Monsters That Once Were Men by Robert Silverberg Episode #60

Robert Silverberg | February 15, 2023

Monsters That Once Were Men by Robert Silverberg Episode #60
Robert Silverberg

MONSTERS THAT ONCE WERE MEN

Episode #60 · Written by Robert Silverberg · Narrated by Scott Miller

A routine repair stop leads a seasoned starfreighter crew to the long-lost wreck of a luxury liner—and to the distorted descendants of its irradiated survivors. As the truth behind the crashed ship unfolds, the crew confronts a terrifying reminder of what humanity can become when nature itself mutates beyond recognition.

A simple detour becomes a nightmare in Robert Silverberg’s gripping and unforgettable tale Monsters That Once Were Men. Captain Johnny Harmon and his dependable crew set down on an unnamed, supposedly uninhabited planet for routine stabilizer repairs. But the moment their sensors detect an enormous metallic mass on the surface, it becomes clear that something extraordinary—and frightening—awaits them below. The wreck they find is none other than the Empress of Saturn, a luxury starliner that vanished three decades earlier with more than eight hundred passengers aboard. What they don’t expect is what watches them from the jungle: malformed, unsettling shapes that bear only a distant resemblance to humanity.

When the lone surviving passenger of the Empress emerges—alone, frail, and carrying the weight of three decades of tragedy—the crew hears a story almost too horrifying to believe. The crash, the radiation, the births, the mutations, and the slow decline of the original survivors paint a picture of a colony gone horribly wrong. And while the creatures in the forest keep their distance at first, their numbers, resilience, and hunger soon reveal a far deadlier truth. As the freighter crew faces loss, terror, and the increasing threat outside their ship, the question shifts from what happened on this world to whether they can escape it alive.

Robert Silverberg drives the narrative with tension, empathy, and a sharp understanding of human fear. The world he presents is both alien and heartbreakingly familiar—a place where evolution warps without guidance, where the boundary between person and creature erodes, and where survival becomes the only governing law. The story pulses with suspense as Harmon and his men struggle to finish repairs, safeguard their ship, and resist both despair and vengeance. Their final confrontation with the planet’s unnatural inhabitants is explosive, unforgettable, and deeply human in its emotional undercurrents.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Silverberg stands among the most important and influential voices of twentieth-century science fiction. Born in Brooklyn in 1935, he entered the field as a prodigy, selling stories while still a teenager and quickly establishing himself as one of the genre’s most versatile and imaginative storytellers. By the 1960s he was producing landmark works of speculative fiction, earning Hugo and Nebula Awards, and reshaping the themes and expectations of the field. His writing spans everything from psychological exploration to far-future adventure to deeply philosophical examinations of culture, identity, and transformation.

Throughout his prolific career—spanning novels, short stories, essays, and editorial work—Silverberg has shown a rare gift for blending creativity with realism. His characters are flawed, layered, and driven by motivations that resonate across distance and time. His worlds are rich with detail and shaped by plausible science and emotional authenticity. In Monsters That Once Were Men, Silverberg’s talent is on full display as he explores mutation, morality, and the consequences of catastrophe. It is a gripping slice of vintage sci-fi that stands as both cautionary tale and adrenaline-fueled adventure.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to Monsters That Once Were Men by Robert Silverberg — a tragic tale of mutated survivors and danger in the jungle, in this vintage science fiction classic.