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Arc of the Dream: Radix Tetrad: Book 3 (Radix)
by A.A. AttanasioEarth's last hope? The Arc, a being of immense power, trapped within a continuum too small, fights for its freedom. Its monumental struggle will touch a few select individuals on Earth - and in doing so, change their lives forever. The Arc may also be the last hope for humanity's survival.Author's Note: The volumes of this series can each be read independently of the others. The feature that unifies them is their individual observations of science fiction's sub-genre: "space opera," which the editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer define as "colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, characteristically optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes."
Born Leader (Prologue Science Fiction Ser.)
by J. T. McIntoshFoley was a BORN LEADER...but the settlers of the planet Mundis were smug, content with their lives, happy to 'leave well alone'. Their petty conflicts and jealousies absorbed them; they had no need for a leader. They were a nation of sheep in a universe which they thought contained no wolves. Then came the well-armed, marauding invaders from Secundis...
The Broken Sword (FANTASY MASTERWORKS)
by Poul AndersonThe sword Tyrfing has been broken to prevent it striking at the roots of Yggdrasil, the great tree that binds earth, heaven and hell together . . . but now the mighty sword is needed again to save the elves, who are heavily involved in their war against the trolls, and only Skafloc, a human child kidnapped and raised by the elves, can hope to persuade the mighty ice-giant, Bolverk, to make the sword Thor broke whole again. But things are never easy, and along the way Skafloc must also confront his shadow self, Valgard the changeling, who took his place in the world of men.A superb dark fantasy of the highest, and most Norse, order The Broken Sword is a fantasy masterpiece.
The Caves of Steel
by Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov’s Robot series – from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels – contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
City of No Return
by E.C. TubbFor countless years the enigmatic city of Klagan had rested beneath the racing moons of ancient Mars. Forbidden, guarded, sheltered in the cup of the Blue Mountains and surrounded by waterless desert. It rested there, a place of a thousand rumours and whispered fantasies, and gave birth to muttered tales of incredible wealth and riches.To this city came Halmar, the guide; Lorna, the dancer from Venus; and the man called Smith. Defying the ban of the Terran Authorities, the fanatical Drylanders, and the harsh desert, they reached the crystal walls of the strange city. There they found a tremendous mystery, the deserted artefacts of a vanquished civilisation - and found themselves snared in an incredible trap.For Klagan was more than a city. It was. . .What it was and how the intrepid adventurers solved the incredible secret of the mysterious city makes this an exciting tale of science and plausible speculation, action and human motivations.
Dark Andromeda
by John Glasby A.J. MerakEarth was threatened with attach from the huge space-fleets of the Hundred Suns of Andromeda - an attack that the Terran Fleet could not hope to defeat.Only one chance remained to prevent Earth's destruction, and that was the chance that a skilled and experienced saboteur might just have time strike his blow before the enemy could launch the attack.It was Captain Blair whose mission this became, and it was his ace-saboteur who raced against death in planet after planet, as the zero-hour approached when Earth would face the attacking fleets of DARK ANDROMEDA.
Dark Centauri
by Karl Zeigfreid John Glasby"My God!" he yelled. "What's happening now?" Stevens stared. Then he started abruptly to his feet. Even afterwards, when he looked back on the incident, he could never actually decide what really happened. He had a persistent, oddly unshakable memory of a man flowing suddenly into liquid. Inside the blue and gray uniform of the Interstellar Passenger Service, the man began to melt, to change into a thick gooey substance that dripped and trickled away between the rising pillars of steel. Desperately, he fought down the rising sense of nausea that tugged at the muscles of his stomach. The picture was so utterly impossible that he screwed his eyes tightly to shut it out of his mind. When he looked again, there was nothing there and Blair was looking across at him, his jaw slack and an expression of stark disbelief in his dark eyes.
Dead Weight
by E.C. TubbSam Falkirk, Captain of the World Police and stationed at the World Council building in New York, has a special interest in investigating the sudden and inexplicable death of Angelo Augustine, the brother of his girl friend. A messenger employed by the Council, Augustine was also a spy in the pay of Senator Rayburn, a fanatical Nationalist who is fighting both to retain his power and to destroy the Orient before they, as he believes, turn against the Occident.Augustine had died while delivering a parcel containing a statue of a Buddha for an employee of Senator Sucamari of the Japanese Legation, and who, in his own way, is as fanatical as Rayburn himself. Sucamari wants to gain living room for the teeming millions of the Orient, and his secret plan involves the releasing of a deadly bacterial plague across the Americas. The bacteria is contained in a special coating on the Buddha statue, but when the statue is stolen by a petty criminal, millions of people hover on the brink of agonizing death, unless Falkirk can find the criminal in time . . .
The Echoing Worlds
by Jonathan BurkeBecause he was bored with life on a world that had become a museum, Paul Hilder answered a mysterious advertisement, and found himself plunged into a life that was different, dangerous and far from boring.This is the story of an Earth that existed alongside the one that Paul Hilder knew, and with which he became so involved that the bitter struggle waged on one world threatened to encroach on the other.And it is the story of Ruth, daughter of the powerful Controller Orstey, and her longing for a peace and happiness that did not exist in her own space and time - a peace she tried to find by passing through the cosmic junction of THE ECHOING WORLDS.
The Extra Man
by E.C. TubbThere were two: Rosslyn, the pilot, and Comain, the dreamer. Rosslyn died in space, frozen, preserved for two centuries until found and resurrected by a miracle of future surgery. Comain . . . ?Comain remained on Earth and crystallised his dreams, and when Rosslyn returned he found a civilisation beyond his wildest imaginings. Women ruled the planet, guided solely by the automatic and relentless predictions of a tremendous and frightening machine. A machine that foretold the future and determined the actions of an entire world with devastating accuracy. Into this assured and new civilisation Rosslyn came - and the impact of his presence brought near chaos.He had to be assimilated - or eliminated.
Fifty Days to Doom
by E.C. TubbThe galaxy is at war, a war between the oxygen-breathing Terran Federation of worlds and the Ginzoes, chlorine-breathing aliens. Neither side dare attack the others' habitable worlds for fear of reprisals: the war has become a matter of spaceships firing on each other as they emerge from hyperspace.An Earth ship is captured in battle by the Ginzoes, and its surviving crew learn that the aliens have gained possession of a newly-developed catalyst. If dropped into the oceans of oxygen planets the catalyst can liberate the chlorine from the sea and convert them to chlorine worlds suitable for the Ginzoes. The catalyst will be used unless the Terran Federation declares peace within fifty days. Fifty days to save Mankind . . . or fifty days to doom!
The Frozen Limit
by John Russell Fearn Volsted GridbanDefying the edict of the Medical Council., Dr. Robert Cranston, helped by Dr. Campbell, carries out an unauthorised medical experiment with a 'deep freeze' system of suspended animation. The volunteer is Claire Baxter, an attractive film stunt-girl. But when Claire undergoes deep freeze unconsciousness, the two doctors discover that they cannot restore the girl. She is barely alive. Despite every endeavour to revive the girl, nothing happens, and Cranston and Campbell find themselves charged with murder...
Gateway to Elsewhere
by Murray LeinsterTony Gregg was just an ordinary everyday American until the day he came into possession of an old Barkut coin. He knew it was more than just a collector's curio because there was no such place on any map of Earth, past or present. He learned then that it could be used as a key - a key to a GATEWAY TO ELSEWHERE.That was the beginning of one of the most fabulous and fantastic adventures that ever befell a young man looking for excitement. For Gregg plunged forthwith into a fourth-dimensional world of the Arabian Nights, where the djinns of Aladdin's Lamp were rampaging realities, and a lovely princess was waiting to be rescued!
Hell Planet
by E.C. TubbBetween the frozen wastes of the night side and the searing inferno of the dayside, the Twilight Belt held all that was Human on the tiny world of Mercury, Hell Planet of the Solar System. A strange world, airless, subject to the alien distortions of Einsteinian mathematics, Mercury was both a promise and a challenge, for here could be found torrents of cheap power essential to the ships and men in space. Lee Correy, Commander of the Station, plunges into the frigid wastes in a desperate race against time to find and rescue both his brother and the essential component of the beam control. Fighting impossible conditions and incredible alien life he is up against the enigmatic mystery of the sand devils; a dead man who walked, and a machine that could not fail-but did. Here is a story of the future, of the planets and the men who will colonise them, of the way they will live and the problems they will face. With mystery, adventure, exciting action and scientifically correct detail. A story of what might well be in the days to come . . .
Hotel Cosmos
by Jonathan BurkeHarrison got to the hotel less than ten minutes after the manager had visio'd him. Two men followed him in, one of them sauntering casually across to the desk and giving no sign of recognition.Twenty yards away the squad car hummed a throbbing note as it generated the screen which would impenetrably surround the hotel until Harrison had finished.The man at the desk said: "Room with a bath for two days.""Earth atmosphere. sir?" said the desk clerk.
I Came - I Saw - I Wondered
by John Russell Fearn Volsted GridbanAn imaginative satire, telling of a benign Martian explorer comes to Earth to observe humanity-and is amazed to discover how Hollywood films and popular literature have engendered an irrational xenophobia and hatred of alien visitors. Befriended by a writer and his wife, the Martian is forced to remain incognito...
I Spy
by John Russell Fearn Vargo StattenTelevision experimenter Curtis Drew sets out to combine the X-ray with television to aid surgery. However, he discovers instead 'pure' television-invisible 'Z-rays' which have the potential to receive and record any situation-anywhere. Nothing is private any more. The secrets of the warlords, the immoralities of the masses, the hidden crimes all be lie exposed before the merciless, penetrating power of the invisible Z-ray. The invention could benefit humanity, yet to Drew it opens up more lucrative possibilities. He becomes a scientific 'Peeping Tom' and blackmailer, but when murder results, Scotland Yard becomes interested...
Jizzle
by John WyndhamA collection of short stories from the master author of THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS.Giselle is a very talented monkey, although she goes by the name Jizzle. She can draw incredible portraits, as lifelike as can be. But Jizzle isn't just a camera. Jizzle has feelings. And Jizzle can take revenge, when she wants . . .This collection combines fantasy, science fiction, and horror to delight, astound and unsettle you.STORIES INCLUDED:"Jizzle""Technical Slip""A Present from Brunswick""Chinese Puzzle""Esmeralda""How Do I Do?""Una""Affair of the Heart""Confidence Trick""The Wheel""Look Natural, Please!""Perforce to Dream""Reservation Deferred""Heaven Scent""More Spinned Against"
Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey (Jorkens)
by Lord DunsanyJorkens Borrows Another Whiskey, the fifth collection of Dunsany's Jorkens tales to be published, is a collection of fantasy short stories, narrated by Mr. Joseph Jorkens. The book collects thirty-four short pieces by Dunsany, and in one key story, Jorkens is joined in the story by his most common adversary, Terbut.The Jorkens stories are set in the London gentleman's or adventurer's club of which the title character is a member. They usually open with another member mentioning an interesting experience he has had; this rouses Jorkens, who in return for a whisky-and-soda (merely to "moisten his throat," you understand!) goes the other member one better with an extraordinary tall tale, supposedly from his own past. His stories often tip well over the boundaries of the plausible, into the realms of fantasy, horror, or even science fiction, and his auditors can never be quite sure what proportion of what he relates was truly experienced and to what degree he might have embellished.
Journey to Mars
by E.C. TubbAll Verrill wanted to do was to get to Mars, to Port Mercham where a ship was getting ready to take the Big Jump to the stars. But he was stranded on Venus, without money, papers, or weapons, with nothing but a keep-sake between him and starvation and the revengeful fury of the powerful Brotherhoods - and charity was a forgotten word.How, with foreign papers, he fought and won the right to a berth, discovered a subtle plot to smuggle narcotics and defeated a mutiny. How he fought a desperate battle with the menace of the Sun and escaped from Mercury, and how, at last, he managed to reach his objective, make a story of high adventure.This is a fast-moving, hard-hitting tale of the future, of rocket ships and the men who guide them across the wastes of space, of the perils and dangers waiting at every turn. A story which paints bright colours across the pages of unwritten history, and brings to life the lives of those yet unborn.
Kemlo and the Crazy Planet (Kemlo)
by E. C. EliottKemlo and his friend Krillie, who have set out from Satellite Belt K on a Space trip, find themselves off course and eventually land upon a planet about which very little is known except that odd things happen there, so that it has become known as the Crazy Planet.The people upon it, whose language is laughter, are friendly; but others, from Earth, are also marooned upon it, and they are very far from friendly, not only to the laughing People but to Kemlo and Krillie too. Their wicked plans, however, are foiled by Kemlo, who is later responsible for helping his new friends against a mass attack of the murderous wood beasts...
Kemlo and the Martian Ghosts (Kemlo)
by E. C. EliottKemlo, with two other boys from Satellite K, are allowed to accompany a small research team setting off to reconnoiter Deimos, a moonlet of Mars.The research ship has a smooth journey until it encounters a fierce astral storm, but eventually lands safely on Deimos - where some peculiar magnetic forces put all the instruments out of action.From then on the suspense is terrific. Kemlo and his friends find their way barred by a moving wall of lighted shapes and, scattered, are apparently attacked by transparent figures etched in vivid light. Up to the very end the doubt remains: will the power of the Martian Ghosts triumph or be broken?
Kemlo and the Sky Horse (Kemlo)
by E. C. EliottKemlo, captain of Space scouts, and his young friend Krillie receive a visit from two Earth children, Dane and Lesa, Krillie's cousins. Lesa is quite prepared to be thrilled by all that she sees on Satellite Belt K, but Dane sneers at everything - especially at the mechanical horse in the games-room. he boasts of his own prowess, and is heard by their science engineering master from Earth, who determines to teach him a lesson and at the same time to evolve, with the help of Kemlo and the other troop leaders, a new mechanical wonder, a New World Pegasus, a horse that can gallop in Space...
Kemlo and the Zones of Silence (Kemlo)
by E. C. EliottKemlo and Krillie, together with Krillie's sister Krinsetta, set out for a visit to S Belt in Kemlo's space scooter. They are attacked by three boys from S Belt, who kidnap Krinsetta. Kemlo gives chase, and both his and the other craft are forced down, off course, on to the Zones of Silence, part of a large area known as the Dead World where the slightest whisper is magnified into a roar...The inhabitants of the Zones have no audible form of speech, but use instead a highly developed system of thought transference. These creatures are friendly, but too friendly: they attempt to drug the minds of visitors with thought impulses compelling them to stay on the Zones. Kemlo is able to resist this powerful impulse, but...
The Living World
by E.C. TubbThe Cradle was the starting point of the strange alien race that had colonised the galaxy while Man was still a cell floating in a warm primeval sea, From here must have surged the expanding tide of life that had built the enigmatic ruins, the constructions of rare and priceless materials. Beings who had left their mark for the new and curious race of Man to stare at, and to wonder at the mystery of the Cradle-the golden hoard of undreamed wealth for the first men to discover it.To Rex Tendris and his two friends came the coordinates that could lead them to the legendary treasure. They set out on a voyage to find it-but it was a voyage into hell!