The Project Gutenberg eBook of All were monsters This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: All were monsters Author: Manly Wade Wellman Illustrator: Mel Hunter Release date: February 15, 2026 [eBook #77940] Language: English Original publication: New York: King-Size Publications, Inc, 1955 Credits: Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALL WERE MONSTERS *** All Were Monsters by Manly Wade Wellman _Like the Darwins and the Huxleys the Wellmans have a quite remarkable record of family accomplishment. Manly Wade’s dad is an internationally famous medical pioneer, painter and writer and his brother, Paul, has achieved outstanding recognition as a best-selling historical novelist. But it is Manly himself we are concerned with here, and his by no means inconsiderable literary talents. There’s a bitter-bright eerie wonderment in this unusual little yarn._ =The man from the stars bore the human race no ill will. Why was he greeted by a host of monsters?= “I’ve watched you in the sky,” I whispered, staring in shocked disbelief at the humanoid male from the little space ship. “For three nights, with my telescope.” I gestured toward the roof where the instrument stood. “I made it myself, and I can see the rings of Saturn and Jupiter’s moons. I live alone on this farm, and--” I stopped abruptly, telling myself I was quite mad to think that he could understand me. “Oh, but I can,” he said instantly. In the gloom he looked just the way you’d expect an inhabitant of another world _would_ look, from his long, thin, snug-garmented arms and legs to his high domed forehead. “I know how to communicate telepathically with your kind,” he said. That made sense, but the rest of it didn’t. “I can’t believe it,” I said. “The first ship from another world! Why didn’t the big observatories report on your coming?” “They didn’t see me,” was his measured reply. “But if my crude, homemade telescope picked you out--” “I didn’t _want_ them to see me,” he explained patiently. “Too much attention would have been exhausting. I wanted to start, quietly, with you. Long before I set down on your world I decided on you, with your telescope and your lonely home out here away from any densely populated area. Let’s go in.” As I led him toward my back door I still couldn’t grasp it. He looked too patly like the popular conception of a creature from another planet. “You can’t grasp it,” he said. “I look too patly like the popular conception of a creature from another planet.” “You can read my mind?” I gasped, forgetting that he’d just informed me that he had telepathic powers. “And I can speak your language. As to my appearance--I have adopted a synthetic disguise to avoid startling you too much. If you saw and heard me as I really am, you’d refuse to believe in my existence.” I opened the kitchen door for him. Inside, his snug garments shone metal-bright. He had large, glowing eyes, and his thin face seemed inscrutably observant and somehow very wise. Just as I closed the door behind us, he goggled upward, and shrank back as though terrified. “What’s that?” he gasped. “A moth,” I replied. “It was drawn to the electric light.” Snatching the little creature out of the air, I crushed it in my fingers and dropped it on the table. “You did that almost instinctively,” he said. “And ruthlessly.” “It was only a moth,” I said. “That was the first time I ever saw a violent death,” he told me. “I’d heard of it, but only as it happens on your world. You see, we’ve studied you, far across space, but we didn’t know you had these little living things--moths, as you call them.” Looking at him, I wondered if he really was what he claimed to be--an inhabitant of another world. “I’ll convince you,” he read my mind again, “and you’ll help me convince others. I have thought of a way to make you believe--a scientific way. Gold-making puzzles you, doesn’t it?” He seated himself at the kitchen table, and drew toward him a tarnished fork. From his belt-pouch he took a small object resembling a salt-shaker and sprinkled dull dust on the utensil. Pouching the shaker, he produced a tiny black vial and carefully trickled liquid on the dust. He twiddled the fork briefly, then held it out. It gleamed yellow, and weighed heavy in my hand. To outward appearance, at least, it was gold. “What else?” he asked. “Restoring the dead to life?” Again he produced a vial, and shook a single drop of yellow liquid on the crushed body of the moth. From a tiny syringe, he blew a cloud of vapor. Finally he turned a red glow, like a miniature flashlight, on the insect. Then he shrank back in his chair, for the moth had stirred, and was fluttering up to the light. Again I swiftly caught and crushed it, and he relaxed. “You’re afraid of your own gift of life,” I said. He shook his big head. “We’ve studied only your civilized race. We knew of no other living things--uncivilized, uncontrolled. Forgive me if I seem nervous.” “How did you study us?” I asked. Close-mouthed, he smiled. “We use mechanisms of awareness. Without optical or auditory experience of you we have familiarized ourselves with even your slipshod, fantastic notions about other worlds. That is why I look and speak as I do, to conform with your notions. I even rigged my vehicle to resemble your mental picture of a spaceship, recognizable to your preconception. I can even achieve complete invisibility. I’ll show myself only to scholars and scientists of your choosing.” “What name shall I give you?” I asked. “You could not speak my real name. You may call me Provvorr. That sounds like the name of someone from another world--to you.” “Where is your world, Provvorr?” I asked. “What is it like?” “It’s far from your System. We’ll reach a point of en rapportment which will enable you to understand its location. But it is more important that I first know about you.” I sat down opposite him. “Do you intend to make war upon us?” I asked. “Have you drawn up a plan of conquest?” Shaking his head, he smiled again. “We have no such plan. We don’t understand killing and conquering. But when I bring my people back, we must understand how to survive here. Our world is overcrowded, exhausted. We’ll colonize this one.” “But you just said,” I reminded him gently, “that you didn’t want to conquer us.” Again he smiled. “When we come back you won’t be here, any of you. Our observers give your race something like two of your decades in which to destroy yourselves.” I looked at him in tight-lipped silence. It was no new idea. Most thinking people agree that we’re on the doorstep of self-extermination. But Provvorr came out with it so facilely, like someone who knows that an apartment will be vacant for him by the first of the month. Only a quite insane mind-- “I’m completely sane,” he assured me. “You can predict the future. Is that it?” “Anyone can predict the future who makes a careful, scientific study of the present and the past. Your race will be gone, except for a few scattered survivors, by the time I bring back enough of my people to populate this world.” He looked at me as he spoke. “Is there no hope for us then?” I asked. Then I realized with horror that I was accepting his prediction at face value, and almost shouted at him. “This is our world. Do you hear? Ours, not yours.” “Why begrudge it to me and mine after you leave it empty?” he asked. Then he started violently, staring. “What’s that?” My sharp voice had summoned Skip, my bull terrier. Entering the kitchen, he stationed himself beside the stove, and he looked at Provvorr. “It’s just my dog,” I said. “He always gets excited when I raise my voice.” “This isn’t at all what I expected,” Provvorr said shakily. Skip stood stiff-legged a yard from Provvorr, and growled almost savagely. “Get him out of here,” Provvorr pleaded. “Down, Skip,” I commanded. “That’s it, old fellow. Calm now--” Skip sat down, his eyes still on Provvorr. “There, he won’t harm you,” I said. “He knows you’re frightened, and that makes him foolhardy.” “But I tried to go invisible,” Provvorr said. “I tried to vanish completely from his consciousness. It should have worked, but--he _knows_ I’m here.” Provvorr quivered. I stared at him, amazed. “I thought you had pretty thorough impressions of our world.” “Only of your chief activities and preoccupations. Nothing about the hideous, monstrous creatures you call dogs.” “Perhaps we take dogs too much for granted,” I said. “We should not. They’re our friends.” “But they’re so--so repellently alien,” he protested. “Not your kind at all.” I stared at him. “Don’t you have pets and other animals on your world?” “My people are the only inhabitants,” he explained. “Once there were others--strange and terrifyingly different. So long ago that we see only their remains in our sedimentary rocks.” His shoulders twitched nervously. I recalled how he’d acted about the moth, and began to understand the creepy strangeness which was making him quake. “Are there many dogs like this one?” he asked apprehensively. “Almost everybody has a dog,” I replied. “Or a cat.” “What is a cat?” he asked, but there was no need for me to enlighten him. Oscar strolled in after Skip, a four-footed perambulating muff. He sat beside Skip, his green eyes on Provvorr. He purred like an outboard motor. I thought Provvorr would leap out through the window glass. “A cat,” he said. “You keep him for--what purpose?” I tried to be reassuring. “Just for his company and respectability. Of course, he catches mice.” “What are mice?” As I told him, his face grew tense and sick. “All are monsters,” he said. “Your world breeds a horrible variety of abnormal creatures. We thought you were like us--a single living species, subduing a planet to your will. These other things are--uncivilized.” I was quite sure the word didn’t mean exactly what he wanted it to mean. Skip and Oscar were civilized enough, if it came to that. I think he meant that they were uncanny, beyond those mechanisms of awareness he was accustomed to. “They won’t hurt you,” I assured him. “Watch while I feed them. You’ll see how friendly they are.” I took a plate of left-over pork roast from the refrigerator and with a sharp kitchen knife I shaved off scraps. Oscar and Skip accepted the repast with well-bred relish. “What are they eating?” Provvorr wanted to know. “Meat,” I said. “Animal food--pork.” “We make our food from the elements,” Provvorr said. “Synthetics,” I nodded, understandingly. “You’d have to, with no domestic food animals.” “From what animal does that food come?” I described a pig. Then in more colorful detail, a steer. He drummed his tapering fingers on the table. “Your world swarms with hideous life,” he repeated. “It all depends on how you look at it,” I said. “We’re used to it.” “I’m not.” “Therefore it gives you the creeps. The way I’d feel in a roomful of snakes.” “What are snakes?” I told him. He asked more questions, and I spoke of rabbits that scampered across fields; of fish swarming in streams, and lakes and oceans; of birds in the air; elephants and lions and tigers. He listened, in a silence that grew ever more ominous around him. “Your planet is infested,” he said. “This is terrible.” “Why terrible?” I asked, really wanting to know. He looked sidelong at Skip and Oscar, their sharp white teeth busy with the pork. “Monsters can’t be rationalized. I can’t read their minds. I can’t disappear from them. They are utterly new to my experience.” * * * * * _They really are terrifying to him_, I thought. _Like ghosts_.... “What are ghosts?” he demanded, instantly. “Strange, mysterious beings that ignorant people believe in,” I said. “Spirits of dead creatures, of evil intelligences, lurking and spying, ready to do harm.” “Are they animals,” said Provvorr. “No,” I told him. “Ghosts are imaginary. Animals are real.” “Animals,” he said, “are evil intelligences, lurking and spying, ready to do harm.” “Nonsense, Provvorr,” I tried to reassure him. “Animals know us for their masters. We’ve won mastery over them.” “But your race kills and conquers,” he said. “Mine doesn’t. That’s why these creatures don’t think I’m a master. And when your race destroys itself, these other races will remain here--” He rose, shrinking away from Skip and Oscar. “Have you a light to show me to my ship?” he asked. I took a flashlight and escorted him from the house. Skip and Oscar watched us from the door, in quiet unconcern. Out in the field beside his ship, Provvorr looked wan in the flashlight’s beam. “Good-bye,” he said. “We won’t attempt to colonize this monster-thronged world. It’s as you said. We would feel as you would feel among snakes. I can understand that feeling as it is registered in your mind.” “Then,” I said, “if my race ends the way you say, the world will belong to animals. Perhaps dogs will rule--or cats, or mice. Home folks, anyway. Maybe they’ll do better than we could ever hope to do.” “Since we won’t come here,” said Provvorr, “would you like to know how to avoid destroying yourself?” “How?” I cried eagerly. His smile was tight as he studied me carefully. “When I tell you, it will seem simple.” And how simple it seemed as he told me, just before he left. So simple, the way to stop wars and conquests and destruction--I hope it won’t sound ridiculous when I pass it on to the United Nations. Transcriber’s note: This etext was produced from Fantastic Universe, May 1955 (Vol. 3, No. 4.). Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Obvious errors have been silently corrected in this version, but minor inconsistencies have been retained as printed. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALL WERE MONSTERS *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. START: FULL LICENSE THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. 1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with others. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country other than the United States. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed: This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that: • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works. • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work. • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. 1.F. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org. This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.