. Gibson
- No Evidence by Victoria Lincoln
- The Man Who Liked Lions by John Bernard Daley
- Willies Planet by Mike Ellis
- The Short Snorter by Charles Einstein
- Your Servant Sir by Sol Boren
- The Fugitives by Malcolm B. Morehart Jr
- Leave Earthmen or Die by John Massie Davis
- And All the Girls Were Nude by Richard Magruder
- Rabbits Have Long Ears by Lawrence F. Willard
- Dust Unto Dust by Lyman D. Hinckley
- Cosmic Tragedy by Thomas S. Gardiner
- Day of Wrath by Bjarne Kirchhoff
- You Are Forbidden by Jerry Shelton
- Thirty Degrees Cattywonkus by James Bell
- The Small Bears by Gene L. Henderson
- The First Spaceman by Gene L. Henderson
ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST
The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.8 million listens.
Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.
What listeners are saying:
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— junt
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“Great choices and narration. This podcast has excellent stories told well.”
— Archoneponymous
Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.
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