UP FOR RENEWAL
Episode #486 · Written by Lucious Daniel · Narrated by Scott Miller
In a future where aging is no longer tolerated, youth has become a social obligation. Rejuvenation promises vitality, acceptance, and continued relevance, but it comes with a hidden cost that can never be fully calculated.
Howard Kent has already lived through renewal before, and now faces the decision again. As legal pressure, social expectations, and personal relationships close in, the promise of youth begins to feel less like a gift and more like a threat. The story explores fear, coercion, and the quiet erosion of choice in a world obsessed with appearances.
Lucius Daniel delivers a narrative that examines love under strain and progress without mercy. With understated tension and sharp moral insight, Up For Renewal asks whether a society that conquers aging may lose something far more vital in the process.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucius Daniel published only three science fiction stories: Martians Never Die (1952), The Question (1953), and Up for Renewal (1954). We’ve already featured his first published story, Martians Never Die, and today we’re presenting his final one. Daniel’s career was brief, but the quality of his work makes his small output stand out—proof that even a short appearance in the genre could leave something worth preserving.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to Up For Renewal by Lucious Daniel — a vintage science fiction short story about aging, control, and choice in a future shaped by a desire to remain young despite the cost.
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
- Zeritskys Law by Ann Griffith
- Up For Renewal by Lucius Daniel
- 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
- Day of Wrath by Bjarne Kirchhoff
- You Are Forbidden by Jerry Shelton
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 3.7 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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— Ma Suzie
Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.
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