author
Alvin Heiner
A little-known science fiction writer from the early pulp-magazine era, remembered today for brisk, imaginative stories about space travel and strange new possibilities. His surviving work has a classic 1950s feel: compact, idea-driven, and easy to slip into.
2 Audiobooks
The Revealing Pattern
by Alvin Heiner
The Stowaway
by Alvin Heiner
About the author
Very little biographical information about Alvin Heiner appears to be widely documented, but his fiction survives through public-domain archives and magazine records. He is known as the author of science fiction short stories including The Stowaway and The Revealing Pattern.
His work appeared in If: Worlds of Science Fiction in 1952, placing him among the many writers who helped shape the energetic magazine science fiction scene of the early 1950s. The Stowaway, one of his best-known stories today, has remained available through Project Gutenberg and audiobook platforms, which has helped keep his name in circulation.
Because so little verified personal history is readily available, Heiner is best approached through the stories themselves. For listeners who enjoy vintage speculative fiction, his work offers a snapshot of an era when rockets, the Moon, and big scientific ideas powered short, fast-moving adventures.