Project Gutenberg 2019-11-10 Public domain in the USA. 128 Leiber, Fritz 1910 1992 Leiber, Fritz Reuter Pipe Dream Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1959 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Pipe Dream" by Fritz Leiber is a short novel written in the late 1950s that explores themes of reality, desire, and surrealism through a blend of science fiction and fantasy. The plot revolves around Simon Grue, an artist living in Greenwich Village who becomes fascinated by the enigmatic Russian family next door and their strange activities, particularly involving a curious transformation concerning their sister, Grushenka. The narrative delves into Simon's encounter with a peculiar mermaid-like creature and its intriguing connection to Grushenka, which ultimately leads him into a chaotic intersection of various personalities and a whirlwind of bizarre events. The storyline follows Simon as he retrieves a tiny creature resembling a mermaid from his bathtub, discovering it has a striking resemblance to Grushenka, the sister of the Stulnikov-Gurevich family. As Simon investigates the bizarre happenings of the Russians—who are conducting secretive experiments involving the creation of aquatic beings—he becomes entangled in their plans, which involve using Grushenka's egg to produce a series of strange, dream-inducing entities in the hopes of capitalizing on their unique properties. The plot escalates with a whimsical and chaotic twist when a storm unleashes a series of supernatural events, culminating in an emotional climax and an unexpected resolution that leaves Simon questioning the boundaries between dreams and reality. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 70.3 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Siblings -- Fiction Russians -- United States -- Fiction Experiments -- Fiction Greenwich Village (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 58138 2025-06-24T07:42:23.272856 text/html 34301 2024-10-17T14:32:45 text/html 238461 2025-06-24T07:42:25.346821 application/epub+zip 237301 2025-06-24T07:42:23.785841 application/epub+zip 79527 2025-06-24T07:42:23.466886 application/epub+zip 274002 2025-06-24T07:42:26.729822 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 266275 2025-06-24T07:42:25.116877 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 108824 2022-09-27T12:10:47.381338 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 51477 2023-09-26T06:19:33.412901 text/plain 31634 2024-10-17T14:32:45 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17251 2025-06-24T07:42:26.867810 application/rdf+xml 28855 2025-06-24T07:42:23.559820 image/jpeg 4785 2025-06-24T07:42:23.512839 image/jpeg 414344 2025-06-24T07:42:23.287829 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