Best of
Speculative-Fiction

1970

The Glass Teat


Harlan Ellison - 1970
    The Borealis Legends line is a tribute to the creators of the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres as we know them today.

The Princess and the Goblin / Princess and Curdie


George MacDonald - 1970
    Princess Irene and the intrepid Curdie overthrow the kingdom of the goblins with help from the princess's mysterious and powerful grandmother. More than just children's stories, these novels hold deeper meanings for adult readers who are interested in the spiritual life and the battle between good and evil. Newly designed and typeset by Waking Lion Press.

Nine Hundred Grandmothers


R.A. Lafferty - 1970
    Lafferty, the highly acclaimed author of Past Masters and Fourth Mansions. His people are heroic, foolish, demonic or mischievous, but always unpredictable, and his stories soar with imagination even while they chuckle at themselves.Here at last are the finest of Lafferty's shorter works, stories about:A man who found one day that he knew everyone in the world.A race who kept their most ancient ancestors on shelves in the basements.A speeded-up world where a man could earn and lose a dozen fortunes a night.A friendly bearlike creature named Snuffles who said he was God....in all, twenty-one immensely enjoyable stories that will continue to delight you long after you've read them.

This Perfect Day


Ira Levin - 1970
    Uniformity is the defining feature; there is only one language and all ethnic groups have been eugenically merged into one race called “The Family.” The world is ruled by a central computer called UniComp that has been programmed to keep every single human on the surface of the earth in check. People are continually drugged by means of regular injections so that they will remain satisfied and cooperative. They are told where to live, when to eat, whom to marry, when to reproduce. Even the basic facts of nature are subject to the UniComp’s will—men do not grow facial hair, women do not develop breasts, and it only rains at night.

Cities in Flight


James Blish - 1970
    Named after the migrant workers of America's Dust Bowl, these novels convey Blish's "history of the future," a brilliant and bleak look at a world where cities roam the Galaxy looking for work and a sustainable way of life.In the first novel, They Shall Have Stars, man has thoroughly explored the Solar System, yet the dream of going even further seems to have died in all but one man. His battle to realize his dream results in two momentous discoveries anti-gravity and the secret of immortality. In A Life for the Stars, it is centuries later and anti-gravity generations have enabled whole cities to lift off the surface of the earth to become galactic wanderers. In Earthman, Come Home, the nomadic cities revert to barbarism and marauding rogue cities begin to pose a threat to all civilized worlds. In the final novel, The Triumph of Time, history repeats itself as the cities once again journey back in to space making a terrifying discovery which could destroy the entire Universe. A serious and haunting vision of our world and its limits, Cities in Flight marks the return to print of one of science fiction's most inimitable writers.A Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club

The Complete Skylark


E.E. "Doc" Smith - 1970
    Includes all four of the Skylark Series, Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Baleron, Skylark Duquesne

Black Folktales


Julius Lester - 1970
    Arranged by topic — Origins, Love, Heroes, and People — the tales combine universal themes and uncanny wisdom. Though some of these stories have been around for centuries and many were passed down by slaves, Julius Lester's urban expressiveness and Tom Feeling's spirited illustrations give them continued resonance for today's audience.

Ark of Bones and Other Stories


Henry Dumas - 1970
    Louis, Henry Dumas had amassed a considerable body of work at the time of his death in 1968 at the age of thirty-four. These two volumes (Ark of Bones and Other Stories and Poetry for my People), comprise most of his work, published and unpublished. They amply show the sensitivity and skill with which he approached the themes of blackness and youth, the preoccupations of the stories, and, in the themes and techniques of the poems, demonstrate the awareness of what an African heritage can mean to an American writer.

At the Edge of the World


Lord Dunsany - 1970
    Like first-rate poetry, they are endlessly readable. Those who have not read them have something to look forward to, and an assortment of Dunsany is the foundation stone of any fantasy collection.” —L. Sprague de CampThirty short and short-short stories by the 18th Baron of Dunsany. Edited by, and with introduction, notes and afterword by, Lin Carter.Contents: Introduction: The dreams of MĀNA-YOOD-SUSHĀI / Lin Carter — The cave of Kal — Of the gods of Averon — Mlideen — The King that was not — The men of Yarnith — In the land of Time — Time and the gods — The opulence of Yahn — The fortress unvanquishable, save for Sacnoth — Poltarnees, beholder of Ocean — The idle city — Bethmoora — Idle days on the Yann — The hashish man — Carcassonne — In Zaccarath — The dream of King Karna-Vootra — How the enemy came to Thlūnrāna — The distressing tale of Thangobrind the jeweller, and of the doom that befell him — A shop in Go-by Street — The avenger of Perdóndaris — How the dwarfs rose up in war — The probable adventure of the three literary men — The loot of Bombasharna — The injudicious prayers of Pombo the idolater — The bride of the man-horse — The quest of the Queen’s Tears — How one came, as was foretold, to the City of Never — A day at the Edge of the World — Erlathdronion — Epilogue — Afterword / Lin Carter(Cover Illustration: Ray Cruz)

Mammoth Books Presents the Region Between


Harlan Ellison - 1970
    It had originally been commissioned as one of a set of stories by different authors who all used a common starting point as set out in the story's prologue, written by Keith Laumer. Ellison's contribution was a longer work than one usually expects from him, but it nevertheless sustains its bombardment of ideas and feelings throughout. What's more, Ellison created a story that demanded a different format to allow for full expression. The result was a typesetter's nightmare but, as you will see, the experience now only makes this story all the more fascinating, it actually takes you into the story itself. Mike Ashley

Watermelon Man


Herman Raucher - 1970
    The uppity novel about the uppity movie Watermelon ManA novel by HERMAN RAUCHERbased on his screenplay now a Columbia Picture A Bennet -Mirrell-Van Peebles Productionstarring GODFREY CAMBRIDGEand ESTELLE PARSONS