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      COPYRIGHT INFO

      The Jacques Futrelle Megapack is copyright © 2013 by Wildside Press LLC.

      A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

      Over the last year, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has proved to be one of our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums for joining our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

      The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!).

      A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS

      The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.)

      RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

      Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

      Note: We only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

      TYPOS

      Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

      If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

      —John Betancourt

      Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

      www.wildsidepress.com

      THE MEGAPACK SERIES

      The Adventure Megapack

      The Christmas Megapack

      The Second Christmas Megapack

      The Cowboy Megapack

      The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack

      The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack

      The Ghost Story Megapack

      The Horror Megapack

      The Macabre Megapack

      The Martian Megapack

      The Military Megapack

      The Mummy Megapack

      The Mystery Megapack

      The Science Fiction Megapack

      The Second Science Fiction Megapack

      The Third Science Fiction Megapack

      The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack

      The Fifth Science Fiction Megapack

      The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack

      The Penny Parker Megapack

      The Pinocchio Megapack

      The Pulp Fiction Megapack

      The Rover Boys Megapack

      The Steampunk Megapack

      The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack

      The Tom Swift Megapack

      The Vampire Megapack

      The Victorian Mystery Megapack

      The Werewolf Megapack

      The Western Megapack

      The Wizard of Oz Megapack

      AUTHOR MEGAPACKS

      The E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

      The B.M. Bower Megapack

      The Wilkie Collins Megapack

      The Randall Garrett Megapack

      The G.A. Henty Megapack

      The Jacques Futrelle Megapack

      The Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Second Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Andre Norton Megapack

      The Rafael Sabatini Megapack

      INTRODUCTION

      Jacques Futrelle (1875-1912) is widely considered “the American Sherlock Holmes” for his series of stories about Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, who is better known as The Thinking Machine. Van Dusen, a master of logic, believed he could think himself out of any situation—and solve any crime—through the use of his immense intellect. Through dozens of stories, The Thinking Machine solved locked-room puzzles, kidnappings, and more murders than can be easily counted, proving again and again that brain-power is the answer to any problem.

      Jacques Futrelle himself was born in Georgia. His father was a college teacher, and Jacques was brought up with an appreciation for great literature. His first jobs were in pubishing, working at the Atlanta Journal as an assistant to the business manager, then at the Boston Post, and then back to the Atlanta Journal, where he established the newspaper’s first sports column.

      He married Lilly May Peel in 1895, and they moved to New York, where he worked as telegraph operator for the New York Herald. Their neighbors included such luminaries as Edith Wharton.

      Following the birth of their two children, Virginia and John, the Futrelles moved to Massachusets, where Jacques worked for the Boston American, William Randolph Hurst’s new newspaper. Here he would begin writing fiction, creating not just The Thinking Machine short stories, but a number of popular novels: The Chase of the Golden Plate (whose cast includes The Thinking Machine), The Simple Case of Susan, The Diamond Master, Elusive Isabel, The High Hand, Blind Man’s Buff, and My Lady’s Garter. Two volumes of The Thinking Machine stories were collected as The Thinking Machine and The Thinking Machine on the Case. Jacques Futrelle left the newspaper business to become a full-time writer in 1906.

      In January 1912, leaving their children at home with their grandparents, Jacques and May Futrelle journeyed to Europe to meet publishers, market Jacques’ stories and books, and have a vacation. Unfortunately, they decided to return home on the maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic. May survived the Titanic’s sinking, but Jacques Futrelle did not, and what promised to be a spectacular writing career was tragically cut short.

      May Futrelle (who herself wrote a small number of works prior to World War I, including The Secretary of Frivolous Affairs in 1911 and Lieutenant What’s His Name in 1915) died in 1967 and is buried in Scituate, Massachusets.

      THE THINKING MACHINE

      It was absolutely impossible. Twenty-five chess masters from the world at large, gathered in Boston for the annual championships, unanimously declared it impossible, and unanimity on any given point is an unusual mental condition for chess masters. Not one would concede for an instant that it was within the range of human achievement. Some grew red in the face as they argued it, others smiled loftily and were silent; still others dismissed the matter in a word as wholly absurd.

      A casual remark by the distinguished scientist and logician, Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, provoked the discussion. He had, in the past, aroused bitter disputes by some chance remark; in fact had been once a sort of controversial centre of the sciences. It had been due to his modest announcement of a startling and unorthodox hypothesis that he had been invited to vacate the chair of Philosophy in a great university. Later that university had felt honoured when he

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