The Runaway Skyscraper

Description

The Runaway Skyscraper is the first science fiction story by Murray Leinster – the very first in the line of over one and a half thousand short stories and newspaper articles, fourteen movie scripts and hundreds of plays for television and radio, all written by the extraordinary, prolific author between 1916 and 1975. First published in 1919 in the Argosy Magazine, the story raised critical interest to Leinster’s work and it is an all-time favorite with science fiction fans even today.

The skyscraper in the title is the building that serves as headquarters for Arthur Chamberlain’s engineering firm in New York. All of a sudden, an earthquake devastates the area, causing the building to fall back in time. What used to be modern day New York becomes a camp of wigwams, construction workers go fishing and hunting with Indians, the only place where gas and electricity still work being the skyscraper itself. Chamberlain is first in a shock, but then he must put his mind to work to find out how to make the building return to its own time, in the 20th century.

The story was successful when it first came out and it has been enjoying continuous success ever since. It was republished several times, in 1926, in 1956, in 1966 in Amazing magazine, then in 1967 and 1969 in Best of Amazing. In 1980 the short story was chosen by Fantastic, then in 1998 it was included in the volume entitled New Horizons: Yesterdays Portraits of Tomorrow. In 2003 it was published in another anthology entitled Wondrous Beginnings and, in 2007, it appeared in yet another collection that bore the short story’s title. This long publication history prove that Leinster’s short story is indeed groundbreaking and extraordinary, exciting and special – modern readers will enjoy it just as much as sci-fi fans in the past.
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