Project Gutenberg 2009-07-27 Public domain in the USA. 175 Sheckley, Robert 1928 2005 Barbee, Phillips Lang, Ned O'Donnevan, Finn Barbee, Phillip Connell The Leech Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction December 1952. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "The Leech" by Phillips Barbee is a science fiction novel written in the early 1950s. The story revolves around a monstrous, extraterrestrial life form that resembles a leech, which awakens after landing on Earth and begins to consume everything in its path. As its insatiable hunger drives it to grow uncontrollably, a battle ensues between the natural phenomena of this alien creature and the military’s attempts to contain and ultimately destroy it. The plot follows Professor Micheals, who discovers the leech when it begins to disrupt his peaceful summer. As the leech grows, devouring soil, structures, and eventually the military's attempted interventions, it becomes an insidious threat that the government seeks to eliminate. General O'Donnell, determined to assert military dominance, proposes drastic measures such as nuclear bombs to destroy the leech. However, as the creature reacts unpredictably and continues to grow, it becomes clear that brute force may not be the solution. In a climactic twist, the military’s efforts to destroy the leech inadvertently lead to its spread across the universe in the form of microscopic spores, raising questions about humanity's relationship with the unknown and its tendency towards destruction. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 78.3 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 62546 2025-08-12T08:10:21.821859 text/html 58774 2021-01-05T09:40:33 text/html 193034 2025-08-12T08:10:25.702842 application/epub+zip 191384 2025-08-12T08:10:23.366907 application/epub+zip 78452 2025-08-12T08:10:22.326853 application/epub+zip 297587 2025-08-12T08:10:27.373840 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 288535 2025-08-12T08:10:25.040873 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 103020 2022-09-13T15:48:31.483826 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 54620 2025-08-12T08:10:21.541877 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 54490 2021-01-05T09:40:33 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19196 2025-08-12T08:10:27.568830 application/rdf+xml 9009 2025-08-12T08:10:22.813875 image/jpeg 2495 2025-08-12T08:10:22.570855 image/jpeg 136194 2021-01-05T09:40:33 application/octet-stream application/zip 20952 2021-01-05T09:40:33 application/octet-stream application/zip 191050 2025-08-12T08:10:21.834895 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia