Stanley Grauman Weinbaum

The Circle of Zero is a short story where a young man, Jack Anders is convinced by an old friend to try an unconventional method to beat the stock market. "A circle is the mathematical symbol for zero Time is zero-time is a circle. I have a theory that the hands of a clock are really the noses, because they're on the clock's face, and since time is a circle they go round and round and round ..."

"Parasite Planet" is a science fiction short story by Stanley G. Weinbaum. Hamilton "Ham" Hammond is an American trader who lives in the Venusian Hotlands in the late 21st century. He makes his living collecting xixtchil spore-pods from the native Venusians, which are used to make a rejuvenation drug on Earth. When Hammond's shack is sucked under the surface by a mud-spout, he must make his way across 200 miles of hot, humid, hostile Venusian jungle to reach Erotia, a settlement in the American part of the planet.